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Monthly
Newsletter June 2005 Issue 4 |
“ApatheticVoter.com desires that the control of government be
returned to the people, and not left in the hands of power hungry, incompetent
and corrupt politicians. The major purpose of this web site is to get you
really mad about excessive taxes and government waste and corruption so
you'll actively participate and choose alternatives to throw the
representatives who rarely represent the people out of office.” |
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Each
month, we highlight representative sample news from the previous month that
is of interest to anyone who desires current information about the outrageous
government waste and corruption and violations of our civil liberties
perpetrated on the people of this great country. |
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GOVERNMENT SCANDALS, INDICTMENTS & CORRUPTION |
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Government
Agency Perfect Example of Political Patronage – Two years after
questions were raised about the practice of political patronage at New Jersey’s
largest sewerage authority, the number of employees has grown astronomically
at the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners (PVSC), by adding friends and
family of people with political clout.
The PVSC, which serves 1.5 million customers and more than 4,000
businesses, ballooned its budget from $100 million in 2001 to over $122
million today, and its payroll has grown by 50 employees since 2003 to an
alarming level of 690 employees, far more than at comparable facilities
managed by private firms. Many Democrats, who were aligned with disgraced
ex-Governor James McGreevey, have shared in the booty as well, being hired as
“consultants” to the tune of $6,000 per month or for legal work costing
millions of dollars per year. The
agency is not accountable to state review and has not had an audited
financial statement in two years. The
major difference between a state run facility and a privately run facility is
a privately run facility must make a profit or go out of business. Its not unknown but much more difficult
for the CEO to pad the payroll with his friends or relatives, for after all,
he or she answers to a board of directors. Government agencies can simply
keep increasing the budget forcing other municipalities that utilize their
services to pick up the tab. If the
state were smart, it should auction off the sewerage facilities by selling to
the highest bidder. Not only would
the state potentially realize hundreds of millions or even billions of
dollars from the transaction, they should see lower costs through competition
and the elimination of millions of dollars spent on political patronage jobs. Perhaps New
Jersey Deserves the Corruption – In a poll conducted by Garden
State Equality, almost one-half of the 804 voters it surveyed stated they would
again consider voting for former Governor James McGreevey depending on the
issues or the opponents. The
Apathetic Voter wonders if that means that one-half of the voters in New
Jersey are the stupidest people on the planet or perhaps people have decided
that all politicians have been educated at Tammany Hall University, and the
voters would simply be putting the lesser of evils back into office. Either answer is the most discouraging
news any informed citizen can imagine. Convicted Hoboken Mayor Admits To Greater Guilt – The former Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, was convicted of shaking down bar owners, businessmen and city contractors and of taking a $5,000 kickback from a government vendor. During his sentencing, the real truth emerged in that his attorney admitted he actually accepted more than $317,000 from the same vendor. What other brazen abuse of the taxpayers will emerge when they kick over more rocks? Head Of Fraud Unit Accused of Fraud – The
New Jersey Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor is being investigated for
fraud for billing insurance companies nearly $4 million for 43 employees who
never worked on fraud cases. The prosecutor’s office is a part of the
Division of Criminal Justice and is funded entirely by the insurance
industry. And we wonder why our car
insurance is so costly? |
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Poll Concludes New Jersey Really is Corruption Cesspool – According to a new Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers poll released over the Memorial Day weekend, 90% of over 600+ New Jersey adults polled believe there “is a lot or some” corruption in the state, up from 77% in 2003. The most startling result of the poll is that 4% of the citizens polled stated that they had heard nothing about scandals and corruption within the state. It must be concluded that these same 4% are people who have been in a coma since 1950. To resolve corruption, 28% believe eliminating “pay to play” will be of great benefit, while 19% yearn for a citizen’s watchdog group, with 8% voting for term limits, while 3% believe “nothing can be done.” When asked about honesty and ethical standards in various professions, nurses and grade school teachers ranked very high, while business executives, lawyers and state legislators ranked a few points above used car salesman. |
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State Employee Has Eight Part-Time Jobs –
Although this piracy is perfectly legal under state law, we have to include
this disgrace under the category of scandals, indictments and corruption, as
it goes far beyond the simple definition of government waste. As the ultimate abuse of “tacking”
(holding multiple state jobs), Former
Ocean County Freeholder Damian G. Murray has eight part-time jobs that pay
him $268,284 a year. Among the jobs
he held are as a member of the Orange County Library Commission, an Orange
County Freeholder, Judge of the Little Egg Harbor Municipal Court, Judge of
the Dover Township Municipal Court, and Magistrate of the Beachwood Municipal
Court. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist
to quickly determine he could not work more than one hour per day at each
assignment, but what about travel time between each part-time job? The clincher is his retirement pay is
about $150,000 per year. Even
excluding travel time, the good judge has been paid $134 per hour. With travel time, it likely equals about
