Governor Granholm continues to blame Michigan’s economic woes on everyone else -while taking NO responsibility for anything….except jumping out in front of any job announcements. If it’s good news, she claims credit…if it’s bad news, it’s someone elses fault. Here is a chart and article that puts some of the latest economic numbers in perspective:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2006/07/granholm_plays_.html
Former Democratic nominee for Governor and often mentioned Democratic Attorney General candidate Goeffrey Fieger’s lost his appeal to the Supreme Court who upheld the reprimand recommended by the Attorney Grievance Commission, the Supreme Court said the rules of conduct are not to censor attorneys or prohibit criticism but are to ensure discretion and civility and in this instance the attorney engaged in personal abuse.
To read the bizarre comments and behavior of the imfamous Geoffrey Fieger see the link below:
http://courts.michigan.gov/supremecourt/Clerk/Opinions-05-06-Term/127547.pdf
Governor Granholm’s campaign keeps dodging committing to engage in debates with Dick DeVos. We realize that Granholm wants to stay away from talking about her record and lack of leadership…but Michigan deserves better.
There is only one week left until the primary. Please remember you can only vote in one primary or the other. Some Democrats are being encouraged to “play games” in our primary…so I encourage Republicans to get out and vote. We have competitive primaries up and down the ballot and it’s important that we Republicans pick our nominees for this falls election.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/BUSINESS01/608010314/1014
Buyout expenses drive up Delphi loss
August 1, 2006
Delphi Corp., the nation's largest auto-parts supplier, reported Monday a $1.86-billion loss in June. The bulk of the loss was related to its attrition program.
An estimated 12,900 hourly workers -- 12,500 from the UAW and 400 from the International Union of Electrical Workers -- have agreed to leave the company under the buyout and early-retirement plan.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060731/NEWS01/607310303/1002
Local businesses buck state's economic trend
By CRAIG DAVISON
Times Herald
When Judi Cesarek was laid off from Kmart about six months ago, she was worried about going back into the job market.
As a payroll specialist, there weren't many opportunities for her without moving from her home in Eastpointe - a Macomb County city about 25 miles northeast of Detroit.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060731/OPINION02/607310310/1070
LOCAL COMMENT: Michigan a natural for defense industry
July 31, 2006
In Michigan's case, the best defense might be a good ... defense industry.
In the job market, we in Michigan have been playing defense against the rest of the world for so long that we have overlooked the most obvious growth industry: the defense sector. Why are we not using our world-class manufacturing skills to help defend the country? This is a question we need to pose to our elected officials in Washington, D.C.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/OPINION01/608010321/1068
Get Details Right In Campaign Ads
August 1, 2006
The Michigan Democratic Party this week corrected errors in a TV ad lauding Gov. Jennifer Granholm for her role in bringing the Internet search firm Google and 1,000 jobs to Ann Arbor.
The ad, which has been airing since July 21, uses three newspaper headlines about the Google deal, including one from the Free Press, "Google brings in new jobs and hope." The dates accompanying the headlines were, in the original ad, all incorrect by about a month. They are all listed as June headlines when the Granholm-Google announcement came on July 11. Newspapers like scoops, but in this case, the dates would mean the Google story was out there for a month before even Granholm knew about it.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060731/NEWS12/607310432/-1/BUSINESS07
DeVos says he'll cut taxes on farmland, promote alternative fuels
July 31, 2006
BATH, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan should become a national leader in ethanol production as well as biodiesel and biomass, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos said Monday.
Standing in the blazing sun on a farm northeast of Lansing, DeVos said he would work to dramatically increase Michigan's ability to create alternative fuels and to build an infrastructure that will make those fuels easily available to drivers.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/business/15166208.htm
Posted on Mon, Jul. 31, 2006
DeVos talks about several issues
During a presentation of his agricultural policy Monday, GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos also talked about several other issues. Here is where he stands on:
http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5212719&nav=0Rce
U.S. Senate campaign targets TV time
LANSING, Mich. U-S Senate candidates from Michigan are buying television advertising time for the present and the future.
Troy minister and Republican Senate hopeful Keith Butler plans a statewide air time buy for the week leading up to the August 8th primary.
http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-19/115435211471770.xml&coll=9
METRO BRIEFS
Monday, July 31, 2006
Nugent to attend rally
Ted Nugent, a legendary Detroit rocker and ardent hunting advocate, was to join Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Bouchard, Oakland County sheriff, at a 2 p.m. campaign rally today at Apple Mountain Resort in Thomas Township.
http://www.mlive.com/columns/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1154357430310860.xml&coll=5
Bouchard for Senate
Oakland sheriff's experience makes him better GOP pick
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Monday, July 31, 2006
It's too bad the Republican U.S. Senate primary has received relatively little attention compared to the governor's election, which is not until this fall, because the two men facing off Aug. 8 are substantial individuals. Either would make a worthy opponent for the incumbent senator, Debbie Stabenow, come November.
Keith Butler, 50, is the enormously successful founding pastor of Word of Faith International Christian Center Church in Southfield and a former Detroit City Council member. World-traveled and more studied on the issues than his opponent, Michael Bouchard, 50, the Oakland County sheriff and former state lawmaker, Butler sees Bouchard's long political career as a negative. He notes that it's career politicians in Washington, D.C, who have spent tens of billions for pork-barrel projects to buy support back home.
http://www.wndu.com/news/072006/news_51740.php
Butler aims to shoot down Stabenow
Posted 07/31/2006 04:08pm
Updated 07/31/2006 05:28pm
He was the first Republican to win a City Council seat in Detroit in more than 50 years.
Now, Keith Butler is confident he can beat Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow, that is, if he gets the Republican nomination in the upcoming primary.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1154357329292620.xml&coll=6
U.S. House
Monday, July 31, 2006
3rd District -- (Most of Kent County plus Ionia and Barry counties) -- Michigan's Third Congressional District seat has attracted two Democrats, hoping to oust Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids.
Peter Hickey of Kentwood, a housing inspector for the City of Grand Rapids, is making a second run for the office, having lost to Mr. Ehlers in 2004. This time he is vying against James Rinck of Grand Rapids, an attorney and member of the Grand Rapids Board of Education, for the Democratic nomination.
http://www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-18/1154361995166350.xml&coll=3
Many Dems will cross party lines on Aug. 8
Monday, July 31, 2006
By Brad Flory
bflory@citpat.com -- 768-4925
Jim Berryman is no Republican. But he will vote like one next week.
The former Democratic state senator will vote in the Republican primary so he can support U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz over challenger Tim Walberg.
Four Democrats are running for the same seat, too. But Berryman expects a vote in his party's primary won't matter. The winner likely will lose to Schwarz or Walberg in November.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/METRO02/608010343/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Decision 2006
War in Iraq may reach county votes
Pro-, anti-Bush views, along with demographic shifts could be reflected in commission races.
Maureen Feighan / The Detroit News
Turnout, the war in Iraq, and changing demographics could all play a role in Tuesday's primary elections for the Oakland County Board of Commissioners.
Only 12 of the commission's 25 seats open in November have contested races in Tuesday's primary. Three have no incumbent -- Commissioners Chuck Moss and Tim Melton are running for the state House and Chuck Palmer is retiring -- leaving both parties to battle it out to pick their candidates for the November election.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/METRO03/608010321/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Decision 2006
Tough talk heats races in Macomb
GOP hopes voters will blame Democrats for $9M shortfall; all-white panel stirs concern.
Jim Lynch / The Detroit News
A slugfest in Warren, strong challenges to longtime incumbents and the possibility of an all-white county board are among the issues sparking interest in Macomb County Board of Commissioners primary races on Aug. 8.
Almost 100 candidates are in the mix for Macomb County's 26 commission seats this year, as the cash-strapped county struggles with one of its worst deficits in years.
Much of the interest in Warren has focused on the war of words -- and mailings -- between incumbent Commissioner Susan Doherty and fellow Democrat Michael Greiner.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/METRO03/608010315/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Clerk outs rule-dodging pols
Macomb Co. official collects fines, reports after posting offenders of election code on Web.
Steve Pardo / The Detroit News
MACOMB COUNTY -- There's nothing like a little public scrutiny to ensure those running for office follow election protocol.
Last week, Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh -- frustrated with candidates who failed to pay fines stemming from late reports on campaign contributions -- started posting offenders' names on the clerk's Web site. She's the first clerk in the state to do so.
"It's working great," Sabaugh said. "Candidates know now the public is watching. And that's a good thing."
http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060731/News01/607310363/CAT=News01
July 31. 2006 6:59AM
Wayne State approves higher tuition
Costs, including fees, to increase 5.8 percent this fall.
DETROIT (AP) -- Wayne State University tuition and fees will increase by 5.8 percent this fall.
In-state freshmen and sophomores will pay $200.40 per credit hour in the 2006-07 academic year, up from $189.40. In-state juniors, seniors and post-bachelor's students will pay $236.30 per credit hour, up from $223.30. Graduate tuition will increase from $337.60 to $357.20 per credit hour.
http://www.mlive.com/news/statewide/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1154383816321720.xml&coll=1
Michigan farmers want Congress to be careful in dealing with immigration
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
By Sarah Kellogg
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Michigan farmers plan to use a congressional hearing on immigration reform and border security to hammer home the point that state growers need a plentiful supply of migrant workers to survive.
The U.S. House Armed Services Committee comes to Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County today to review security issues along the U.S.-Canada border. The hearing is one of a handful scheduled by House Republicans to highlight the importance of immigration reform.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/OPINION03/608010318/1348
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Laura Berman
Politicians aren't trash talking, but talking about trash
I 've never heard anyone say that trash is sexy.
