Articles of Interest 2-8-08
272 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
At CPAC this weekend:
We brought TWO busloads of College Republicans out to CPAC to take part in the action!!!
Senator John McCain is clearly the presumptive nominee…the talk at CPAC was should the party rally behind him sooner rather than later and get our campaign against either Senators Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama going?!?
Governor Mitt Romney “set aside” or suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination and all but committed to work on behalf for Senator McCain…his reason…for the good of the country. We can’t afford Clinton or Obama!!!
ROMNEY DELEGATE….now “UNCOMMITTED”: according to our state party rules, all delegate that were to be assigned to Mitt Romney MUST now run as uncommitted and are not “bound” to anyone at the national convention. A detailed memo was sent to district and county chairs yesterday afternoon…. see below.
I wish we could make it Senator Romney or even Governor Romney - again…from Michigan!?!
Thousands of conservatives gathered from across the country to discuss various policy issues, meet political leaders and hear some great speeches by the leaders of our party and the conservative movement.
WJR survey here: http://wjr.com/#survey More info below.
Sheriff Mike Bouchard’s brother who was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident died yesterday. Please keep the Bouchard family in your prayers.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
As you are most likely aware, Governor Mitt Romney today suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination for president of the United States. Governor Romney was allocated 45 of Michigan’s 60 delegates to the Republican National Convention as a result of winning 13 of Michigan’s 15 congressional districts and receiving 40% of the total statewide vote in Michigan’s January 15, 2008 Presidential Primary Election.
In accordance with Rule 19E(2) of the Republican Party of Michigan Rules for Selection of Delegates and Alternates to the 2008 Republican County, State and National Conventions, the 45 delegates that were previously allocated to Governor Romney will now be deemed “uncommitted” delegates and are therefore not bound to support any particular candidate at the 2008 Republican National Convention. Pursuant to the Rules, the Credentials Committee of the Michigan Republican Party will today submit notification to Governor Romney’s campaign informing them of this action. Governor Romney has the right to appeal the Credentials Committee’s determination within five days, but it is our understanding from the Romney campaign that he has no intention to do so.
Individuals residing in any congressional district previously committed to Governor Romney who wish to seek election as a congressional district delegate or alternate to the Republican National Convention, or individuals seeking election as an at-large delegate or alternate for one of the six positions to which Governor Romney was previously allocated should file a presidential preference form (as required by Rule 7) indicating they seek election as an uncommitted delegate or alternate.
No actions taken today have any impact at all on the delegates previously allocated to Senator McCain or Governor Huckabee. The updated Michigan delegate allocation is as follows:
Uncommitted 45
McCain 10
Huckabee 2
RNC Members 3*
*Michigan’s Republican National Committee Members (State Chairman, National Committeeman and National Committeewoman) are automatic delegates to the National Convention and are not bound to support any particular candidate.
- Recently, Attorney General Mike Cox unveiled a "Transparency in Government" Initiative in which he made public - all the expenses of the entire Department of the Attorney General. He urged that the Granholm Administration to do the same and make all state government spending public.
The State of Missouri has a website where citizens can see how their tax dollars are being spent for all of state government. Governor Granholm's office says that the State of Michigan currently makes this information available, too.
Compare the two websites - and see for yourself.
Vote in the poll on which website you believe allows more transparency for citizens to see how their state tax dollars are being spent.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.mlive.com/elections/index.ssf/2008/02/romney_suspends_campaign_paves.html
Romney suspends campaign, paves way for McCain
by Liz Sidoti | The Associated Press
Thursday February 07, 2008, 12:51 PM
WASHINGTON -- John McCain effectively sealed the Republican presidential nomination today as chief rival Mitt Romney suspended his faltering presidential campaign. "I must now stand aside, for our party and our country," Romney prepared to tell conservatives. "If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror," Romney will say at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080207/POLITICS/802070484/1022/POLITICS
Michigan Republican chief says Romney's pullout good for GOP's chances
Deb Price / The Detroit News
Thursday, February 7, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis today said Mitt Romney's decision to bow out of the presidential campaign at a gathering of conservatives "will be the beginning of the coalescing behind the McCain candidacy." Anuzis, who met with Romney after his stunning announcement at the American Conservative Union's conference, said, "This was very important for Sen. (John) McCain. He couldn't have asked for a better move from Mitt Romney. "People were surprised and taken aback by it and that adds to the theater of it, the impact of what Mitt Romney did. It provides for a unique opportunity for Sen. McCain."
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/SCHOOLS/802080414/1022
MSU students get front seat to Romney exit
Deb Price / The Detroit News
Friday, February 8, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Five Michigan State University students rode a bus through a storm Wednesday night, but were handsomely rewarded by getting to witness a pivotal moment in the history of their Republican Party. "What Mitt Romney did was out of the blue," said Brett Jaussi, a junior in political science who is attending a three-day conference of the American Conservative Union's convention. "He had sounded like he was in for the long haul." Jaussi hadn't favored a Republican candidate before Romney dropped the bombshell at the convention Thursday that he would step aside in an effort to help keep Democrats from winning the White House. But now, with Romney's exit, he says he will support McCain.
http://www.mlive.com/elections/index.ssf/2008/02/us_rep_hoekstra_disappointed_i.html
U.S. Rep. Hoekstra: Disappointed in Romney's decision; ready to support McCain
by Steve Gunn
Thursday February 07, 2008, 7:39 PM
U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, said he has no intention of acting like Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. U.S. Rep. Pete HoekstraLike those two extreme conservatives, Hoekstra endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for president and wishes he would have won the GOP nomination. But Romney dropped out of the race Thursday, two days after a disappointing showing in the Super Tuesday primaries. That likely leaves the Republican presidential nod to the frontrunner, U.S. Sen. John McCain, and that's all right with Hoekstra. "Senator McCain has shown himself to be a strong and viable candidate," said Hoekstra.
http://www.mlive.com/elections/index.ssf/2008/02/michigan_romney_delegates_now.html
Michigan Romney delegates now are uncommitted
by The Associated Press
Thursday February 07, 2008, 7:29 PM
LANSING — Now that Mitt Romney has dropped out of the presidential race, his Michigan delegates will switch to uncommitted. The state was stripped of half of its GOP delegates by the Republican National Committee for moving its primary to Jan. 15. State party leaders still expect the full 60 to get seated. Based on that, the party says 45 delegates were to go to primary winner Romney. But Romney's delegates will now have to go as uncommitted, freeing them to vote for any candidate at the convention. The delegates will be chosen next week at the state GOP convention.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080207/POLITICS01/802070350
Michigan Democrats look for solutions for seating delegation
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Thursday, February 7, 2008
An inconclusive Super Tuesday turned into Anxiety Wednesday for Democrats, as the close race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton raised the possibility that the debate over Michigan's national convention delegates will be caught up in the larger fight over the Democratic presidential nomination. Tuesday's split decision in the 24 states holding primaries or caucuses led to a buzz Wednesday about possible compromises that could end Michigan's dispute with the Democratic National Committee over the state's delegates to the national convention in August. Among the ideas floated: a second presidential contest in Michigan this spring that would meet DNC rules and give the state a second chance to influence the race.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/POLITICS/802080373/1022
Primary drew third most votes ever in state
Election officials report 1.49 million went to polls last month despite the short Democratic ticket.
