Articles of Interest 5-16-07
MORNING UPDATE:
Granholm’s “plan”…those who can, do…those who can't, commission studies.
Bishop & Dillon come to an agreement…Granholm wants a tax increase – so provides her veto behind closed doors.
A must see video on Iraq:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/05/a_must_see_vide.html
Here’s my round-up from last nights debate:
Top three still the top three. No clear winner last night.
Giuliani top performer, primarily because of his rebuttal to Ron Paul’s 9-11 statement. McCain and Romney stay on top.
Huckabee has the best line of the night…emerging as leading social conservative candidate with Brownback. Huckabee was also the “most improved” from my perspective, short, crisp and direct answers that served him well.
Congressman Hunter continues to surprise many by his performance…although China answer seemed off?
“American Idol” Republican style…we need to vote off three…Ron Paul and two others…let me know your thoughts.
FOX News the big winner…great format, good questions, solid follow-up.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
As Michigan legislators discussed how to balance the budget WITHOUT raising taxes…the Governor came up with a great new “plan” that will ONLY cost the taxpayers about $2 million dollars???
Rest assured, Senator Bishop and Speaker Dillon had a deal on SB 220…they were ready to move forward. Instead of being a constructive part of the negotiations, the governor “threatens” Dillon and uses her veto power behind closed doors. Now who’s to blame.
Even worse, Dillon left town right in the middle of finalizing the deal for political meetings in metro Detroit…and wouldn’t be part of the “battle” to close the deal. Leadership?
Senator Bishop said after the conference committee meeting: "I simply refuse to be held hostage to a threat from the governor who has said she can't allow her members to sign this report because she can't get a tax increase."
Congratulations to Senator Mike Bishop…(and kind of Speaker Dillon for almost doing the right thing). Too bad it’s politics as usual for Governor Granholm?
How to restructure state government and save money…how about just listening to the many plans already put forth my our legislature, the Secchia Commission, the Cherry Commission, the study on education reform by Tom Watkins…that’s just a start…all already done and paid for.
Now the Democrats are united “to raise taxes”…yeh, that will help?!?
A “plan” is NOT leadership…how much longer must Michigan’s citizens wait?
Don’t forget to thank Senator Bishop and the Senate Republicans for standing tall and doing the right thing! Republicans are providing real leadership and are representing the taxpayers of Michigan.
Our Republican National Committee meeting starts today. Most of the committee members came in a day early to see first hand how our candidates present themselves in person. It was really very interesting and enlightening.
I think the top tier candidates remain in the top three. Giuliani, McCain and Romney handled themselves well. There was no clear winner, but I would have to say Giuliani had the overall best performance for the evening.
There were some great one liners…Huckabee and Edward’s hair cut…McCain as a former drunken sailor….Tancredo on the road to Damascus…etc.
Gilmore disappointed and Thompson seemed to just “be there”.
I think we need to pull an “American Idol” and vote three off the stage. The more credible and serious candidates are starting to emerge and I believe some of the more “long shot” candidates are more of a distraction than help. We need to get more info from our viable candidates and get a better idea who will be our strongest nominee next fall.
I think Congressman Ron Paul was way off base and doesn’t represent any of the Republican party base…let alone activists. I don’t have a problem with his libertarian views, but blaming 9-11 on us (U.S.) was over the top. I’m starting a petition to be signed by RNC members, publicly stating that his positions are NOT the positions of the Republican party and that he should be excluded from any future debates. On foreign policy, he would actually feel more at home on stage with the Democrats. He lost a lot of respect from everyone I talked to last night.
Maybe the RNC should do a “straw poll” or an “American Idol” style vote and start thinning out the field. Having all the “want a bees” on stage is taking away from any serious discussions and is a disaster in the making as ratings drop through the floor.
How about a version of “Survivor”?
Having said all of that…Republicans have an Embarrassment of riches: An array of candidates who are remarkable for their experience, commitment, and ideas.
Every candidate has something to offer, from successful governors, to mayors, to leaders in the House and Senate.
And while they may not agree on everything, every single one of them is a fundamental believer in the core Republican principles of lower taxes and limited government, individual responsibility, and a strong national defense.
Pick a candidate and get involved…America needs your help.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS06/705160389/1001
State's budget talks collapse
Sides blame each other for impasse
May 16, 2007
LANSING -- Intense bargaining Tuesday again failed to produce a compromise to resolve the state's budget crisis, as Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop accused each other of bad-faith bargaining.
She said he under represents by more than $300 million the size of the deficit in order to avoid serious negotiations on what she says is a needed tax increase.
He responds that she reneged on a deal to erase $337 million in red ink because "she is absolutely obsessed with raising taxes." He says he won't consider a tax increase without budget cuts and cost-saving changes.
Granholm's office declared an impasse late in the afternoon, after a fourth day of her meetings with House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, and Bishop, R-Rochester.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/METRO/705160408/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
State budget talks break down
Granholm wants $1.8B tax hike to be part of solution but GOP Senate leader seeks cuts only.
Mark Hornbeck and Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- A deal to close the gaping hole in this year's state budget collapsed Tuesday over the same issue that has stalled agreement for months: Gov. Jennifer Granholm wants a tax hike to be part of the solution and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop won't make that pledge.
A House-Senate conference committee considered a bill to help balance this year's budget with cuts but stopped short of taking a vote late Tuesday because it was evident Democrats would oppose the measure.
Granholm, lawmakers fail to reach agreement on budget deficit
5/15/2007, 7:52 p.m. EDT
By DAVID EGGERT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — No deal yet.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm and lawmakers remained at odds Tuesday over fixing a hole in the state budget. Negotiations will continue Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, the top Republican at the Capitol, had said the GOP and Democrats could sign an agreement at a conference committee held late Tuesday. But he adjourned the meeting because no agreement was reached.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS05/705160369/1007/NEWS05
FIVE THINGS: About mythical Cerberus
May 16, 2007
The company buying Chrysler has the name of an ancient dog.
BACK IN THE DAY
"Cerberus was a fierce, pitiless, flesh-eating watchdog, stationed by the River Styx, from which post he would keep the living from entering the land of the dead," says http://ancienthistory.about.com.
Well, that's one version. Others say the three-headed dog would let people into Hades (or hell) but never out.
If that's true, it could be Chrysler's new owner won't allow recalls.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/COL04/705160331/1007/NEWS05
Nice doggy! (Or: What's in a name?)
May 16, 2007
Maybe it's that no one in my extended family works for Chrysler. Or that until Monday's announcement that it had purchased a controlling stake in the automaker, I'd never even heard of Cerberus Capital Management.
