A Review of "Chicago-Style" School Reform
In 1995, Richard M. Daley, mayor of Chicago, gained control over the Chicago Public Schools--or perhaps as much control as one person can get over a bureaucracy as large as the CPS. (He got the power, from the legislature, to appoint the school's board and CEO).

The students who were in first grade at the time have now made it to high school (if they haven't moved out, or more likely, dropped out), and the Chicago Sun-Times has a collection of articles devoted to the experiment in mayoral control. Among the findings:

• Reading scores improved dramatically. However, only 49 percent of students who entered the CPS in first grade made it through the eigth.


• Standards have meant something -- 6,550 students have had to repeat a grade. (There are, however, some who fret over this--apparently thinking that promoting incompetent students is the best way to promote education.)


• The Big Push has not been cheap: $3.6 billion in construction spending; nearly $100 million in summer classes; nearly $100 million in after-school classes. The total budget has gone from $2.7 billion to $4.8 billion.


• Of current eigth-graders, 57 percent read at or above "national norms," while the comparable number for math is 64 percent


• The reforms require students to reach at least the 24th percentile of standardized tests at the 3rd, 6th, and 8th grade levels in order to move to. This doesn't everyone, but not all mind. Says one student, "I like the pressure. It makes me do good. I know I need to pass, so I will.''


• Some students (one in four, in fact) have repeated one or more grades--and may have skipped a grade in the process, rejoining their peers. Repeating one grade may work, but some researchers warn that students held back two or more times are more unlikely to finish school at all.


• Students from families with middle-class incomes were 29 percent more likely than average to leave the schools before the eigth grade. Most left for public schools outside the city. This appears to have been the pre-Daley pattern, as well.

The record is mixed, though slightly encouraging. Daley has placed his political prestige on the line for improved government schools, and in a city built on patronage and a strong mayor, that's of some value. Still, there's a long way to go, and some measure of school choice should be tried as well.
(permalink)

A Museum for Honest Abe
Governor Rod Blagojevich took some items out of Illinois' budget, including $6.8 million allocated to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The two-building complex is expected to come to $115 million. Springfield-area residents will pay for it three times--the project is funded by a combination of federal, state, and local taxes.

Though it's six years old by now, this item from the Christian Science Monitor gives a brief overview of the debate of whether taxpayers ought to fund presidential libraries. There weren't any such libraries until 1963. How did we ever get along without them? Yes, presidential papers should be preserved. But do we need a shrine to each president?
(permalink)

Milwaukee County to Privatize Golf Courses, Parks
Scott Walker, executive of Milwaukee County, said he would make more use of private firms in managing county golf courses and park concessions.

Given the $52 million budget gap, Walker said, it made sense to make more use of private firms. Walker also fired the Parks Director, who presented him with a plan to cut costs by closing county swimming pools earlier than scheduled. In other words, she gave him the "hold the public hostage" approach, while Walker was trying to use new strategies. The Journal-Sentinel says that the parks director was dragging her feet on pursuing privatization opportunities.
(permalink)

Economic Ignorance
Too often, public policy is made (or at least debated) in an atmosphere that ignores the basics of fiscal reality: "if it saves just one life, it's worth it" (even if doing so would take all the money spent on, say, fire protection?)

Lawrence Henry reviews some recent examples of ignorance (or is it demagoguery?) on matters fiscal. One newspaper story lamented the plight of a woman who obtained a home mortage from a "sub-prime" lender (that is, one that lends at higher-than-usual rates to not-quite-so-creditworthy customers). After paying $400 a month on the loan for 3 years, her balance had decreased by only $500.

I'm shocked, I tell you. Shocked, that this sort of things happens in America. Such mistreatment. Such outrage. Such ... Oh wait. As Henry reminds us, anytime you take out a mortage, the first years will do little to pay down the principal--doesn't matter whether your lender is "sub-prime" or not.

"Did anyone at the Eagle-Trib (ordinarily a good paper)," Henry asks, "think to do a spreadsheet on a 20-, 25-, or 30-year loan? Or to plug the words "mortgage calculator" into Google? No matter what the interest rate, in the first years of a long-term loan, payments work that way." But then there would be no story.
(permalink)

Laboring Over the Obvious
The Wisconsin legislature got into a shouting match over the question "What is marriage?" Under Wisconsin law, marriage is a contract between a husband and wife. Proposed legislation would define marriage as a contract between a man and a woman.

