Right Mind

Idaho Stimulus Package: Legislative Update from Rep. Tom Trail

From Rep. Tom Trail (R-Moscow).

Constituents -- I received a number of inquiries about the impact of the Economic Stimulus Package on Idaho. Idaho's share initially got $1.2 billion mostly for education, transportation, Medicaid and other programs that filter down to schools and communities. Idaho's share may top $2.5 billion when the counting stops. We probably will not know the full extent until well into 2010. I should point out that Idaho receives about $1.6 billion annually and has for years received funding from the federal government. I will now try and give you a general idea of how the money will be spent.

1. Public Education--$260 million--Of this $166 million will help pay school bills through 2011. About $85 million will keep from having to cut public education this year. In 2010, JFAC wants to put $60 million into school budgets to help ease teacher pay cuts. About $24 million will boost learning for low income students. Special education will received about $55 million. The Feds in 1972 promised to pay 40% of special education funding but only came through with about 15% annually. Idaho will also receive $13.5 million with grants improving learning technology.
2. Senior Meals/Job Training -- About $485,000 will expand meals for homebound people and through feeding sites such as senior job citizen centers.
3. Housing -- The state will receive $15 million. New low cost units for low income people will receive $8.8 million. About $4.4 million is targeted to reduce the homeless population through rental subsidies and moving assistance.
4. Unemployment -- Idaho's unemployment rate is about 7 percent or about 51,000 citizens out of work. About $160 million will be coming in over a two year period. $40 million will add $25 weekly to unemployment checks. $75 million will lengthen the time to collect unemployment benefits, and $33 million provides alternative ways to qualify for benefits.
5. Energy Saving Buildings -- $28 million--of which $16-$19 million will go to energy efficient schools. The remainder will go to provide solar power to selected schools.
6. Idaho Arts -- Idaho Arts will receive $294,000. The money will be used to help professional arts organizations around the states that have suffered losses.
7. Health and Welfare -- A total of $408 million comes to the state. Of this $255 million will pay medical bills for low income people (Medicaid). The food stamp program will receive $64 million. About 125,000 Idahoans now qualify for food stamps. Some $31 million will be used to boost energy efficient homes for low income housing.
8. Roads, Sidewalks, and Bridges -- $182 million. A total of almost $150 million will complete the major interstate project in the Treasure Valley and the Dover Bridge in N. Idaho. Local roads and sidewalks will receive $28 million.
9. Healthy Forests are targeted for $8.8 million. The funds will be used for fire prevention and to improve roads and trailheads.
10. Governor's Discretionary Money -- $45 million--Governor Otter will used $5 million for drinking water improvements, $10 million for waste water projects, and $29 million for transportation projects.
11. Environment -- This category will receive $61 million. Of this $20 million will be used to clean up the Bunker Hill mining site. $20 million will be directed toward improving water projects, and $19 million to improve water systems.

There are also some other impacts of stimulus money that is on the way:

1. Federal Tax Cuts--$209 million willl go as a credit to working families. A tax credit will return $400 a year for workers earning up to $95,000 and $800 forcouples earning up to $190,000. It is estimated this will benefit over 500,000 Idahoans.
2. College Assistance--Some $50 million is directed to this program. A college tuition tax credit of up to $2,500 has been expanded to include for low income students. This may benefit some 20,000 Idahoans.
3. State Tax Breaks--Help with new car purchases is estimated at $1.6 million. This allows one to deduct the sales and excise tax on new vehicle purchases up to $49,500.
4. Tax break for businesses--An estimated $5 million to help recover new costs of new equipment purchased in 2009.

I suspect this is far more than you wanted to know, but at least it will give you a short hand version of what the Economic Stimulus Package means to the State.

Rep. Tom Trail

Obama Throws the F-Bomb

No, not that f-word.

From David R. Henderson, Professor of Economics, editor of The Fortune Encyclopedia of Economics, and Research Fellow with the Hoover Institute.

He has already, in less than 100 days, moved the U.S. economy further towards fascism. Sean Hannity and other critics keep criticizing Obama for his socialist leanings. But the more accurate term for many of his measures, especially in the financial markets and the auto market, is fascism.

