'Kindergarten' lawmakers fail to fix Calif. budget

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Republican state lawmakers on Tuesday blocked the Democrats' $17 billion proposal to address part of California's fiscal meltdown, leaving the state on track for a cash derailment this spring.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said she was disappointed that termed-out Republicans refused to step out of their ideological corners and accept a combination of $8.1 billion in cuts and $8.1 billion in tax increases. She said leaders would return next week to take up the challenge again..."When the market is down, when the economy is down, when people are struggling, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on them," Minority Assembly Leader Mike Villines said after Tuesday's vote.  MORE..

2nd Mass. politician charged with taking bribe

BOSTON (AP) -- FBI agents arrested a Boston city council member Friday after he was videotaped allegedly taking a $1,000 bribe from an undercover agent in an expanding investigation into corruption at City Hall and the Massachusetts Statehouse.

Chuck Turner was taken into custody at City Hall less than a month after his records were subpoenaed as part of the investigation into former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson. She was charged last month after the FBI said she was photographed stuffing bribe money under her sweater.  MORE..

WHITEWASH?..
Supremes to review Obama citizenship arguments

A case that challenges President-elect Barack Obama's name on the 2008 election ballot citing questions over his citizenship has been scheduled for a "conference" at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Conferences are private meetings of the justices at which they review cases and decide which ones to accept for formal review. This case is set for a conference Dec. 5, just 10 days before the Electoral College is scheduled to meet to make formal the election of Obama as the nation's next president.  MORE..

NYCLU:Why was Stalin banner removed from school?

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Civil Liberties Union has demanded that city officials explain why they ordered a private art school to remove a banner displaying an image of Josef Stalin.

In a letter Thursday to the Department of Buildings, NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman expressed concern that the banner was taken down from The Cooper Union after some residents of the local Ukrainian community complained that it "seemed to promote" the Soviet dictator on the 75th anniversary of a famine he imposed. The famine, called the Holodomor, killed millions of Ukrainians.  MORE..

Electing Criminals II: Charges added to Ariz. Congressman's indictment

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- A racketeering charge and other counts have been added to an indictment against Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi.

The indictment made public Thursday also adds another defendant in the case against Renzi, a three-term Republican who will leave Congress when his term expires.  MORE..

   Sarah McIntosh

Blog
Editorial
11-28-08

 

It’s Time to Demand Transparency

Thomas Jefferson once said, “We might hope to see the finances of the Union as clear and intelligible as a merchant’s books, so that every member of Congress and every man of any mind in the Union should be able to comprehend them…and consequently to control them.”

Apparently, the Federal Reserve and Ben Bernanke do not agree. Despite agreeing in September that they would comply with Congress’ request for transparency in the $700 billion bailout of the banking system, the Federal Reserve will not disclose the recipients of nearly $2 trillion in emergency loans. The bigger problem with this is that the Fed is refusing to disclose what securities the banks are pledging in return for the aid.

It’s important to remember that the $2 trillion is not some special money tree that the Fed has but it is taxpayer money. At a time when many Americans may be struggling it’s especially important to think about the consequences of government spending.

But how can we adequately judge government spending when we do not know where the money is going? In September Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called for transparency when discussing the purchase of distressed assets under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (otherwise known as TARP or the bailout plan). He told lawmakers that, “We need protection. We need transparency….We all want it.”

The idea of transparency is reverberating around Congress and local legislatures around the country. But what is transparency? On a micro-level it can mean many things, but in general it is providing clear information. And, although Jefferson did not use the terms in his quote, he was clearly getting at the same thing.

Government does not create money (well actually they do print the money and have caused a lot of inflation). But, the money that government spends is first taken from individuals. In a representative democracy, people should have the right to know where the money that is taken from them is spent. Why? First, because it is the individual’s property and by taking it away the government is prohibiting the individual from using the funds he or she has accumulated. Second, because a cornerstone of representative democracy is being able to hold representatives of the people accountable. If the people do not know how their money is being spent, then how do they know if they should “reward” or “punish” those they have elected?

There have been some lawsuits filed under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act seeking to force disclosure by the Fed. Hopefully, that will produce some information.

But, demands for transparency should not stop there. Transparency should be a key component of any government unit that spends taxpayer money. As times get tighter for the average American, this is going to become even more important.

