GARVEYBLOG
February 8, 2010
Do you get it?
By Ed Garvey
I watched 15 minutes of Sarah Palin's speech to the Tea Party nuts gathered in Nashville. The room exploded with foot-stomping, hand-clapping, and yelling for this spokesperson for the "angry Americans." I suspect this is really nothing more than another attempt to revive the White Citizen's Council, but I get nervous when I recall how dismissive I was toward movie actor Ronald Reagan. ("President Reagan? Get serious.") And they did. Maybe I am too dismissive of Palin. How about you?
So, listening to Palin's simplistic ideas gave me the willies. People like her. No, they love her. Not all people, of course, and not a majority, but the ones who did not get a tear in the eye as Obama, a black man, was inaugurated. They like her and they will throw millions of corporate dollars her way now that the Supreme Activists have told us that corporations are citizens and can dump any amount they want into political campaigns. So, chuckle at Palin, but think about Palin with a billion dollars to spend on her image. Whoa Nelly!
Yes, indeed. Why prop up a loser like John McCain, or an adult called "Mitt," or a former Arkansas governor, when you can get a former beauty queen on stage with a box full of goofy ideas and 20 percent of the people loving her from the get-go?
Forget about substance--it's Show Time! Put her on Fox, give her the best Madison Avenue has to offer, plug her with the purple pill, and voilà! President Palin and Vice President Lieberman.
I think I'll go back to bed
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GUESTBLOG
February 7, 2010
Leading nowhere
By Bill Kraus
Bipartisanship is something that occurs between peers, among peer groups.
The chief executive, whether the president or governor, has no peer or peer group. The executive proposes, the legislature disposes. It is in the process of disposition that multiple voices are heard and compromise is both possible and necessary.
To accuse Obama of not being bi-partisan is misguided.
If we aren’t getting enough input from all sectors, more compromise from any sectors, if we are gridlocked, we should be looking to the legislative leaders not the executive branch.
It’s a nice bit of showmanship for Obama to talk to the Congressional Republicans. But if it’s action or movement that’s wanted, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are the ones who should be talking to the Congressional Republicans in general and the Republican leaders specifically. All the time.
At a less partisan time in our state and our history, this was common, normal behavior.
What legislative leaders know, or should know, is that when a solution is proposed, the problem is forgotten, and the solution becomes the problem.
It is the legislative leaders’ job to keep the problem in the forefront and search for a solution that is not a problem. The late, great Bill Kellett referred to this as "keeping your eye on the squirrel."
The legislative leaders in Washington clearly are not doing that.
Until and unless they start doing their jobs, the majority is going to impose its will and ride roughshod, to the extent that’s possible, over the minority, and the minority is going to oppose everything in hopes that all that is proposed will fail and they will become the majority again.
Legislative governance has become a search for advantage not resolution, and assuredly not progress.
And the winner is? The status quo in most cases.
This in a country that is crying out for change, for action, for thinking anew.
The president, the governors have bully pulpits.
The legislative leaders have the power to give the country what it wants and needs.
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GARVEYBLOG
February 7, 2010
Her day will come! Really. Be patient!
By Ed Garvey
When I read the Sunday Wisconsin State Journal, I always read the musings of Scott Milfred. His columns, as editorial page editor, are, if nothing else, kind of humorous. (I'm not kidding. He claims to be the editorial page editor.)
This week he argues that Barbara Lawton should not blame gender preference for her inability to raise mega-bucks from the Old Boys. He rambles on about other women in politics and finally concedes we have never elected a woman senator or governor. But, not to worry: "Wisconsin will surely elect a female governor soon. Nearly half the states have." Very persuasive, Scott. Now the clincher: "The new girls club just needs the right candidate with strong experience and cross-party appeal to break through."
Payday nonsense: The fifteen-minute pause. One part of the proposed Democratic legislative regulation of the god-awful payday loan industry would require borrowers to wait--get this--15 minutes after learning the full cost of a loan before accepting it. Thirty lobbyists are in Madison to protect the pay-day industry. Thirty! Other provisions include a maximum loan of $600. Can you believe it?
