Subscribe to the Tea Party RSS feed
Archive
A few years ago, New York Times columnist David Brooks came to my alma mater,
So, when I saw he wrote a recent column, “Reviving the Hamilton Agenda,” favoring stronger government and fewer free market solutions, I was disappointed. This has nothing to do with his journalism speech, of course, but it’s just definitely not the Hillsdale way of thinking.
Granted, I have a bit of a bias for Sam Adams (as opposed to Alexander Hamilton), but most importantly, for personal freedom, limited government, and the free market—so it’s no surprise that I’m disgusted by the idea that the government should be doing more.
John Stossel wrote a great response to Brooks’ column—read it here.
Our very own John Tsarpalas talked about political alliances at the NTU conference in D.C. two weeks ago.
"We have to keep in mind--keep in the back of our minds all of the time--that we can't do this alone," said Tsarpalas about the need to build teams of people and groups in order to make political change happen.
Check it out in this video...
Well, look no further than the Lansing State Journal, who—to no small amount of flak—has provided a salary search for employees of the state.
Here are a few, just to whet your appetite:
Governor Jennifer Granholm: $177,000 plus a $60,000 expense account
Attorney General Mike Cox: $124,900
Supreme Court justices: $164,610
Hailing from Ohio, I've seen firsthand the utter incompetence of the Ohio political class. Now here's yet another story that merely reinforces this view.
The Ohio House of Representatives has voted against allowing on the ballot a constitutional amendment that would have protected property owners from eminent domain abuse, denying citizens a voice and putting property rights in jeopardy.
The House did overwhelmingly pass a bill that placed restrictions on the power of state and local governments to use eminent domain for private economic development. Unfortunately, the bill is nothing but a paper tiger, as it contains one huge loophole. Because the Ohio Constitution grants "home rule" to cities, the new regulations will not apply to them, allowing municipal governments to continue to abuse eminent domain and infringe on the rights of their citizens. The proposed amendment would have closed this loophole by extending the restrictions to municipal governments as well.
Opponents of the amendment said that it would put undue limitations on "cities' efforts at urban redevelopment." But what about the 'undue limitations' the state legislature has put on Ohioans' right to voice their opinion? Or the 'undue limitations' they're essentially putting on the right to private property?
Gee, who would have thunk it?
The folks at the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party blog are upset that a state-based blogger has come back into the public eye, and is on the forefront of the effort to suggest that maybe, just maybe, ND school boards should have to publish a database of their financial records. Brett Norlach--the offending blogger and executive director of the North Dakota Policy Council--has authored a report detailing a new program called Sunshine on Schools. It reads:
"...[T]he North Dakota Policy Council has put together a string of ideas to help make [examining school budgets and spending] more open, called Sunshine on Schools. Because understanding how schools are spending money is essential to understanding how much money they actually need, more people need to gain that understanding."
Brett and his group go on to suggest that ND schools use the Web to make their information more accessible to the general public:
"Schools should be required to set up a website that has detailed budget information. Not only should school have to clearly state point out where they are getting their money from and how much, but they should also have to include very detailed things such as how much money they spent on popcorn kernels that are sold at basketball games."
I recommend reading the entire report and finding out why state Democrats--or at least their bloggers--are so averse to the idea. Make a comment or two on their blog.
(By the way: It's not just the Dems who are against these types of programs. Many state GOP organizations are just as opposed to sunshine, and I won't hesitate to point them out either.)
Special interests' "property rights bill" is up for a hearing next week. Write your assemblymember today to tell them not to vote for this fake "reform."
I've written about this before, but this is for real now, folks. The California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights is urging all Californians to get in touch with their state legislator, and the chairman of the judiciary committee to tell them that ACA 8 is a bad bill and does not protect all Californians' property rights.
Write and fax the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Assemblyman Dave Jones today at fax 916.319.2150.
Write your State Legislator by clicking here.
And for that matter, what is a "referendum," and how can citizens use these tools to make for a better government?
I went to Paul Jacob's talk on the initiative and referendum process (or "I&R" as the pros call it) last week at the NTU conference in DC, and thought that he delivered a good explanation as to why these methods are so important.