But if trash rarely inspires lust, its removal remains a service that no thinking citizen would do without.
Perhaps that's why, in this sweltering election season, politicians are taxing trash more freely than they're talking it.
No officials seem busy reinventing the trash wheel with bold new incentives or "go-green" ideas; the latest innovation is the oldest and least imaginative: more taxes.
Deadline looms for Toronto to find a home for sewage sludge
7/31/2006, 12:42 a.m. ET
The Associated Press
TORONTO (AP) — With only a day to go before truckloads of treated sewage sludge from Toronto will be turned away from a Michigan landfill, waste managers in Canada's largest city were scrambling to find a home for the remaining 100,000 tons of the stinky, gooey substance.
Two Quebec composting companies have already agreed to take about half of the city's 176,000 tons of sludge.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/OPINION01/608010307/1008
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
State must protect homeowners from abuse
State Reps. Leon Drolet and Steve Tobocman
G overnment abuses its right to take private property more than Michigan residents realize. So it's time for state voters to tell governments and developers: Hands off our houses.
We, along with state Sen. Tony Stamos, R-Midland, are sponsoring an amendment to the state Constitution that would prohibit local governments from taking anyone's private property and giving it to another private interest.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/NEWS06/608010326/1008/NEWS
Justices say Fieger spoke wrongly
Vulgarity wasn't allowable, high court rules
August 1, 2006
Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger's vulgar tirade against three state appeals judges who had ruled against one of his clients was not protected by the First Amendment and violated Michigan standards of attorney conduct, a divided Michigan Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The court majority found the comments -- in two 1999 radio broadcasts in which Fieger compared the judges to Nazis and suggested they deserved to be sodomized -- could be punished because of their potential to undermine respect for the legal system.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/31/AR2006073100928.html
A Primary Lesson for Lieberman
Tuesday, August 1, 2006; Page A17
Consider the uncanny similarity between Sen. Joe Lieberman's campaign for reelection in Connecticut last weekend and a certain political weekend in New York 26 years ago.
In Connecticut, four Senate Democrats pleaded with the party's rank and file to support Lieberman in the state's Aug. 8 primary against liberal challenger Ned Lamont. One of them, Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado, was unabashed in describing Lieberman as "a hero of mine and someone who has inspired me."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OFFSHORE_DRILLING?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Senate clears way for offshore bill
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate cleared the way Monday for legislation that would open 8.3 million protected acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling.
Senators voted 72-23 to limit debate, assuring a final vote on the bill later this week before senators depart for the summer recess. The bill's supporters said they have the majority needed to push it through.
But a battle loomed with the House, which has approved a bill that would allow drilling far beyond the limited acreage in the central Gulf of Mexico. Negotiations to reconcile the two measures won't begin until September.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/OPINION01/608010304/1008
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Congress bungles voting machine reforms
Lawmakers waste billions on unreliable, balky equipment
T he spectacle of the botched 2000 presidential election, with malfunctioning punch card voting machines and hanging chads, led Congress to enact reforms. As usual, however, Congress imposed an expensive, one-size-fits-all solution on the nation.
As a result, it has actually made the voting situation worse here in Metro Detroit.
Congress, in its Help America Vote Act, appropriated nearly $4 billion and then gave voting machine contracts for the whole nation to only a few providers.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MEDICARE_DRUGS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Seniors conflicted over Medicare benefit
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The less medicine they take, the less likely the elderly were to enroll in a new Medicare drug plan, a signal that many senior citizens still don't view the program as insurance in case their health deteriorates.
Researchers say the trend was particularly noticeable among the poor and those without a college education. About 40 percent of these seniors did not have drug coverage - and were not taking medication.
"We speculate that this arises because of constraints or perceptions that make it difficult for people in these groups to account for future benefits," said the authors of an article, published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/31/AR2006073100377.html
FDA to Reopen Discussions With Plan B Manufacturer
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 1, 2006; Page A03
The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it is ready to engage in detailed discussions with the maker of the "morning-after pill," sold as Plan B -- talks that could lead to over-the-counter sales of the controversial emergency contraceptive to women at least 18 years old.
The shift in stance, conveyed in a letter sent yesterday to a subsidiary of Barr Laboratories of Pomona, N.Y., stopped far short of a promise that the agency is ready to allow nonprescription sales of the drug, which can prevent conception if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MORNING_AFTER_PILL?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Morning-after pill hinders Bush nominee
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal health officials thought a surprise announcement about the morning-after pill would smooth the Senate confirmation of Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
Instead lawmakers questioned both the timing and sincerity of the news that the FDA would again consider allowing the emergency contraceptive pills to be sold to adult women without a prescription.
The Monday announcement came on the eve of a Senate committee hearing on von Eschenbach's nomination. The FDA hoped it would free up von Eschenbach to discuss his plans and vision for the agency.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/OPINION03/608010301/1008/OPINION01
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Froma Harrop:
Bush lacks morality on stem cells
If anything embodies this White House's cracked sense of morality, it has to be the president's decision to veto a bill that would have expanded funding for stem-cell research. How many days until Nov. 7?
Bush isn't running for re-election, but several Republicans who sided with him are. The political calculation is that the veto will appease ultra-conservatives opposed to research that harms embryos -- and will be forgotten by the more than two-to-one majority that wants it.
Media firms counted as small businesses
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Maybe "Big Media" isn't so big in the eyes of government after all.
Some of the nation's largest news media companies, including The Associated Press, were counted last year by the government as small businesses for contracting purposes, inflating the Bush administration's record of help to small companies.
Other media companies to be treated that way included The New York Times Co., USA Today International Corp., Bloomberg L.P., and even the Public Broadcasting Service, according to data the administration gave congressional investigators.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/NEWS05/608010350/1007/NEWS
Panel to probe taxing havens
Subcommittee targets loopholes
August 1, 2006
Imagine a business that makes a big profit.
Now imagine the owners "buy" $9 billion of nonexistent stock, create two fake corporations in a foreign tax haven, have one fake company sell the fake stock to the other fake company, which lends the stock back to the other and claims a fake loss equal to the profit the real business made.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESS_TAX_HAVENS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Panel: Offshore tax havens cost billions
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Offshore tax havens offer the wealthy a "black box" for stashing trillions of dollars, mostly impervious to tax, regulatory and law enforcement authorities, a Senate panel concluded after a yearlong investigation.
The investigative subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said the havens allow Americans to avoid paying $40 billion to $70 billion in taxes each year, with the help of "an armada" of professional advisers.
One such adviser, profiled in a report the panel prepared for a Tuesday hearing, wrote a virtual how-to manual for avoiding taxes by moving money offshore.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/31/AR2006073101097.html
Tax Shelters Saved Billionaires a Bundle
Senate Panel Will Question Financial Advisers and Clients Who Used Offshore Schemes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 1, 2006; Page A04
A Senate committee today plans to criticize multimillion-dollar tax-avoidance schemes used by four prominent individuals, to highlight what it concludes is a more than $40 billion-a-year drain on federal coffers by offshore tax scams.
The panel is scheduled to release a 370-page report, which it provided to The Washington Post, that details how these wealthy, politically connected people ducked hundreds of millions of dollars in tax payments by using secretive corporations and trusts on the Isle of Man. The billionaires who took advantage of this tax haven included Robert Wood Johnson IV, owner of the New York Jets football team; Sam Wyly and Charles J. Wyly Jr., longtime Republican donors and backers of President Bush; and Haim Saban, a Democratic Party fundraiser who made his first fortune promoting Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MIDEAST?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Bush pressured to call for Mideast truce
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/OPINION01/608010324/1069
Hard to See Peace at End of this Strategy
August 1, 2006
President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appeared to be in accord Monday that the fighting in the Middle East presents an opportunity to effect permanent change in the region. But that is not a certain outcome, and there will be continued loss of life and property in the meantime.
The president said, "The current crisis is part of a larger struggle between the forces of freedom and the forces of terror. ... To achieve the peace that we want, we must achieve certain clear objectives," including an end to the support of terrorism by Iran and Syria.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/OPINION01/608010308/1008
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
U.N. must commit to disarming Hezbollah
Cease-fire plan has to ensure Israel's long-term security
So far, the fighting in the Middle East is playing out perfectly to plan for the Hezbollah terrorists.
Encouraged by Iran to draw Israel into war to divert attention from the Iranian nuclear program, victory for Hezbollah meant surviving long enough for world opinion to take its inevitable turn against Israel.
To achieve that end, its set up among Lebanon's civilian population, firing rockets from parking lots and fields next to schools, hospitals and apartment buildings, knowing the Israelis would strike back and that the resulting civilian casualties would bring the desired international outrage.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-18/115435929958600.xml&coll=7
Rally calls for peace in Lebanon
Monday, July 31, 2006
By Gabrielle Russon
grusson@kalamazoogazette.com 388-7777
With one hand, Dr. Aijaz Turk clutched a protest sign. With the other, he flashed a peace sign at a stream of cars on Michigan Avenue Sunday.
``Thank you, thank you,'' he said quietly to a woman driving a white Volvo when she saw his peace sign and matched it with one of her own.