$270 per hour. I’m sure we can all agree he was worth every penny. |
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Defense
Contractor Pays for False Claims – In
our April newsletter, we reported that the FBI had scrapped a $170 million
computer system developed by Science Applications International Corporation
(SAIC) of San Diego. In subsequent
developments in May 2005, the government settled a case in which SAIC will
reimburse the government for $2.5 million for false claims for work they
performed at Kelly Air Force. One of the company’s project
managers blew the whistle on the company claiming that SAIC defrauded the
government by padding cost estimates for environmental cleanup work. The most mind-boggling outcome of this incompetence
and thievery is why does the government continue to do work with these
modern-day pirates? Would you
continue working with a vendor who stole from your business? The government rip-off just keeps rolling
along. |
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840 Truckloads
of Asphalt Missing in Chicago – In
an analysis by the Chicago Sun-Times of 384 street and alley repaving
projects, three out of four Chicago city projects used more asphalt than city
engineers had estimated. Federal
prosecutors say city workers stole at least a dozen truckloads from a few
jobs but what happened to the rest of the 840 truckloads is a question for
Harry Houdini. Mayor Daley has
installed a former high-ranking police officer as a deputy in the Department
of Transportation in the wake of the scandal. Mayor Daley claims that the city of Chicago was already running
an internal investigation prior to the Sun-Times story. It will be interesting to observe the
level of corruption that is exposed by his investigation. |
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Former Illinois GOP
Chief of Staff Indicted for Diverting Taxpayer Money – The one-time chief of staff to the former
GOP House leader was indicted for diverting taxpayer monies to finance
political campaigns and for shaking down a real estate venture to support a
GOP candidate. Michael Tristano was
also charged with fraud, theft and extortion for directing state employees to
work on state and municipal campaigns on state time. The
charges against both men stemmed from a 3-year probe into Republicans misuse
of state workers, cars and expense reports. |
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New York City
Workers Living High On Hog – In
two separate incidents, a sanitation worker stole $200,000 in public
assistance while earning $205,000 in her two jobs for the Sanitation
Department and at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital. She somehow collected $183,887 for rent
subsidies, food stamps, childcare and Medicaid since 2001. That’s damn good money for someone who is
supposed to live a marginal existence feeding at the public trough. In the
second incident, sixteen janitors made over $500,000 on cleaning supplies by
working with a corrupt vendor creating bogus orders knowing full well that
the supplies would never be delivered. |
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Former
Philadelphia Treasurer Convicted of Fraud – Corey
Kemp was convicted of 27 counts of fraud and conspiracy for pocketing tens of
thousands of dollars from companies seeking city contracts from two Commerce
Bank executives, who were also convicted.
He was able to build a new deck on his house, received an all-expenses
paid trip to the 2004 Super Bowl, attend numerous parties in his honor and
pocket $10,000 in cash. In theory, Kemp could be sentenced to 800 years in
prison. |
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Four Lawmakers Indicted in Tennessee Corruption Probe - Four legislators, consisting of three state senators and one representative from both major political parties, a former senator and two other individuals were charged with taking bribes from a “sting” company, E-Cycle Management, Inc., set up by the FBI to root out corruption. One of the senators, Democrat John Ford, was also charged with attempting to threaten or intimidate potential witnesses. The senator subsequently resigned from the Senate after he was placed under house arrest. |
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Read more at: http://www.apatheticvoter.com/FederalStateCorruption.htm |
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GOVERNMENT WASTE |
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How to Lower
Property Taxes – While New
Jersey politicians beat their gums over the best way to lower property taxes
(the highest in the nation); some states are taking action, although they are
not lowering the total tax picture.
In Texas, the state legislature cut property taxes and simultaneously
increased education spending (something New Jersey definitely does not need),
by raising the sales tax by one-half percent and by increases in taxes on
alcohol, cigarettes and businesses.
The best news is that property taxes will be lowered from $1.50 per $100 valuation to $1.30 this fall and then to
$1.10 the following year. In line
with the budget appropriations and of equal weight no doubt, Texas
legislatures passed a cheerleading bill that aims to tone down sexual content
in school cheerleading routines. I’m
sure we all want our elected representatives tackling those tough issues
instead of focusing on problems with health, employment, illegal immigration
or runaway government growth. In New
Jersey, great hope is being placed in a property tax convention whereby the
problem may be solved. But why do we
pay our esteemed legislators? Isn’t
that one of their primary jobs to make those often political-suicide
decisions? On the negative side, the Texas legislature, which is
controlled by the Republicans, just completed the budget blueprint for the
next two years with spending of $139 billion, a 10% increase. The state Democratic Party chairman,
Charles Soechting, was quoted as saying that “The era of tax-and-spend
Republicans is upon us.” |
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Martin Luther
King Jr./Drew Medical Center Cleans House – In last
month’s newsletter, we reported the horror stories of taxpayer abuse at Los
Angeles County’s Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center. Finally someone is listening. Since
January 2004, King/Drew has fired or moved to fire 13 doctors; an additional 11
have resigned under threat of discipline.
