Illinois’ executive clemency record proves need for sealing reform

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December 22, 2016

December 16, 2016

Illinois Policy

Illinois governors don’t just pass on debt to their successors – they also leave behind a backlog of petitions for clemency.

Gov. Bruce Rauner made news Dec. 12 for finally clearing the state’s queue, which spanned clemency requests covering more than a decade and included one request dating back to 2003. But by the time he finished, the governor had approved just 79 requests for pardon out 2,333. That’s a 3 percent approval rating.
The December announcement didn’t mark Rauner’s first time considering clemency petitions. On July 1, he pardoned and expunged the records of six ex-offenders, with convictions ranging from a $50 fine for keeping an illegal gambling place to residential burglary. He also commuted one man’s 90-year sentence to 60 years for possession with intent to manufacture and deliver a controlled substance. Rauner denied 150 other requests.
And on Nov. 23, he granted eight pardons and denied 208 petitions.
In his last sweep of the clemency petition queue before leaving office, former Gov. Pat Quinn granted 1,752 pardons and denied 3,014 requests for an approval rating of 37 percent.
Sealing reform is the way forward
Soon after taking office, Rauner declared his intent to reduce Illinois’ prison population by 25 percent by 2025. While a pardon goes a long way toward making it easier for ex-offenders to find housing and secure credit – and even securing a license to find employment – it does not clear a person’s record.
Because it often takes a decade for a clemency petition to be given a hearing, it’s important that politicians make sealing reform a priority.
Many ex-offenders in Illinois are barred from entering their chosen professions – or simply from securing well-paying jobs – after serving their time. Without hope for a brighter future, it’s not hard to see why half of ex-offenders end up back behind bars within three years. Record sealing gives reformed ex-offenders a chance at re-entering the workforce in a meaningful way. One of the main barriers to good work that ex-offenders face is the scarlet letter a criminal record leaves on a job application, even after an ex-offender has served his or her time. In 2013, Illinois passed a law allowing ex-offenders to petition to have their records sealed, meaning only law enforcement and certain types of employers, such as schools, can see an ex-offender’s criminal record. But a person is only eligible for sealing after waiting three to four years from the end of his or her sentence, and not all ex-offenders are eligible. Illinois can break the cycle of crime and truly give ex-offenders a second chance by broadening sealing and eliminating wait times altogether.

TAGS: Bruce Rauner, criminal justice reform, expungement, Pat Quinn, record sealing

Affirmative action for ex–cons

By

Steve Balich

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December 22, 2016

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Affirmative action for ex–cons

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Special To Personal LibertyViews: 537

9 Shares

The left has a big problem with private property. It hates property owners almost as much as it hates orthodox Christians. Owning a car or a store or an apartment building or even a home gives one a dangerous feeling of self–reliance and personal accomplishment. It encourages one to think of himself as an individual and not as a docile member of the collective.
Those are dangerous thoughts.
What you decide to do with your property may also run counter to what leftists feel is best for the “community.”
That’s why this Christmas in Venezuela the confiscatory socialist government is seizing 4 million toys. Government toy commissars raided three warehouses to prove Santa and his henchmen “can’t play with the rights of Venezuelans.” The Associated Express explains local “supply” committees will spread the spirit “fairly” to well–connected Chavistas and the deserving poor.
What, you thought a government insider was supposed to buy toys for his family? That would be like Joe Biden buying his own Amtrak ticket.
Here in the D.C. area the Marines handle toy distribution, so the D.C. city council has decided to spread the balm of social justice by in effect seizing rental property for “returning citizens.”
I know what you’re thinking. Why would “returning citizens” need help acclimating themselves to their hometown? Just how long was that vacation? Did the Airbnb tenants overstay their welcome? Are we talking about former Hillary campaign staffers returning from New York on a Bolt Bus?
Certainly not, “returning citizens” is another leftist euphemism to hide the truth. In flyover country the term for these individuals is ex–cons. And although Democrats can hardly wait for them to vote, many are somewhat wary of having them for neighbors.
You bigots!
According to the Washington Post, a startling one out of every 10 residents in the nation’s capitol are ex–cons. Currently there are 60,000 wandering the streets and another 8,000 are turned loose each year. And you thought going to a Trump rally was dangerous.
Council member Kenyan McDuffie, a member of the parasite class of political lawyers, has proposed a new ordinance that prohibits landlords from refusing to rent their private property to prospective tenants that were convicted more than seven years ago. And, if while showing the apartment, the landlord notices an ankle monitor they still can’t “summarily” reject ex–cons.
Even if the parole officer attends the interview, the landlord can only conduct a background investigation after issuing a “conditional” approval.
This would bring jurisprudence in the nation’s capitol into a situation where there is no statute of limitations on rape accusations, but a convicted rapist can attend your condo’s Solstice Party if it happened before 2010. The same goes for sex offenders, murderers, drug dealers, pedophiles and defeated congressmen. During the vetting process arrests without conviction won’t count at all, regardless of how many witnesses disappeared before trial.
I predict it’s going to be very hard for people with homemade tattoos to find an apartment if this passes.
No landlord is going to take a chance on any renter that doesn’t look like Will Smith. That’s because after conditionally approving a tenant, subsequent rejection is never going to be for a prior conviction.
The landlord is always going to be characterized as a bigot.
Just as a council report implies the justice system is racist because “African Americans and Hispanics are arrested, convicted and incarcerated at disproportionate rates compared to their share of the U.S. population.” When these same ex–cons are denied occupancy at “disproportionate rates” because the pool is composed of minorities, it will prove the landlord is a bigot.
Although I do see potential career path for Amanda Knox who could add a white, female applicant to the rejection pile.
Instead of violating private property rights to impose its version of “fairness,” why doesn’t the council just build more public housing? There are a couple of reasons. First the “returning citizens” just came from living in a dorm and second, neighborhoods in the affluent parts of town would fight to the death to avoid having a half–assed halfway house in the vicinity.
So the council adopts a “trickle in” program that salts ex–cons all around the city. It makes them harder to track and who cares what some landlord thinks?
The fact the new law opens landlords to negligence lawsuits from tenants who encountered a “returning resident” that wasn’t completely socialized is not the council’s worry.
The only plus side I can see is all the social justice warriors who were simply too busy with their career to camp out at DC Occupy can now participate in a social engineering project from the comfort of their own apartment.
— Michael Shannon

