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Recalls Become a Hazard for Mayors

MICHAEL COOPER

NY TIMES

September 22, 2010

 

The throw-the-rascals-out mood is so strong these days that some voters are not even waiting until Election Day — they are mounting recall campaigns to oust mayors in the middle of their terms, often as punishment for taking unpopular steps like raising taxes or laying off workers to keep their cities solvent.

Daniel Varela Sr., the rookie mayor of Livingston, Calif., learned this the hard way when he was booted from office last month in a landslide recall election. His crime? He had the temerity to push through the small city’s first water-rate increase in more than a decade to try to fix its aging water system, which he said spewed brownish, smelly water from rusty pipes.

“We were trying to be responsible,” said Mr. Varela, whose action set off a lawsuit in addition to his recall as mayor of Livingston, which is in the Central Valley. “But as soon as the rates started to kick in, people who weren’t paying attention were suddenly irate.”

With irate voters in plentiful supply, recall campaigns have become a growing job hazard for mayors. Over the last two years, failed recall campaigns have sought the ouster of mayors in Akron, Ohio; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Flint, Mich.; Kansas City, Mo.; Portland, Ore.; and Toledo, Ohio, among other cities. Next month the voters of North Pole, Alaska, 140 miles south of the Arctic Circle, will vote on whether to recall their mayor.

Recalls rarely get on the ballot, let alone succeed, but they are bringing the era of permanent, acrimonious campaigning to city halls. Tom Cochran, the executive director of the United States Conference of Mayors, said that the rash of recent attempts had inspired him to start making a video to teach mayors about the risk of recall.

“I’m absolutely convinced that we’ve got more going on than before,” said Mr. Cochran, who attributed the increase to the dismal economy, and to the proliferation of blogs and social networking sites that make it easier for opponents to organize.

It is not an easy time to be a mayor. At city halls, deficits are not viewed as some far-off problem, as they often are at the federal level, but as gaping holes that must be filled at once by raising taxes or cutting services.

And because city services have a clear impact on people’s day-to-day lives — think police protection or garbage pickup — those cuts generate huge outcries. Tellingly, many recent recall campaigns have been spurred not by accusations of corruption, but by anger over higher taxes or reduced services.

Tea Party activists in several states have tried to recall mayors and lawmakers, and they came close to forcing a vote this year on whether to recall Mayor Ron Littlefield of Chattanooga. The local Tea Party bonded with several other groups to seek the recall of Mr. Littlefield, largely because they objected to his decision to raise storm-water fees to comply with federal environmental regulations, and to raise property taxes.

“Those are unpopular things, not things that anyone likes to do, but sometimes in a community you have to step up and do what has to be done,” Mr. Littlefield said. “I hope that the recall environment does not become so pervasive that it discourages people from doing the right thing.”

The mayor’s opponents collected more than 15,000 signatures in their effort to recall him, but a judge ruled this month that many were invalid and that the groups had failed to collect enough valid signatures to force a recall vote.

Mr. Littlefield said that the episode had been a major distraction just as the city was eagerly waiting for its new Volkswagen plant to go into production.

Supporters of recalls say they provide a much-needed check on power and give citizens the ability to oust officials accused of corruption. In Bell, Calif., a small working-class city near Los Angeles that became notorious for paying its city manager nearly $800,000 a year, a citizens group was already seeking the recall of several city officials before they were arrested on charges of corruption this week.

But opponents of recalls complain that they often allow a small minority of people to upend the political process.

That appears to have happened last year in Akron, where the longtime mayor, Donald L. Plusquellic, who has been widely credited with reviving the city’s downtown since taking office in 1987, found himself facing a heated recall campaign. The campaign began after he made unpopular proposals to raise taxes and to create a college scholarship fund for all Akron students by selling or leasing the city’s sewer system, both of which failed.

Getting a recall question on the ballot required gathering the signatures of 20 percent of the people who voted in the last election. But because Mr. Plusquellic had run unopposed in his last general election, few people had voted, so fewer than 3,200 signatures were required to force a recall election in a city of more than 200,000 people.