Check out part one of his talk here, and check out the Sam Adams Alliance's new YouTube channel to watch the other two parts, as well as a video of our political director talking about how to build political alliances.
It's great when it works...and extra-fun when it doesn't.
You may have noticed that we've been having website problems today. Things should be straightened out now (or soon, depending on your internet service provider), so our apologies for the sporadic nature of our web presence today.
In other news, Fraley at Fraley's Daily Takes is investigating Mikwaukee (WI) County board members and what they actually do all day, but he can't quite get them to supply him with any information, even a calendar of what they have planned.
Sounds interesting.
Click here to check out the latest from his search.
In fact,
I probably don't need to tell you who will be charged with funding these pensions, however: Oklahoma taxpayers.
Click here to read the whole story, which includes suggestions for reform from a research fellow at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.
Apparently the adage that "everything's bigger in Texas" applies to the state's budget as well. Speaker Tom Craddick, desperate to cling to power after a bipartisan effort to remove him from his post, has rewarded his allies in the Texas House of Representatives with millions of taxpayer dollars for various pet projects. The total? An estimated $176 million.
Among the most egregious examples of pork included in the budget is a $600,000 grant for renovations to a local park. The money was requested by Rep. Sylvester Turner, a Democrat who helped the Republican speaker remain in power. The park's name - Sylvester Turner Park.
Lawmakers had planned to set aside $4 billion of the budget's $14 billion surplus for future property tax relief. But thanks in large part to the Speaker's generosity to his political friends, this has now been reduced to $2.5 billion. Craddick gets to keep his job, but millions of Texans now have to pay the price.
Samployees are sharp dressers, but we dressed up extra-nice to make this little video highlighting the SAA's upcoming appearance at FreedomFest, Las Vegas.
FreedomFest is where Sam won freedom...and so can you. Paul Jacob's going to be there, too, so don't miss it. Click here for more information.
Updating an item previously mentioned on the world-famous Sam Adams Alliance blog, Mike Reitz and Lynn Harsh answer questions about the Evergreen Freedom Foundation's recent Supreme Court victory in this video.
The unanimous ruling, which was in the case Davenport v. Washington Education Association, requires unions to get permission before spending the dues of nonmembers on their political agenda.
The EFF does great work and this video explains where they will go from here.
Kimberly Strassel has a great piece in the Wall Street Journal today, expressing exactly what we're promoting here at the Sam Adams Alliance—"local action, national impact."
"Even as Washington has fiddled on earmarks—delaying, obfuscating and basically doing all it can to avoid enacting real reform—a transparency movement has been sweeping the nation. Angry over Alaskan Bridges to Nowhere, and frustrated by the lack of willpower in the nation's capital, small-government activists have turned their attention to the states. If ever Washington lagged behind a movement, this is it."
Read the whole story here.What should a vigilant citizen do when they suspect their members of their local or state government are overstepping their boundaries? They should file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of course. By submitting a FOIA request to obtain documents and records citizens are able to show they care about what goes on in their government, and will not stand for government officials abusing their power. Citizens that file FOIA requests hold their government accountable.
Filing a FOIA request is just what the Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government (CCEG) group did to examine events that occurred in the Secretary of States office in conjunction with the offices' Elections Technology Manager that could be in violation of state statute. By filing such a FOIA request CCEG showed that they found it essential to make sure the Colorado government was not overstepping its boundaries.
Whether the FOIA request returns any leads to the inquiry in the Colorado Secretary of State's office, groups like CCEG are crucial in creating good, clean, accountable government. A government that knows it's being watched by its citizens is a government that will undeniably work much harder for its citizens than one that is not. So just like CCEG, file a FOIA request, and keep your government accountable to you!
Read more about the issue in Colorado here.
A short time ago in a state very, very nearby...
The Michigan Taxpayers Alliance defeated a scheme by Governor Jennifer Granholm to raise the personal income tax rate by a whopping 15%. They've put together this little retrospective to show how everything went down.
We've written about this group and its leader Leon Drolet in the past. Keep an eye on them...they're doing great work.
DC's debt is out of control, so the city's CFO is suggesting that it not borrow more money to build that brand-new soccer stadium.