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Friday, February 8, 2008
LANSING -- The Jan. 15 Michigan presidential primary that saw Mitt Romney outpoll John McCain for the Republican nod and Hillary Clinton claim the Democratic prize against nominal opposition drew the third highest total vote for a primary in state history, elections officials reported this week. The presidential primary election results, formally certified by the Board of State Canvassers on Monday, attracted 1.49 million voters to the polls, including about 870,000 in the Republican primary and nearly 600,000 in the Democratic contest -- an overall turnout of slightly higher than 20 percent.
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/02/granholms_budget_chief_deliver.html
Granholm's budget chief delivers spending plan
Posted by Kathy Barks Hoffman
February 07, 2008 12:33PM
LANSING -- Universities, community colleges and K-12 schools would get increases under Gov. Jennifer Granholm's latest budget proposal, but the Democratic governor wants to cut prison costs by $50 million. State budget director Robert Emerson delivered the spending plan for the budget year that starts Oct. 1 to a joint session of the House and Senate Appropriations committees this morning. The governor's $44.8 billion budget proposal is 2.9 percent higher than what's being spent in the current budget. It includes $9.8 billion in general fund spending and $13.5 billion in school aid. Last year, the governor recommended a 2.2 percent overall increase.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/POLITICS/802080372
Granholm budget has winners
Schools, job retraining, roadwork, State Police get boost at expense of state employees, prisons.
Mark Hornbeck, Gary Heinlein and Charlie Cain / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Friday, February 8, 2008
LANSING -- Winners in Gov. Jennifer Granholm's state spending plan for next year include colleges, public schools, most cities and villages, State Police road patrols, people interested in nursing careers, construction crews and displaced workers seeking job training. There were relatively few losers. Among them: State employees who will see no pay increase and have to pay more for their health care and townships, most of which will not share in a proposed $116 million increase for local units of government. Also, the state's sprawling prison system -- which continues to gobble up one-fifth of the general fund -- is tabbed for $50 million in cuts, the first reduction in spending for corrections since the mid-1990s.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/NEWS06/802080314/1008
Proposed budget to focus on investing
Tax increases in '07 allow for fewer cuts
February 8, 2008
By CHRIS CHRISTOFF
LANSING -- What a difference higher taxes make. Reinforced by last fall's $1.4 billion from increases in income and business taxes, Gov. Jennifer Granholm proposed a $44-billion state budget Thursday that adds money for schools, the State Police, cities and even welfare payments, all while avoiding controversial cuts. After deficit strains in her first five budget proposals, Granholm's 2008-09 budget plan was a fiscal sigh of relief with no new proposals for tax or fee increases, money to spend instead of cut and relatively little pain. The Legislature typically takes several months to approve a new budget and can add or subtract from the governor's plan. By law, a new budget must be in place in time for the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
Budget proposal could bring tuition relief for college students
2/7/2008, 5:10 p.m. EST
By TIM MARTIN
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Thursday proposed giving state universities a 3 percent average increase this fall while requesting that they keep tuition increases substantially below the double-digit hikes many schools enacted this past fall. "It's great news," said University of Michigan-Dearborn student Steve Pontoni, who has protested past tuition increases. "It's a great investment by the state. We were really worried that last year's tuition increases were going to price students out."
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/NEWS04/802080339/1005/news04
Budget plan: No new taxes; schools, colleges gain funds
Granholm allocates $40 million for more job training, $60 million to boost tourism
Chris Andrews
Published February 8, 2008
Finally, a state budget without a crisis to go with it. Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Thursday unveiled her sixth budget, but the first lacking a backdrop of deficits. Her fiscal 2009 spending plan has no new taxes. But there would be a little extra money to help schools, train new state troopers, retrain workers and market Michigan tourism. The budget calls for $9.8 billion in general fund spending, roughly the same as this year. Overall spending, including federal dollars and money for schools, would total $44.8 billion, up about 2.9 percent. "It is a budget that invests in the things that will move Michigan forward," Granholm said.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080207/METRO/802070459
Granholm budget: More for schools, communities, job training
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Thursday, February 7, 2008
LANSING -- State budget officials today unveiled Gov. Jennifer Granholm's spending blueprint for the next fiscal year that calls for increases for education, local governments and job training. The governor proposes to spend $9.85 billion in the general fund, which is about the same amount as this year. The general fund is the state's main checkbook, over which lawmakers have discretion. The total budget, including federal aid and earmarked state revenue, would be $44 billion, up about $1 billion from this year. School aid would increase by $108 to $216 per student, depending on how much local districts are currently spending;
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/NEWS05/802080315/1008
Uneven funds could stir up budget tensions for schools
February 8, 2008
By LORI HIGGINS and ROBIN ERB
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed budget calls for setting aside more money for education, but the way the increase is divvied up -- more going to the lower-funded K-12 districts than their wealthier counterparts, while universities earn more by hitting certain benchmarks -- could fuel tensions between schools. Among the state's K-12 districts, those that receive the least in state aid -- $7,204 -- would get an increase of $216, a 3% bump. And that is twice the $108 increase the highest-funded districts would get. "I'm concerned over the prospect of this pitting school districts against each other," said Tom White, executive director of the Michigan School Business Officials.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/OPINION01/802080328/1068/OPINION
Prison cuts depend on sensible reforms
Detroit Free Press
February 8, 2008
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's plan to cut $50 million from the state Department of Corrections is a good start -- but only if it's accomplished by cutting the inmate population and closing prisons. Other states have shown this can be done, selectively and safely. Cutting costs by reducing prisons to overcrowded, bare-bones warehouses with even fewer rehabilitation opportunities than are now available would be counterproductive and ultimately more costly. Offenders who leave prison unprepared for anything but more crime will only be coming back, and doing more damage to society in the meantime.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/OPINION01/802080327/1068/OPINION
Balanced, lean and realistic
Detroit Free Press
February 8, 2008
Compared to the thunderclouds that gathered over many of her previous budget proposals, Gov. Jennifer Granholm's spending plan for the next fiscal year is a sunny day at the beach. That's a big plus during Michigan's ongoing economic storm. Granholm has put together a rational budget that still shows many signs of scrimping but appears to be structurally sound. In sum, it is essentially unchanged from the current year's budget at $9.8 billion for the general fund. The school aid fund is up slightly. Having a new income tax rate plus a surcharge on the Michigan Business Tax helps a lot. After the uproar over getting those taxes in place last year, it's a relief to hear Granholm pledge that no such requests, and ensuing showdowns, are in the works for fiscal 2008-09.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/OPINION02/802080334/1068/OPINION
Raising age limit won't solve dropout problem
February 8, 2008
By BARRY McGHAN
The belief that raising compulsory school attendance to age 18 will help reduce the state's dropout problem is, at best, uninformed. Compulsory attendance to age 18 is unnecessary. Thirty years ago, I taught in an alternative high school program for dropouts, pushouts and kickouts. Kids voluntarily enrolled -- more than we could handle. We started out with six teachers and fewer than 100 students, and within three years had to accommodate 400 students -- and still had a waiting list. Then, as now, compulsory attendance ended at age 16. If the importance of graduating was clear to dropouts 30 years ago, it's surely just as clear today. Kids don't want to drop out. They want to be successful students, but for some it doesn't happen.
