Sunday 4/13/2008 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
Birmingham News - Report shows Birmingham child care costs up, resources down.
Birmingham News - Alabama House to consider tax plan changes on Tuesday.
Birmingham News - Legislature wants to help Jefferson County with debt crisis, accord to Rep. Rod Scott (D-Fairfield).
Birmingham News - Governor sees promise in trade with China, while others see peril.
Birmingham News - The Birmingham News blasts legislators for trying to halt rule against “double-dipping,” urges voters to remember these actions at next election.
Mobile Press-Register - New poll shows that over half of Alabama’s residents “rated politicians’ honesty and ethical standards as “low” or “very low.”
Mobile Press-Register - Commentary by Skip Tucker of Alabama Voters Against Lawsuit Abuse says that state leaders are robbing companies like ExxonMobil and pharmaceutical manufacturers through lawsuits and “unfair” legislation.
Mobile Press-Register - Press-Register, noting recent national honor for Gov. Riley, states that he has “set the standard for state government response to homelessness.”
Montgomery Advertiser - The Montgomery Advertiser finds discussion of a new State House opposite the Capital on Dexter Avenue “exciting,” but cautions that action should not be taken until state’s fiscal crisis passes.
Montgomery Advertiser - Commentary by director of Governor’s Office of Workforce Development outlines how state must prepare workers if successful economic development is to continue.
Tuscaloosa News - Dozens of lawmakers would be impacted by proposal to end “double-dipping” by prohibiting legislators to work for any governmental entity.
Tuscaloosa News - Legislative committee agrees that new State House is needed.
Tuscaloosa News - “Alabama Exposure,” Dana Beyerle’s weekly political roundup for the readers of the NYTimes regional papers.
Tuscaloosa News - Commentary by Tommy Stevenson reviews report that found disparity between state’s wealthiest and poorest growing wider.
Washington Post - Former governor Siegelman turns the tables on Justice Department.
FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:
2-year colleges appeal judge’s ruling
Capitol Correspondent
MONTGOMERY — Alabama’s two-year college system is appealing a judge’s order that effectively blocks part of the system’s strategy for combating double-dipping.
The college system is taking the fight all the way to the state’s Supreme Court, but it’s not the only fight it faces this year.
Bills moving through the Legislature this session could override the very policies that the State Board of Education passed last summer to clean up corruption in the two-year system.
The new policies force legislators holding jobs at the state’s two-year colleges to decide by 2010 whether they want to be lawmakers or employees.
The new policies also require legislators to use their vacation time to handle their legislative duties and restrict the use of flexible schedules.
Several legislators have objected to the policies, and the Alabama Education Association has filed a lawsuit on their behalf.
The lawsuit raises the question of whether the state school board in its role of overseeing the two-year college system is subject to the Administrative Procedure Act.
That act requires that policy changes be cleared with the legislative council, which has the power to accept, amend or even reject a proposed policy change.
If a court rules that the state school board overstepped it bounds by not clearing the policies with the legislative council, the policies could be rolled back.
Pending a decision in that lawsuit, Judge Johnny Hardwick of the Montgomery County Circuit Court has stayed the implementation of the board’s policy on the use of flexible time schedules.
Hardwick’s order essentially freed legislators from the effects of the new policy until the merits of the lawsuit are determined, allowing them to use previous or existing flex-time arrangements.
“Judge Hardwick obviously looked at the policy as a change in the middle of the ball game,” said AEA Executive Secretary Paul Hubbert.
Before the policy change, Hubbert said, legislators employed by the two-year college system could work out flexible schedules with college presidents to meet the requirements of their jobs and their legislative duties.
Changing that in the middle of their terms was unfair, Hubbert said.
With the task of restoring the image of the two-year system on his shoulders, Chancellor Bradley Byrne sees things differently.
Byrne said the college system is asking for a stay of Hardwick’s ruling on the grounds that there is no merit-based reason for the new policies to be stopped.
Regardless of what happens at the judicial level, more difficulties could be brewing in the Legislature.
