Justanothercoverup.com

Early today, CNN’s top story was in regard the civil suit that alleges that children were abused in Florida’s Reform Schools in the 1960’s. The retired guard is denying the charges - but they ring true based on my own personal experiences. Torture and abuse has been prevalent in our Reform Schools and prisons as long as I can remember - and it still continues in many of our prisons and has been condemned by Amnesty International. I feel for the man who was courageous enough to file a suit against the State of Florida, however, I also feel sure that our Justice System (sic) will exonerate the accused guard.

Reform school guard, 85, denies beating boys

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) — The man with the white hair and Southern twang seemed the consummate gentleman. Handsomely attired in a dark jacket and open-collared burgundy shirt, Troy Tidwell came to answer questions in a civil lawsuit that portrays him as a monster.

Across the table sat one of his accusers, Bryant Middleton. He had finally come face to face with the man who he says has haunted his dreams for the past 50 years.

He claims Tidwell beat him mercilessly with a leather strap when he was 14, when Tidwell was an administrator at a Florida reform school. Much More

How can we stop the torture of prisoners outside of the United States when at home, it is commonplace throughout the bulk of our own prisons? I’m disgusted with the torture of people that aren’t on American soil, but the ACLU needs to work on cleaning up our own prison systems before they can honestly address the torture of so called “Enemy Combatants.” If we do it on a regular basis to our own citizens, then it’s a natural progression to use the same or worse tactics on those who the government believes are terrorists. The American people need to acquaint themselves with what is going on in our own prisons and express the same outrage they have for torturing Enemy Combatants.

It is insulting to me that we care more about those who might be a threat to our country while ignoring the terror and death that is occurring in a prison system that is growing by the day. We incarcerate more people in the land of the “Free and Brave” than any other country on earth and then have the audacity to condemn other countries for doing exactly what is standard operating conditions throughout America.

The American Prison and the Normalization of Torture

By H. Bruce Franklin

The prison has become a central institution in American society, integral to our politics, economy, and culture. Between 1976 and 2000, the United States built on average a new prison each week and the number of imprisoned Americans increased tenfold. With a current prison and jail population of over two million, America has become the uncontested world leader in incarceration. Prison has made the threat of torture part of everyday life for millions of individuals in the United States, especially the 6.9 million currently incarcerated or otherwise under the control of the penal system. More insidiously, our prison system has helped make torture a normal, legitimate, even routine part of American culture.

Imprisonment itself, even when relatively benign, is arguably a form of torture. This is implicit in our society using prison as the most dire legal form of both “punishment” and “deterrence,” except for execution. Moreover, in the typical American prison, designed and run to maximize degradation, brutalization, and punishment, overt torture is the norm. Beatings, electric shock, prolonged exposure to heat and even immersion in scalding water, sodomy with riot batons, nightsticks, flashlights, and broom handles, shackled prisoners forced to lie in their own excrement for hours or even days, months of solitary confinement, rape and murder by guards or prisoners instructed by guards–all are everyday occurrences in the American prison system.(1)

The use of sex and sexual humiliation as torture in Abu Ghraib and the other American prisons in Iraq is endemic to the American prison. Psychological and physical sexual torture is exacerbated by the underlying policy of denying prisoners any volitional sex, making the only two forms of sexual activity that are physically possible–homosexuality and masturbation–both offenses subject to punishment. Strip searches, including invasive and often intentionally painful examination of the mouth, anus, testicles, and vagina, frequently accompanied by verbal or physical sexual abuse, are part of the daily routine in most prisons. A 1999 Amnesty International report documented the commonplace rape of prisoners by guards in women’s prisons.(2)

Each year, numerous prisoners are maimed, crippled, and even killed by guards. Photographs could be taken on any day in the American prison system that would match the photographs from Abu Ghraib that shocked the public. Indeed, actual pictures from prisons in America have shown worse atrocities than those pictures from the American prisons in Iraq. For example, no photos of American abuse of Iraqi prisoners have yet equaled the pictures of dozens of prisoners savagely and mercilessly tortured by guards and state troopers in the aftermath of the 1971 Attica rebellion.(3) Even more appalling images are available in the documentary film Maximum Security University about California’s state Corcoran Prison. For years at Corcoran, guards set up fights among prisoners, bet on the outcome, and then often shot the men for fighting, seriously wounding at least 43 and killing eight just in the period 1989-1994. The film features official footage of five separate incidents in which guards, with no legal justification, shoot down and kill unarmed prisoners.(4) MUST READ ARTICLE

It is hypocritical of us as a nation to run headlines about torturing enemy combatants when we constantly torture our own citizens. Those who have suffered torture in our prisons and reform schools need to bring lawsuits “en masse” to bring the torture of Americans in our penal system so that torture at home will also be addressed in these times when so much publicity has been given to the inhabitants of facilities that are not on American soil.

I have my own ghosts I would like to face in a court of law, and I urge anyone that was in Fred C. Nelles School for Boys in Whittier, California during the 1960’s to contact me via email so that a similar suit can be brought against the State of California. I have outlined some of the torture I was exposed to myself in this article: US Has Been Torturing Our Own Citizens, Including Children, For Decades

Torture will not stop until Americans that have been exposed to it file similar lawsuits that was filed against the State of Florida, and I urge anyone that has been tortured on American soil to stand up for your rights and work together to file a class action lawsuit that will address torture that occurs regularly in our own country which is always ignored by the mainstream news media. If we fail to address this issue, Americans will be subjected to torture and abuse as long as those whom have suffered through this unconstitutional activity remain silent.

William Cormier

NOTE: I wrote an autobiography 20 years ago that spanned years of a person that no longer exists except in the recesses of my own memory. I cleaned-up my act when I was 28, and in a couple of months, I’ll turn 59 years old. Two and a half years in the California Youth Authority, and then five in Alabama and two separate sentences in California’s Adult Penal System have left me with an insight that very few people enjoy. Since the very beginning in Alabama, I learned that education was the key to getting off the farm - which believe me, was worth any effort that would be successful in escaping one the toughest work programs ever faced by US Inmates. The cruelty and torture that occurred in Alabama Prisons in the late 60’s and early 70’s makes what happened in Reform School mild by comparison and leaves any sane individual with a commitment to never place themselves in jeopardy of losing their freedom again - the most precious commodity that Americans possess. Back then, crude efforts were aimed at rehabilitation, but in my opinion, reform schools and prisons were nothing more than training grounds to educate America’s next generation of criminals. Recidivism was in the high eighty percentile range and I believe the system was designed to guarantee a high rate of what many people call the “revolving door.” Today’s prisons have literally given-up on rehabilitation - and now the emphasis is on punishment (sic) with sentences which are imposed that often transcends the inmates memory of the event that caused his/her incarceration.

I survived the system by playing a dual role; I was always a clerk of some type and had the good fortune of recognizing those who were the best of a largely corrupt system, and most of the time I was a Captain’s Clerk or higher. One individual I worked for began as a lowly Third Watch Sergeant in Alabama’s notorious “Bottom” which was located next to Holman Unit - where Alabama executions are carried out. Wherever Charlie Jones was transferred I was fast on his heels, as his transfer often depended on me coming along in the deal. I believe that Mr. Jones recently retired as the Warden of Holman Unit.

In California, I remain one of the few inmates alive that re-wrote the Procedures Manual for an entire correctional institution. I used my knowledge of inmate behavior and that of guards to write a manual that greatly enhanced the safety of inmate and officer alike, and it was done under the veil of secrecy, as the guards and inmates alike would have killed me if they had known that I was closing security holes that had existed since the institution opened. My Title was Captain’s Clerk, who later became a “Program Administrator” at San Quentin, a position highly coveted and only granted to those who had shown extremely strong writing skills. The key to advancement was always the ability to write detailed “Incident Reports” and Procedure Manuals, a skill I learned out of self-preservation.

