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Like Richard said, a couple of us here at the Sam Adams Alliance were lucky enough to join the Heartland Institute in remembering Milton Friedman on his birthday.
Maybe we weren’t the only ones.
Chicago cab drivers have called a one-day strike to request a fare increase due to the impact of skyrocketing gas prices—and Joe Bast, Heartland’s President and CEO, said this was exactly the kind of thing Friedman would have loved.
Friedman was all about freedom and the free market, but the cabbies in
It doesn’t look as though the strike is having much effect—we only had to wait a couple minutes for a cab ride to the event—but in the spirit of Milton Friedman’s legacy, here’s to those still fighting for a free market.
Today would have been the 95th birthday of the Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman. To celebrate, I and some other Samployees joined the Heartland Institute for an Italian lunch and tribute to the man who showed us that, you know what, letting people choose their destiny is a pretty darned good idea.
Friedman died last November, and ever since Heartland has hosted a page, where commentators remember his important contributions to the fields of economics, and general liberty principles. Did you know, for example, that Friedman was instrumental in abolishing the military draft during the Nixon administration? Did you also know that he was a leading advocate for educational freedom, proposing that parents use the money that would have been spent on their child had they gone to a public school in order to pay for a more suitable private school.
His ideas about the place and scope of government were revolutionary, and espoused accountability and transparency of the system in order to make it realistic for personal choice policies to take root. He was the picture of a free-marketeer because he believed so deeply that people--not government--knew what they need, and what is best for them.
Happy Birthday, Dr. Friedman, from all of us at the Sam Adams Alliance.
Green has long been my favorite color, but politicians are close to ruining it for me with all their “live green” nannying.
Because “achieving energy efficiency and reducing your carbon footprint” is supposed to be everyone’s ultimate goal, the latest trend in electricity is “smart meters,” which can be installed in people’s homes to show customers how much their electricity use is costing, per minute and maybe per appliance, and encourage them to save electricity. Evidently, these “watt-saving steps” help save the planet by preventing more “carbon-spewing” power plants from being built.
Not all utility companies are thrilled about this idea, however. The cost of installing these meters—called advanced metering infrastructure (AMI)—isn’t cheap; new meters alone are $200.
“Many in the industry are balking at the up-front price tag, the technical challenges, and the uncertainty of consumer reaction to volatile prices and in-your-face meters.”
So who’s behind all this smart metering if utility companies aren’t completely game?
You guessed it: the government. When they sensed resistance, Congress pushed utilities to adapt AMI in its 2005 energy law.
The Christian Science Monitor supported this nonsense: “State regulators need to be more aggressive in forcing utilities to give up the old practice of selling as much electricity as possible with flat-rate pricing and meters that consumers don't understand… Electricity providers need to become facilitators for their customers in achieving energy efficiency and reducing their carbon footprint.”
If you want to save the planet, be my guest. But let everyone else decided for themselves.
...not even when I'm called out for spending taxpayer money on drinks at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, or taking my family members out for Caribbean cruises.
In the South Side of Chicago, we have the case of Chicago State University president Elnora Daniel and her extraordinary penchant for spending public money on cruise vacations for herself and family members. An audit called Daniel out for this and other questionable spending practices, and just this past Friday, she responded by not quite apologizing, and declaring that she will never resign from her job.
What candor from a public sector employee; and what lack of genuine remorse, too. Daniel blamed her unauthorized spending habits on the fact that women carry around different purses, and sometimes they don't have all of their credit cards with them. No matter that she charged a $250 exercise machine on a school credit card, listing it as a home "supply" on the receipt.
The poor dear even played the "my-family's-far-away" card in this Chicago Tribune article:
Daniel defended using public funds for five family members to accompany her on a business trip once a year, saying it's difficult to find time to see her family because they live on the East Coast. In August 2006, Daniel and her family spent nine days on a Caribbean cruise, as Daniel attended a leadership conference, at a cost of more than $15,000.
Daniel's employment package allows her to spend up to $10,000 on family members for trips, which is beyond generous in my opinion.
