Monday, June 6, 2011
America's Trade Defecit is Obvious to Nine Year-Old
My nine year-old son Nicholas is off of school so he is hanging out with me at the office this morning. He just said something pretty insightful. I was showing him the kind of work I do and was taking him through a report that I had written for a client of my market research business (Rational Strategy Consulting). One of the questions asked about what factors we use when we buy our vehicles. He said what he thought was important (first thing he said was fuel economy) and then I went through some other factors people mentioned. He asked me what I thought and I told him I think it is very important to have a domestically produced vehicle because it helps Americans have jobs. He said, "Yeah, a lot of stuff comes from China. Like all of my toys. Everytime I have a toy I flip it over and it says made in China. So I guess that means they are getting all the jobs." Couldn't have said it better myself.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
200,000
Yesterday I was on Facebook and read something that struck me as pretty major. According to a post on the Reject Luna Laws Facebook page, they collected over 200,000 verified signatures. That is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. While my friend, Dennis Mansfield, is taking this as an opportunity to bash the IEA, I think it says a lot more about the pathetic excuse for education reform better known as "Student's Come First" than it does the power (or lack thereof) of the IEA.
Getting 200,000 signatures from people in Idaho to do anything is a feat in and of itself. I know people that would have signed, but never got the chance. The Statesman Editorial Board says that it won't be a slam dunk. They are right. It won't be. What it will be is the single most important issue of the 2012 election cycle. I invite the Idaho GOP to use its power to align itself as pro-Students Come First in hopes it can kill the referendum. I hope they do so because when moderates and independents get burned by the fact they aren't welcome in the GOP primary in May their arrogance and cavalierly support of Student Come First will be the final straw in November. You reap what you sow.
You can take that to the bank.
Getting 200,000 signatures from people in Idaho to do anything is a feat in and of itself. I know people that would have signed, but never got the chance. The Statesman Editorial Board says that it won't be a slam dunk. They are right. It won't be. What it will be is the single most important issue of the 2012 election cycle. I invite the Idaho GOP to use its power to align itself as pro-Students Come First in hopes it can kill the referendum. I hope they do so because when moderates and independents get burned by the fact they aren't welcome in the GOP primary in May their arrogance and cavalierly support of Student Come First will be the final straw in November. You reap what you sow.
You can take that to the bank.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Changes in Education
Quick little post... Today my wife, a sixth grade teacher in the Meridian School District, received proof that the grandfathering of continue contracts in the "Students Come First" legislation was pretty much worthless. Due to the failed levy from last month, the school district is going to have to RIF about 100 teachers. In an email to my wife (and likely every other teacher) was informed that all teachers would be given RIF numbers (I guess like draft numbers from the military). The numbers are assigned based upon scores on evaluations the teachers received in their last formal evaluation. In other words, bad eval, low RIF number, good eval, high RIF number. Seems fair enough, but what if the teacher was just having a bad day? Plus, it doesn't sound like any teachers actually knew that evaluations would have that sort of impact. That sort of lack of transparency really calls into question the fairness and efficacy of using that sort of standard. More on this later...
Redistricting here we come!
While most "normal" people probably don't have much clue or desire to care the reality is that all across the country the single most important event of the decade (from political and policy perspectives) is beginning: the redrawing of legislative and congressional district boundaries.
Why is it so important? Because the way lines are drawn has a significant and direct impact on who may be elected to state legislatures or Congress. In many states, the job is left up to the legislature. In Idaho, the job is left up to a citizen's commission comprised of three Republicans and three Democrats. Kudos to Idaho's political leaders from the 1990's that sought out the change and Idahoans embracing it in the form a constitutional amendment. Often times this exercise devolves into a political battle of the most ugly display. As has been reported, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) knows that his Republican dominated Ohio Legislature is going to cut out his district. A sa result he has been soliciting offers form OTHER STATES so he can continue to serve in Congress. Regardless of how you feel about Congressman Kucinich the fact is that redistricting will have a real impact on the makeup of Congress when his district is essentially eliminated (more accurately absorbed by other districts).
To get local, Idaho's redistricting process, which officially starts on June 6, should provide as much intrigue. Some have suggested it is impossible for Democrats in Boise to maintain the number of viable districts as we currently have. To backup their claims they point to the fact that all of the growth in Ada County has been in the more conservative west and all the Boise districts need to gain population. True, true. To fix this they simply move the more competitive legislative districts west and then they become solid GOP. Okay, that is one solution. However, I have personally seen maps drawn where Boise Dems can stay as competitive in as many districts as they currently are after redistricting. The question will become what is more important? The two competing interests appear to be maintaining communities of interest versus adding population for population's sake.