Fred Leaf, chief operating officer at the county Department of Health
Services, said he believes most King/Drew staffers are honest, but
"there's still a large percentage of employees that don't do their job,
aren't committed, are dishonest, and need to be dealt with quickly and
decisively." Dr. Thomas Yoshikawa, department chairman, was faulted by
auditors for lax supervision, including failing to verify timecards, finish
performance evaluations and not taking corrective action for "perceived
inappropriate behavior." |
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UMDNJ Awarded $450 Million in Sole Source Contracts – We’re not sure whether this tidbit belongs in the corruption or the waste category (only time will tell), but the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), with a $1.6 billion annual budget, has awarded over $450 million in contracts over the last three years without any inkling of competitive bidding. State law requires public institutions to open contracts to competitive bidding except in very rare situations. Most institutions generally have a policy that dictates if a contract exceeds a certain threshold, such as $10,000, at least three contractors must be given the opportunity to bid on the work. This problem caught the news media’s attention when very questionable expenditures, such as an elaborate and costly inauguration party for the incoming university president, bonuses it paid its top executives, and donations it made to charities linked to elected officials, bubbled to the surface. The FBI and state investigators are now delving into not only the books of UMDNJ but have also requested financial information from Rutgers, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Ramapo College. On
top of that, as if we should expect any less with the cancer of “tacking”
that exists in the state, the president of UMDNJ, John Petillo, who is paid
$575,000 per year, has recently quit his two consulting jobs that paid about
$50,000 per year. I’m sure he has
plenty of time on his hands after he directs the activities of a massive
organization with a multi-billion dollar budget. If this were private industry, he would be tarred and feathered
and kicked out the door. |
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Spending Iraqi
Money Like Water – Just prior to the
transfer of power from the Americans to the Iraqis last June, American
officials rushed to sign contracts to dispense over $85 million via 1,000 new
contracts regardless of the fact that reconstruction projects were hopelessly
mired in delays and financial controls at the Iraqi Communications Ministry
were nonexistent. There can only be
two reasons for this rush to glory.
One is that the money was sitting in the cash register so lets spend
it since it’s only taxpayer money, or the old evil of graft was playing a
prominent role. As a footnote,
government auditors have stated that several U. S. officials, who are unsure
whether over 20 billion dollars dispatched to Iraqi ministries ever reached
their intended destinations, are under investigation for embezzlement. |
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Throwing Money at Schools Doesn’t Solve Problem – Is the state of Colorado making the same mistake as the misguided “activists” in New Jersey by simply throwing money at the education establishment without closer examination of the problems in our schools? Three years after Denver Public Schools elected to focus on education by substantially increasing the education budget, reading scores for third graders are dismal. At one school, Smith Elementary School of the Arts, the schools proficiency scores fell by 9%, a huge drop-off. After a 10-month review by the Colorado Department of Education, Jo O'Brien, assistant to the commission, stated, "I don't think that teachers are comfortable with math." When will people learn that the problem may lie
other then with just throwing wheelbarrows of money at the problem, or by
building new schools with swimming pools?
The Apathetic Voter was educated in schools that were 40 or 50 years
old but I didn’t notice. I attended
those schools to get an education and not become the next Mark Spitz. Paul Mulshine, the excellent columnist of
the Star-Ledger, has continually asked elected officials to identify even one
school that is so decrepit that immediate replacement is mandatory. To date, not one politician has
responded. Perhaps the problem lies
with the bureaucrats who are in charge of the education curriculum or the
stranglehold that the teacher’s unions have on the entire education system? When parents are dissatisfied with the
education their children are receiving, they cry out for choices, other than
prohibitively expensive private schools only a small percentage can
afford. Few people question the
dedication of most teachers, but the American capitalistic system has always
thrived on competition. Why do the
all-powerful teacher’s unions fight alternative methods such as charter
schools and other mechanisms to improve the lot of our children? Competition inevitably improves every
aspect of our lives with lower costs and improved efficiencies. Texas must have gotten the message because
the legislature passed a bill that will allow low-income and at-risk students
to transfer to private schools at state expense, provided that those schools
meet certain standards such as annual testing of students. In New Haven, Connecticut, the Amistad Academy charter school, comprised of 97% black and Hispanic students, has had phenomenal success as it rated as one of the most successful middle schools in the state. Amistad is one of a new breed of “no excuses” schools that bases its education curriculum on an obsessive attention to detail and a highly regulated system of reward and punishment and personal responsibility. It dismisses many of the politically correct theories in abundance in many mainstream education philosophies such as not using “red ink” to mark errors because its too “demeaning” to students. Students and parents are required to sign contracts promising to live up to school standards on dress, attendance and homework completion, as well as core values such as respect and hard work. Can you just imagine trying to impose strict standards and discipline in the “liberal” schools of New York and New Jersey? In Colorado, 36,000 students attend charter schools. There are so many students on waiting lists for charter schools that public school educators are now donning their marketing hat to try and entice children to stay in public education. Shockingly, principals are now actually asking parents what they want in their public schools. Statewide, charter schools fare better on assessment tests, as charter schools seem to be able to use their money more expeditiously, have less bureaucratic overhead, and promote better ideas than public education. In
Maryland, the advent of charter schools is in serious doubt. Attempts to establish charter schools have
been thwarted at almost every turn by entrenched school boards, teachers
unions and principals resistant to any form of change. Even though a new state law is meant to
encourage charter schools, most charter schools encounter overwhelming red
tape when trying to negotiate with local school boards that have the
authority to approve or deny an application.