It’s tough to find people that have a perspective that covers both ends of the spectrum, and as we debate our bloated Penal System, people who are truly enlightened with the issues and corruption that guarantees a high recidivism rate should be brought forward in the debate - as looking at it in a purely Law Enforcement perspective will result in failed attempts at rehabilitating a system that is now profit based. Prisons are big business in the United States, which is why one out of nine adults is either on probation, incarcerated, or has been a previous resident in our penal system. Those figures are astounding, demonstrating that Judges are lobbied to imprison as many as they can, contributing to a system that now is nothing more than big business built on the misery of others. As long as profiting from the incarceration of our fellow Americans profits large corporations, don’t expect any real change. In fact, if we allow the same profit based system to continue, we are likely to expand to a prison state far faster than most of you believe. It is maintained by prison change activists that as high as 10% of our entire prison population is innocent - and if that figure is correct, it’s a national disgrace that we so callously imprison anyone we can as District Attorney’s try to make a name for themselves, citing high conviction rates which the public believes is helping to protect them from people who they have been led to believe need to be locked-up for the safety of the general public. Guilt or innocence usually carries no weight with a District Attorney; all they care about is convictions, and when the deck is stacked exponentially in their favor, inmates regularly accept deals that threaten to levy maximum sentences id they fail to accept a guilty plea, and public defenders are usually nothing more than deal brokers.

I’m debating whether to publish a chapter or two per month on this site or attempt to get it in E-book form, something that I don’t have the funds to accomplish. It’s hard to turn-back the clock and remember what I have attempted to forget for a lifetime, but since there appears to be a movement to change some aspects of our prison system, I believe this is a publication that will shed some light on issues that Americans have no idea that exist but must possess in order to make an informed decision. So far, those that have proof-read the original state they haven’t been able to put it down, and in my opinion, it needs to be re-written to include a more detailed account of the issues that contribute to the need to support an out of control prison system.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read something that genuinely made me sick, but today is the day when all of America can now state, without question or doubt, that our Department of Defense is being run by people that have no respect whatsoever for our Constitution, the rule of law, and The Bill of Rights. In my opinion, that makes the DOD an enemy of the people and President Obama should fire the individuals who have stated that “protests are low level terrorism.”

WTF??? Have they lost their damn minds??? This revelation demonstrates that our government is now a farce, but Americans are complacent, and unlike the Iranian people, who took to the streets and some have died protesting a stolen election - Americans have forgot what it takes to maintain freedom and democracy.

DoD Training Manual: Protests are “Low-Level Terrorism”

The Department of Defense is training all of its personnel in its current Antiterrorism and Force Protection Annual Refresher Training Course that political protest is “low-level terrorism.”

The Training introduction reads as follows:

“Anti-terrorism (AT) and Force Protection (FP) are two facets of the Department of Defense (DoD) Mission Assurance Program. It is DoD policy, as found in DoDI 2000.16, that the DoD Components and the DoD elements and personnel shall be protected from terrorist acts through a high pirority, comprehensive, AT program. The DoD’s AT program shall be all encompassing using an integrated systems approach.”

The first question of the Terrorism Threat Factors, “Knowledge Check 1″ section reads as follows:

Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism activity?

Select the correct answer and then click Check Your Answer.

O Attacking the Pentagon

O IEDs

O Hate crimes against racial groups

O Protests

***

The “correct” answer is Protests. MORE

This excerpt from the DOD training manual is a direct attack on our First Amendment rights and is contrary to everything that REAL Americans believe in, have died for, and nullifies The United States Constitution! This is a matter that Congress should address immediately and the President should address the people and explain this portion of the DOD Training Manual that reeks of fascism - and if neither corrects this unconstitutional description of terrorism, then it will be apparent that the real terrorists are not those who engage in peaceful protest - but are those who are running the Department of Defense.

There is a lot more I could say, but for now, I feel the overwhelming urge to vomit as I see democracy and freedom being challenged by those who obviously hate our constitution and the American people.

William Cormier

I don’t receive financial aid from the state, but my disabled sister and her two children, one who is a “special needs” child do - and not too long ago, we learned that social services in the State of Georgia is on the verge of total collapse.

We were told that the state is essentially broke, state employees are being layed-off - and there is a hiring freeze in effect. One caseworker has in excess of 600 cases and has been with the state for over 20 years. Her husband is asking her to quit, however, this courageous woman is attempting to do her job with her staff cut more than half - and the caseloads are growing by the day. Do the math on this one; based on a 40 hour workweek times 4.3, which is an average month, allows a caseworker approximately 3.5 minutes per case, barely enough time to use the restroom!

So far, my sister has lost her benefits twice; the first time, they scheduled a review on the day she was scheduled for major surgery. I am her authorized representative and made sure to keep Child Support Services apprised of her condition; we never received notice of the hearing, and to make matters worse, the state has a call-in center that records any address changes or other pertinent information that can affect a beneficiaries case. The “call center” is an utter farce, and if you report something, whether it is entered into the system is a coin toss - sometimes they do their job, but more often than not, they are incompetent and I believe they are purposely sabotaging cases to save the state money. (This is my opinion.)

Georgia, in their quest to save money, are over-working their employees and treating them as if they were slaves, thus exacerbating the problem by losing seasoned workers that knew the system and were able to help people; their years of experience allowed them to serve huge caseloads and still maintain some semblance of competence in a state agency that is quickly being destroyed.

The above facts/allegations bring forth a question; how much money did Georgia receive in “Stimulus Money” - and where was that money spent? It’s quite obvious that Social Services was ignored, or whatever money had been earmarked for them was diverted to a program that was “politically correct.” “Yes we Can” Obama bails out banks, the auto industry, financial services companies, and if there’s anything left over - it might find its way into the hands of the people that actually need it.

Once again, even though we called the call center and gave them a change of address, it didn’t go through, and her medicaid benefits were terminated because she did not attend a review that she never received notice of… It’s extremely hard to keep an appointment that you don’t know about - and this is happening to the poor across the state of Georgia on a regular basis. We learned that in Forsyth County, one of the wealthiest counties in Georgia - their staff has been cut almost in half while their caseloads are soaring. Lumpkin County is even in worse shape, and DHR (Department of (in)Human Resources) workers are being brow-beated to the point that many of them who have served this state for decades are now considering quitting their jobs - and many have already quit or been layed-off..

Those who feed their families and receive Medicaid and Food Stamps are arbitrarily being cut-off from their benefits based on a severe lack of support staff in the Department of Family Services. It’s not often that I side with state employees, but in this matter, I can honestly state that Georgia is treating their employees like crap - which ultimately impacts those whom they are attempting to serve. I choose not to name names, however, a state employee asked us to please contact the Governor’s office and demand that they properly staff the state Child Support Services not just in Lumpkin County, but throughout the state…

If you live in Georgia, receive food stamps or Medicaid, please email a copy of this post to the Governor’s office so he will know that the public is aware that his cuts are impacting loyal state employees. It is also impacting the people who need assistance the most and is causing people to go hungry - something I never believed would happen in the United States. I received this information some time ago, however, in order to protect the identity of the employee(s) that gave me this information, I have held off publishing this article with the hope they are unable to trace who gave us this information - and if they do, the individual has since retired.

Lumpkin County in particular appears to be vicious in their approach to sick children and adults. As I stated in JustanotherUpdate For February 2009, our family, since October of last year, has faced death and a multitude of health problems. After my Mother died as a direct result to the damage that a Lunesta adverse reaction caused to her heart, we were forced to move to Lumpkin County; without my Mom’s income, we had to reduce our bills and find a place we could afford, and Lumpkin County seemed to be our best bet. We do like where we live, and enjoy being in a county that has not “militarized” their police force. I’ve heard there are a few bad apples, but generally speaking, the Sheriff’s Department in Lumpkin County is professional, courteous, and our Sheriff is respected and well liked by anyone that has had the pleasure of interacting with him and his department.