State Representative Mark Batinick Press Release/GOP Legislators call on Comptroller Mendoza to defend “No Budget No Pay”

By

Steve Balich

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December 22, 2016

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News From
State Representative Mark Batinick

For Immediate Release Contact: Debbie Kraulidis
December 21, 2016 (815) 254-0000

House and Senate GOP Legislators call on
Comptroller Mendoza to defend “No Budget No Pay”

PLAINFIELD – A group of sixteen House Republican legislators are calling on State Comptroller Susana Mendoza to keep her promise of maintaining former Comptroller Leslie Munger’s policy of “No Budget No Pay’ in place with regard to payment of state lawmaker salaries. Twelve State Representatives and Four State Senators sent a letter to Comptroller Mendoza today urging her to defend “No Budget No Pay” in the face of a lawsuit filed by six House Democrat legislators on December 2 suing the Comptroller for delaying payment of their salaries.

“Social service providers and many others who rely upon the state to meet its financial obligations are being adversely impacted, to put it mildly, by the General Assembly’s failure to pass a comprehensive budget,” Rep. Margo McDermed (R-Mokena) said. “We are calling on the new Comptroller to stand with us in support of the individuals and families whose lives are being irreparably harmed due to the lack of stability in our budget.”

“We do not believe that payment of legislator salaries should be prioritized over the funding of health care and social service providers or others enduring the long delay in state payments,” added Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield). “The principle of “No Budget No Pay” should be kept in place; and the General Assembly should come together immediately to pass a responsible state budget in order to prevent further erosion of our social safety net and damage to our economy.”
For questions or more information, please call Rep. Batinick’s office at (815) 254-0000 or reach him directly on his cell at (630) 514-0180.
———————————————————————————
Margo McDermed State Representative .
37th District Comptroller Susana Mendoza 100 West Randolph Street, Suite 15-500 Chicago, lllinois 60601 Vio fax and email December 27,2016

Dear Com ptroller Mendoza : We applaud you for supporting the principle of “No Budget No Pay” with regard to state payment of legislator salaries and for following through on your promise to keep the policy in place upon taking office. We also appreciate your earlier service to the people of lllinois as a State Representative and look forward to working with you in your new role as our State Comptroller during these challenging times for our state. On December 2, 20t6, six of our Democratic colleagues filed a lawsuit against then-Comptroller Leslie Munger for delaying payment of legislator salaries. While we understand that they are making a legal argument that legislators and other state elected officials are required to be paid, we believe that there is a compelling counter legal argument that the members of the lllinois General Assembly should not be paid. We, as members of the General Assembly, have the ability to resolve the budget situation and therefore bear a strong degree of responsibility for the fact that the Comptroller does not have the funds to meet the state’s obligations. lt is also important to note that legislative pay is only being delayed, not suspended. Our empathy lies entirely with the hardship the budget impasse has had on vendors, social service providers and others who rely upon the state to meet its financial obligations. The lives of these individuals and families are being irreparably harmed and businesses are literally being destroyed by the present budget situation. We do not believe that payment of legislator salaries should be prioritized over the funding of health care and social service providers and others enduring the long delay in state payments. Due to the fact that the Attorney General has a conflict of interest, we strongly advise the Comptroller to use lndependent Counsel to defend itself against the lawsuit filed by the six Democratic legislators earlier this month.
Thank you for your consideration and attention to this matter. Respectfully on behalf Rep. Margo lucbdrmed !ate Legislators, Rep. Mark Batinick Rep. Avery Bourne Rep. C. D. Davidsmeyer Rep. Jeanne lves Rep. Dwight Kay Rep. Dave McSweeney Rep. Tom Morrison Rep. Joe Sosnowski Rep. David Welter Rep. Grant Wehrli Rep. Barb Wheeler Sen. Kyle McCarter Sen. Dan McConchie Sen. Jim Oberweis Sen. Sue Rezin
District 37 Office: 11032 W. Lincoln Hwy., Frankfort, lL 60423 I a15-277-2O79 Springfield Office: 2O4-N Stratton Office Building, Springfield,lL62TOG I 217-782-C,424 Email: McDermed@ilhousegop.org I Website: www.repmcdermed.com RECYCLED PAPER . SOYBEAN INKS

