Academy of Local Politics

Trickle down. When we hear that phrase, we think of economics. At least I do. The success of "trickle down" economics is subject to debate, as is any economic theory. There is another "trickle down" effect. This one is not subject to debate.

The "trickle down" effect of public confidence in political leaders.

The latest Gallop poll on public confidence is very disturbing.

Gallup's annual update on confidence in institutions finds just 12% of Americans expressing confidence in Congress, the lowest of the 16 institutions tested this year, and the worst rating Gallup has measured for any institution in the 35-year history of this question.

Twelve percent confidence rating of Congress!

Even though the Supreme Court (32% "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence) and presidency (26%) are rated more positively than Congress, all institutions are at or near their lowest ratings to date. The rating for the presidency is just one percentage point above its worst rating of 25% from 2007, while the Supreme Court's rating is its worst.

The public's confidence in President Bush is at 26%. While still a horrible confidence rating, it is more than double the confidence rating we have in Congress.

There is only one reason the public confidence in these political leaders is so low. They have earned it. The "trickle down" effect of these low ratings can be felt in every State House, City Council, County Board and on and on and on. Politicians at every level are paying for these low ratings whether they have earned it or not.

I don't see an end to this crisis of confidence.

Do you?

Happy Birthday America.

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I always read Leonard Pitts Jr. I very seldom agree with him, but I always read his columns. Yesterday was different.

I agree with Mr. Pitts that...  George W. Bush deserves a raise.

You're waiting for the punchline, I know. You're figuring with a setup like that, about a president whose popularity lives down where moles and earthworms do, the payoff's got to be a doozy.

Sorry, but there is no punchline because that wasn't a setup. I think the president should get a raise. Congress, too. And yes, I know Congress' approval ratings are similarly subterranean.

But see, the argument I'm making has nothing to do with this individual president or Congress. It is, rather, about us, about what we want and deserve in our leadership. Here's the short version:

You get what you pay for.

I've been saying that for years. But, I don't have the readership of Leonard Pitts Jr.

For the record, a member of Congress makes $169,300 a year. The president earns $400,000. Seen from the perspective of those who struggle to fill gas tanks, that's a lot of money. But according to Forbes magazine, the average CEO of a large corporation earns $15.2 million a year. Yes, those people are gluttonous greedheads who should be burned on a pyre of dollar bills. I'll bring the match.

Still, if that's the going rate, if that's what is earned by the best and the brightest, who can be shocked that paying a tiny fraction of that often saddles us with the dumb and the dumbest? 

Are you getting the idea?

Consider a note handwritten by former Congressman Randy ''Duke'' Cunningham to a reporter whose work helped send him to jail for taking $2.4 million in bribes.

In 2006, Rolling Stone quoted an excerpt: ``Each time you print it hurts my family And now I have lost them Along with Everything I have worked for during my 64 years of life. I am human not an Animal to keep whiping. I made some decissions Ill be sorry for the rest of my life. . . . As truth will come out and you will find out how liablest you have & will be.''

He was a congressman and he doesn't know how to spell ''whipping?'' Or ''decisions?'' Or ''libelous?'' Or that a period ends a sentence? He was chairman of the House intelligence subcommittee, and his writing would embarrass a smart seventh grader?

Suddenly, it's easier to understand why we see some of the decision-making we do, some of the money-grubbing corruption we do, why government service attracts the likes of Larry Craig, Tom DeLay, William Jefferson.

We have this notion that people should seek leadership from an instinct for public service. I share that belief. But I also know you can't put an instinct for public service into the gas tank. Nor will it pay bills on the two residences -- one at home, one in DC -- a member of Congress must maintain.

So here's a modest proposal: Pay the president $1 million a year (shouldn't the person who runs the government earn at least a 15th of what the person who runs Global Widgets makes?) and pay lawmakers half that.

We should do this, not for their sake, but for ours. Not as a reward for the leaders we have, but as an inducement for those we don't.

I believe this idea should go further. We need to pay our Governors and State Representatives more. We need to pay our Mayors and Council Representatives more...We do get what we pay for.

The storm season is coming. Mock disaster drills are being held by local governments across the nation. Now would be a good time for a review of the strength of storm categories.

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale is used to measure a hurricane's strength. 

Category One - Winds 74-95 mph, storm surge 4-5 feet above normal

Category Two - Winds 96-110 mph, storm surge 6-8 feet above normal

Category Three - Winds 111-130 mph, storm surge 9-12 feet above normal

Category Four - Winds 131-155 mph, storm surge 13-18 feet above normal

Category Five - Winds greater than 155 mph, storm surge greater than 18 feet above normal

The Fujita scale is used to measure a tornado's strength.

F0 - Winds 40-72 mph, Some damage to chimneys; breaks branches off trees; pushes over shallow-rooted trees; damages sign boards.

F1 - Winds 73-112 mph, The lower limit is the beginning of hurricane wind speed; peels surface off roofs; mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned; moving autos pushed off the roads; attached garages may be destroyed.