The school system is another matter, and in my opinion, they are discriminating against our family based on my political beliefs. It’s very rare when I write about local matters, especially on an issue that will soon be adjudicated (sic) in what I believe is a lost cause. Most states have truancy laws, and in many cases, they are necessary to make sure that students attend school as they are supposed to. My Sister has been extremely ill, and since October, she has had almost all of her teeth pulled, developed MRSA ((Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) in her jaw, and was miserable for a very long time. She also had knee surgery, an emergency hysterectomy that was put on hold to meet Medicaid criteria; no matter how sick a woman is, they have to prescribe a course of birth control pills to ensure that it won’t solve the problem, so by the time the surgery was approved, one of her ovarian cysts burst approximately two weeks before she went under the knife - and even though I’m not that familiar with this type of procedure, I watched in absolute horror as she suffered beyond belief when the cyst(s) burst. Her physician, who was excellent, wanted to perform the surgery immediately, but he had to comply with Medicaid rules which in her case, could have killed her.

She is still extremely ill, needs surgery on her right foot, which was crushed in an auto accident, and has a long way to go before she is healthy again. If you take the time to read the link to JustanotherUpdate For February 2009, you will find that we had the bad luck of moving into a trailer that was infested with mold - and our entire family was extremely ill for months before we found out exactly what was making us sick. There were too many times when the children had headaches so bad that they continually vomited and were exhausted to the point that my sister decided that it would be cruel to send then to school when they were obviously that ill. It’s noteworthy to add that the schools don’t care if a child is vomiting and has debilitating headaches; if there isn’t a fever present, then the schools believe the student should be in school. In the State of Georgia, a parent’s right to try and care for their children has been taken away by “No Child Left Behind.” As usual, it’s all about the money which was recently evidenced by several Georgia schools who cheated on the States CRCT Tests:

Cheating on CRCT signals test’s high stakes

By Alan Judd, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Officials from the five schools came to Deerwood to collect answer sheets from their respective students and send them off for automated grading. But state investigators say the test papers from one group of students apparently took a detour.

When the results came back, students from four of the five schools posted modest gains, on a par with others around Georgia. But for Deerwood students, scores surged. The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement last week released preliminary conclusions from an investigation revealing someone erased incorrect answers and penciled in correct responses.

The cheating at Deerwood and three other public elementary schools in Georgia, documented in the state report, underscores the desperation of some teachers and administrators to avoid the embarrassment of failing to meet the requirements of the decade’s overarching education reform effort, No Child Left Behind. In each case, scores increased enough to reverse the schools’ first-ever failures to make “adequate yearly progress” toward student achievement goals. MUCH MORE

A couple weeks ago we were summoned to court and my sister was charged with “Educational Neglect” for her 11 year old son (who is a “special needs child”) and his 13 year old sister was charged with truancy. I believe it’s important to add that her son made the honor roll for the year, and his sister had all A’s and B’s with just one “C” in spite of missing too much school. There were days when both of them wanted to go to school, as they enjoyed school and were proud of their grades - but unfortunately, their headaches and vomiting caused their mother to keep them home where they could stay in bed - something that any contentious parent would do. While we were waiting for court, we spoke to several families and found that some of them had “special needs” children -which to me, appeared to border on discrimination against those who require special care. I believe this issue is ripe for a Federal Civil Rights Class Action lawsuit - and I have been urging several parents to join in a class action lawsuit so that Georgia’s mishandling of their truancy laws can be decided by a Federal Court, not the local court that seems to be interested in punishing parents because their children are sick and are unable to meet the criteria that Lumpkin County seems to believe is the avenue to create income for the court system while making sure they receive their full quota of “No Child Left Behind Funds” even when it is inappropriate and punishes those who need more care than average children.

Furthermore, I was also charged in the original complaint, and stated that I would represent our family rather than relying on a Public Defender’s office that has a conflict of interests with me from a previous unrelated incident. The Judge asked who I was and why I was speaking even though I was named first in the complaint at least two (2) times and was also “summoned” to court; while my Sister was recuperating from her surgery, I had power of attorney over her and the children and it’s possible that I too may have been “guilty” of allowing the children to stay home from school or took them to the Doctor while she was ill. Yes, in Georgia, even though your child is extremely ill, you and your children can be punished for taking your child to the Doctor too many times - even though the physicians don’t have a clue what is making them sick.

Because of my sister’s illnesses, she hasn’t been able to work for approximately two years. She has a total income of 360.00 per month from SSI benefits she receives for her son, so my sister and her two children have been living off my income. These unjustified charges are costing us money we don’t have and the county and state know it. Of even more concern is that she was told that she cannot have a public defender for the charges against her in regard her son for “educational neglect” because that is a civil matter rather than a criminal matter so she has to apply to another division of public assistance to receive representation on a case that is obviously intended for the state to attempt to take custody of her son. Her son’s illness is complex, requires a great deal of attention, and even while she was recuperating from surgery - she stubbornly refused to allow anyone to care for her son except her (within the family), and in the process, unknowingly lengthened her recuperation time.

I’m not griping because of the money I have had to spend; family is family, and as long as I can keep a roof over their head I will - notwithstanding the constant incompetence shown by Family Services (Which I maintain is not their fault, but caused by budget cuts.) and a school system that is attempting to punish our family for my political views. Yes, early on as we attempted to adjust to the new school system, we found that the Middle School was great, but the grammar school that my Nephew attended was far below par of the one he attended in Forsyth County - and they seemed to be exacerbating his problems by their own neglect. I argued with the principal and somehow or other politics made it into the argument, and from that date forward, my Nephew was treated like a leper.

One instance that stands out was his school bus driver; my nephew was constantly accused of causing havoc on the bus. Other children in our neighborhood stated the bus driver seemed to be picking on him for no apparent reason - and some of these children felt so bad for him that they actually came to our home to stand-up for him, as they knew he was being singled out when he had done nothing wrong. One day, the commotion on the bus was so bad the driver had to pull the bus over to calm the students, and when my nephew caught the bus the next morning, the driver stated that he/she was going to get him kicked off the bus for yesterday’s incident. (If he lost bus privileges, we would have had to give him rides to and from school for the rest of the year, something that would have been financially impossible.) My nephew didn’t ride the bus that day, and the driver actually watched the video tapes of the bus run to verify that he wasn’t there. (It would seem that a quick call to the attendance clerk would have been easier, but anyone that targets an eleven year old special needs child for harassment isn’t the brightest bulb on the tree anyway.)

When we found out that mold was the culprit that was making all of us sick, instead of moving out of Lumpkin county as I should have, we decided to move to northern Lumpkin County which would leave my niece in her same school but force my nephew to attend a closer Elementary School. We felt that moving both children to a new school system would be detrimental to their education, therefore we paid more to stay in Lumpkin County for the betterment of the children (sic). My Nephew’s grades immediately improved and he was no longer a “problem” on the bus. The immediate improvement in his grades and “behavior” on the bus seemed to instantly change, which in my opinion, demonstrates that it was the school, not him, that was responsible for many of his educational problems.

I feel sure that as soon as this article is published, we will feel the wrath of the school(s) and the people whom are responsible for this farce, but it’s coming anyway - and I believe that the state should investigate this county and its practice of targeting individuals whom are really sick, and in some cases, children that have severe physiological problems as well as ADHD and other emotional factors that I cannot discuss in this Blog. I can and will say this; my sister was in such miserable physical health because she and her children had been abused by her husband. She is separated and has sole custody of the children but is unable to afford a divorce. The father has never paid a cent in child support, states that he never will, and has chosen to be an unemployed bum rather than paying a nickel to support his own children. They grew up being beat, not spanked by their father - and there were instances when he kicked his own son with steel toed boots.

