This week in progressive state blogs is designed specifically to focus attention on the writing and analysis of people focused on their home turf. Let me know via comments or Kosmail if you have a favorite state- or city-based blog you think I should be watching.
Inclusion of a diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement or endorsement of its contents.
At Show Me Progress of Missouri, WillyK writes—Who does Ann Wagner work for?:
A couple of years ago my husband and I took over the care of an incapacitated elderly relative. What we found when we began to examine her business affairs horrified us. She had been solicited by one of the "vice-presidents" of her long-time bank to make several high-risk investments with the nest-egg her husband had left her. It gets worse: we found that not only were her funds invested in the type of high-risk implements that no one of her age should be dabbling in, but that they were likely being "churned"—that is, being traded monthly by the broker in order to generate regular commissions from the trades. Needless to say, her investments were losing money regularly, mostly to commissions.
Get the picture? An elderly, cognitively impaired widow was flim-flammed by people she trusted and looked up to. She had been flattered by the attention from her banker and insisted that such an important person would never have taken advantage of her. To cap it all off, we found that the bank had secured her signature on a document certifying that she fully understood the risky nature of the investments made in her name. I can assure you that this is a woman who had never bothered to learn how to read her banking statement - her husband did all that "boring stuff"—and at the time the document was signed, she was unable to decipher her telephone bill.
So you can understand why I was so delighted to learn that the President is proposing to tighten the fiduciary rules that govern brokers and investment advisers. The goal is to crack down on bad actors who take advantage of their role as a knowledgeable and trusted adviser in a complex and arcane discipline to serve their own interest rather than their clients. A report (pdf) from the Council of Economic Advisers estimates that retirees are defrauded of $17 billion a year by unscrupulous advisers who fail to disclose conflicts of interest or the hidden fees they are charging the unwary. My family is not alone in being victimized by rapacious financial advisers.
But my joy is not unmitigated. My own congressional representative, Rep. Ann Wagner (R-2), has gone on the warpath against the new rules—or rather she's been on the warpath against the possibility of such rules emanating from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) per the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act for a long time before the President acted. In response to the President's announcement, she introduced legislation to stymie the new rules.
Below the orange gerrymander you'll find more excerpts from progressive state blogs.
At CenLamar of Louisiana, Lamar White, Jr. writes—Breaking Up With Bobby Jindal:
Jindal now fashions himself more as a producer of Duck Dynasty than the wonkish political wunderkind I had once admired. He seems to be on an endless quest to prove something to America, though at this point, I’m not quite sure what.
He constantly wheedles to anyone with an open ear about pulling his state through repeated crises with little more than a star-spangled gleam in his eye and a generous helping of down-home guts and gumption. Any hint of gubernatorial malpractice he papers over with dark exhortations against the Obama presidency, patently false explanations involving falling oil prices, or the more generalized threat of liberals doing… things.
The Jindal recipe for public policy and governance is, in short, a magnificently bald-faced façade. To mix a bunch of metaphors, he’s an unraveling tapestry on display within a house of cards built on a swamp below sea level in the path of a hurricane.
Since Jindal’s ascent to the Kingfish’s throne in 2007, Louisiana has lurched from one budgetary catastrophe to the next—but these budget woes are as manufactured as the belt buckles he wears on tour in Iowa. It is a simple, time-tested political calculus which allowed Governor Jindal to perennially wreak havoc on Louisiana, escape the blame, and then be the hero all at once—but the limit exists, and now there’s no place for him to escape.
At
Blog for Iowa,
Trish Nelson writes—
Hughie Tweedy To Pipeline: “My Land Is Not For Sale – Not For A Million Bucks”:
Beginning on March 2, 2015, Ed Fallon began a walk of 400 miles following the path of the proposed Bakken Oil Pipeline. He will walk from the southeast corner of Iowa to the northwest corner of the state, meeting with landowners and others to talk about the importance of respecting farmland and the imperative to stop the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure projects. [...]
Here is Ed’s post written yesterday, prior to embarking on the first step of his journey.
