Recently in Public policy debate Category

One of the interesting things about the current debate over whether the filibuster is unconstitutional, necessary to prevent majority overreach or whatever your viewpoint, is that views can flip depending on which party controls the Senate. In 2005, it was Democrats who extolled the virtues of the filibuster, because they were using it to block some of President George W. Bush's judicial nominees. Back then, there were calls by Republicans to trigger what some called the "nuclear option," which would have meant eliminating the filibuster on judicial nominees and likely would have led to the elimination of it altogether.

In 2005, at least a few liberal bloggers (here and here) were advocating that Democrats allow the filibuster to meet its demise, on the theory that political movements run in cycles and Democrats would have the majority at some point. And in 2005, many conservatives were saying use of the filibuster at that time by Democrats was wrong, unconstitutional, obstructionist, etc.

See excerpts below from the liberal bloggers in 2005 begging the then-minority Democrats to cut a deal with Republicans to break the filibuster:

Matthew Yglesias:

As conservative activist Jim Boulet Jr. has wisely argued in a memo to his comrades, the filibuster is crucial to conservatism. By his account, without it, majorities would exist to raise the minimum wage; reform labor law to make new union organizing easier; ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in employment; reduce greenhouse-gas emissions; and close the "gun-show loophole." . . . In the past, of course, the filibuster is most famous for its role in delaying the dawn of civil rights. Less well known is that it was integral to the defeat of Bill Clinton's health care plan in 1993. If liberals ever get another chance to go for comprehensible health-care reform, the filibuster will once again rear its ugly head.

Nathan Newman

So the filibuster allows conservatives to block any decent policy proposed by progressive leaders, then when those conservatives are in office, they pass watered down versions of policies they know are inevitable, then take political credit for them. This is the broader political problem of the filibuster, which is that it creates continually divided and thus unaccountable government. And unaccountable government is used by conservatives to block policy under Democratic-dominated governments, grab credit for (halfway) measures when they are in office, then play faux populist games to run against a government conservatives may ultimately control.

And then there was this in 2005 from the conservative Weekly Standard:

Suddenly Democrats are wrapping themselves in the Constitution. Emphasizing his commitment to maintaining the filibuster as a way to stop President Bush's judicial nominees, Senate Democratic whip Richard Durbin said last week, "We believe it's a constitutional issue. . . . It's a matter of having faith in the Constitution." The trouble is, the filibuster is nowhere mentioned, or even implied, in the text of the Constitution.

 

 

NASHVILLE - It was almost enough to restore faith in the future: dozens of high school students assembled at the governor's residence this evening to pose questions to gubernatorial candidates Bill Haslam and Mike McWherter.

 

The students were assembled by First Lady Andrea Conte from Nashville public and private schools, including Tennessee School for the Blind. The students took turns asking separate questions of each candidate. The format kept the candidates from answering the same questions and from talking to each other - making it difficult to gauge differences between them - but it resulted in some new topics they haven't faced before.

 

Would Democrat McWherter, for example, seek to restore financial aid for local high schools to participate in the International Baccalaureate program - a rigorous program of academic study that gives high school students several hours of college credit? "Yes!" he declared..

 

Haslam, the Republican, said TennCare will be among the programs that will have to be shrunk to deal with budget shortfalls and that some of the federal health plan mandates concern him.

 

On other topics:

 

· McWherter was asked about controversies over an Islamic mosque proposed in Murfreesboro. He said: "There is no question that I am a huge proponent of freedom of religion in this country. This is what this country was founded upon and I always want to promote that. At the same time, I well understand the constraints and problems you have when you locate an institution like that inside of a quiet neighborhood. And so I think as a community, you ought to be able to have some zoning restrictions....

 

"Now having said that, I think the people who committed the atrocity down there (in Murfreesboro) in burning that equipment should be found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. That's unacceptable in Tennessee. It's unacceptable anywhere in the United States. We need to find them and we need to prosecute them."