But my first reaction -- before I stopped to consider the impact on Michigan's economy or the U.S. auto industry or Chrysler workers -- was to wonder why a company with $60 billion would name itself after a three-headed monster.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/AUTO02/705160365/1322/OPINION03
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Daniel Howes: Merger cruelly gave Chrysler to world
Daimler deal left U.S. auto icon stripped but globally savvy
Of all the delusions of grandeur in the fusion of Germany's Daimler-Benz and America's Chrysler, perhaps none is more telling than the aborted attempt in 2000 to create a "virtual headquarters" on the upper floors of the historic Chrysler Building in New York City.
It would symbolize that the most audacious deal in German corporate history was ensconced at the epicenter of global commerce in the house that Walter P. Chrysler built, that the combined company was something other than what it became -- a voracious consumer of shareholder wealth and human capital.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-43/117923883398960.xml&coll=5
Some local workers optimistic about sale
Chrysler: The Road Ahead
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
By Matt Bach
mbach@flintjournal.com
When he returns home to his wife and three young children in Flint, Jawun Nelson leaves the stress and uncertainty of his DaimlerChrysler job at the door.
His family doesn't need to see that, Nelson says.
But the stress surrounding the troubled automaker eased a bit for Nelson on Monday as DaimlerChrysler said it would sell 80.1 percent of Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP for $7.4 billion.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1179237023317440.xml&coll=5
Chrysler course
UAW president pragmatic with call to 'move forward'
FLINT
Sale of 80.1 percent of the Chrysler Group to a private firm that hasn't made cars shows again how anything goes in today's auto industry, indeed the global economy in general. In the history of the world, has capital ever been more powerful? And companies and local economies more vulnerable to this free-flowing force?
Indeed, we are in such uncharted territory again in Michigan that we look for any statement or clue as to what this sale of money-losing Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management LP, a New York equity firm, will mean in terms of factories and jobs.
On that score, optimism about the move expressed by UAW President Ron Gettelfinger gives hope, especially since he once opposed such a sale, though his ultimate preference was for German-based DaimlerChrysler AG not to dump its U.S. cousin.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-36/117923070244980.xml&coll=6
After sale, Chysler's future generates fear, hope
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
By Jenna N. Carlesso
The Grand Rapids Press
The announcement from DaimlerChrysler that a private equity firm will purchase the Chrysler Group was met Monday with excitement and fear from local auto industry insiders.
Roger Andrzejewski, executive director of Cascade Township auto parts supplier Lacks Enterprises, said the deal with Cerberus Capital Management makes him apprehensive.
About 45 percent of the privately held company's business is with Chrysler. Lacks products include the distinctive grilles on the Dodge Ram pickups.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1179242573319110.xml&coll=7
Chrysler sale may benefit Michigan
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
By Rick Haglund
Gazette Detroit Bureau
DETROIT -- Private-equity firms are notorious for fixing old industrial companies by slashing jobs, selling off underperforming assets and quickly peddling them for a handsome profit.
But some analysts say they are optimistic that the $7.4 billion majority buyout of the Chrysler Group by Cerberus Capital Management LP announced Monday could give the struggling automaker a boost and preserve jobs in its hard-hit home state.
``That's a good thing for Michigan,'' said Sean McAlinden, senior economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. ``Plants won't close. Investments are being made. This is very good for Michigan.''
http://blog.mlive.com/citpat/2007/05/by_chris_gautz_cgautzcitpatcom.html
By Chris Gautz
cgautz@citpat.com -- 768-4926
Sparton Electronics will nearly double its workforce in the next few years.
Earlier this morning, the Jackson-based company received a $1.3 million, 12-year Single Business Tax credit that is expected to create 100 new jobs, and 80 spin-off jobs. The jobs will have an average weekly wage of $566. Sparton will invest $2.7 million into the project.
The Michigan Economic Growth Authority board approved the tax credit at a meeting in Lansing.
State Rep. Mike Simpson, D-Liberty Township, said he has been working on this project since January, and is excited about its potential.
He said these jobs are in the areas of defense, medical and aerospace and cannot be outsourced.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS06/705160375/1008
Mine papers not kept secret, review shows
May 16, 2007
An independent review of the permit process for the Kennecott Eagle Mine near Marquette has found "no attempt ... to suppress documents," only misunderstanding within the state Department of Environmental Quality about which reports needed to be made public and were subject to Freedom of Information Requests.
The DEQ withdrew proposed approval of the nickel mine in February when it learned a mining consultant's reports had not been included in the public record. The process is to remain on hold, DEQ Director Steve Chester said in a statement Tuesday, while the department commissions "an additional independent, third-party perspective on the technical merits" of the mine.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/OPINION01/705160344/1008
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Bush's fuel economy goals will ruin auto industry
The Detroit News
President George W. Bush's executive order calling on federal agencies to act faster to regulate automotive fuel economy and increase alternative fuel supplies goes a long way toward making him seem green, but American workers will pay the price.
Nonetheless, there he was in the White House Rose Garden on Monday, flanked by administrators from the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Departments of Transportation, Energy and Agriculture, telling them to have greenhouse gas emissions reduction plans in hand by the end of 2008.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/OPINION01/705160335/1069
Energy: Dingell has better plan
May 16, 2007
When George W. Bush and John Dingell are on the same page, sort of, it's time to act. Both the president and the powerful chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said Monday, in different ways, that Congress needs to get down to business on how this country fuels its economy.
But Bush, who focused solely on vehicles, looks like a real heel-dragger compared with Dingell. The Dearborn Democrat, who is the longest serving member of the House, told the Detroit Economic Club that he wanted everyone involved in legislation to combat both foreign oil dependence and global warming and that he will propose an economy-wide cap-and-trade system for carbon dioxide emissions.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/METRO01/705150369
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Probe of Ecorse mill deal urged
State senator questions city's plan for scrap metal sale, which raised $2.3M instead of predicted $10M.
Iveory Perkins / The Detroit News
ECORSE -- A state senator is demanding a state investigation into a city plan that fell millions of dollars short of its goal to reap a bonanza from scrap metal in an abandoned mill.
Ecorse officials boasted in July that the former Michigan Steel Works was a cash cow full of steel, copper and other metals worth at least $10 million. The city bought the 84-year-old plant for $2.5 million three years ago and has yet to recover its investment, making just $2.3 million.
The deal -- beset with allegations of unfinished work and lawsuits -- is sparking concern among residents such as Dorothy Lyons.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/OPINION01/705160342/1008
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Letter
Let's focus on solving state's dropout problem
The data on high school graduation rates are clear and consistent (May 7 editorial, "State continues to fudge school graduation rates"): We have far too many of our students leaving school before they receive a diploma. We can spend our energies arguing about whose graduation calculations are more accurate or we can focus on solving the problem.
