Where there's a Will, there's a way

Today is the end of the current reporting period for political campaign fund raising. When the totals are released in about a month it will be used by the media and political leaders to determine which campaigns have the financial resources to win. If you've been thinking about donating to a candidate online then today before midnight is a good time to do it.

You'll see a lot of coverage about which Presidential candidates raised the most but the totals are also very important for up and coming campaigns trying to gain the attention and support of political leaders. That's the situation Congressional candidate Joe McMenamin is in. A large fundraising total for this reporting period will signal to major donors and the political establishment that he is running a serious campaign that is worth getting involved in. So, before the year runs out I'm making one more pitch to donate to McMenamin's campaign. He's already off to a good start but every extra dollar helps.

Posted by Will at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I recently had the chance to talk to both Democrats running for State Representative in the 92nd district. This is the Peoria area district that became an open seat when incumbent Republican Aaron Schock decided to run for U.S. Congress.

It's an interesting race and will be one of the most hotly contested districts in 2008 so I decided to write a brief overview for those who aren't from Peoria. For more gritty details there are a number of posts at Peoria Pundit.

The Republican running to replace Aaron Schock dropped out of the race so there's currently no Republican candidate. Many people suspect that its being held open for Schock in case he loses the Republican nomination for Congress, but either way I'm sure the Republicans will recruit someone credible to stop the district from switching parties.

The two Democrats running are Allen Mayer and Jehan Gordon. Mayer is a member of the county board and works for Comptroller Dan Hynes. Gordon works at Illinois Central College and once worked for Barack Obama.

You may recall that Obama and Hynes ran against each other for US Senate in '04. I don't know how much Obama or Hynes are involved in helping either candidate. Hynes won Peoria county by a small margin.

Jehan Gordon was recruited to run for the seat before Aaron Shock announced his campaign for Congress. Allen Mayer joined the race later, after it became an open seat.

Any time an incumbent retires it attracts new candidates who wouldn't otherwise run so there's nothing surprising or unusual about what Mayer is doing. Its also not surprising that it caused some hard feelings among those backing Gordon. Adding to the drama, the fact that Gordon is black and Mayer is white rubs some people the wrong way.

I don't know either candidate too well but I was very impressed by them. Both are young, energetic, smart, passionate and forward thinking. Both are raising money, campaigning hard and have important endorsements. I have no idea who's going to win but Democrats are going to have a good candidate for the district regardless of how the primary turns out.

My opinion, in contradiction to the current conventional wisdom, is that this race will be competitive even if Aaron Shock loses the Republican primary and runs for re-election to the House. West-central Illinois has a history of supporting moderate Republicans. After seeing his record in the General Assembly, and some of his statements during the Congressional campaign, voters may decide that Schock is too conservative for the district. He'll have the same problem if he wins the nomination for US Congress.

This is one of the downstate races to keep an eye on.

Correction: The Republican candidate for the Illinois House, Cindy Ardis-Jenkins, has considered dropping out of the race but her name is still on the ballot for now. Sorry about the mistake.

Posted by Will at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I've worked political campaigns at all levels in several states and been to many political events of all kinds. In my experience the Iowa Presidential Caucus is the most exciting event in American politics. Its the most fun you'll ever have in Iowa.

There's something electric in the air in the weeks leading up to the caucus. If you introduce yourself to ten strangers on the street in Des Moines two of them will probably be Presidential candidates.

Many Iowans naturally get sick of being bombarded with campaign TV ads and mail, but for the most part they take their role as the first caucus state very seriously. Its a very different decision making process when you have the opportunity to meet all of the candidates individually several times each. That's why I prefer two small states going first over a national primary that would be completely dominated by who has the most money, name recognition and media coverage.

Iowa is an equalizer for good candidates who connect with the public even if they aren't favored by donors or the media. That's also why national polls are an idiotic way for the media to declare a so-called front runner months before people start voting. Until we adopt a national primary day then naming a frontrunner based on fund raising totals and national polls is misleading and foolish. The media was wrong to do it with Dean in '03 and they repeated the mistake in '07 with Clinton. The myth of Hillary Clinton as frontrunner will be busted the day of the Iowa Caucus.

Its difficult for people in most of the country to have a significant impact on the Presidential primary but those of us in Illinois have the chance to make a real difference by volunteering in Iowa. A lot of the work is tedious like making phone calls and knocking on doors, but if you're looking for a way to enlarge your personal impact on the Presidential election then going to Iowa is a great way to do it.

