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August 18, 2008National/PoliticalFor Convention, Obama’s Image Is All-American WASHINGTON — One of the first images prime-time viewers will see of the Democratic National Convention next week is that of Michelle Obama, who will begin the four-day introduction of her husband, and her family, on her terms. Like everything else at the orchestrated gala, that is by design. Democrats face a number of imperatives at their convention, none trickier than making more voters comfortable with the prospect of putting a candidate with a most unusual background — the son of a black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother, who grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia — and his family in the White House. No one, his advisers believe, makes the case better for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois than his wife, who will expand her profile by delivering one of the marquee speeches carried by television networks. Through four nights there will be testimonials from family members like Mr. Obama’s wife and sister who will tell his “very American story,” in the words of one adviser, and from party luminaries like Senator Edward M. Kennedy (by videotape) and former President Bill Clinton (live) who will give Mr. Obama, the presumptive presidential nominee, the imprimatur of the party establishment. After Obama-McCain forum, Rick Warren sermon focuses on character The morning after Pastor Rick Warren interviewed both major presidential candidates at his evangelical church in Orange County, he delivered a Sunday sermon urging his congregation to judge Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain on how their characters would affect their decisions as leaders. "Don't just look at issues, look at character," Warren said to a crowd of nearly 3,000 during one of two morning sermons at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest. "Look at the candidate and say, 'Does he live with integrity, service with humility, share with generosity, or not?' " Dressed in his usual bluejeans, Warren delivered the sermon titled "The Kind of Leadership America Needs" using Bible passages about faith and compassion. He did not speak of the differing views expressed by Obama and McCain when they appeared on the same stage Saturday, saying simply that "they were very different in personality, in philosophy, in direction, in goals and in vision, and there's nothing wrong with that." Despite Assurances, McCain Wasn’t in a ‘Cone of Silence’ ORLANDO, Fla. — Senator John McCain was not in a “cone of silence” on Saturday night while his rival, Senator Barack Obama, was being interviewed at the Saddleback Church in California. Members of the McCain campaign staff, who flew here Sunday from California, said Mr. McCain was in his motorcade on the way to the church as Mr. Obama was being interviewed by the Rev. Rick Warren, the author of the best-selling book “The Purpose Driven Life.” The matter is of interest because Mr. McCain, who followed Mr. Obama’s hourlong appearance in the forum, was asked virtually the same questions as Mr. Obama. Mr. McCain’s performance was well received, raising speculation among some viewers, especially supporters of Mr. Obama, that he was not as isolated during the Obama interview as Mr. Warren implied. Worlds Apart / McCain's Clarity vs. Obama's Nuance When I was little, I had a recurrent dream that there was a terrible earthquake. My father, his body a horse with wings, swooped down from the sky, kneeled so I could jump on his back and flew away just as the earth cracked open beneath me. It was my most comforting dream. I want to live in that world again. I want to live in John McCain's world. My father was a military man. My parents were friends of McCain's parents and lived in the same apartment building. My father's closest friend was Barry Goldwater, McCain's mentor. Those were the days when men were men, when the differences between good and evil were clear, when they knew where they stood on every issue, when life was less complicated, when there was an air of insouciance, no matter how difficult the issues. McCain's New Hope / The Candidate Shines at Saddleback Forum It is now clear why Barack Obama has refused John McCain's offer of joint town hall appearances during the fall campaign. McCain is obviously better at them. Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency -- two hours on Saturday night evenly divided between the relaxed, tieless candidates -- was expected to be a sideshow. McCain and Obama would make their specialized appeals to evangelicals as if they were an interest group such as organized labor or the National Rifle Association. Evangelicals would demonstrate, in turn, that they are not rubes and know-nothings. And Americans would turn en masse to watch the Olympics. What took place instead under Warren's precise and revealing questioning was the most important event so far of the 2008 campaign -- a performance every voter should seek out on the Internet and watch. Hillary Clinton stumps for Obama in New Mexico ESPANOLA, N.M. (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday urged her supporters to work as hard for the election of her former rival, Barack Obama, as they had for her. "We may have started out on two separate paths, but we are on one journey now," Clinton told about 800 people at a rally for Obama in heavily Hispanic northern New Mexico. Clinton