Henderson cites what Sheldon Richman writes about "Fascism" in The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics:

Where socialism sought totalitarian control of a society's economic processes through direct state operation of the means of production, fascism sought that control indirectly, through domination of nominally private owners. Where socialism nationalized property explicitly, fascism did so implicitly, by requiring owners to use their property in the "national interest"--that is, as the autocratic authority conceived it. (Nevertheless, a few industries were operated by the state.) Where socialism abolished all market relations outright, fascism left the appearance of market relations while planning all economic activities. Where socialism abolished money and prices, fascism controlled the monetary system and set all prices and wages politically. In doing all this, fascism denatured the marketplace. Entrepreneurship was abolished. State ministries, rather than consumers, determined what was produced and under what conditions.

I’m going to stop calling it socialism because it really is fascism.

Henderson is quick to point out that the blame does not rest with the Democrats alone.

President Obama shouldn't get all the blame. Former President Bush took us a big step in that direction with his bailout. But when a President actually fires the president of a major company and decides to change the terms of that company's warranty on its products, that President has taken a major step.

Progressive Corporatism and The Resistance

Arnold Kling (PhD in economics, MIT) makes the excellent distinction between Progressive Corporatism and The Resistance.

If you believe that politicians are about solving problems and need more power in order to do so, then you are going to side with Progressive Corporatism.

If you believe that politicians are about power and need problems as an excuse to get it, then you are going to side with The Resistance.

My skeptical view of political motives can be seen in another old essay of mine, Government and the Fear Factor.

And as my long-time readers well know, I fall squarely into The Resistance camp.

And Moscow’s statists are cheerleaders for Progressive Corporatism.

Jack Murtha Quote of the Day

"If I'm corrupt, it's because I take care of my district.”

—Jack Murtha

Via Club for Growth

George Will Says the Bailout is Not Constitutional

This argument will never fly. What is constitutional that the feds still do? Have 2 Senators from each state?

If you take a look at The Powers of Congress and The Limits on Congress, it becomes quickly evident that the vast majority of spending done by the feds is not allowed by the Constitution.

Show me where “bailing out private companies” is allowed under The Powers of Congress?

The feds stopped obeying the Constitution 150 years ago. They are not going to start obeying it now.

From the Washington Post:

It is high time Americans heard an argument that might turn a vague national uneasiness into a vivid awareness of something going very wrong. The argument is that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) is unconstitutional.

By enacting it, Congress did not in any meaningful sense make a law. Rather, it made executive branch officials into legislators. Congress said to the executive branch, in effect: "Here is $700 billion. You say you will use some of it to buy up banks' 'troubled assets.' But if you prefer to do anything else with the money -- even, say, subsidize automobile companies -- well, whatever." 

Disturbing Statistic of the Day

From Bloomberg:

The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve have spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion, an amount that approaches the value of everything produced in the country last year, to stem the longest recession since the 1930s.

New pledges from the Fed, the Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. include $1 trillion for the Public-Private Investment Program, designed to help investors buy distressed loans and other assets from U.S. banks. The money works out to $42,105 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. and 14 times the $899.8 billion of currency in circulation. The nation’s gross domestic product was $14.2 trillion in 2008.

'Rich' is a Relative Term

From CQ Politics:

Attacking Republicans as the defenders of the wealthy has usually worked pretty well for Democrats. But more than half of the 25 wealthiest House districts are now represented by Democrats, and some of those 14 lawmakers are raising questions about what qualifies as wealthy.

Take freshman Democrat Gerald E. Connolly , whose suburban Northern Virginia district boasts the highest median household income — $80,397, a figure approaching twice the $42,000 national average. As the successor to former Republican Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (1995-2009), Connolly echoes GOP complaints that President Obama’s plan to extend the George W. Bush administration income tax cuts only for couples earning less than $250,000 will unfairly hit small-business owners and hurt a lot of his 11th District constituents, where the cost of living is particularly high.

“The threshold should be higher,” Connolly said.

Andy Roth makes an excellent observation: “It's hard to wage class warfare when your own soldiers are fighting against you.”

Via Andy Roth

Microsoft Receives Stimulus Money!

Via the Club for Growth:

Thanks to the efforts of most Democrats in Congress along with Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins, your tax dollars are going to Microsoft.

The city of Redmond, WA, plans to use $11 million in stimulus money to build a bridge connecting Microsoft's East and West campuses.