Both children are doing much better now that the abuse has stopped, and for the first time in their lives, they can honestly state that no one has ever layed a hand on either of them since they have lived in my home. Now, instead of an abusive father, we have to fight an over zealous legal system that thrives on the poor and disadvantaged - and I feel guilty that my writing has made their situation worse - as I never would have believed that Republicans would pick on children to get at me. It just goes to show you that like love and war, anything goes in the realm of politics, and that includes traumatizing children that are guilty of nothing more than having an uncle that is a Liberal/Progressive living in the midst of one of the reddest counties in Georgia.

The Public Defender’s Office reluctantly accepted my Niece’s case, and then refused to discuss his case until they appeared in court. Without them having any background on the case, I feel sure that the outcome will be “let’s make a deal” rather than on the merits of the case. Furthermore, as it pertains to the charge of “Educational Neglect,” we believe that charge stems from my sister’s disapproval of his Special Education needs which were cut without any justification or explanation from the school. She made the mistake of disagreeing with bureaucrats and insisted that he still had multiple issues that needed to be addressed on an educational level. Furthermore, he is being advanced to the fifth grade - and I don’t believe for a minute that he can stand-up to the curriculum of the fifth grade. Yes, the school stated that he was an honor roll student - but I’d bet my money that once again, another school may be guilty of manipulating test scores. I’m one of the individuals that helps him with his homework, and he barely comprehends what he is reading, has difficulty forming complete sentences, and other issues too numerous to mention - but now that we live in the age of “No Child Left Behind,” and schools can be punished for not achieving their goals, I’d like to see some independent testing that proves he is ready for the fifth grade.

William Cormier

NOTE: How long it takes to recover from mold sickness varies, however, it is directly correlated to how long the exposure lasted, and in our case, it was for months. We sent to Arizona for petri dishes to identify what type of mold it was, as well as the proper treatment, but our landlord saw the petri dishes in the refrigerator as we were moving out and would not let us back into the dwelling.

Furthermore, my Nephew was promoted to the fifth grade. As his caretakers and those who help him with his homework, we believe that he reads on a second or possibly third grade level; he doesn’t comprehend his homework most of the time, and in this instance, even though they stated he was an “Honor Roll” student, none of us believe it. We believe that he should receive some independent testing, and when the results come back, it’s out belief that he was pushed forward to enhance their standings as it pertains to “No Child Left Behind.” Once we prove that he has been promoted when he cannot understand the curriculum of the fifth grade, as we believe that the doctrine of the poisonous tree will intervene - which equates to poison in one, poison in all.

I personally called the governor’s office and spoke to one of his aides; he immediately went to my site and printed the article for delivery to the governor. I have been told that we will receive a response after it is investigated thoroughly. We do have a Republican Governor, however I have to admit that I was treated with courtesy and maybe even grudgingly respect - but in the final analysis, the only way this case will be adjudicated properly is if they have my Nephew re-tested and we are allowed to process discovery motions which will demonstrate that in reality, this entire persecution of our family is nothing more than a farce. My Niece has also had her share of neglect, and there’s no way she belongs in a courtroom. These are matters that need to be decided in the Judge’s Chambers as they are highly confidential, and the Public Defender refusing to talk about this matter until the next court appearance is problematic at best - I’ve taken cases myself, acting in my own behalf many, many years ago that made it into the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals - and the final ruling was in my behalf.

UPDATED ON 6-24-09

When my Niece first came into my home, I had sole custody of her before her mother arrived from out of state. She had never been a stellar student and at one time, we wondered if she was slightly retarded. I changed her diet and set some rules for bed time, and suddenly, after the abuse was stopped, an A/B Honor Roll student emerged and there were only a few times that I had to help with her homework. At the end of the first school year, the Assistant Principal stated that when she first arrived, she was extremely shy, walked with her head-down and was withdrawn. At the end of the school year, Mr. Jackson took me aside and told me that whatever I was doing not to stop. He first saw her as unhappy and withdrawn - and by his own words, described her as an extremely happy child. I was taken-aback, as I had done nothing more than encouraging her to get good grades in school and always showed an interest in her work. I believe in positive reinforcement and made good use of the Father of Behavior Modification, B.F. Skinner. Her attendance at that time was almost perfect, and even on the days she was experiencing some pretty severe female issues (It runs in the family.), I encouraged her to attend school. (Those issues were so severe that she is now under the care of a gynecologist - and just missed an important appointment because her medicaid benefits were cut-off.)

My sister is still ill, has a Doctor’s appointment again this Friday, and both of her children need to have their prescriptions refilled, which was my intent to help with when I called the Governor’s Office. I just learned that my eldest twin has been arrested by Lumpkin County and subsequently turned-over to Gwinnett, County, Ga., on charges that haven’t been posted yet. He was picked-up in Dahlonega at his place of employment, which will likely result in the loss of his job. Do I believe this is political harassment? Absolutely, and depending on what the charges are - I’m betting that I can make a “Prima facie” case for political harassment. Let this be said; jails don’t allow inmates to continue on medications no matter what a particular physician prescribes them, and if I’m next on the list, I would do well by not stroking-out or having a heart attack within the first 72 hours. I’m taking several medications that upon abrupt discontinuance - can be life-threatening and someone in my health could easily die by our systems reliance upon a profit making structure that trumps any vestige of “compassionate conservatism” (sic) it ever really existed other than in slogans.

I just spoke with my Sister’s Family Services Caseworker, and she stated her benefits were reinstated on the 16th of this month. She was surprised that we didn’t receive notice of it in the mail, however, ever since we’ve lived in Lumpkin County - there has been a problem with us receiving mail from Family Services, and even though they have this address, the notification never arrived. Now it seems that a visit to the Postmaster is necessary to find out why we do not receive important mail on a regular basis.

I will update this as soon as possible when I am in possession of more information. I may have been wrong in regard the Governor’s Office, as the issue seems to have been resolved soon after I called his office. If his office was responsible for expediting her case, I convey my apology as well a my gratitude - although this small victory is clouded by my son’s arrest on charges that still remain beyond our ability to receive notice of - and that includes calling and receiving information from the jail. This is a matter that I will be watching closely, however at this time will remain silent on several inconsistencies which have presented themselves, including but not limited to an illegal search and seizure. This issue is so blatantly unconstitutional and frivolous that I doubt I’ll have to write anything further and let the system run its course.

Update: There has been a lot that has happened since the publication of this article. I received an email back from the Governor’s Office, and where he couldn’t offer any particular help, I believe that his hand is evident as I have received so far, three (3) calls from the Department of Family Services, one of which was from the Director. No matter what may be said to any employee at the division of Family Services, let it be known that even though it has been requested, extremely politely I might add, I have claimed journalistic privilege and refused to release any names - and I will not release the names of the individuals that gave me information that was cited in the article as it pertains to cuts in the staff(s) at Family Services, and how the employees feel like they are being taken advantage of…. If you work for Lumpkin or Forsyth/Lumpkin County Family Services and have been contacted and it was stated that I gave up your name(s) - it’s not true - as investigators are not required to tell the truth, rest assured that your identity will remain confidential. Do not be tricked into revealing who you are based on false information.

Everyone that I have spoken to has been extremely polite, and seemed to posture themselves as wanting to help in any way they could. I’ll admit it’s not the reaction I expected, and if that demeanor could transfer down to dealing with an overloaded staff that is reactive and frayed, then employees that have remained loyal to their respective employers for years may be enticed to stay on rather than seeking early retirement. Let’s support a staff that is over-worked, some offices which are cut in half, that must handle more cases than when they were fully staffed, and the caseloads grow by the day.