People across the nation are starting to take a closer look at their finances, hoping to find ways to cut down. It’s called budgeting and it requires that people track their spending and spend time evaluating their spending habits.

Taxpayers should be able to do the same with government spending. But currently, it’s nearly impossible to do so. The state of Kansas has developed a website called Kanview which looks at state spending. This is a step in the right direction, but it needs to happen at all levels of government, from Congress down to the very local levels of government.

Later this year the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy will formally announce the unveiling of a new website Kansasvotes.org which not only provides bill tracking and summaries but also reveals how lawmakers have voted on bills. This is another step in the right direction towards transparency and government accountability.

From the beginning days of this country, the founders recognized the integral need of the people to have knowledge and understanding of their leaders and their government. Now, perhaps more than ever, it’s time to demand that transparency.

Sarah McIntosh is Vice President of Programs for the Kansas-based Flint Hills Center for Public Policy. She can be reached at sarah.mcintosh@flinthills.org or (316) 634-0218. _____________________________________

PUBLIC NOTICE 11-24-08

IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON GIVING GIFT CARDS...

If you tend to give gift cards around the holidays, you need to be careful that the cards will be honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as Bankruptcy Planning. Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about.

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide
Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January

Cache will close all stores
Talbots closing down specialty stores
J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)
GAP closing 85 stores

Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January
Wickes Furniture closing down
Levitz closing down remaining stores
Bombay closing remaining stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January

Whitehall closing all stores
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in New Brunswick, NJ
Macys to close 9 stores after January

Linens and Things closing all stores
Movie Galley Closing all stores
Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January

Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
Wilson Leather closing down all stores
Sharper Image closing down all stores
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Loews to close down some stores
Dillard's to close some stores                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Bob Weeks

Guest Columnist

 

Wichita City Council's Misunderstanding of Tax Increment Financing.

Last July, I testified at a public hearing at a Wichita city council meeting. Afterwards, a council member told me that I had a “glaring error” in my arguments. I won’t identify this member in order to avoid embarrassing the member. The minutes of the meeting don’t identify the member who said this, but video is available.

My purpose in testifying that day was not to question the merits of tax increment financing (TIF) districts. Instead, I was identifying an ethics problem that a Wichita school board member, Kevass Harding has regarding his involvement in a proposed TIF district.

In my testimony I stated, with a qualification, that the applicant for this TIF district was asking for relief from paying some of the property tax for his real estate development. After my testimony, a council member told me that I was wrong, that the TIF district won’t allow someone to avoid paying property taxes. True, I said. It was sloppy for me to have said that without clarification, but it wasn’t the point I was making that day.

But since the city council member brought up the point, let’s examine how TIF districts work. I am sure you will be able to agree that the use of TIF districts allow developers to effectively avoid paying some of their increased property taxes.

In material prepared by Wichita’s Office of Urban Development and presented at the March 18, 2008 city council meeting, we may read this: “The developers have identified a financing shortfall of $2.5 million, for which they are seeking tax increment financing assistance. The preliminary project budget presented to City staff indicates that TIF funds would need to be used for site acquisition costs in order to spend $2.5 million on project costs eligible for TIF funding.”

So without the formation of the TIF district, the developers are $2.5 million short. With the TIF district, they’ve got the money they need. We must conclude, then, that the TIF district financing, no matter what it is used for, is worth $2.5 million to the developers.

Now if the developers borrowed that money from a bank, they’d pay back the loan over some period of years. Each year, out of the cash flow the project generates, the developers would have to make the loan payments, and also, just like everyone else, they’d have to pay their property taxes. Those taxes have increased as now the development is worth more due to the improvements made by the developer. That’s the “increment” in TIF.

But with a TIF district, the “bank” is the City of Wichita, which issued bonds to pay for the benefits the developers needed to make the project work. So the developers have to pay back the city. But instead of making payments on a loan from a bank and their property taxes, all the TIF developers have to do is pay their property taxes. By merely paying the same taxes that everyone else has to pay, their loan (the bonds issued by the City of Wichita) is repaid.

That’s why a TIF district allows developers to effectively avoid paying some of the increased property taxes on their development. When a development is undertaken without the benefit of a TIF district, developers have to repay loans and pay higher taxes. With a TIF district, all the developers have to pay is higher taxes.

It is as simple as this.

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