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Post-9/11
Security Leads to Huge Waste – According to the Washington Post,
the federal government spent billions of dollars in a haphazard manner to
protect Americans after 9/11. In
February, the Office of Management and Budget found that only four of the 33
homeland security programs it examined were effective. As evidence of classic
out-of-control government spending, the contract to hire airport screeners
grew from $104 million to $741 million in less than a year, and there has
been no improvement in the ability to detect weapons. Homeland Security is
spending $10 billion to screen foreign visitors adding new technology on top
of antiquated computer systems placing the project at great risk. One official said he wasn’t sure how his
agency, a division of Homeland Security, had spent $700 million, more than
one-third of his budget. But the
fundamental issue is why is the government spending one red cent on
immigration control when Genghis Khan and his Mongolian hordes could pore
through the border with Mexico at ease?
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New Marlins
Stadium Giveaway Defeated – At least one state finally woke up to the
reality that government has no business subsidizing sports stadiums. In Florida, the state Senate was unable to
gather adequate support for a $60 million sales tax subsidy for a new
ballpark for the Florida Marlins.
One legislator actually said he did not believe that the ballpark was
as important as Medicaid reform. Will
wonders never cease? |
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Easing Traffic
Congestion – Under the subterfuge of “high
priority” projects in a new congressional highway bill, Representative Rick
Boucher secured $750,000 for the "construction of horse trails and
assorted facilities" in Jefferson National Forest in southwestern
Virginia. Why do we have such serious
traffic problems in this country? One
reason is that highway trust fund monies have been diverted to museums, a
symphony hall, a riverside promenade, downtown landscaping projects,
snowmobile trails and suburban transit systems that are as inconsequential as
horse trails in reducing road congestion. |
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Overtime Pay Bonanza
in New Jersey – While most private
companies are resisting hiring new employees and overtime is only mentioned
in whispered tones, the state of New Jersey appears on track to set a new
record for overtime pay for state employees.
By April 2005, overtime pay for executive-branch departments has
already reached $114 million for this fiscal year, projected to be equal or
in excess of the $194 million spent last year. |
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New York City Controller’s
Office Desperately Needs Accounting Training – A check written by
the New York City’s Controllers Office misplaced two decimal points and
issued a check in the amount of $8,641,575.00 instead of the correct amount
of $86,415.75 to a lawyer representing autistic children. Fortunately, the recipient, who sent the
check back for correction, said, “This is not the first sizable overpayment
we have returned to the city.” Anyone
who has ever worked in the accounting field knows that a system of checks and
balances is always in place to prevent these types of errors, but apparently
key players in the Controllers Office needs to attend Accounting 101 classes.
Will any heads roll over these enormous errors? Not on your life! |
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Federal Government Shows Practical Side – The federal government announced that it will close 180 military bases and offices supposedly saving $49 billion over 20 years. With the changing picture of America’s strategy to fight “hot spots”, the large-scale military that protected us during numerous wars has become obsolete. The last round of base closings occurred 10 years ago. States that will suffer under this plan will scream about the severe job losses, with every congressman crying about how “the facility is mandatory for national defense.” Is it no wonder that our taxes keep climbing higher and higher? Economic statistics validate that when these properties are converted to civilian use, in general more jobs are added to the economy after 10 years then prior to the base closing. The Apathetic Voter wonders how much could be saved by closing Congress? One
of the planned closures is the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Northwest
Washington, D.C. The facility sits on
113 acres of very valuable real estate.