In the last year, we have worked closely with the State Board of Education and Gov. Jennifer Granholm to institute real change that will make education more relevant to students and reduce the dropout rate.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS01/705160332/1003
Challengers line up for school board
This is 2nd race since state's takeover
May 16, 2007
Marvis Cofield is a shoo-in for two more years on the Detroit Public Schools board.
Cofield, chief executive officer of Alkebu-Lan Village community assistance agency, is the sole candidate on the ballot in District 7 on the city's east side, which guarantees his position on the 11-member board.
"Praise God, that's all I can say," a thankful Cofield said Tuesday afternoon after the city's Department of Elections released the unofficial list of candidates. "I'm saying this optimistically, but maybe they've seen what I've done, and they've said, 'We're happy with that and there's no need to challenge him.' But I would have liked to have had them come out and participate in the process. I always like a good race."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS01/705160316/1003
Charter schools not imminent
May 16, 2007
Central Michigan University officials say that while they'd be interested in opening more charter schools, reports that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick wanted to partner with them to open 25 charters in the city were news to them.
Kilpatrick said they were news to him, too.
In a meeting with the Free Press editorial board, he said Tuesday that he has yet to develop an education plan as part of his effort to revitalize city neighborhoods, but would like to see some efforts under way by summer.
Good schools -- whether charter schools, private schools or Detroit public schools -- will be needed in order for his Next Detroit neighborhood revitalization initiative to retain and attract residents, he said.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/columns-3/1179242800319110.xml&coll=7
School districts get a big bill for election
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Consolidating election dates in Michigan to four a year was intended to spare voters the surprise of special elections at odd times and save taxpayers the cost of too many elections.
But, as far as school elections are concerned, there have been no cost savings. In fact, school districts are spending a lot more for those low-turnout elections than they ever did when they ran their own, usually in June.
Now, with consolidated elections, voters go to the polls in February, May, August and November. Local races or ballot questions can be put before the voters at any of those elections.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-43/117923880898960.xml&coll=5
School shuffle
Revolving door hurts test scores
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
By Bob Wheaton
bwheaton@flintjournal.com
It used to be that kindergartners in many area districts could count on the same person leading their school district when they got their diplomas 12 years later.
Once measured in decades some places, the tenures of most area school superintendents are now measured in years - or, in such districts as Flint and Westwood Heights, mere months.
That instability in the central office is affecting student achievement in the classroom, some educators and parents say, a point that's backed by data in a national study.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1179237053317440.xml&coll=5
Next Flint ed chief
Judging interim exec only part of process for getting best
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Linda Thompson has stepped into Flint's most visibly tough job with an impressive combination of poise and candor. But no extended honeymoon is in store for a superintendent of the Flint School District, even a temporary one.
Pressure will be especially intense on Thompson as she takes over as interim replacement for Walter Milton Jr., who departs for a new job in Illinois with the Flint district still recovering from controversies, including widespread unhappiness over a reform plan executed clumsily.
Thompson must establish credibility fast, persuading the district's constituency that she is fair but firm, innovative but responsible, and, above all, given to the highest educational standards without being distracted by politics. Her tendency to be blunt should help her set a tone.
http://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index.ssf?/base/news-2/117923794938220.xml&coll=3
School crisis: Time for radical solutions
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
This spring has brought a daily dose of depressing news out of Lansing for all who believe in the mission of public schools. Consider just a few local symptoms of the state's budget crisis:
· In Western Schools, a $1.4 million projected budget shortfall has that normally stable district in turmoil.
· Jackson Public Schools, more accustomed to operating in budget-crisis mode, is trying to deal with a $1.7 million deficit that could, depending on circumstances, balloon to double that size.
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1179240113171440.xml&coll=2
U-M execs' pay questioned
Professors point out their own salaries have risen more slowly
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
BY DAVE GERSHMAN
News Staff Reporter
A study by professors at the University of Michigan raises concerns that pay for top university executives has increased at a greater rate than the average professor's salary.
Base pay for the university's executive officers increased by an average of 4.3 to 7.8 percent each year from 1989 through 2006, depending on the job. Those are the top administrative jobs at U-M, including university president, executive vice president for medical affairs, chief financial officer, and provost.
In comparison, the average full professor's salary increased an average of 4.1 percent each year during that time period, the study found.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/NEWS06/70515043/1008
Macomb campus for MSU osteopathic school endorsed
May 15, 2007
Two members of Michigan’s congressional delegation today released a statement favoring Macomb Community College as the satellite campus location for the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Democrat Sander Levin and Republican Candice Miller said selection of the community college “alleviates all the concerns being raised by a broad range of experts about the adverse effect of health care in the city of Detroit” if another contender, the Detroit Medical Center, is selected.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/NEWS06/70515026/1008/NEWS06
Feds hail U-M program that keeps undergrads in school
May 15, 2007
The University of Michigan’s University Research Opportunity Program is getting a plug this month from the U.S. Department of Education, which lists the Ann Arbor-based school as one of 10 programs in the nation that has done a rigorous evaluation of the impact of its program on student learning.
In a report from its Academic Competitive Council, the U.S. Department of Education said U-M’s UROP program, which involves one-year partnerships between freshmen and sophomores and faculty in research projects, led to a 25% drop in the number of students who typically leave the university before graduation.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/NEWS01/70515028/1008/NEWS06
ACT firm says high school classes aren't tough enough
May 15, 2007
The ACT, the organization that produces the ACT test that every Michigan high school student will be expected to take, released a report today that indicates high school core courses nationwide lack the rigor needed to prepare students for college.
The report, titled Rigor at Risk, was based on an analysis of more than a million students who took the ACT nationwide and found that even students who take the recommended college preparation courses are not prepared for college work. That recommended coursework: four years of English and three years each of math, science and social studies.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/OPINION01/705150312/1008
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Kids need alternatives to stay out of trouble
Dan Varner
The recent spate of crime involving young people -- an 11-year-old and 13-year-old shot and killed in a drug house; a 16-year-old who uses the Internet to taunt police about his escape from the Juvenile Justice Center in Mount Clemens; and five teens charged with having group sex with an 11-year-old Eastpointe girl -- should give all adults pause: We are not doing enough to keep our children out of harm's way.
Admittedly, there are a multitude of issues that may find a child heading down the wrong path. But here's what we do know: providing positive, constructive alternatives, such as after-school and recreation programming, can help our young people stay out of trouble.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS01/705160379/1003
A Detroit fix-it plan
Improvements to include patrols, parks; $125 million is committed to 6 neighborhoods
May 16, 2007
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on Tuesday committed $125 million in tax dollars over five years for an ambitious neighborhood initiative that will also seek another $100 million from nonprofit foundations to increase police patrols, attract small businesses and build thousands of new homes in six target areas.