Turk, a member of the Kalamazoo Nonviolent Opponents of War, stood with about 60 others on Sunday afternoon during a rally that criticized the United States for not taking a stronger stance against Israel by demanding an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/31/AR2006073101057.html
A Solution for Lebanon
Behind all the rhetoric, there's a consensus that Hezbollah must be weakened and contained.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006; Page A16
DESPITE THE terrible bloodshed in Lebanon and Israel over the weekend, including the tragic death of scores of women and children in the village of Qana, the United States, Israel and the Lebanese government continue to seek the same outcome to the war. That is the removal of Hezbollah's militia from the Lebanese-Israeli border as well as steps toward its disarmament; the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south; and the extension of the Lebanese government's sovereignty to all of the country's territory. Despite all the rhetoric about an immediate cease-fire and the predictable focus by media outlets around the world on Israel's mistakes and excesses, every party in the Middle East other than Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian sponsors believes that a resolution to the crisis that fails to achieve those conditions would be a catastrophe.
Gitmo guards often attacked by detainees
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fans. Shower sandals. Radios. Toilets. All innocent household conveniences, these items were fashioned into weapons by prisoners in the war on terror and used to attack their military guards at Guantanamo Bay, Pentagon memos reveal.
In all, the Defense Department has documented hundreds of attacks by Guantanamo detainees on Military Police guards since 2002, ranging from head butting and spitting to routine dousing with cups filled with feces, urine, vomit and sperm.
The guards also have been repeatedly grabbed, punched or assaulted by prisoners who reach through small "bean holes" used to deliver food and blankets through cell doors, the reports say.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/31/AR2006073101183.html
General Who Ran Guantanamo Bay Retires
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 1, 2006; Page A06
Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, a central figure in the debate over the treatment of detainees in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, retired from the Army yesterday amid ongoing congressional concern about his role in policies that allegedly led to abuse by U.S. service members.
Miller chose to retire without seeking promotion and a third star, in large part because his legacy has been tarnished by allegations of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, according to military officials and congressional sources. Miller had hoped to retire in February, but his departure was delayed because members of the Senate Armed Services Committee wanted to question him while he was still in uniform about his role in implementing harsh interrogation techniques at the two prisons.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/31/AR2006073100743.html
Hill Democrats Unite to Urge Bush to Begin Iraq Pullout
By Charles Babington and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 1, 2006; Page A01
After months of struggling to forge a unified stance on the Iraq war, top congressional Democrats joined voices yesterday to call on President Bush to begin withdrawing U.S. troops by the end of the year and to "transition to a more limited mission" in the war-torn nation.
With the midterm elections three months away, and Democrats seeing public discontent over Iraq as their best chance for retaking the House or Senate, a dozen key lawmakers told Bush in a letter: "In the interests of American national security, our troops and our taxpayers, the open-ended commitment in Iraq that you have embraced cannot and should not be sustained. . . . We need to take a new direction."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/31/AR2006073100353.html
Security Council Sets Deadline for Iran
U.N. May Impose Sanctions Unless Nation Ends Nuclear Activity by Aug. 31
By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 1, 2006; Page A11
UNITED NATIONS, July 31 -- The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Monday demanding that Iran suspend its enrichment and reprocessing of nuclear fuel by Aug. 31 or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions.
The resolution, passed 14 to 1, represented the first time that the international body has legally required Iran to halt its enrichment of uranium. It increased pressure on Tehran to begin negotiations -- with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- aimed at addressing international concerns that it may be developing nuclear weapons.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NIXON_VIETNAM?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Nixon considered using nukes in Vietnam
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Nixon, in his first year in office and eager to end an unpopular war that killed tens of thousands of U.S. troops, considered using nuclear weapons against the North Vietnamese, recently declassified documents show.
By mid-1969, Nixon and national security adviser Henry Kissinger had settled on a strategy using international diplomacy with threats of force against the communists ruling the north in an attempt to get them to buckle, according to an analysis of the papers by the National Security Archive. The private research group is headquartered at George Washington University.
Kissinger and his staff began developing contingency military plans under the code name of "Duck Hook." He also created a committee within the National Security Council to evaluate secret plans prepared by Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington and military planners in Saigon.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/OPINION01/608010305/1008
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Marianne Williamson: Faith and Policy
Let's pray for a miracle and unite humanity against war
L ike many people, I'm both glued to the news in the Middle East and horrified by it. My thoughts and feelings have been thrown into some kind of disarray that at times surprises me. We're all being challenged by world events to see just how deeply our convictions lie, and how and where we're ready to apply them to the realities of the world.
For myself, I am sure of this: The mortal mind is inadequate to the demands of the times in which we live. As Gandhi said, "The problem with humanity is that it's not in its right mind."
MIRS Capitol Capsule, Monday, July 31, 2006
John Reurink (517) 482-2125
Is Granholm Still Courting Her Base?
Today MIRS asked a pack of political pundits if Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM is still working to shore up her base. Generally the response was "yes, but so what?"
We also asked about the Supreme Court's pending voter ID decision, the 7th Congressional District GOP primary and Republican claim that Granholm has outspent Dick DeVOS.
Q. Gov. Jennifer Granholm is hitting the campaign trail this week with John KERRY and Tom DASCHLE. Her campaign keeps talking about her opponent allegedly sending jobs to China. Is she still trying to shore up her Democratic base?
A. "I think that's sort of a double-edged question," said Stephanie McLEAN, of GMT Strategies. "She's not really trying to shore up her base by bringing in Daschle and Kerry. I think she's just trying to remind people that, 'hey, it's an election, year and I'm your Governor.' As far as DeVos sending jobs to China, that's not just an issue with the Democratic base. That's an issue with Michigan Democrats, Republicans and Independents."
Bill NOWLING, of Sterling Corp. said he does believe Granholm is still trying to her rally her base.
"I think she is still trying to boost her base," Nowling said. "I mean it's Aug. 1 and she's still well below 50 percent in the polls. Obviously she's got a problem with her base."
"Now the next questions is whether bringing a couple of losers like Daschle and Kerry can help her," Nowling continued. "I really don't see how windsurfing John Kerry is going to help her a bit."
Bill RUSTEM, of Public Sector Consultants, believes both gubernatorial campaigns are still trying to secure their bases.
"To some extent yes, I do think she's trying to boost her Democratic base," Rustem said. "But actually I think both campaigns are doing that. At this stage they should be going after their bases. Later on they'll go after the voters in the middle."
Steve MITCHELL, of East Lansing-based Mitchell Research, said he does think that Granholm is trying to boost her base and that's not unusual.
"I think the answer is yes," Mitchell said. "The first thing a campaign should try to do is secure its base. Then it should reach out to the middle for a while before coming back to play to its base again at the end of the campaign. Granholm really doesn't need to try to reach out to independents and the undecideds until mid September."
"But overall, I think the Democrats are taking a huge gamble that the China stuff will work," Mitchell added. "The China stuff is a gamble and so is their assumption that DeVos won't have a more comprehensive plan. I think he's going to come out with a more detailed plan about Oct. 1."
Q. For a sitting state Supreme Court justice running for re-election, would it be better to rule on the constitutionality of requiring voter IDs before the election or put it off until after the election?
A. "To some extent I think it depends on whether or not you're a Democratic-nominated justice or a Republican-nominated justice," Mitchell said. "If you're a Democrat, you should want the decision put off, because the polls show that voters support requiring IDs."
McLean said she thinks a Democratic nominated justice would want to rule before the election, while GOP-appointed judges would prefer to wait.
"To me it depends on which way you're going to rule on the issue," McLean said. "I think the Republicans are seriously thinking about voting for it (in favor of ID requirements). That's likely to piss off a lot of people. So, I think they'd rather wait until the election's over."
Nowling said he doesn't think it matters whether the court rules on voter IDs before or after the election.
"I think it's irrelevant," Nowling said. "I think most of the people who would get upset over a ruling in favor of requiring voter IDs would already be planning to vote for the Democratic (nominated) candidate anyway. I think once you get outside of the urban areas most people, when presented with the arguments, would tend to agree that having IDs makes a lot of sense."
"Having said that, I think Supreme Court races get so little attention, that I don't think a ruling like that would make much difference one way or the other," Nowling continued. "It's so far down the ballot that it's almost impossible to make the voters pay attention. Just ask Geoffrey FIEGER who spent a lot of money against Justice Steve MARKMAN last time."
Rustem said they'd probably prefer to wait until after the election.
"I think for them it would be better to do it after the election," Rustem said. "As incumbent Supreme Court justices, all they'll want the voters to focus on is that 'I' next to their names on the ballot. I don't think they'd want the voters to be thinking of anything else."
Q. Has U.S. Rep. Joe SCHWARZ (R-Battle Creek) made a mistake by tying himself closely to "establishment" Republicans in his primary race against challenger Tim WALBERG?
A. "No, I don't think he made a mistake," Rustem said. "It's a tough primary in a district that has a lot of conservative Republicans. There's money being spent in the district from outside groups. I think he's doing what he should do which is running as a mainstream Republican, because that's what he is."
Mitchell said Schwarz was forced to position himself as he has done.
"He had no choice but to tie himself to the establishment," Mitchell said. "Walberg was trying to tie him to the Democrats, so Schwarz had to try to demonstrate that he is a mainstream Republican. He had to try to make Republican primary voters more comfortable with him."
McLean said she thinks Schwarz did what he had to do.
"No, I don't think it was a mistake. I mean what other choice did he have? " McLean said. "The Schwarz race is interesting because in a sense it's the mirror image of the U.S. Sen. Joe LIEBERMAN (D-Conn.) primary race. I think Schwarz is basically positioning himself to show that his opponent is not in the mainstream."
Nowling agreed that Schwarz has basically been doing what he has had to do.