Last week in the case of LBK Associates LLC et al. v. Borough of Lodi et al. a New Jersey appellate court ruled the borough of Lodi could not seize private property for redevelopment. A state property rights group, New Jersey Citizen Action Group, applauded the decision saying, "We're pleased with the Lodi ruling."
A recent New Jersey Supreme Court case set precedent that "local governments can no longer simply declare a property blighted and seize it in the expectation that they prevail." My question is what took them so long? Private property rights have been under attack! Before towns could condemn property simply by declaring it wasn't being used in the most "productive manner." So who defines productive? Because if it's the government I am pretty sure their definition will be a little different than mine, and the majority of my fellow citizens.
It is refreshing to see states passing laws and courts handing down rulings that protect private property owners in the wake of the two year anniversary of the Supreme Court's Kelo. If they did not, Kelo seems to have set precedent that the government could seize any property, anytime.
Read more about this story here.
I'm a legend within the Sam Adams Alliance HQ for my Sharpie collection. I have fine-tip and thick-tip collections, and I recently purchased proper containers to showcase my lovely markers. Whoever said money can't buy happiness never took me to the office supply store.
As much as I love my Sharpies, I sometimes worry that they're a bit frivolous. I mean, as a non-profit, it's important for us to be good stewards of our money, and here I am, spending like $30 bucks so I can write in pretty colors? Couldn't that go to help eliminate government corruption? Take this email from Bob, our prez, as sent out this morning:
"FYI – when printing or copying, when possible print in black & white and don’t use color. The color pages cost us 11 cents verses 1.2 cents for black & white. Please only use color when you need to. The money we save is more money to use to make political change with."
Man. I feel guilty just thinking about all of the times I printed in color when I could have used black and white. But my sins are nothing compared to those of our friendly NASA astronauts, who don't only drink and fly, but also managed to misplace $94 million in office supplies. (Link courtesy of TierneyLab.)
$94 million dollars?! That's a lot of Sharpies and color copies. I can only imagine how Bob would react if he got an excuse like this:"This computer, although assigned to me, was being used on board the International Space Station. I was informed that it was tossed overboard to be burned up in the atmosphere when it failed."
And these lame excuses are a serious problem. Public employees should feel way more guilty than I do about my little Sharpie splurge, because all taxpayers are paying for their transgressions. And I don't think most of us feel very good to learn about our hard-earned money being thrown out of a rocket!
During the 1980s in Texas, a 54 mile long, 12 billion dollar superconductor was being built only to have its construction shut down in 1993, when less than one-third of it was completed. It was then used to store Styrofoam cups.
And this is only number 3 on CNN’s list “5 of the largest, oddest and most useless state projects.”
I am fortunate enough to live in an apartment building that is approximately 15 steps from a CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) bus stop. This, however, does not mean my commute is a breeze—in fact, those of us who wait at the same bus station every day have formed the kind of bond that can only come from complaining about a poor transportation service. Some days are good, of course, although there’s always the one person who insists the whole situation is “utterly ridiculous,” even if she waits less than a minute for a bus to arrive—but that’s another story.
Good days aside, the CTA has often come under fire for its often-unreliable service, not to mention severe budgetary problems (to which, of course, the Sun-Times proposed this solution: that Governor Blagojevich and Mayor Daley funnel more taxpayer money to the program).
Unfortunately, my bus stop comrades often fall into the “throw more money at the problem” camp as well. Despite my suggestions that the problem might be an inefficient (or corrupt) use of the funding the CTA already has, alas, for now, they seem to be more content simply complaining than actually addressing the root of the problem.
Therein lies a key obstacle to restoring a truly accountable, responsible government: citizen apathy. It must be something we overcome—monstrous task though it is—I hope you’ll join us.
One day at a time…
I posted before about the Lansing State Journal’s noble efforts to promote government transparency in
Apparently, some state employees still just don’t get it. What’s good for the taxpaying citizen will undoubtedly incite wails of protest from public officials. The State Senate, in fact, went as far as producing an alternate set of data.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman, however, has it right: “There is no information that must be more transparent than the use of tax dollars.”
Last fall, a bill proposing that the Maine state legislature--gasp!--set a budget according to the amount of real revenue brought in nearly passed. And this year, proponents of responsible spending are warning that they'll come back if the politicians don't deal with their spendthrift ways.