House bill would allow legal immigrants to get driver's licenses
2/7/2008, 6:08 p.m. EST
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The state House has passed legislation aimed at allowing legal immigrants in Michigan to resume getting driver's licenses. The bills passed Thursday now go to the Senate, which already has passed similar measures. If the two chambers are able to agree on a version of legislation, the resulting new law would reverse a policy enacted in late January that prevents legal immigrants who aren't permanent residents from getting Michigan licenses.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080207/POLITICS/802070337/1022/POLITICS
Lawmakers disagree on security IDs
Senate approves driver's license compliance with federal Real ID Act, but House has different idea.
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Thursday, February 7, 2008
LANSING -- The House is unlikely to pass increased security provisions for Michigan driver's licenses approved by the Senate on Wednesday, setting up a potential battle over state compliance with the federal Real ID Act of 2005. Democrats who lead the House may simply put forth legislation to resolve a newly arisen issue: whether Michigan can give driver's licenses to hundreds of thousands of legal foreign visitors, said Greg Bird, press secretary for Democratic House Speaker Andy Dillon of Redford Township. "We will act quickly on this, but the possibility remains that we may use our own House legislation to address it," Bird said.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/OPINION01/802080318/1007/OPINION
Michigan needs modern driver licenses
Proposed changes would ease travel and promote security
The Detroit News
Friday, February 8, 2008
State lawmakers should expedite upgrades and changes in Michigan's driver's license law -- an idea pushed by Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land. Otherwise, the state will fall behind in upgrading licenses that both make it convenient for residents and provide post Sept. 11 security. The state Senate passed a package of bills that gets the job done. But some lawmakers are quibbling. They should reconsider. Land favors using 21st Century technology to create two new kinds of driver licenses for Michigan residents. Included are an upgraded "standard" driver license and ID card available to Michigan residents and those who are in the United States legally but temporarily.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/OPINION02/802080313/1085/opinion
Rusty Hills: Licenses option for legal visitors
Attorney general opinion based on clear distinction
Rusty Hills:
Published February 8, 2008
A number of businesses and colleges have sought clarification regarding the recent attorney general's opinion regarding immigrant status and drivers licenses. Last month, Attorney General Mike Cox issued Opinion 7210 in response to a request from a state legislator questioning whether the secretary of state is required to issue a driver's license to an illegal immigrant living in Michigan. This opinion, based on both Michigan and federal law, as well as the U.S. Constitution, came to the common sense conclusion that "It would be inconsistent (with that body of law) to find that a person in this country illegally ... can be regarded as a permanent resident in Michigan."
http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2008/02/groups_oppose_pharmaimmunity_r.html
Groups oppose pharma-immunity repeal
by MARK SANCHEZ
Thursday February 07, 2008, 7:00 AM
Business groups are taking issue with Gov. Jennifer Granholm's renewed call for repeal of a 1996 state law that provides liability immunity to drug makers. Echoing past sentiments about a three-bill package first introduced and quickly passed in the Democratic-controlled House a year ago, the life-sciences trade association MichBio and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce claim the repeal would hurt investments in the industry at a time when Michigan needs to diversify its economy. "Reversing current law would send a strong message that Michigan is not open for business, forcing new and existing biotech companies to look elsewhere to invest," MichBio Executive Director Stephen Rapundalo wrote last week in a letter to Granholm.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/OPINION01/802080337/1068/OPINION
Follow the money, with more online help from state government
Detroit Free Press
February 8, 2008
It's safe to say that most people have no idea, really, what becomes of the tax dollars taken from them to support government at various levels. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to find out either, and occasionally freedom of information laws must be invoked just so members of the public can track what government has done with their money. Modern technology, however, is making improvements, although Michigan, as usual, lags behind. The state puts a lot of information up on line, but it helps to know where to look for it, and some of searching can be tricky. Missouri, by contrast, makes it remarkably easy at http://mapyourtaxes.mo.gov to determine, for example, that a certain purchasing officer whose name and phone number are listed bought $83.90 worth of paper from Office Depot last October.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/OPINION01/802080310/1085/opinion
Contracts: As schools chase private dollars, transparency must reign
A Lansing State Journal editorial
Published February 8, 2008
The deal that will pump $17 million into three area school districts is one of those once-in-a-lifetime happenings. Other districts only can envy Grand Ledge, Charlotte and Eaton Rapids their deal with Sprint. But there is a larger trend in play: The intersection of needy school districts and private businesses seeking to do business. In these increasing partnerships, it's vital that school districts keep everything possible before the public's eye. That won't always be easy, though. Grand Ledge, Charlotte and Eaton Rapids all happened to control some broadcast bandwidth they weren't using. Sprint Nextel happened to want that bandwidth for its purposes. End result: A deal. But when inquiries were made about the specifics, the schools got caught in a bind.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/NEWS06/802080396/1008
High court reprimands judge
She is cited for her attitude, unfairness
February 8, 2008
By DAVID ASHENFELTER
The Michigan Supreme Court publicly reprimanded Eastpointe District Judge Norene Redmond on Thursday for mistreating people in court. The high court cited Redmond for demonstrating a "severe attitude" toward witnesses and litigants, setting "grossly excessive" bail for defendants and a "persistent failure to treat persons fairly and courteously." "I have always done what I believe is right for the community and I will continue to do so," Redmond said in statement. "I know that I can put my head on my pillow tonight and be at peace with the decisions that I made." The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission recommended the censure in July based on the judge's conduct in three cases.