"I don't think he had any other choice," Nowling said. "He's a moderate Republican running against a conservative and I think he's just positioned himself to be who he is. As far as the endorsements are concerned, I do think who endorses this Congressional candidate or that one is important to the base. And I don't think you want to run away from the president if you're trying to win a Republican Primary."
"I think this is one of the more important and interesting races in the country to watch," Nowling said. "It's sort of a battle for the heart and mind of the Republican Party."
Q. Do claims by the DeVos campaign and state Republicans that Gov. Granholm has outspent DeVos have any legitimacy?
A. "I have to admit I haven't actually looked the numbers," Nowling said. "But from a certain perspective, the idea that she's been spending money on campaigns since 1998 is a fair comparison. Of course the real subterfuge involved here is the belief by the Democrats that somehow DeVos is going to get hurt by the fact that he has a lot of money. If they believe that then how do they explain what Jon CORZINE has done in New Jersey?"
Rustem said he doesn't think it's an argument that holds much water.
"No, it doesn't have much legitimacy," Rustem said. "I mean, I don't think it's an easy argument to construct. I just don't think most people will buy the idea that you count what's been spent on previous elections."
But Mitchell said there is some legitimacy to the Republican argument.
"Yes, there is some legitimacy to that," Mitchell said. "When you are challenging an incumbent who has spent millions of dollars building a positive image, you are up against what she's done over the past eight years. Look at what we've seen with the Attorney General and Secretary of State. For a long time, Terri Lynn LAND had a higher voter ID than Mike COX had, because of the campaign she ran."
McLean said she thinks the claims are just campaign rhetoric, but they do betray a deeper story.
"I doubt it," McLean said. "But you know, in an election year sometimes what you can to try to do is muddy the waters. To me the fact that the DeVos campaign seemed to coordinate these responses with the Republican Party shows that they must be looking at some credible polling data that indicates that DeVos' wealth could be an issue with some voters."
DeVos' Talks About Agriculture
GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVOS released the second phase of his economic turnaround plan unveiling what he believes would strengthen the state's agricultural sector.
"Michigan's agricultural industry, the second largest industry in our state, faces many unique challenges," DeVos said. "Perhaps more than any other industry, it is affected by the whims of both the market and the weather. But our state's agricultural diversity, significant water resources, and first-class workforce offer extraordinary potential to position us as a national and international agricultural leader. And the TurnAround Plan will help us by building upon Michigan's great agricultural heritage."
According to the plan, the state needs to cut red tape and taxes for farmers, allow farmers to partake in voluntary pollution prevention, strengthen the state's Right to Farm Law, make sure the agricultural community has a strong voice in the DeVos administration, support research and technology, globally market the state's agricultural products, establish more Michigan Trade Offices around the world and demand fair trade and support alternative fuels.
"The years ahead hold great promise for Michigan agriculture," DeVos said. "I believe the governor's role must be to provide leadership that promotes an environment of sensible regulation, low taxes, a favorable business climate and a skilled workforce for producers, processors, and marketers of Michigan's agricultural products. We can and will build on Michigan's great agricultural heritage."
Granholm Spokeswoman Liz BOYD made sure to highlight the strides the Granholm administration claims it has made in regard to alternative energy.
"When it comes to ethanol we have made Michigan a leader," Boyd said.
Granholm and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) got a permit for the Marysville ethanol plant in 71 days whereas it took the former Republican governor 511 days to get permitting for the Caro plant, Boyd said.
The DEQ even recently received a letter of thanks from Superior Corn Products for quickly issuing an air permit so they could start construction on an ethanol plant, Boyd said.
Meanwhile, DeVos wasn't going to get away with holding a press conference without Democratic Party putting in its two cents.
The state Democratic Party led reporters to a web page titled, "DeVos' Real Agriculture Plan: Stop Farm Tax Credits and Subsidies, Eliminate State and UP Fairs."
The Web site then has several links to Mackinac Center for Public Policy articles that Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) Chair Mark BREWER said proves that DeVos supported slashing funding for the agricultural sector.
According to the site, since DeVos at one time served on the Center's board that means he's in favor of these "drastic cuts to agricultural programs."
“Dick DeVos has supported a `slash-and-burn' approach to agriculture,” Brewer said. “Whether it's cutting essential programs, eliminating our state fairs or opposing farm subsidies and state tax credits for farmers, Dick DeVos' agriculture plan would be a disaster for the state's farmers.”
DeVos Campaign is Tired of Attacks
The new Dick DeVOS TV ad creating a buzz in town is the result of the candidate and his folks getting tired of all the “negative, bitter and cynical personal attacks” from the Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM camp.
“We're tired of it,” the GOP challenger told reporters this week.
He repeated that from the day he announced his candidacy in June of last year on Mackinac Island, he's been the subject of “misleading and insinuating” comments.
When it was suggested that State GOP Chair Saul ANUZIS had done his own share of blasting the Governor, DeVos defended him saying, “He is focused on the issues.”
With regard to debates, DeVos is not very happy either.
“The Governor doesn't appear to want to debate,” he concluded after the two camps exchanged letters last week.
DeVos said his side offered a “business like” correspondence but what he got back from the other side was “very disappointing” both in tone and content.
What was wrong with the tone?
He said it just continued the “negative invectives.”
He was asked for an example of personal attacks.
DeVos said the letter from Granholm's campaign manger “insinuated” that he doesn't know what he is talking about on the issues.
And a second example of a personal attack he argued is the constant Democratic drumbeat that he was more interested in pouring more money into China than in Michigan.
DeVos campaign Spokesperson John TRUSCOTT said $200 million was spent in China but $700 million was spent here.
As for how many debates he wants, he told reporters he wants as many as the Governor wants. It's unclear at this read how many, if any, that will be.
But to date all the debate over debates leaves the challenger lamenting, “It's just disappointing.”
(Contributed by Senior Capitol Correspondent Tim SKUBICK).
GONGWER- Volume #45, Report #145 --Monday, July 31, 2006
Larry Lee (517) 482-3500
7TH CONGRESSIONAL RACE: A REPEAT?
August is traditionally the month for television networks to wrap up the repeats of the prior season. In many ways, Republican voters in the 7th U.S. House District are also watching a season of repeats wrap up.
Though there are obvious differences from the 2004 race, the 2006 Republican primary still essentially pits U.S Rep. Joe Schwarz (R-Battle Creek) against former state Rep. Tim Walberg of Tipton and his backers, particularly the Club for Growth, arguing they are more conservative and more aligned with the district. And conventional wisdom says he must win the more moderate areas of the district, as well as some Democratic crossover, to keep his seat from Mr. Walberg (www.walbergforcongress.com).
One key difference is that Mr. Schwarz (www.schwarzforcongress.com) is now the incumbent, rather than one of six candidates trying to gain an open seat. That has helped given him an overall funding advantage more than 2-1 over Mr. Walberg, as well as additional name identification that comes with regular news coverage.
But to Mr. Walberg's advantage, the conservative vote is now concentrated on him rather than split among four people arguing they are more conservative than Mr. Schwarz. The incumbent captured only 27.8 percent of the Republican vote in August 2004, and Mr. Walberg has said he expects much of that remaining 72.2 percent to come his way.
In the 2004 election, Mr. Walberg got 14 percent of the vote cast.
"Voters are getting tired of Republicans talking like Republicans and voting like Democrats," Mr. Walberg said in a recent interview with Gongwer News Service. And he said endorsements from groups like the Triangle Foundation, a gay rights group, and Planned Parenthood showed that Mr. Schwarz did not represent Republican values.
"I think it begs the question does he have what it takes to represent this district," Mr. Walberg said.
But Mr. Schwarz argued for most residents in the district, even most Republicans, social issues like gay rights and abortion are not particularly important right now. "One that doesn't even show on the radar screen is abortion," he said of key issues. "People feel the way they're going to feel about that issue. But it's not been an issue at the national level in this election cycle and it's certainly not an issue at the state level."
For most people, Mr. Schwarz said, the main issue in their lives is jobs and the economy, which continues to flag in Michigan. "Our main industry is fighting for its survival," he said. "It will survive, but it's fighting."
Mr. Schwarz said saving the auto industry will mean federal pressure on other countries to engage in fair trade.
"American industry, whether it's in Michigan or any other state, needs to have a level playing field," he said. "We need to have a 'come to Jesus' meeting with Chinese," who he said had significantly undervalued their currency to make their goods more attractive.
He said China and other East Asian countries were also among the key violators of intellectual property rights. And he said theft of those works were also draining the American economy.
Mr. Walberg said what was draining the economy was federal taxes and spending.
"I never voted for a tax increase," he said. "Joe Schwarz voted for numerous tax increases and even suggested rolling back or eliminating President Bush's tax cuts."
And he said the federal government needed that money to fund earmarks in the budget. "A minority of people out there crying for all these special projects," he said.
Club for Growth, a Washington, D.C.-based group that solicits funds for anti-tax conservative candidates, has in its ads attacked Mr. Schwarz for supporting budget bills with a variety of earmark projects in them. And Mr. Walberg has attacked Mr. Schwarz since a recent debate for saying he did not have time to review all of the earmarks in the budget.
"The key is are you willing to fight for it," Mr. Walberg said. "When you say you don't have time to look for pork, that means you're not willing to fight for it."
Mr. Schwarz said Mr. Walberg shows he does not understand the federal budgeting process. "The first house bills have too much pork in them," he said. "The appropriators in the end actually do a pretty good job of getting the bad stuff out."
And he said calling for an end to all earmarking, which Mr. Walberg said he would support, would mean loss not only of some of the spurious projects, but also some of those that have brought work to the district.