How we become slaves of ‘The System’

Defending the American Dream

By

Steve Balich

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December 21, 2016

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Posted on December 19, 2016 by Bob Livingston

How we become slaves of ‘The System’

Almost everything you think and do is against your best interest and you don’t even realize it. It’s planned that way.
The state seeks absolute control of your mind, body and spirit. Can the state succeed? It has, but only a precious few ever know.
Your mind and your thoughts are not your own. Almost every thought you have channels you toward the state.
By the time a child grows up and goes through the public (non)education system, he or she has no thoughts of his or her own. By the time that person is finished with college, the system has sealed his or her thought processes so that nothing is questioned. The imperative to inquire beyond what comes from the propaganda media and our leaders is gone.
Our minds are so smug in darkness and organized confusion that we are complete automatons. Our ego, our individuality, is completely excised and we are completely transferred into the state organism and group thought. Any deviation from the system by anyone is met with hostility by friends and neighbors.
By this we become locked into a system based only on conventional wisdom. Conventional wisdom is what everybody knows. It is the court history (faux history) we receive in school and through the controlled media, repeated ad nauseum.
Conventional wisdom is based on confusion and disinformation. It has a crowding-out effect in our thought processes that stifles inquiry. In other words, conventional wisdom programs us to reject any information or thought not in harmony with our preconditioning and experience. It is called cognitive dissonance.
The more one is formally educated, the more he/she is locked into the system mindset. (Why do you think there is such a push for everyone to receive a college education whether a person is so inclined or not?)
I myself went through four years of college, worked on a master’s
degree, and attended law school. What a pity! It took valuable time and money for me to pay for the brainwash. It took years to get
over it. I had to completely erase this education foolishness before I could begin to have half sense. My inquiring attitude and much, much reading helped me escape the programmed maze that entrapped me. The many conflicts and confusion was emotionally and financially costly.
Not even your body is your own.
A brand new baby gets vaccinations before it leaves the hospital and the parents are glad. They don’t question what’s in the vaccines or what they’re for.
There’s even now a push to begin vaccinating babies in the womb. As it is, the state begins to seize an infant’s body the first day of its life. It is being prepared for death the day it is born. Then as many as 50 more vaccinations come before the end of high school. All is done in the name of health and for the good of society. It’s all for profit of the giant pharmaceuticals enforced by the political system. The parents believe that it’s good.
There are many knowledgeable people who are against compulsory vaccinations simply because it is a violation of medical freedom. But the problem goes much deeper. It is at the heart of the survival of the system.
Then there is an organized system of sickness called healthcare. This system must have an endless supply of bodies — yours.
Thousands of tests, biopsies, sonograms, catheterizations, etc., etc., leading to making huge profits through drugs, surgery, radiation, etc., leading to the general demise of the natural immune system guaranteeing sickness and death — yours.
Individual responsibility for one’s own health in America is unthinkable and almost nonexistent. It was so planned. They need and want your body. It is huge profits for the system.
Beyond that, vaccines and the sickness care system are about a population control system based on the cold reality of the survival of the money (credit) creation monopoly that rules the world. Consumers will and must die. The push for universal vaccinations is not ideological fantasy. It is cold-blooded conspiracy to control population. California has mandatory vaccination and has eliminated both the religious and philosophical exemption. As California goes, so goes the nation.
When you understand the money system you will know for certain why population control has now changed from an urgency to a priority of the establishment.
Those of you new to Personal Liberty^® and reading some of these things for the first time may be shocked and asking, “What do vaccines, healthcare, the money system and population control have in common?”
In a few words, money creation (money creation is credit creation) is the exclusive monopoly of the central bank. In the U.S., this is the Federal Reserve and Federal Reserve banks.
All wealth flows to the creators of credit. But a credit creation monetary system cannot exist without regulation. Regulation is absolutely essential in all areas of life. In America, do we have regulation? In spades.
Specific for this discussion is the subject of population regulation or population control. A credit-based monetary system will break down if it gets more consumers than producers. As our population gets older and “top heavy,” consumption exceeds production and, through welfare and social security payments, wealth reverses from the money (credit) creators to the consumers or nonproducers. This cannot be allowed over time.
Therefore ways — benevolent ways of course, as they cannot just vaporize you when you reach a certain age, a la “Logan’s Run” — must be found to get us to expire when we retire. We have many population control mechanisms in place, including mass medication with drugs and fluoride in our drinking water.
And one of the most sinister and disguised population controls in place is mass inoculations and vaccinations. When our children are vaccinated, there is a certain percentage who die as a result, and many are disabled in various ways for life. However, the most insidious part of it is the development of degenerative diseases much later in life, say about in the 50s and early 60s, at about retirement age.
Human liberty and personal survival in our time must originate in truth no matter how incredible and shocking to our conditioned minds. Governments control the public mind with disinformation and confusion. No modern government could exist for 24 hours if it told the people the truth.
Of course, the establishment news will label these truths as “fake news.” Most of the readers — due to cognitive dissonance — will label this as “conspiracy theory.”
Both are code words designed to make you and keep you as slaves to “The System.”

