Just as states with progressive lawmakers and activists have themselves initiated innovative programs over a wide range of issues, state-based progressive blogs have helped provide us with a point of view, inside information and often an edgy voice that we just don't get from the traditional media. 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 Uppity Wisconsin, Jud Lounsbury writes—Ron Johnson: Skills gap? Nah ... it's a "willingness to work gap":
It's the classic chicken and the egg question: Did Wisconsin's job crisis come from lack of good jobs or is the problem that there simply aren't enough qualified people to fill the jobs?
Governor Scott Walker says "there are plenty of jobs," but suggests that most job applicants are hopped-up on drugs—a dream job is within their grasp, only to lose it when they fail the drug test.
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson chimed in last week and downplayed the notion of a skills gap, saying the problem was that people would rather sit home and collect unemployment: "I think it's more of a willingness to work gap."
At
Ohio Daily,
Anastasia Pantsios writes—
Hell Has Frozen Over. Plain Dealer Endorses Nina Turner:
Now obviously Nina Turner is the better person for the job of secretary of state. Jon Husted has spent his four years as secretary of state looking for ways to make things more difficult and confusing for voters, bringing court case after court case trying to limit voting opportunities. From his battle with voting rights champion Ed FitzGerald in 2011 over mailing out absentee ballot applications to voters, to his attempt to shut down voting the three days before the election in 2012, the busiest early voting days, to his successful attempt this year (his first court victory in numerous tries, thanks to the rightwing, voter-hating Citizens United U.S. Supreme Court) to delay early voting and ax the so-called "golden period," Husted has been a nightmare for voting rights.
But the Plain Dealer did ludicrously endorse feckless and corrupt attorney general Mike DeWine, Husted's partner in crime in attempting to limit voting.
Nina is a warrior for voting rights. As she has often said, she will fight for your right to vote against her. She has said that as secretary of state, she will use the office in any way she can think of to promote voting everywhere and anywhere, that her goal will be to astronomically increase voter participation. Wouldn't it be great to see a headline that said "Record Ohio voter turnout" instead of "Ohio voter turnout hits another low"?
This is so out of keeping with what I would expect from the Plain Dealer that I have a theory here, especially after reading the endorsement, which once again drags in the PD's pet cause, so-called "county government reform." and praises Nina for having "stood up to Democratic party insiders during the battle for Cuyahoga County reforms." They always love Democrats standing up to other Democrats, and in the polarized, heavily partisan battle over county "reform," the PD was beating the bushes for Democratic show ponies it could use to point to and say "See? It's bipartisan."
You can find more excerpts from progressive state blogs below the orange gerrymander.
At The Mudflats of Alaska, Jeanne Devon writes—Haters Sad. Don’t Understand Government:
Local purveyor of gay and uterine control, Jim Minnery of the Alaska Family Council, has taken to the emails again to vent his sadness and outrage about how the government works.
“Like a good soldier, Alaska District Court Judge Tim Burgess, fell right in line with the rest of the activist courts across the country and ruled yesterday that Article 1 Section 25 of our State Constitution defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman was unconstitutional.”
That’s right. That George W. Bush appointee, Tim Burgess, is a gay activist… just like every single other court that ruled restrictions placed on the gender of those getting married is unconstitutional. Every single doggone one. Activists ALL!
Does Minnery stop for a moment to wonder why it’s all the courts and judges who are the activists, and he is not? No, he does not stop to wonder about that because…. JESUS.
It’s not you Jim, it’s everyone else.
At
MN Progressive Project,
Eric Ferguson writes—
The importance of local races:
Before she was in Congress, Michele Bachmann was a state senator, and before that, pertinent to the title of this post, she was on her local school board. The fact I don’t have to explain who she is might demonstrate the importance of that one school board race.
It might appear at this point that the importance of local races is stopping crazy people from getting their start in elective office. Not that I’m saying everyone in local elective office is crazy. Just the Republicans. Yes, that’s an overgeneralization. Not all are Bachmann-wannabes. Local offices are, however, the primary bench for candidates for higher office. My impression, which I hope is wrong, is that Republicans are well aware of this while Democrats largely ignore local offices. I mean that in terms of turning out on election day, researching candidates prior to seeing their names on a ballot, and of course in actually running for office. It’s too late to do anything about the last one for 2014, but there’s still time for the first two. We concede these races to Republicans at our peril, as they get to build a bench of people with electoral office while us, not so much.