Since this was obviously a “news story” and revealed facts that were not heretofore reported by the Mainstream News Media, I did claim journalistic privilege when I refused to release their name(s). In all honesty, whereas I might remember the face, the name of the individual was not my concern and I purposely made no effort to obtain this individual(s) name… Luckily, one of the people whom had called me stated that they had been to the office, and no one would admit to revealing said information, which was my clue that my sources wished to remain anonymous and I must respect their choice. To clarify this issue, they (Family Services) state they are seeking the individual(s) name where I received the information in order to correct any misconceptions and “help” those individuals, however, since they chose to remain anonymous, I’m guessing that more is involved than meets the eye. I don’t believe legitimate “whistle blowers” should be persecuted, but lauded and cherished as those who are courageous enough to attempt and disseminate the truth to the public. The individual I spoke with today assured me that their intentions were benign, but during an investigation of any sort, those attempting to extract information are never required to tell the truth so I’m sticking to my guns and hope there won’t be any legal repercussions… I clearly stated to the caller today that since the information I quoted was not repudiated by the State - then I had to believe that my source was good. If it was incorrect in any way, I will publish a retraction, however I stand on the fact that the information appears to be true and correct.

So far, nothing has presented itself in a negative fashion - and the first caller was kind enough to give me some figures on monies due via the “stimulus” to programs under the auspices of Family Services; She called when I was sleeping, was groggy when I answered the phone, but did manage to write down that 82 million is due to child care, 10.3 million in food stamps, and another 12 million in emergency food aid. None of these monies have been disbursed yet, evidently tied-up in bureaucratic red-tape, however I noted that nothing had been allocated to the staffing of family services which I find grossly unfair to those employees tasked to complete rising work loads with ever decreasing staffs. I do wish I had been awake when I received the above call, as I had the impression that the individual wanted to go into more detail, however, I hadn’t had my coffee yet and was too tired to ask the right questions.

I do appreciate the response from the Governor’s Office and the subsequent contacts by various officials from the Georgia Office of Family Services. The Governor’s email was as follows:

STATE OF GEORGIA

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

ATLANTA 30334-0900

Sonny Perdue

GOVERNOR

Dear Mr. Cormier:

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts regarding your sister, the Lumpkin County School System and the Georgia Department of Human Resources’ Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS). I appreciate your concerns.

Georgia’s Constitution (Article VIII) is explicit in its meaning that local schools shall be under the control of local boards of education, and as Governor, I do not have the authority to intervene in local school matters.

If you have not done so already, I would advise you to appear before the local board at the next scheduled board meeting to voice your concerns. Under O.C.G.A. ?20-2-1160, every local board of education shall provide a forum for hearing and determining any matter of “local controversy in reference to the construction or administration of the school law.” I would strongly urge you to avail yourself of this opportunity to make your views known.

For more information on procedures for formal hearings and appeals of board decisions, please contact the Georgia Department of Education:

Georgia Department of Education
2066 Twin Towers East

Atlanta, Georgia 30334-5001

(404) 656-2800

http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/pea_board.aspx?PageReq=PEABoardAppeals

To address your concerns about DFCS, I referred your letter to B.J. Walker, Commissioner of the Department of Human Resources, the agency which oversees DFCS. You may also reach that office directly:

Attention: Constituent Services
Georgia Department of Human Resources

2 Peachtree Street, Room 29-202

Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3142

404-651-6316

I hope this information is helpful to you. Thank you again for writing.

cc: B.J. Walker

Reading the Governor’s response, I first thought nothing would happen, but I was wrong. I have to thank the Governor’s Office for reaching out in this situation and our issues with family services have been resolved - except for the mail. With my car broke-down, following-up on some of these issues is extremely hard. I do appreciate the Department of Family Services responding positively in this matter, and the only question I haven’t had answered to my satisfaction was in regard the staffing at the offices.

For those who live in Georgia and have to depend on Family Services’ workers - remember they are working under extremely stressful conditions, and the apparent frustration and impatience some may exhibit may have nothing to do with you personally - but could be the unintended consequence(s) of workloads and objectives that were once achieved with much larger staffs. I tend to take matters personally, however in this issue - such a characterization could be erroneous and lead to placing the blame on people that are doing the best they can under working conditions that none of us would enjoy facing ourselves.

By Mitch Gurney

June 2009

In continuing my series An Infantry of Corporate Lobbyist waltzing with Wash. DC Part I and Part II, here now is Part III.

Bill Moyers -The Journal on PBS, Friday, June 12 had former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich as his guest and the topic centered on the healthcare lobbyists and the influence they are bringing to bear on the debate now underway. Robert Reich “was Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Labor; he implemented the Family and Medical Leave Act, and headed the Clinton Administration’s successful effort to raise the minimum wage.

The interview while centering on healthcare reform included discussions on banking reform and lobbyist activities in general. My objective here is to focus on what Mr. Reich said in regards to lobbyist. Whether it is healthcare reform or any other reform what we face is a formidable force of corporate lobbyist and their coalitions whenever they determine such reform is not in their best interest and that often overpowers the voice of the public. Elected officials have time and again bent over to appease their corporate benefactors. I cannot emphasize strongly enough that unless we reform election campaign and lobbyist funding nothing will ever change. It is imperative for the public to bring unbearable pressure on policy makers demanding they bring this egregious imbalance of influence into check.

For more details on the progress in the healthcare debate and the other topics discussed in the interview I encouraging reading the full transcript. Here however I will spot light key excerpts of Mr. Reich’s comments pertaining to the power of influence corporate lobbyist have over policy making in Washington:

BILL MOYERS: Despite the speech President Obama made at a Wisconsin Town Hall meeting this week, the question now is will he push back against the profiteers of health care? A powerful coalition has emerged…the Business Roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce, the big drug companies, the insurance giants, Rupert Murdoch’s media empire all …opposed to …real health care reform.

BILL MOYERS: I wanted to talk to you [Robert Reich] because you…know how Washington works. TIME MAGAZINE called you one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. So take us inside for a moment or two into how you think this healthcare debate is playing out after the President’s speech yesterday.

ROBERT REICH: Well, we’re now just about in the real time of fight and conflict. Republicans and the healthcare lobbies, mostly big pharmaceuticals, their trade associations, also the big insurance companies, private insurance companies, they are bringing out the big guns, the lobbyists, the threats, [and] the promises. They’re swarming all over Capitol Hill. And the question is how hard the President’s going to fight back?

ROBERT REICH: Because … [the healthcare industry’s] profits will be squeezed…they don’t want anything that’s going to squeeze their profits. And, they’re putting up smoke screens. They’re putting up other things that may look like public options but don’t have the bargaining leverage to get drug prices down and also to keep the private insurers honest.

ROBERT REICH: …There’s nothing actually pushing the system unless you have a public option that gives the insurers and the pharmaceutical industry and the hospitals a real run for their money.

ROBERT REICH: But unless they are going to be pressured, genuinely pressured to reform through a public option, there is nothing that’s going to change them.

ROBERT REICH: …But a President, to some extent, has got to be politically realistic. There is no real political option in Congress now for a single-payer.

BILL MOYERS: Wait a minute. The folks who are fighting for single-payer out there say it is feasible if only Congress would look at the economics of it.

ROBERT REICH: Well, a lot of things are feasible if Congress looks at the economics of them. But politically, no, unfortunately and I’m a big single-payer fan. Unfortunately, we cannot get there from here because the political forces are just too strong against single-payer.

This scenario is so typical in deciding policy in Washington regardless of the industry group if they don’t want it doesn’t pass go or at the very least a watered down version gets through. In this particular case the healthcare group does not want single-payer options and their message to Congress is NO and Congress will not challenge these forces unless there is an equal or greater opposing force that comes from the public. It is a stacked deck the matter has already been decided by industry forces. 

BILL MOYERS: You’ve got these powerful lobbies that you’ve been writing about on your blog. And you said on your blog this week that the real question for you is the extent to which Barack Obama will push back against these lobbies. What’s your answer to your own question?