The mayor outlined details of a plan for the neighborhoods that could bring as many as 3,000 new homes to the Brightmoor and North End communities. Beginning this year, it would revitalize several of the neighborhoods by reducing crime by a projected 10%.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS01/705160434/1003
Change comes slowly to some
Progress offset by stubborn blight elsewhere in city
May 16, 2007
For some residents who live in areas of Detroit not included in the first wave of the mayor's neighborhood improvement, the question remains: When will we get ours?
Because the city is 139 square miles, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is quick to say, there's no way to improve everything overnight. The goal is to simply to start somewhere.
The Free Press profiled three neighborhoods in March, the Seven Mile/Livernois corridor, which is included in the Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative, and two that are not, Davison/East McNichols and Hubbard Farms.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/OPINION01/705160340/1008
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Kilpatrick: Results drive revival plan
Detroit's mayor targets six areas in five-year, $125 million initiative
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Tuesday announced his Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative to revitalize six areas based on priorities determined through community meetings. Improvements will be measured and reported to the community in quarterly reports. The mayor says the five-year plan will cost the city $125 million. He says he is working with philanthropic groups to raise additional money. The following are excerpts of Kilpatrick's interview with The News' editorial board:
Targeting neighborhoods
Q . Please talk about how this neighborhood initiative started.
A . This initiative is an outgrowth of the notion in the city that it is downtown versus the neighborhoods. Neighborhoods always feel the downtown gets all the attention. This is a data-driven program. The unique thing about this initiative: We've started programs under other mayors but never have seen middle and an end. The level of detail and specificity in this program is something that we as politicians stay away from because we don't want to be scrutinized. We'll be reporting to the community every three months.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/BLOG07/70515072/1003
Downtown v. Detroit neighborhoods: The difference is bigger than ever
Kilpatrick's plan aims to close the gap
May 15, 2007
Wednesday, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick announced a detailed, ambitious and thoughtful plan to improve six Detroit neighborhoods.
Kilpatrick said Tuesday the project is an outgrowth of the debate over “downtown vs. the neighborhoods.”
The mayor didn’t say it, but that debate has been raging for about a generation.
The discussion became most heated in the 1980s, when Tom Barrow ran unsuccessfully for mayor twice against Coleman Young, charging Young was paying too much attention to developing the central business district at the expense of the rest of Detroit.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/OPINION01/705160336/1069
'We can create the momentum'
May 16, 2007
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick spoke with the Free Press Editorial Board Tuesday about his Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative and other topics. Here are excerpts:
On city initiatives that get started, but go nowhere:
I believe that the city of Detroit has engaged in a lot of initiatives where we have a beginning but we really have no defined middle or no defined ending. So people are left to wonder, when you did Model Cities, what happened? When you did the Safe School Initiative, what happened?
I want to get to a point where people can see that we did what we said we would do. And then we can create the momentum around that movement doing what we said we would do. So we can then move on and create the sensation in other neighborhoods about being a part of the transformation.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/OPINION01/705160345/1008
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Kilpatrick neighborhood plan holds promise
Detroit will focus on redeveloping, revitalizing six areas in the city
The Detroit News
For years, Detroiters greeted announcements of new plans for downtown developments with the question: "What about the neighborhoods?" Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has come up with a good answer.
He's got a plan to focus on improvements in six neighborhoods throughout the city. The hope is that with improvements in these districts, there will be a "ripple effect" that will spread to adjoining areas.
After a community hearing process, the mayor's team has determined the needs of each community.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/OPINION01/705160337/1069
Potential is great in city initiative
May 16, 2007
Ambitious plans in hand, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will launch a neighborhood improvement initiative today that in scope and planning detail is worth the attention of anyone who believes the city can be reborn.
But Detroit has seen these kinds of launches before -- without much in the way of landings. This one appears to be better thought out. But success will require the kind of follow-up and accountability that have not been Kilpatrick hallmarks.
That said, there's much to like in what he has in mind, and in the level of detail and specific outlining that have gone into what the mayor is calling the Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative. This isn't some random revitalization plan; Kilpatrick, his staff and a large contingent of private interests have spent months learning everything they can about the six targeted neighborhoods. The plan for each one involves action that's specific to its needs: Some will be reinforced, others totally remade.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/OPINION01/705160343/1008
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Reviving Metro Detroit
Region should turn airports into vital economic engines
John Rakolta Jr.
As the CEO of a global company, I've spent a great deal of my life in airports. It wasn't too long ago that these facilities had the personality of a dentist's office.
All that is beginning to change. Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Bangkok, Thailand, has all the amenities of a major city: shopping malls, office buildings, hotels, hospitals and an international business center. Incheon Airport in South Korea is planning to develop a golf course, business park and family entertainment park adjacent to the airport. Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam has 58,000 workers inside its fence daily with two first-class hotels, shopping arcade and office facilities for major companies like Ernst & Young and Heineken.
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1179240032171440.xml&coll=2
Parks face spending cut despite tax OK
City official to explain proposal
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
BY TOM GANTERT
News Staff Reporter
Last fall Ann Arbor residents voted to boost their tax bills to give the parks system another $750,000 a year for maintenance and capital improvements.
Now, city officials say they plan to cut the parks budget, despite City Council pledges that preceded that vote.
On paper, it's simple enough:
· Ann Arbor's general fund budget would grow 2 percent from $78.5 million this year to $80.3 million in 2008 under the budget proposal city officials debated Monday night.
· Last October, the City Council passed a nonbinding resolution stipulating that the parks would see the same increases or decreases in general fund appropriations as other areas. OK'd a month before city residents were to vote on the new parks millage, the move was meant to alleviate concerns that gains from the new tax might be offset by reductions from the general fund.
http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1179242238298230.xml&coll=4
Proposed Fire Department budget rejected
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
By SCOTT E. PACHECO
TIMES WRITER
If Monday's vote is any indication, the jobs of four Bay City firefighters slated for elimination may be safe.
With about 20 members of the Fire Department looking on, the Bay City Commission voted 5-4 to reject a motion that would have tentatively approved the Fire Department budget and its four job cuts.
If the jobs are lost, it would move the department below minimum staffing requirements for four stations, forcing the closure of a station.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS05/705160371/1007
County news
May 16, 2007
OAKLAND COUNTY PONTIAC: Hospital gets initial OK to expand Southfield site
The Straith Hospital for Special Surgery in Southfield received preliminary approval Tuesday for a $10.5-million expansion to its Southfield facility.
Oakland County's Economic Development Corp. plans to sell $9 million in tax-exempt bonds for the project, which includes renovations in the existing facility and a 16,100-square-foot expansion.