The Washington Post reports today:
D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi, alarmed at the city government's high rate of borrowing, has recommended establishing a limit that could curtail the District's ability to take on new publicly financed projects such as a recently proposed professional soccer stadium or a new central library.
I have a thing against government being involved whatsoever with sports, and especially multi-million dollar arenas. When taxpayers' money is spent on corporate welfare that serves, in essence, to distract people from paying attention to what their political leaders are doing...well, that just doesn't jive for me.
Also interesting in the report is this: The District has the highest debt per capita of any major municipality in the nation: $10,429 per person, according to Gandhi's letter.
Nice.
Last week, taxpayers joined together for a rally in
What do you do if you’re desperately trying to reach a budget agreement in a state with a huge deficit and billions of dollars of debt? If you’re Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, apparently the answer is to waste tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on unnecessary air travel.
From May 22 to June 7 Blagojevich spent nearly $76,000 of taxpayer dollars on daily flights between his home in Chicago and the state capital, Springfield, where budget negotiations are taking place. Instead of staying in the (taxpayer funded) Executive Mansion during the week, Blagojevich flew back to Chicago after each day of negotiations. Apparently he "prefers to go home at the end of each day." I'm sure taxpayers would prefer their money be spent more appropriately.
It’s been three weeks since the May 31 deadline for budget approval passed. Negotiations, so far fruitless, continue. So do the flights, and Blagojevich’s unjustifiable waste of taxpayer dollars.
If public employees are paid handsomely with taxpayer money—including generous health and pension benefits—what's the next step?
Well, if you're the Delaware State Senate, you pass a bill giving the state's public employees collective bargaining power—and increasing the budget by $20 to $30 million each year. In short, it "will make
And who gets the bill?
Go ahead. Send a message to your rep: local, state or national. What kind of response do you expect...and what kind of response do you actually get?
If the politician (and his or her office) is smart, the message will be cordial, but they very rarely spell it out that they really don't wish to hear from you any more.
My U.S. House representative, Jan Schakowsky, includes in every e-mail reply a line that I find particularly interesting:
"Thank you for taking the time to get in touch and share your views with me. If you are a resident of the 9th Congressional District and have included your address, I will get back to you shortly. You don't need to do anything else."
Oh, really? Do I not need to do anything else, or do you not want for me to do anything else?
Very interesting. A sign of the times, I guess, but when was the last time you told your boss that he or she didn't "have to do anything else" after they made a request?
What kind of responses have you gotten when getting in touch with your various levels of representative? Add a comment to this blog post to let me know.
We have some really great friends at the National Taxpayers Union and in its network, and as usual, Sam was represented well.
The National Taxpayers Conference ran from Friday through Saturday in DC, and had a great time. It's great to be able to get together with old friends and to meet new colleagues at these sorts of events. I even got a chance to pay a visit by my congresswoman's office to talk to her--Rep. Jan Schakowsky--about why she should support the FairTax. (There's a bit more work to do there, though).
As usual, the Sam Adams crew got to hand out bobbleheads, eat too many sweets, and even got a chance to go to the spy museum. (It's overrated.)
Eric (our CEO) spoke at dinner and explained to the various groups what the Sam Adams Alliance is about and where we're headed.
Come back tomorrow morning for a more extensive recap of our trip to DC (and Eric's speech), and soon after that for videos of our folks' various presentations.
When the U.S. Supreme Court sanctioned eminent domain abuse with their Kelo decision, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor warned that eminent domain abuse would be used "to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more."
O'Connor's words were justified—because in National City, California, that's exactly what's happening. The city is attempting to take a gym for inner-city kids with eminent domain under the pretense of "removing blight."
The city wasn't expecting the Institute for Justice to come to the aid of the property owners, however. Look out, bureaucrats—they're not going anywhere without a fight.
What do you do when the mayor says you must cut spending and you just can’t quite make ends meet?
Well, send back the two flat-screen TVs you ordered on the taxpayer dime, of course.
Ever wonder how Paul Jacob got his start in politics? Hear it from the source on a radio program that aired earlier today.
I had the pleasure of meeting David Strom of the MN Taxpayers' League this past weekend at the NTU conference in DC, and Paul Jacob--our esteemed Senior Advisor and all around great guy here at Sam Adams--had the pleasure of being on David's show today.