shared the stage with elected officials, including Gov. Bill Richardson, a former President Bill Clinton administration official who angered some in the Clinton camp when he endorsed Obama in March. Following the endorsement, Clinton adviser James Carville likened the governor to Judas. Op-Ed Columnist: The Candidate We Still Don’t Know AS I went on vacation at the end of July, Barack Obama was leading John McCain by three to four percentage points in national polls. When I returned last week he still was. But lo and behold, a whole new plot twist had rolled off the bloviation assembly line in those intervening two weeks: Obama had lost the election! The poor guy should be winning in a landslide against the despised party of Bush-Cheney, and he’s not. ...It seems almost churlish to look at some actual facts. No presidential candidate was breaking the 50 percent mark in mid-August polls in 2004 or 2000. Obama’s average lead of three to four points is marginally larger than both John Kerry’s and Al Gore’s leads then (each was winning by one point in Gallup surveys). Obama is also ahead of Ronald Reagan in mid-August 1980 (40 percent to Jimmy Carter’s 46). At Pollster.com, which aggregates polls and gauges the electoral count, Obama as of Friday stood at 284 electoral votes, McCain at 169. That means McCain could win all 85 electoral votes in current toss-up states and still lose the election. Barack Obama campaign soliciting 'soft money' for convention WASHINGTON -- Facing a large deficit in the Democratic National Convention budget, officials from Barack Obama's campaign have begun personally soliciting labor unions and others for contributions of up to $1 million. In exchange, donors could get stadium skyboxes for Obama's acceptance speech and other perks. Obama has regularly criticized politicians seeking large donations outside the framework of campaign finance regulations -- so-called soft money -- while touting the virtues of relying on small donations. But campaign officials last month reluctantly decided they had to take a hand in raising large donations from individuals, unions and corporations. Some of the donors get special bundles of perks, including use of the party suites at Denver's Invesco Field, as well as special policy briefings by Obama advisors, choice hotel rooms and party invitations. ... In an example of the campaign's late-innings effort, a very senior Obama campaign official called the political director of one of the largest labor unions about two weeks ago and asked for a $500,000 contribution on top of a similar amount that had been committed just a few weeks before, according to the union official. Lawrence Scanlon, the political director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said that since AFSCME had already contributed, he declined to contribute more, urging the campaign to seek donations from wealthy individuals or corporations to help pay for the convention so that the union could spend its funds on voter outreach. Obama Tilt Toward Rubinomics Stirs Warning From Organized Labor AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka delivers a slap at former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in a slide show exhorting union members to back Democrat Barack Obama for president. Blaming unfettered global trade and inadequate government regulation for lost manufacturing jobs and a staggering economy, Trumka's presentation cautions that ``it will do us little good if, when the next Democrat moves into the White House, Wall Street takes command of our country's economic policy.'' Trumka leaves no doubt that the rebuke is aimed at Rubin, Wall Street's most prominent Democrat. It's ``hard to tell the difference'' between Rubin and Republican Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the presentation says. Trumka's critique reflects the concern among organized-labor officials that Rubin and like- minded Democrats may win the behind-the-scenes battle to shape Obama's economic thinking. Views of Ohio delegates / Unified party? Clinton as VP might do it WASHINGTON -- To the disappointed Ohio delegates pledged to Democrat Hillary Clinton, the decision by Barack Obama to allow a vote on her nomination at the party's national convention next week in Denver is a good start. But those interviewed by The Dispatch in the past few days say if Obama really wants to unify the party and win the key states of Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, he should do what most concede he won't: choose Clinton as his vice presidential running mate. ... Ruby Gilliam, 85, from Minerva in northeast Ohio, predicted that the emotion of the Clinton delegates will sweep the convention hall during the roll-call vote, predicting that if Obama hasn't already picked his vice presidential candidate, "I think Hillary will be his running mate." Even that symbolic move may not be enough. Brandon warned that if Democrats "don't work this out, it will hurt us in the fall." She pointed to a close Democratic friend of hers who has said she will not back Obama. "Unless they can figure out a way to pull that together, I am worried about Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Florida." Others sound an even more pessimistic note. Tanksley, who works for the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, acknowledged that "it will be a tough sell" for Obama in Ohio. "We might just pull it off. I think with enough work we can do it." But then she