The caucus is a unique system. People gather in each precinct around the state. At the start everyone divides up into groups based on the candidate they support. If a candidate has less than the required threshold (usually 15% depending on the size of the precinct) then the supporters of that candidate can choose to switch over to someone else in the second round. A person's second choice matters if they like a candidate with less support like Kucinich or Dodd. And there are always some precincts where even one of the major candidates doesn't reach the threshold.

Results reported the night of the caucus are misleading if you don't know what's being reported. For example, a lesser known candidate might be reported as having 5% of the votes. But that doesn't mean only 5% of the voters in Iowa support that candidate. It means the candidate reached the threshold of 15% to remain viable in enough precincts to receive 5% of the total delegates. For all we know that candidate may have had the support of 12% of the people in most precincts around the state but didn't last into the second round.

The caucus system benefits those who don't go ugly because you don't want to alienate voters who might switch to your side in the second round. The fact that Edwards played the nice guy by not attacking anyone in '03-'04 is one reason why he did so well in Iowa. He picked up a lot of second choice votes from other candidates.

All of this also makes it very difficult for polls to predict who is going to win Iowa. The Boston Globe is the only paper I've seen with a recent poll of second choice preferences. Edwards and Obama are leading the race in that poll, but anything can happen on caucus night. This is all exciting stuff if you're a political junkie like me.

If you have time off between now and the caucus then think about calling up the campaign office for the candidate you support and volunteering for Iowa. You'll meet some great people and you might help decide who the next President will be.

Posted by Will at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There's a lot of news today about the experimental FutureGen coal power plant being placed in Mattoon. Some managers of local media outlets serve on the FutureGen Illinois Task Force and most media coverage thus far has taken a one sided view without asking critical questions about the project.

Researching clean coal technology is a good idea. What deserves more discussion is how much taxpayers should subsidize that research for profitable coal companies and whether that should be a higher priority than developing truly clean, renewable resources such as wind, solar and energy efficiency projects.

I'm hearing a lot of hype about this plant reviving the coal economy in Illinois. That's the empty promise made by every pandering, short-sighted politician who campaigns in the Southern part of the state. Let's bring things back down to earth by keeping two things in mind.

First, new mining technologies mean you can do the same work with fewer miners in less time. That alone means Southern Illinois will never have the large base of coal mining jobs it had decades ago even in the unlikely event that use of coal increases.

Second, even if FutureGen works (and there are no guarantees of that) it will take many more years and billions of dollars to update current plants or build new ones around the country. It will be 25 years or more before we see the realization of the big promises FutureGen promoters are making about revitalizing the Southern Illinois coal industry. I don't think the reality of this project's economic benefits will ever live up to the hype.

Capitol Fax links one of the few radio stories that looks at this beyond the FutureGen press releases. Its a good story despite the head of the Illinois Coal Association making the ridiculous argument that coal is the only option for affordable energy in the future.

Also, the State Journal-Register has an item in late breaking news that I'm sure will have a new link for the full story tomorrow. The SJ-R is once again one of the few news outlets to examine some of the issue beyond the hype. I knew that FutureGen is being heavily subsidized by state, local and federal governments but I didn't realize that the Department of Energy is picking up 75% of the costs of a project designed to help profitable companies in the coal industry like Peabody and ExxonMobil.

A side note about this project is the plan to make a clean fuel technology dependent on dirty fossil fuels. When George Bush touted hydrogen cars as the clean fuel technology of the future in the State of the Union address a few years ago he didn't mention that his plan was to derive the hydrogen from coal. FutureGen will do research to make that possible. Leave it to George Bush to figure out a way to use a clean fuel technology as another way to subsidize the fossil fuel industries.

If people in Southern Illinois want to revive their economy its time to stop tying their future to the fate of the coal industry.

There are many ways to create new jobs as we move to a clean energy economy. Why aren't political leaders trying to attract a factory to build wind turbines so that we don't have to ship them here from Europe and elsewhere? Why not a factory to build solar panels and all the jobs associated with installing them? Thousands of jobs could be created implementing energy efficiency and conservation projects if the state and federal government made that a funding priority instead of spending billions in subsidies to the coal industry.

I hope the research at FutureGen results in something positive and I hope nothing happens that will cost the state millions of dollars because it assumed liability for the project. But I'm skeptical about the hype and I know we can't sit on our hands doing nothing about climate change while we wait to see if this experiment produces results. We're making a mistake if we let the coal industry use its political power and campaign contributions to set our clean energy policy for us.

Posted by Will at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Republicans named Congressman John Shimkus as the ranking member on the oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. No, this isn't a joke.

Let's review a few facts that explain how completely ridiculous this is. First, Shimkus uses his position on the Energy & Commerce Committee to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from polluters.