“It was something like 3 percent of the city’s adult population,” Mr. Plusquellic said. “They claim it’s democracy. I claim it’s an abuse of democracy. You can find 3 percent against the Constitution of the United States, 3 percent against democracy, against the Bible.”

Mr. Plusquellic prevailed in the recall election by a ratio of three to one. Afterward, Akron revised its charter to require the signatures of 20 percent of the city’s registered voters to put a recall question on the ballot.

It is difficult to say for certain how many recalls there are; many are made at local levels of government, like school boards or the councils of small towns. At least 29 states allow for the recall of some local officials.

Recall campaigns have sought the removal of Democrats, like Mr. Plusquellic, in Akron; Republicans, like Mayor Vincent R. Barrella of Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.; and mayors who were elected in nonpartisan campaigns, like Mr. Littlefield, in Chattanooga.

But several mayors say they believe that recall efforts have become more common as the economic downturn has soured the electorate.

Flint, of course, was hurting before the national downturn hit — and it was a hotbed of recalls before the trend spread. One Flint mayor was recalled in 2002; another resigned in 2009, just before another recall election was scheduled.

This year the new mayor, Dayne Walling — a young, energetic former Rhodes scholar — found himself fighting yet another recall campaign after he laid off police officers and firefighters to try to make ends meet in a city with an unemployment rate of more than 25 percent.

“Having to make public-safety layoffs is something that I’d hoped to never have to do,” said Mr. Walling, who noted that he had resorted to layoffs only after the police and fire unions failed to agree to the concessions he had sought, and after he cut his own salary, auctioned off the mayor’s car and started paying his own cellphone bills. When the latest recall was derailed in court this month, the mayor posted the news on his blog: “Flint’s recall fever has broken.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/39287367#39287367

8 current former officials from Bell, California, arrested

http://www.wtnh.com/dpps/news/strange/worlds-oldest-man-marks-114th-birthday-in-montana-ob10-jgr_3586803

Jesse Jackson Jr. 'deeply sorry' about relationship

Denies allegations about Senate seat

 

September 22, 2010

NATASHA KORECKI, ABDON M. PALLASCH AND FRAN SPIELMAN

Staff Reporters

U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) on Tuesday said he was "deeply sorry" about a relationship with a Washington, D.C., social acquaintance, but he called it "preposterous" to contend he asked a fund-raiser to approach former Gov. Rod Blagojevich with a $6 million Senate seat offer.

Jackson was responding to a report in Tuesday's Chicago Sun-Times that revealed fund-raiser Raghuveer Nayak told federal authorities Jackson had directed him to approach Blagojevich with a campaign cash offer in exchange for President Obama's former Senate seat.

The Sun-Times also reported Jackson had allegedly asked Nayak to pay to fly a social acquaintance from Washington to Chicago.

Jackson dismissed Nayak's allegations as false and nothing new and asked that his family's privacy be respected with regard to the social acquaintance, Giovana Huidobro.

"I've already talked with the authorities about these claims, told them they were false, and no charges have been brought against me," Jackson said in a statement, referring to Nayak's allegations. "The very idea of raising millions of dollars for a campaign other than my own is preposterous. My interest in the Senate seat was based on years of public service, which I am proud of, not some improper scheme with anyone."

Jackson's statement did not address another component of the Sun-Times report: that Nayak paid to fly Huidobro from Washington to Chicago, allegedly at the congressman's request.

One expert said the allegation could mean ethical questions for the congressman who is considering a run for mayor.

In statements, both Jackson and the congressman's wife, Chicago Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th), asked that their privacy be respected with regard to the social acquaintance.

Both said they had dealt with the social acquaintance matter before it was made public, but it was unclear how long ago. In the congressman's statement he said it was "handled some time ago." Ald. Sandi Jackson released a statement that appeared on the Chicago Tribune website Tuesday, saying the family has been "privately addressing it for several months."

Her office released a statement to the Sun-Times later in the day saying it was a matter her family has been "privately addressing for two years."

"Therefore, I would hope that the public and the media will respect our family's right to continue to handle this matter privately."