The full board of Oakland County commissioners is to consider the issue May 24.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/NEWS01/70515022/1008/NEWS06
Influential Michigan women will be honored
May 15, 2007
The Michigan Women’s Foundation salutes five Michigan women Wednesday evening at the 18th Annual Women of Achievement and Courage Celebration at the GM Wintergarden at the Renaissance Center in Detroit.
The honorees are: Birgit M. Klohs, president of the Right Place Inc.; Gail Perry-Mason, first vice president of Investments at Oppenheimer & Company Inc.; the Honorable Anna Diggs Taylor, senior federal judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and Marianne Udow, director of the Michigan Department of Human Services.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/POLITICS/705160348/1022
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Stabenow and Levin push debt help
Bills from Michigan senators aim to rein in credit card bill practices, give mortgage tax break.
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Consumer advocates praised a pair of bills introduced by Michigan's U.S. senators Tuesday that would protect credit card customers from some billing practices and give a tax break to homeowners whose mortgage companies forgive some of their debt.
Sen. Carl Levin, who for months has criticized credit card companies for socking customers with what he calls "abusive" penalties and billing practices, introduced a bill that would bar many of those practices.
Bill would outlaw some credit card practices critics say confuse
5/15/2007, 7:04 p.m. EDT
By MARCY GORDON
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation proposed Tuesday would outlaw some credit-card billing and interest-rate practices that critics say confuse consumers and can push them deeper into debt.
The bill authored by Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's investigative panel, and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., would ban interest from being charged on any portion of a credit card debt that the consumer paid on time during a grace period.
It also would limit so-called penalty increases in interest rates, which are imposed when a payment is made after the due date, to a maximum 7 percentage points above the current rate.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS06/705160314/1008
Politically speaking
May 16, 2007
Dingell is coy on his remark on '08 choice
Was that a presidential endorsement that several hundred people heard at the Detroit Economic Club on Monday?
"Nor do I believe in giving unfettered authority or discretion to any administration or president -- whoever she may be," Rep. John Dingell, a Dearborn Democrat, told the crowd.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., is the only woman in the race, at least at the moment. But Dingell was coy when asked about his slip.
"I think she'd be a good president and certainly a better president than George W. Bush," he said after his speech. "She and I and Debbie are good friends," he said, referring to his politically well-connected wife, Debbie Dingell. "But I'm going to wait and see before endorsing anyone."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/METRO/705160401/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Man faces charges in threats to Bush
Peers: He plotted to bomb White House
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
A Monroe man whose comments allegedly alarmed his co-workers was charged Tuesday with threatening President Bush by saying he would blow up the White House.
Charles Alan Haines, 39, faces up to five years in prison if convicted. He has not yet been arraigned in federal court in Detroit and could not be reached.
According to an affidavit filed by a Secret Service agent, Haines told co-workers at Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance in Dundee in March and April that he planned to blow up the White House.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/POLITICS/705160371/1022
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Flag bill passes in House
Named for Michigan soldier, measure requires U.S. buildings to fly banners at half staff for fallen troops.
Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill, named for a Michigan soldier killed in Iraq, which would require federal buildings to lower their national flags to half-staff when a state's governor has ordered that honor for a fallen service member.
The bill, which passed 408 to 4, was named after Joseph P. Micks of Rapid River, who was 22-years-old when an explosive device detonated near his vehicle in July.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/NEWS03/70515075/1007/NEWS05
Michigan soldier among missing in Iraq
May 15, 2007
Friends and family pleaded for U.S. Army Pvt. Byron Fouty to "stay strong" and "get back home" in messages on a social networking Web site, as federal officials confirmed Tuesday that the former Walled Lake Central High School student is among four missing soldiers in Iraq, possibly kidnapped by Al Qaeda.
In a statement on the U.S. Department of Defense's Web site, officials said "search and recovery efforts are ongoing." The three other men who have been missing since Saturday do not have Michigan ties.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-36/117923011417630.xml&coll=6
Vermontville man, 19, killed by Iraq assault
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
By Ted Roelofs
The Grand Rapids Press
VERMONTVILLE -- In small towns and small schools, news about a death in Iraq travels fast and hits hard.
So it was with Army Pfc. Daniel Courneya, 19, who died Saturday in an ambush that killed three other soldiers and led to an ongoing manhunt for three other missing troops.
They announced his death early Monday to a school that was quickly hushed, said Todd Gonser, principal of Maple Valley High School, a rural school east of Hastings. Courneya graduated in 2005.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/NEWS06/70515019/1008/NEWS06
Vermontville soldier killed in Iraq
May 15, 2007
VERMONTVILLE — Students at Maple Valley High School are remembering slain Army Pfc. Daniel Courneya in their own, personal way this week.
They are putting together a memorial for the former student killed Saturday with three other soldiers in an ambush in Iraq.
“It’s a tribute of photos, posters, plaques and a picture of him in his uniform,” school special education and discipline secretary Kelly Zank told the Associated Press today.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Njk5ZWQ3OTQ5NjhjNDQzYmVlNWU4MGZhZTkyMjM2ZmM=
May 16, 2007 1:00 AM
The Second Date
Will you bother with a third?
An NRO Symposium
FOX News hosted the second Republican debate of the 2008 presidential-primary season on Tuesday night in South Carolina. National Review Online asked a group of commentators to analyze how it went.
Mona Charen
The most humorous moment of the evening had to be former Gov. Jim Gilmore — the Wonder Bread of candidates, saying “I know I shook things up.”
http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjUwOGQwMmQyMzQwMzA4ZDkxOTViMGE0OGVkNzYzN2M=
The Debate 1
One winner: Fox News itself. The probing and incisive questions - and the willingness to follow up loose ends - meant that the 1-minute limit did not feel unduly constrained. Even more impressive: the questioners' solid grip on their egos. No weird "look at me" questions. Always a keen awareness that the candidates are the people the audience has tuned in to see.
Makes me think the Democrats did themselves an injury by denying themselves access not only to Fox's audience but to its - yes - fair & balanced questioners.
http://hillaryspot.nationalreview.com/
Republican Debate Number Two Wrap-up
A much more informative, and much more pugnacious debate. I think Wendell Goler was a little too focused on abortion for my tastes, but they were tough, hard-hitting questions, and I don’t think too any of his questions were too out of line. Brit Hume, Chris Wallace and Goler are ten times better than Chris Matthews and the guy from Politico.