I’ve not even taken the first step of my walk and I’m already meeting landowners opposed to the Bakken Oil Pipeline. Last night I had dinner with Hughie Tweedy at a Lee County farmhouse. Hughie is a colorful, fiercely independent farmer whose homestead is just a few farms west of the Mississippi River—and directly in the path of the pipeline. A forest that Hughie and his Dad before him planted and cared for would be torn to pieces if the pipeline were built. Hughie considers his land sacred, and cannot understand how anyone would condemn it for an oil pipeline.
Hughie informed the pipeline company that, in no uncertain terms, his land was not for sale, not for a million bucks. His neighbors don’t want a pipeline coming through their land either, but many feel helpless, resigned to the notion that “you can’t beat City Hall.”
Last night, I told Hughie about some of the nearly two dozen eminent domain battles I was involved with back in the 1990s and 2000s. I told him how farmers and landowners banded together to stop developers who wanted to take their land. Often it was for a lake or an airport, sometimes for a mall or a four-lane highway. When people in the path of these projects stood firm—and got others to stand with them—more often than not, they won.
At
Progress Illinois,
Ellyn Fortino writes—
Durbin Calls For Reforms To Solitary Confinement In Prisons:
A new review of restrictive housing programs used by the Federal Bureau of Prisons makes the case for "meaningful" reforms to solitary confinement practices, says U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).
"The fact remains that the United States holds more prisoners in solitary confinement than any other democratic nation in the world," the senator said in a statement Friday, when the independent report on U.S. prison segregation policies, conducted by CNA Analysis and Solutions, was released.
"The findings and recommendations of this report provide further evidence that we must fundamentally reform our approach to solitary confinement," Durbin added.
The senator asked the Federal Bureau of Prisons to do an independent review of its restrictive prisoner housing practices following a 2012 Senate hearing, led by Durbin, on solitary confinement issues.
The report includes some positive findings, including a decline in the number of inmates held in solitary confinement over recent years. Specifically, the total number of inmates in segregation fell from 14,942 in 2011 to 10,747 as of June 2014.
At
Capital & Main of California,
Seth Sandronsky writes—
California’s State Universities: Ivy League Talent, Bush League Wages:
The good news for the professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches employed by California’s State University system is that their salaries stand out from those paid to them in the years 2004-13. The bad news is why they do. The “why” is to be found in a research report titled Race to the Bottom: CSU’s 10-Year Failure to Fund Its Core Mission, which the California Faculty Association (CFA) produced collaboratively with state university faculty members, and released on Tuesday. In it, the 23,000-member union faults administrators of the 23-campus system for allowing faculty salaries to stagnate over the past decade. (Disclosure: The CFA is a financial supporter of Capital & Main.)
“We hold all the 23 CSU campus presidents accountable for the current state of affairs as well as the system leadership,” Lillian Taiz, CFA president, told Capital & Main by phone. “When faculty are hired onto a campus, it is the campus president who sets the tone for salaries.”
The CFA report is the first of four Race to the Bottom papers that, according to the union, “analyze the impact of California State University administration’s priorities and decisions on CSU faculty, students and public higher education.” Tuesday’s report, in part, compares faculty pay over 2004-13 between the state’s higher education systems.
Consider this data, culled from government and private sources:
“Over the past 10 years, while the average CSU faculty salary on every campus lost purchasing power, the average University of California faculty salary on each U.C. campus increased in real dollars,” according to the CFA report. Further, at California community colleges, “a comparison of tenure-track salaries in the two systems shows similar results to those of the U.C. Only 28 of the 72 community college districts had a reduction in their average tenure-line faculty salary that was as bad as that at every CSU campus.”
At
Beach Peanuts of Florida,
Martha Jackovics writes—
Florida GOP Once Again Blocking Imaginary Threats While Preserving The Real Ones:
As Floridians struggle to get by without jobs or a decent wage, health care, clean air, water, and the opportunity to vote, it's good to know the Republicans in the legislature have their priorities at heart.
Once again this year, a host of bills to prevent imaginary threats and preserve real ones are making their way through the wingnut navigational channels in Tallahassee.