Maine's Taxpayer Bill of Rights (or TABOR) may have been dealt a fatal blow last year among the sounds of worried politicians who promised that they would fix the state's out-of-control spending and high taxes.
But now, as Victoria Wallack of KeepMECurrent.com reports, the clock may be running out for the officials who like to spend taxpayer money like there's no tomorrow:
“If they don’t get something out by Labor Day that has broad consensus, then I think the citizen initiative process will take on a momentum of its own,” said Chris Hall of the Portland Chamber of Commerce...“Why wait? We’ve got budget problems facing the state that are staggering...According to the Tax Foundation, 14 percent of our income goes to state and local tax burden. The national average is 11 percent. If we dropped from 14 to 11, we free up 3 percent of everybody’s income."
The Maine Heritage Policy Center--the group that wrote last year's TABOR--is finishing a new initiative, and a coalition made leaders of GrowSmart Maine, the Alliance for Maine’s Future, and the Maine Public Spending Research Group are putting the finishing touches on another solution.
We'll be watching what people are doing in Maine...are their politicians?
There seems to be some confusion on the East Coast about what it means to retire.
You see, in West Newbury, Massachusetts, the police chief has decided to take an early retirement at 53 and start collecting a pension of $55,000 per year. However, there’s one small—actually, giant—problem: he’s not actually retiring, he’s crossing the state line to New Hampshire, where he will earn a full-time salary as police chief in another small town while still collecting his Massachusetts pension.
The real kicker? It’s perfectly legal. Laws in New Hampshire and Massachusetts allow people to earn a salary in one state, while still collecting a pension in the other.
I mean, sure, for the people exploiting the taxpayers, vacationing in Europe every other month must be fabulous, but what about those funding their cash flow?No, it's not the same as being ticked (off), but it still ought to make you angry. Tax Increment Financing districts are popping up everywhere these days, and are flourishing in our home base of Chicago.
The Sam Adams crew had lunch today with Ben Joravsky, who is a columnist at the Chicago Reader, a local paper that prides itself on its reporters' independent thought and fearless journalism.
Ben has written extensively on TIFs, and how government uses them to bypass popular consent to raise taxes. Ben explained how the city will create a TIF district in a geographical area, and claim that it freezes property owners' tax rates for a certain amount of time, usually to fund a specific project. What really happens, however, is that officials can game the system, raising property values at a whim to take more of your money, and never letting the TIF expire, even when the original project is compete (if it's ever even started). That money, then, goes into a giant city slush fund that the mayor can use to fund his friends' pet projects...millions of dollars worth of 'em.
Read Ben's take on TIFs, and his specific examples of how they function within the City of Chicago's massive political machine.
I'm sure that we'll have a lot more about this abuse of taxpayer trust in the near future, so stay tuned.
We’ve written before about the group Citizens for Accountable Elections in
Well, they gathered more than 74,000 positions to put the measure on the ballot in the form of Initiative 25—and the former Elections Director, Ron Sims, is not at all happy about it. In fact, he’s decided to spend $50,000 in public funds to oppose the initiative.
And he wonders why voters want to give him the heave-ho…
Just ask parents and taxpayers in Rockwood, PA who have formed the Rockwood Area Taxpayers Association to investigate corruption an unaccountability in their local school board.
The Tribune-Democrat reports that the school district borrowed $500,000 to account for a "budget error," a move that motivated some people to take a closer look.
“For the past couple of years, nothing has been done to improve educational programs for students and, at the same time, our fund balance is exhausted,” association member Susan Gerhard said. “We’re basically bankrupt.”
Bob forwarded me a copy of tax hero Leon Drolet's farewell speech from when he left state office in 2006 - and it's golden.
Here's a snippet:
Why do people in government hate term limits? Because they take away our job and our job as lawmakers comes with the unfair advantage we have in extending our power over others. Now, nobody in this chamber believes me. We believe we hate term limits because we lose institutional memory. And we believe that we lose our newfound ability to work productively with each other that magically happens in our final term. We believe that Lansing used to be a better place before term limits. Well, Lansing was a better place before term limits for lawmakers because a lawmaker’s power could go on for so many more years.