According to their most recent SEC filing, Microsoft had $8.3 billion in cash.

That should make some Mac and Linux taxpayers really happy.  

The Future of Newspapers Looks A Lot Like the Past -- and How it Relates to Blogs

This video looks at the history of newspapers and how it relates to blogs today.

Jay Leno Quote of the Day

According to the government, Rick Wagoner was forced to resign because of poor performance. That’s embarrassing . . . You run an organization that loses billions of dollars and then get fired by a guy who heads up an organization that loses trillions of dollars.

—Jay Leno

Snow, hail, lightning, and high winds hit all in one day

We’re heading for a disaster of biblical proportions.

Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!

Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...

The dead rising from the grave!

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

Global warming!

From KREM:

The last day of March brought a strange combination of weather to the Inland Northwest with snow, hail, high winds and lightning reported across the area.

Icy driving conditions and blowing snow caused a few wrecks in the early afternoon along I-90 near Kellogg, ID, where one car ended up on top of the guardrail. Other minior collisions were also reported in the Silver Valley area on Tuesday.

One to two inches of snow fell across Coeur d'Alene, but did not stick on the ground.

Five inches of snow fell in Asotin, WA along the Snake River near Clarkston.

High winds knocked over trees next to a house along Assembly in northwest Spokane near Joe Albi Stadium. Avista crews repaired the power line that was damaged from that tree.

Hail also came down in pockets across the Inland Northwest Tuesday afternoon.

Thunder and lightning were also reported on Spokane's South Hill around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday and later in the afternoon in North idaho.

Excuse Me, But Where Did Those Numbers Come From?

Massachusetts is asking where the White House came up with the number “79,000” for jobs they pledge will be created by their stimulus package.

And Massachusetts isn’t the only state asking the hard questions.

From Breitbart:

Massachusetts Undersecretary of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez also attended the Washington meeting and said other states complained that issuing job estimates undercut the administration’s vow of transparency because it was unclear where the estimates came from.

Gonzalez said he was asked at one point how he might come up with a jobs estimate and pointed federal officials to a state task force report, but cautioned them the estimate was very rough and came with “qualifications all over it.” 

“Night of the Living Death Tax”

President Bush had lowered the estate tax from 55 to 44 percent; and it was set to disappear entirely in 2010.

But President Obama’s budget maintains the death tax in 2010 “at its 2009 parameters.”

From the Wall Street Journal:

Liberals counter that the estate tax is “fair” because it is only paid by the richest 2% of American families. This ignores that much of the long-term saving and small business investment in America is motivated by the ability to pass on wealth to the next generation.

Read that statement carefully. It’s pure class warfare.

This demonstrates the disdain that politicians have for our future generations.

Inflation Indicators

Ten-year Treasuries are having their worst one quarter performance since 1996.

Read this carefully. These numbers are really scary.

From Bloomberg.

Government debt rose today, reversing earlier losses, as business activity contracted in March for a sixth consecutive month and home prices declined more than forecast. U.S. debt has handed investors a loss of 1.7 percent this quarter, according to Merrill Lynch & Co.’s U.S. Treasury Master index, as President Barack Obama expands government spending to revive economic growth and service record deficits.

“Supply, concerns about inflation and a lack of foreign buying, economic recovery and rising risk appetites will pose an upside threat for Treasuries,” said Robert Tipp, chief strategist for fixed income in Newark, New Jersey at Prudential Investment Management. “The positives would be Fed buying, a low level of inflation and subdued economic growth along with the high quality and liquidity investors demand when the market stresses.”

The yield on the benchmark 10-year note fell five basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 2.66 percent as of 4:45 p.m. in New York, according to BGCantor Market Data. The 2.75 percent security due in February 2019 rose 15/32, or $4.69 cents per $1,000 face amount, to 100 6/32.

Ten-year yields, which slid to a record low of 2.04 percent on Dec. 18, averaged 4.25 percent in the past five years.

Record Debt Sales

Government securities returned 14.9 percent in 2008, according to Merrill data.

The Treasury will almost triple debt sales this year to a record $2.5 trillion, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., one of 16 primary dealers that trade with the Federal Reserve. The U.S. sold a record $98 billion of debt last week. Its $438 billion of sales this quarter also set a record. The next round of auctions will be April 7 through April 9.