Real estate developers estimate that the property could sell for
between $80 and $100 million, that is, if another government agency doesn’t
grab it first. Considering the
massive growth of government, instead of adding $100 million to the treasury,
I’ll give you 10-to-1 odds that another out-of-control federal or state
agency will snatch up the property. |
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Where Are the Journalists? - The most logical way to change the corruption picture in New Jersey and throughout the country is through vigilance by our esteemed journalists, but where are they? Yes, of course there are government watchdogs that are funded to root out corruption, and they will occasionally trumpet a rare conquest, but we need to keep pressure on the crooks by continual investigation by citizens groups and responsible journalists. We can thank our lucky stars for journalists like Paul Mulshine of the Star-Ledger, Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times, and Bob Ingle of Gannett New Jersey newspapers, but there are too many journalists who focus on trivial issues or journalists who perpetuate the myth of beneficial government growth. Journalist Fran “Clueless” Wood of the Star-Ledger just doesn’t understand the problem. A few months ago in a column on Jon Corzine’s inevitable run for Governor, she stated, “Rightly or wrongly, even many New Jerseyans who love the state perceive it as rife with corruption, burdensome in its property taxes, more overcrowded every year and saddled with excessive debt.” A few paragraphs later she literally contradicts herself, “The alternative is to cut costs. But for all the talk about ‘waste in government,’ that’s small change. To cut $4 billion, which the next governor might have to do without additional revenues or another huge bonding scheme, we’d have to close libraries, kill school programs, and eliminate bridge repairs and worse.” She refers to “waste in government” as “small change.” In one article she suggested that the state might be able to jettison a few secretaries. The Apathetic Voter wants to know who bought Ms. Woods the crystal ball? I suspect there is horrendous waste and we know about the brazen corruption. I have a gut suspicion that maybe the waste/graft is $10 billion starting with the giveaway pension programs. And why do many politicians and newspaper columnists automatically invoke the dreaded “we’ll close libraries, kill school programs….” argument every time there’s a budget crisis? I’m sure there are plenty of places we can take a sharp knife to the budget by tap dancing around “vital” expenditures Perhaps government could follow the practice used in private industry to “clean house” of marginal employees. We should all demand that the politicians force the bureaucrats to rank all personnel and then fire the bottom 10%. I have personally witnessed in many companies, for some strange reason, the remaining 90% seem to get just as much work accomplished as before the mass exodus. Ms.
Wood’s followed her lack of reality in May 2005 by panning President Bush’s
Social Security reform proposal by suggesting that Social Security benefits
should be eliminated for the wealthiest Americans, and then she suggested
that the $90,000 payment ceiling be increased but provide zero benefit to these
same people. She infers that if
there is not enough money in the till let’s simply pay the poor folks. But lets take a giant leap forward. Karl Marx would be overjoyed at her
proposal as it fits beautifully into his “From each according to his abilities,
and to each according to his needs” doctrine. In Soviet Russia, everyone made about the same salary, whether
nuclear physicist or cab driver, but many citizens held second jobs or made a
few rubles in the black market. Lets
follow that excellent suggestion in America and pay everyone the same salary
from the greedy CEOs to the janitor.
Of course, this will destroy the proven benefits of incentive and
motivation, the major downfall of socialist theory. The communists were able to get small amounts of effort from
the work force by threatening deportation to the gulag, a frightening
prospect. The lefties just don’t get
it. This is why we have disparities
in income in a capitalist society. Not every wealthy American was born with a
silver spoon in their mouth. Some
people actually worked twice as hard as the next guy to achieve their wealth,
and now you want to take it away because they took the extra step through
diligence and the sweat of their brow.
Slowly but surely, too many Americans and irresponsible journalists
will continue propagandizing their socialist ideas to eventually obliterate
the American dream. |
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Acting Governor Nominates 135 Political Appointees to Patronage Positions – Acting Governor Dick Codey submitted a list of 135 names of prominent political appointees to the legislature for their approval. These positions, both paid and unpaid, are for nominations to 46 state monitoring agencies such as the 9-1-1 Commission (8 positions), the Board of Boiler, Pressure Vessel, and Refrigeration Rules (3 positions), the Advisory Council on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (9 positions), and the New Jersey Commission On Italian and Americans of Italian Heritage and Cultural Programs (6 positions and Tony Soprano was not nominated). Since most of us are aware that once a government commission is created it almost never outlives its ability to survive, the Apathetic Voter will wager that ten years from now, the 9-1-1 Commission will still be wasting taxpayer dollars. |
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Florida Budget Saves for Rainy Day - The
Florida legislature plans to pass a $63 billion budget this month, which
includes a significant increase in education spending and large increases
for state employees. Lawmakers
quietly slipped in a small increase in the property tax to cover a portion of
the expenditures. We’ll just have to
wait and see if the student’s scores improve in Florida. What is unique about
this budget is that lawmakers set aside a $1.2 billion “rainy day” fund
instead of simply spending the money like drunken sailors. |
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California to
Spend $2 Billion Windfall – Unlike Florida, Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger of California abandoned his plan to cut state transportation
spending by $1.3 billion, and will instead call for full funding of California's
freeways, local roads and commuter trains.