For example, in the legislative district I was honored to represent, District 18, the district was mostly out of the precincts are in the Southeast Neighborhood Association (SENA). Having a SENA district makes sense because by definition neighborhood associations are communities of interest. I've heard ruminations that District 18 may just shifted further west to add the population it needs (around 5000 people). That would work, but it would really undermine the community of interest argument because District 18, at heart, is a Southeast Boise district. I can tell you that the folks in the western precincts don't feel like they belong and frankly, they don't.
There is also this continuing assumption that the congressional district lines in Idaho will simply shift slight west somewher in Ada County. To put a fine point on it, the convectional wisdom has been the line which currently bisects Ada County more or less down Cole Road, will move to around Eagle Road to add the necessary population. I've always thought cutting Ada County and Boise in half was clearly a political stunt intended to decrease the power of Boise Dems. A recent discussion with a conserviate Boise blogger confirmed that was his opinion as well. The question I keep asking is, "why do you have to cut Ada County at all?" The answer, clearly, is you don't. I recently saw a map drawn by someone that I don't know on the Maptitude software being used by the redistricting commission. The proposed map cut the state of Idaho north to south rather than east to west. The map called it Desert District versus Mountain District. Regardless of the political outcome of the districts, the way the map looked made a lot more sense than the current map. Of course the GOP would never go for this plan because it would put too many south Idaho cities in the same district and that, at some point, could be trouble.
Anyway, I could go on for hours, but I've probably said enough. Needless to say, I'll be watching very closely. I will attend all the meetings that I can with laptop at bay and snarky comment in queue. Thanks for reading.
Why is it so important? Because the way lines are drawn has a significant and direct impact on who may be elected to state legislatures or Congress. In many states, the job is left up to the legislature. In Idaho, the job is left up to a citizen's commission comprised of three Republicans and three Democrats. Kudos to Idaho's political leaders from the 1990's that sought out the change and Idahoans embracing it in the form a constitutional amendment. Often times this exercise devolves into a political battle of the most ugly display. As has been reported, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) knows that his Republican dominated Ohio Legislature is going to cut out his district. A sa result he has been soliciting offers form OTHER STATES so he can continue to serve in Congress. Regardless of how you feel about Congressman Kucinich the fact is that redistricting will have a real impact on the makeup of Congress when his district is essentially eliminated (more accurately absorbed by other districts).
To get local, Idaho's redistricting process, which officially starts on June 6, should provide as much intrigue. Some have suggested it is impossible for Democrats in Boise to maintain the number of viable districts as we currently have. To backup their claims they point to the fact that all of the growth in Ada County has been in the more conservative west and all the Boise districts need to gain population. True, true. To fix this they simply move the more competitive legislative districts west and then they become solid GOP. Okay, that is one solution. However, I have personally seen maps drawn where Boise Dems can stay as competitive in as many districts as they currently are after redistricting. The question will become what is more important? The two competing interests appear to be maintaining communities of interest versus adding population for population's sake.
For example, in the legislative district I was honored to represent, District 18, the district was mostly out of the precincts are in the Southeast Neighborhood Association (SENA). Having a SENA district makes sense because by definition neighborhood associations are communities of interest. I've heard ruminations that District 18 may just shifted further west to add the population it needs (around 5000 people). That would work, but it would really undermine the community of interest argument because District 18, at heart, is a Southeast Boise district. I can tell you that the folks in the western precincts don't feel like they belong and frankly, they don't.
There is also this continuing assumption that the congressional district lines in Idaho will simply shift slight west somewher in Ada County. To put a fine point on it, the convectional wisdom has been the line which currently bisects Ada County more or less down Cole Road, will move to around Eagle Road to add the necessary population. I've always thought cutting Ada County and Boise in half was clearly a political stunt intended to decrease the power of Boise Dems. A recent discussion with a conserviate Boise blogger confirmed that was his opinion as well. The question I keep asking is, "why do you have to cut Ada County at all?" The answer, clearly, is you don't. I recently saw a map drawn by someone that I don't know on the Maptitude software being used by the redistricting commission. The proposed map cut the state of Idaho north to south rather than east to west. The map called it Desert District versus Mountain District. Regardless of the political outcome of the districts, the way the map looked made a lot more sense than the current map. Of course the GOP would never go for this plan because it would put too many south Idaho cities in the same district and that, at some point, could be trouble.
Anyway, I could go on for hours, but I've probably said enough. Needless to say, I'll be watching very closely. I will attend all the meetings that I can with laptop at bay and snarky comment in queue. Thanks for reading.
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