Federal judge hears arguments in Mich. affirmative action case
2/7/2008, 5:46 a.m. EST
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — A federal judge in Detroit has heard arguments for and against a 2006 law dealing with some affirmative action programs in Michigan. But U.S. District Court Judge David Lawson made no immediate decision or say when he would rule on motions during a 90-minute hearing Wednesday in a packed courtroom. Opponents and supporters of the voter-approved Proposal 2 have been arguing about whether the ban on race and gender preferences in university admissions and government hiring is constitutional.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/OPINION03/802080359/1031
NWA merger could benefit Michigan
Detroit Metro could become vital, global hub if airline links with Delta.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Daniel Howes:
A merger of Northwest and Delta airlines likely would mean an end to the silver-and-red "NW" around here, which could end up being good news for Michigan and Detroit Metropolitan Airport. How? Because the airport, hailed by many as perhaps the premier gateway in the United States, probably would emerge as a key global hub for a bigger, stronger airline that would reach into Asia, Europe and Latin America from former farmers' fields in Romulus. Metro would gain, in theory, more service to international destinations, more flights and, if managed properly, a more viable "hometown" airline better equipped to weather the turbulence of global economic change.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/METRO/802080381/1409/METRO
Mayor signed deal to hush up texting
Court files: $8.4M settlement hid damaging information
David Josar and Paul Egan / The Detroit News
Friday, February 8, 2008
DETROIT -- Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick signed a confidential deal to get custody of damaging text messages as part of the $8.4 million city settlement of whistle-blower lawsuits, court documents show. The city agreed to release the deal, which hid the text messages, along with certain other documents Thursday while asking a state appeals court to keep other records secret. Kilpatrick and Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, not city attorneys, signed the confidentiality agreement and claim they did so as private citizens, not public officials. The text messages that were kept secret point to an affair between the two and possible perjury when Kilpatrick and Beatty each testified at the Detroit police whistle-blower trial in 2007 that they weren't romantically involved.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/OPINION01/802080400/1007/OPINION
Editorial: Damaging files show Kilpatrick's deception
Evidence of denied secret deal makes case for full disclosure
The Detroit News
Friday, February 8, 2008
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick should abandon his strategy of concealment and deception and provide a full accounting of the secret deal to hide damaging text messages between him and his former chief of staff and lover, Christine Beatty. Court documents released by the city Thursday under a judge's order confirm the existence of a deal that was kept hidden from City Council even as the council approved the $8.4 billion settlement of whistleblower lawsuits filed by fired police officers. And yet Kilpatrick, through the city's general counsel, Sharon McPhail, denied again Thursday that a secret deal existed. Perhaps the mayor is playing a game of semantics, but this deal cannot be seen any other way.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/COL33/802080434
STEPHEN HENDERSON: Demand better answers, Detroit
February 8, 2008
By STEPHEN HENDERSON
We don't deserve any better than this, Detroit. Not if we don't ask for it.Demand it. Yell for it. March for it. Not if we just take what we're getting from Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his lawyers with regard to the scandal that seems to grow with each passing day. Not if we accept their insistence that everything here is not as it appears, that the serial mendacity and deceit we're witnessing is really just an effort by the media to make the mayor look bad. The city's appeal in court Thursday, and general counsel Sharon McPhail's subsequent news conference, were some of the most artful efforts I've seen at making fiction seem like reality.
For good of city, put an end to legal games and denials
Detroit Free Press
February 8, 2008
Detroit City Council member Sheila Cockrel may have said it best Thursday: "Let's stop all this stuff and deal with the consequences." Indeed. The administration of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick decided, however, to appeal one part of a judge's ruling that the documents behind the settlement of a police whistle-blower lawsuit must be released on Friday, and agreed to the release of others that Kilpatrick must think will put him in a more favorable public light. City lawyer Sharon McPhail also went so far Thursday as to say there was no secret agreement, contradicting the conclusion of Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080207/NEWS01/80207059
Cockrel wants city to join fight for Kilpatrick's secret documents
February 7, 2008
By BEN SCHMITT
Detroit City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. today introduced a resolution calling on City Council to hire a special counsel to represent the city’s interest in any potential appeal of a judge’s order to release secret settlement documents in the whistle-blower lawsuit involving three former police officers and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Cockrel wants to hire attorney Robert W. Palmer of the Royal Oak law firm of Pitt McGehee Mirer Palmer & Rivers to represent council in an effort to stop plans by the Kilpatrick administration and the city law department to appeal Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert Columbo Jr.’s order.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/METRO/802080382/1409/METRO
Ethics board members have many mayoral ties
Chairman gave legal advice to Kilpatrick, contributed to his mother's 2004 campaign.
Christine MacDonald and David Josar / The Detroit News
Friday, February 8, 2008
DETROIT -- The city's Board of Ethics must deal with conflicts of its own before it starts reviewing a complaint against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's behavior in the wake of the secret deal cut in the $8.4 million whistle-blower settlements. The board's members include campaign contributors to the mayor's mom, a congresswoman, and lawyers who have ties to Kilpatrick, plus the city attorneys who defended him from the whistle-blower suits and are now under scrutiny for their behavior. Attorney Reginald Turner, who chairs the board, told The Detroit News Thursday he will not participate in any investigation into the complaint filed Jan. 31.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080207/METRO/802070472/1022/POLITICS
Former aide to Detroit mayor withdraws name for cable job
Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News
Thursday, February 7, 2008
DETROIT -- Former mayoral spokesman Matt Allen abruptly withdrew his name for consideration as deputy director of the cable commission, according to the mayor's liaison to city council. Allen had an interview scheduled Thursday afternoon before city council but did not show up. Allen, who stepped down as Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's press secretary after pleading guilty to domestic violence, was to get the deputy director job but problems arose when he needed approval from city council. Ordinarily, the city conducts a nationwide search to fill those slots. Kilpatrick recently ousted two council appointees to the cable commission, including one woman who abstained recommending Allen.
Judge to city: Why not save stripper messages?
February 8, 2008
By DAVID ASHENFELTER
A federal judge told the City of Detroit on Thursday to explain why he shouldn't order a telecommunications firm to preserve the text messages of 34 city employees who may know something about the investigation of the killing of a stripper who may have danced at a long-rumored party at the mayoral Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002. U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen gave the city two weeks to tell him why he shouldn't order Skytel of Jackson, Miss., to save messages of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and other officials.
Group sues state to regulate carbon dioxide from coal plants
2/7/2008, 6:06 p.m. EST
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A citizen's group is suing to force the state to regulate greenhouse gas emissions when considering proposed coal-fired power plants. Citizens for Environmental Inquiry, based in Presque Isle north of Alpena, says the law defines carbon dioxide as a pollutant. The group has been fighting a proposed coal plant near Rogers City. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality responds that neither state nor federal law requires carbon dioxide to be regulated at this point.
Agency criticized for withholding Great Lakes health risk report
2/7/2008, 8:50 p.m. EST
By JOHN FLESHER
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A report describing potential health threats near the Great Lakes region's most heavily polluted sites will be made public after changes are made to fix flaws with draft versions, a federal official said Thursday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has drawn criticism from members of Congress, scientists and a U.S.-Canadian agency for withholding the report. It had been scheduled for release last summer. Reviewers inside and outside the CDC found "a number of problems" with the study, CDC spokesman Glen Nowak said. "It's being worked on."