F2 - Winds 113-157 mph, Considerable damage. Roofs torn off frame houses; mobile homes demolished; boxcars pushed over; large trees snapped or uprooted; light object missiles generated.

F3 - Winds 158-206 mph, Roof and some walls torn off well constructed houses; trains overturned; most trees in forest uprooted.

F4- Winds 207-260 mph, Well-constructed houses leveled; structures with weak foundations blown off some distance; cars thrown and large missiles generated.

F5 - Winds 261-318 mph, Strong frame houses lifted off foundations and carried considerable distances to disintegrate; automobile sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 meters; trees debarked; steel reinforced concrete structures badly damaged.

Here's hoping none of these hit you!

Anyone who has spent any time at all in a City Council Chambers or a County Board Room, has heard a speaker start out..."I'm a Citizen and a Taxpayer". As if that is suppose to sway the elected officials views on an issue.

In order for input citizen input on an issue to be effective it needs to be:

Thoughtful: If not this... then what alternative do you like, and why.

Considerate: Name calling is counter productive

Timely: As early in the process as possible. The longer you wait, the less effective you will be.

Not one or two of those. It needs to be all three.

It does not matter who you are, or what you think, if your input into an issue is not thoughtful, considerate and timely, you will not be an effective advocate for your position on an issue.

What has set my off on this rant is an issue that is happening in Eau Claire County (WI). A new jail is being proposed. A new jail has been in the works for years. I mean years. Serious discussion has been slowly moving the Eau Claire County Board of Supervisors to a vote for the past few months. I have followed the progress of this issue from a distance (60 miles) the entire time.  I knew how much the project would cost and knew where the location would be. It didn't take a lot of work to know these details. It has been headline news for quite a while.

Which all brings me to an Editorial in the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram this past Sunday.

The issue: Protesters object to plans for a $59.1 million Eau Claire County Jail.

Our view: The jail is virtually a done deal; where have these objections been over the years while the project was being planned?

Woody Allen is often quoted as saying "80 percent of success is showing up." If the goal is to influence government decisions, we'll add that the other 20 percent of success is paying attention.

And it's that missing 20 percent that has doomed recent efforts to prevent the new Eau Claire County Jail from being built next to the existing courthouse, near the Chippewa River.

On Feb. 20, a crowd estimated at between 60 and 80 people marched on the Eau Claire County Board, objecting to the board's looming decision to approve a $25 million bond to begin the $59.1 million project. (The bond measure passed 17-10.) Jail opponents complain the jail is too costly, that its location is wrong, that such a pricey project should require a referendum, and that the board has ignored their objections.

Their objections also imply that the jail project has been pursued in secret.

As one letter to the editor published in local magazine Volume One asked, "Who knew?"

I did. And, I don't even live there.

Over the years, dozens - if not hundreds - of public events have been held to discuss the project, including community forums and public meetings of the County Board and its committees. In addition, scores of media reports detailed the planning process both before and after the board's approval of the project last June.

With these facts in mind, it seems the question shouldn't be "Who knew?" but "Where have you been?" Trying to block the jail project now is like dashing breathlessly into a church and trying to stop a wedding after the vows have been exchanged. It's a dramatic but ineffective gesture.

Touche!

This "taxpayer protest" did not meet all of the qualifications of effective input. It was NOT...Timely.  

Government issues are like snowmen. They start out as little snowballs and the more they are pushed around the bigger they get. It is easier to smash a little snowball than it is to tear down a full snowman which has been around so long it is now covered with ice.

Remember folks...Thoughtful...Considerate...Timely.

I admit I am a Local Government Junkie. I dabble in State and National politics, but my true love of politics is at the local level. Some people don't understand that.  OK, most people don't understand that. They think the real action is especially at the National level.

I was doing some research for a speech and came across the old textbook, Politics in States and Communities, by Thomas R. Dye. A passage in this book explains in much better words than I can, why I believe the real action is not at the National level.

“States and communities in America operate the world’s largest public school system and highway network. They operate most of the nation’s judicial, welfare, police, health, correctional and recreational facilities. Most regulation of industry, banking, commerce, utilities, labor, and protection of public safety is in the hands of state and local governments. Their programs in conservation, sanitation, social work, housing, and urban planning are vital to the day-to-day lives of all Americans. Even when the national government is involved in these programs, states and communities must decide whether to participate in national programs, and if they participate, they must administer the programs within their jurisdictions. Despite the glamour of national politics, states and communities carry on the greatest volume of public business, settle the greatest number of political conflicts, make the majority of policy decisions, and direct the bulk of public programs. They have the major responsibility for maintaining domestic law and order, for educating the children, for moving Americans from place to place, and for caring for the poor and the ill...In short, states and communities are by no means unimportant political systems.”

I get a real kick out of hearing these Presidential candidates making promises I know they can't keep because quite frankly they don't have the power to keep them. Because, as Mr. Dye eloquently stated...

Even when the national government is involved in these programs, states and communities must decide whether to participate in national programs, and if they participate, they must administer the programs within their jurisdictions.

Those candidates can fool some of the people, but they can't fool me.