Rudy’s exchange with Ron Paul was the soundbite of the night; I’m sure Team Rudy thinks that won them the debate. I said last time that Rudy was better than his performance; tonight he proved it. Yes, he’s got his flaws; as Richard Brookheiser put it, “his sins are scarlet.” But his strengths are sterling.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/15/ap3725417.html
Republicans Agree on Lower Taxes
By LIZ SIDOTI 05.15.07, 9:34 PM ET
Republican presidential contenders agreed on the need for lower taxes and vowed to crack down on federal spending Tuesday night in campaign debate. They pledged to reduce the massive federal bureaucracy.
"We've had a Congress that's spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop," said former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a jab at the Democratic presidential hopeful's penchant for $400 haircuts.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/
Posted at 11:07 PM ET, 05/15/2007
The Debate That Was
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- After a relatively sedate first debate earlier this month, the ten presidential candidates came out swinging against one another in their second showdown here tonight.
Most of the attacks came from second-tier candidates -- particularly former Gov. Jim Gilmore (Va.) -- who were hoping to vault themselves onto center stage by picking a fight with one of the three frontrunners.
But, for the first time in the campaign so far, two of the frontrunners -- Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.) -- mixed it up.
Romney began the exchange by criticizing McCain's sponsorship of a comprehensive immigration reform proposal and went on to compare it to McCain's support for campaign finance reform.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/us/politics/16repubs.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Terror Attack Scenario Exposes Deep Differences Among G.O.P. Hopefuls
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and MARC SANTORA
Published: May 16, 2007
The scenario presented to the 10 Republican presidential candidates was chilling: Three American shopping malls had been bombed, producing scores of casualties. Terrorists with detailed knowledge of another imminent and deadlier attack had been captured and taken to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The question: How far can the authorities go in interrogating the terrorists to get information to avert a fourth attack?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501308.html
Republicans Debate Their Conservative Bona Fides
Divisions on Display In Second Face-Off
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A01
COLUMBIA, S.C., May 15 -- The leading Republican presidential candidates parried accusations from their rivals that they have strayed too far from their party's conservative philosophies on abortion, taxes and immigration in a debate that featured some of the most direct exchanges of the 2008 battle for the GOP nomination.
The debate included sharp jabs as the candidates pledged tax cuts and all but one reaffirmed their support for the war in Iraq. The contenders also further exposed their party's divisions over social issues, including abortion and stem cell research, on a day when the Rev. Jerry Falwell's death cast a shadow over the campaign.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051502279.html
Brownback's Darfur Stand
By Politics
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A05
Republican presidential hopeful Sam Brownback released financial disclosure forms yesterday showing that the senator from Kansas has sold off tens of thousands of dollars in mutual fund holdings to avoid investing in companies that do business with Sudan.
Brownback has been an outspoken critic of the violence in Darfur.
He was the first presidential candidate to make public a financial disclosure report that was required to be filed with the Federal Election Commission yesterday. Several candidates, including former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain of Arizona on the Republican side and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York among the Democrats, sought and received 45-day extensions for the filings.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051502207.html
Clinton, Obama to Back Vote to Cut Off Funding for Troops in Iraq
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A04
Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) announced yesterday that they will support a symbolic vote to cut off funding for combat troops in Iraq within a year, an important shift for both Democratic presidential candidates as the war debate on Capitol Hill intensifies.
The funding vote is expected in the Senate today, as one of four test votes on Iraq that Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) had scheduled in advance of final talks with the House and the Bush administration over a $124 billion war-spending bill.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/OPINION03/705160311/1008/OPINION01
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Doug Bandow
Opinion: Taxpayers are free at last
Americans have finally stopped paying for government. According to the Tax Foundation, "Tax Freedom Day" was April 30 this year. That's when local, state, and federal officials stopped fingering the average American's wallet.
Unfortunately, Tax Freedom Day has been getting later. The Bush tax cuts dropped the day from May 1 in 2001 to April 21 in 2002 and April 18 in 2003. But it moved back to April 19 the following year and moved a full week into April in 2005, to April 26. It was April 28 in 2006 -- nearly where it was when President George W. Bush took office.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMMIGRATION_CONGRESS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 15, 9:24 PM EDT
Bipartisan deal on immigration is near
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans and Democrats were nearing a deal Tuesday on a sweeping immigration overhaul that would give millions of illegal immigrants a chance at legal status but strictly limit future arrivals from staying in the U.S.
Senators and White House officials negotiating through the afternoon and into the evening said an elusive compromise was in sight. With details changing rapidly, it was unclear whether the talks would result in a breakthrough or a meltdown.
"Eighty-twenty!" said an upbeat Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of the key players in the talks, giving strong odds of a deal he said could be announced as early as Wednesday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051502022.html
Latino Groups Play Key Role on Hill
Virtual Veto Power in Immigration Debate
By Krissah Williams and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A04
When Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) declared last week that unnamed "stakeholders" would decide whether Congress overhauls immigration law this year, Latino organizations in Washington understood exactly what he meant.
After laboring in obscurity for decades, groups such as the National Council of La Raza, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the National Immigration Forum are virtually being granted veto power over perhaps the biggest domestic issue coming before Congress this year. Organizations that represent what is now the nation's largest minority group are beginning to achieve power commensurate with their numbers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051502074.html
Abuses in Enrollment Tactics Found for Private Medicare
By Elizabeth Williamson and Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A03
Insurance agents in at least 39 states used illegal or unethical tactics to sell private Medicare plans, in some cases enrolling the dead and mentally incompetent, impersonating Medicare representatives, and using personal information stolen from federal records, according to interviews and documents released to Congress.
"Medicare Advantage" plans and enrollments have exploded in the past year, touted by the Bush administration as a valuable alternative to Medicare, the federal health insurance program for seniors.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501957.html
Lawmakers Find $21 a Week Doesn't Buy a Lot of Groceries
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A13
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) stood before the refrigerated section of the Safeway on Capitol Hill yesterday and looked longingly at the eggs.
At $1.29 for a half-dozen, he couldn't afford them.
Ryan and three other members of Congress have pledged to live for one week on $21 worth of food, the amount the average food stamp recipient receives in federal assistance. That's $3 a day or $1 a meal. They started yesterday.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/AUTO01/705160407/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
'Kids and Cars' act eased
Senate panel to OK brake upgrade to protect those in, near vehicles.
David Shepardson / The Detroit News
WASHINGTON -- A compromise bill to improve the safety of children in and around automobiles is likely to be approved by Congress in the coming weeks.
The Senate Commerce Committee today is expected to endorse a revised version of the Kid Transportation Safety Act of 2007, known as the "Kids and Cars" act, congressional aides and auto officials said Tuesday.
The revised bill -- a copy of which was obtained by The Detroit News on Tuesday -- eliminates some mandates automakers opposed and requires the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to take a more aggressive role in reviewing safety enhancements for children in and around vehicles. For example, it would require the agency to review whether to mandate automakers install automatic-reversing windows.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CRACK_COCAINE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 15, 7:58 PM EDT
Congress urged to repeal crack sentences
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress should repeal a law that puts first-time offenders behind bars for at least five years for possessing tiny amounts of crack cocaine, the U.S. Sentencing Commission said Tuesday.