 

· Haslam was asked whether he supports efforts by some legislators to nullify elements of the federal health reform act in Tennessee that require uninsured people who can afford to buy health insurance to buy plans or potentially face tax penalties. He responded:  "I do wonder about a new plan that forces you to purchase something. I don't think we've ever done that in this country before. So that is a concern to me. Coming back to the big picture, I'm concerned long term about the cost of the health care plan. Whether it's an additional $200 million, the low-end estimate, or $400 million a year, it's going to cost us. The impact to the state is going to be big and its going to be felt somewhere along the way in other programs that you care about. I'm also concerned that employers might find it easier just to not pay insurance, have their employees go on TennCare and Medicaid, pay the penalty and come out ahead." 

 

·  McWherter was asked about the federal government's program that allows employers to electronically check the immigration status of potential hires and his view on sponsoring legislation creating "real consequences" for employers who are not validating status prior to hiring. Said McWherter: "This is one of those areas where I totally agree with Zach Wamp. He has talked about the fact that we need to do a much better job of making the E-Verification information available to employers. And I do think we need to make that information avail to employers. We need for them to know if there is an undocumented worker in their workforce, and frankly if there is and they're caught, we need to prosecute them and fine them. It creates a totally unfair advantage for small business in this state for those people who are using undocumented workers. You know they are not paying any kind of taxes on them, you know they're not providing health benefits. Those are expenses that small businesses normally incur and it gives those people an unfair advantage. We need to make sure we go after them. As governor, I'm going to do that."

 

·    Haslam was asked his postion on universal health care and how it would affect Tennessee. He said: "I assume you're talking about the national health care plan that passed this past year. Here's my concerns: the state of  Tennessee is already in a big budget hole - over a billion dollars that's coming out of our revenue that the next governor is not going to have. So we're going to have to address that. Gov. Bredesen called this plan the 'mother of all unfunded mandates.' It's the federal government telling the states what they have to do. Estimates are that it will cost $200 million to $400 million additional. So the question is again, where does that come from? Do you want to take that out of K-12 edcucation, higher education, or infrastructure.

 

"My thought is, what we have to focus on in health care in America is we have to begin with personal responsibility. You look at where our costs have escalated so much, in the end I think a lot of it is...we're not taking care of ourselves and the government's paying for most of that. Until we introduce more personal responsibility in the system, we're going to have problems with health care costs."

 

 

·   McWherter was asked if he's in favor of Arizona's immigration law and would he support similar legislation in Tennessee. He said: "Frankly I think the responsibility for immigration is a federal issue, not a state issue and I am very disappointed that we've got a federal government that has not secured our borders. If we can secure the border between North and South Korea, then I've got to think we can secure our own border. And that has got to be absolutely the first step before we do any kind of immigration reform.

 

"I don't think there should be a patchwork of immigration laws all across the states. You're going to have a patchwork of immigration laws all across the states. If we're forced into that, then yes, I'm going to support it. But what I want to do right now is work with (U.S. Senators) Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and our congressional delegation and see if we can't get a congressional resolution to that."

 

Haslam was asked how he would deal with a potential billion dollar budget shortfall when a recent congressionally approved increase in Medicaid funding for the state expires. He said: "We don't have a drawer full of money that we can (say) 'Oh that's a good program; lets keep paying for it.' In Tennessee, we don't have an income tax. That's a good thing. Our sales tax is the highest in the country. We're not going to raise taxes in Tennessee. It's the wrong thing to do.

"Our only choice is either to shrink government or to take that out of some other pot. It would mean taking money away from K-12 or higher education or money away from helping folks with mental disabilities. I can go on and on. We're going to have to shrink the size of state government and TennCare is going to be one of those places that happens."

 

There is no Senate campaign in Tennessee this year, which is sort of a shame, given the implications in Senate races for President Obama and also because there has been a recent spate of articles on the transformation of the Senate from one of the world's great "deliberative" institutions to one of the world's great "dysfunctional" political chambers.

An op-ed this week in The New York Times calls for various things, including going back to the future with filibuster rules that require the minority party to actually, you know, filibuster by reading from the phone book and bringing out the cots keeping those marginally in favor of obstruction motivated to continue. The column, by Norman Ornstein, does a nice job of explaining the filibuster and calls for modest reforms:

True, the filibuster has its benefits: it gives the minority party the power to block hasty legislation and force a debate on what it considers matters of national significance. So how can the Senate reform the filibuster to preserve its usefulness but prevent its abuse?