One legislator, according to the Journal-Sentinel, "said no court in the state's 155-year history has construed a husband to be anything but a man and a wife to be anything but a woman."

So you'd think he might oppose the measure as unnecessary, or perhaps endorse it? Think again. Instead, Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) said that the bill is "about bigotry, about hatred."
(permalink)

A Limit to Term Limits?
In 1992, 58 percent of all Michigan voters approved term limits on the legislature, governor, attorney general, and secretary of state. Now, the Detroit News finds "Sentiment is growing in Michigan to try to overturn voter-imposed term limits and allow lawmakers to stay in office longer."

Just one problem: the "sentiment" the News found lies largely in the legislature. Of course. It's not a bad job, if you can get it. Why wouldn't they want to stay in office?

This is a good time to review a Cato Institute study (PDF format) of the issue, which found that term limits:

• Stimulate electoral competition


• Promote non-traditional (especially minority) candidates, who are otherwise shut out


• Have not, contrary to claims of opponents, strengthened the role of the bureaucracy, legislative staff, or lobbyists


• Tend to lead to more sound public policy

Seventeeen states, with a population over 100 million (roughly one-third of the U.S.) have term limits for state officials.


(permalink)

Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Public Schools: Taxpayers Foot Bill for Palm Springs Golf
The Detroit Free Press is all over the Oakland (Mich.) Intermediate School District this morning for the way in which officials travelled well on the taxpayer dime. "A Free Press review of expense records," the paper said, "found a freewheeling environment with few controls over spending on travel, meals and gifts in a district that serves special education and vocational students. At the ame time, the Freep notes, special education students had to wait in line for some services.

In addition to conference stays at plush hotels, district personnel travelled to France, Germany, Poland, and other countries, as well as tourist traps such as Las Vegas in this country.

Further, "employees bought sweaters, handheld organizers, pillows, wallets, beach chairs, candy, silk flowers, plants, potpourri, candles, a vacuum, crystal, jewelry and movie videos, often listing the purchases as training or school improvement supplies. "

A lobbyist for the district (yes, taxpayer funds go to support a man whose job is to ... ask for more taxpayer funds) was reimbursed for $166.50 he says he spent on a meal. That's bad enough. Except he lied--the money wasn't for a meal, but for two rounds of golf in Palm Springs, Calif.

I have thismuch sympathy for the people criticized for the trips to fancy hotels. Conferences are often held at such hotels, and it's simply much easier, and more logical, to spend the night in the same hotel as the conference. And if the meeting is going to be in a downtown district where the choices are dominated by high-priced hotels, you're probably not going to find a Motel 6 or even a Hampton Inn. (I attend conferences where I end up paying what I think is an obscene amount of money on a hotel stay, because that's where the people I want to do business with are going to be staying.)

But government is not business. Yet government officials sometimes try to justify their expensive ways by appealing to business tactics. Said the golf-loving lobbyist, "The public might not like an $80 tram ride, but you have to look at it as an investment in bringing the money back into the district," said Whiston, who is paid about $92,000 a year. "I've always said this will never look good on the front page, but I'm hoping that they'll look at the total picture. It's a very competitive business."

True enough. But he is not in a competitive business. He works for a monopoly enterprise that is guaranteed the enrollment of students from a certain geographic area. And he doesn't have to earn the trust of customers. Or satisfy the demands of stockholders. Or ... or ... or. Other than that, it's just business.
(permalink)

Price Controls Alive and Well
Illinois becomes the 13th state to raise its minimum wage law above the federal level. The Daily Herald digs out anecdotal evidence that the increase will hurt some people, or else have no effect. Economists usually say that these price controls (ok, price controls usually set a ceiling rather than a floor on a price) reduce employment: there's a fixed amount of money to spend on employees, and if the cost of employees goes up, the number of employees hired goes down.

There are two other interesting arguments against the minimum wage. One is that increased wage costs provide further incentives to substitute machines or technologies, or even customers for workers. (Gas stations combine technology--pay at the pump card readers--with turning customers into workers.) A different argument is that training programs are, in part, another form of compensation to employees. As mandated wages go up, the amount of training an employee goes down--in the short run, good for the employee, but potentially harming long-run employment prospects.