Rep. Jackson expressed regret that the disclosure of a social acquaintance might disappoint voters, but he seemed to indicate it wouldn't scare him from office.

"The reference to a social acquaintance is a private and personal matter between me and my wife that was handled some time ago," Jackson said in his statement. "I ask that you respect our privacy. I know I have disappointed some supporters, and for that I am deeply sorry. But I remain committed to serving my constituents and fighting on their behalf."

The Sun-Times reported Tuesday that Nayak told authorities that, in an Oct. 8, 2008, meeting, Jackson directed him to offer Blagojevich $6 million for the Senate appointment.

Three weeks later, at an Oct. 31 fund-raiser, Nayak approached Robert Blagojevich, the then-governor's brother, and offered $1 million up front from fund-raisers and $5 million later if Jackson were appointed, according to Robert Blagojevich's testimony at trial. Robert Blagojevich testified he dismissed Nayak's offer, describing him as "clumsy."

Nayak told authorities that he made that approach at Jackson's direction, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation.

Nayak is an Oak Brook businessman and longtime fund-raiser who remains under federal scrutiny in an IRS case, according to sources.

Nayak's remarks to authorities run counter to public statements Jackson has made as recently as last week that he never authorized any deal to attempt to trade campaign cash for the Senate appointment.

Nayak's statements to the feds came in late 2008 and in 2009. Neither Jackson nor Nayak has been charged. Nayak was not called as a witness in Blagojevich's trial.

The allegation that Nayak paid to fly Huidobro at Jackson's request could raise ethical questions under the U.S. House of Representatives' gift ban act.

Having a third party pay for flights at a congressman's request and not reporting the value of those flights as a gift, if they were worth more than $50, would appear to be "something of value" that should be reported under the House's rule, according to an expert on the act.

"It defines 'gift' as any 'item having monetary value,' " said Kathleen Clark, a professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, quoting from the law. " 'The term includes gifts of . . . transportation. . . . A gift to . . . any . . . individual based on that individual's relationship with the [House] Member . . . shall be considered a gift to the Member . . . if it is given with the knowledge and acquiescence of the Member.' "

Jackson did not disclose the gift from Nayak on his House ethics statements or on federal campaign contribution logs. Nayak told authorities he paid for at least two flights for Huidobro and provided billing information, according to the sources.

"Completely apart from disclosure, a member's solicitation of a gift like this would be troubling," Clark said. "The mere solicitation of a gift is problematic."

Unless Huidobro's visit was campaign-related, Jackson's failure to disclose the gift on his campaign contribution reports does not appear to violate Federal Election Commission requirements, Clark and other experts told the Sun-Times.

The FBI interviewed Huidobro about a year ago as part of its corruption probe of Blagojevich. Authorities were trying to determine whether Jackson had asked Nayak to offer Blagojevich campaign cash in exchange for the then-governor's appointment, according to sources.

Reached on his cell phone on Tuesday, Jackson Jr. said, "I have nothing to say. Call my office. Have a good day."

Pressed to describe the nature of his relationship with Huidobro, Jackson's answer was the same:

"I have nothing to say."

 

PHOTO OF GIOVANA AND VIDEO WITH JESSIE JACKSON, JR

http://www.buzztab.com/famous-personalities/giovana-huidobro-involved-politician-jesse-jackson-jr/

11-Year-Old Babysitter Charged With Murder

 

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/25095821/detail.html?sms_ss=twitter

 

 

RELATED STORY

 

Mother locked children in closet before they died

http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/wxin-children-found-dead-update-092110,0,6065078.story?track=rss-topicgallery

The recession might be over, but political impact still felt

The first, from the National Employment Law Project (NELP), concludes that higher-paying jobs in construction and financial services lost during the longest recession in the post-World War II era are being replaced by lower-paying jobs in bars, restaurants and department stores. 

Not only is job growth too anemic to make up for the millions of jobs lost, the NELP report shows it has been particularly weak in creating high-paying jobs.

