Happy Fourth of July!

posted by Zach Patton

It's the Fourth of July weekend, and we here on the 13th Floor are going to be, well, not on the 13th Floor.

Hope your Independence Day is relaxing, fun, and filled with Uncle Sam waving a flag while shooting off fireworks to the tune of "Stars and Stripes Forever."  See you next week!

          

More Bad News for Locals

posted by Alan Greenblatt

City and county officials will want to take note of a small item (third story) buried on page 5 of today's Washington Post.

Local officials have been able to stave off the Bush administration's attempts to squeeze funding for Community Development Block Grants and to move them from HUD into the Commerce Department.

But remember that after governors resisted the administration's plan to turn Medicaid into a block grant, the administration attempted to force their hands by becoming much more aggressive about auditing their Medicaid books. Now it appears they'll try a similar tactic with CDBG recipients.

Kenneth Donoghue, HUD's inspector general, told the Senate yesterday that the CDBG program was rife with problems, having found abuses in a survey of just 35 out of 1,200 grant projects. "Donohue said five types of fraud schemes have become 'common' in the program," the Post reports.

Imagine what he'll find when turned loose to examine the other 1,165 programs. The mini-story's headline provides ample warning of how the administration is going to play this story: "Fraud Grows in Urban Grant Program."

Local officials have defended CDBG precisely because it offers them so much flexibility. (Not to mention the fact that it's practically the only source of direct funds that they get from Washington.) But that flexibility may soon be lost, if not through direct legislative or budgetary means, then through executive intimidation.

Who Needs a Governor's Mansion?

posted by Christopher Swope

NJ Guv Jon Corzine isn't getting much sleep these days, what with a budget showdown looming and the Delaware River bursting its banks. So yesterday he had Sleepy's, the mattress delivery company, drop off a cot in the Governor's office.

Corzine reportedly dipped into his personal fortune to pay $183, plus tip, for the twin-size folding cot, and ordered blue sheets from Target. "Jon Corzine takes power naps," the governor's spokesman told the Asbury Park Press. "He'll be working a lot of extra hours."

Truth in Advertising

posted by Alan Greenblatt

Yesterday I was handed a flier promoting the candidacy of Hans Riemer for the Montgomery County Council in suburban Maryland. Since I cover politics and government for a living, naturally I had never heard of Riemer. He appears to be an earnest sort with plenty of wonky qualifications, but that won't stop me from mocking his advertising.

After outlining his "record of results," we get to see this:

Let's leave aside the personal ad quality of this passage. Is there really any difference between "testifying before Congress" and "tossing compost"? And what sort of host is he to be doing the latter while preparing the food?

Secondly, note the picture. It purports to show Candidate and Mrs. Riemer "in their Silver Spring neighborhood." We all understand that candidates for local office have to highlight their deep-rooted commitment "to the community" -- but what neighborhood exactly do the Riemers live in?

I'm still new to Silver Spring, but I don't recall encountering the Blank White Wall section of town. I hope they have good restaurants there.

p.s. Send in bad advertising from your local campaigns and we'll do our best to mock that, too!

Knowing When to Say When

posted by Alan Greenblatt

In honor of Ron Gonzales, who refuses to step down as mayor of San Jose even though he's under indictment for corruption and the city council is threatening to cut funding for his office, I'd like to present this item from Governing's January issue, in which I discuss the problem of public officials refusing to hang it up even though their bell has clearly been rung.

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but should government officials hold themselves to a standard higher than criminal conviction, and resign simply because they have become a public
embarrassment? Or should they hang on to their jobs as long as they legally can?

Lately, a number of them seem to have preferred the latter course. Bill Ceverha, the treasurer of U.S. Representative Tom DeLay's political action committee, has refused to give up his position on the body overseeing the Texas pension board--even though he has been successfully sued for violating campaign law and forced into personal bankruptcy.

Supreme Teases

posted by Alan Ehrenhalt

Those Supreme Court justices, they're a bunch of teasers, aren't they?

For the past 20 years they've been saying that raw partisan gerrymandering is potentially unconstitutional -- all a litigant has to do is bring them a really egregious example, and they'll set some new guidelines to fix the problem. So the cases keep reaching the court, and every time, the court says, "No, that's not a good enough example. Bring us a more drastic one, and we'll do something."

The latest example was yesterday, when the court refused to pass judgment on the Texas remap that Republicans did in 2003 for the express purpose of dealing Democrats out of power.  That wasn't good enough for them either.    

Personally, I think there's a decent case to be made that courts shouldn't touch partisan redistricting issues at all.

A Bobblehead Too Far

posted by Christopher Swope

Need more proof that the bobblehead craze is three years past peak? Introducing the state legislator bobblehead, starring New York Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. Pick one up tomorrow at the Tri-City Valley Cats minor league baseball game. Yes, collectors, Southwest does fly to Albany--but you might as well just wait for the Saturday morning fire sale on Ebay.

(Thanks to Capitol Confidential).

Fraternal Wins

posted by Anne Jordan

Two years ago, my colleague Rob Gurwitt wrote a feature about Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin's remarkable ability to forge alliances among disparate interests and factions, a skill that had enabled the city to raise $3 billion to overhaul its decrepit sewer system.

In the past two weeks, Franklin proved that she hasn't lost her political or personal touch, pulling together another improbable coalition to purchase the papers of native son Martin Luther King Jr., which were scheduled to be auctioned by Sotheby's.

In 11 days of intense negotiations, Franklin and her team cobbled together $32 million in pledges and loan guarantees from individual and corporate donors and lined up Morehouse College to be the legal custodian of the documents.

King's son Dexter told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "We didn't know that Atlanta was that serious until Mayor Franklin reached out."

It wasn't the first time, and it surely won't be the last.

Quote for the Day

"There's not an organization in the world that would turn over an enterprise with a $70 billion budget to someone with six years' experience, but that's what we're doing in Florida," says state Senator Mike Bennett, a one-time term limits supporter who has witnessed the law's ill effects while in office.

The Straw that Broke Joe Camel's Back?

posted by Josh Goodman

Ninety-nine government reports out of one hundred instantly get tossed in the wastebasket of irrelevancy, but yesterday's Surgeon General report on secondhand smoke seems destined to be an exception. In it, the Surgeon General confirms the scientific consensus that secondhand smoke is harmful and argues that eliminating smoking in indoor places is the only way to reduce the danger.

Today, media outlets across the country have been disturbingly uncreative, with journalist after journalist suggesting that state and local officials are feeling added pressure to restrict smoking as a result. Here's a sampling of this morning's headlines:

"Blanco feels squeeze on smoking ban," -New Orleans Times-Picayune

"Report bolsters backers of anti-smoking initiative," -Las Vegas Review-Journal

"State hopes more cities ban smoking in public," -Wichita Eagle

"Anti-smoking advocates renew call for statewide ban," -Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Secondhand smoke risks are upgraded; Report fuels Md. advocates' hopes for ban," -Baltimore Sun