You can catch a replay here at Townhall.com. Paul's part begins at around 14 minutes into the show when David says that Paul is "one of [his] all-time favorite taxpayer advocates."
Hear, hear!
Citizen access to government is on the verge of drastic deterioration in Louisiana where the state legislature is close to passing two separate bills, H.B. 964 and H.B. 841, designed to drastically limit what the public would be able to review.
In 2002 Louisiana ranked in the top five of states allowing public access to records. Why then have Louisiana legislators been trying since 2002 to limit public review? I'm not sure, but it sure must have been unappealing to be ranked near the top in terms of government transparency. H.B. 964 and H.B. 841 will only continue this slide from top to bottom for Louisiana creating darkness where there once was light for public review of government healthcare improvement corporations and the Louisiana Airport Authority respectively.
I sure hope the citizens of Louisiana speak up against these attacks on government transparency, or else Louisiana is soon going to be one dark place without the sunshine of public review.
Read more about H.B. 964 and H.B. 841, and what they mean to Louisiana here.
This is the message that the Supreme Court in a 9-0 ruling sent to labor unions when they want to spend the money of nonmembers who are paying mandatory dues. According to Lynn Harsh of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF):
The recent 9-0 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court (Davenport v. Washington Education Association) is a powerful rejection of the Washington state Supreme Court's argument that the union's rights are violated by a requirement that they ask first before taking employees' money for politics.
The work is hardly done, however, as the EFF views this victory as an important first step towards their major goal of completely voluntary unionism.
Union bosses hoping to continue using member dues for partisan political purposes got some disappointing news yesterday: a
For people outraged that their fees are being spent to support political candidates and issues they don’t support, however, this is very good news.
I don’t know about you, but I know whose side I’m on.
And I'm back from Arizona! I had a great time on my recent journey to the southwest; highlights included meeting lots of new people, hikes, learning, pools, and a failed attempt to climb a mountain...in flip-flops. :)
One good thing: even though I had a margarita or two here and there, at no point did I drink enough to hit the dance floor. That's a good thing, because my dance moves are more Bozo than Shakira. Unfortunately, there's another good reason I resisted the urge to do the shopping cart: because apparently, in parts of Arizona, it's actually illegal to get your boogy on.
The Institute for Justice is on the case - with their expert legal help, hopefully, the beat will go on.
New Jersey bureaucrats who use eminent domain liberally to facilitate private development received a blow yesterday: the state Supreme Court handed down a unanimous ruling stating "that for land to be taken against the owner’s wishes it must be 'blighted' and not merely 'not fully productive.'"
"The New Jersey Constitution does not permit government redevelopment of private property solely because the property is not used in an optimal manner," Chief Justice James R. Zazzali wrote.
As we've seen in many cases, true blight requirements can be blatantly ignored by greedy bureaucrats hell-bent on more tax dollars, but this is certainly a step in the right direction.
Click here to read more.
That's the question that one Montanan named Steve Daines has posed, and has taken Governor Schweitzer's absence as an opportunity to propose a common sense plan for revitalizing the state.
Daines's site--GiveItBack.com --advocates that the state government do something sensible with the $1 billion surplus that it has: give it back to the voters.
There are rumors that Daines might be considering running for governor. Let's hope...
Americans for Prosperity’s “Mystery Pork Tour” has made a stop nearby, and MyFoxChicago has the scoop. Click here to take action and tell
John Stossel'd, that is, in a piece online today about the victory of private property rights over a city that wanted to take them away.
You might remember the case of International Plaza in Arlington Heights and how city officials were planning to condemn the place and give the land to Target. Well, the community won against the city as Stossel writes in today's column:
Five years ago, the Village trustees declared the International Plaza shopping center and other properties blighted, setting the stage for condemnation under eminent domain. The business owners who were to lose their stores fought the "blight" designation in court but failed.
Yet they didn't give up. They and their supporters held protests at trustee meetings. They were aided by the Sam Adams Alliance and Foundation, which launched a letter, telephone and flyer campaign that threatened to boycott Target if the company went through with its plan to occupy property seized by the government.