That’s without even thinking about how local officials do their jobs and affect our lives, apart from their future electoral possibilities. They don’t get national media coverage, much, but when they do, it highlights the effect they can have; the school board in Jefferson County, Colorado, for example. Think the Democrats and independents who skipped last year’s election regret it now? Know how often this happens and we never hear about it? Me neither.
And just to not overlook the obvious, Ferguson, MO: a mostly black and Democratic city, a mostly white and Republican city council, and really low turnout in local elections. Though not equally low across partisan and demographic groups. Think that might explain some things?
At
Louisiana Voice,
tomaswell writes—
Jindal’s latest accounting ploy bolsters disturbing perception that his administration is quickly mutating into ‘Enron East’:
When Jeff Skilling took over as President and Chief Operating Officer of Enron in June of 1990, he did so only after insisting that the company convert from conventional accounting principles to a method preferred by his former employer, McKinsey & Co.
In 2001, hedge fund manager Richard Grubman said to Skilling, “You are the only financial institution that can’t produce a balance sheet or cash flow statement with their earnings.” By October of that same year, Enron had begun its death spiral in a historic collapse that would pull the giant accounting firm Arthur Andersen down with it.
The key to Enron’s failure was the mark-to-market accounting method, where anticipated revenues and profits are entered into the company’s books before they are ever received. The system allowed Enron to conceal losses and to inflate profits for nearly 11 years before its house of cards came crashing down.
On Thursday (Oct. 8), nearly seven years into his administration, Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-Iowa, R-New Hampshire, R-Anywhere but Louisiana) rolled out a new accounting formula with an alarmingly familiar ring to it.
Jindal, like Skilling, is a McKinsey alumnus.
Commissioner of Administration/Surrogate Gov. Kristy Kreme Nichols announced that the state, instead of having a deficit of $141 million as claimed by State Treasurer John Kennedy, will suddenly have a surplus of $178.5 million, a gaping difference of $319.5 million.
Nichols did not reveal how the $178.5 million was arrived at but Kennedy said the administration is switching to a cash balance form of accounting instead of the modified accrual basis employed by state governments. “If we use the methodology we have always used,” he said, “we don’t have a surplus. We have a $141 million deficit.
At
HorseAsses.org of Seattle,
Goldy writes—
NRA, Eyman Shoot Blanks in Latest PDC Report:
Sometimes no news is big news, as was the case with Friday’s monthly PDC [Public Disclosure Commission] filing deadline for campaign contributions and expenditures. The National Rifle Association, potentially facing a momentous defeat at the polls, reported raising and spending absolutely nothing during the month of September in opposition to Initiative 594, which would impose background checks on all private gun sales. Assuming they’re actually obeying Washington’s campaign disclosure laws (and that’s merely an assumption), it sure does look like the NRA has turned tail and fled rather than shoot it out with I-594’s well-heeled backers.
Cowards.
As for professional initiative sponsor Tim Eyman, he’s never been one to run away from certain defeat—although that sort of boldness is easy for a guy who has only ever played with other people’s money. But what happens when the well runs dry? Irrelevance. As in the zero dollars raised in September for his yet to materialize statewide anti-minimum wage initiative.
Eyman had kicked off his campaign to personally profit from the minimum wage debate with a neat $50,000 each from two Seattle real estate baronesses, but has yet to raise another dime to toward the $1 million he says he needs to buy enough signatures to qualify his initiative by the end of the year. I suppose it’s possible that a deep-pocketed backer like, say, the International Franchise Association could dump in the necessary cash all at once. But why bother with Eyman? He’s just a middleman. And an expensive one at that.
At
Better Georgia,
Bryan Long writes—
Nathan Deal is struggling for re-election. Here's why:
Clarity.
With every candidate for Georgia’s top offices onstage at the Georgia National Fair this week, it’s clear to see why Nathan Deal is the odd man out.