‘Intolerant Left’ Will Not Allow Any Celebrities to Hobnob With Trump

By

Steve Balich

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December 21, 2016

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Tomi Lahren: ‘Intolerant Left’ Will Not Allow Any Celebrities to Hobnob With Trump (Video)

Dec 21, 2016 by William Smith

Amid reports that President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration committee is having trouble booking entertainment for the January 20th event, with some rumors indicating entertainers may fear reprisal if they agree to perform, Tomi Lahren appeared on The O’Reilly Factor to discuss the intolerance of the left when it comes to the President-elect.
O’Reilly asked Lahren if she believed performers who agree to align themselves with Trump by agreeing to perform are actually in danger of losing “their livelihood” for that decision.
“Well Bill, there are still many Americans out there that fail to understand that Donald Trump will be our 45th president, that he will be inaugurated on January 20th. They haven’t even accepted that yet. If they can’t accept that, of course they’re not going to accept entertainers going to perform at the inauguration…
I think it’s kind of the side-eye, the same thing we saw in the election. Oh you’re a Trump supporter? You must be a racist, you must be a bigot…I’m still wondering when they’re going to accept the fact that he’s going to be our president. Then maybe we can move on and actually unite.”
Watch the full interview here:

Framers of Obama Care say Trump can't repeal it

By

Steve Balich

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December 21, 2016

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Who said Trump can’t repeal ObamaCare?

By Betsy McCaughey

November 25, 2016 | 8:40pm

Photo: Reuters

Trump promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Now obstacles are emerging on the left and right.

Democrats are sowing panic, falsely predicting that more than 20 million will lose coverage. Newly designated Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer claims Trump will “rue the day” ObamaCare is repealed.

Meanwhile, on Trump’s right flank, House Republicans are pushing Medicare “reform” and taxes on workers’ health benefits — unpopular ideas that will undermine Trump’s political support and derail his agenda.
Here’s the real deal about repeal.
Will 20 million lose coverage?
Not even close: 16 million of those who gained coverage are enrolled in Medicaid, the public program for low-income residents. ObamaCare allowed states to expand the category of those eligible to sign up for Medicaid, with the federal government covering the tab.
Repeal could result in less federal funding. But no one is pushing to abolish the nation’s health-safety net. And states that just expanded Medicaid are unlikely to do a 180 and shrink it. The 16 million are likely safe.

President-elect Trump is proposing giving states more flexibility in how Medicaid is managed. That’s urgently needed. Federal Medicaid spending has shot up 40 percent in the last three years. And research shows that extra spending isn’t improving patients’ health.
What about the other nearly 5 million newly insured? They’re in ObamaCare plans, along with another 6 million who already had insurance, and all of them are having a tough time. Technically, they’re “covered,” but many can’t come up with the cash to see a doctor. They’re struggling with exorbitant deductibles — $6,000 per person for the typical bronze plan.
In short, about 5 million previously uninsured people — not the bogus 20 million — may need help after repeal. Trump is proposing market reforms to lower costs and increase choices for consumers stuck in the individual market.
Will people with pre-existing conditions lose out?
No. All the GOP replacement plans protect them, but not through the cynical, coercive scheme that ObamaCare used.
Obama forced two groups of people into the same insurance pool: the healthy and the chronically ill. Healthy people would pay premiums but never meet their sky-high deductibles.
Instead, their premiums would foot huge medical bills for the chronically ill, who consume 10 times as much medical care. Healthy people saw it was a scam. They refused to sign up, despite the penalty.
ObamaCare architect Ezekiel Emanuel says forcing the healthy to enroll is essential. Sorry — there’s a fairer way. Trump would allow insurers to charge sick people more, then subsidize these “high risk” customers with taxpayer dollars. That spreads the cost fairly over the whole population, instead of burdening people in the individual market.
Voila: Premiums and deductibles will drop fast for people in the individual market.
Is President Obama right that the law is working far better than its critics say? Nope. More than 200 million have been hurt by it. Count them: 155 million with employer-provided plans whose deductibles have soared thanks to the ACA, plus the 11 million paying ACA penalties for not enrolling, plus hundreds of thousands of part-time workers whose hours were slashed by employers dodging the mandate and 55 million seniors harmed when Medicare was cut to bankroll ObamaCare.
Is this the time to change Medicare?
No way. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price want Medicare “reform” this spring. But candidate Trump promised to replace ObamaCare, fund infrastructure, cut taxes and fix immigration. Not change Medicare.
A Medicare battle could torpedo his agenda. Remember the demagogues who vilified Ryan in 2012 with images of granny going over the cliff in a wheelchair?
Ryan and Price also want to cap the tax exemption on employer-provided health plans. That would betray union workers who for years have swapped raises for lavish tax-free health benefits. These workers just gave Trump his remarkable win.
Trump made the election a referendum on ObamaCare. Republicans in Congress need to respect the voters and make Trump’s agenda the priority.
Betsy McCaughey is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research.