[write a letter]
ARTICLE
February 7, 2010
Greenhouse and other gases
By Margaret Krome
Republican politicians' lack of integrity on global warming is still their greatest moral failure.
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GARVEYBLOG
February 6, 2010
Let us hear from you!
By Ed Garvey
When you go to Camp Randall for a Badger football game, everyone (or so it seems) wears red in support of the home team. Same at the Kohl Center when the UW hockey and basketball teams take the floor--we are one group in support of our university and our team. Doesn't matter if you are a Socialist, Democrat, Green or Republican, we cheer for the common goal.
This week I drove to Milwaukee to tape a program with one of my heroes, Vel Phillips. The MATC program was focused on our progressive past. The host pointed out that Vel is the only African-American to win statewide office in our state's history, dating back to 1848! The only one. (It must also be said that we have never elected a woman to the U.S. Senate or Governor.) Progressive?
We had to discuss the shameful "Willie Horton"-style campaign launched against Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler--an African-American who should have joined Vel in the winner's circle but was defeated. He has been nominated by the President to the federal bench in Madison. The Judiciary Committee has voted to confirm Butler twice--12-7.
It is time to hear from the Wisconsin home team. Sensenbrenner, Petri, Ryan--let's hear from you. Put on your red sweater and announce that the Senate should confirm our guy! No filibuster--please. If they remain silent and this good man loses in overtime, it will be a reminder of our past; the bad past not the good.
The call came after my blog entry was posted yesterday. Tony Evers, DPI head, praised by Governor Doyle, has threatened to block $176 million in federal money scheduled to go to Milwaukee Public Schools. In his State of the State speech, Jim Doyle threatened MPS. He "guaranteed" us that MPS would be a broken system. Yikes! MPS refused to go with the Arne Duncan, Doyle, Barrett scheme to replace the elected school board with the mayor of Milwaukee. So, punish them! Make them fail! Whoa Nelly, Governor, play fair. If you can't persuade your colleagues to go with your idea, don't punish the kids!
It is time for Tom Barrett to declare he is not running as Doyle-lite--he is his own man. MPS is his responsibility.
An old friend said "they must be kidding." Sadly, I don't think they are.
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GARVEYBLOG
February 5, 2010
Here they come!
By Ed Garvey
Custer's last words, or so I heard, were, "We got'em where we want 'em boys! We can shoot in any direction."
How should we describe the lobbyists in D.C. and Madison? They have us surrounded! In Madison, they got together to oust the Speaker of the Assembly. In D.C., the big drug companies went to the White House to cut a secret deal to ban the import of drugs from Canada; they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat universal health care. Unlike locusts, they show up every day not every seven years.
Check out these stories: "Industry Lobbying Imperils Obama Overhaul of Student Loans." Obama called his reform a "no-brainer," and I agree. But the plan is in trouble: "With lenders using sit-downs with lawmakers, town-hall style meetings and petition drives to plead their case," the no-brainer is looking more and more like "no-guts." In 2009, Sallie Mae spent $8 million on lobbying and, catch this--the company's PACs made $2.1 million in political contributions last year. They ought to be prosecuted for attempted bribery but, no, that might interfere with their First Amendment rights!
The hoard of lobbyists argues that the bill would cost jobs--just like the arguments of two dozen payday lobbyists in Madison. "An Ill-conceived government takeover that could put thousands of people out of work at private lending centers." Note--"banks" or "banksters" are now, "lending centers." Sure!
Next--"Dodd Denounces Pace of Banking Overhaul." No one has mistaken Chris Dodd for a radical reformer, but even this milquetoast is angry. Why? "Frustration over an Army of Lobbyists Sent to Kill Common-sense Reform."
And you had better get used to it. With the loopy declaration of war on democracy issued by the Supreme Activists, big business owns the show and merely permits elected folks to strut up their stage.
This must stop!