ROBERT REICH: I don’t know…this is the first test where there is huge organized opposition. And it’s coming from very, very powerful lobbies who have prevailed– not just for ten or 15 years… [but]…for decades on this issue. So this is the truth time in terms of how able and willing the President and the White House is to really set boundaries and push members of Congress.

ROBERT REICH: …the problem … [is] not just pharmaceuticals and it’s not just the AMA, the American Medical Association, and the private insurers, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and so on. The whole system …is dominated by for-profit corporations….every individual company has hired fleets of lobbyists to take on their competitors.

Google, for example, didn’t have any Washington presence before it went public and discovered that if it really wanted…favors out of Washington or at least ward off Microsoft, it had to have its own team right there so it’s like an arms race.

When you’ve got that many lobbyists and public relations professionals and lawyers swarming over the Hill for these corporations, they also can come together against the public. And the public’s voice can easily be drowned out… even with regard to Wall Street even Democrats are reluctant to take on–

ROBERT REICH: …besides healthcare, [banking reform]…[and] that’s going to be the next big lobbying fight on Capitol Hill where the president is going to have to go toe to toe with the financial lobbyists who are very, very powerful and are going to say, “We don’t want regulation of any kind of compensation. We don’t want regulation with regard to conflicts of interest.”

BILL MOYERS: And the banks, as we speak, are fighting regulation. And they’re winning. The banks are actually winning on this issue.

ROBERT REICH: Well, they’re winning right now because… there are lobbies…I want to come back to this theme… because it’s important for the public to understand. The lobbies, whether we’re talking about healthcare, insurance, pharmaceuticals, or we’re talking about the banking system, [or any industry group] the lobbies in Washington are enormously powerful.

The only way we’re going to have any kind of regulatory regime for the banks that make sense is if people understand what’s going on, if they pressure their individual members of Congress if Obama stands up to the banking industry and forces real regulation on them.

ROBERT REICH: Healthcare and the public option is the first big one. I think that’s a big test. And then the real hard, tough regulation of Wall Street to prevent a repeat of what we’ve had before. Those are the two big upcoming fights [but]…Obama can’t do it alone.

Even though the presidency has all this power attached to it, only has a limited amount of power if the public is not pushing the president to take certain action and pushing Congress as well. There is no substitute …for an informed active citizenry.

ROBERT REICH: Essentially, capitalism has swamped democracy… But unless you have a democratic system that allows the rules to be created not by the companies but by the people and the people’s representatives reflecting what the public needs, not what the corporations need, you’re going to have a system that is not a democracy and it’s not democratic capitalism. It’s super capitalism without the democracy.

Go back [in] years and ask yourself why did we get into the banking crisis …And what you see again and again is that Wall Street lobbyists prevented the right kind of regulations…again and again…Wall Street said, don’t do it. Don’t limit us. Let us speculate. Let us do whatever we want to do. The market can take care of itself. Well, again and again we learn the lesson and then we forget it. The savings and loan crisis should have been-

BILL MOYERS: Twenty years ago, late ’80s.

ROBERT REICH: Yeah, we should have learned it then. You know…

BILL MOYERS: We don’t learn, though. Why don’t we learn?

ROBERT REICH: And then Enron and WorldCom in 2001, 2002, we should have learned it then. We don’t learn it partly because we forget and partly because the lobbyists are so powerful that they have our representatives around their - a chokehold over them.

ROBERT REICH: Now, I think the administration understands this…certainly, the president, every conversation I’ve participated in with him during the campaign and in the transition, left me with the impression that he understood this very, very well. I think most of the people around him understand this. The question is can he pull this off? Can he overcome the vested interests?

 Let’s summarize the key points regarding lobbyist contained in Mr. Reich’s interview:

• Essentially capitalism has swamped democracy
• What we most often get in policy is what the corporations need but not what the public needs
• A very powerful corporate lobbyist network has prevailed for decades
• They have a chokehold over elected officials – party affiliations are irrelevant - they play all sides
• Every individual company has hired fleets of lobbyist
• Standing up to them is tough; Democrats nor Republicans seldom; do they’re not going to resist the will of their financiers
• Those in Congress that do oppose this lobbyist force or even the President can’t do it alone
• They put up smokes screens to confuse and mislead an ill-informed citizenry
• There is no substitute for an informed and active citizenry
• If there is no equal or greater force opposing them Congress and the President merely roll-over and placate them   

I think the message Robert Reich delivers in this interview in conjunction with many other similar reports that I have highlighted in this series makes it very clear beyond any reasonable doubt that our elected officials need to hear loud and clear that first we want real election campaign and lobbyist funding reform otherwise we will replace nearly all of them with those who will deliver. I recommend that a public coalition be formed that writes the actual legislation for this reform, just as these corporate coalitions often do. Please see An Agenda for Real Change for additional proposals I have offered for reform.

Mitch Gurney

Update June 15, 2009

In addition to his interview on The Journal, Robert Reich posted an article The Healthcare War is Now Official on his blog on Thursday June 11 making the following observation:

“The big guns are out and they’re firing. All major lobbying firms in Washington — many of them brimming with ex-members of Congress — are now crawling all over the Hill. Lots of money is on the table. AMA’s political action committee has contributed $9.8 million to congressional candidates since 2000, and its lobbying arm is one of the most formidable on the Hill. Meanwhile, Big Insurance and Big Pharma are increasing their firepower. The five largest private insurers and their trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans spent a total of $6.4 million on lobbying in the first quarter of this year, up more than $1 million from the first quarter last year, and are spending even more now. United Health Group spent $1.5 million in the first quarter, up 34 percent from the $1.1 million it spent in the first quarter last year. Aetna spent $809,793 between January and the end of March, up 41 percent from last year. Pfizer, the world’s biggest drugmaker, spent more than $6.1 million on lobbying between January and March, more than double what it spent last year. It also spent nearly $3.3 million lobbying in the fourth quarter of 2008. Every one of them is upping their spending.”
“Some congressional Democrats are willing and able to stand up to this barrage. Many are not. They need cover from the White House.”
“The President can’t do this alone. You must weigh in and get everyone you know to weigh in, too. Bombard your senators and representatives. Organize and mobilize others. And let the White House know how strongly you feel. This is one of those battles that define a presidency. But more importantly, it’s one of those battles that define the state of American democracy.”  

By Mitch Gurney

June 2009

A recent article published on Wednesday June 10 by Truthout perfectly aligns with my posting, An Infantry of Corporate Lobbyist waltzing with Wash. DC and seems to important not to highlight here.

The article, Study Follows the Money on Cram-down Vote discusses a new analysis just released by a “government watchdog group that shows senators who killed off a consumer-friendly change in law aimed at addressing the foreclosure crisis received more money in campaign contributions from the industries their vote aided.”

Per the article the amendment in question:

“…would have allowed bankruptcy judges to adjust or “cram down” the amount of money borrowers owed their lenders on their primary home in order to avoid foreclosure.”

“Consumer advocate groups who have long favored this reform pointed out that this type of mortgage adjustment is already available for vacation homes, yachts and almost every other type of loan.”

The article continues:

“Senators who voted against the consumer-friendly amendment received $3.98 million from the financial industry during the 2008 election cycle, while proponents of the bill received $2.65 million.”

“Banking and finance special interests fought hard against the provision, arguing that the ability to adjust these mortgages would make mortgage lending much more risky and expensive, increasing the difficulty of getting a loan in the first place, and increasing the cost to borrowers.”

The analysis was prepared by a citizen advocacy group Common Cause , which has become a voice for change in reforming the electoral and legislative lobbyist funding process, and this latest analysis reveals;

“…that the Republican and Democratic senators who voted against the amendment had received more money in campaign contributions from the banking industry than those who voted in favor of the amendment.” 