DNR approves Upper Peninsula mining project
2/7/2008, 9:00 p.m. EST
By JOHN FLESHER
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources on Thursday approved Kennecott Minerals Co.'s proposal for a nickel and copper mine in the Upper Peninsula. DNR Director Rebecca Humphries said she would sign the company's plan for operating the underground mine in western Marquette County and a lease of 120 acres of state land for its surface operations. Humphries postponed a decision last month, saying there were still unanswered questions about the project. Those issues were resolved in meetings between DNR staff and company officials, said Lynne Boyd, chief of the Forest, Minerals and Fire Management Division.
http://blog.mlive.com/citpat/2008/02/banks_wont_slow_plans_for_coal.html
Banks won't slow plans for coal plant
Posted by Chris Gautz
February 07, 2008 09:14AM
Three leading Wall Street banks have formed a set of standards to weigh the risks of financing coal-fired power plants — a move that could affect lenders' decisions to loan money for such projects. But Jackson-based Consumers Energy sees the Carbon Principles as more of a formal recognition of an environmental issue. Consumers spokesman Jeff Holyfield said he didn't see the principles slowing down the utility's plan to construct a new $2 billion, coal-fired plant near Bay City. "When you are talking about borrowing this amount of money, you are going to go through a rigorous examination," Holyfield said. "This is one more bit of due diligence."
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/METRO/802080376
Even layoffs can't stop Pontiac's red ink
State mediator works to eliminate $4.5M deficit
Catherine Jun / The Detroit News
Friday, February 8, 2008
PONTIAC -- The city could be headed for disaster if it doesn't make drastic course corrections, and fast. Despite aggressive measures including police layoffs and closures of several community centers, the city's spending is still outpacing revenues by about $4.5 million this year, according to city finance officials. And though layoffs to another two dozen police officers will stanch some of the financial bleeding, more cuts still need to be made. That and the failure to ink a deal on the sale of the Silverdome will leave the city struggling to avoid ending the fiscal year in July with a deficit larger than the $6.5 million recorded the previous fiscal year.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/METRO/802080398/1409/METRO
Second attempt to deal Silverdome falls through
Friday, February 8, 2008
PONTIAC -- Negotiations have broken down between the city and a prominent Bloomfield Hills attorney seeking to convert the Silverdome into a thoroughbred race track, and city officials are starting the bidding process over again. H. Wallace Parker had offered $12 million for the 127.5-acre property at M-59 and Interstate 75. His was one of seven bids the city received in October. "We want to make sure it not only has a good offering price but also long term benefits," said City Council President Arthur McClellan on Thursday night. This was the city's second failed attempt to unload the 80,000-seat stadium which opened in 1975 and closed in 2002 when the Detroit Lions left for Ford Field in Detroit.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/NEWS03/802080425
Patterson offers state advice in speech
February 8, 2008
By JOHN WISELY
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson was addressing the state of his county, but he couldn't refrain from offering advice to his state, saying Michigan could save millions by privatizing its prison system. Patterson used his annual State of the County address Thursday to urge leaders in Lansing to follow his lead and use privatization, technology and scaled-back employee compensation to lower costs. The county saves about $6 million annually by privatizing its dental clinic, bump shop, medical care facility and other services. He even tweaked state Treasurer Bob Emerson for saying last year that the state getting financial advice from Oakland County would be like General Motors Corp. seeking advice from a corner barbershop.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/METRO/802080397
Patterson criticizes Cobo plan
In Thursday address, Oakland executive says financial contributions would not benefit county.
Catherine Jun and Mark Hicks / The Detroit News
Friday, February 8, 2008
TROY -- Wayne County's proposal for a tri-county effort to expand the Cobo Center in Detroit fails to show substantial benefits for Oakland County, said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson on Thursday. The county executive has made no secret of his dissatisfaction with the $595 million project unveiled by Wayne County officials last month. On Thursday night, Patterson took several minutes of his state of the county address to criticize the idea that would require financial contributions from the county. "If Wayne County gets twice the benefit, then why not twice the contribution?" Patterson said to a gathering at the MSU Management Education Center in Troy.
http://www.mlive.com/news/chronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1202397324120820.xml&coll=8
Smoking ban gaining steam
Thursday, February 07, 2008
By Jeff Alexander
The campaign to ban smoking from all workplaces in Muskegon County -- except bars and restaurants -- is gaining momentum. The Michigan Department of Community Health has given the county health department a $30,000 grant to determine how many workplaces allow smoking and whether local government officials would support banning smoking countywide. County officials have the authority to ban smoking in all buildings except bars and restaurants, which are governed by state law. About 27 percent of Muskegon County adults smoke, a rate that exceeds state and national averages.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/NEWS06/802080372
Michigan's Miss America followed her dream for a lifetime
February 8, 2008
By KORIE WILKINS
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" "Thank you, God!" "I really hope the crown doesn't fall off my head." Those were the first three thoughts that ran through Kirsten Haglund's mind after the Michigan woman was announced the 87th winner of the Miss America pageant in Las Vegas in January. After that, Haglund said, it was a happy, amazing blur. Speaking from her New York City hotel room on a recent weekday, Haglund was upbeat and grateful for her crown, joking she "slept in it at night." But Haglund has a serious platform. After recovering from anorexia as a high school student, she plans to speak about eating disorders during her 12-month reign. Haglund is taking a year off from the University of Cincinnati, where she is a musical theater major.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080207/NEWS15/80207047
Romney quits race, concedes GOP nomination to McCain
Michigan native says he's quitting for the good of the Republican Party
February 7, 2008
By TODD SPANGLER AND KATHLEEN GRAY
WASHINGTON — Michigan native Mitt Romney suspended his Republican presidential campaign.“I hate to lose, but this has never been only about me,” Romney told C-PAC, a conservative political action group, at its conference in Washington. “I entered this race, in this time of war, I feel I now have to step aside for my party and my country.”Romney put lots of energy and money into the early primary and caucus states, only to be upset first in Iowa by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and then in New Hampshire by Sen. John McCain of Arizona. His campaign got its biggest boost Jan. 15 when he won Michigan’s primary by a wide margin over McCain, focusing on Michigan’s economic problems, especially its auto industry.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/romneys_withdrawal_speech.html
Romney's Withdrawal Speech
Mitt Romney
February 07, 2008
I want to begin by saying thank you. It's great to be with you again. And I look forward to joining with you many more times in the future. Last year, CPAC gave me the sendoff I needed. I was in single digits in the polls and I was facing household Republican names. As of today, more than 4 million people have given me their vote for president, less than Senator McCain's 4.7 million, but quite a statement nonetheless. 11 states have given me their nod, compared to his 13. Of course, because size does matter, he's doing quite a bit better with his number of delegates. To all of you, thank you for caring enough about the future of America to show up, stand up and speak up for conservative principles.