added, "I wouldn't put my paycheck on it right now." In the political battleground of Colorado, a labor-business fight is raging DENVER -- Colorado has become an important battleground state in the presidential election, and one of the biggest senatorial races in the nation is over filling the seat of its retiring senator, Wayne Allard. Yet the most ferocious political fight in the state doesn't involve Democrats and Republicans. Instead, unions and business groups have loaded the November ballot with an array of competing initiatives. Each side says it will spend tens of millions of dollars to push its agenda and defeat its opponent's measures, which each contends would cripple the state's economy. The seven initiatives on the ballot include what proponents say would be the toughest law against corporate fraud in the nation, which would make company executives liable for crimes committed by their firms. Each side says the initiatives should be judged on their own merits, but also accuses the other of acting in bad faith. Editorial: Mixing Politics and Wal-Mart It is hardly news that Wal-Mart will do whatever it takes to keep unions out of its stores, from closing down a unionized outlet to firing pro-union workers. The National Labor Relations Board has already ruled several times that Wal-Mart has violated the law by retaliating against workers for supporting a union. Facing the prospect that union-friendly Democrats could win both the White House and Congress, the retail giant is now turning its attention to this year’s election. Last week, several labor groups filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, accusing Wal-Mart of violating election rules. They acted after The Wall Street Journal reported that thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads had been called to mandatory meetings and told that if Democrats won in November they would likely pass a law to make it easier to unionize companies. According to The Journal, Wal-Mart executives warned that could force the company to cut jobs, while workers would be forced to pay union dues and might have to go on strike. Telling workers who are paid by the hour — Wal-Mart department supervisors are hourly workers — how to vote is prohibited under the Federal Election Campaign Act. Op-Ed Columnist: It’s the Economy Stupor By rights, John McCain should be getting hammered on economics. After all, Mr. McCain proposes continuing the policies of a president who’s had a truly dismal economic record — job growth under the current administration has been the slowest in 60 years, even slower than job growth under the first President Bush. And the public blames the White House, giving Mr. Bush spectacularly low ratings on his handling of the economy. Meanwhile, The Times reports that, according to associates, Mr. McCain still “dials up” Phil Gramm, the former senator who resigned as co-chairman of the campaign after calling America a “nation of whiners” and dismissing the country’s economic woes as nothing more than a “mental recession.” And Mr. Gramm is still considered a top pick for Treasury secretary. So Mr. McCain would seem to offer a target a mile wide: a die-hard supporter of failed economic policies who takes his advice from people completely out of touch with the lives of working Americans. Editorial: The Corporate Free Ride Here is a crazy idea to address the United States’ gaping fiscal deficit: persuade corporate America to start paying taxes. An investigation by the Government Accountability Office found that almost two-thirds of companies in the United States usually pay no corporate income taxes. Big companies, those with more than $50 million in sales or $250 million in assets, are less likely to avoid Uncle Sam altogether. Still, about a quarter of them report no tax liability either. The G.A.O., which looked at tax returns from 1998 through 2005, does not tell us exactly how so many corporations managed to avoid the taxman. It simply notes that they were able to record sufficient expenses — salaries, interest and “other deductions” — to cancel out their taxable income. We find it hard to believe that some two-thirds of American companies fail to turn a profit. What we find easier to believe is that corporations have become increasingly skilled at tax-avoidance strategies, including transfer pricing — overcharging their American units for products and services provided by subsidiaries abroad to artificially reduce their profits here. The first place to look for money to close the budget deficit should be among the high-income individuals who have been treated so generously by the Bush administration. But corporate America has been getting a free pass for far too long. And the seeming ease with which corporations escape the taxman altogether compounds a fundamental unfairness in the American economy. On the Fire Lines, a Shift to Private Contractors CENTRAL POINT, Ore. — Scott Charlson never dreamed of becoming a firefighter. But when a job on a fire crew came calling this summer, Mr. Charlson, a budding sportswriter and a college student, jumped at the chance to make some quick but hard-earned cash. That was his main goal in going out there,” said his brother, Jake. “To get money for school and to buy himself a new car.” That never happened. Mr. Charlson, 25, died this month when a helicopter ferrying fire personnel over a Northern California forest crashed, killing nine aboard and injuring four. Mr. Charlson, a student