Enacted amid the crack epidemic of the 1980s, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act imposes the mandatory minimum sentence for possessing five grams of crack, which weighs the same as five paper clips.
It takes a hundred times the amount of powder cocaine to result in the same prison term as for crack, the commission said. It urged Congress to deal with that disparity by increasing threshold quantities for crack cocaine offenses to focus on major traffickers.
Federal cocaine sentencing policy is under "almost universal criticism" from the judiciary, criminal justice practitioners, academics and community interest groups, the commission concluded in 115-page annual report to Capitol Hill.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/POLITICS/705160368/1022
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Indians find government voice
73 in 2007 took state offices, most ever, and Native American vote has proven pivotal.
Sam Howe Verhovek / Los Angeles Times
HELENA, Mont. -- Jonathan Windy Boy was a longtime champion of the international Grass Dance competition, a native event in which the object is to simulate the natural movement of tall prairie grass swaying in the wind.
But, recalled Windy Boy with a laugh, "that was many years and about 40 pounds ago."
Now Windy Boy moves his considerable frame around the House chamber in the state capitol here, bargaining and cajoling as a leader of the 10-member American Indian caucus in Montana's state legislature.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FIRED_PROSECUTORS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 15, 10:24 PM EDT
Gonzales: Deputy was pointman on firings
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday he relied heavily on his deputy to oversee the firings of U.S. attorneys, appearing to distance himself from his departing second-in-command.
Gonzales' comments came the day after Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said he would step down by the end of summer, a decision that people familiar with his plans said was hastened by the controversy over last year's firings of eight prosecutors.
"At the end of the day, the recommendations reflected the views of the deputy attorney general. He signed off on the names," Gonzales told reporters after a speech about Justice Department steps to curb rising violent crime.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/POLITICS/705160370/1022
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
U.S. defense of Wolfowitz shifts
Steven R. Weisman / New York Times
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration, shifting strategy in the face of mounting opposition to Paul Wolfowitz as World Bank president, opened the door Tuesday to the possibility of his voluntary resignation if the bank board ended its drive to declare him unfit to remain in office.
But the administration's new approach appeared to gain few immediate supporters, various officials said.
Indeed, bank officials said the board seemed determined on Tuesday evening to endorse the findings of a special committee that Wolfowitz broke bank rules, ethics and governance standards in arranging for, and concealing, a promotion package for his companion, Shaha Riza, in 2005.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051500185.html
White House Support for Wolfowitz Wavers
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A01
The Bush administration softened its support for World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz yesterday, signaling a willingness to replace him if the bank's executive board resolves an ethics controversy without firing him.
"All options are on the table," said White House spokesman Tony Snow, addressing reporters at a morning briefing. "Members of the board, Mr. Wolfowitz, need to sit down and figure out what is in fact going to be best for this bank. . . ."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051502139.html
World-Class Mess
No one's looking good at the World Bank.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A14
THE SEVEN executive directors of the World Bank who this week submitted their second report on bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz managed to leave both Mr. Wolfowitz and themselves looking worse than when the process began.
Start with Mr. Wolfowitz and the way he handled salary increases for his companion Shaha Riza, an employee of the bank. We already knew that Mr. Wolfowitz showed poor judgment in playing any role in shaping Ms. Riza's job conditions when he joined the bank in the summer of 2005. What the report makes clear is that Mr. Wolfowitz's role didn't just look bad; it was bad.
May 15, 11:17 PM EDT
VA bonus winners sat on review boards
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly two dozen officials who received hefty performance bonuses last year at the Veterans Affairs Department also sat on the boards charged with recommending the payments.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press raise questions of conflicts of interest or appearances of conflicts in connection with the bonuses, some of which went to senior officials involved in crafting a budget that came up $1.3 billion short and jeopardized veterans' health care.
The documents show that 21 of 32 officials who were members of VA performance review boards received more than half a million dollars in payments themselves.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EAVESDROPPING?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 16, 2:49 AM EDT
White House pressed Ashcroft on wiretaps
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top Justice Department official thought President Bush's no-warrant wiretapping program was so questionable that he refused for a time to reauthorize it, leading to a standoff with White House officials at the bedside of the ailing attorney general, a Senate panel was told Tuesday.
Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he refused to recertify the program because Attorney General John Ashcroft had reservations about its legality just before falling ill with pancreatitis in March 2004.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS06/705160303/1008
Spy program didn't have OK, panel told
Ex-official says legality questioned
May 16, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration operated its warrantless domestic-eavesdropping program for up to three weeks in 2004 over Justice Department objections about its legality, the department's former No. 2 official disclosed Tuesday.
In dramatic testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey said that the Justice Department refused to sign off on reauthorizing the program because then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and his legal advisers did not believe it was lawful.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051500864.html
Gonzales Hospital Episode Detailed
Ailing Ashcroft Pressured on Spy Program, Former Deputy Says
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A01
On the night of March 10, 2004, as Attorney General John D. Ashcroft lay ill in an intensive-care unit, his deputy, James B. Comey, received an urgent call.
White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales and President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., were on their way to the hospital to persuade Ashcroft to reauthorize Bush's domestic surveillance program, which the Justice Department had just determined was illegal.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501945.html
Mr. Comey's Tale
A standoff at a hospital bedside speaks volumes about Attorney General Gonzales.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A14
JAMES B. COMEY, the straight-as-an-arrow former No. 2 official at the Justice Department, yesterday offered the Senate Judiciary Committee an account of Bush administration lawlessness so shocking it would have been unbelievable coming from a less reputable source. The episode involved a 2004 nighttime visit to the hospital room of then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft by Alberto Gonzales, then the White House counsel, and Andrew H. Card Jr., then the White House chief of staff. Only the broadest outlines of this visit were previously known: that Mr. Comey, who was acting as attorney general during Mr. Ashcroft's illness, had refused to recertify the legality of the administration's warrantless wiretapping program; that Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card had tried to do an end-run around Mr. Comey; that Mr. Ashcroft had rebuffed them.
Mr. Comey's vivid depiction, worthy of a Hollywood script, showed the lengths to which the administration and the man who is now attorney general were willing to go to pursue the surveillance program. First, they tried to coerce a man in intensive care -- a man so sick he had transferred the reins of power to Mr. Comey -- to grant them legal approval. Having failed, they were willing to defy the conclusions of the nation's chief law enforcement officer and pursue the surveillance without Justice's authorization. Only in the face of the prospect of mass resignations -- Mr. Comey, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and most likely Mr. Ashcroft himself -- did the president back down.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501890.html
Ashcroft and the Night Visitors
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A02
As if Attorney General Alberto Gonzales didn't have enough trouble, now comes word that, before coming to the Justice Department, Gonzales preyed on the infirm.