(permalink)

Please, Don't Buy From Us!
The market for energy production, transmission, and delivery, is beset with regulations--some going back to the 1930s. And it's one of the few products (SUVs and pornography being two obvious examples) that is the target critics who want to see other people consumer less of it.

The demand for and supply of electricity, then, is not reconciled purely by a market mechanism, but by political pressure as well. Roy Cardoto notes "I think one of the most outward signs that the electricity 'market' is clearly perverse is that the industry spends huge sums of advertising dollars encouraging people to buy less of their product."

The only other produces who might conpare would be those whose legal standing would be violated by having minors as custoners--tobacco and alcohol companies.

Thanks to Reason's Hit and Run blog for pointing this out.
(permalink)

Standards-Based Ed Reform Threatens Taxpayers, with Little Benefit
There are two ways to reform schooling: standards-based, and market-based. Standards-based--impose high school graduation tests, test students more often, raise credentialling requirements for teachers--involve, well, tests, and, of course, more money from taxpayers. Market-based reforms use tax credits or vouchers to promote student mobility among schools, so that better schools get rewarded with more students (and hence, larger salaries for teachers and administrators) while poor-performing schools lose money for salaries.

Standards-based reform, being a benefit rather than a threat to the interests of teacher unions, has gotten the upper hand, through the No Child Left Behind Act, and other forms of legislation. It turns out, as Stateline tells us, that this kind of reform may spawn more lawsuits spurring ... you guessed it, ever more money for the education blog.

These "adequacy" lawsuits will point to miserable test scores as proof that taxpayers aren't shelling out enough money for schools. An analyst with the National Conference with State Legislators expects these suits to proliferate, and calls them "one of the unintended consequences of standard-based reform."

Market-based advocates of reform have always said that no amount of money will satiate the education blog. Sadly, they may be proven right--in court.
(permalink)

County Buys Buildling for $5 Million, Lets It Sit
Wayne County, Michigan (home of Detroit) bought a vacant megastore two years ago, for $5 million. It planned to use the property for a public works building, spending another $3 million for renovations. So far, it's ... done nothing with the property. It may soon have to fix it up, or sell it for a loss; the city of Southgate (where the property sits) threatens to levy taxes on the county if the land goes unused.
(permalink)

Economic Left to Join Social Left: Free Abortions for Autoworkers
The Detroit Free Press reports that the UAW plans to demand more benefits in its next contract session. But it's a controversial benefit: paid abortions. Given that a substantial segement of the American population (otherwise known as "car buyers") believe that abortion is the taking of a human life, it should be interesting to see how automakers respond. Typically, big companies like to avoid controversy, but not (as in the case of their support of affirmative action) always.
(permalink)

Baby, Let me Light My Fire
One by one, the traditions of youth practiced by baby boomers (and older generations) are going up in smoke. So, apparently, is smoke from a camp fire. According to the Wall Street Journal (article available to subscribers only) youth organizations such as the Camp Fire Girls (now co-ed) and Boy Scouts are phasing out the use of camp fires.

"Camp Fire USA," for example, plans to "emphasize alternative fuels, such as propane, in lieu of wood fires." The Boy Scouts' merit badge for cooking now involves slaving over a hot stove (literally) rather than preparing food by fire. One scout leader says "I hate campfires anymore," and some scout leaders have gone so far as to remove fire rings from forests (and, in a sign of "too much time on my hands" syndrome, washed the rocks that had been used to form one ring.)

What's driving this batty behavior? Blame the lawyers, for one. Says one scout leader "The problem is if any kid gets hurt, the parents could go after the Boy Scouts, and maybe even us adult leaders." Another reason is misguided environmental values, such as wood depletion (as if forests had been depleted by a band of 9-year olds roasting hot dogs) and a spiritualized view of the land, in which man should "leave no trace." Others say that the forests need the decay of wood, forgetting that dead brush is also so much fuel for firest. Sometimes, though, it's mere aesthetic sensibilities, that keep the folks from a gathering around the fire. "Everything gets sooty and cruddy" with a camp fire, says one man.

Not all agree that properly managed, a fire is a bad thing. Says one forest manager, "Some of our 'no campfire' signs have been used in fires." I'll keep that in mind next time I light a few logs in the fire pit on my patio.
(permalink)

My Face is Your Inspiration
A short story in today's Daily Herald combines so many bad ideas that it's hard to know where to begin.