In addition to the much-mentioned I-94 repairs, Mr. Schwarz said he has also supported a project in Indiana that would repair 14 miles of railroad track. While the work is in another state, he said it would also mean work in Michigan because it would make rails here more accessible.
He also pointed to the work he did to maintain the Battle Creek Air National Guard Base. "If I was not in Congress and not on the Armed Services Committee, some of those facilities would be in danger of downsizing or maybe even closure," he said.
And he said the true solution to cutting down the number of questionable earmarking projects is a bill he is supporting that would require sponsors to put their names on the earmarks and be ready to defend them.
Mr. Walberg said he would have supported measures that would have called for a two-year moratorium on earmarks as well as one that would have cut 1 percent from all budgets across the board.
The two have also split on immigration issues, with Mr. Walberg arguing that Mr. Schwarz has supported that essentially would allow illegal immigrants already here to become citizens and to be forgiven at least portions of back taxes they may owe for working in the country.
"The solution is to use the law," he said of the current immigration law enacted in 1985. "It hasn't been carried out or followed and for various political reasons."
Mr. Schwarz agreed that the law had not been followed since it was adopted, but disagreed that the situation could be quickly reversed. Nor, he said, did not going after illegals mean granting them amnesty.
"Nobody believes in amnesty," Mr. Schwarz said. "On the other hand, the idea that we're going to find and deport 11 and a half to 12 million people isn't realistic either."
And he said in many cases extradition is not an option. In addition to Cuban nationals, who are designated legal immigrants if they can make it to the U.S. mainland, Mr. Schwarz said court rulings have also made it illegal to depart El Salvadoran nationals, though they can be fined for illegal immigration.
He said the concentration on the border with Mexico may also be leaving the country vulnerable to the north. "You wouldn't believe the stuff that comes over that border," he said of the stretch of land border with Canada.
And Mr. Schwarz questioned how much effect the battle over conservative credentials would truly have in the district.
In addition to having raised more money, Mr. Schwarz said he has also won over two of his former opponents in the district, Clark Bisbee and Gene DeRossett, as well as his predecessor, former U.S. Rep. Nick Smith, whose son was backed by Club for Growth against Mr. Schwarz in 2004. He also has the support of President George W. Bush, former Governor John Engler and Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis.
He said Mr. Walberg, in contrast, has only Right to Life as his primary mainstream endorsement. "Virtually all of their money comes from one very unusual organization in Washington, D.C.," he said, alluding to Club for Growth.
"When you're going against an incumbent, you're happy to get funds," Mr. Walberg said of CFG's support of his campaign.
"The endorsements that he received are high profile, but the question is do they represent the viewpoint of this district?" Mr. Walberg said of Mr. Schwarz's supporters. "It's traditional that incumbent gets the endorsements of the in crowd in whatever capital you're in."
The two sides have also battled over what it means to work in the capital. A recent ad by the Republican Mainstreet Partnership, a moderate Republican group, faults Mr. Walberg for a vacation to Paris during budget debates in June 1996.
Mr. Walberg, then chair of the House Appropriations General Government Subcommittee, said he had worked to have his budget completed before he left on the trip to celebrate his wedding anniversary. And he notes a letter from John Truscott, then spokesperson for Governor John Engler and now for Mr. Schwarz, apologizing for derogatory comments made to the Detroit News.
"We realize Congressman Schwarz and his supporters are desperate to avoid discussing his liberal record, but attacking Tim for keeping a family commitment is a new low, even for them," said Walberg campaign manager Joe Wicks in a statement.
But Mr. Truscott said in a statement Monday that his comments to the News, not his letter of apology, represented his true feelings on the subject. He said the letter was an attempt to help Mr. Walberg retain his seat in a close race.
"The letter over my signature to which Tim Walberg refers was written at his request and the request of the Speaker of the House in order to save his seat, which had become vulnerable," he said. "For the record, Tim Walberg has a history of taking vacations during the budget process. Again in 1998 during budget deliberations, he took a vacation and missed numerous votes. There is no way for Tim to excuse his way out of this issue."
DE VOS PROPOSES TAX CUT AS PART OF AGRICULTURE PLAN
Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, standing behind a podium of hay bales at Zeeb Farms in Bath Township, introduced the details of his Michigan TurnAround Plan, Volume Two: Agriculture, which calls for a major property tax cut for farmers along with other proposals.
The plan, which is three times as long as the agricultural section of his earlier comprehensive plan, contains several new initiatives, including one to make the Michigan State Fairs self-supporting, and protection for funding for the Michigan State University Extension and Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.
Perhaps the most fiscally significant new proposal was a plan to dramatically reduce Michigan's farmland property taxes. Mr. DeVos, while not saying exactly how much he would reduce taxes, said that the average rate was estimated at $25 an acre in Michigan, while the national average was between $5 and $7 an acre.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated the amount of farmland in Michigan in 2005 at more than 10 million acres. Using Mr. DeVos' figures, going from $25 an acre to $5 an acre, the state would lose approximately $202 million in revenue.
When asked how he would pay for the cuts, as well as the guaranteed support to the Department of Agriculture and other groups he also promised, Mr. DeVos said the money isn't a large part of the state budget, "hardly lost in the rounding." By doing so, he said, millions of farm acres can be saved for farming in future generations.
When pressed on how the cut would affect education funding, Mr. DeVos noted that education spending hovers around $13 billion, and again stressed how drop-in-the-bucket this cut would be compared to education dollars as a whole.
"Apparently Dick DeVos cares more about crops than he does the people of Michigan," said Governor Jennifer Granholm's spokesperson Chris DeWitt, who said that people in education wouldn't see a potentially $200 million cut as a rounding error.
"While that may not be a lot of money to a billionaire, it certainly is to the children that depend on that money for their education," he said.
Mr. DeVos said he would include large corporate farms in the tax cuts, saying that machines like the giant John Deere combine sitting behind him are expensive, and each farm requires a significant investment. "The tax cuts ought to go to the people who are farming the land," he said.
Mr. DeVos also slammed Ms. Granholm's administration for not doing enough to promote alternative energy in Michigan. He cited application delays for companies that are working to provide E85 Ethanol, and the scarcity of E85 pumps.
But Democrats say that message won't hold water, because the Governor has a record of fighting for alternative fuels, including reducing taxes on alternative fuels.
Ms. Granholm's press secretary, Liz Boyd, said that the numbers don't bear out Mr. DeVos' allegations. She noted that, under the Engler administration, the ethanol plant in Caro took 511 days to permit, while the permit was finished on the Marysville plant in just 71 days.
Ms. Boyd also released a letter by Superior Corn Products, which received a permit for its plant near Lake Odessa. In the letter, James Zook, vice-president for Superior Corn, said the DEQ's staff was "efficient and committed to completing our air permit in a timely manner."
But Republicans said they don't consider the DEQ to be a model of efficiency, rather a massive bureaucracy that needs to be reformed.
As for the rest of his plan, Mr. DeVos said "sound science" must be used on environmental regulations that affect agricultural practices, and proposed an economic impact analysis of any new environmental regulations.
"It's possible to protect Michigan's environment and grow Michigan's second largest industry," he said.
Mr. DeVos also said he would market Michigan made products by creating a "Made in Michigan" brand, similar in concept to the familiar "Made in America" brand. He would promote the brand by establishing more Michigan Trade Offices, including one in Japan. The Department of Agriculture has a similar program called Select Michigan that promotes Michigan-grown products.
The full version of the agriculture plan is available on Mr. DeVos' website.
DE VOS ON DEBATES: Mr. DeVos took the opportunity to take the governor to task for her response letter on debates, taking issue with the tone of the letter.
"The governor, frankly, doesn't appear to want to debate," he said. Mr. DeVos said that, rather than engage in debate about legislative disagreements, the governor's campaign has been slinging mud since the moment he announced his candidacy.
"Within hours, the first attack came in," he said. When asked to cite specifics, he referenced statements from Democrats that say he shipped jobs to China, while the head of Alticor/Amway.
But Granholm campaign spokesperson Chris DeWitt said there is no confusion over debates on the governor's side: they plan on having them.
"Apparently plain English is a problem for them," said Mr. DeWitt, referring to the letter. "There will be debates, that's our plan. Their side always seems a little confused on this, but hopefully before its all over they will figure it out."
OTHER ISSUES: Mr. DeVos told reporters he is not opposed to capital punishment but that he would not, as governor, push to bring it Michigan. He also said he would vote to support mourning dove hunting when that ballot proposal comes up in November.
Mr. DeVos also said he was a "big fan of stem cell research", particularly of work done with adult stem cells. When asked to clarify his position on embryonic stem cell research, he said it "presents significant challenges".
RICH, FAMOUS AND CONNECTED GIVE TO CAMPAIGNS
Shopping for a candidate for governor to support and looking for higher standards? Well, you could follow the lead of the Meijer family of the Grand Rapids-based superstore chain, and give to both. There's a small split in the Meijer ranks, with Frederik Meijer, the board chair, and other executives sending their contributions to Republican Dick DeVos but with Douglas Meijer and his wife choosing to support Governor Jennifer Granholm.
On the celebrity front, Ms. Granholm picked up contributions from rock performer Madonna Ciccone, film director Martin Scorsese, former talk show host Phil Donahue and New York producers Robert Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein.
Mr. DeVos received contributions from Jerry Perenchio, founder of the Univision cable network, and his wife Margaret.
All of those individuals contributed the maximum $3,400 to Ms. Granholm and Mr. DeVos, the pre-primary filings submitted on Friday show.
Among the Meijer family, four others in the Meijer family contributed the maximum $3,400 to Mr. DeVos.