For starters, the Senate could replace the majority's responsibility to end debate with the minority's responsibility to keep it going. It would work like this: for the first four weeks of debate, the Senate would operate under the old rules, in which the majority has to find enough senators to vote for cloture. Once that time has elapsed, the debate would automatically end unless the minority could assemble 40 senators to continue it.

The New Yorker published a long narrative piece on the Senate which featured many passages focused on Tennessee's two senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander. Here's one excerpt on Corker and the role he tried to play in fostering bi-partisan teamwork on a financial reform bill:

Finally, on February 10th, Dodd called Corker, who, though he was one of the committee's junior members, agreed to be the chairman's Republican negotiating partner. When Corker informed McConnell and Shelby, they expressed surprise. "It was an odd place to be," Corker recalled. "And yet that night we began meeting." The junior Republican savored the rare experience of creating, rather than opposing, legislation. In response, Shelby's conservative staff tried to undermine Corker, spreading rumors among Republicans and their lobbyists that he was giving too much away.

Alexander was featured as a kind of "institutionalist" who decried the polarization of the Senate but came out against changing rules to make it harder for the minority party to obstruct.

"They'll get over it," Alexander said of the Democrats' enthusiasm for rules reform. "And they'll get over it quicker if they're in the minority next January. Because they'll instantly see the value of slowing the Senate down to consider whatever they have to say." He added that the Senate "may be getting done about as much as the American people want done." The President's ambitious agenda, after all, has upset a lot of voters, across the political spectrum. None of the Republicans I spoke to agreed with the contention that the Senate is "broken." Alexander claimed that he and other Republicans were exercising the moderating, thoughtful influence on legislation that the founders wanted in the Senate. "The Senate wasn't created to be efficient," he argued. "It was created to be inefficient."

 

NASHVILLE - No wonder that both candidates for governor say they won't raise sales taxes.

 

A new report by the non-partisan Tax Foundation confirms what most Tennesseans already suspected at the checkout counter: the Volunteer State has the highest combined state and average local sales rate in the country - although some cities elsewhere have higher combined rates.

 

Local sales taxes in Tennessee - those levied by cities and counties - are capped at 2.75 percent, and are 2.25 percent in Memphis and Shelby County. But statewide, local sales taxes in Tennessee average 2.44. Combined with the 7 percent state sales tax, Tennessee's combined state and local average rate is 9.44 percent - the nation's highest, according to the Tax Foundation http://www.taxfoundation.org/ a Washington nonprofit that monitors federal, state and local fiscal policy.

 

After Tennessee, the Tax Foundation reports states with the highest combined state and average local sales tax rates are California (9.08 percent), Arizona (9.01), Louisiana (8.69), Washington (8.61) New York (8.52), Oklahoma (8.33), Illinois (8.22), Arkansas (8.1) and Alabama (8.03).

 

Memphis and Nashville are tied with San Jose, Calif., for the 13^th highest combined sales tax rates - 9.25 percent - among the nation's major metropolitan areas, the Tax Foundation also reports. Both the state and metro area reports are available on the website above.

 

Birmingham and Montgomery, Ala., share the dubious distinction of having the highest combined sales tax rate - 10 percent - in the nation.

 

Unlike Tennessee, Alabama's city and county sales taxes are stacked on each other. So in Birmingham, consumers pay 4 percent state sales tax, 4 percent city and 2 percent county sales tax, for a total 10 percent. In Montgomery, it's 4 percent to the state, 3.5 percent to the city and 2.5 percent to the county.

 

Ouch! At least in Tennessee, you pay a city or county sales tax depending on where the sale occurs - but not both.

 

On the other hand, Tennessee is among 17 states that tax food to varying degrees, which progressive tax-policy advocates decry. Tennessee discounts the sales tax on food in grocery stores (not restaurants) by 1.5 percentage points; that is, the state sales tax applied to grocery food is 5.5 percent rather than the full 7 percent. Local sales taxes are added on top of the 5.5 percent.