Like residents of many cities in Chicagoland, the people of North Chicago must purchase a government-approved sticker for their cars--think of this additional tax as another vehicle registration fee.

The most current vehicle sticker features ... a portrait of Bette Thomas, the city's mayor. Really.

Does this sound like something you've seen on TV lately? Perhaps portraits of Saddam on buildings around Iraq? Or if you remember back farther, Lenin, in Moscow? Though Thomas is nothing like those men, it is creepy that her visage is so present--by law--in the public sphere. It's also in keeping with the typical pattern of elected officials using government funds to keep name recognition high. (Think of "franking"--free mail given to Congress, and the Robert Byrd library, expressway, water treatment plant, etc.)

According to the Herald, the mayor explains it this way: her identity (a black woman) and story (first black person elected to the office) will inspire others.

"My election made history," she says, "and this shows the people of North Chicago what's available to them and what they can do. It says, 'Look at me! You can do it, too.'"

"Look at me?" It certainly does say that. I thought that a mayor was supposed to be a public servant. And this reminds me of the old saw that a good waiter (or in today's parlance, "server"--even closer to the word "servant") is there to serve, not be seen.
(permalink)

A Kid Can't Get a Job
John Kass, writing in the Chicago Tribune a few weeks ago (registration required), points out one of the ways in which government tends to stifle good ideas. A 9 year old girl was cleaning a window in her grandmother's resale shop. A newspaper photographer must have thought "Isn't that cute?", took a photo of the girl applying the squeege, and the paper ran it.

A Labor department official saw it, and busted the grandmother for violating child labor laws. Well, she wasn't thrown in jail, but she was, as Kass puts it, "properly educated." Kass concludes "It sounds more like re-education to me."

He then writes briefly of his time working in his father's butcher shop. I'm just glad my father didn't get "educated" for the times I spent sweeping the floor in the back room of the store he managed.
(permalink)

Building Patronage, One Brick at a Time
The Illinois Assembly passed a big affecting the Illinois State Highway Authority. Buried in the bill was a requirement that all new construction of sound barriers on the tollway be brick. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that "Strangely, neither the bricklayers union nor top lawmakers involved in the bill's crafting would take credit for the wording" of this gift to the industry.

Governor Rod Blagojevich vetoed the bill. It seems like an obvious move, but it's a good one for a state known for its corruption and mutual back scratching.
(permalink)

Indiana: What Time is It?
Indiana doesn't observe Daylight Savings Time. During most of the year Chicago and Indianapolis are in two different time zones (Central and Eastern, respectively), but during the summer, Chicago "catches up" with Indianpolis, so the two are on the same time.

The counies in the southwest and northwest corner (part of the Chicago metro area) of the state do observe DST, however, and a group called the Hoosier Daylight Coalition would like the state as a whole to join the rest of the states in eastern time and "spring foward, fall back."

After failing in four successive legislative sessions to get their views enacted, the coalition plans to disband. Its web site, which will disappear at the end of the year, links to a Bloomington-area school, the California Energy Commission, and a contractor of time.gov, where you can always get the "official" time.

Is DST arbitrary? Yes. Is it a government-coordinated reprogramming of our lives? Yes. Do I like it? Again, yes. Paul Harvey lambasts it, pointing out that (paraphrasing here) "If the government told us 'All right folks, you have to get up an hour earlier and go to bed an hour earlier,' we would revolt. But if they call it 'Daylight Savings Tims,' we happily go along." He's right, of course. But wrong, as well.
(permalink)

State Employees Could Bust Budget Deal
Jennifer Granholm, the Democratic governor of Michigan, reached an agreement with the Republican-led legislature a couple of months ago. They closed a $1.6 billion budget gap without a general tax increase. But now Granholm--the first Democrat in office since the 80s--must convince state workers to agree to $230 million in (temporary) concessions.

Good luck.

State workers say they are being expected to give up 10 percent of their compensation. Tough medicine, of course, but not unheard of in the private sector. The director of the Michigan Citizens Research Council says that "If the concessions don't occur, the money is not there to pay for 3,000 jobs." So the unions (yes, Michigan government employees are unionized, and they have collective bargaining rights) have to make a choice: pay cuts or job cuts.

The UAW (yes, that UAW) represents many of the state's employees, and its president says "No matter what meeting we go to around the state, workers say no concessions, let them make layoffs if they have to."