Veteran AJC political reporter Jim Galloway participated in the debate and wrote about why Gov. Nathan Deal's rhetoric is off key:
“And suddenly, the reason behind Gov. Nathan Deal’s current struggle for re-election became self-evident.”
Every candidate for U.S. Senate and every candidate for Georgia Governor knows that we’re facing an economic crisis.
Every candidate except for Gov. Deal, that is.
Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians all see the crisis. But not Gov. Deal.
Instead, Gov. Deal insists we’re at the pinnacle and wants us all to believe this is the best we can do. His entire campaign is built on an award from a small circulation magazine and a top 10 list from a cable television show.
Gov. Deal’s campaign is struggling because Georgians are living every day with the economic mess he helped create and now ignores.
At
The Left Hook of San Jose,
The Left Hook writes—
The Valley Movement to Improve Wage Equity:
Sunnyvale is the latest municipality to boost the earning potential of its lowest paid workers. The City Council passed a $10.30 an hour minimum wage last night. The ordinance had been in the works for several months, and the final vote came closely on the heels of Mountain View which raised its minimum to the same level last week. Both cities used San Jose’s minimum wage ordinance with a tie to the Consumer Price Index as its model. The minimum wage will increase to $10.30 in San Jose and Sunnyvale in January, and Mountain View’s wage goes up next summer.
Progressive communities throughout Silicon Valley are seizing the initiative to improve wage equity: Pressure from a coalition of labor (SEIU-USWW) and community activists, saw a positive outcome when tech giant Google agreed to cut ties with is low-road, anti-union security contractor. Google is bringing the security guards once employed by SIS, Inc, into the Google folds directly.
Perhaps the biggest impact will come if Santa Clara County Supervisors pass an extraordinarily comprehensive Living Wage policy, currently under consideration. With Supervisors Ken Yeager and Dave Cortese leading the way, the Living Wage law could affect tens of thousands of employees who work for County contractors. The living wage ordinance includes more than just a wage standard, with elements addressing a fair work week, health and retirement benefits and a voice at work. Supes are poised to vote this fall on what would be the farthest-reaching ordinance of its kind in the country.
At
Blue Jersey,
Rosi Efthim writes—
UPSET ALERT: Roy Cho "within striking distance" of smug Tea Party favorite Scott Garrett:
Scott Garrett: He's been the worst in the New Jersey House delegation for years, a small-government 'conservative' ideologue who doesn't even serve as a sensible counter-balance to the most angry, stingy and poorly informed vectors in the Republican Party; rather he has become their darling. A Tea Party crazy with a vote in the House of Representatives.
That district—the 5th—has waited for years for the right candidate. It may have found him. Roy Cho, young, organized, articulate and well-funded, is just 5 points behind Garrett, according to the Monmouth University Poll. Among likely voters, Garrett is at 48%, with Cho coming up with momentum at 43%, with 6% still undecided, and just 3% for 3rd party candidate Mark D. Quick. Pollster Patrick Murray says "[t]his race was not even a blip on most political prognosticators' radar screens. And it should be now."
What's interesting is that Team Cho did this on their own, with a strong campaign structure and considerable grassroots support—but very little notice from the almighty DCCC. In New Jersey, only NJ3's Aimee Belgard made their resource-bonanza Red-to-Blue program, and only NJ2's Bill Hughes is on the Emerging Races List.
"Nobody was looking at this race. I think the Democrats should take a close look at this right now. It may be one of their one or two last pick-up opportunities."
- Pollster Patrick Murray in the Ledger
At
Capital & Main of California,
Gary Cohn writes—
Bay Area Cities Set Sights on Raising Their Minimum Wage:
The growing nationwide movement by cities and counties to raise the minimum wage is currently centered here in the Bay Area, and its success couldn’t be more urgent for workers like John Jones III.
Jones, 40, is a licensed aircraft mechanic but works as a Burger King security guard in downtown Oakland, making $10 an hour—$1 more than California’s minimum wage. His life is a series of financial challenges and daily indignities as he struggles to support his wife D’Nita, his 12-year-old son Kai and his newborn boy, Josiah.