at Southern Oregon University, and the other victims were eulogized at a memorial here on Friday, a somber ceremony that spoke to both the ever-present dangers of firefighting and the changing complexion of its workforce. Seven of the dead were privately contracted firefighters — none older than 30 — working with the company Grayback Forestry Inc., a large and respected private firefighting company. An eighth victim, a pilot, was employed by Carson Helicopters Inc., another well-regarded private firm specializing in firefighting. Only one of the deceased was an employee of the United States Forest Service. Such a mix is not uncommon. Faced by a series of intense fire seasons and demands on firefighters nationwide, officials are increasingly working within a de facto public-private partnership. Potential for Conflict Grows With Government's Use of Contractors For years, Science Applications International Corp. served as an adviser to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the development of rules for when radioactive materials could be released from nuclear facilities for recycling. At the same time, SAIC worked as a contractor on just such a recycling project at a Department of Energy facility, but it did not disclose the conflict as required by federal regulations, according to evidence gathered by the Justice Department. A company executive also helped run an association that advocated for favorable recycling standards, and the firm was planning a business that could have been affected by rules it was helping to write, Justice documents show. After hearing testimony about SAIC's apparent conflicts of interest, a federal jury recently found the firm guilty of making dozens of false and fraudulent claims for payment relating to the NRC work. "We are deeply disappointed by the verdict, and we believe there are substantial grounds for an appeal, which we intend to pursue vigorously," the company said in a statement. Based in San Diego, SAIC has much of its operations in the Washington region and works for agencies across the federal government. The case offers a rare glimpse at one of the consequences of the government's unprecedented reliance on contractors to help federal agencies: Consultants sometimes gain insider knowledge and help draft rules that could benefit their own bottom lines, procurement specialists said. U.S. May Ease Police Spy Rules / More Federal Intelligence Changes Planned The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years. The proposed changes would revise the federal government's rules for police intelligence-gathering for the first time since 1993 and would apply to any of the nation's 18,000 state and local police agencies that receive roughly $1.6 billion each year in federal grants. Quietly unveiled late last month, the proposal is part of a flurry of domestic intelligence changes issued and planned by the Bush administration in its waning months. They include a recent executive order that guides the reorganization of federal spy agencies and a pending Justice Department overhaul of FBI procedures for gathering intelligence and investigating terrorism cases within U.S. borders. Taken together, critics in Congress and elsewhere say, the moves are intended to lock in policies for Bush's successor and to enshrine controversial post-Sept. 11 approaches that some say have fed the greatest expansion of executive authority since the Watergate era. State/LocalAFSCME, state of Illinois reach tentative deal on new contract SPRINGFIELD -- The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 and negotiators for the state came to an agreement Friday morning after a marathon bargaining session. Details of the contract were not available Friday. AFSCME Deputy Director Roberta Lynch said details would first be delivered to the more than 35,000 members in meetings that will take place across the state within the next two weeks. "Obviously, we're very pleased. We think it's a very fair agreement," said Lynch. "It's fair to the employees and it's fair to the taxpayers of Illinois." Supporters of Madison County Shelter Care Home want issue on ballot / Madison County has already OK'd closure of shelter EDWARDSVILLE -- The metro-east organizations trying to keep the Madison County Shelter Care Home open will submit the signatures they have gathered to the county clerks office today to put the issue on the November ballot. The Madison County Board voted 22-5 in May to close the home, which serves people with disabilities, mental illness and the elderly. Some of the organizations involved in the effort were the United Congregations of the Metro-East, AARP, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Friends of Shelter Care and the residents and their representatives. The groups needed to collect about 6,000 signatures of registered Madison County voters by last Friday for the question to show up on the ballot. Ken Aud, Lead Organizer of the United Congregations of the Metro-East said they would provide more details once the signatures were approved. Duluth's Black Friday: 169 jobs cut, library and parks hard hit Grief counseling was offered to all Duluth city staff, and 30-year-plus employees said there have been few more difficult days at City Hall, as Duluth Mayor Don Ness announced Friday that 169 employees received layoff notices — including 28 full-time, permanent employees. The 169 announced layoffs were down from the 217 Ness projected Monday as part of his