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Tired
of giving to the same wasteful, good-ole-boy village organizations?
Trustee Phinney
should resign; so should his wife Shorewood, Wis. (December 11, 2005) – Off with Trustee Michael Phinney’s head, and former Village President Rod Dow’s, too; and Lisa Froemming’s and Harvey Kurtz’s and Jeff Hanewall’s and Jeff Schmeckpeper’s. Give a neighbor a little authority and right away they act like they never heard of democracy, open government or conflicts of interest. More
________________________ Eckman could use a little Freakonomics
By
GEOFF DAVIDIAN SHOREWOOD, Wis. (November 15, 2005) -- Trustee Ellen Eckman, who may mean well, has a tendency to confuse an indicator with a cause. For example, she wanted to count the homosexual population of the village in order to suggest that the number, if high, would show there is a vibrant creative population because a high gay population is equated with a vibrant creative climate. In her budget rant on Monday, Eckman argued that since the village visioning statement supports education, by extension there must be an increase in library funding. Yet in Freakonomics, No. 7 on this week's New York Times list of best-selling hardcover non-fiction, University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt (doctorate in economics from MIT, 1994) addresses the very incorrect fallacy Eckman puts forth, namely, that children who frequent libraries do better on school tests. For example, smart people may have doctorates, but it was not the doctorate that causes intelligence. Clearly, there are very stupid people with advanced degrees -- something Eckman might suggest (fallaciously, again) is the case with me. More on Levitt's view Village Board rejects library's plea for special treatment, holds tax levy to $8.7 million Tax-and-spend Eckman's bizarre effort to 'negotiate' a promise to give library anything it wants in the future is dashed in light of library's $80,000 slush fund
Trustee Michael Phinney balked at the demand for more money and announced he would do a comparative analysis of library services in similar communities, acknowledging there were figures "floating around" that he was unsure of. Police Chief David M. Banaszynski took umbrage at suggestions all village departments fudge on their budgets, pointing out his staff is stretched by a position left unfilled. Meanwhile, Shorewood employs more librarians than any other Wisconsin municipality of similar size. Kohlenberg remarked that the issue of "shared services" might be appropriately considered for the library as has with police and fire.
Shorewood Village has no ethics code State senate passes ethics reform bill NOVEMBER 1, 2005 -- First it was back-to-back felony convictions of two former state lawmakers. Next, there was the recent poll by a conservative think tank showing only 6% of state residents believe elected officials represent them. Then well over 400 protesters with brooms showed up on the Capitol steps calling for reform.
The legislation, Senate Bill 1, abolishes the dysfunctional state Elections Board and Ethics Board and replaces them with a beefed-up and politically independent Government Accountability Board. Under SB 1, members of the new agency's board must be nonpartisan and are nominated by a selection panel independent of the power brokers at the Capitol. A critical feature of the new Government Accountability Board is an enforcement division with the authority to prosecute wrongdoing. See also Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Poll Says Today's Politicians Really SuckPoliticians love polls. Most of them won't move a muscle unless a trusted pollster tells them it's safe. But here's a poll the State Capitol crowd won't know what to do with. A citizen survey released today by the self-described "free market think tank" Wisconsin Policy Research Institute found that only 6% of Wisconsin residents believe their elected officials represent the interests of their constituents on important issues. Opinion We need to question our allegiance to America Dear Fellow Radical: Before replying to the message below, I want to thank Peter Phillips for his excellent work in Project Censored. And I want to thank him for sending me this piece, which precisely deals with a subject I have been writing and thinking about for about a year: Who are we, and where do we live?
Precisely, I want to
select the following line in Peter's piece below: Progressive Ideals: Rooted in American Values
By Peter
Phillips, PhD |