Sure, you may be drowning in debt because you're jobless, sick, and have fallen into that ever so crowded Medicaid gap that Rick Scott and the GOP carved out for you, but cheer up! The things that really matter are taking priority right now, and they'll get back to you on those minor problems of yours.....well, whenever.
After all, who needs Medicaid when you have unarmed teachers and school employees roaming the halls of your child's elementary school, unarmed students on college campuses, and unarmed individuals during disaster evacuations?
Florida Republicans are also working hard to set up virtual border crossings and passport checks at the doors of public restrooms to keep you safe from any individual identifying as transgender. Just what you'd expect from the party that tried to defund homeland security because they couldn't deport more people: A sexual identification TSA-style setup outside every public bathroom door in Florida? Priorities, people.
At
Rural and Progressive of Georgia,
Katherine Helms Cummings writes—
Gov Deal’s band-aid approach to health care:
Hancock County, Georgia’s poorest among our 159 counties, is getting much needed help with access to health care via technology, community leaders, and innovators in delivering care to patients.
Right now people living in Hancock County have to drive to a neighboring county to see a doctor for any and all medical concerns. Even something as simple as an ear infection requires a drive of at least 25 miles to another county. Getting to the doctor can be a huge expense and feat of logistics for Georgia’s rural citizens, including those in Hancock County.
A new program, with a price tag of just $105,000, will now bring state of art health care to Hancock County’s citizens. Patients, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT), and doctors, connected through secure technology, will work to determine medical problems and where a patient needs to receive care. Emergency room trips and the cost of care should be reduced, while patient health outcomes, and the establishment of medical homes for patients, should improve.
At
MN Progressive Project,
Invenium Viam writes—
Doctor Daudt’s Indian-oil, Brain Salts, Swamp Root and Other Patented All-Purpose Nostrums:
February was a tough month for a liberal in Minnesota.
First, we had the ineffable mid-month public dust-up between Majority Leader Tom Bakk and Governor Dayton. Ineffable, as in impossible to explain.
I was taught from a very young age to keep family fights behind closed doors because—you never know—there might be a few Orangemen lurking about. In fact, in my neighborhood growing up, the hausfrau’s always hung the undies on the inside lines between the bedsheets. And they grew the backyard lilacs tall. They didn’t want the neighbors to know the family wore underwear, I guess. That’s how closely people conducted their private affairs.
Might could be that Bakk and Dayton could learn from their example. But Hey! — who am I to judge? If our honorable leaders at the Capitol want to act like a couple of boozy bruisers from the Marshall Street scrap yards slugging it out at Frank’s Stand-up over a 25-cent tune on the jukebox, it ain’t really my business. Just don’t spill my beer.
Except, of course, that it makes the party look bad.
So, already burdened with lengthy bout of dyspesia, which I had just about suppressed herbally with thrice daily doses of Moroccan Mint tea ($3.79 at better grocers everywhere), along comes the budget surplus announcement, which is projected to be $1.86 billion as opposed to the $832 million projected in the last forecast. An increase in funds available of $1.03 billion.
Now, that should have been ‘A Good Thing’, as Martha Stewart liked to say about insider dope before she did prison time for stock fraud. In earlier times, politicians on both sides of the aisle would have thrown their arms in the air and erupted with cheers and vigorous back-slapping all ’round. Yay! Minnesota is back on the road to Fourple-A bond ratings, expansive job growth and increasing prosperity for everyone! Let’s all be real happy!
But, no; sadly, no. It took a veteran whitebread buzzkill like Speaker Kurt Daudt to fug-up the festive mood by injecting partisanship into the announcement and simultaneously squander all the careful work I’d put in to drown-out the bellyfire that the Bakk-Dayton flap had ignited.
At
Indy Democrat Blog,
Jon Easter writes—
Pre-K Investment Will Make Difference for Indy:
I watched most of Monday night's City-County Council meeting from my living room on Monday night. It's so good to have WCTY, and they do such a tremendous job of bringing City-County government to everyone across Marion County.
With interest, I watched the debate over the Pre-K plan that was passed. I remembered what a struggle it was to get that proposal to the floor for a vote. It took a tremendous amount of negotiation from what Mayor Greg Ballard originally wanted to what actually got sent to his desk for his signature. It was an example of what the Council does right and an example of how compromise is not a dirty word.