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/blog/g/9a57320b-b811-4a1d-8f6d-4b0e4693525c
Governor Romney
Posted by: Hugh Hewitt at 1:10 PM
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Governor Romney is an incredibly gifted man --intelligent in the way very few people are, charismatic, and blessed with an amiable openness and determined, strong character. He is a good man, and his very successful run towards the presidency is a testament to his talents. His magnificent family represents an achievement in the private sphere that he shares with Ann Romney and which was reflected in his accomplishments in business, at the Olympics and in Massachusetts.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8386.html
Romney ends bid, eyeing 2012
By: Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin
Feb 7, 2008 01:37 PM EST
The presidential race Mitt Romney planned for years crashed to a halt Thursday, stopped in its tracks by the surprisingly durable John McCain campaign and by Romney's failure to quell concerns about his shifts on key issues, his political persona and his Mormon religion. Making the dramatic announcement at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference at a Washington hotel, Romney clearly hoped to preserve the goodwill of his party for another possible bid in 2012. He intends to run again in four years, according to a senior member of his inner circle.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/with-romney-gone-what-will-mccain-do/index.html?hp
With Romney Gone, What Will McCain Do?
By Adam Nagourney
February 7, 2008, 1:36 pm
If there was ever much doubt that Senator John McCain of Arizona was going to win the Republican presidential nomination after Super Tuesday, it was pretty much eliminated with the decision by Mitt Romney of Massachusetts to drop out the race this afternoon. Mr. McCain is now left with one serious opponent – Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas. Mr. Huckabee has proved this year to be an articulate and affable candidate, and his surprise showing in winning a half-dozen Southern states on Tuesday was one reason that Mr. Romney bowed to what was inarguably the inevitable and quit.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/sen_cobrun_introduces_sen_mcca.html
Sen. Coburn Introduces Sen. McCain at CPAC
By Tom Coburn
February 07, 2008
I'm honored by the invitation to be here today. I want to thank each of you for your devotion to our country, and for the sacrifices you have made to participate in this event. I have the privilege today to say a few words about John McCain, a man of rare courage and character, who I believe is uniquely equipped to lead our nation through the difficult challenges ahead. As conservatives, I know that most of us are sick and tired of politicians who tell us what we want to hear then govern in the opposite way. We won't have that problem with John McCain. He may not always tell us what we want to hear, but he will say what he means and do what he says.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/john_mccains_cpac_speech.html
John McCain's CPAC Speech
John McCain
February 07, 2008
Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. It's been a little while since I've had the honor of addressing you, and I appreciate very much your courtesy to me today. We should do this more often. I hope you will pardon my absence last year, and understand that I intended no personal insult to any of you. I was merely pre-occupied with the business of trying to escape the distinction of pre-season frontrunner for the Republican nomination, which, I'm sure some of you observed, I managed to do in fairly short order. But, now, I again have the privilege of that distinction, and this time I would prefer to hold on to it for a while. I know I have a responsibility, if I am, as I hope to be, the Republican nominee for President, to unite the party and prepare for the great contest in November.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/02/mccains-speech.html
McCain's Speech
Andrew Sullivan
07 Feb 2008 04:27 pm
I have been on Capitol Hill and haven't had time to watch it. But I have read it and it struck me as a stirring, honest, forthright and properly conservative speech. I am relieved that in the important debate about the war, McCain is unbowed but civil. I'm eager for a McCain-Obama contest this fall in part because I admire the integrity of both men and in part because I think it's vital that this country have a candid, clear, open, factual, empirical debate about the war in Iraq. McCain did not engage in the shameful divisiveness of Romney. He framed the debate in a more responsible and civil fashion:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/02/08/mccain_touts_conservative_record/
McCain touts conservative record
Tries to sway longtime critics at GOP event
By Sasha Issenberg
Globe Staff / February 8, 2008
WASHINGTON - Years of conservative resistance to John McCain was reduced to a skein of boos cutting through the applause as he faced the Conservative Political Action Conference yesterday as the Republicans' de facto nominee, but a certain skepticism from longtime antagonists remained. A McCain aide said Mitt Romney's surprise withdrawal from the race earlier in the day did not change the substance of McCain's speech beyond a perfunctory salute to his vanquished rival and an invitation for Romney's supporters to join his campaign. Yet in place of a primary season appeal to one of his party's most influential interest group coalitions, McCain delivered what many considered the first address of his general election campaign.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/OPINION01/802080322/1007/OPINION
Editorial: Republicans must now learn to love John McCain
The Detroit News
Friday, February 8, 2008
Now that Arizona Sen. John McCain will almost certainly carry the GOP banner in this fall's presidential campaign, the Republican Party needs to learn to love him. The departure from the race of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Thursday leaves the way clear for McCain to claim the nomination. The remaining candidates, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, can neither catch him in the delegate count nor block him from getting the numbers he needs. McCain's triumph is remarkable. His campaign, starved for cash, nearly died last summer and struggled throughout the fall. For a while, his name wasn't even mentioned among the front-runners.
http://blog.beliefnet.com/godometer/2008/02/did-catholics-save-mccain.html
Did Catholics Save McCain?
Dan Gilgoff
Monday February 4, 2008
In recent weeks, God-o-Meter has spotlighted John McCain’s revitalized evangelical outreach operation, led by Sam Brownback and his former presidential campaign aides. But one of those former campaign aides tells God-o-Meter that the bigger story might be Brownback & Co.’s effort to build an 11th-hour Catholic outreach operation for the Arizona senator. The former aide, who spoke on background, said that Brownback—a conservative evangelical turned conservative Catholic—has taped robo-calls for McCain in early primary states, written a letter defending McCain’s pro-life record to be published in this week’s National Catholic Register, and that a former Brownback intern is now student chairman of a national Catholics for McCain group.