The bureaucrats decided to spend the money that will be realized as a
result of more than $2 billion in unanticipated revenue due to the state’s
surging economy. I wonder if the concept of simply paying off a small portion
of the state’s staggering debt ever got a sliver of a thought considering
that the state
authorized budget-related borrowing of $28 billion from 2002-03 through
2004-05? But let’s not worry about
the problem now. Let the kids pay off
the debt when they grow up. |
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New Jersey Finds $1.51 Billion Additional Revenue – At the end of May, the legislative budget and finance officer revealed that state tax revenue should be $1.51 billion higher than predicted in the next two years. Now we all know that the choices are to spend the money or (heaven forbid) use that money to reduce the $4-$5 billion budget shortfall. On the positive side, $400 million has been allocated to restore taxpayer rebates but the rest of the money will go for new expenditures. Is there any hope that the politicians will ever understand that the majority of citizens want, above all, to see their taxes decreased? On the issue of tax rebates, this is a typical loathsome political ploy to placate the plebeians, giving them the false impression that they are actually getting a bonus from the state while in reality they are simply getting THEIR OWN MONEY back. It is a ridiculous concept that should be eliminated immediately. If the state wants to reduce the burden of property taxes, then simply change the way property tax deductions are computed on the state’s 1040 tax form to make it equitable and eliminate the huge and expensive state bureaucracy that is necessary to process millions of rebates. |
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Civil Service
Protects 60 Fired Workers – In Dallas, Texas, 60 code-enforcement
workers were fired, suspended or reprimanded for lying about how much work
they actually did. To-date, nearly
two-thirds have returned to work, some even getting up to $24,000 in back
pay. Their guilt was never an issue
but they have been protected by arcane civil service regulations that are
prevalent throughout the country. The
workers, about one-half the department, were fired when major discrepancies
were noted between the bloated reports provided by these workers to justify
their existence and actual citations they had written. The Mayor, Laura Miller, stated, "All along the way, there are just glaring
problems. The fact that these people
have been allowed to go back to work is astonishing." Only in government would this stupidity be
permitted. In one American company
alone, GE fired 125 employees and disciplined 243 others last year out of a
total workforce of 307,000 employees.
What is astonishing about this number is it EXCEEDS THE NUMBER FIRED
BY THE ENTIRE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT because of the antiquated civil service
regulations and the fact that it is so hideously complex to gather
overwhelming evidence to enforce a firing.
As soon as someone is fired, they appeal and continue to draw their
pay and benefits while their case goes through years and years of foot
dragging and legal maneuvering. |
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Paying for
Healthcare – With the rapidly rising costs of healthcare, private
industry is finding it is unable to sustain full payment of healthcare
premiums for its employees. For many
years, small businesses and the self-employed opted for plans that had large
deductibles and required workers to pay for many items, such as flu shots and
the cost of new babies, due to fiscal restraints that are always pressing on
small business. One of the reasons
for the drastic rise in healthcare costs is that Americans are living longer
and 10% of the population (generally the elderly) account for 70% of healthcare
costs. Now even larger corporations
are reshaping their healthcare coverage by offering “consumer-directed”
health plans as options for their employees. These plans offer employee’s coverage that is more in tune
with their own personal medical needs, but regardless of the plan selected,
employees will be shouldering a much higher percentage of medical costs. The plans offer high deductibles or less
options depending on each employee’s needs.
But this situation is not true for most state employees. Their healthcare is paid regardless of
circumstances. State employees need
to share the same burden being experienced by the rest of American. The simple inclusion of deductibles and
cost sharing will go a long way in reducing the taxpayer’s burden. |
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Read more at: http://www.apatheticvoter.com/FederalStateWaste.htm |
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VIOLATIONS OF CIVIL LIBERTIES |
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FCC May Fine
Pay-To-View Broadcasters – Congress
is now proposing to fine cable, satellite and Internet pay-to-view broadcasts
for what they consider to be “indecent” broadcasts. This is not public broadcasting by any stretch of the
imagination, as users must pay a fee to watch these broadcasts. If parents
are concerned about certain objectionable material on the airwaves they can
either elect to not subscribe to HBO or Playboy or obtain one of the many
tools that let them control the TV their children watch by blocking channels
or installation of the V-chip. If you
concur, write letters to your congressional representatives supporting the
Stamp Out Censorship Act of 2005, HR1440, which would prohibit the FCC from
“imposing penalties for indecent broadcasts on providers of video over cable
television systems, satellite carriers, the Internet, or non-broadcast
providers.” What’s next, book
burnings? |