Read the whole speech here. Also, read my profile on Leon here and click here to learn more about what he's up to these days.
People always joke that politicians eat greedily from the public trough. But this story's no laughing matter—in
One resident, Mike Merrill, spoke up about this waste of taxpayer money:
"I get to sit there through their meetings for hours upon hours and I don't get to eat," Merrill said. "Bring a bag lunch like the rest of us do. You know what days you're going to be there— eat before or bring something with you."
In our electronic age, it's so easy to find information and publish it online for the world to see, all the while maintaining anonymity if you choose. That's why some city governments are fretting as bloggers turn their attention to the local level.
The LA Times today has a nice article on the power that new bloggers are wielding these days:
"We want our words to stand on our own, and with anonymity, the only way someone can judge us is by what we write," said Publius of the Foothill Cities News Blog..."If we send an e-mail to an elected official, the odds are we won't get a response," he said. "But if enough people read it, they are going to have to respond at some point."
We've covered the FCB on this site before, and they do some pretty darned good work:
The Foothill Cities Blog, which covers several cities in the San Gabriel Valley, was the first to report that Assemblywoman Nell Soto (D-Pomona) was absent from the Capitol for 25 days because of pneumonia. It was later reported that she still collected more than $20,000 in per diem pay.
A bill is winding its way through Congress that would raise federal taxes on cigarettes from 39 cents a pack to one dollar. The proposed bill also raises taxes on cigars from a 5 cent flat tax to 53% of its wholesale rate. A five dollar cigar would now cost $7.50.
I'm no mathematician (even though I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night) but according to Gary Nelson (or the math guy he has working for him) this could amount to a tax increase of-you guessed it-20,000%.
Miami cigar retailer Marvin Samel with Drew Estate Cigars says if this passes, he may as well close his doors.
"I will be put out of business," said Samel. "I will be put out of business as will most of the premium cigar manufacturers in the United States."
A little excessive, perhaps?
It's been a rough week for taxpayers—day after day, public employees are spending tax dollars on all kinds of things the money-earners might not be so happy with. (Actually, this isn't much different than any other week, unfortunately.)
Take Representative Rachel Quintana and Representative Eddie Holguin of
Yesterday, I wrote about Michigan lawyers who got paid to sit around and work on crossword puzzles all day.
Well, today there are more shenanigans from the Great Lakes state, this time coming from those dressed in blue: a narcotics officer stole $2.4 million in cocaine that the department had confiscated. The police department, from what I can see, does deserve some credit: they shared the breach of trust with the public and they suspended the officer in question.
It’s a good thing
Each council member is allotted $12,000 of taxpayer dollars for office expenses. You know, computers, office supplies—things they need to do their jobs. Not meals out at Zippy’s.
Just when you thought they'd have enough sense not to reveal their true feelings, the truth comes out, and politicians really do see OUR money as theirs.
The Crypt on Politico.com today writes how Alaska Rep. Don Young attacked his fellow House Republicans today when they challenged the allocation of some funds to his state for native educational programs. The Crypt writes:
"You want my money, my money," Young stridently declared before warning conservatives that "those who bite me will be bitten back."
Lovely.
Let's say that you're an employer. You have two employees. You don't have a good relationship with them, and you don't trust them to do work. Do you:
A) Fire them.
B) Work with them to improve their performance.
C) Pay them $89,000 and $97,500 to kick back and relax, spending much of their days on crossword puzzles?
What did you pick? Hmmm. Well, if you were Royal Oak elected officials, you picked C.
Pretend you're a legislator in Wisconsin. The taxpayers are paying you plenty of money to do your job. What do you spend your time on?
Well, in real-life Wisconsin, legislators have decided creating a bill dealing with pet custody in divorce cases is of utmost priority.
I'm not sure taxpayers would feel the same.Those Swedes had a line in the song: "I feel like I win when I lose." Well, thanks to their A.G., Oklahomans may be feeling this way soon...unfortunately.
OK Attorney General W. A. Drew Edmondson has decided that he--not the state legislature--has the power to distribute taxpayer money as he sees fit, by giving it to hand-picked private lawyers who are fighting his fights. The entire ordeal boils down to a pretty dirty tale about chickens and their droppings...