He currently serves on the Republican House Energy Action Team, which consists of the polluting industries strongest allies in Washington. The League of Conservation Voters gives him a 4% career voting record, making him one of the most extremist anti-environment members of Congress.

Its disappointing enough that Republicans want someone with such a poor environmental record representing them on a subcommittee charged with investigating compliance with regulations in the energy industry and overseeing related government agencies. It's even more outrageous when you consider his track record with investigations.

Shimkus was one of the first people to find out about Congressman Mark Foley's inappropriate behavior toward under-age male pages working at the Capitol. He claims his investigation turned up nothing of serious concern. After having a talk with Foley he chose not to tell Democratic members of the page committee anything.

There are only two ways to interpret his actions. One, is that he honestly tried to conduct a thorough investigation and failed miserably thereby placing others in danger of continued harassment. The other explanation is that he participated in a cover up to protect a Republican colleague. Neither explanation leads me to think he should keep his seat in Congress, much less be put in a major position on a committee charged with investigations.

This assignment is like putting the captain of the Exxon Valdez in charge of giving breathalyzer tests before oil tankers set sail. Unbelievable.

Posted by Will at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Attention Scientists: Tired of low wages and whiny undergrads at your University? Have you recently lost your job doing research for the tobacco industry? Make easy money fast in your spare time! All you need is a casual relationship with the truth and a love of warm climates. For more information contact ExxonMobil.

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A few weeks ago I heard Cokie Roberts say on This Week that she was surprised Romney's religion was such an issue with some voters. I get the feeling that a lot of people are about to get an education about the deep religious divisions in middle-America.

AP reports Huckabee asking:

"Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

The article, to be published in Sunday's New York Times Magazine, says Huckabee asked the question after saying he believes Mormonism is a religion but doesn't know much about it. His rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is a member of the Mormon church, which is known officially as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Huckabee's question is usually raised by those who wish to smear the Mormon faith rather than clarify doctrine.

Some of those fliers raise reasonable questions about the history and beliefs of Mormonism with a heavy dose of spin. They often include quotes from early Mormon leaders saying things that haven't been taught in a Mormon church for at least 100 years. But too often they take a more extreme, misleading and ugly approach which leads most Mormons to accurately call it hate literature.

Southern Baptists aren't the only protestant denomination that conducts campaigns "warning" people about Mormonism, but they put the most effort into it. In 1998 Southern Baptists held their national convention in Salt Lake City in order to give Mormons the friendly message that they belong to a non-Christian cult and are going to hell.

One of the convention activities was going door to door in Utah neighborhoods to convert Mormons. Promotional materials about witnessing to Mormons were distributed during and after the convention, including the oft-repeated line about Jesus and Satan being brothers.

Huckabee is a former Southern Baptist minister and President of the Arkansas Southern Baptist Convention. He attended and gave a major speech at the 1998 Southern Baptist Pastor's Conference held in Salt Lake City in conjunction with their National Convention. Yet, Huckabee expects us to believe he never picked up much of anything about Mormonism after having a lead role in the denomination most dedicated to converting Mormons and after having spoke at a major convention focused on those activities.

A recent Mother Jones blog cites an email sent by godvoters.com attacking Romney that says, "At the core of Mormonism is the belief that Jesus and Satan used to be human blood brothers in a distant planet..."

This makes Huckabee's comment look less like an honest question and more like one part of a coordinated attack.

I want to make clear that I'm not attacking Southern Baptists in general. I blame religious leaders of any faith who abuse the trust their members place in them by spreading misconceptions and prejudices about other religions.

Its time for Mike Huckabee to either denounce his church's offensive campaign to mislead people about Mormonism or admit that he approves of those efforts. Does Huckabee support continued campaigns aimed at degrading the only religion to be violently driven outside American borders?

Posted by Will at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The State Journal-Register responded to Al Gore's Nobel Prize acceptance speech with their strongest editorial yet in favor of resolving global climate change.

They even quoted one of the best lines of the speech: “We have everything we need to get started, save perhaps political will, but political will is a renewable resource.” Maybe I should change the name of my blog to Political Will.

Gore gave a visionary speech that clearly lays out the problem, the obstacles and the solutions. Its absolutely worth reading no matter how you feel about the issue.