Obama has asked Congress to pass a $3.5 trillion budget for 2010. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the 2010 deficit at $1.38 trillion, higher than the White House’s $1.17 trillion forecast.

CBO projects a $1.85 trillion deficit for the current fiscal year, $100 billion more than the administration’s estimate.

The Fed bought $2.5 billion of Treasuries yesterday in its third outright purchase since the early 1960s. The central bank said March 18 it would buy up to $300 billion of government debt as part of its efforts to reduce borrowing costs.

And Obama wants to socialize medicine on top of all this?

My Question of the Day

The UAW has 190,000 workers.

The Obama bailout for the auto industry is $130 billion.

That's $684,000 per worker.

It that a bargain?

Coming Soon: A Global Warming Tax on You!

Next on the Obama income tax hike agenda:

Global warming taxes of about $80 billion per year, as revealed in the Obama budget, which equals an annual tax boost of $700 for every household in the United States.

I was really hoping that the scientists would agree that AGW is a farce before the politicians started sucking money from us by that name.

Once they start bleeding us in the name of global warming, we won’t be able to stop it when AGW is known by everyone to be a fake.

Tell Me Again?

Government Motors

Obama calls for GM's CEO to resign

We’re in a new America.

A fascist America.

From The Politico:

The surprise announcement about the classically iconic American corporation is perhaps the most vivid sign yet of the tectonic change in the relationship between business and government in this era of subsidies and bailouts.

 

Ronald Reagan Quote of the Day

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”

—President Ronald Reagan

Beyond AIG: A bill to let Big Government set your salary

We’re all socialists now.  

From the Washington Examiner:

It was nearly two weeks ago that the House of Representatives, acting in a near-frenzy after the disclosure of bonuses paid to executives of AIG, passed a bill that would impose a 90 percent retroactive tax on those bonuses. Despite the overwhelming 328-93 vote, support for the measure began to collapse almost immediately. Within days, the Obama White House backed away from it, as did the Senate Democratic leadership. The bill stalled, and the populist storm that spawned it seemed to pass.

But now, in a little-noticed move, the House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman Barney Frank, has approved a measure that would, in some key ways, go beyond the most draconian features of the original AIG bill. The new legislation, the "Pay for Performance Act of 2009," would impose government controls on the pay of all employees -- not just top executives -- of companies that have received a capital investment from the U.S. government. It would, like the tax measure, be retroactive, changing the terms of compensation agreements already in place. And it would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner extraordinary power to determine the pay of thousands of employees of American companies.

The purpose of the legislation is to "prohibit unreasonable and excessive compensation and compensation not based on performance standards," according to the bill's language. That includes regular pay, bonuses -- everything -- paid to employees of companies in whom the government has a capital stake, including those that have received funds through the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The measure is not limited just to those firms that received the largest sums of money, or just to the top 25 or 50 executives of those companies. It applies to all employees of all companies involved, for as long as the government is invested. And it would not only apply going forward, but also retroactively to existing contracts and pay arrangements of institutions that have already received funds.

In addition, the bill gives Geithner the authority to decide what pay is "unreasonable" or "excessive." And it directs the Treasury Department to come up with a method to evaluate "the performance of the individual executive or employee to whom the payment relates."

The bill passed the Financial Services Committee last week, 38 to 22, on a nearly party-line vote. (All Democrats voted for it, and all Republicans, with the exception of Reps. Ed Royce of California and Walter Jones of North Carolina, voted against it.)

The legislation is expected to come before the full House for a vote this week, and, just like the AIG bill, its scope and retroactivity trouble a number of Republicans. "It's just a bad reaction to what has been going on with AIG," Rep. Scott Garrett of New Jersey, a committee member, told me. Garrett is particularly concerned with the new powers that would be given to the Treasury Secretary, who just last week proposed giving the government extensive new regulatory authority. "This is a growing concern, that the powers of the Treasury in this area, along with what Geithner was looking for last week, are mind boggling," Garrett said.

Atheist billboard sparks debate in Moscow

According to the press release, public messages regarding Christianity are threatening and hateful to those who don't believe.

But public messages about atheism are benign and helpful.

Follow that logic?