In other highlights, Ms. Granholm received money from Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner; Lansing area radio announcer John Holman; James Palmer, president of Campbell-Ewald advertising; and Lansing public relations consultant Kelly Rossman. Mr. DeVos got contributions from CNBC's William Seidman, Liggett Broadcasting Chair Robert Liggett Jr., RL Polk CEO Stephen Polk, and Detroit area media consultant Marcia Brogan.
Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer is the most high-profile of those from the high-tech world who contributed to Ms. Granholm; another was Cisco Systems Chair John Morgridge. Also contributing was Eli Broad, the Los Angeles executive in whose name Michigan State University named its business school for a $25 million donation he gave to the school.
A DeVos contributor is Christy Walton, widow of Wal-Mart heir John Walton, whose philanthropic causes include schools and medicine.
Ms. Granholm received nearly $1 million from PACs, with substantial amounts from those of Ford Motor Company, Quicken Loans, DTE Energy, CMS Energy and Semco Energy.
Major PAC contributions came from associations representing teachers, doctors, chiropractors, nurse anesthetists, anesthesiologists, dentists and funeral directors. Labor groups who have contributed include those for firefighters, plumbers and pipefitters, AFSCME, electrical workers, iron workers,
Miller Canfield, Dykema Gossett and Clark Hill PACS all gave to Ms. Granholm as did Denise Ilitch, an attorney for Clark Hill.
Mr. DeVos, who with his wife Betsy has given about $13 million to his campaign, is not taking contributions from political action committees, but does have the support from many at the top of organizations which have substantial PAC funds to use for other purposes in a campaign. That includes James Barrett, president of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.
Dykema Gossett attorney Richard McLellan, who also heads the team negotiating gubernatorial debates for Mr. DeVos, gave him $3,400.
Mr. DeVos also got money from John Miller, chair of Miller Energy, Alex Cranberg, chair of Aspect Energy of Denver, and fellow west Michigan business executives Richard Haworth of Haworth, Inc. and James Hackett of Steelcase.
Former Engler Administration Financial Institutions Director Patrick McQueen, Flagstar Bank CEO Tom Hammond and Tom Rinks of the Insurance Institute of Michigan are among many in the financial and insurance world who gave to Mr. DeVos. Ms. Granholm got PAC funds from Fifth Third Bank and Michigan Credit Unions.
The PAC for Delphi, the bankrupt company that has become a symbol of sorts for the state's flagging economy and was at the center of debate on how aggressive Ms. Granholm is doing for the economy, gave $5,000 to the governor's campaign.
Mary Ellen Sheets, founder and CEO of Two Men and a Truck movers, is a DeVos maximum contributor, as is Jerry Horne, chair of Manpower.
Ms. Granholm received a $3,400 contribution from Frank Brunckhorst, board chair of Boars Head Meats while Mr. DeVos got the same from Dominos CEO David Brandon.
Aside from the candidate and his wife, contributions for the election cycle came from lots of other DeVoses: 12 who gave mostly modest amounts except for the $3,400 from Andrea, one of the candidate's four children, and Douglas and Daniel, who are executives at Alticor, the company once headed by Mr. DeVos.
Amway Chair Steve Van Andel and at least 50 Alticor executives and employees also contributed to Mr. DeVos, but two - project manager Sandra Hopwood and systems analyst James Gillard - contributed to Ms. Granholm.
And then there was a Michael DeVos of Lansing who gave $100 to Ms. Granholm. There were no Granholm or (First Gentelman Dan) Mulhern contributors to the DeVos campaign, though the First Couple's daughter, Kathryn, gave $100 to her mother.
Also of note, former first Lady Helen Milliken, wife of former Republican Governor William Milliken, gave $450 to Ms. Granholm.
Mr. Compassionate Conservative
Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas considers a run for president. So why is he spending a night in prison?
by Terry Eastland
08/07/2006, Volume 011, Issue 44
Ellsworth, Kansas
On the last day of May, at 5:30 P.M., Building 5 of the Ellsworth Correctional Facility is filled with joyful noise. More than 200 prisoners--roughly a quarter of the inmates at this state prison--have gathered for the midweek worship service. They're taking part in a program run by InnerChange Freedom Initiative, an affiliate of Prison Fellowship, its purpose being to effect such change in the heart of a prisoner that he will, upon release, go and commit crime no more. The men, clad in the standard correctional attire of blue jeans and blue shirt, many holding well-thumbed Bibles, are serving time for crimes such as assault, battery, and rape. Led by a band of fellow inmates, they've been singing praise and worship songs. They reach the end of Mark McCoy and Andy Park's "I See the Lord" when a special visitor arrives, accompanied by an intense late afternoon thunderstorm. Wearing a blue shirt and red tie, Sam Brownback, Kansas's senior senator, soon steps to the front. He begins speaking with an ease that suggests he has been here before, which he has, three times.
"So good to see you guys, and so good to see this program," says Brownback, who moves quickly to his main points. The country spent the '80s and '90s building more prisons and incarcerating more criminals, he says, noting that "we needed to do that." But now the U.S. prison population exceeds two million, "the biggest number we've ever had." Once released, most go back to "the old group"--to the "bad company that corrupts good morals," he says, using a passage from the first letter to the Corinthians. Many are rearrested and wind up back in prison. Brownback mentions a Justice Department finding that almost two-thirds of those released from prison are rearrested within three years. He says he'd like to see that number, the recidivism rate, cut in half over the next five years.
The senator talks about how to achieve that goal by pointing to the program his audience knows well. IFI and other prerelease programs, says Brownback, can help inmates break their "bondage" to the past and prepare for a new life with people who can "pull you up, and not down." He also discusses his Second Chance Act, which would authorize $40 million to help newly released prisoners with housing, drug treatment, counseling, job training, and education. Brownback says reducing the recidivism rate is not only about turning around the lives of those who have committed crimes but also about "breaking the generational curse . . . so that it doesn't go to your kids and grandkids."
During the Q&A, some prisoners choose to make statements, especially about the importance of IFI, which includes daily Bible and life skills classes. Brownback listens intently, occasionally posing questions. At one point he brings up "another topic I've been working on," namely "how the welfare system actually penalizes [poor] people for getting married." Brownback finds this perverse, since studies show that if you get married and stay married, you are less likely to remain poor. Brownback mentions the hearings he's held on this topic, and how he'd like to eliminate from federal law what he calls "the disincentives" to marriage. The session ends with more than a dozen men crowding around Brownback, praying. And Brownback's visit has only just begun.
After a dinner prepared by one of the inmate chefs, Brownback visits a work area, where prisoners fix broken bikes and renovate wheelchairs and learn to build houses. Then it's over to Building 4, where InnerChange prisoners are assigned. The building is laid out in "pods"--several individual cells, locked at night, arranged around a common area. Brownback moves from pod to pod. Sort of a meet and greet. Many of the inmates are watching Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, between the Pistons and the Heat. You can see on their shelves various books, including Bible concordances and commentaries.
Leaving Building 4, Brownback goes to the spacious (9,167 square feet) Spiritual Life Center, recently built to accommodate a growing inmate demand for religious programs. On its website, the Kansas Department of Corrections describes the center as providing "opportunities for inmates from diverse faiths to develop and restore relationships with God, their families, and crime victims." In a conference room, Brownback engages a dozen inmates in an hour-long conversation about their post-prison hopes. He tells one who calls him "Mr. Brownback" to change that to "Sam." And "Sam" it is. To another prisoner he says, "Your experience sounds like my own. You don't recognize temptation when you should." A prayer by Brownback closes the meeting, and then the senator retraces his steps to Building 4 and then to G-pod, cell 42, where, locked down, he spends the night.
You might not expect someone weighing a presidential run in 2008 to spend a dozen hours
in a state prison; it's not exactly the best place to go in search of campaign dollars or volunteers. But once you grasp Sam Brownback's political vision, his visit to the Ellsworth Correctional Facility seems less odd.
Earlier this year, Brownback gave a lecture at Kansas State, his alma mater. He chose as his topic "American exceptionalism"--the idea, as he explained it, that our country is a "special place" and that it has a "special destiny for mankind." Brownback said that the source of American exceptionalism lies in "our fundamental goodness," and that while we have had our problems and "often get things wrong," we eventually find our way, because "some movement based on goodness and fixing what's wrong" starts up and doesn't stop until the problem is fixed. Like the abolitionist movement, which settled in Kansas "with a heart to end slavery." And the civil rights movement, which sought to end segregation. Those movements, said Brownback, fought for "the inherent dignity" of every person, for "righteousness and justice." In our time, he continued, we must carry on this fight by reaching out to people who need help--"the poor and dispossessed," including prisoners and their families. We need to defend the dignity of people "no matter where they are, no matter what they look like, no matter what their status." And not just here at home. Brownback pointed to the sub-Saharan region of Africa, where he said 60 percent of the children have malaria; to Darfur, where the genocide continues; and to the Congo, where "an estimated 1,000 preventable deaths" occur every day.
Brownback didn't use his speech to offer a complete inventory of the people he thinks Americans should be reaching out to. But interviews with Brownback leave little doubt that it is a long list. It includes "the unborn," meaning the roughly 25 percent of the unborn who are aborted in the United States. And people who are physically and mentally disabled. And poor immigrants, including those here illegally. And people overseas who are persecuted for their political and religious beliefs; who are discriminated against and killed because of their race or ethnicity; who are sold into slavery; who are stricken with malaria and AIDS.