In hair-raising testimony before a Senate committee yesterday, Jim Comey, the former No. 2 official at the Justice Department, described what might be called the Wednesday Night Massacre of March 10, 2004. Gonzales, then the White House counsel, and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card staged a bedside ambush of Attorney General John Ashcroft while he lay in intensive care. Comey, serving as acting attorney general during Ashcroft's incapacitation, testified about how, on a tip from Ashcroft's wife, he intercepted the pair in Ashcroft's hospital room.
May 15, 8:07 PM EDT
Bush reels in gifts from U.S. admirers
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush loves fishing, so people aiming to impress him often go that direction. Last year alone, he was given three rods and three reels along with assorted other equipment to the tune of more than $2,600. That's in addition to at least eight other rods he's received as gifts during his presidency.
On the other hand, Bush is only an occasional golfer. But that didn't stop his friend and 2004 campaign finance chairman, Mercer Reynolds, from giving the president a $915 set of new clubs and covers last year.
Bush cleaned up in 2006 - as usual.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051500981.html
Jerry Falwell, 1933-2007
Harnessed The Political Power of Evangelicals
By Joe Holley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A01
Jerry Falwell, 73, a Southern Baptist preacher who as founder and president of the Moral Majority presided over a marriage of Christian beliefs and conservative political values -- a bond that bore prodigious fruit for the Republican Party during the past quarter-century -- died May 15 of congestive heart failure after he was found unconscious in his office at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
According to a school spokesman, he was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital, where CPR efforts were unsuccessful.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010080
Was Osama Right?
Islamists always believed the U.S. was weak. Recent political trends won't change their view.
BY BERNARD LEWIS
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
During the Cold War, two things came to be known and generally recognized in the Middle East concerning the two rival superpowers. If you did anything to annoy the Russians, punishment would be swift and dire. If you said or did anything against the Americans, not only would there be no punishment; there might even be some possibility of reward, as the usual anxious procession of diplomats and politicians, journalists and scholars and miscellaneous others came with their usual pleading inquiries: "What have we done to offend you? What can we do to put it right?"
A few examples may suffice. During the troubles in Lebanon in the 1970s and '80s, there were many attacks on American installations and individuals--notably the attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, followed by a prompt withdrawal, and a whole series of kidnappings of Americans, both official and private, as well as of Europeans. There was only one attack on Soviet citizens, when one diplomat was killed and several others kidnapped. The Soviet response through their local agents was swift, and directed against the family of the leader of the kidnappers. The kidnapped Russians were promptly released, and after that there were no attacks on Soviet citizens or installations throughout the period of the Lebanese troubles.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/POLITICS/705160367/1022
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Statements against Gitmo captive change
Katherine Shrader / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Associates of the only U.S. resident among the 15 most dangerous detainees at Guantanamo Bay have backed away from statements about the young Pakistani's allegedly extremist ways, according to a new Pentagon transcript.
The recantations about 27-year-old Majid Khan are part of a 39-page transcript from a hearing to review his status as an enemy combatant. The document, released Tuesday, provides a window into Khan's detention since Pakistani agents raided the Karachi flat where he was sleeping in March 2003.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/OPINION03/705160310/1008/OPINION01
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Kathleen Parker
Opinion: Democrats show banal outrage at renegade Broder
Veteran political columnist David Broder set off a firestorm recently when he called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid an "embarrassment" for declaring the Iraq War "lost."
From the assault subsequently directed at Broder -- from other journalists, political operatives, left-wing bloggers and even the entire 50-member Senate Democratic Caucus -- you'd have thought Broder had had an intimate encounter with an intern.
Or, in the spirit of bipartisanship, had broken into Democratic National Committee headquarters.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 16, 5:23 AM EDT
Senate GOP drafts proposal for Iraq bill
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A small group of Republican senators, led by Virginia's John Warner, is coalescing around legislation that would threaten billions of dollars in U.S. aid to Iraq and make clear American troops will stay only as long as Baghdad lives up to its promises.
"The United States strategy in Iraq, hereafter, shall be conditioned on the Iraqi government meeting benchmarks," a draft of the proposal says.
The Senate was to vote on the proposal Wednesday, along with two Democratic anti-war measures.
The GOP legislation does not go as far as many Democrats want, but it offers a sharp challenge to Bush's Iraq policy by members of his own political party. It also indicates the thinning patience of many GOP members on a deeply unpopular and costly war in its fifth year.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WAR_CZAR?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 16, 3:37 AM EDT
Pentagon general to be 'war czar'
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Anxious to show progress to a nation weary of war, President Bush is hoping a military leader with proven organizational skills can make the government's vast bureaucracy march in step in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bush's selection of Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as war czar does not bring the promise of a change in policy, speedier progress or an end to the fighting for U.S. troops. Instead, he is billed as a bureaucracy buster.
Nothing is more important, Bush said Tuesday in announcing Lute's nomination, than getting the commanders and ambassadors in the war zones what they need.
"Douglas Lute can make sure that happens quickly and reliably," Bush said.
Lute's appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501612.html
Bush Taps Skeptic of Buildup as 'War Czar'
Lt. Gen. Lute Accepts Position Others Spurned
By Peter Baker and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A01
President Bush tapped Army Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute yesterday to serve as a new White House "war czar" overseeing the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, choosing a low-key soldier who privately expressed skepticism about sending more troops to Iraq during last winter's strategy review.
In the newly created position, Lute will coordinate often disjointed military and civilian operations and manage the Washington side of the same troop increase he resisted before Bush announced the plan in January. Bush hopes an empowered aide working in the White House and answering directly to him will be able to cut through bureaucracy that has hindered efforts in Iraq.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BIO_BOX_LUTE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 16, 3:30 AM EDT
Biographical data on Douglas E. Lute
NAME (AP) -- Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute.
AGE - 54.
NOTABLE EXPERIENCE - Director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, September 2006; director of operations, U.S. Central Command, June 2004; deputy director of operations, U.S. European Command, January 2003; commanded Multinational Brigade East in Kosovo for six months in 2002; commanded the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, part of XVIII Airborne Corps, at Fort Polk, La., 1998-2000; commanded the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry at Fort Hood, Texas, 1992-1994; fought in Operation Desert Storm, 1990-1991.
EDUCATION -B.S., U.S. Military Academy; master's degree in public administration, Harvard University.
FAMILY - Wife, Jane Holl Lute.