plan to balance a $6.5 million budget shortfall, but neither he nor any city employees took much solace in that. The layoffs will have short- and long-term impacts, as the two branch libraries in the Woodland and West Duluth neighborhoods are now closed until at least the end of the year. The hours at the main library will be scaled back starting Sept. 1. The beach house at Park Point is closed for the rest of the summer with the layoff of lifeguards, meaning swimming is “at your own risk.” As for the rest of the cuts, city staff members and department managers still were reeling from the news Friday and couldn’t specify how services will be affected. They could only say the cuts will have significant consequences. ... Even so, the city’s largest labor union signaled Friday that it will fight the cuts, urging any laid-off members to file grievances with the city. Deb Strohm, a representative of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and an employment counselor with the city, said the union wants the administration to cut all part-time employees before touching full-time employees. AFSCME Local 66, which counts 543 of the more than 800 city employees as members, will hold a news conference at noon Monday on the steps of City Hall to speak out against the cuts and argue that they weren’t necessary. “Why does the city have money to continue to provide services to all of our visitors and tourists, but doesn’t have the dollars to spend to retain employees who provide services to Duluthians?” Strohm said. Strohm said the union also will file a grievance over forcing employees to take unpaid days off. Paterson Boosts Troopers / 14% Pay Raise Follows Contribution Weeks after state police troopers padded Governor Paterson's campaign war chest with a $25,000 contribution, the governor is awarding the troopers a 14% pay raise over four years. The contract agreement with the Police Benevolent Association of the New York State Troopers could present a problem for Mr. Paterson, as he has been sounding the alarm over the health of the state's budget and has summoned lawmakers back to Albany for a special session tomorrow to trim the budget by $600 million. He has told New Yorkers to prepare for "painful" cuts to close a budget gap of some $6.4 billion, and warned that the state's economic downturn could turn into the next Great Depression. ... The contract agreement matches up with a series of pay raises given to other public employee unions within the last year.. Those contracts, however, were settled under Governor Spitzer, long before Mr. Paterson gave an unusual televised address to New Yorkers warning them of the financial trouble ahead. "The problem is he's sticking with this pattern despite the fiscal problem," Mr. McMahon said yesterday. "On the one hand, he is saying we can't do business as usual. On the other hand, this is straight business as usual." ... More than 70,000 state employees represented by the Civil Service Employees Association received the same deal in 2007, as did more than 50,000 state employees in the Public Employees Federation in early February, weeks before Mr. Spitzer resigned from office after being linked to a prostitution ring. As the economy sours across the country, other states are looking for ways to save money, through layoffs, budget cuts, and wage freezes. In California, Governor Schwarzenegger ordered a pay cut for most state employees last month, insisting that they earn the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour until a budget agreement was reached. State workers retiring early because of health-insurance costs Linda Folcarelli loves her state job too much to leave. But she loves her state health benefits too much to stay. So when the General Assembly enacted a new law requiring state employees to pay more — in many cases, a lot more — for their medical coverage when they retire starting Oct. 1, she had to make a difficult choice. Folcarelli, who is 51 and single, could wait another 5 1/2 years to retire from her $46,600-a-year accounting job at the sate Department of Corrections and get her full pension — but pay twice as much for her medical benefits. Or, she could get out now. “If I was married and had a husband who had medical coverage, I’d stay,” said Folcarelli “That’s my biggest fear: my medical coverage.” Fear over the rising costs to state retirees of their medical benefits is driving hundreds of state workers — some of whom would not otherwise have considered leaving their jobs — out the door. About 550 state employees applied for retirement benefits from January through July –– up 156 percent from the 215 applicants during the same period last year, according to the state general treasurer’s office. The biggest spike was in June of this year, when 299 people applied for retirement benefits. Another spike in retirement applicants is expected this month and next, as the deadline nears, said the treasurer’s spokesman, Tim Gray. The retirements are, by definition, “voluntary,” but they don’t necessarily feel that way. Joseph “Michael” Downey, president of Council 94 the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, which represents about 4,000 state employees, said his members are being “forced” to retire. “If they don’t go, their health insurance [cost] when they retire increases dramatically,” Downey said. “The problem is, many of these folks were not looking to retire.” |
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