Protecting access to information/ Information is ethical

By

Steve Balich

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December 21, 2016

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THE PERSECUTION AND SHOW TRIAL OF REPRESENTATIVE MELANIE STAMBAUGH

https://www.facebook.com/infoisethical/videos/777960939009220/

DECEMBER 15, 2016 GLEN MORGAN 9 COMMENTS

On Tuesday, December 13 – for the first time in 22 years the Washington State Legislative Ethics Board convened their full board to put on trial 26-year old Republican Representative Melanie Stambaugh for the great ethical crime of sharing public videos from Youtube on her campaign Facebook page. This hearing/show trial/ circus was every bit as ridiculous as it sounds. In the end, Representative Melanie Stambaugh, currently the youngest legislator in the Washington State House of Representatives, and clearly the youngest person involved in this silly scene, looked like the only adult in the proceedings.

Stambaugh on trial with the Attorney General employee quizzing her on Facebook upload timelines (source: Info is Ethical Facebook page)

For those who wish to see the entire event on video as it transpired, you can go here. It is about as exciting as watching paint dry and almost as wincingly painful to watch as it sounds. If you torture yourself with the entire show, you will realize those four hours of your life are never coming back, and it will not restore whatever faith you may have lost in government. Our tax dollars were certainly being spent, but few would consider it money spent well on Tuesday.

Rep Stambaugh had to prepare timelines to explain the complicated embedded video crime scene. Serious stuff.

Preparing for the circus

For a good background on this event, you can read this article. Here are the highlights for the back story:
Earlier this year, an Ethics complaint was filed by Mina Mercer, who is the Deputy Director of the House Democratic Campaign Committee, against a variety of Republican candidates running for house seats in the state legislature in 2016. One of these complaints was against Representative Melanie Stambaugh for the great ethical crime of embedding videos produced by house caucus staff and posted on public Youtube sites during the legislative session. The purpose of these videos are to help the legislators communicate with their constituents about happenings at the state capital during the legislative session. Most people of all political parties appreciate these videos even if very few people watch them. It is generally acknowledged that they help improve the openness of government and make it more accessible to those who are not the insiders.
Unlike many Republicans, I don’t blame Mercer for filing these complaints. It isn’t her fault that pointless and archaic rules still exist on the books, and despite the fact that the original referenced rule predates the Al Gore-invented internet age, it still is the law. Mercer didn’t write the laws – elected officials and bureaucrats did.
This is hardly the first time this has happened, and the usual way things are done in Olympia is the targeted legislators scroll back and remove the videos from their facebook pages, then they plead guilty to the great ethical crime of sharing the videos (that are already public for the whole world to see on Youtube) on their Facebook site. This guilty plea is then used by their opponents to prove that they are unethical slime-balls, and the campaign season continues as normal. Until now.

Generational Change at the State Capital

Representative Stambaugh drew so much Democrat Party ire before she became a legislator in part because she had already been Pierce County’s 2009 Daffodil Queen.

Melanie Stambaugh was elected in 2014 in the 25th legislative district (Pierce County, Puyallup) at 24 years of age. She defeated a long-term Democrat incumbent and Stambaugh’s political victory was shocking to the Democratic Party. Understandably, the Democrat Party is still reeling from this defeat. She was also recently re-elected in 2016 in her legislative district with 58% of the vote. Obviously, competent effective Millennial Republicans holding political office doesn’t exactly fit the political narrative for the Democratic Party of Washington State, so in an effort to demonstrate the coolness of their Millennial outreach strategy, they are attacking the youngest legislator in Washington for using social media to communicate more effectively with her constituents (not to mention her generation). I am not sure how that is supposed to work, but they can’t be very happy with the imagery they are creating.