The Right Primary Message
Dallas Morning News
06:37 AM CST on Thursday, February 7, 2008
So Texas matters, after all. Critics who worried that a March date would neuter our presidential primary votes can stand down. Who knew that our state would play a pivotal role in the free-for-all between Hillary Clinton and this newspaper's choice between the two Democrats, Barack Obama? Or that Texas could vote the delegates that realistically put John McCain over the top? We'll have much more to say about Clinton-Obama in the coming days. On the Republican side, we remain supporters of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, but despite his surprising show of strength Tuesday, it's tough to deny that Mr. McCain is closing fast on the nomination.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/opinion/07ambinder.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print
A Fine Mess
By MARC AMBINDER
February 7, 2008
EVERY four years, Washington moans about the way the national political parties select their presidential nominees. But the grumbling about the 2008 contest has struck an unusual note. Instead of complaining about a process that is too short, some now mutter that the process is too drawn out. Instead of being too predictable, the campaign is too confusing and uncertain: no one has any idea what will happen next. Is this any way to pick a president? Actually, yes: the Democrats in particular appear to have stumbled — partly by design and partly by chance — into a primary calendar that fixes many of the problems with the way the party has chosen its presidential candidates in the past.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/02/07/MNN0UT8M5.DTL
Brokered Dem convention looking more likely
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Thursday, February 7, 2008
The Democratic race between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama shows every sign of heading to an August convention fight in Denver, where backroom deals and brawls over rules could trump primary voters in picking the nominee. "The stakes are growing," said Stuart Rothenberg, publisher of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. "The later you go in the process, the more is at stake. The nomination is now at stake. Iowa's about Iowa, but now it's about the nomination." Emerging from the 22 primaries and caucuses Tuesday with delegate counts less than 10 percent apart, the two rivals head into a pitched round of contests that will reach a climax with March 4's big prizes of Texas and Ohio.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/CampaignStandard/2008/02/the_democrats_in_trouble_1.asp
The Democrats In Trouble
February 6, 2008
By Matthew Continetti
I just finished reading Howard Dean's latest fundraising appeal (you can read it here), and it looks like the Democrats will have trouble against John McCain in the fall. Why? Dean's letter attempts to portray a McCain presidency as a third term for George W. Bush. But it doesn't hold up. Dean actually writes that McCain "looked the other way as Jack Abramoff bought and paid for the Republican Party and the Culture of Corruption." Um, I wrote an entire book in which McCain was one of the few Republican heroes in the Abramoff affair. Besides which, whether you agree with the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002, and I don't, you can't really argue that McCain is trying to make lobbyists' lives easier.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120234937353949449.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
The Wages of HillaryCare
The Wall Street Journal
February 7, 2008
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama agree on most policy issues, but that makes their rare differences all the more revealing. To wit, their running scrap over Mrs. Clinton's "individual mandate" for health care, which Mr. Obama has now had the nerve to expose for its inevitable government coercion. Mrs. Clinton's proposal requires everyone to buy health insurance, along with more insurance regulation, a government insurance option for everyone and tax hikes. Mr. Obama likes all that but his mandate would only apply to children. He argues that the reason many people aren't insured is because it's too expensive, not because they don't want it. Mrs. Clinton counters that coverage can't be "universal" without a mandate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/05/AR2008020503143.html
Obama-Clinton Rivalry Muddles D.C. Alignments
By David Nakamura
Wednesday, February 6, 2008; Page B01
Washington lawyers Jim Hudson and Bill Lightfoot know how to spot a winning politician: Two years ago, they teamed up as co-chairmen of Adrian M. Fenty's powerhouse mayoral campaign. But this year, the Fenty brain trust is divided. Hudson raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Barack Obama's presidential campaign and helped line up Fenty's endorsement of the Democratic senator from Illinois. Lightfoot is a member of the D.C. steering committee for Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign and lobbied for the senator from New York during the D.C. Democratic State Committee's straw poll in December. "They've been fun debates," said Lightfoot, sounding a tad too eager to play down the split over Obama and Clinton. "It's an event among friends."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/us/politics/07dems.html?_r=2&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
In Vote, Obama Fell Short of Fervor
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
February 7, 2008
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois made some headway in building a coalition of support among Democrats in Tuesday’s cross-country sprint of primaries. He won the support of many white men, a group that had voted for John Edwards of North Carolina before Mr. Edwards dropped out of the race last week. Mr. Obama seems to have cut the long-established ties between black voters and the Clintons. He made slight inroads among Hispanic voters, a solid part of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s base. But one of the most intriguing finding in the surveys of voters leaving the polls across the nation on Tuesday was when they arrived at their final decision.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8374.html
Obama on pace to raise $30 mil in Feb
By: Jeanne Cummings
Feb 6, 2008 05:41 PM EST
Barack Obama’s campaign is on track to raise another $30 million in February, sources close to the Illinois senator say, while Hillary Rodham Clinton’s spokesman revealed Wednesday that she had loaned her campaign $5 million. Insiders in both campaigns say the growing financial disparity virtually ensures that Obama will be able to significantly outspend Clinton in the critical primaries to come. Even before all the Super Tuesday votes were counted, Obama began airing advertisements in Nebraska, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland and Maine — the next round of primary and caucus states — before Clinton did. His campaign has raised $2.2 million in less than 24 hours, sources say.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080208/D8ULSO1G1.html
Weekend Races in 5 States
Feb 7, 10:24 PM (ET)
By CALVIN WOODWARD
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are competing for sizable if somewhat overshadowed delegate prizes this weekend as voters in four scattered states take their turn saying which one should be the Democratic presidential nominee. Drama dropped out of the Republican contest when Mitt Romney suspended his campaign Thursday, leaving John McCain the prohibitive favorite, Mike Huckabee the long-shot and Ron Paul a postscript. Nonetheless, voters in Washington state, Kansas and Louisiana take part in GOP contests Saturday that, absent an improbable insurgency, have become a virtual coronation. The two Democrats are competing for 161 delegates Saturday in Washington state, Louisiana, Nebraska and the Virgin Islands, followed by Maine caucuses with 24 delegates Sunday.
http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/07/State/Florida_may_yet_decid.shtml
Florida may yet decide race
With no Democratic leader emerging, votes could matter.
By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published February 7, 2008
It's a dead heat presidential election. Florida Democrats are howling about disenfranchised voters. One candidate demands that every vote be counted in Florida. No way, says the other, decrying efforts to steal an election. Bush vs. Gore in Florida in 2000? Wrong. Try Clinton vs. Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Conventional in Denver. Sure, it's unlikely, but it's also absolutely plausible after a nationwide Super Tuesday primary left Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama poised for a long, delegate-by-delegate slog. As each primary election passes without a clear winner emerging, Democrats are growing ever more anxious that Florida could end up at the center of a bitter and divisive convention fight over whether Clinton or Obama gets the nomination.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/a_bloomberg_run_looks_less_lik.html
A Bloomberg Run Looks Less Likely
By Peter Brown
February 08, 2008
The political events of the past few weeks have conspired to reduce to unlikely the chances that Michael Bloomberg will run for president. There's no inside information here, just an analysis of how the political cookie has crumbled. The New York mayor continues to tell questioners that he is not planning an independent presidential candidacy, but his past actions have fueled speculation that he hasn't ruled out such a run. In recent days, his denials have seemed firmer, yet his aides continue to feed speculation that he may run.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080208/D8ULS62G1.html
Bush: Prosperity, Peace at Stake in Nov.
Feb 7, 9:45 PM (ET)
By DEB RIECHMANN
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, rallying conservatives for a battle against Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, says "prosperity and peace" are at stake in the upcoming election for his successor. "We have had good debates and soon we will have a nominee who will carry the conservative banner into this election and beyond," Bush said in prepared remarks of a speech he was to give Friday to the Conservative Political Action Conference. "Prosperity and peace are in the balance," the president said in speech excerpts the White House released on Thursday night. "So with confidence in our vision and faith in our values, let us go forward ... fight for victory ... and keep the White House in 2008."