Adam Liptak on of the New York Times writes:
“When someone who is exercising the state’s power stands to gain from that, it violates due process,” said Jay T. Jorgensen, a lawyer for one of the chicken companies. “If you got pulled over by a cop and the cop made more money if he gave you a ticket and less if he didn’t, no one would think that was fair.”
Read more of the article here.
Remember the show 'The O.C.?' Well, this has nothing to do with it.
There's a new website online, and it's called The Open Government Blog, or the "O.G. Blog". (Fans of 'Arrested Development' will notice a parallel here.)
On Friday they covered a development that requires unions to disclose their bargaining records. 'Bout time, too, since those bargaining situations so frequently rely on public dollars.
Managing money is tough—or at least that may be Illinois Governor Blagojevich’s excuse for using taxpayer dollars for his $600 primping session before his annual budget address in March.
It's like pulling teeth to get most elected officials on board with transparency measures.
But not the latest contender for San Francisco mayor. His name is Josh Wolf - and this guy says that if he won, he'd wear a mounted, streaming camera during all official business.
Yawn. This is pretty extreme - but in reality, most of the footage would make CSPAN 2 look entertaining. And can you imagine sifting through a month's worth of footage to find the one scrap you cared about?
At least he's got the right attitude though...
Last week, to applause from the National Taxpayers Union, the state enacted House Bill 122, which opens state government spending to taxpayer scrutiny online.
"Hawaii may be America's 50th state, but it is among the first to recognize that accountable government is not a left or right issue, it's a right or wrong issue," said Andrew Moylan, NTU’s government affairs manager. "The other 45 states of this nation should do the same."
Missourians now can, thanks to a new system called MAP: the Missouri Accountability Portal.
A new program by MO Governor Matt Blunt, the MAP website describes it to taxpayers as "a single point of reference to review how their money is being spent." You can search by category of spending, vendor or contract--a pretty comprehensive layout, if you ask me.
Check it out at mapyourtaxes.mo.gov.
Hat tip: The Adams Smith Foundation.
This time it takes place in
Her crime? Not watering the lawn.
The town of
All fingers are not created equal when it comes to road rage and letting other motorists know how you feel about their driving. But if New Jersey lawmakers have anything to say about it, they're going to put an end to impolite driving behavior.
Last month, a New Jersey Assembly committee approved legislation that would make it a crime to use "audible verbal threats or insults, flashing of headlights, and demeaning gestures or other such actions" directed at other drivers. And, if combined with traffic violations, New Jersey drivers could face a $1,000 fine, anger management classes, and license suspension.
I'm not really a fan of road rage and the behavior associated with it, but give me a break. As long as we allow the nanny state to expand out of control, nothing will be outside the government's jurisdiction.
And besides, I live in Chicago. If this spreads to here, I’ll never be able to catch a cab again.Do you think you would have any trouble figuring out if millions of dollars were missing? You would if you ran ferries in Washington. Click here for more on this from Paul Jacob.
I love living in
So the latest ridiculous example of wasted tax dollars is no surprise.
You see, apparently when it comes to city buildings and government workers, yellow caution tape and warning signs are not enough to steer employees away from fire escape windows during renovation at the Cook County Building. The clearly-marked alternative method of fire escape—nearby Emergency Exit doors—didn’t cut it either.
So, the next obvious step was to hire guards from a politically-connected security firm to watch over the whopping 10 locked windows—and direct employees to follow the clearly-marked signs to the Emergency Exit doors in case of a fire.
Did I mention this was a $30 per hour job?
Read the whole story here (which includes a picture of one of the security guards hard at work).
CA State Senator Mike Machado (D-Linden) was the swing vote that prevented a bad property rights bill from passing in committee yesterday, but its proponents are holding another vote today...
Today's vote will mostly be to see whether they can get Sen. Machado to change his vote. If you live in his district, get in touch and tell him that ACA 8 is bad for California communities.
Read more about this red herring amendment here.