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Taxing Fast Food – Last month we reported that the state of Iowa is planning to add $.80 to the cost of a pack of cigarettes, but that increase was defeated by legislators who obviously recognized that they were trampling on the rights of a vulnerable portion of the population. Now Detroit is hopping on the bandwagon by proposing to add 2% to the price of fast food (including items like salads and milk) in addition to the 6% state sales tax. Of course, the stated reason for the additional taxes is to help people quit smoking and to eat less unhealthy fast food. The only reason for these new taxes is to find excuses to “beef up” the state’s income to pay the bills related to government waste and outlandish pensions. The mere fact that many years ago a woman (and her shyster lawyer) was able to press a lawsuit past the laughing point by suing McDonald’s for making her child obese is indicative of the lunacy that permeates our society. If we are going to heavily tax smokers and the poor who are the predominate customers of the fast food joints, why not impose a tax penalty on people who drive excessive miles. Whoops! They are already planning to implement that scheme in California and Oregon. Many citizens are switching cars from the gas-guzzling SUVs to fuel-efficient hybrids and saving up to $300 per month. Since the states are losing tax revenues as more and more people react to the price of gasoline, innovative approaches may be for naught as California is proposing to replace the gasoline tax with a “tax by the mile” plan. How will they know how many miles you’ve driven? Plans are afoot to install Global Positioning System (GPS) units in everyone’s car. Not only will Big Brother know exactly how much to charge you for mileage, law enforcement will always know exactly where you are once you leave your house. DNA will become of secondary importance in criminal cases when they can track your every citizen’s movements. I wonder who will pay for the installation and maintenance of the GPS, as if I didn’t know? What a great incentive NOT to buy fuel-efficient or hybrid cars. Government continues to trample on of our civil rights. |
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Maryland
Governor Vetoes Wal-Mart Healthcare Bill – We
should all be pleased with Maryland
Governor Robert L. Ehrlick Jr., who vetoed a bill that would have forced
companies with more than 10,000 employees to spend 8% of their payroll on
healthcare benefits for their employees.
The mere fact that the legislature passed this bill onto the governor
demonstrates once again the country’s march to a “utopian” state. The wording of the bill was directed at
only one company, Wal-Mart. On one
side of the issue, Wal-Mart spends much less than their competition on
employee benefits, which is one reason they are so successful, plus 80% of
their vendors reside in communist China.
On the flip side of the issue, because of the lack of adequate health
benefits some Wal-Mart employees must rely on the state’s Medicaid program
for their healthcare needs. The
bottom line of this issue, however, is government has absolutely no business
dictating how any company may spend it’s own operating capital. Other mechanisms must be found to remove
Wal-Mart employees’ reliance on the state’s Medicaid program by cooperation
between Wal-Mart executives and state government. |
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First Amendment
Rights Continually Challenged –According to the Denver Post, an
Arvada, Colorado citizen decided to sell his son’s truck by placing a “for
sale” sign on the truck. The citizen
was informed that an Arvada city ordinance forbids him parking the “for sale”
vehicle on HIS OWN PROPERTY. The fine
can be $100 per day. The city actually stated that signs are not forbidden
unless there is a clear “intent to sell.”
But this was no ordinary citizen.
He was the individual who spearheaded the effort to beat down the
eminent domain issue of building a Wal-Mart by condemning citizen’s
homes. So Arvada has confronted a man
with backbone who will not kowtow to the whims of bureaucrats. This may seem
like a trivial issue, but it highlights the rapid erosion of our rights under
the Constitution. |
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Ugly Racism in
New Orleans – A federal jury ruled that New Orleans first black
district attorney discriminated against 43 whites when he fired them and
replaced all of them with blacks.
Eight days after assuming office, he fired 43 of 77 white employees,
who were reinstated with thousands of dollars in back pay and damages. You can bet the damages will be paid by
the citizens of New Orleans and not by the district attorney, Eddie Jordan,
who claimed the firings were in order to “balance” the ethnic makeup of the office. The jury ruled that the firings had been
racially motivated. |
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Is the Real ID Act the Real Thing? – The U. S. Senate unanimously passed the Real ID Act, which was buried within the second largest spending bill in the nation’s long history. The avowed purpose of the Real ID Act is to force states to abide by federal standards for driver’s licenses and citizen’s ID cards, and to “tie” their citizen databases to federal systems. The intended purpose of the Real ID Act is in response to the terrorist’s attacks of 9/11 to identify terrorists before they can act. In another example of the federal government’s trampling of state’s rights, the feds are using the tried and true “carrot and stick” approach with the new law by telling states unless they comply with the standards, funding for the program will be withheld, and more importantly driver’s licenses not in compliance will not be accepted by any federal agencies. Some may see this new law as a blessing in that policing agencies will be able to ascertain a citizen’s identity by scanning their driver’s license/identity card. On the opposite hand, many of us view this as a significant abuse of our civil rights, in that “Big Brother” will finally get the “National ID Card” he has so long desired to be able to track citizen’s every move. This smacks precisely of the defunct Soviet Union, which used the same mechanism to track every Soviet citizen, who could not move or hold a job without a blessing from his or her superiors. As a minimum, the information to be stored in computer databases and embedded on the National ID card will consist of name, birth date, sex, an ID number (just like a convict), your address, and yet to be decided “physical security features designed to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, or duplication for fraudulent purposes.” I’m sure we all remember when the U. S. Treasury redesigned our currency with the magical stripe and new colors to prevent counterfeiting, crooks had bogus bills on the street within 2 weeks. Within three years, if you are a citizen of the United States, you will not be able to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security, or take advantage of virtually any federal service. Although many citizens often question the agenda and reasoning of the Civil Liberties Union, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s technology and liberty program stated, “It’s going to result in everyone from the 7-Eleven store to the banks and airlines, who will demand to see your ID card. They’re going to scan it in. They’re going to have all the data on it from the front of the card…It’s going to be not just a national ID card but a national database.” The