In An Agenda for Real Change I wrote that;

“Without meaningful reform in electoral and lobbyist funding change is just a catchy but worthless jingle. By meaningful reform I’m referring to the removal of corporate, special interest, and lobbyist money from these processes entirely otherwise “business” will continue as usual.”

A statement by Common Cause President Bob Edgar featured in the article reinforces these goals;

“Until we change the way we pay for Congressional campaigns, average homeowners will be helpless when up against the power of the banking industry and its millions of dollars spent on campaign contributions and lobbying.”

I would add to Mr. Edgar’s comment that until we change Congressional campaigns and corporate lobbyist funding the average citizen will be helpless when up against the power of the corporate hold over Washington. 

The Truthout article continues by pointing out that;

“The amendment was opposed by every Republican in the Senate except for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) who did not vote. According to the Common Cause analysis, these members received an average of $77,150 from mortgage bankers and brokers, commercial banks, and finance and credit companies during the 2008 election cycle.”

This latest article bolsters the case I’ve made on numerous occasions that both parties essentially want the same things because both are funded by the same corporate entities and consequentially in servitude and collusion in satisfying the same benefactors, as it points out;

“But these 39 Republicans needed Democratic help to kill the bill. And they got it.”

“The 12 Democratic senators who crossed the aisle to vote with Republicans were Max Baucus (Montana), Michael Bennet (Colorado), Robert Byrd (West Virginia), Thomas Carper (Delaware), Byron Dorgan (North Dakota), Tim Johnson (South Dakota), Mary Landrieu (Louisiana), Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas), Ben Nelson (Nebraska), Mark Pryor (Arkansas), Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania) and Jon Tester (Montana).”

“These Democrats received more money from the financial industry than their Republican counterparts did, averaging $81,256 during the 2008 election cycle.”

Corporate benefactors play Washington by hedging their bets with both parties and direct campaign moneys to those pockets that will potentially benefit them the most as is illustrated when stating;

“An opponent of the amendment, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana), received $207,430 in 2008 from these financial industry sources. As the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Baucus remains a key player in legislation targeted at the financial industry. As chairman, he holds sway over the consideration of bills aimed at reregulating the financial sector in the wake of the financial collapse. Senator Baucus has come under fire from progressive forces for his recent attempts to prevent consideration of a public health care plan.”

“The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Chris Dodd (D- Connecticut), topped the list, raking in $912,744. Senator Dodd defied the trend and voted for the provision despite the cash coming his way. Dodd faces a tough 2010 reelection fight in part because of his perceived ties with the financial industry.”

“Senate leadership received handsome gifts, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) receiving $208,650 and $343,700 respectively. Reid voted in favor of the amendment, while McConnell voted against it.”

I strongly recommend reading this latest article in its entirety. It is an important read and serves to perfectly illustrate the points I have made in numerous of my own commentaries and especially An Agenda for Real Change and An Infantry of Corporate Lobbyist waltzing with Wash DC.  

Mitch Gurney

By Mitch Gurney

June 2009

A blog I follow regularly, the Daily Reckoning featured an interesting story on their May 22 posting. Staff members of the Daily Reckoning, a division of a financial research firm and publishing group Agora Financial, a subsidiary of Agora Inc, had been invited to Washington DC to participate in an off-the-record discussion with several members of Congress organized by Rep Ron Paul and shared the experience by opening with:

Forever in Bubbles – By Bill Bonner – The Daily Reckoning

Yesterday…we ventured into “Bubble World.”
“What’s going on? When will this be over? How bad do you think it will get? What can we do to turn this around?”
Members of Congress have the same questions the rest of us have. They read the same claptrap in the newspapers. They hear the same balderdash explanations from economists and federal officials. They’re wondering what is really going on. Not that we know. But they asked us anyway.
We report to you today from the banks of the Potomac. Our old friend, Congressman Ron Paul organized an off-the-record discussion with several other members of Congress. The subject was the financial meltdown…and the bailout. We were there to talk, of course, but we were more interested in listening.
“You don’t understand,” said a Senate functionary we met later, “these people live in Bubble World. They’re protected from the real world by their staffs and by the system itself. You imagine that they would know what is going on. But they don’t. They know less than we do. And they’ll be the last to find out. They are so busy meeting constituents…dealing with donors…working out deals with their political parties and supporters…and feeling like big shots…they don’t really have any time to study the issues. So they count on staff and party committees to tell them what to say, how to vote…and what to think.”
Waiting in the corridor of the Cannon building, two men in grey suits walked by…we overheard this conversation:
“Did you vote ‘no’ on that last resolution? You we’re supposed to vote ‘yes.’”
“I thought I was supposed to vote ‘yes’ to cutting off the argument…as far as I’m concerned we’ve heard enough about Nancy’s problem with the CIA…”
“But that wasn’t about cutting off the debate that was just technical…about allowing them to modify the previous vote…”
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know…I didn’t think it had anything to do with stopping all this gabbing about Nancy and the CIA…”
“We take it for granted that members of Congress often don’t know what they are talking about. But it is shocking to realize that they often don’t know what they are voting on either. And neither do the voters.”

Encouraging isn’t it? I wonder who is “telling” elected officials how to vote? I realize they may not actually read and evaluate the merits of all the legislations before voting on them so pretty much know the answer to that question. But it did get me to thinking about a pet peeve of mine, a subject I’ve written about on several occasions and that is the infantry of corporate funded lobbyist occupying offices along K Street influencing policy making in Washington.

In December 2004 Fox News reported that Congressional members do not read bills before passing them into law. And who can blame them when some of these legislations like the Patriot Act, TARP or the recent American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are hundreds even thousands of pages in length. As noted in a Washington Post article legislators have admitted they mostly read summaries of bills and often as with the Patriot Act and ARRA are given only 3 days to evaluate a piece of legislation before voting.

As troubling as that is, equally disturbing is the cadre of lobbyist that descends on lawmakers in advance of major pieces of legislation. I can’t help but wonder what potential influence these folks have in the preparation of summaries that are reviewed by law makers. Perhaps we ought to put more muscle behind efforts in passing the Read the Bills Act (RTBA) legislation.

“26 of the more than 300 companies that have been aided by TARP, paid lobbyists a total of $76.7 million to represent them on Capitol Hill in 2008. In the 4th Quarter of 2008, when Congress was crafting bailout legislation, these companies spent $17.8 million on lobbying–less than what they spent in the prior three quarters… 

CBS News several days before the signing ceremony ran an article, Credit Card Bill-What got Left out noting:

“Credit card companies killed two proposals to impose caps of 15 percent and 36 percent annual percentage rate (APR) on credit cards and other loans. An industry lobbyist told CBS News that that’s because in many cases credit card issuers are already charging more than 36 percent — if you add up the charges for things like late payments, insufficient funds, annual fees and cash advances. The industry says they could not survive.”

CBS reported that a letter from the American Financial Services Association (AFSA) was sent urging all “U.S. Senators to oppose all rate caps.” The letter campaign proved successful in striking down aspects of the bill the industry didn’t want, with CBS noting:

“So far the credit card industry has also succeeded in delaying the implementation of any regulatory changes for nine months in the Senate version or a year in the House version. Earlier versions of the bill had only a 90-day delay.”

The reason given in the AFSA letter for opposing Sen. Bernard Sander’s measure for a 15 percent interest rate cap was:

“Enactment of an APR cap, at either 36% or 15% would eliminate the ability of many Americans to meet their short term credit needs.”

While CBS reported a lobbyist for the industry had told them the reasons were:

 “…in many cases credit card issuers are already charging more than 36 percent …the industry says they could not survive”

Astonishingly Senator Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the only Republican to vote in favor of the rate cap at 15 percent along with 31 Democrat Senators, told CBS:

“Even though the amendment failed, it was barely 9:00 a.m. the next morning before his staff got a call from a credit card lobbyist wanting to know why Grassley voted for the cap. He told CBS News that he voted along with [31] Democrats because he is against “usury,” the practice of lending of money at exorbitant interest rates.”