We're not the only ones who draw inspiration from Sam Adams and the Boston Tea Party—in California, a group of citizens were motivated by the same historic event, leading them to join together against the outrageous tax climate in their state.
"In the finest tradition of the Boston Tea Party, California taxpayers stood up and said 'No more!' to excessive taxes."
In 1978, California voters overwhelming passed Proposition 13, which cut out-of-control property taxes by about 57 percent. Tax revolt leaders Howard and Estelle Jarvis, however, "knew that taxpayers' gains would be temporary without a permanent citizens organization to protect Proposition 13 and to continue the movement against higher taxes.'
From there, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association was born. The organization carries on today, continuing the work of Howard and Estelle after they died. In fact, the group recently sued the city of Solana Beach for violating Proposition 218, which requires voter approval of taxes.
It’s a good thing Modern-Day Sam Adams Jim Roos and the Missouri Citizens for Property Rights are working to solve the problem of eminent domain abuse in Missouri—because in the meantime, bureaucrats are continuing to abuse eminent domain in order to push through fancy developments for increased taxes.
So, if you live in
Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin is popular - and it's not just because she's a former beauty queen.
In the land of the infamous Stevens family, this government accountability champion has sky-high approval ratings - have you ever heard of an elected official with 90% plus approval? Me either...that is, until Sarah.
She's fearless. Sarah signed a strong ethics bill into law after a fellow Republican took bribes, used her veto power to cut $237 million from the state budget, and, oh yeah, fired the entire Alaska Board of Agriculture and Conservation.
Plus, she has a superior first name.
I'm going to add Sarah to my list of living heroines - right up there with Virginia Postrel.
Jenny Granholm, take notes.
Want to give the boot to corrupt, unrepresentative politicians? Well, then, the logical place for you to go is boot camp. Of course.
In fact, if you're a Michigan-head, there was a "Recall Boot Camp" held by the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance a few weeks ago. Our friends at Citizens for Responsible Government developed the program, and Leon Drolet documents it in this short video.
When your school districts trustees are corrupt, and they build themselves fancy buildings instead of spending money on students, well, then, what do you do? A citizens' group in Orange County, CA has a plan, and it's called a recall.
The OC Register today reports that a citizens' group called CUSD Recall is prepping to gather 60,000 signatures to recall four school district trustees. The OC Register writes:
Parents and residents say they will again try to recall four Capistrano Unified trustees, saying the trustees have allowed a "culture of corruption" and "grossly mismanaged finances" in the county's second-largest school district.
Their action comes a week before the district's former superintendent is scheduled to be arraigned on charges of using taxpayer money to produce and keep lists of political appointments.
Check out CUSD Recall's website. It's extremely comprehensive, and is a model for anyone interested in taking matters of school board corruption into their own hands.
Serving up coffee in California is a lot more complicated than creme, sugar and styrofoam cups. Sales clerks also have to make sure to ask buyers if they are taking their coffee for here or to go - because if the customer consumes the beverage in the shop, they are charged sales tax. If they take it to go, the coffee is tax-free.
ABC 7 news covers this in-depth here, and Justin Levine shares his experience here.Growing up in India Dharmesh Desai had one dream of reaching the United States and running his own auto repair shop. He accomplished his dream after coming to America, and working various jobs until he gained enough experience and capital to open his own garage in Prince William County, Virginia.
However, the county now wants to take away Desai's body shop and surrounding land to make way for a parking lot to help accommodate the growing infrastructure of Prince William County. The city contends that "There is no question that the public use needs to grow." In order to acquire Desai's land the city offered him about a third the amount of money that an outside appraiser found the land to be worth.
Desai even admits his reluctance to give up the land to the county is not about the money it's simply to continue his American dream, "I want another place. I need another place like that."
We here at Sam Adams believe the last thing the government should be doing is ending the American economic dream. Rather the government should strive to foster free market economics. We wish the best of luck to Mr. Desai and his quest to continue his American dream.
Read more about this story here.
Today, a Washington State-based group led by Tim Eyman turned in nearly 315,000 citizens' signatures to put I-960 on the ballot.
The Olympian reports today that the measure requires that there be a 2/3 vote in the legislature in order to pass tax hikes, and that the government post press releases when legislators propose new taxes.