Apathetic Voter predicts that within 10 years, everyone’s medical history and
financial credit history will quietly find its way onto the card/database. |
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Read more at: http://www.apatheticvoter.com/CivilLiberties.htm |
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CURRENT ISSUES |
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California Group
Follow in “Minutemen’s” Footsteps – Apparently heartened by
the results of the “Minutemen” project in Arizona, a group of citizens in
California, the Friends of the Border Patrol, said they have organized
hundreds of volunteers to patrol the border with Mexico this summer. Organizers are hoping that “Border Watch” will keep
the national spotlight on what they see as a failure of the Bush
administration to secure the country's borders from illegal immigrants and
terrorists. Volunteers will not
confront illegal immigrants, but will report their location to the Border
Patrol. President Bush and the Border
Patrol decry their efforts, as officials fear that the California volunteers
will put themselves at risk trekking through the region's treacherous
terrain. They said the citizen patrols might encounter those smuggling drugs
or people (coyotes), and it may be necessary for the agency to divert its
resources to aid the volunteers. Perhaps ulterior
motives may be at work here.
According to the Los Angeles Times, 16 law enforcement officers and U.
S. Army soldiers have been busted for smuggling cocaine from Mexico. One
federal inspector waved trucks he believed were carrying drugs across the
border from Mexico to the U.S., according to the FBI. In another case, a group of the defendants
wearing Army uniforms used Army National Guard Humvees to transport 132
pounds of cocaine from a desert landing strip to a resort hotel in
Phoenix. Justice
Department officials describe the case as a "widespread bribery and extortion
conspiracy." |
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Government-Sanctioned
Slot Machines Initiative Goes Down to Defeat – When most of us grew up as kids, just
before every election, the politicians who were seeking re-election would
direct the police to conduct raids on known bookmakers and backroom gambling
joints to impress the peasantry with how hard they were fighting crime. Ignoring all moral and ethical issues,
state government has now become the biggest proponent of gambling using the
distorted logic that the monies garnered will be used to increase the
education budget, as if that makes that terribly addictive vice (on a par
with alcoholism) that effects mostly low-income taxpayers perfectly
justifiable. Pennsylvania had hoped to jump on the bandwagon with
state-sanctioned slot machines but needed the approval of over 500 local
boards before this “Al Capone” caper could be implemented. The government even offered the carrot of
property tax reduction as an enticement to the school boards. Well, we can pat the teachers on the back
because they overwhelmingly defeated the issue with less than 20% of the
school boards voicing their approval.
The answer to property tax reduction is quite simple – reduce the
horrendous government inefficiency, waste and corruption. |
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“Creeping
Federalism,” Hell! It’s Running at a
Full Gallop – The Founding Fathers envisioned a government
comprised of a small federal government and strong individual states. That concept
has been trampled on over time by first Abraham Lincoln and then by Franklin
Delano Roosevelt. Since then it has become routine for just about every
elected official regardless of party affiliation. At one time, we could feel reassured that the Republicans were
our watchdogs beating back the Democrats efforts to turn America into the
ultimate welfare state. In the 1960s, Barry Goldwater called for the
federal government to "withdraw promptly and totally from every
jurisdiction which the Constitution reserves to the states." In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan ran for
president promising to send 25 percent of federal taxes and spending back to
the states. As Republicans took control of Congress in 1995, Newt Gingrich
opined, "we are committed to getting power back to the
states." Believe it or not,
conservative elements once opposed the creation of a centralized education
bureaucracy. But no longer can we count on the Republicans to stop the suffocating hammer of the massive federal bureaucracy. President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act establishes national education testing standards and makes every local school district accountable to federal bureaucrats in Washington. It is very easy for all of us to demand standards that apply to all states to assure uniform education for our children but in reality we are ceding far too much power to the federal government. It removes many of the innovative features of states ability to control the local education process and removes the competition and innovation that is essential to continually upgrade our teaching methodologies because now it’s left in the hand of a few bureaucrats who owe their allegiance to the administration in power. In a similar manner, President Bush's "Project Safe Neighborhoods" transfers the prosecution of gun crimes from states to the federal government. The administration is exerting pressure on federal courts to block implementation of state initiatives on medical marijuana in California and assisted suicide in Oregon. Regardless of your position on gay marriage, President Bush and | ||
