This week at 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. Here is the February 18 edition. Inclusion of a blog post does not necessarily indicate my agreement with—or endorsement of—its contents.
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Chris Savage at Eclectablog of Michigan writes—House Republicans crash and burn in attempt to decimate state budget with tax cut:
In the wee hours of the morning today after a marathon 12-hour session, House Republicans, led by House Speaker Tom Leonard, face-planted mightily in an effort to blow a $1.1 BILLION hole in the state budget by reducing the state income tax over the next four years. Their original salvo was to eliminate the state income tax altogether, an idea so ludicrous that they had to retreat to a less-outrageous-but-still-outrageous “fake concession“.
After cajoling the Republican caucus throughout the day but still unable to round up enough votes, I’m told Speaker Leonard resorted to threatening to reduce staff allotments, strip away committee chair positions, and taking away parking privileges for recalcitrant House members. Despite this, House Bill 4001 went down in flames on a 55-52 vote. Twelve Republicans voted with all but one member of the Democratic caucus, Rep. Scott Dianda from Calumet in the Upper Peninsula, to kill the odious legislation [...]
This is a major embarrassment for the new House Speaker. Leonard apparently thought he could bully his fellow Republicans into following him like lemmings over the cliff, taking the entire state with him. It’s good to know that there are at least some Republicans in Michigan who haven’t completely lost their minds.
DocHoc at Blue Oklahoma writes—Resistance:
The ongoing Oklahoma budget crisis, which now threatens the very viability of our public schools, was created by conservative ideology and basic malfeasance.
Let’s be clear: The Republican Political Party here has broken the state in ways that may well last for a generation or more. The state has cut funding to public education the most on a percentage basis of any state since 2008. It cut higher education funding last year by nearly 16 percent. Gov. Mary Fallin has refused to accept federal Medicaid expansion, leading to even more health problems in a state with terrible medical access. Conservatives fill up the state prisons while children’s stomachs remain empty.
All this is done under the flawed ideology of cutting taxes for rich people in the supposed belief the money will trickle down and create jobs and opportunities. That’s a big fat lie, perpetuated for decades by conservatives. I don’t think most conservative politicians here even believe it. I believe they just want to serve the rich so they can get campaign donations and get reelected.
desmoinesdem at Bleeding Heartland of Iowa writes—3,000 University of Iowa students will pay the price for Republican budget policies:
Three weeks after Governor Terry Branstad signed into law large mid-year budget cuts for Iowa’s state universities, some 3,015 incoming or current students at the University of Iowa learned that they will be picking up part of the tab.
The University of Iowa will receive at least $8 million less in state funding between now and June 30, and potentially a larger cut, after Branstad’s Department of Management Director David Roederer decides how to spread around an additional $11.5 million in “miscellaneous reductions.”
Earlier this month, University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld warned,
“Clearly a lot of our state support goes for residents of the state and helping them get here, and our student financial aid is going to have to take a major portion of that,” Harreld said. “When legislators decide to reduce money to us, by definition they are asking us to reconsider student financial aid.” […]
The university already includes language in its financial aid letters explaining to students that “if state support or budgetary issues change, we might have to reconsider your individual support,” he said.
On February 22, Harreld delivered the bad news in a letter enclosed in full below.
Multiple news reports referred to 2,440 students who will lose scholarships. According to university spokesperson Jeneane Beck, that number covers only resident undergraduates. Beck provided the following figures in parentheses to indicate how many students, including non-residents, will be affected by each of five scholarship programs being discontinued.
Juanita Jean Herownself at Juanita Jean’s of Texas writes—McCaul Would Build a Wall Except He Keeps Bumping Into It:
Texas Congressvarmint Mike McCaul, who got elected on his wife’s Clear Channel money, is the House Homeland Security Committee Chairman which scares the doodle outta me because he’s not the brightest light on the Christmas tree.
A year before Trump was elected McCaul called The Wall “kind of a simplistic” and a “knee-jerk response.” Most folks in Texas don’t want a wall, especially the construction, oil, food service, mechanical and agricultural owners, because they get rich on the backs of poor wages and working conditions provided to undocumented workers.
Trump gets elected and McCaul starts swimming for shore as fast as he can.
“We are going to build the wall. Period,” McCaul wrote in a Fox News op-ed. “In the process, I pledge to stand side-by-side with the Trump administration to throw out Obama’s reckless immigration policies and start enforcing our nation’s laws.”
After a whole damn month of Trump, McCaul reverses himself after a trip to the Texas border. [...]
He points out that there’s already a wall between San Diego and El Paso but not Texas. He now says that Texas needs a “multi-layered approach, using both infrastructure but also technology and personnel.”
Martha Jackovits at Beach Peanuts of Florida writes—Marco Rubio Flees The Country To Avoid Angry Voters Back Home:
[I]t makes perfect sense that a majority of the Republican's recess plans includes hiding from their voters, and no one in Florida should be surprised to hear that Marco Rubio is among the missing. Because just as word was getting out that Rubio would be accessible to their constituents, Little Marco suddenly had urgent business elsewhere and fled the interview all the way to Europe.