Net job growth in 2010 has been driven disproportionately by industries with median wages below $15 an hour. More than 50 percent of the growth in employment through July 2010 came from jobs paying a median wage of between $10.83 and $15 per hour, the second-lowest quintile of wages considered in the report. Another 25 percent of the employment growth has been in the lowest wage quintile of $8.92 per hour to $10.82 per hour.

Jobs paying between $22.13 per hour and $31.02 per hour, in contrast, made up 0.2 percent of employment growth in that period.

The study also highlights the number of high-paying jobs lost in the recession. Using statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it found that 1.2 million jobs paying between $22.13 per hour and $31.02 per hour were lost in the recession. Only about 1,000 of those jobs were added back to the economy in the first seven months of the year.

Six industries actually lost jobs even as the rest of the economy took small steps toward a recovery in 2010. Those industries were construction, finance and insurance, information, real estate and rental and leasing, professional and technical services and utilities.

Construction, which has been hammered by the housing crisis, offered the most dramatic change. That sector lost nearly 1.8 million jobs between December 2007 and December 2009. It lost another 123,000 jobs in the first seven months of 2010. Construction did add 19,000 jobs in August, after NELP concluded its report.

“More so than in past recessions, there’s a sense that more of those jobs are permanently lost, or lost for a long time,” said Chris Owens, NELP’s executive director.

It’s not unusual for lower-paying jobs to come back first in a recovery, Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi said in an e-mail. Still, he suggested there’s some reason for concern given the unusual number of highly educated and skilled workers who lost their jobs during the recession.

Zandi expects overall payroll employment to fall by 110,000 in September’s report, to be issued next Friday. That would include the loss of 185,000 temporary Census jobs. Next week’s report will  be the final new unemployment report before Election Day.

The top three occupations that have seen job growth, NELP estimated, were retail salesmen, cashiers and food-preparation workers, “a sobering figure given their poverty-level wages.”

Owens said that if the pattern of weak job growth continues, there could be an increase in the number of “working poor.”

The second report, from the Census Bureau, notes that poverty is on the rise. The study found that the nation’s poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent from 13.2 percent in 2009. That’s an increase of nearly 4 million people.

Since the recession began in 2007, Census estimated, the number of people in poverty increased by 6.3 million. That was a larger rise than what followed the recession of 1973 to 1975, but lower than the recession of the early 1980s.

The Census calculates poverty using thresholds updated annually for inflation via the Consumer Price Index. A couple with two children were considered to be in poverty in 2009 if their annual total income was below $21,756, a lower threshold than the one used in 2008, before the recession peaked.

President Obama on Monday faced tough questions from voters at a town hall on the economy and jobs.

One audience member who said she had voted for the president in 2008 expressed her disillusion, adding that she had grown tired of defending him. Another questioner asked Obama whether the American Dream was dead.

Obama answered that the American Dream remains alive, but the disturbing data on the jobs front, which is the main reason Democrats may lose the House and Senate this fall, shows there is some reason to doubt where the president was right.

It will be difficult to keep poverty from increasing further without the creation of new jobs that pay higher wages, something both parties may need to worry about.

Swanson is the news editor at The Hill.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/providence/wpri-providence-monahan-funeral-home-owner-wants-to-open-pub-attached-to-funeral-home

    Those born on September 22^nd have a restless drive to begin all sorts of new projects.  Usually they bring the one they are working on to completion but immediately set out on a new one without rest.  They are also capable of handling several projects at the same time.  Those born on this day have a low boredom threshold, and consequently demand challenging people and situations.  They can be outgoing and dynamic types at one time, and solitary and unapproachable at another.  In either case, their strong character is unmistakable.

    Often September 22^nd people oscillate between being an offensive and defensive person.  In one sense, such postures may be one and the same since a good offense is the best defense and vice versa.  Whether in a broad social context or on a personal level, the issues and ideas those born on this day are most often concerned with involve fairness and equality in general, matters pertaining to the delegation and exercise of power.     In putting forth their arguments, they can be ironic, witty and out right funny.  Their humor, however, is not for everyone as it is liable to be off beat.