The president of another state employee union shows his utter disregard for the public with this remark: "Why should I pay so you can have a Secretary of State office closer to your home or so you can go camping at a state park? It's not my fault as a state employee that the market has gone to hell or that people have quit buying vehicles."

The plan proposed by the governor sounds worse than it really is. If the IRS agrees (there are some tax implications), "workers would defer a certain number of hours of pay and either take the time off in the future or have the pay moved into their 401(k) retirement plans to be paid out when they leave state employment." In other words, state employees would still get either time off or money put into their retirement funds--either of which most people would say is a good thing.

The unions want the state to cut back on its use of contractors. Natch--those are the folks in competition with the unions for state dollars (and employee dues). The state says it's already cut $20 million.

This is all worth watching. In the private sector, unions push for the benefits of their officers and members. Of course--plain old self-interest, as any economist would tell you. But they also face an ownership team which has its financial interests (the value of the company) at stake. When it comes to public employees, though, that delicate balance doesn't exist, since there is no ownership interest at stake. Both "management" and union, in the case of government employees, are on the same side--their interests lie not in budget restraint, but in getting ever larger budgets from a third party--the taxpayer.
(permalink)

NYC and Flyover Country Residents Are Different, After All
Remember that famous cartoon (from New Yorker, I think), the map of the U.S., in which 9/10 of the land in sight is taken up by New York City and the Jersey shore? It highlights, among other things, how different New York is from the rest of the country.

The Washington Post (newspaper of, uhm, another unusual city) reports on the car culture (or lack thereof) in New York. Only one in four New Yorkers, it turns out, has a drivers license. "New Yorkers plan work and play around their inability to drive," the paper says. Of course, it's not hard to get around in a car when there are so many people, and
"alternate side of the street parking, rapacious meter maids, $100 parking tickets, exorbitant insurance rates, incomprehensible and contradictory highway signs and the fact that no car in New York ever stays in its lane."

Perhaps this goes some way towards explaining how the residents of Gotham don't always see things the same way that people elsewhere do: in regards to transportation, at least, they live more like residents of Paris, France, than Paris, Michigan. Think of how the auto fits into the broader American culture: hundreds of thousands watching NASCAR events in person (while millions watch on TV); getting a drivers license as a rite of passage of adolescence; "making out" in the car; long family vacations on the road, driving through states that seem to never end, such as Nebraska, Kansas, or Georgia; hauling sheetrock in the station wagon or pickup truck; country music songs about trucks, with whimsical lyrics such as "I met all my wives in traffic jams / You know there's something women like about a Pickup Man," and two institutions almost gone even from flyover country, the drive-in theater and drive-in restaurant. (On the other hand, there are drive-up bank tellers, drive-through restaurants, and even drive-through purveyors of fancy coffee.)

New York is the only area in the country in which transit is anything more than a minor part of the transportation mix. That's due not only to its culture--something policy makers, in general, try to change all the time--but because of its population density. Most Americans outside of New York don't want the population density of New York, and they're not going to want its transportation system, either.
(permalink)

Wisconsin to Study Electronic Tolling to Rebuild Highways
The state of Wisconsin figures that it will take $6.2 billion to reconstruct Milwaukee-area highways. The Department of Transportation says it is considering using electronic tolling. The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, by the way, makes the case for electronic tolling and user fees to pay for highways. Here's their report, in PDF format.
(permalink)

Be Thankful for Inaction
"Sprawl" is the latest non-problem to be addressed by government planners. The Detroit Free Press reports on a "blue ribbon panel" with this photo caption: Strong voices on both sides of the debate may lead to political inaction.

Good.

Some policies affecting zoning and land use ought to be changed. But it's more likely they will be changed for the worse than for the better, so inaction is preferable to action.

But anyway, among the recommendations of the report:

Lower property tax rates for agricultural use, to "save farmland."
Make the distribution of state money for roads and sewers conditional on "regional growth plans."
By government rule (zoning), make people live on smaller plots of land.
More funding for mass transit [the dream continues, even in the state built by auto factories.]

The Mackinac Center, by the way, calls this "social engineering." Looks like that is still in demand, though.
(permalink)

To Follow the Money, Follow Politics
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the money reported on lobbying in Illinois has reached a five-year high. Reports filed by lobbyists and lobbying organizations show a total of $915,000 was spent on hobnobbing with state officials during the first half of 2003.