From KREM News in Spokane:

A billboard recently put up in Moscow has prompted a public discussion on religion and spirituality.

Paid for by the American Humanist Association, the billboard stands at Highway 95 and Sweet Street and reads, "Don't believe in God? You are not alone."

"We're not aiming to offend people," says Roy Speckhardt, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association. "We do want to catch people's attention."

Speckhardt says the billboard is part of a nationwide campaign to reach out to people who do not follow any religion.

It caused one man to respond with his own sign on the front of his business, also on Highway 95. Steve Otto helps with a prison ministry organization in Idaho; his sign reads, "You are not alone -- God."

"To me, it was a billboard that was promoting untrue thinking," says Otto.

The billboard will be up until June.

Continue to pursue Hawkins water sale

The following editorial by Henry D. Johnston appeared in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

The Hawkins Companies is faced with a decision to either drill for its own water or buy it from Moscow. Since the Idaho Legislature killed a bill that would allow the sale of water across the border, it looks as if Hawkins will be moving forward with drilling themselves.

In fact, they've drilled a couple of exploratory wells and, in theory, could start claiming their 45 acre-feet of water tomorrow. And to top it off, what they don't use they could sell elsewhere along the corridor to create further development.

It's scary to think of all that new development across the border.

Thank goodness Aaron Ament was in office for the two years he was - otherwise Moscow might have been saddled with all those new jobs and tax revenue a big-box development like Hawkins will bring. I can't imagine how Whitman County will bear the consequences of economic development!

And, as it was when he was in office, Aaron's brilliance never ceases to amaze me. As he so eloquently conveyed in his letter of March 20, Moscow is not in favor of selling water to Hawkins. Unlike Aaron, I'm of the belief that "Moscow water" becomes "Hawkins water" once it passes under the border. I'm also of the belief that if we can make some money off of that same water, the same water that would be pumped by Hawkins from its wells anyway, we would come out ahead in the long run, much like I did in the analogy about my neighbor's car.

Am I the lone voice of support of this project among the unelected citizenry of Moscow? I highly doubt it. And if I'm not the only voice of support, then I must ask the following question:

Aaron, when you say that "Moscow does not support this sale," who in Moscow are you claiming to represent?

The 17 percent of the total turnout that supported you in the last election?

Or the 83 percent that didn't?

Zing!

And I’m fully in agreement with Henry on this matter. Moscow had the opportunity to profit by the development. First, when they wanted to come to Moscow (and Ament and Chaney shot it down). And now again when Hawkins wants some water that Moscow can sell them (and profit by it).

Studded tires must be removed by Wednesday

Last year,  I had my studded tires removed in time for the Washington deadline. Then driving over Snoqualmie, we hit a blizzard. The interstate warming signs said “studded tires required” — and this was after they were forced to be removed. I’m guessing that the WADOT expected their drivers to pull over in the chain-up area and swap out their tires…

As reported in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Studded snow tires are supposed to be removed from cars in Washington by Wednesday, even if it's still snowing.

Washington State Patrol Trooper Michael Murphy said the fine for driving with studded tires after Wednesday is $124.

He said most officers will likely be lenient and just offer warnings for the first couple days, largely because of the weather.

Murphy said studded tires don't make a dramatic difference for driving in the snow.

"Studded tires only help you 10 percent of the time," he said.

Thank you, but it’s that 10% of the time that makes all the difference in the world.  

SEL now completely employee owned: Schweitzer moves personal shares in company into employee stock ownership program

As reported in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Pullman's largest private employer is now 100 percent employee owned.

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories President and CEO Ed Schweitzer said full employee ownership has been his goal since he started the business in his basement in 1984.

"I started the employee stock ownership program because I really wanted the people who joined SEL to feel, be and act like owners," Schweitzer said. "The sense of ownership really has become an important part of the employee culture.

"When they serve customers they act like owners."

Schweitzer said the company's future is more certain now that it's wholly owned by its employees.

"There is no chance that the company might be sold in an estate sale with unintended consequences," he said. "No board or trustee would challenge employee ownership."

Tax Freedom Day: April 13 in 2009

From The Tax Foundation:

Tax Freedom Day will arrive on April 13 this year, according to the Tax Foundation’s annual calculation using the latest government data on income and taxes. This is the earliest in the year that Tax Freedom Day has fallen since 1967.