The Democrat Party’s attacks on Stambaugh for being too young were not exactly effective at highlighting the Democrat’s millennial outreach program

I have met Representative Stambaugh on a few occasions in the past. I do not know her well. I suspect we would have some policy disagreements on a few issues. However, I have become a huge Stambaugh fan after watching her in action at the Ethics Board show trial on Tuesday.
First, Representative Stambaugh decided to fight the silliness – something that is almost never done in Olympia. Insiders argue that she should just rolled over and plead guilty to the great ethical crime of posting public Youtube videos on her Facebook page. However, she did more than just fight it – she created (appropriately enough) a Facebook page dedicated to this silliness and a variety of very effective videos outlining the whole saga. I defy anyone to watch these videos and not be sympathetic to her cause. You will find few elected officials anywhere able to communicate on an issue this effectively.
Secondly, part of the silliness here was how the Washington State Attorney General’s office approached this case. I understand they have to take every complaint seriously. However, their demeanor and approach during the Ethics Board show trial was just not effective. Particularly when Representative Stambaugh’s attorney confronted them on the obvious unconstitutionality of the rules. When both the AG and the Ethics Board refuse to even comment on the constitution because they are “not qualified” to do so (even though all of them swore an oath to uphold the constitution and the AG’s office is uniquely qualified to do exactly that), something is seriously wrong.

Rep. Stambaugh and attorney facing the Ethics Board discussing Facebook and Youtube embedding

Thirdly, the Ethics Board quasi-judicial administrative law hearing process helped demonstrate one of the biggest problems with the administrative legal process in the first place. Unlike in a real court setting, where the evidentiary rules and the courtroom process is well-defined and clear, there really are no rules in an administrative legal hearing like this. The person who acts like a judge gets to make up silly rules as they go along and reject arguments and evidence in a whimsical manner with no oversight or appeal. Additionally, by creating a confusingly undefined process, the “record” being created is arbitrarily biased depending on the goals and objectives of the Ethics Board itself. While it operates with a legal patina under the statutes and rules, the actual process is so full of loopholes and legal challenges that the end result is usually pre-ordained and more political in nature than anything else. This is particularly troubling with potentially $220,000 worth of fines they could inflict on Representative Stambaugh. Anyone who has ever sat through a Growth Management Hearings Board scene knows this is serious. The Washington State Legislative Ethics Board demonstrated the clear failing of the Administrative Law process once again.

The Washington State Legislative Ethics Board in action on Tuesday – a view from the cheap seats

Finally, there really are ethical scandals and problems that can occur with our elected officials and they can be very serious indeed. The Washington State Legislative Ethics Board can fill a very important (hopefully semi non-partisan) role in this process. However, the significance of genuine real ethical problems are diminished when the entire apparatus of the state can be mobilized over something as silly as this. The problem is not Representative Stambaugh’s desire to defend herself. The problem is not Mina Mercer’s complaint against Stambaugh. The problem is the failure to fix the archaic rules and outdated process that allows a farcical show trial like this to happen over such a petty insignificant issue in the first place.

From a political perspective Stambaugh wins

From a purely political perspective – Representative Stambaugh wins. It doesn’t matter if the Ethics Board finds her “guilty” of the great crime of sharing public Youtube videos on Facebook. She will be either a heroic martyr or an effective legislator who fought the power and won. She also appears to be the only adult in the room crying out that the emperor has no clothes – and doing this in an effective, modern, and transparent way – using Youtube and Facebook and Twitter – the communication tools of today. It is impossible not to admire her for her willingness to fight the archaic bureaucratic machine – win or lose. The Washington State Legislative Ethics Board mocked itself and looked as foolish and silly as possible. It is difficult to even conceive of a scenario which would diminish this board more than Tuesday. This is unfortunate because they actually have an important role to play, but this farcical show trial did not demonstrate this. The Attorney General’s office looked even more silly and desperately in need of deep and aggressive budget cuts.
The Democratic Party’s attack on Melanie Stambaugh has clearly backfired, and if they don’t realize it yet – they certainly will when Stambaugh gets re-elected with an even bigger margin in two years. I didn’t pay much attention to Representative Stambaugh before, but I’m a huge fan now. I doubt I am alone.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party can continue to claim the mantle of the millennial generation, but it is hard to see how giving a platform to the youngest legislator in the state to defend herself of the great ethical crime of using Youtube and Facebook will enhance that narrative. If Representative Stambaugh is indicative of the future of the Republican Party in Washington, then their future looks brighter than it ever has in recent memory. Heck, she should run for Governor next time…
_________________________________________________________________________

Our Constitution begins with the phrase “we the people.” It was the founder’s intent that government be created by the people, to serve the people. It wasn’t their intention for the people to serve the government. It was always intended that government which failed to serve the people should be “altered or abolished.” Until we return to the founder’s intent, we remain We the Governed…

For More Background on this story:

Melanie Stambaugh “Info is Ethical” Facebook page
Seattle Times: Rare ethics Board Hearing set over Facebook postings
Washington Times: State rep fights ethics board over posting public videos
Seattle Weekly -24 year old baffles Democrats, heads to state house
Seattle Times – Confidence is the key for 24-year old lawmaker

Trump’s pick for Labor secretary wrote a deregulatory manifesto

By

Steve Balich

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December 20, 2016

0

Trump’s pick for Labor secretary wrote a deregulatory manifesto

Posted on December 16, 2016 by ProPublicaViews: 961

30 Shares

Andrew Puzder, chief executive of CKE Restaurants, in a June 2011 file image. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

This piece, written by by Justin Elliott, was originally published by ProPublica.