One part I thought was particularly interesting that I didn't expect to hear from an American politician. After talking about Gandhi's philosophy of Satyagraha, or "truth force," Gore says:

When we unite for a moral purpose that is manifestly good and true, the spiritual energy unleashed can transform us. The generation that defeated fascism throughout the world in the 1940s found, in rising to meet their awesome challenge, that they had gained the moral authority and long- term vision to launch the Marshall Plan, the United Nations, and a new level of global cooperation and foresight that unified Europe and facilitated the emergence of democracy and prosperity in Germany, Japan, Italy and much of the world. One of their visionary leaders said, “It is time we steered by the stars and not by the lights of every passing ship.”

Posted by Will at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Both were heavily manipulated by the Bush administration to deceive the public and take us into a policy disaster. I tried to think of a way to make this a pithy joke but I couldn't come up with anything.

The House Oversight Committee released the results of their investigation today. Here's the best paragraph from their summary:

In 1998, the American Petroleum Institute developed an internal “Communications Action Plan” that stated: “Victory will be achieved when … average citizens ‘understand’ uncertainties in climate science … [and] recognition of uncertainties becomes part of the ‘conventional wisdom.’” The Bush Administration has acted as if the oil industry’s communications plan were its mission statement. White House officials and political appointees in the agencies censored congressional testimony on the causes and impacts of global warming, controlled media access to government climate scientists, and edited federal scientific reports to inject unwarranted uncertainty into discussions of climate change and to minimize the threat to the environment and the economy.

Reading the summary I couldn't help but think about all of the same tactics and deceptions they used leading up to the war in Iraq. This is an administration that cares nothing about truth or serving the people.

If you need a shot of hope and optimism after reading that report be sure to read the speech given by a real leader who accepted his Nobel Peace Prize today. He has a couple of good lines about global warming appeasers who would have us do nothing.

In one part of the speech Gore says, "The earth has a fever. And the fever is rising. And the only prescription is more cowbell!" Ok he didn't say the cowbell part but that's what popped into my head after he said the earth has a fever. The speech is worth a read even without any cowbell.

Posted by Will at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The State Journal-Register's article on FutureGen today is the first news coverage I've seen that isn't completely one-sided cheerleading in favor of the project.

I'm impressed that someone finally pointed out the heads of local news outlets who are serving on the task force lobbying for FutureGen. They have had nothing but the most glowing, one-sided reports about FutureGen. It's clearly a conflict of interest that damages their credibility as news organizations. Its too bad there wasn't a quote from anyone at WICS TV 20.

Researching so-called "clean" coal is fine but this is far more important to the coal industry than it is to the general public. The coal industry needs to find a way to use their product in an environment that regulates carbon. They need to conduct this research for their own survival so why shouldn't they pay for it themselves instead of being subsidized heavily by taxpayers?

If political leaders care about economic growth more than they care about coal industry special interest groups then the answer is attracting energy technologies of the future. Brining in factories to build solar panels and wind turbines will create more long term jobs than pipe-dreams about reviving the coal economy. Additionally, jobs related to energy efficiency and conservation programs can't be shipped overseas.

Late last year I happened to drive through one of the towns FutureGen is considering in Texas. It had a large banner on the edge of town saying "We want FutureGen!" That's when I realized what a brilliant public relations scam the backers of FutureGen are conducting.

The coal industry needs new technologies to survive but they want to pass the cost of research onto taxpayers as much as possible. So they picked a few poor communities around the nation as "finalists" that are so desperate for jobs that they'll offer up all the tax breaks and subsidies they can. Not only that but they'll be excited to host a plant with uncertain environmental consequences and allow the coal industry to have no liability for experiments gone wrong.

There's a reason this project isn't proposed for a wealthy Chicago suburb like Schaumburg or Evanston. People there would drive FutureGen out of town. They have other employment options so they wouldn't take the risk of repeating the Taylorville cancer cluster or other unforeseen problems. The coal industry is pitting rural communities desperate for jobs against eachother to their own benefit. I have to admit that its a smart way for them to get as much taxpayer money as possible and discourage public debate about downsides to the project.

According to the FutureGen Illinois website:

The state legislature has offered numerous financial incentives for siting FutureGen in Illinois, including:

* $17 million direct cash grant from clean-coal technology fund
* Up to $50 million in reduced-interest loans
* Sales tax exemptions and business tax credits
* Public improvement funding
* Reimbursement for employee training costs

Posted by Will at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The State Journal-Register published today a letter to the editor I wrote. Here's a copy:

City’s clean-energy plan will pay dividends

Over the past few months, I’ve been excited to see new expanded rebate programs by City Water, Light and Power, such as the heat pump rebate, expanded insulation rebate and the money-back program that refunds the cost of home energy audits for anyone who follows through with any of the energy-saving recommendations.