This is eight days earlier than in 2008, and a full two weeks earlier than in 2007, for two reasons: (1) the recession has reduced tax collections even faster than it has reduced income, and (2) the stimulus package includes large temporary tax cuts for 2009 and 2010. Nevertheless, Americans will pay more in taxes than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined.

In the study, Tax Foundation Special Report No. 165, “America Celebrates Tax Freedom Day,” Tax Foundation staff economist Josh Barro traces the course of America’s tax burden since 1900, examines the composition of today’s tax burden by type of tax, and finally calculates a Tax Freedom Day for each state.

Taxes and Federal Deficit
Tax Freedom Day moves somewhat independently from an alternative calculation that adds the federal budget deficit to total taxes collected. In 2009, an unprecedented budget deficit over $1.5 trillion produces a date of May 29. This is the latest date in the year this deficit-inclusive measure has ever fallen. The only previous years when taxes and deficit spending comprised a similarly large share of national income were 1944 and 1945, at the peak of World War II. In the postwar era, this date had never fallen later than May 9 (in 1992).

Tax Freedom Day by State
Residents of Alaska will bear the lowest average tax burden in 2009. Because of their modest incomes and extremely low state-and-local tax burden, we estimate Alaska's Tax Freedom Day for 2009 to be March 23. Louisiana, Mississippi, South Dakota and West Virginia round out the five states that we project will experience Tax Freedom Day earliest in 2009.

The residents of Connecticut will celebrate last, as usual, working until the 120th day of the year, from January 1 to April 30, before earning enough to pay all their taxes. Because Connecticut's income per capita is higher than in any other state, its residents pay extraordinarily high federal income taxes. Nearby states New Jersey and New York are second and third, respectively. California and Maryland round out the top five.

Tax Freedom Day by State, 2009
State	Days Spent Working to Pay Taxes	Tax Freedom Day	Rank
United States	103	April 13
Alabama	92	April 2	44
Alaska	82	March 23	50
Arizona	100	April 10	23
Arkansas	94	April 4	37
California	110	April 20	4
Colorado	102	April 12	16
Connecticut	120	April 30	1
Delaware	101	April 11	20
Florida	99	April 9	27
Georgia	102	April 12	17
Hawaii	103	April 13	14
Idaho	102	April 12	18
Illinois	103	April 13	15
Indiana	98	April 8	28
Iowa	94	April 4	39
Kansas	98	April 8	30
Kentucky	93	April 3	41
Louisiana	87	March 28	49
Maine	96	April 6	33
Maryland	109	April 19	5
Massachusetts	106	April 16	7
Michigan	100	April 10	24
Minnesota	105	April 15	9
Mississippi	87	March 28	48
Missouri	96	April 6	34
Montana	93	April 3	42
Nebraska	98	April 8	31
Nevada	98	April 8	29
New Hampshire	100	April 10	22
New Jersey	119	April 29	2
New Mexico	92	April 2	43
New York	115	April 25	3
North Carolina	99	April 9	25
North Dakota	91	April 1	46
Ohio	101	April 11	21
Oklahoma	94	April 4	40
Oregon	99	April 9	26
Pennsylvania	104	April 14	11
Rhode Island	104	April 14	10
South Carolina	94	April 4	38
South Dakota	88	March 29	47
Tennessee	95	April 5	36
Texas	96	April 6	32
Utah	103	April 13	13
Vermont	102	April 12	19
Virginia	106	April 16	6
Washington	106	April 16	8
West Virginia	91	April 1	45
Wisconsin	103	April 13	12
Wyoming	95	April 5	35
District of Columbia	103	April 13

 

Palouse's Mayor Gets Tutored on the 1st Amendment

The following article ran in the Lewiston Tribune.

State warns mayor against limiting comments during public meetings in town

After receiving some unsolicited advice from Washington state's ombudsman on open government, Mayor Michael Echanove on Monday declared a resumption of free speech at city council meetings.

"Someone can always come in and say the mayor is a bonehead," said Echanove, who's been at the helm of this Whitman County town since 2001. "That doesn't bother me in the least."

But prior to receiving a letter last week from Tim Ford, assistant Washington attorney general for government accountability, Echanove had protected paid city employees from public criticism.