    September 22^nd people can display a disturbing lack of stability.  Although they may be involved in quite respectable professions, one often gets the ideas that the profession itself or whether they do in general lends the consistency their lives so desperately need.  Those born on this day can be at risk when their restless nature brings them into conflict with the powers that be.  September 22^nd people think for themselves and will not tolerate others, particularly those of lesser intelligence, trying to tell them what to do.

    Those born on this day hide a warm heart under a forbidding exterior, but generally will only open up to people whom they deeply trust and value.  Even then they may find it difficult to open all the way, however, principally because their orientation is highly realistic and the ironies of life all too visible to them.  This day, indeed, carries insight and clarity of vision both literal and figurative.  They are excellent judges of character, and capable of sizing people up quickly.   

    Those born on the 22^nd of the month are ruled by the number 4 (2+2=4.  The number 4 represents rebellion, idiosyncratic beliefs and a desire to change the rules.  Those governed by the number 4 so often take the opposing point of view are remarkably self assured, they some times arouse the antagonism and make enemies, often secret ones.

Advice:   Individual, perspective and well directed

Weaknesses:   Dark and guarded

Born on This Day:  Tommy Lasorda, Yang Chen Ning, David Stern and Tai Babilonia

Famous Inventions:  1992 The Poolside Basketball Game was granted a patent #5,149,086.

This Day In History:     Sep 22, 1862 Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date for the freedom of more than 3 million black slaves in the United States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery.

Bill Clinton: Listen to the tea party

 

September 20, 2010

Well, Mr. President, I’ve tried to “hear” what the Tea party crowd is trying to say, but the message is entangled with so much racist, homophobic and xenophobic rhetoric, that it’s not easy to comprehend their “real intent”, IF there is one outside of those dubious but prominent messages.

Politico

Monday, September 20, 2010

Man 'worms' his way onto Animal Planet show Doctors use a laser to kill a worm that got into the eye of Bellevue native John Matthews. TELEGRAPH HERALD

 

The "yuck" factor of John Matthews' story earned him an episode on a national cable TV show.

It all started last December when Matthews noticed two spots obscuring vision in his left eye. The Bellevue, Iowa, native who now lives in Cedar Rapids was tested by several vision specialists before being sent to the ophthalmology department at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

After undergoing more tests there, doctors figured out his unusual problem.

"A group of them came in and told me, 'You've got a worm in your eye,'" he said.

Doctors rushed Matthews into a treatment room and shot a laser into his left eyeball to kill the worm.

"I could see it from behind, moving, trying to dodge the laser," he said.

It took a second round of laser blasts to kill the critter. Matthews' body is absorbing the worm's remains, but the damage it did to his retina is permanent.

Doctors figured Matthews picked up the worm one of two ways.

"It could have been hookworm I might have picked up when we were in Mexico or it could have been raccoon roundworm that I could have gotten turkey hunting," he said.

Since Matthews enjoys watching the Animal Planet network show, "Monsters Inside Me," he called the show's producers, who found his story intriguing. A film crew came to Iowa to tape his segment of the program, "Shape Shifters."

Surprise makeover

A Dubuque woman was ambushed Friday in New York City.

Kelly Cooper, a 42-year-old Hospice nurse, was one of two women selected to participate in the Plaza Ambush Makeover on the "Today" show on NBC.

"I was totally unprepared," said Cooper, who went to New York to visit family for the weekend. "We went to the show on the spur of the moment because my cousin wanted to see Al Roker. It was pouring rain."

Hair colorist to the stars, Louis Licari, and Jill Martin, reporter for the New York Knicks and contributor to the "Today" show on fashion trends and entertainment stories, picked Cooper and another woman for the makeover.

Cooper has six children, ranging in age from 14 to 25.

"I do need a little pampering," Cooper said before her makeover. "I'm very excited for this."

Cooper's makeover involved a new hairstyle and coloring, a new outfit and jewelry and some new makeup. For two hours, six to seven people worked on her, she said.