Rubio is away all week in France and Germany, according to his office."Senator Rubio is traveling overseas this week to attend multiple bilateral meetings with heads of state and senior government officials in Germany and France, two countries with upcoming elections who are facing concerns about Russian interference," Rubio's office explained.
Now, Rubio knew his constituents wanted to speak with him to voice their concerns, so along with fleeing the country to avoid them, he had a ready made excuse just in case they didn't buy the emergency jaunt to France and Germany: The pesky constituents themselves and a scary empty chair they planned to use at a town hall conducted without him that represented the MIA Rubio:
A frustrated Rubio staffer dismissed the empty-chair event as "not a true or constructive dialogue."
They have a point there. It is indeed hard to have a constructive dialogue with Rubio if he's never around, and he isn't. Floridans never see Marco. C
countrycat at Left in Alabama writes—AL-04 – Five Police Cars Respond To Senior Citizen “Assault” On Aderholt’s District Office:
A small group (9 people) of “Democratic anarchists” descended on Rep. Bob Aderholt’s district office yesterday. The canny intruders, armed with walkers and canes, moved slowly towards the building, planning to totally disrupt Aderholt’s office by sliding a letter under the door. Good thing the police arrived quickly!
The minute this little band of agitators maneuvered their walkers through the door, the building receptionist called police. Well darn. This must have been the biggest thing to happen in town in a long time: five police cars and a number of security officers responded.
This took place in the Tom Bevill building on the campus of the Northwest-Shoals Community College. Or did it? The group got several conflicting stories explaining their expulsion from the building:
- The building is “no longer” part of the campus.
- Campus police: “Students are in class” and the group “posed a threat.”
- The building is “private property.”
The irony of this happening in a building named after a beloved former Alabama Congressman who was always open and accessible will no doubt be lost on Aderholt and his staff. Or maybe not… you can always contact them and ask!
AZ Blue Meanie at Blog for Arizona writes—Rep. Martha McSally emerges from her chicken bunker, constituents let her have it:
Now you can understand why Rep. Martha McSally schedules private “town halls” before friendly constituencies (like her former employer Raytheon) and tele-town halls rather than public town halls where she gas to face constituents who show up and ask her “impertinent” questions that she does not want to answer.
Let’s take a look at how McSally’s town hall in the usually friendly confines of Sahuarita and moderated by editor Dan Shearer from the Green Valley News went yesterday.
The Arizona Republic reports, At tense town hall, Rep. Martha McSally faces calls of ‘Do your job!’: [...]
Many among the 250 people inside the afternoon event at the Good Shepherd United Church of Christ vented their simmering anger at President Donald Trump and called for her to rein in his agenda on issues such as health care, gun rights and immigration reform. [...]
For about 90 occasionally tense minutes, there was little sign of the close partisan division within McSally’s district. Instead, it was dominated by Democrats and liberals who called on her to serve as a check on the president.
I’m sorry, but how can this reporter know the voter registration of those in attendance? This is an editorial assumption by a reporter without supporting facts. There were just as likely unhappy Republicans in attendance as well.
Manny Goldstein at Blue Mass Group writes—So ... at what point should sane states secede?
Or at least try to secede?
It’s pretty clear that there are many badly-broken things in our country. Our federal government is run by nuts, kleptomaniacs, and sadists. Our health care and health care reimbursement systems are a bizarre joke. We’re the only industrialized country to not have paid leave for sickness, child birth, and vacation. Our wealthy pay taxes at an astonishingly low rate, and openly purchase our legislators and our laws.
And so forth.
And there is no body, on whole, that speaks for the 99%. There are a few in power who look to do the right thing, but both major political parties are far to the right of the average American on many issues – war, taxes, health care, Social Security, etc. They serve the 1%, not us, and many have made personal fortunes in doing so.
We are a stupid and savage nation.
At what point does make sense to throw in the towel, and let the Scheisskopfs engage in their lunatic games without sucking us into the bonfire? Perhaps sane states like Massachusetts can join up with Canada or others to finally move beyond the great sickness that’s taken hold, because I don’t see how this mess gets fixed in any reasonable amount of time, and without a terrible price.
Elaine in Roanoke at Blue Virginia writes—No, Roanoke Times, Attending Town Hall Meetings and Expressing Our Views Is Not “Theatrics”:
See below for my response to the editorial in the Roanoke Times on Feb. 23 (“Sorry, we don’t need town hall theatrics.”), which argued that activists – whether associated with “Indivisible” or on their own – swarming Republican town halls are engaged in useless “theatrics.”
Every person, no matter their politics viewpoint, should be angry at legislators who refuse to hold town hall meetings with constituents. There are many ways to assure that such meetings are done peacefully and respectfully. Rules about decorum and one person talking at a time are simple to enforce. However, to run away from the people who hired you is wrong and a reason for dismissal. What I mean is this: We the people elect representatives to be our voices in government, at every level of government. Our tax dollars pay the salary and benefits of those representatives. In other words, we are the employers, and they are our employees.