 

According to the Federation of Tax Administrators http://www.taxadmin.org/ Tennessee is one of 10 states that provide some sales tax discounts - either state or local or both -  for food purchases. Two others - Alabama and Mississippi - apply their full sales tax rates to food. Five state - Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma and Wyoming - tax food but provide rebates and/or tax credits to low-income households. http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/sales.pdf

 

Tennessee's sales taxes are high, of course, because we rely on them to fund government more than most states do. Seven states don't have individual income taxes at all: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Two - New Hampshire and Tennessee - have a limited income tax that taxes only unearned income such as some interest and dividends, according to the FTA http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb/Informationalpapers/4_individual%20income%20tax%20provisions%20in%20the%20states.pdf

 

Surprisingly, given the current anti-tax political environment, three states have increased their sales or income tax rates this year, according to the Tax Foundation.

• Arizona voters approved - by a 64 to 36 percent margin - increasing their sales tax from 5.6 percent to 6.6 percent.

• The Kansas legislature increased its sales tax rate from 5.3% to 6.3%.

• Oregon voters approved - by a 54 to 46 percent margin - a state income tax increase retroactive to Jan. 1, 2009.

 

Meanwhile, neighboring Arkansas enacted another decrease in its sales tax on grocery food, now subject to 2 percent in state sales tax rather than 3 percent. Local sales taxes may be added.

 

There may be no more important public policy decisions made by the County Commission and the City Council than the votes this week expected to approve a new zoning code that aims to create denser mixed-use neighborhoods that emphasize walkability, biking and neighborly interactions. Daniel Connolly writes about it previewing today's Commission meetings, pointing out it will change the face of the city. Proponents say it will greatly improve the quality of life and provides a longterm blueprint for creating neighborhoods that can make Memphis a more attractive place to live and work.

Daniel also previews the vote on a possible 1.5 percent raise for county firefighters -- with the money not accounted for in the budget the Commission passed using increased property-tax revenue. Interestingly, the proposal to merge the Memphis and Shelby County fire departments would included moving county firefighters to full pay parity with those in Memphis -- but interim mayor Joe Ford killed the idea and moved forward with plans to spend more county money on county-only fire department infrastructure.

Finally, Amos Maki pens a lede as if he's spent some quality time maneuvering a skateboard around Memphis. The city announces it will build a new $440,000 skatepark at Tobey Park near the Board of Education and caddycorner from the Liberty Bowl.

I've been rereading some of my favorite passages from "All The King's Men," the great book about power and politics based in part on Huey Long, the larger-than-life Louisiana politician. And I happened across this passage, where The Boss, aka Gov. Willie Stark, is laying out his ambitions to Jack Burden, the narrator whose job it is to reveal how his boss will go to any length to get what he wants.

"You know what I'm going to do now? Soon as I bust the tar out of that gang?" 

"No," I said, "I don't know."

"I'm going to build me the (gosh)-damnedest, biggest, chromium-platedest, formaldehyde-stinkingest free hospital and health center the All-Father ever let live. Boy, I tell you, I'm going to have a cage of canaries in every room that can sing Italian Grand Opera and there ain't going to be a nurse hasn't won a beauty contest in Atlantic City and every bedpan will be eighteen-carat gold and by God, every bedpan will have a Swiss music box attachment to play 'Turkey in the Straw' or 'The Sextet from Lucia', take your choice."

"That will be swell," I said.

"I'll do it," he said. "You don't believe me, but I'm going to do it."

Last week's ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States significantly narrowing the use of the so-called "honest services" fraud law that prosecutors from around the country employed to fight corruption is one of those decisions that the public doesn't much follow but that will have a huge impact on how public business is done. It was used here to prosecute John Ford and was a key part of the federal investigation into whether former Memphis mayor Willie Herenton improperly mixed public and private business.

The CA's own Marc Perrusquia gave a nice overview of what that ruling may or may not mean. At the left-leaning muckraking political website, Talking Points Memo, the ruling was given not one but two treatments. And at the online magazine The Root -- which provides commentary from "a variety of black perspectives" -- a writer bemoaned the Supreme Court decision. 

After you finish watching Argentina-Mexico in Sunday afternoon's World Cup quarterfinal, head on over to the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library to get a dose of public policy. The Public Issues Forum is hosting a forum 3 p.m. Sunday on campaign finance titled, "THE INFLUENCE OF MONEY ON OUR DEMOCRACY -- Facts and Implications of the recent Supreme Court Decision allowing unlimited Corporate Contributions to Campaign Finance."

Dr. Heather Larsen-Price, an assistant professor in the University of Memphis's political science department, will be one of the panelists, along with U of M law professor Steve Mulroy, a county commissioner with expertise in election law.