It is typical for lobbyist to descend on congressional leaders as we hear about it all the time. What I find amazing with the Credit Card legislation (and I deduce this may not be all that unusual though) is that a lobbyist called to ask the Senator why he had voted against their wishes. I believe it is rare that Congressional leaders hear from their constituents in large numbers prior to a vote but even rarer for one to call back afterward. In September 2008 during the week leading up to the Senate vote on TARP I called my Senators requesting they vote against the legislation. Staff members with both offices told me they were receiving an unprecedented number of calls from constituents with an overwhelming majority opposed to the bailout. One staff member told me they had received over 39,000 calls, emails, and letters from constituents. This was later reported in the LA Times and other Senators had reported receiving above average numbers of calls with similar results.

With hearings currently underway, Washington is all abuzz about health care reform. Prior to the elections the healthcare industry sensing a change with the political landscape in Washington began shifting lobbying efforts by focusing more on the Democrats. On Friday May 22 Bill Moyers, PBS, The Journal, featured the Healthcare reform hearings raising a concern as to why proponents for single-payer insurance were being denied access to these hearings. Single-payer advocate Donna Smith gave a powerful explanation as do two other guests; Public Citizen’s Dr. Sidney Wolfe and Physicians for a National Health Program’s Dr. David Himmelstein. And again it appears the lobbyist, this time for the healthcare and insurance industry, are exerting a heavy influence over the issue.

Mr. Moyers, while introducing Donna Smith, shows footage of single-payer activist protesting for having been denied access to the hearings. He and Ms Smith open their discussions from this point:     

BILL MOYERS: Donna Smith is with me now. She works as a community organizer and legislative advocate for the California Nurses Association, whose 85 thousand members across the country were early champions for a single-payer program. Welcome to the Journal.

BILL MOYERS: What’s going on that you have to take to the streets?

DONNA SMITH: They’re not listening. Congress is not listening to advocates of a single-payer system. In fact, they seem to be bent on one direction and one direction only.

BILL MOYERS: What is that?

DONNA SMITH: Expanding the broken system that we have now. We have so many insurance companies involved in making health care decisions in this country, and so many Americans suffering at the hands of those insurance companies, whether it’s through higher premiums and higher co-pays and deductibles, and all the things that American citizens deal with.

BILL MOYERS: Now, you must have an opinion as to why that is.

DONNA SMITH: Because they’ve already made a choice. They’ve already made a choice, I think, to stay with the moneyed interest, the people who fund the campaigns, the people who fuel the government system as we know it now. You know, certainly where Senator Baucus is concerned, he’s the third highest recipient of donations from the health insurance and health care industry in general…[Senator Baucus is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee]    

Corporate funding of campaigns and lobbyist has been a part of our political landscape for many years. CRP reports that despite the economic downturn Washington Lobbying grew to $3.2 billion last year, proving to be quite a growth industry. From 1998 through 2008 industries have spent over $23 billion on lobbying efforts. They also report that interest groups spent $17.4 million on average in 2008 for each day Congress was in session. Similarly they report that from Climate Change to Credit Card, money in politics makes the news.

As noted in the CBS report President Obama and Sen. Chris Dodd’s campaigns received contributions in 2008 from the finance/credit card industry. Obama received $410,116 and Sen. Dodd also Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs received $209,100, according to CRP.

In Revisiting NAFTA I profile Fruit of the Loom and the apparel industry’s successful lobbying of Congress to pass legislation (H.R.434, aka “Trade and Development Act of 2000) that eliminated duties on apparel imported from the Caribbean. At the time the industries had outsourced manufacturing to that region and the elimination of the tax represented a large savings for these firms. Fruit of the Loom had confirmed they would realize $25 to $50 million in savings. The loss in revenue for the U.S. government in eliminating the tax was estimated to be about $1 billion over 5 years. At the time Republicans controlled the Senate and industry lobbyist and specifically Fruit of the Loom targeted Republican leaders, donating over $435,000 in soft donations including $265,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee run by Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell.

Clearly the powerful influence corporate lobbyist have over policy can be detrimental to our nation’s health. The need for reform is paramount and in An Agenda for Real Change I noted:

“…the root causes for most of our issues lies mostly with an electoral and legislative funding system run amok by a corporate-lobbyist network which is contaminating the national and foreign policy decisions made in Washington. Regardless of party affiliations this funding primarily originates from the same corporate-lobbyist networks with the Titians of industry hedging their campaign and lobbyist bets. Both parties essentially want the same things and are in collusion and servitude to the same multi-national benefactors. Regardless which party is elected to power the corporate agenda continues unabated. Without meaningful reform in these two critical areas change is just a catchy but worthless jingle. By meaningful reform I’m referring to the removal of corporate, special interest, and lobbyist money from these processes entirely otherwise “business” will continue as usual.”

The persuasive influence lobbyist have over policymakers is clearly obvious even with the Credit Card legislation, although lawmakers did give some minor concessions to consumers. But the next real test is with healthcare reform as the stakes for all concerned is much higher. If balanced and meaningful reform is to be realized then policy makers will need to hear from their constituents in equal to or greater than the industry lobbyist otherwise consumers may end up on the losing side of the equation. So what can we do? Become informed about key issues, make informed voting decisions, and let policymakers hear your voice by all means possible.

 Mitch Gurney

Shared Responsibility and Accountability

By Mitch Gurney

May 2009

In the recording of history it will probably be documented, even though some of us are dividing over it now, that the Bush-Obama bailout are a shared responsibility between the two presidencies. Upon assuming the role as President a new President does in principle become responsible for all he inherits. It’s unreasonable to fault a new president for actions undertaken by previous Administrations but he is justifiably graded on policies he continues and new ones implemented during his tenure. As we all understand not all decisions made by a President are good ones. And regardless which way the power may shift between the two parties this essentially can be said for Congress as well.

Although some may consider this too idealistic, a basic premise of the Constitution as it was originally designed was when an individual is elected to office the decisions they make in shaping policy were not supposed to be about party or special interest but for the welfare of the nation as a whole. In practice we know this is not always how it actually works. From its inception our nation was to be “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” In practice we know that this too is not always how it turns out.

Setting aside any debate as to the merit or substance of the program itself an example of legislators historically shared responsibilities and accountability for policy’s enacted that potentially have a haunting quality to them is the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, (PBGC) “an independent agency of the government” created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) primarily for the protection, continuation and maintenance of pension plans when companies go bankrupt. ERISA has roots dating back to 1961 when President Kennedy set up the Presidents Committee on Corporate Pension Plans when pension reform was gaining momentum. The ERISA legislation was originally proposed by a moderate Republican Senator Jacob Javits in 1967. The legislation was finally signed into law by President Ford in 1974. Over the years it has been amended repeatedly with the most significant amendments made in 2006 through the Pension Protection Act of 2006, signed into law by President G.W. Bush. The legislation was sponsored in the House by Republican Rep. John Boehner of Ohio and co-sponsored by 4 other Republican representatives.

I bring this little ditty of history up because recently it was announced that the PBGC deficits have tripled to over $33.5 billion in the last six months as companies cancel their retirement plans as a consequence of the financial crisis. PBGC faces the prospect of inheriting both General Motors and Chrysler pension plans as each could potentially end them. This does not bode well for these pension plan recipients who face potential reductions in benefits. Although PBGC is not funded by general tax revenues it remains to be seen how these growing deficits will be covered.

Our current financial crisis is another example of legislators shared responsibilities and accountability. Bailout decisions made during the Bush administration clearly favored Wall Street. We are witnessing the same pattern emerging now in the Obama administration. And we have seen how the Republicans in Congress had largely supported the Bush bailout while not supporting Obama’s. An unbiased appraisal of our poli