Haw anyone ever heard of a boss calling his/her employee in for a meeting and simply accepting that the employee says, “I won’t come”? Of course not. Have any of us refused to give requested information to our boss? Can you imagine what would happen to any one of us if we were that insubordinate? [...]
We may now have a system of governance that is bought and paid for by a small group of wealthy people who give large donations to politicians. (It’s called oligarchy.) The system also now allows legislators to pick their bosses through gerrymandered districts, at both the state and national level. Our system also lets legislators stay until they drop dead if they keep getting elected. This system will never change unless the bosses – the voters – realize that they have the ability to fire their representatives. Plus, we all have the right to speak to our elected officials. They need to pay deference to us, not the other way around. [...]
Oh, and by the way, not everyone at the town hall the newspaper so flippantly called “theatrics” was a “liberal.” They included people holding diverse opinions, even if most of them felt that Goodlatte refused to represent them and hear their concerns. Passivity never got anyone results, and no boss worth his/her salt would be passive in the face of such insubordination. To change things requires organization and action.
Cory Allen Heidelberger at Dakota Free Press writes—Despite Weak Sales Tax Revenues, South Dakota Led Nation in Q3 Economic Growth:
Your economic puzzle for the day comes from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which finds that, in the third quarter of 2016, South Dakota had the fastest growing economy in the nation:
So how does South Dakota grow its economy twice as fast as the national rate but still see limp sales tax revenues that undershoot last year’s budget projections by $55 million?
The problem, according to BEA data, is that our GDP gain is all relative. Our Q3 2016 GDP is actually down 0.3% from Q3 2015. We saw declines in GDP of 9.8% in Q1 and 1.0% in Q2, so as of Q3, we were still in the hole for the year.
Even with low crop prices, agriculture still generated 2.01 percentage points of our Q3 gain, followed by finance and insurance with 1.69 points, wholesale trade at 0.75, durable-goods manufacturing at 0.40, and government (ah, sweet government!) at 0.39. Real estate/rentals and educational services sandbagged us a bit, posting the only sector declines (0.12 and 0.02 points, respectively).
BP at Green Mountain Daily of Vermont writes—Hey, is it time to revisit Vermont’s ski resort leases yet?
The big news Tuesday in Vermont (thankfully nothing to do with Trump) was that AIG International will be selling their ski operations at Stowe Mountain to Vail Resorts Inc. for $50 million. It isn’t a complete break from Vermont for AIG which acquired Stowe in the 1940’s. Bloomberg news reports: “[AIG] will retain majority ownership of the base area, which includes a 312-room lodge, along with a country club and future development rights.”
After hearing the AIG/ Vail Resorts announcement several times today I recalled a January 2015 VT Auditor’s report. Auditor Doug Hoffer’s office released a report for the Agency of Natural Resources on state land leases to ski resorts that deserves a second glance from the powers that be.
The study, titled State Land Leases Boost Ski Industry, but Are Dated and Inconsistent, reported on long-term leases of valuable state land to Vermont ski resorts. The leases, some dating back as far as 1942, were designed to help the then-new and developing ski industry. Lease revenue to the state is based on a percentage of lift ticket sales; however, now a larger part of resort revenue is from other sources, such as hotels, water parks, golf, etc. State Auditor Hoffer: “Our review points to old lease terms that may not be suitable for today and questions whether taxpayers are receiving fair value for these spectacular public assets.”
Maybe some legislator or group of them could again marshal the courage as Senator Tim Ashe did in 2015 to suggest revisiting some of the sixty-plus-year-old bargain-basement leases.
John Michael Spinelli at Plunderbund of Ohio writes—Is Kasich Fake Newsing It Again?
Ohio mainstream media is all a twitter again, this time about John Kasich’s meeting Friday with Donald Trump at the White House. In the mystery of who invited who to this odd couple confab between a new president and a lame-duck governor who will wander off the political radar screen in less than two years, the mystery might not be a mystery if observable history is considered.
It’s indisputable that the Trump administration has a habit of lying even when it isn’t necessary. It is also true that that Gov. Kasich has been in Trump’s doghouse for a long time. Ohio’s petulant, self-inflated state CEO decided to challenge the Big Orange Machine by disrespecting the Donald in Cleveland, where the Republican National Committee held its nominating meeting. Kasich was a no-show even though Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, a Democrat, had the political commonsense to welcome Republicans to his city.
Adding salt to the wound between the collapsed Catholic boy from Pennsylvania and the New York City real estate billionaire, Ohio’s 69th governor then voted for a candidate who wasn’t on the presidential ballot in any state, Arizona Sen. John McCain.
In trying to figure out whether President Trump actually wanted to talk to Kasich, or whether Team Kasich badgered the White House for the meeting to keep hope alive that Mr. Kasich, who’s had a long and lucrative career as a political showman, has a political future after he leave office in less than two years, reporters need only look back to the news fakery foisted on the media that Trump asked Kasich to be vice president.