To take a shower in his apartment, Jones has to use pliers to turn on the water because the knobs are broken. He can’t complain to his landlord because he’s behind on the rent. When his family runs out of toilet paper, Jones cuts paper towels into quarters to save a few bucks. He covers the windows in his bedroom with blankets because he can’t afford curtains. To cut down on the water bill, he and his wife only wash their dishes every three or four days. And in the past several months, he’d often skipped meals so that his pregnant wife had enough to eat.
“The idea that people have to live like this in America, in the Bay Area no less,” is disheartening, says the six-foot-two-inch Jones, who still looks like the local high school basketball player he once was. He speaks without a scintilla of bitterness and says that the worst aspect of his job is “the disrespect—when you hear ‘minimum wage worker,’ most people think of teenagers or people who are losers. We’re vilified. People come in with the attitude that ‘You guys are losers’.”
“That stings,” says Jones, who sometimes washes down the sidewalk outside the Burger King and cleans tables inside the restaurant, in addition to his security duties. “People look at us like we are next to nothing. We are just people who are trying to provide for our families.”
At
South Dakota Madville Times,
caheidelberger writes—
Weiland Flies Progressive Colors in Rotary Forum:
The Sioux Falls Rotary Club held a Senate candidates' forum yesterday, and everyone showed up, even GOP front-slumper Mike Rounds, who asserted that he hadn't planned to attend but was freed up because the Rosebud Sioux Tribe disinvited him from a Native American Day event over his support for Keystone XL.
Nationally buzzworthy Democrat Rick Weiland fearlessly flew his anti-Keystone XL flag and other progressive colors. Asked by Rotary moderator Jack Marsh whether we should build or block the Canadian tar sands pipeline, Weiland looked Sioux Falls' grey-haired dons of business in the eye and said Keystone XL is an export pipeline that offers no jobs and no energy for the U.S. He said Keystone XL backers like Rounds have resorted to the "relieve the rails" argument because they've lost the jobs and energy arguments. And for good measure, Weiland dismissed that new argument, saying Keystone XL won't get Bakken oil off the rails because Bakken producers want the flexibility to put their products on trains. Weiland got back-up from Independent Larry Pressler, who said he wants more pipelines to move North Dakota oil but that Keystone XL won't do that.
Weiland happily painted himself progressive in other statements. In his opening bio, Weiland emphasized his work for Tom Daschle as staffer and for Bill Clinton as regional FEMA director. On a question about role models, Weiland agreed with Pressler on Teddy Roosevelt's awesomnimnity, then declared Franklin D. Roosevelt a "phenomenal" president for creating the modern social safety net.
Rounds tried to sound a little progressive on the minimum wage, saying he supports reviewing the minimum wage every year to consider a raise based on market factors. Weiland still took Rounds to the woodshed, saying that our pending ballot measure to raise the minimum wage to $8.50, with automatic yearly inflation adjustments, is a good idea and that it beats the tedious yearly battles Rounds's plan would bring.
At
Juanita Jean's of Texas,
Juanita Jean writes—
David Hamilton: Wants To Be a State Representative. Likes to Bruise Women:
The last damn thing we need in Texas is another woman-hating bully in the Texas House of Representatives.
We have a guy running for the state house from my county. He’s a Republican. David Hamilton claims that he was arrested in Kentucky, but it’s just political. He likes to protest at women’s health clinics.
During one such stint outside a clinic in Kentucky in 2009, Hamilton said he was arrested for disorderly conduct after he attempted to get around a counter-protester. The charges were later dropped. The following year, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sued him for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act—a case that was settled in 2013.
Settled? Really?
I like his language of “getting around” a counter-protestor. First, it was not a counter-protestor. It was a clinic escort. Women attempting to enter this Lexington, Kentucky, clinic were so horribly harassed that other women volunteered to escort them into the clinic to keep men who are 6 foot 6 inches tall, like David Hamiliton is, from screaming at them and attempting to use their bodies to block women from entering the clinic.
Hamilton’s “getting around” the escort meant that he physically attacked her and left a bruise.