"It was just amazing," Cooper said. "It was neat to share the experience with another person."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/21/sarahpacs-new-ad-bolsters_n_733416.html

Students at East High School will be charged $5 for being late to class

9/19 7:13 pm

 

(ABC 4 News) SALT LAKE CITY - Beginning Monday East High School Students will be charged $5 for being late to class. If the students are late and do not want to pay the fee they have the option of attending 30 minutes of after school detention.  It is up to the discretion of the teachers to determine whether or not the student is tardy or truant.  If a student is late but has a good excuse they will be marked as tardy.  If they are extremely late with no excuse the teacher will mark them truant, and they will have to pay the fine or go to detention.    "What I have notices as an administrator is students aren't lingering anymore in the hallways," said  Principle Paul Sagers, "They aren't stopping and talking, there's not enough time. They just want to get to class." School officials say the money raised will go towards paying the teacher who has to stay after school and run the detention. LINK TO PHOTO

http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top%20stories/story/Students-at-East-High-School-will-be-charged-5/wq7mb6Dbm0aNMWgrqhInIQ.cspx#

Car explodes after couple hides crack cocaine in gas tank

 

September 21, 2010 • 12:19 pm

Diana Fasanella

 

A Brazilian couple’s car exploded after they hid crack cocaine in the fuel tank and then tried to fill it with gas. 

The pair, who were not identified, apparently tried to hide 11 pounds of crack inside their car’s natural gas fuel tank before it blew up when they filled it with gas in Brasilia, The Canadian Press reports. 

Shards of the car were blasted some 20 yards while the station walls were peppered with the drug. 

Experts speculated that the crack shoved into the small pipes of the tank caused undue pressure on its integrity and caused it to explode during filling. 

The 36-year-old man and 24-year-old woman both sustained non-life threatening injuries in the explosion and were taken to the hospital for treatment

 

 

   Those born on September 21^st are very concerned with the prevailing social taste of the times, either in setting them within their own circle or observing them. It can be said that most September 21^st people are extremely up to date in their thinking, their dress, the way they keep their homes, even the car they drive for at least have a strong desire to be. Consequently, if their financial circumstances do not allow for such a contemporary lifestyle, those born on this day grow rather unhappy. Often their desire to be successful financially is motivated by such needs. It must be mentioned, however, that there is a smaller group of September 21^st people who are not preoccupied with these externals at all, but only concerned with being up to date intellectually and having an advanced outlook. For this type of person, a natural lifestyle, away from the bustle of the city, may come to assume great importance.

     The word modern is applicable to September 21^st people, both in the sense of being in tune with their times and in being progressive. They are generally attracted to modern architecture, new ideas, fashion trends and advancements in science, and may await the appearance of the latest model tool, machine or gadget with great interest. The reasons for this interest are not only a fascination with innovation and wishing to be seen by others as up to date, but also a real knowledge that such developments can better their lives and allow them to work more efficiently.

     September 21^st people have an undeniable fascination for mystery, strange people, suspense, and even danger and violence. These interests should of course be channeled creatively and kept within bounds because though they can make for a stimulating dream and fantasy life, they can also produce a highly destructive personality. The ideal occupation for those born on this day may be one which allows them to dream up new ideals and then see them through in practical application. Most September 21^st people seek to be elegant and admired, some even worshiped. Their feeling for beauty is important to them and matters of aesthetic taste are usually given high priority.

     Those born on the 21^st of the month are ruled by the number 3 (2+1=3). September 21^st people may be easy with their money, which can lead to debt; overdrafts or losses from get rich quick schemes. The primary task of September 21^st people is to make their way in the world in a constructive fashion.

Advice: Find your true values within. Don’t get carried away by the latest and greatest. Try to keep to one path. Feel free to flaunt your differences if you wish, but don’t be obsessed by them it doesn’t matter so much what you neighbor thinks.

Strengths: Tasteful, progressive and aesthetic

Weaknesses: Materialistic, sensationalist and flighty

Born on This Day: HG Wells, Bill Murray, Larry Hagman and Stephen King

Famous Inventions: 1993 A patent for Baseball Batting Apparatus, patent #5,246,226 was granted.

This Day In History: Sep 21, 1780 Benedict Arnold commits treason

This day in 1780, during the American Revolution, American General Benedict Arnold meets with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The plot was foiled and Arnold, a former American hero, became synonymous with the word "traitor."