At least two bills before the Senate would address two of the issues currently tied up in the courts.
Bills are in committee that would subject the state school board to the Administrative Procedure Act and allow government employees to use unpaid leave to tend to the duties of a public office.
Hubbert says the bills simply clarify the existing law and make it clear that a government employee can hold an elected office but can’t collect two checks.
“I think they’ll get a positive reception,” he said of the bills. “There is no question — double-dipping is over.”
Byrne said both bills are a blatant grab by some legislators for control of the system, and fighting that legislation takes away from reform efforts.
“I’ve been traveling around the state to a lot of the college campuses, and it’s pretty clear that there is broad-based support for these policies,” Byrne said. “I don’t think these legislative or judicial efforts to stop us will be successful, because the public will not let them succeed.”
State school board member Stephanie Bell, R-Montgomery, said she’s been hearing the same support from constituents in her district, which includes Calhoun, Cleburne and Talladega counties.
Bell said she believes there are enough legislators who support the board’s policies to block any bill that allows double-dipping.
“It’s obvious that those legislators who are employed by the two-year college system want to defend the status quo,” she said. “Their determination seems to be growing, instead of realizing that public support is on our side.”
Hubbert said voters knew when they elected their legislators if they were a two-year college or K-12 employee.
He said Hardwick’s ruling gives some credence to the legislators’ objections.
Skip Tucker, the biggest balls in Alabama!!! Poor Exxon/Mobil they could only give their former CEO a $400M good bye kiss because of all the lawsuits. They gassed Dauphin Island last September, ADEM slapped them with a $95,000 which is about 10 seconds of their yearly profits. Boohoo.
Comment by Willie — April 13, 2008 @ 7:25 am
Another Ad hominem attack brought to you by Willie
And since Willie most likely has no idea what I am talking about I will give him a link so he knows.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem_attack
Comment by Therm — April 13, 2008 @ 7:39 am
So Willie’s comment somehow distorts the fact that companies like ExxonMobil and the poor pharmaceuticals have ripped off this state? I can’t believe that folks will really buy Skip’s argument that we’re somehow doing the poor little multinational companies badly here in Alabama. Skip DOES have big balls to try to defend these corporations and portray them as victims.
Comment by Anonymous — April 13, 2008 @ 7:45 am
Where are the facts that either of the two groups mentioned are “ripping off” the state?
Comment by Therm — April 13, 2008 @ 8:08 am
Just what does it take to show you this? There’s one judgement about pharmaceuticals overcharging Medicaid, and a number of settlements by others accused of the same thing. I guess you think that that’s part of the conspiracy to harm the poor little pharmaceutical companies who, in spite of those dastardly deeds, continue to have record profits while health costs soar? But no, there’s absolutely no evidence that they’ve done anything but provide needed services and products at affordable prices, right?
And ExxonMobil? No, they’re great corporate citizens, too. Ignore their efforts at avoiding paying taxes in Alabama - they need all that money because those poor old oil companies are hurting so badly with escalating fuel costs.
Man, Skip isn’t the only one with big balls.
Comment by Anonymous — April 13, 2008 @ 8:24 am
>>The average family in the area pays $6,461 a year for infant day care, up more than 10 percent from 2003…
This is bogus. A 30 second visit to the www.bls.gov indicates that general prices are up 15% since 2003.
But an article that shows that childcare prices are rising at 2/3 the pace of other prices would not feed demands for more government intervention.
Comment by Onelife — April 13, 2008 @ 11:03 am
Jeez, Onlife. Is every article about increasing costs and the burdens on families a call for government intervention? The article merely reports the fact that child care costs have gone up 10% since 2003 - it’s really irrelevant that overall CPI has gone up 15% during the same period. It’s still a termendous burden on young families, and most data reflect that earnings have not kept pace with inflation during this period.
Comment by Anonymous — April 13, 2008 @ 1:05 pm
Skip Tucker should go back to picking up garbage in Walker County. The oil companies, industrial polluters, insurance and drug companies are paying for AVALA. What do you think he would say? And why are these newspapers running his drivel — oh, never mind.