When the Tucson City Council drafted a $1.25 billion budget (a 14 percent raise from last year) they didn’t seem to give much thought to the taxpayers who will be funding it—and whose household budgets likely didn’t increase by 14 percent in the last year.
The Council is set to adopt the budget tonight, but the Tucson Citizen hopes taxpayers will speak up—and that the Council will listen.
Kudos to the Tucson Citizen for standing up for taxpayers, and encouraging them to take action.
The NTU is having their biannual conference in DC later this week, and I'll be there, ready and armed to deal with the throngs of folks demanding Sam Adams bobbleheads.
Alright, I'll refrain from making too much hay about our miniature Sam Adamses, but seriously, they are pretty cool. Mine sits right next to my Neal Boortz and Fry (of Futurama fame) bobbleheads on my desk.
But wait, there's more! Our very own Paul Jacob will be leading a breakout session, and our political guru John Tsarpalas will participate in a panel discussion and take YOUR questions.
I'll have pictures from the shindig next week, so check back then to take a look at the show that we put on when we're on the road.
Michigan has seen better days. Its economy is floundering and families and businesses alike are fleeing the state for a more promising economic climate elsewhere. In short, life is rough.
It’s not quite as rough, however, for public employees, who not only still have jobs, but are also receiving pretty generous job benefits. In fact, according to a Detroit News editorial today, "the rising burden of pension and health care costs for public employees, including teachers, is responsible for the lion's share of the structural deficit for both the state and local communities."
In fact, in one county, school districts spend about $20,000 per employee on benefits.
Your tax dollars at work, Michiganders.
In 2005 the US Supreme Court handed down the Kelo decision, which essentially culminated the proceedings of several state and federal courts. This decision virtually rewrote the takings clause of the US and Texas Constitutions by stating that personal private property is not a right ensured by the United States, but rather a privilege granted by the state on its own terms!
What? I thought personal property was an inalienable right protected exclusively by the 5th and 14th amendments of the US Constitution. Why then would the US Supreme Court come down with such a decision? I don't know, and the Texas state legislature doesn't seem to know either. That's why they passed House Bill 2006 to rewrite the law on what private personal property is in Texas. They are trying to protect the inalienable right of personal private property in Texas, but they need your help!
Texas Governor Rick Perry must sign off on the bill in order for it to become law. He is facing immense pressure from peers in government to veto the law. It is essential all those in favor of keeping their property rights to contact Governor Perry and tell him to sign HB2006 and to keep the government's hands off their rights!
So what does a Louisiana state auditor do when presented with more than 700 pages of evidence of spending fraud at a local airport? He tells concerned citizens to get lost.
Last week, citizens and officials in Lafayette, LA had their request for a for a forensic audit of their local airport's expenses denied by a state auditor who cited high costs as his reason. (Nevermind the high costs associated with the fraud that he was asked to investigate. Isn't that sort of an auditor's job?)
Locals had determined a pattern of fraud and waste at the airport over such expenses as meals, airfare and perks for spouses. The bottom line is that it looks like a pretty sweet deal to work at this airport...too sweet.
The bottom line is that the information submitted to the legislative auditor and other officials justified more than a cursory scan and some gentle recommendations. The possible expenditure of public money with no apparent benefit to the people is a serious matter. The hard work of the citizens involved showed commendable concern for government transparency and accountability. Louisiana needs such citizen action.
The article suggests that this incident is likely to dishearten people who may have been motivated to request and research public records in efforts to advance accountable and transparent government. I disagree. If I were in Lafayette, I would be so angry right now with those officials who are supposed to be working in my interest that I would press them even harder on getting some results.
Stay tuned...
Down with companies cutting in on state tax revenues!
Bureaucrats just can’t seem to sit still knowing they haven’t maximized tax profits. In
Nevertheless, Borgeson’s protest set off many skewed campaigns to sabotage the manufacturing companies. And at least in the case of Spykes, Anheuser-Busch’s venture into the hard liquor market, these campaigns have proved successful. The late-May discontinuation of Spykes, which admits to folding under pressure from protesting groups, demonstrates the lengths state governments are willing to go to make sure they max out on tax revenues.