All of these programs will help residents save money on their utility bill by reducing energy use. It’s another example of how conserving to help the environment is also good news for your checking account. More programs like these will be part of the implementation of Springfield’s clean-energy plan negotiated with the Sierra Club and there is much more to come.

I’d like to thank the nine city council members who voted to approve the contract to develop a thorough plan for future energy-efficiency and conservation projects. These programs will provide significant benefits to area residents and businesses for years to come while also reducing pollutants that cause global climate change.

It’s worth the investment to do it right the first time. Springfield quickly became a national leader in clean energy with its pledge to purchase wind power and start a green buy-in program to promote further use of renewable energy. Now we have the chance to become an early leader in energy-efficiency and conservation efforts that are becoming a national trend. That’s something everyone in Springfield can be proud of.

Will Reynolds, Springfield

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There's no group more powerful in the Democratic Party than organized labor so its hard to overstate the importance of Joe McMenamin's endorsement by the Illinois AFL-CIO. Schoenburg calls it a "boost" for McMenamin in his column today.

That's in addition to endorsements by the Democratic party organizations in the two largest counties in the district (Madison and Sangamon) along with several others. Leaders across the district know that McMenamin is our best shot at defeating John Shimkus in November!

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I got a chuckle out of this article about Al Gore's US shadow delegation to the conference in Bali to create a new climate change agreement once the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012. They have more clout and respect from world governmental and business leaders than the official Bush delegation.

As talks on a new world emissions treaty open today on the Indonesian island of Bali, companies and investors such as General Electric Co., Chevron Corp. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. are backing Gore's push for global limits on climate- changing carbon emissions, a strategy Bush opposes.

A new accord limiting global warming, to be in place by 2012, will affect the way $11.6 trillion are spent on new power generation, the International Energy Agency says. ``Clean'' energy may be the ``biggest business opportunity there's ever been,'' according to billionaire Ted Turner. Business leaders including GE's Jeffrey Immelt say they need clarity on the cost of carbon emissions to steer ``green'' investment decisions.

Later in the article:

``The transition to a new energy economy will create tremendous business opportunities,'' the billionaire Turner said last week in an e-mail. ``You see some of the best-run corporations in the world preparing for that shift, and businesses with their heads in the sand will get left behind.''

Supporters of a new, stronger agreement to stop global climate change are gathering around the world on December 8th. Environmental groups in Springfield are hosting a town meeting downtown at Trout Lilly Cafe this Saturday at 1:00pm. There will be a presentation on sustainable living, an open forum and information about taking action to affect policy at the local, state, federal, and international level.

Posted by Will at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After a two week delay the Springfield city council passed a resolution approving a contract with RLW Analytics to conduct a study to determine the most effective energy efficiency and conservation programs for Springfield. Its part of the implementation of the clean energy plan worked out between the Sierra Club and CWLP.

There was some controversy over the cost of the study being more than the guesstimate price that was called for in the original agreement with the Sierra Club. The city is going to spend large amounts of money for years into the future on these programs so doing so without a clear plan developed from accurate information about our city's needs would have been fiscally irresponsible.

Personally, I was worried that the contract might end up going to an under-qualified local firm with connections to the political establishment. I had no reason to suspect CWLP was attempting to do that except that its natural for a person to become cynical about that sort of thing when you live in Springfield long enough. It has been known to happen.

So I was happy to see CWLP propose a contract with a national firm that has vast experience doing just these kind of studies. I decided to check the Illinois Board of Elections website and I couldn't find record of any of the top staff at RLW Analytics having given money to any Illinois politician. Wow!

According to the company website one of the early projects of the firm's founder was in the city of Austin. Austin has some of the best energy programs in the country so we're in good shape if that's a sign of things to come.

I'm glad all but one member of the council saw the wisdom of investing in a good plan now to ensure wise use of the money later. You can check the CWLP energy services website to keep up on new programs and developments.

Posted by Will at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The addition of three night time bus routes is getting lots of news coverage around Springfield. Many people have been pushing for this a long time and its great to see any improvement in Springfield's public transportation system.

Here are maps of the three routes you can download and print out:

Southeast Side

North Side

West Side

Hats off to SMTD for making this happen! If you visit their website read about their award for having a green fleet.

In news coverage about the night routes people talk about the need to provide bus service for people who don't have cars. That's definitely a good reason to do it, but a good public transportation system provides an appealing alternative to people who do have cars or would prefer to live without one. SMTD should make plans with that goal in mind.

There's a new blog by a UIS student worth checking out called Better Springfield Transit. One of his first posts is about why the current "pulse" system is confusing and outdated. It explains some of the reasons why people only use the bus system if they have no other alternative.

Posted by Will at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)