Comment by Anonymouse — April 13, 2008 @ 5:57 pm
>>Commentary by Tommy Stevenson reviews report that found disparity between state’s wealthiest and poorest growing wider.
The government should do something about this. People should not be permitted to be poor. Anyone who cannot get themselves a good education (free), to show up to work (sober) and provide a valuable service should have their lives managed by the government.
The government should leave the rest of us alone so that there will be someone around to fund their utopian dreams.
Comment by Onelife — April 13, 2008 @ 6:05 pm
>>Commentary by Tommy Stevenson reviews report that found disparity between state’s wealthiest and poorest growing wider.
Interestingly, every dollar of government “assistance” to the poor makes the gap larger. Government assistance is not counted in the statistics, only income is. When we increase assistance, it decreases the need for people to earn an income and makes the gap larger.
Comment by Onelife — April 13, 2008 @ 6:13 pm
>>>>Commentary by Tommy Stevenson reviews report that found disparity between state’s wealthiest and poorest growing wider.
The beauty (for lefties) of looking ONLY at income is that every fix one exacerbates the problem, giving them an even bigger problem to fix.
From Walter Williams on a related topic:
…high-income households are larger with an average of 3.1 people in the top fifth, compared with 2.5 people in the middle fifth and 1.7 in the bottom fifth. Thus, if we look at spending per person, the difference between the richest and poorest households falls to just 2.1 to 1 and the average person in the middle fifth spends just 29 percent more than someone living in a bottom-fifth household.
Comment by Onelife — April 13, 2008 @ 6:20 pm
From the second article:
>>It’s the right, Christian thing to do,” Knight said.
Lefties never seem to have a problem with doing leftie stuff for Christian reasons, but let a Conservative legislator propose a law because it’s what God wants….
Comment by Onelife — April 13, 2008 @ 6:25 pm
>>Skip Tucker should go back to picking up garbage in Walker County. The oil companies, industrial polluters, insurance and drug companies are paying for AVALA. What do you think he would say? And why are these newspapers running his drivel — oh, never mind.
This is a powerful and well-reasoned counter argument to the article. I’ll have to study both sides before I reach any conclusion.
Comment by Onelife — April 13, 2008 @ 6:35 pm
Onelife - regarding your comment #10. You seem to love to speak in absolutes, when you really have no idea what you’re talking about. The definition of income used in the cited study included more than just earnings. Had you taken 30 seconds to glance over the report, you would have found “The survey provides information on family income, which includes not only wages and salaries, but also other sources of cash income such as interest income and cash benefits, including veterans assistance, welfare payments, and child support income.”
But, of course, that would have interfered with your practice of trying to turn every report, every finding into some type of “liberal” conmspiracy. Sometimes the facts speak for themselves, in spite of your repeated efforts to put a spin on them.
Comment by Anonymous — April 13, 2008 @ 7:57 pm
Comment #12 - it seems conservatives think that they are the only ones who know what God wants. It must be great to be always in such close connection that only YOU know the things that God wants!!! I guess your efforts here are to enlighten us with what God has shared with you as his wishes? And I guess God wants the people of Alabmama to tax his poor children more heavily than his rich children?
Comment by Anonymous — April 13, 2008 @ 8:03 pm
>>it seems conservatives think that they are the only ones who know what God wants.
You post this in a thread about someone wanting to raise taxes because “it’s the Christian thing to do”?
Comment by Onelife — April 13, 2008 @ 9:25 pm
Yeah, I don’t have trouble about someone raising God’s name in an effort to make taxes fairer. If we’re going to do that, it would necessitate that those who pay a disporportionate share of their resouces in taxes would pay less, while those who don’t pay a “fair” share would pay more. So in that context, yeah it’s raising taxes and for those who love claim a special relationship with God, perhaps they can understand the morality in doing so.
Comment by Anonymous — April 14, 2008 @ 8:34 am