Since President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that he has picked fast-food CEO Andrew Puzder to be labor secretary, there’s been lots of speculation that the administration could undo worker protections.
The single best window into Puzder’s thinking may be an obscure book he wrote six years ago. It’s a blistering attack on business regulations, unions, and the Obama administration’s stimulus and health-care policies.
“I think first and foremost, he’ll put in place everything we laid out in the book,” Puzder’s co-author, David Newton, told ProPublica in an interview.
The 160-page book 2014 “Job Creation: How It Really Works and Why Government Doesn’t Understand It.” 2014 centers on a concept Puzder and Newton dub “The Certainty Factor,” which they argue is key to business expansion and job creation.
“Less federal programs, reduced deficit spending, lower taxes, and cutting back on regulations improve The Certainty Factor,” they write.
If confirmed, Puzder will have power to shape a wide range of regulations that govern unions and employers, many of which are designed to protect workers.
Much of the debate in the Obama years has been around whether to push up the federal minimum wage 2014 which since 2009 has been at $7.25 2014 to $15. Newton, while stressing he was not speaking for Puzder, believes there should be no minimum wage at all, and that pay should be entirely left up to employers.
“When you mandate that anybody coming into your company has to be paid a certain minimum 2014 you’re going to kill jobs,” said Newton, a lecturer at the University of California, San Diego, business school. “It’s one of the classic examples of government overreach with regard to regulation.”
Puzder himself has expressed skepticism about raising the minimum wage, while Trump has been all over the map on the issue, contradicting himself multiple times in the course of the campaign.
Newton still has Puzder’s ear: Newton said they have spoken several times in the past month and had contemplated writing a follow-up book, though Newton now thinks Puzder will be too busy. The two met in 2009 in Southern California, where Puzder’s CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., is based.
Puzder and the Trump transition team declined to comment.
In a statement released Friday about how he views the Cabinet position, Puzder said: “My job as a business person is to maximize profits for my company, employees and shareholders. My job as the Secretary of Labor, if confirmed, is to serve U.S. citizen workers 2014 that is my moral and constitutional duty.”
The Department of Labor doesn’t set the minimum wage, but it can go after employers who, for example, short their workers on pay. Puzder could also advise Trump on wages and other employment standards for federal contractors. President Obama, for example, issued an executive order in 2014 raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 for workers on federal construction and service contracts.
Labor advocates are also worried Puzder could roll back a new regulation, currently held up in court, that would expand eligibility for overtime pay.
Puzder’s book proposes a “mutually beneficial relationship between employer and employee” and is sharply critical of labor unions: “As the no longer existent American garment industry or segments of the increasingly non-competitive American automotive industry well demonstrate, empowering unions can increase labor costs to the point of putting employers in or near bankruptcy.” The book includes extensive criticism of the Obama administration’s first-term push 2014 later abandoned 2014 to change the law to make it easier for workers to form unions.
“We recognize all the workers have the right to unionize 2014 they also have the right not to,” Newton told ProPublica. He praised Puzder as a “great guy” with “a tremendous amount of insight.”
“We’re all on the same page 2014 we know what it’s going to take to grow the economy in terms of what business is looking for in terms of freedom to expand and hire people,” he said.
Correction, Dec. 15, 2016: This story incorrectly described Andrew Puzder as Trump’s nominee for labor secretary. Like all of his Cabinet picks, Puzder hasn’t been formally nominated yet.
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Not all college students need a comfort center/Some are very involved

By

Steve Balich

-

December 20, 2016

0

Turning Point USA just had a historic weekend. 500+ conservative students from all across the country joined the TPUSA team in West Palm Beach, Florida for TPUSA’s second annual Activist Retreat.

Speakers included Donald Trump Jr., Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Ben Sasse, Congressman Thomas Massie, Congressman Ron DeSantis, James O’Keefe, Ben Shapiro, Tomi Lahren, Kimberly Corban, and many other talented leaders in our movement.

TPUSA offered trainings on how to refute leftist talking points, debate issues effectively, and know and understand the rights they have as activists on a college campus.

We prepared our leaders to win. Students who attended this retreat left more prepared, equipped, and trained to win on their college campuses this spring and beyond.
This conference was one of the biggest gathering of young conservative activists in the country. I’m extremely grateful for our team who put this together, and our students who fearlessly fight for freedom and liberty every single day.