The fifth largest spender: Exelon, the company that controls the largest electric company in the state. (Electric utilities, of course, are regulated by the state.)

Fourth largest: Diageo, the hard liquour wholesaler. (The state heavily regulates the distribution of alcohol).

Third largest: The Racing Association of Illinois. (The state has been dabbling in reworking its regulation of horse racing.)

The second largest spender: the Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers. (Aggregate is used in roads, and roads are ... yup, built by the state.)

And the single largest lobbying group in Illinois? The Illinois Education Association.

But don't worry about perceived corruption, in this case.

It's for the children.
(permalink)

Scary Headline
From the Chicago-area Daily Herald's story about a plan to construct a new "city hall" in suburban Lisle: "
Visions of tax dollars dance in trustees' heads.

It's always more enjoyable to spend other people's money, isn't it?
(permalink)

Toll Road Cheats in Chicago. Will Wisconsin use electronic tolling?
An audit conducted by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority finds that 0.3 percent of all tolls due at manned tollbooths go unpaid (how is this possible? workers giving friends a wave-through?). But 10 percent of all tolls due at unmanned toobooths (some without as much as a gate) go unpaid--a 33-to-1 ratio. In the I-Pass lanes, which use electronic tolling, 6 percent of cars are toll cheaters--probably because the drivers don't have the transponder, and appreciate the ability to blow through at 50 mph.

Through an aggressive enforcement campaign involving video cameras and mailing out tickets to violators, the toll authority has reduced violations from 4.2 percent last year to 3.2 percent for the first 6 months of this year.

One oddity from the report: At at least one toll collection area, people paid more than they were supposed to. Why? One theory is that it's simply quicker. At the Joliet Road plaza, the fee is 15 cents (two or three coincs), but many motorists throw in a quarter (one coin).

A toll of 15 cents? People, if you're going to have a toll system that requires cars to make a stop, set the toll high enough to make a stop worthwhile--40 or 50 cents. On the other hand, if you're going to have small payments, electronic tolling is the way to go.

Meanwhile, the Journal-Sentinel reports on a proposal to pay for road projects in Milwaukee with electronic tolling. But don't count on it. The state is already sitting on $91 million in federal funds--uncharacteristically unspent after 12 years. The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, by the way, argued in favor of using tolls in this 2002 report (pdf format).
(permalink)

How Rudy Saved New York During the Blackout
Did you notice the calm in NYC during the blackout, compared with its history, and with the looting in Toronto? Thank Rudy Giulani. No, he's not mayor anymore, but his policies live in, for good.

I977, a blackout in New York City resulted in $2 billion in damages from riots and looting. The blackout last week resulted in no such calamity. John Podhoretz credits former mayor Rudy Giulani for leaving behind effective public safety management--and a culture that demands, and expects, crime to be controlled by adults. As Guiliani showed when he implemented "Broken Windows" justice (keep the small stuff under control, and the neighborhood won't go to pot), government can play a role in shaping expectations of culture, and culture can change. I hope that it won't change back under Rudy's successor, who seems more concerned about stamping out smoking and raising taxes than building on what he inherited.

UPDATE
Writing in the American Spectator, Paul Beston argues that 9/11 actually served to take some of the shine off of Rudy's reputation? How so? His able management on that horrible day overshadowed the good work he had been doing for years. After "eight years of putting New York's house in order, he had built up a civic infrastructure that made acts of hooliganism -- at least on a wide scale -- unthinkable and totally unacceptable. New Yorkers' expectations had changed," writes Beston.

Perhaps some nature of civic-mindedness came back after 9/11, inspired by the ultimate sacrifice of hundreds of firefighters and others who gave their lives for others. But that came, as Beston says, after years of a vigorous "The Adults are in Charge" policing policy that wasn't going to surrender the city to its worst elements.
(permalink)

Electronic Tolling to Increase on Chicago Roadways
The Illinois Toll Highway Authority has announced that it's going to add 22 electronic tolling ("I-Pass") lanes to the Chicago metro roadway system. It's about time. Tolls make sense--people who use the roads the most pay for them the most--but the heavy reliance on manned tollbooths do not. They take up way too much time, and personnel costs.
(permalink)

Alabama Tax Question
I've made several references to the plan by Governor Bob Riley to sell Alabama's taxpayers on a scheme to raise their taxes, by saying that Jesus would have them do it. (Perhaps Alabama does need to restructure its tax system, but the plan is no mere restructuring; it is also a massive tax increase.)