Not limited government, but compassionate government is Brownback's chief preoccupation. His focus on compassion comes, he says, from his Christian faith--specifically from the Second Great Commandment, which is to love your neighbor as yourself. "I have that up on my office wall, on a page, framed," he says. Brownback points out that the First Great Commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind, and it is "love for the divine" that "animates and gives you love for others." Brownback often uses Biblical terms to refer to those in need--such as "widows and orphans," "the least of these," and "foreigner in the land."
In his neighbor-love emphasis, Brownback resembles no politician so much as he does George W. Bush, who ran for president as a compassionate conservative. But Brownback believes that compassionate conservatism is "an area that lacks development," by which he means that the compassion part hasn't been extensive enough in its reach and that it needs to be broadened, particularly "toward the poor, in this country and internationally." He sees a "growth opportunity" here for conservatism and in turn for the Republican party.
Indeed, Brownback thinks the country is changing in a way that would make it more responsive to a more compassion-driven GOP. Since the mid-1990s, the nation has been undergoing what he calls "an awakening." You can see it "in poll numbers, in people's attitudes," he says. "It's an active faith, a very meaningful thing in people's lives." He points to a factory worker he met at the GM plant in Kansas City who was wearing "a ball cap that says 'God loves you.'" He mentions the people who come up to him saying, "I'm praying for you."
Brownback describes the awakening as "spiritual," not just religious or Christian. He points to "the 150 college kids who [in late April] walked two miles in the rain to the state capital" in Topeka "to recognize the plight of children in northern Uganda." Brownback is referring to children who walk up to 20 miles a day to find a safe place to sleep, where the rebel army won't abduct them. This has been going on for two decades. But "what hasn't been happening" until now, Brownback says, "is college students in the United States saying, 'This is wrong and I'm going to do something about it.'" Both Christian and "non-faith-oriented"
students, says Brownback, made the two-mile walk (as did he). "A liberal bleeding heart group, and a Christian bleeding heart group. . . . And that's the beauty of it. The two groups are finding each other."
Brownback may be one of the few Republican politicians who believe that compassionate conservatism is still the ticket to the White House. National security issues are likely to remain dominant through 2008. And many conservatives are wary of compassionate conservatism, seeing it as a stimulus to government expansion and a seductive path to misguided policy. Brownback's "compassionate" position on immigration--he voted for the Senate bill, which would create a guest worker program and create a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants--has drawn fire from Republican colleagues in both the House and the Senate, and from publications like Human Events.
The senator says he will decide whether to run for president before the elections this fall and then announce his decision soon afterwards. Right now he gets one to two percent in surveys of Republican voters. His candidacy would have to be considered a long shot. But it would satisfy certain threshold tests.
Brownback, who will turn 50 in September, has executive and legislative experience, and is well versed on national security issues. Thoughtful and well respected in both parties, he is politically shrewd and a proven vote getter. Of importance especially to Republican primary voters, he is a committed tax cutter and free trader. He has supported the war on terrorism and championed the cause of human rights and democracy abroad. Outspoken in behalf of the need to appoint judicial conservatives, he was one of the first Republican senators to question the merits of the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers. Few Republican politicians are as close as Brownback is to leading religious conservatives, a key part of the Republican coalition. Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, says of Brownback, "Many have the right voting records, but he has leadership." It's not a stretch to think that the Kansas Republican could appeal to conservative voters in the nearby Iowa caucuses, which will kick off the 2008 primary season.
Like another famous Republican, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Sam Brownback comes from Pennsylvania farmers of German descent who moved to eastern Kansas after the Civil War. His parents still run the family's 800-acre farm, which is near Parker (pop. 281), itself a few miles from Osawatomie, where evangelical abolitionists congregated during the Bleeding Kansas of the 1850s. Admitted to the Union in 1861, Kansas has proved to be one of the nation's most Republican states, having last elected a Democratic senator in 1932. Not surprisingly, Brownback's parents were Republicans. But they weren't involved in party politics. "They thought it was okay to do, but don't let it get in the way of work." And young Brownback liked the work. He liked farming.
In high school he was elected state president of Future Farmers of America, and became a national officer of the organization. Brownback credits his time in FFA with getting him interested in politics. In 1976, while at Kansas State, he campaigned for Ronald Reagan in his failed bid to wrest the nomination from President Gerald Ford. After finishing college in 1978, Brownback took a job as a farm broadcaster, hosting a half-hour radio show at noon on weekdays. "I'd grown up listening to farm broadcasters," he says. "Conversation stopped around our table when the broadcaster read the markets. . . .It stirred my interest in international affairs, since what was going on in the Soviet Union or Brazil or Australia affected our markets for wheat and soybeans."
In 1979, Brownback enrolled in the law school at the University of Kansas. In 1980, he again volunteered for Reagan. "I just thought Reagan got it right," he says. "Here was finally somebody who made a whole lot of sense to me, who understood the difference between right and wrong, and who was willing to stand up for what's right." He recalls when he first heard about Reagan's famous 1983 speech in which the president described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire." Brownback says he was out in a field on a tractor, the news coming over the radio. "I was beating on the dashboard, saying, 'That's right. That's right.' And then I heard commentators saying this was dangerous, that it was a bad move to call the Soviet Union an evil empire. But that's what it was."
Taking his law degree in 1982, Brownback practiced for four years in Manhattan, Kansas. In 1986, he was appointed secretary of the state board of agriculture, a position he held until 1993. In 1990, on his second try, he was accepted as a White House Fellow. It was his first taste of Washington, and he spent the year working for the special trade representative, Carla Hills.
In 1994, Brownback ran for Congress. The Second District, which takes in much of eastern Kansas, opened up, and Brownback beat out two competitors in the Republican primary and then defeated John Carlin, the former Democratic governor, by an almost two-to-one margin, carrying every county. Across the country, of course, the GOP had a hugely successful Election Day. The party captured both the House and the Senate for the first time in 40 years. And the new House Republican members were fired with excitement. "I had never lived under a GOP Congress," says Brownback, who was part of what he calls "the hard core," its great ambition to reduce the size and scope of the federal government. "We were going to change the world and do it in six months." It didn't happen. The hard core targeted for elimination four cabinet agencies, Housing, Energy, Education, and Commerce, all of which are still standing today.
In 1996 Brownback moved to the Senate. The senior senator from Kansas, Bob Dole, had resigned in June to run for president on the GOP ticket, with more than two years remaining in his term. Appointed to fill the vacancy was the Republican lieutenant governor, Sheila Frahm, who enjoyed the support of the Dole organization. Brownback challenged Frahm in the primary and won 55 to 42 percent. Brownback credits Pat Robertson with an assist. In his 1988 presidential run, Robertson, competing against Dole, had mobilized many religious conservatives not previously active in politics. Brownback believes their votes helped secure his victory over Frahm. In the general election, Brownback easily won, having promised Kansans that he would serve no more than two terms. He has understood that promise to refer to the two full terms he won by large margins in 1998 and 2004. In the 2004 election, Brownback captured more votes than anyone who had ever run for any office in Kansas.
Brownback's voting record contains almost no sur prises. "Yes," to impeach President Clinton, outlaw partial birth abortion, phase out the estate and gift taxes, authorize permanent trade relations with China, approve the Bush tax cuts, permit oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, authorize the use of military force against Iraq, approve the Medicare prescription drug benefit, and confirm John Roberts and Sam Alito. But "No," to enact McCain-Feingold, the campaign finance law, extend the ban on the sale and possession of assault weapons, and restrict deployment of a national missile defense system.
Brownback has spent much of his time in the Senate on life and family issues. Besides opposing Roe v. Wade, he has sponsored the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, the Prenatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act, and the Human Cloning Prohibition Act. Brownback's longstanding campaign to hold the media industry accountable led in June to enactment of the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, which increases tenfold the fines that the Federal Communications Commission can levy for a single incident of indecency, such as Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the halftime show at the 2004 Super Bowl. Brownback also has supported the constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman and thus ban "same-sex marriage."
Brownback probably keeps track of issues of concern to social conservatives more keenly than any other senator. He runs the weekly meetings of the Values Action Team, attended by representatives of 30 to 40 organizations, including the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, Christian Coalition, National Right to Life, Prison Fellowship, and the American Center for Law and Justice. Brownback meets with no other group so regularly, nor is it possible to find many causes advanced by social conservatives that he hasn't supported. Brownback's deep interest in the social issues agenda was evident when I asked him what his big idea will be if he runs for president: "Mine is going to be to rebuild the culture and the family."
Along with that, he is an ardent humanitarian. Brownback has concentrated on the difficult situations in Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Uganda, the Congo, Pakistan, Ukraine, China, North Korea, and Vietnam. Arguably no senator has done more to press for human rights and democracy, or to confront the spread of deadly disease, such as malaria, which kills roughly 800,000 children in Africa every year. He has made a habit in this arena of cosponsoring laws with Democrats, teaming up, for example, with Evan Bayh on the Iran Democracy Act, Ted Kennedy on the North Korea Human Rights Act, and the late Paul Wellstone on the Trafficking in Victims Protection Act. According to his close friend and colleague Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Brownback knows that "if you get a few Democrats to work with you, you have a much better chance of getting something done."
You also are probably not going to be known for attacking Democrats. "I'd be surprised if he's said a negative word about anyone," says DeMint. Actually, rare is the interview, or appearance--including the one in the Spiritual Life Center at the Ellsworth prison--in which he does not confess to having negatively judged Kennedy or Hillary Clinton for their wrongheaded views. But "I'm with Mother Teresa," he says. "If you're too busy judging people, you can't love them."