TPUSA would also like to extend a special thanks to the sponsoring partner organizations who helped make this event possible:

We just had an incredible conference, and we aren’t slowing down. Please consider a year-end tax-deductible gift to Turning Point USA.
http://tpusa.com/donate-to-tpusa/

Charlie Kirk

"Highly compensated" public servants cost Illinois taxpayers over $8 billion

By

Steve Balich

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December 20, 2016

0

What gives, Sullivan?

Sun, 12/18/2016 – 7:00am | The News-Gazette

By ADAM ANDRZEJEWSKI
OpenTheBooks.com
Earlier this spring, at OpenTheBooks.com, we identified more than 50,000 Illinois public employees who make at least $100,000 per year.
These “highly compensated” public servants cost Illinois taxpayers over $8 billion. We found Cook County animal-control officers making $105,000; suburban school administrators at $503,000; university doctors earning $1.3 million; and 72 small-town ‘managers’ out-earning every governor of all 50 states.
This research helps explain why Illinois has a net outward migration of residents. In order to pay these exorbitant salaries, Illinois has burdensome property taxes that are driving people out of the state.
Illinois also has the double dippers — 15,000 “retired” public employees who go back to work in government and acquire a second pension. There’s former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar, who took $2.25 million in salary from the University of Illinois between 2000-2013 while also receiving more than $2 million in pension from a two-term stint as governor. Former state Rep. Roger Eddy now makes $322,200 — $291,725 as executive director of Illinois Association of School Boards and $30,500 from his lawmaker’s pension.
Public pay and pension envy in Illinois is real. The hard-working private sector doesn’t have benefits even remotely close to government workers.
Last month, tipped by an article in this newspaper, we found another “highly compensated” double dipper.
The News-Gazette reported that retiring Sixth Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Dan Flannell will become the new “city administrator” in Sullivan for an initial salary of $92,500. But our cash-compensation calculation of Flannell’s five-year contract reveals a total taxpayer cost estimate of $786,939.
Confirmed through a Freedom of Information Act request and follow-up conversations with the city clerk, we found the reported salary is only one of 20 compensation buckets. Here are some of Flannell’s new benefit buckets in Sullivan with their estimated five-year costs: four weeks of annual paid vacation ($35,575); a city vehicle ($30,000), computer ($600), travel tablet ($600), and cellphone with unlimited data plan ($7,200); city-paid Social Security ($28,675) and Illinois Municipal Retirement System pension ($53,370).
Flannell receives 11 holidays ($19,565) and five sick days ($8,895). Flannell also receives personal, professional development training with paid travel for state and national conferences ($15,000) and his organizational membership dues ($5,000).
The city of Sullivan extended health, dental and vision insurance ($64,625), and it’s unclear if Flannell will take these benefits from the judicial retirement plan or his city contract. Flannell receives a severance bonus of $138,750 if he’s fired without cause during his first two years. The work schedule is flexible, with no contractually mandated office hours.
But Flannell gets to keep a side job and can earn extra money performing marriages or civil-union ceremonies. Over the same five-year period through 2022, Flannell stands to receive an estimated starting judicial pension of $157,684, totaling $837,164 over five years. In fact, the Illinois judicial pension is so lucrative that 40 percent of all retired judges have seen an increase in take-home pay by retiring. Between his judicial pension and new “city administrator” employment contract, Flannell stands to reap up to $1.624 million in total compensation, benefits, perquisites and judge pension during the next five years.
Flannell, Edgar and Eddy are all area examples of why Illinois is broke. All of these public servants legally gamed the system for personal gain. Illinois residents face bleak futures while the players enjoy bright futures. The fact that Illinois is famous for this is disgraceful.

Of course, these examples from downstate are dwarfed by those in the Chicago suburbs. Our research shows that Township High School District 204 and Palatine Township High School District 211 — just two of 900 Illinois school districts — pay 1,170 educators a salary over $100,000. In three counties — DuPage, Lake and Will — 707 county employees earned $100,000-plus last year. The “chief of staff’ to Republican DuPage County Chairman Dan Cronin made $201,599.Which brings us back to the city of Sullivan and hometown communities just like it. The real repository of fiscal sanity always resided in the small towns and hamlets of Illinois. Is this changing? Is public greed undermining the virtue of public service at the local level?
The city of Sullivan is home to 4,490 people. According to U.S. Census statistics, the community lost population over the last 30 years. Additional prestige will not be conferred on the community through the granting of outrageous pay packages. Illinois is suffering, but the futures of Illinois public employees have never been brighter.
Illinois needs a comeback story and keeping dollars in local economies instead of directing tax dollars to outrageous pay packages must be part of the solution.
Adam Andrzejewski is founder and CEO of OpenTheBooks.com, which claims to be the largest private database of government spending in the world.

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