The $4.2 million we will spend on the plan as taxpayers will bring in millions more in investment from private industry if the plan is successful, and that will provide millions of dollars for families to jump start the education of their youngsters. It will also be an investment in education, and that benefits the entire community.
I don't buy it as a crimefighting technique, and I share the concerns of many Councillors who believe we don't do enough to build up the infrastructure of our city in roads and sidewalks, but I believe this plan builds up the intellectual infrastructure of our city.
At
Montana Cowgirl,
Cowgirl writes—
ALEC Exposed:
A TEA Party lawmaker with ties to ALEC has been caught coordinating with the organization on an ALEC model bill after claiming that the corporate bill mill had nothing to do with his legislation.
The bill in question is SB 314 a bill Sen. Roger Webb is sponsoring which would create an “Interstate pipeline compact.” During a hearing on that bill, a witness pointed out that this was an ALEC boilerplate bill. Senator Webb then testified on the record that this was not an ALEC bill, and that he did not know where this idea came from. [...]
However, please see attached image from the bill draft file. It’s a note on Senator Webb’s letterhead directing that Sonja Nowakowski (the bill drafter) call “ALEC.” More specifically, that she get in contact with “Carla,” an employee of ALEC who I have been told is ALEC’s international and federal relations representative. [...]
It’s not clear why Webb is trying to hide his ties to ALEC. In a PBS expose on ALEC influence in the Montana Legislature ”Brought to You by ALEC” a reporter tags along with Webb, Wittich, and other Montana legislators to a conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC.
The PBS expose includes some telling interviews with Webb, including at 7:05 minutes in, when Webb admits the bulk of ALEC’s revenue comes from corporate donors with a vested interest in the legislation they’re pushing. He says this doesn’t bother him in the least, because to him ALEC funding this is no different than businesses supporting Girl Scouts and Little League—two organizations that, I would point out, don’t make state laws.
At
Bold Nebraska,
Ben Gotschall writes—
Omaha and Lincoln Meetings to Discuss Fracking and Eminent Domain Bills:
Two very important bills will be coming up in the Nebraska Legislature next week, and farmers and citizens are working together to prepare testimony and share information. There are two upcoming action meetings (more information below) to educate and prepare citizens for engagement on these issues.
LB512: Regulate Fracking Wastewater Dumping in Nebraska
LB512, a bill to regulate the dumping of fracking wastewater in Nebraska, will be heard in front of the Natural Resources Committee at 1:30 in Room 1525.
Click Here to see a recent article about the wastewater dumping. The Scottsbluff and Sioux County boards have already submitted letters of opposition to the wastewater dumping. Earthquakes linked to fracking are also a concern that underground wastewater storage could be compromised and contaminate groundwater.
A petition calling on the Nebraska Oil and Gas Commission to reject the fracking wastewater well permit can be found at this link: http://act.boldnebraska.org/...
At
TxSharon's BlueDaze of Texas,
TxSharon writes—
Fracking Owns America:
Fracking influence controls the American government. From the federal level to the state level, fracking owns America and controls any science that might condemn their practices. Local government is the only hope families have of protection but there is an aggressive plan to take control of our local governments too. Questions about the safety of our water and air our health and our planet are at the mercy of academic scientists who are not immune to fracking influence and intimidation. [...]
The EPA is the top environmental enforcement agency in the U.S. but they cannot force frackers to cooperate with a study to find out what American water drinkers already know: fracking is poisoning our water.
The comprehensive study that started five years ago to determine if fracking contaminates water will not answer the question.
“We won’t know anything more in terms of real data than we did five years ago,” said Geoffrey Thyne, a geochemist and a member of the EPA’s 2011 Science Advisory Board, a group of independent scientists who reviewed the draft plan of the study. “This was supposed to be the gold standard. But they went through a long bureaucratic process of trying to develop a study that is not going to produce a meaningful result.” Can Fracking Pollute Drinking Water? Don’t Ask the EPA |
Industry influence has tainted the process and the frackers have refused to cooperate. Initially, Chesapeake and Range Resources were the only two frackers who volunteered for the study.