According to a press release, "The Public Issues Forum is a Memphis voluntary association, which sponsors programs to inform and educate the public on current issues and seeks to reinforce the principles set forth in the Constitution of the United States."

Wednesday's county mayoral forum at Germantown Country Club, conducted by the suburban-based Shelby County Chambers of Commerce Alliance, featured 10 questions that were submitted to candidates Joe Ford and Mark Luttrell ahead of time. Most of the questions also included preambles that provide insight into the worldview that prevails in Memphis's suburbs. There are many facts and figures in the document marshaled to justify that point of view, and whether you agree or disagree, it's vital to understanding the priorities of those with influence and power in Memphis's suburbs.

Bartlett Chamber of Commerce president John Threadgill graciously passed along the document, which you can read by either clicking the jump (at bottom) or get the PDF here:
Breakfast with Mayoral Candidates June 2010.pdf . Keeping in mind that the Alliance wanted to really focus the candidates on issues unique to suburban businesspersons, it was interesting that none of the questions asked either candidate to discuss their plans for improving things in Memphis -- the city where vast numbers of suburban residents work, play, shop, etc.

The most striking omission -- no questions about The Regional Medical Center at Memphis (but three dealing with consolidation). As Threadgill acknowledged after the forum, leaders in hospitals and medical industries that more and more contribute to the quality of life in the suburbs are very, very concerned about the survival of The Med. The Republican gubernatorial candidates fighting for votes in the Shelby suburbs have expressed those same concerns -- if The Med does not survive, it will have an enormous impact on hospitals in the suburbs specifically and the delivery of quality medical services in general for suburban residents. That's not just because of The Med's trauma center; if the poor and uninsured patients no longer have The Med, they will inevitably soak up resources at private and nonprofit facilities.

Threadgill and Germantown Chamber CEO and President Pat Scroggs said much care was put into crafting the questions, and Threadgill explained the omission of The Med by saying, "That question has been asked so many times." As I pointed out to him, consolidation has been asked many, many times too -- and the chambers devoted three of 10 questions to that issue despite an acknowledgment in the document that "the candidates are basically on the sidelines" when it comes to the Memphis and Shelby County Metropolitan Charter Commission's work. On The Med, however, whoever is elected mayor on Aug. 5 will have a huge impact on the future of the public hospital that so many say is so vital.

So read over the document: Breakfast with Mayoral Candidates June 2010.pdf. To be fair, the questions did work well to guide a very substantive conversation between Ford and Luttrell that revealed some important differences on important topics, especially when it came to economic development. More on that in an article we plan to publish on Sunday.

Full text of document available after the jump.

If you have not already heard, The Commercial Appeal is preparing for the departure of Otis Sanford, currently what we call the Opinion Editor though that does not begin to fully capture the role he plays for us. The University of Memphis has recommended him to the Tennessee Board of Regents to take over the Helen and Jabie Hardin Chair of Economics/Managerial Journalism, but, fortunately for us, he will not leave until the end of the year -- after this important 2010 election season has finished. And even after he leaves the newsroom, Otis will continue to write his weekly column. For a longer look at Otis's fascinating career, go here and jump to page 12.

In honor of Otis, check out some of the recent Opinion pieces, including Otis's analysis of why Memphis Mayor A C Wharton decided not to fight the City Council and public opinion on the issue of pay cuts for the city's highest-paid employees.

Otis and the editorial board (including citizen members) met with Wharton and Robert Lipscomb, the city's director of housing and community development, and came away impressed by the Wharton administration's plan to "right-size" city government by utilizing the BRAC process (Base Realignment and Closure) the federal government employs to find savings and efficiencies with the Armed Forces. The idea is to create a commission that looks at every corner of city government and makes recommendations that the City Council would approve with an up or down vote.

The Tennessee Newspaper Network's coverage of the gubernatorial campaign continued with a look at the distinctions between candidates on the issues of campaign finance and constitutional offices. Here is the article and our sister Scripps-Howard newspaper publication, the Knoxville News-Sentinel, has a great reproduction of the grid listing the candidates full responses to questions. Knoxnews.com also has a nice utility that allows readers to look at responses candidates have made on various issues and a database of campaign contributions.