One more thing: We get lots of very thoughtful Feedback. Check it out.
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GARVEYBLOG
February 4, 2010
Justice vs. democracy
By Ed Garvey
The incredible, albeit predictable, ruling that corporations, like plaintiffs in the "one man one vote" decisions, are citizens with First amendment rights would have been a joke when I was in law school. I can hear some of my favorite profs saying, as if they were alive today, "Get serious. Corporations are created by the government for economic reasons not to run for office or to determine through their accumulated wealth who shall regulate them. They are creatures of the state not the womb."
But we are where the majority of the Supreme Court has put us. It is Us vs. Them. Plutocracy vs. democracy. The rich vs. the rest of us.
Justice Clarence Thomas defended the decision in Florida this week. His nonsense reminds me of the open letter to Justice Thomas written by Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr.
Thomas, the Scalia acolyte, was quoted saying, "I found it fascinating that the people who were editorializing against it (our decision) were the New York Times Company and the Washington Post Company. These are corporations." Not content with that simplistic observation, he went on: "It would be a mistake to applaud the regulation of corporate speech as some sort of beatific action." Whoa Nelly!
Higginbotham put it this way to Thomas: "I wonder whether the majority of the Supreme Court will continue to retreat from protecting the rights of the poor, women, the disadvantaged, minorities, and the powerless. If the majority does continue to retreat, I wonder whether you, an African-American, will be part of the majority." Wonder no more. He is a big part of the retreat. Sad to say.
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ARTICLE
February 4, 2010
Big Money at bat
By Bill Berry
The right-wing Roberts court is just as activist as the Warren court that most right wingers abhor.
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GARVEYBLOG
February 3, 2010
Words to live by?
By Ed Garvey
Miles McMillan, Capital Times editor years ago, told his sportswriters they could no longer accept freebies from teams or leagues. A writer approached and argued, "Do you think they could buy me for a bottle of booze?" McMillan responded, "No, but they don't give it to you because you are thirsty."
Heywood Hale Broun told us that the commissioner of Major League Baseball sent $100 with a Christmas card to Heywood's sportswriter father, who returned the hundred bucks with this admonition: "If it is a gift it is too much; if it is a bribe, it is not enough."
Those two come to mind with the passing at age 95 of Nixon FCC-appointee James Quello, who was quoted in NYT saying, "I have always had the attitude that if you can't eat their food and drink their booze and still vote against them, then you don't belong in this job."
I'll go with Hale-Broun and Miles.
Did you know that about 20 percent of kids in MPS are Special Educational Needs students? Kids the charter and voucher schools do not have to accept? Think this might have something to do with higher performance? Just a question.
[write a letter]
GARVEYBLOG
February 2, 2010
Hard to believe
By Ed Garvey
Yesterday we urged Mike Sheridan, Speaker of the Assembly, to "name names" of lobbyists for the outrageous payday loan industry who were, according to Sheridan, trying to oust him as Speaker for agreeing to permit a vote on a bill that would cap interest rates at 36 percent. Seemed like an easy one, but today's JS headline confuses us more--"Sheridan acknowledges dating payday loan lobbyist."
So what? is one response, but was she the source of the rumors? Yikes! Before jumping to conclusions, here is Sheridan's quote: "Shanna is a friend of mine and I have a lot of friends that are in the lobby corps." (Credit where credit is due. He did name one name.)
But Wisconsin's own lobby corps? Sheridan went on: "I mean, I think that part of my job is relationship building." No comment needed.
Here is another headline: "JOB LOSSES ADD TO CITY FORECLOSURES." The accompanying article says, "The second wave in the foreclosure crisis has hit Milwaukee with homeowners losing their homes because of job losses...subprime mortgages." How about payday loans as well? Note to Speaker: No one cares about you dating a lobbyist, but we do get upset if the Democrats with a majority in the Legislature ignore evictions! People are suffering--pay attention.
There is a housing crisis. How about a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures? Lower interest rates? Restructured mortgages? Any interest in those issues?
C'mon!
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