Brownback wins praise from liberals for his engagement on international issues--New York Times columnist Nick Kristof seems to compose an encomium to Brownback every six months or so. Liberals also admire his work with House Democrat John Lewis to win authorization for the African-American Museum on the National Mall, and with Sen. Byron Dorgan on a resolution apologizing to Native Americans for wrongs committed against them by the federal government. The purpose of the museum and the apology, says Brownback, is to "educate, talk about the past, and help us move toward reconciliation" with two groups that "didn't feel like America had been fair to them."
Reflecting on his 12 years in Washington, Brownback says, "I came in as a staunch conservative in favor of balancing the budget and cutting taxes." He says he still strongly supports those positions (he can talk at length about the flat tax he favors), but his real passion lies elsewhere. "With the cancer in 1995"--he was found to have melanoma on his back and underwent successful surgery--"I did a lot of internal examination. My conclusion was that if this were to be terminal, at that point in time I would not be satisfied with how I had lived life. I had tried to be a Christian, but I had failed."
Brownback says he decided to trust God "a lot more, and let that love of His animate what I would do." He drew inspiration from the political career of William Wilberforce, the 18th- and 19th-century evangelical member of parliament whose great achievement was the abolition of the slave trade. Brownback read biographies of Wilberforce and was especially impressed with Wilberforce's A Practical Christianity. Brownback says he became "concerned about the poor, the downtrodden, those without a voice, those in difficult circumstances." Compassion became his agenda. "That [explains] my focus on Africa, the poor, on racial reconciliation." In legislating against human trafficking, Brownback says he found himself challenging a modern form of "the same slave battle" that Wilberforce fought. Not surprisingly, he calls the anti-trafficking law he cosponsored with Wellstone his "most significant legislative achievement."
Brownback is a Catholic, but he didn't grow up as one. "Parker had one church and it was a Methodist church, and that's where we went," unless "we were planting and harvesting." When he and his wife Mary were first married, they went to mainline Protestant churches. Five years ago, the Brownbacks and their five children--the two youngest are adopted, one from China, the other from Guatemala--started going to Topeka Bible Church, mainly because of its youth programs. It was a year later that Brownback was received into the Roman Catholic Church in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. Brownback, who helped secure bipartisan support for awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to Mother Teresa in 1997, says that he just felt gradually pulled to the Catholic faith. He flies home to Topeka every weekend, and on Sundays he goes to mass early and then joins his wife and children at Topeka Bible.
That's an unusual Sunday morning schedule, to say the least. TBC is a large, evangelical congregation, believing, as stated on its website, that "salvation is by grace through faith in Christ as personal savior and sin bearer and is entirely a free gift of God. It cannot possibly be achieved by man's works." Suffice it to say, the Catholic Church does not teach the same thing. The doctrine of salvation, after all, is what the Reformation was mainly about. Asked how evangelicals and Catholics get along in Kansas, a state still overwhelmingly Protestant, Brownback says, "It's not bad," adding that "it's the rare Sunday" when the messages conflict. "I can't remember anyone saying, 'this group teaches this and we teach that.'"
A generation ago, Brownback's status as an adult convert to Catholicism would probably have been a major handicap in a run for the Republican presidential nomination. In recent decades, however, evangelicals and Catholics have worked together in the practical arena of politics, in support of many positions the senator holds. Today, his straddle of the two faith communities might well be his most potent political asset.
In particular, his international focus could appeal to a growing number of evangelical Protestants. Evangelical churches continue to send a large number of missionaries into the Third World, where Christianity has grown dramatically (while weakening in the West). And thanks to modern technology, churches stay in much closer touch with their missionaries, and they hear from them about many of the very issues that concern Brownback. "A religious community that 50 years ago would have been associated with isolationism in the heartland," says University of Oklahoma political scientist Allen Hertzke, "is more internationalist than other communities." This perspective is well represented at the table when the Values Action Team meets. As one Senate staffer told me, sex trafficking and the genocide in Darfur are prominent among the issues the group discusses.
Brownback would be the nation's fourth and the GOP's first Catholic presidential nominee. In 1960, when John F. Kennedy was the Democratic nominee, 71 percent of Catholics favored the Democratic party. By 2004, the percentage had dropped to 44, with 41 percent identifying with the GOP. Catholics have become "a crucial swing vote," says Hertzke, noting that in the last two presidential elections "the story as much as anything was about how the Democratic candidate lost key Catholic voters." Bush won 47 percent of Catholic voters in 2000 and 52 percent in 2004.
Of course, a critical percentage of those voters could swing to the Democratic nominee in 2008, and there is survey evidence that some Catholics who voted for Bush in 2004, as political scientist John Green of the University of Akron told me, "have now grown unhappy." He says that Brownback, because of his compassion agenda, is the sort of politician who "could make them happier." Green says mainline Protestants who like the idea of "doing good things in the world" also could warm to Brownback. And so, he adds, could black and Hispanic churchgoers.
Brownback's notion that his compassion agenda might constitute "a growth opportunity" for the GOP isn't farfetched, especially given the prevalence of religion in our political discourse today. Green says such an agenda "wouldn't completely change the nature of the Republican coalition," but it might "grow support among certain [religiously identified] communities."
While Brownback says love for God leads to love for neighbor, he also thinks you can be compassionate toward others without being a person of faith. Theist or atheist or agnostic, Christian or whatnot, you can stand with equal conviction with whoever is in need. "That's the beauty of the moment," he says, a phrase he often uses. "There can be this coming together of left and right on these topics and there can be a lot of effective things happening."
Brownback's compassion agenda is still in development. The senator recognizes that "people can have good hearts," but "come out a lot of different ways" on policy means and ends. Brownback allows that policy abroad, whatever else it may achieve, is supposed to further the national interest. Asked why America should be so deeply concerned about Africa, he says we can't deny our interest in a part of the world with so much suffering, especially when we have the capacity to address it, and especially when, if we aren't there, making positive relationships, we will be ceding Africa to the Chinese, who are "all over" the continent in search of natural resources, and also to terrorists looking for headquarters. Neither of those prospects, he says, can be in our national interest. Meanwhile, Brownback tends to address the question of means from the standpoint of efficiency. For example, he wants to make sure that dollars appropriated to combat malaria are used not for conferences and meetings, but for bed nets and insecticide sprays.
Regarding the domestic side of the compassion agenda, Brownback shows the influence of his late colleague Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who famously said: "The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself." Brownback agrees that politics can change a culture, and he believes that poverty can best be addressed through a politics that (in general outline) encourages people to get married, get a job, and not to have children out of wedlock. He wants policies with "measurable results" and cautions against ones that create "dependency." Here he may be trying to distinguish his compassion agenda from that being discussed among Democrats, at least some of whom (John Edwards, Barack Obama) are now invoking religious faith as the motivation for new action against poverty.
Faith-based programs are decidedly among those Brownback expects to produce measurable results. For example, a program like Prison Fellowship's InnerChange Freedom Initiative must reduce the recidivism rate. A study of IFI at a Texas prison indicated that it had cut the rate considerably. But still, "we don't know very much" about the impact of these programs, says Baylor University's Byron Johnson, who conducted that study. He says that it takes time and money to collect the necessary data, and that until recently government hasn't been interested in having such programs, much less in studying their effectiveness. Which faith-based programs are constitutional is another outstanding question, underscored two days after Brownback's visit to Ellsworth when a federal judge in Iowa found a similar IFI program in that state to violate the First Amendment's ban on establishing religion.
Brownback would need to raise $6 million to $10 million to have a shot at winning the Iowa caucus in early 2008. The field will be big--probably at least nine candidates--so it may take no more than 25 percent of the vote to win. And Brownback is the next best thing to a native son. He's from a nearby state, and can get
there often. Also, Iowa, like Kansas, is an agriculture state, and roughly 30 percent of the caucus voters are social conservatives.
The former Kansas agriculture secretary and chair of the Values Action Team in the Senate should have no trouble finding topics of interest to caucus voters. Attorney Chuck Hurley, a longtime friend of Brownback's and former state legislator, now head of the Iowa Family Policy Center, says Brownback has also "built respectful, trusting relationships with [Iowa] moderates." He thinks Brownback's Iowa support could reach "into the 40s."
No Republican presidential nominee has failed to finish in the top three in Iowa. But Brownback might have to finish first to attract the money necessary to make more than a token effort in New Hampshire, where other candidates will be better positioned, and to campaign hard for Super Tuesday, when he might have better prospects.
Mike Murphy, the veteran GOP strategist, contemplates an Iowa caucus in which Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Brownback contend for the support of social conservatives--and split their votes, leaving both out of the top three finishers. At best, if Brownback wins the Iowa caucus, Murphy thinks it's likely he'll "get some attention and then fade out."
Professor Hertzke wonders whether Brownback's "understated quality . . .is made for the rough and tumble" of the GOP primaries. "He's uncomfortable with the tenor of talk radio. He's not a culture warrior." He "may play better in a general election when there is scrutiny of character" and the candidates often pitch to the political middle.
And Brownback's own take on what's ahead? "In 1980, the message and the moment and the person came together in Reagan," he told me over breakfast at K.C.'s Diner, across the street from the Ellsworth prison. "That's what's required for a presidential run. Maybe I get into it to develop this philosophy, to lay it out, like Reagan did [in 1976]. I'd say, 'I think this is the way we ought to go.' And if people aren't ready for it yet--well, that could be the case. Then four years later, they might say, 'That's exactly what we need to do.'" Brownback sounds like a man about to run, and prepared to run again.
Terry Eastland is publisher of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