House Democrats refuse to ban pork
February 8, 2008
By S.A. Miller
House Democrats yesterday rejected a Republican bid to halt pork-barrel spending and set up a panel to write more earmark reform measures. Republicans, eager to reclaim the party's reputation for fiscal responsibility and turn the pork-spending issue against Democrats, used a procedural move to force the vote on the earmark-reform bill. "House Republicans are deeply disappointed the speaker [Nancy Pelosi of California] and her Democratic colleagues have refused to join us in supporting an immediate moratorium on all earmarks," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican. "Wasteful pork-barrel earmarks have become a symbol of a broken Washington."
House passes bill to withhold payments from tax scofflaws
2/7/2008, 7:24 p.m. EST
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — After a probe pushed by Sen. Norm Coleman, the House has passed legislation to have the federal government withhold Medicare payments to doctors who don't pay their taxes. The legislation follows an investigation by the Government Accountability Office, which found that doctors and other health care providers who owe more than $1 billion in back taxes still receive Medicare payments. Coleman asked for the probe as the top Republican on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/POLITICS/802080341/1022/POLITICS
Congress OKs broader tax rebates
Andrew Taylor and Julie Hirschfeld Davis / Associated Press
Friday, February 8, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Congress, facing the prospect of an election-year recession, passed an emergency plan Thursday that rushes rebates of $600 to $1,200 to most taxpayers and $300 checks to disabled veterans, the elderly and other low-income people. President Bush indicated he would sign the measure. House passage by a 380-34 vote came a few hours after Senate leaders ended a drawn-out stalemate over the bill. Still, by congressional standards, lawmakers approved the legislation with exceptional speed to jolt the weak economy. The plan, which adds $168 billion to the deficit over two years, is intended to provide cash for people to spend and tax relief for businesses to make new investments -- boosts for an economy battered by a housing downturn and credit crunch.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080208/D8ULSNC80.html
Congress Sends Economic Aid Plan to Bush
Feb 7, 10:22 PM (ET)
By ANDREW TAYLOR and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress, facing the prospect of an election-year recession, passed an emergency plan Thursday that rushes rebates of $600 to $1,200 to most taxpayers and $300 checks to disabled veterans, the elderly and other low-income people. President Bush indicated he would sign the measure. House passage by a 380-34 vote came a few hours after Senate leaders ended a drawn-out stalemate over the bill. Still, by congressional standards, lawmakers approved the legislation with exceptional speed to jolt the weak economy. The plan, which adds $168 billion to the deficit over two years, is intended to provide cash for people to spend and tax relief for businesses to make new investments - boosts for an economy battered by a housing downturn and credit crunch.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/bernnankes_next_challenge.html
Bernanke's Next Challenge
By Lawrence Kudlow
February 08, 2008
Charlie Plosser, president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, warned this week about the risks of inflation, overly aggressive interest-rate cuts, and further damage being done to the Fed's credibility. I agree with Plosser. I say this as a supporter of the "shock and awe" Fed policies that brought the fed funds target rate down from 5.25 percent to its present 3 percent. These aggressive actions were necessary, and they've paid off. The target rate is now properly below the 10-year bond yield, while the Treasury curve is upward sloping for the first time in nearly twenty months..
http://www.nbc11.com/news/15245031/detail.html?dl=headlineclick
Berkeley Backs Off On Banning Marines
Berkeley Mayor Apologizes To Marines Over Recruiting Center Flap
POSTED: 10:08 am PST February 7, 2008
BERKELEY, Calif. -- As six Republican senators devised a plan to yank $2.3 million in federal funding for Berkeley programs, the mayor of the famously liberal city apologized Wednesday for his hard stance against a Marine recruiting center. Two City Council members vowed to soften their stance as well. At their Tuesday council meeting, leaders will discuss scrapping a letter that might be perceived as targeting the center or the Marines. The letter said that the recruiting center was not welcome on Shattuck Avenue and that the Marines were uninvited and unwelcome intruders. "That letter will probably be pulled back and maybe more moderate language will be put in place which is appropriate I think," said Berkeley mayor Tom Bates.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/POLITICS/802080342/1022/POLITICS
Torture debate rages on
Cheney praises use of waterboarding, CIA director doubts it is legal now and AG refuses to investigate.
Lara Jakes Jordan and Pamela Hess / Associated Press
Friday, February 8, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Debate over waterboarding flared Thursday on Capitol Hill, with the CIA director raising doubts about whether it's currently legal and the attorney general refusing to investigate U.S. interrogators who have used the technique on terror detainees. Vice President Dick Cheney, meanwhile, said "it's a good thing" that top al-Qaida leaders who underwent the harsh interrogation tactic in 2002 and 2003 were forced to give up information that helped protect the country. "It's a good thing we had them in custody, and it's a good thing we found out what they knew," Cheney told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
Brown slaps down Archbishop's call for Islamic sharia law to operate in Britain
Last updated at 02:52am on 08.02.08
The Archbishop of Canterbury caused consternation yesterday by calling for Islamic law to be recognised in Britain. He declared that sharia and Parliamentary law should be given equal legal status so the people could choose which governs their lives. This raised the prospect of Islamic courts in Britain with full legal powers to approve polygamous marriages, grant easy divorce for men and prevent finance firms from charging interest. His comments in a BBC interview and a lecture to lawyers were condemned at a time when government ministers are striving to encourage integration and stop the nation from "sleepwalking to segregation".
http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_1_snd-west.html
Why the West Is Best
Ibn Warraq
Winter 2008
Last October, I participated in a debate in London, hosted by Intelligence Squared, to consider the motion, “We should not be reluctant to assert the superiority of Western values.” Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan, among others, spoke against the motion; I spoke in favor, focusing on the vast disparities in freedom, human rights, and tolerance between Western and Islamic societies. Here, condensed somewhat, is the case that I made. The great ideas of the West—rationalism, self-criticism, the disinterested search for truth, the separation of church and state, the rule of law and equality under the law, freedom of thought and expression, human rights, and liberal democracy—are superior to any others devised by humankind.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/opinion/07thu1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print
Shutting Down Zanan
The New York Times
February 7, 2008
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and his hard-line allies rail against the United States and other external “enemies,” but who they really fear are their own citizens. The president and his crowd are increasingly nervous about losing next month’s parliamentary elections, and next year’s presidential vote. Their cowardly solution? Keep potential rivals off the ballot and silence anyone who can give Iran’s people a voice — like Zanan, the country’s premier women’s magazine, and Shahla Sherkat, its courageous managing director. The government shut Zanan down last week. Mr. Ahmadinejad — with the backing of Iran’s most conservative mullahs — won election in 2005 promising economic reform and an end to political corruption.