Chip Taylor has several links to the controversy, including A Minority of One, a site that appears to lean left (links to Noam Chomsky and other leftists prevail) and, I surmise, supports referrendum.
(permalink)

"Peace"
In solidly Republican DuPage county, Ill., a group opposing war in Iraq put up a billboard along a major road--just last week. OK, so they're timing is off, says an organizer, but, she adds, the Bush "administration seems really bent on war in other places, too, so it is still pertinent."

This reminds me of a car we saw yesterday. (Of course, we live not too from some similarly detached-from-reality neighborhoods.) The car had a single bumpersticker, with one word. I looked over at my wife, pointed to the bumper sticker, and said "Peace." Her reply? "In our time."

If I was the kind to engage in automobile vandalism, that would be a great prank: order some bumperstickers with the words "in our time." Affix them underneath every "Peace" sticker that I find.
(permalink)

Property Tax Reform Dead in Wisconsin
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tax reform and lower property taxes in the Badger State dead. The blame-game has begun.
(permalink)

Does Ugly Art Belong in a Public Park?
The combination of government and art often comes out to the benefit of neither. But the combination of the two in Green Bay, Wisc., concerns people not because of vulgar sexuality, but because some people think the artwork is kitsch, or ..., well, not in keeping with the theme of other artwork.

"The Receiver" is a 22 foot statue of a nondescript wide receiver, allegedly a player for the local Packers. The team, however, has "outgrown" the 18-year old statue. A local man has bought it, but its final fate is uncertain. The Packer Hall of Fame says the thing won't fit in their building, and the city's mayor balked at putting it in a local park. The "statue doesn't fit in a place designed to honor the area's early history."

If all public issues were of this magnitude ...
(permalink)

Do As I Say ...
In the column devoted to campaign finance in Michigan, Dawson Bell adds this gem, another chapter of the hypocrisy that surrounds governent schools.

"Why does it seem likely that all the sotto voce stuff dumped on former Gov. John Engler -- about how enrolling his triplet daughters in a private Montessori school instead of the neighborhood elementary was evidence of general disdain for public education -- will not be repeated now that Gov. Granholm has announced her 5-year-old will be going to the same place?"

Engler made some attempts to cut government. Granholm, to her credit, settled on a budget that did not use huge tax increases. But she's a Democrat, and Democrats are happy to have one of their own after 12 years of Engler in power. (To Michiganders, of course, Bell's question is rhetorical; Dems were rather passionate about Engler.)
(permalink)

The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform
A report by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network revealed that laws governing campaign finance didn't exactly have a lot of say in the 2002 elections. Both the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor agreed to limit their campaign spending in exchange for $1.125 in taxpayer funds. Meanwhile, however, "off-the-books" spending by the parties and other interested groups topped $17 million.

Political columnist Dawson Bell, writing in the Detroit Free Press, has the right perspective: "Fans of campaign finance reform think they could put an end to this charade by passing more rules. They are mistaken. Money will get into politics as long as who wins elections matters to people with money. "

If you want money out of politics, get politics out of money.
(permalink)

Charter School Plays Stymied in Detroit
Bob Thompson, a man who grew rich by paving roads, wants to spent $200 million of his own money to build 15 new high schools in that place of dismal educational performance, Detroit. The catch? He wants these to be non-unionized schools. Republicans think that's a fine idea; Democrats think it isn't. In a party line vote, the Michigan Senate agreed to give Thompson a charter, but Governor Jennifer Granhom, a Democrat, says she will veto the bill.

Union officials, of course, aren't enthusiastic about the idea of any non-unionized endeavor being successful--especially if it's in the public sector, which has been the lifeblood of unionization of late.

Government officials in Detroit are still angry that the (Republican-controlled) state took over the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) a few years ago, and presumably, they leaned on their Democratic friends to kill Thompson's charter plan.

All of this is a story of the limitations of half-measures. Charter schools, one half-measure are a step towards educational freedom, but don't allow as much freedom as vouchers or tax credits. Another half-measure, or perhaps quarter-measure, was the state takeover of the DPS, which was modeled after the ballyhooed Chicago experiment (of limited success). It was probably the best that could be expected at the time, however.
(permalink)