Check back next week for an in-depth report on I-960 and how it makes Washington State government more accountable to its bosses--the citizens of Washington.
Yesterday, Americans celebrated Independence Day, a day on which our founding fathers took a stand against an overbearing government that abused its power and declared that the American people should be sovereign and free. More than two centuries later, New Yorkers are once again taking action and fighting against the government to protect their rights and liberties.
Last week, homeowners, business owners, and workers from throughout New York City gathered at City Hall to protest Mayor Bloomberg's plans to use eminent domain to take land at Willets Point in Queens as well as land in Brooklyn. Under Bloomberg's 'Green Plan,' land at Willets Point would be taken to build new housing units, hotels, retail and office space, and a convention center. Sounds great, except that it would forcibly take away the property of over two hundred businesses, putting in jeopardy the futures of these businesses and their nearly 1,800 employees. Meanwhile, the 'Atlantic Yards' plan in Brooklyn would displace a number of homeowners in a 'mixed income' neighborhood to make way for, among other things, a new arena for the New Jersey Nets.
Says one Brooklyn homeowner and protester, "We are sick and tired of the Bloomberg administration's policy of eminent domain abuse and it has got to stop." Luckily a new group, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, is fighting the plan. While it's unfortunate to see another example of the government exploiting its power, it's good to know the spirit of the Revolution is still alive, at least in one corner of New York.
Ever since the Supreme Court handed down their Kelo v. New London decision many citizens have feared their private property would be taken by the state in the interest of private enterprise. Twenty states have answered this fear by passing meaningful reforms prohibiting the state from taking citizen's private property for anything other than public interest.
Californians are calling for their own private property protection now. Californians for Property Rights Protection (CPRP) created the The California Property Owner & Farmland Protection Act (CPOFPA). This act essentially prohibits the state from touching a citizen's private property unless it's in the best interest of the public. Currently the CPRP is beginning their petition drive for the CPOFRA and needs 763,768 signatures to qualify for the June 2008 ballot.
We here at Sam Adams sure hope they can get their required signatures, and get the bill on the ballot so that private property owners can get their rights back.
Read more about the CPOFPA here.
Should taxpayers get to elect the person who handles their taxes in the county? (It's not a trick question—of course they should!) And in Jackson County, Illinois, that's exactly what the Taxpayer League is trying to accomplish.
They've had two rounds of bad luck, but the third time could be the charm: they're now circulating a petition to put a referendum on the primary election ballot in February. This measure would change the county's supervisor of assessments position from appointed to elected.
Seems pretty reasonable to me—if you live in
Kansas recently passed a law to stop eminent domain abuse by requiring local governments to “seek legislative approval before condemning property for economic development.” The bill was designed to prevent local governments from declaring private property ‘blighted’ and then using eminent domain to give it to private developers, all in the hopes of boosting their tax revenues. Property owners have welcomed the protections, but many local governments don’t care too much for the new law.
Apparently, protecting property rights “worries” them. Honestly, I can’t say I blame them. I’d be worried too if my ability to abuse my power were severely curtailed.
Referring to the new law, neighborhood activist Beatrice Lee says that she “would hope that it wouldn’t stop the progress of trying to get this urban area the way it should be.” The way it should be?! Who should decide “the way it should be”? The government? Big business? No thanks. How about we let private citizens use their private property the way they see fit?
Have you ever heard a story of an elected official that's breaks the law, is deemed corrupt, and still receives their pension once being removed from office? I have a number of times, and the only thing going through my head was how could that be possible?
Apparently the members of the North Carolina State Legislature had the same idea going through their heads. Recently the legislature passed a bill that would make corrupt officials forfeit their state pensions. This bill was passed in response to scandal surrounding North Carolina House Speaker Jim Black. Although this bill will not apply to Black retroactively, it provides that an elected official who is convicted of misconduct in his or her official capacity would lose retirement benefits earned for that office.
It is refreshing to know that bills such as this one are being passed across the country. North Carolina took a giant step in holding its politicians more accountable. By threatening to take away their coveted pension, what politician would act inappropriately in North Carolina office now? I sure wouldn't.
Read more about this story here.