Last week in this blog we posted about an organization called TrinityVote in
TrinityVote has been out collecting the necessary 50,000 signatures before the June 29th deadline to get the referendum on the ballot, but recently city hall has hired “blockers” to delay the effort. These blockers are doing everything they can to deter citizens from signing the referendum proposal; this isn’t even the actual vote to decide on the fate of the toll way though, this is just to bring the issue to a vote. If the
Remember when Clinton asked what the definition of "is " was?
The Michigan Supreme Court may not be that bad, but they did find a way to twist the definition of the word "preliminary" to again reduce the scope of the Freedom of Information Act in the state of Michigan.
The state Legislature can do something about it, according the Lansing State Journal:
The Legislature, if it really has its act together, would not only close FOIA loopholes widened by the court, but also move to the ballot a measure to incorporate FOIA into the Michigan Constitution. This would provide more protection of the public's right to know from political attack - be it from an executive branch functionary or a member of the bench.
The State Supreme Court certainly won't stand up for FOIA-they even want all their correspondence and discussions about their cases to remain confidential.
And most states still have a lot to do in terms of strengthening private property rights.
The California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights (yeah that's a bit of a mouthful) issued an e-mail update today that brought to my attention a new initiative by the Castle Coalition to grade states on how they've moved to protect property rights since the 2005 Kelo v. New London case.
Some snippets:
• California gets a D-
• Illinois gets a D+
• Florida gets an A
Look up your state's grade here.
I stumbled across the website of an interesting organization today—Common Cause, which strives to hold those in power accountable. With nearly 300,000 members and 36 state organizations, Common Cause has been working for more than 30 years to make citizen voices heard in the political process and to hold elected leaders accountable to the public.
Check out their website to learn more about their efforts—and if they have an organization in your state, get involved!
Despite having an estimate seatbelt usage rate of 94 percent (the highest in the nation and 13 percent above the national average) the state of Washington is now taking Click-It or Ticket to the nighttime as well.
In a letter to the Seattle Times, Russ Lauron of Everett, WA, writes, "Why don't we ticket everyone on a motorcycle or driving a school bus?"
And in a completely unrelated note, Big Macs are still legal after sundown. The debate on the legality of Whoppers is still ongoing.
Do you remember when you were young and you went to visit grandma? Do you remember how every time, before you left, grandma would give you $5 and tell you to “buy something nice” or “save it for college” or some other pearl of wisdom? She never cared about your grades or if you were a good kid, she still gave you the $5.
Well, now it seems Congress has the same idea in mind. There is a bill under consideration which would give all federal employees a 3.5% raise next year. Now, we here at Sam Adams are not opposed to government workers getting a raise, we just think they should earn it. Instead of handing out money to every person that just happens to show up day to day, why not employ performance reviews to ensure that it is only deserving workers that will receive a raise?
The government is taking your tax dollars and doling them out to all federal employees, good or bad. At least when grandma gave you the $5 it came out of her own purse.
And, sadly, score one for Lone Star State secrecy, thanks to the efforts of the Texas education unions. A "dramatic" session of the Texas Legislature closed late last month, and the vast majority of bills dealing with government transparency have been left unpassed. A few, however, will make their way to the governor's desk, including bills making it illegal for tax appraisal boards to hold secret meetings. A Citizen Watchdog column at the Dallas Morning News has more: Another, still awaiting a signature, would create a searchable database of state expenditures. Under the bill, the database must allow users to "ascertain through a single search the total amount of state funding awarded to a person by a state agency," among other requirements. Like I said, the news isn't all good: Similar bills that would have shed light on school district business never made it to the governor's desk. One bill called for districts to post check registers online. Another would have required release of the names for school superintendent candidates. That bill was opposed by the Texas Association of School Administrators and the Texas Association of School Boards. Go figure. When will people realize that educational unions aren't advocating for anyone other than their own paychecks and job security?
WikiFOIA, of course! "Wiki" actually means "quick" in the Hawaiian language, and a wiki website is one where anyone can add, edit and delete information. It's the new people-driven web at its best.
The first thing that strikes me about the name of this site is how ironic it is. It's true that the information on the site moves and evolves quickly, but I think of a FOIA or public records request itself as being anything but speedy.