"Some years ago," the mayor explained, "a person took off on an employee and was going at it. Afterwards, I was told that I should have clamped down on that."

But Ford, who could not be reached for comment, wrote in his letter that Echanove's ban has serious constitutional implications.

"The ability of citizens to voice their opinions about the performance of the public employees and officials who serve the public is one of the cornerstones of a free and accountable government," Ford wrote in the letter. "Particular criticism of government conduct may irritate the city, but such criticism is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and ... the Washington Constitution."

 Here’s the full text of the letter:

March 24, 2009

Mayor Michael Echanove
Palouse City Hall
East 120 Main Street
P.O. Box 248
Palouse, WA 99161-0248

RE: Restrictions on Public Comment Periods

Dear Mayor:

I am the Attorney General's Open Government Ombudsman and provide assistance
to the public and agencies for compliance with the state Public Records Act
and Open Public Meetings Act.  I received a letter from the Boomerang
questioning the City's policy prohibiting public comment on personnel issues
of city staff.  Any policy prohibiting comment on a specific topic would
have serious constitutional implications.  I would ask the city to consider
my informal advice in this letter. 

The ability of citizens to voice their opinions about the performance of the
public employees and officials who serve the public is one of the
cornerstones of a free and accountable government.  Particular criticism of
government conduct may irritate the city, but such criticism is protected by
the 1st amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and by Article I, section 5 of
the Washington Constitution.  In the case of Mesa v. White, 197 F.3d 1041
(10th Cir. 1999) a county refused to allow public comment and criticism
about the city manager.  The court found that the restriction was
unreasonable, an attempt to silence opinions, and a pretext for censorship.

A municipality that deliberately allows a general public comment period
during its meetings creates a limited public forum for constitutionally
protected free speech.  The city may not restrict speech it merely dislikes,
but has some ability to limit public comment in a neutral manner.  The city
may set time limits or noise limits to public speech. 

The Open Public Meetings Act allows the city to remove an individual if they
are being disruptive.  RCW 42.30.050.  A municipality may adopt a policy to
prohibit personal attacks such as insults if they lead to disruption of the
meeting.  Steinburg v. Chesterfield County Planning Com'n, 527 F.3d 377 (4th
Cir. 2008).  Yet even Steinberg acknowledges that criticism may not be
prohibited where the speech is directed on a substantive idea.  Personal
insults should not be confused with insulting criticism over the conduct of
public officials or employees.  Moreover, Steinberg does not allow the city
to prohibit public comment on a particular topic when the public comments
are neither personally insulting nor disruptive.

The U.S. Constitution reflects "a profound national commitment to the
principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and
wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes
unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials."  New York
Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 270 (1964).  If the city allows a
general public comment period at its meetings but prohibits comment on
personnel issues, then the prohibition should be repealed.

Sincerely,


Tim Ford
Open Government Ombudsman
Assistant Attorney General for Government Accountability

Superfreak: Bidenburg

Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

Confess!

Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

Saint Wal-Mart

According to the Canada Free Press, consider all that Wal-Mart does:

• Provides employment to 1.9 million people; the best defense against poverty is a job.
• Creates thousands of job opportunities for people in developing countries like China and India; this keeps hunger at bay in many households.
• Doles out hundreds of millions of dollars each year in dividends that help fund the retirement of millions of people; the company had sales in excess of $348 billion and a net profit of $11.3 billion in 2007.
• Sells food, clothing and other necessities to Canadians, Americans and others at prices that are 15 to 25 per cent below what other supermarkets charge; this helps millions of low-income families stretch their dollars.
• Pushes the inflation rate down and helps keep interest rates low; this comes in handy for millions of families when borrowing to buy a house or household appliances.
• Disburses $415 million in cash and in-kind merchandise annually to 100,000 charitable organizations around the world.
• Pursues environmental sustainability; sells more organic produce than most retailers; works with the Clinton Foundation to lower prices on sustainable technologies such as energy-efficient lighting and building materials; has opened the first in a series of high-efficiency stores that will use 20 per cent less energy than a typical Wal-Mart. And its proposed Vancouver store is more environmentally friendly than any building in the Lower Mainland.

Bad, bad Wal-Mart! Progressives hate you because of all the good that you do for the poor.