Sara Key of the Lucy Burns Institute runs WikiFOIA along with any other person who has something to add to the discussion. She tells me of some of her reservations that she's had to overcome in order to be such a strong open records advocate:
"Even though I’ve been active in open records advocacy for a long time, it still sometimes feels naughty to look at other people's communications and documents. You just have to remember that you’re entitled to them; remember that it’s allowed; and that it’s the law. You shouldn’t feel bad about it."
If you haven't yet visited this site and you have a hankering for information on public records, stop over and give their collaborative site a whirl.
And keep an eye out next Friday for a featured story on Sara and WikiFOIA on this very same website.
What happens to a politician in Milwaukee who violates their power and citizens petition successfully to recall that person? Nothing, apparently.
Petitioners in Milwaukee met every statutory requirement to have Milwaukee City Alderman Michael McGee recalled for soliciting bribes from business owners in exchange for help in getting or keeping liquor licenses. In addition, he is also being recalled for several other reasons including perjury, fraudulent use of aliases, and suspected threats. Following the petition, no legal procedure by either the Milwaukee Election Commission or the State Elections Board (SEB) could decertify the petition.
Yet, the SEB somehow voted to decertify the petition and postpone indefinitely any recall election. How did the SEB do this? Well, by violating a handful of state statutes and creating a loophole. This loophole makes it so any politician can disqualify a certified recall-regardless of how closely the petitioners have followed the law or the number of signatures collected.
What kind of message does this send to politicians? More importantly, what kind of message does something like this send to voters? Click here to learn more about the tyranny in Milwaukee.
If you were a member of The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) you chose to spend $409,103 on the latter. For 19 months, the state student aid agency fought in court to hide the fact that they spent $800,000 on retreats to luxury resorts. That money could have been spent on 102 $4,000 scholarships for students to attend higher education. The only reason why we know about this spending is because Jan Murphy with the Patriot News filed a FOIA request. However, all that came of this original attempt was the PHEAA’s refusal to disclose public information to the public. They continued to refuse to disclose the information for as long as possible, leading to a mountain of legal bills, all adding up to $409,103 – financed by the taxpayers.
John Kirkpatrick, editor and publisher of The Patriot-News stated, “PHEAA's decision to fight any and all attempts at giving the public a look at how it was spending public money produced only one clear winner: the attorneys on all sides of the issue.”
When I ask myself who should be benefiting from the use of public funds, I answer with public. What about you?
What is even scarier is to think of how that public money would have been spent—and continued to be spent—without the courage of a few citizens to hold their government accountable. Click here to learn more about how members of this state financial aid organization decided to waste public money.
When 22 employees of the Berkeley city house authority were caught abusing taxpayer dollars, the city council did what any reasonable employer would do: they fired them.
However, because 14 of those employees were protected by unions, they couldn't be fired. Instead, those employees were transferred to other departments.
We can only hope that they don't touch money in their new roles. Click here for the full story.
Government workers in Lorain, Ohio have it pretty easy—thanks to taxpayers.
About 30 top city managers are now rewarded for just plain showing up to the office: using fewer than nine sick days results in 8 hours of bonus pay, fewer than six earns 16 hours of bonus pay, and fewer than three results in three days of bonus pay.
"When will the City Hall crowd finally understand that the public wants Lorain's government run like a business? In real business, top managers are expected to work without needing a sweet bonus to lure them to the office. But city management apparently isn't part of the real world."
Kudos to The Morning Journal for speaking out against this "ripoff of taxpayer funds."Terrorism in
Apparently so declares the state’s Deputy Director of the Department of Labor and Economic Growth, Andy Levin, describing present
For a state whose unemployment rate is at 7.1%, higher than any other state, it’s no wonder such a move is considered outrageous. Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saulius Anuzis is even calling on Governor Jennifer Granholm to remove Levin from office.
Her silence, though, leads to only one conclusion, she agrees with Levin's absurd assertions of terrorism. Right Michigan has the correct idea: “Bad enough this governor's chosen to appoint friends and political cronies to high-paying government jobs in the first place but to continue to demand zero accountability? It's no wonder we lost another 4,000 jobs in April and have the nation's highest unemployment rate at 7.1%....Where exactly does the buck stop?”
Last week, the US House passed a bill which makes “price gouging” at gas stations a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The proposed law forbids the station owner from setting a price that is deemed “unconscionably excessive.”
We have five new bloggers joining the regular Sarah-Katie-Richard crew on Tea Party!
Welcome Patrick, Mike, Chris, Kristina and Joseph to the ranks. This crack team are our summer interns at the Sam Adams Alliance. As an added bonus, James will be joining their ranks in a bit, so visit the blog often for these and more new voices who'll be advocating the causes of government accountability and transparency with much gusto.
Everyday, 1,200 Mexican children cross the border to attend school in El Paso, TX. They even have their own lane for added convenience.
While some are attending college or private school, a great deal are attending public school by providing fraudulent home addresses. Meanwhile, the school district is planning on allocating $230 million dollars for new schools in anticipation of 10,000 new students in the next 5 to 8 years.
Wherever you stand on the immigration debate, this is a clear example of the need for government transparency and accountability. The "spend first, ask questions later" mentality doesn't work for me and my credit cards-and it sure doesn't work for the government either.Good Government: In 1998, the voters of Dallas, Texas voted to fund the Trinity River Project, which would revitalize the riverside of Dallas.
Bad Government: In 2006, Dallas mayor Laura Miller backed a plan to install a high-speed toll road in the middle of what was supposed to be the central and crowning glory of a beautiful urban park.
Solution: A citizen’s group named TrinityVote formed in order to combat this power play by the mayor.
The controversy is that the decision to undertake the Trinity River Project was put forth to the citizens, to the taxpayers, to decide. When they voted in 1998 the project called for large expanses of parkland with just a small road to facilitate travel to the various areas of the park. But, since the initial vote, the city reworked the plan, stuck in a superhighway, and all the while maintained that it was within the scope of the project which the citizens had initially approved. Ever since, city hall has been unwilling to listen to concerns, instead declaring to the people what is best for them. This sort of heavy handed government is an artifact from a bygone era, and thanks to groups like TrinityVote, average citizens are doing their best to ensure that this sort of “governing” does not come back into fashion.
TrinityVote is collecting signatures all over Dallas until June 29th, so for Dallas readers, get out and sign the petition!!!
The phrase usually conjures up images of how the Congress and President are meant to duke it out in order to pass laws, and then how the Supreme Court slaps them all back into place. But there are other checks and balances outside of D.C., some of which are being challenged by a lack of understanding for their purposes.
Take the fundamental right to petition government. Mix in the initiative and referendum process, and you've got a whole series of deliberate checks and balances that some folks would like to make a thing of the past.
Now take the editorial board of the Sandusky Register in Ohio. This weekend they put out a heartfelt editorial that slams the deeds of people who don't want a particular sort of new waterfront development in the towns of Sandusky or Clinton.
They opine:
We're afraid of a vocal minority whipping up popular and sentiment with half-truths and emotional appeal to kill something that, if it doesn't restore us to our auto-plant glory, will at least keep this region -- and we said region, not just city -- from decaying into a slum suburb of Cedar Point.
They want the area to become more developed--fine. Perhaps a majority of the voters in that area want development--fine. But what I take from their piece is a deep misunderstanding of an idea that the Founding Fathers instilled in our government: that the rights of the minority should be protected through slow, deliberate decision-making.
Our nation is a democratic republic, and our country's local and state governments were modeled in the same way.
The Sandusky Register's editorial board appears to want to wipe away the republican (lower case R) part of our form of government, and replace it with a strict majority rules model.
But that would be very frightening. As the old (or new, I don't know) saying goes: Democracy is like two wolves and a sheep figuring out what's for dinner that night.
That's bad news for the sheep.
So says a Detroit News editorial that talks about a pending lawsuit between a Michigan leader and the state education union.
Yesterday's commentary writes:
The head of the union local, Doug Norton, told The News earlier this month that [Chetley] Zarko "has an ideological bent to attack unions." That's irrelevant. The Freedom of Information Act is for the use of all citizens, even ones who are disliked by the MEA.
A private group like the MEA is entitled to keep secrets, but not on public property. If it can afford to be one of the state's most generous lobbying outfits, it can afford to make sure that officers of its locals conduct business on their own computers. You can read more information at Chetly Zarko's website.
