Civitas Review Online

Are you dumber than an elected official? That could be the name of a new TV game show based on the results of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute annual Civic Literacy Test.  According to ISI’s November 20th press release: 

More than 2,500 randomly selected Americans took ISI’s basic 33-question test on Civic Literacy and more than 1,700 people failed, with an average score of 49 percent, or an “F.” Elected officials scored even lower than the general public, with an average score of 44 percent and only 0.8 percent (or 21) of all surveyed earned an “A.” Even more startling is the fact that over twice as many people know Paula Abdul was a judge on American Idol than know that the phrase “government of the people, by the people, for the people"  comes from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. (Emphasis mine).

The failing scores of elected officials would be funny if it weren’t so sad — and expensive.   Interestingly, this last session (this is the third year of ISI’s Civic Literacy Test) all the moaning and groaning seems to have reached the NC General Assembly.  Included in this year’s studies bill (S.L. 2008-181) was creation of the Higher Education Civic Education Study Commission to advise the state “on the role of higher education in helping to strengthen and enhance the ability of colleges and universities to participate in civic engagement activities with K-12 educational institutions, faith-based programs, or other service programs affecting the social development and literacy of school-aged children.”  High and lofty purposes, but does anyone seriously think recommendations from some legislative commission are going to signficantly improve these trends?  A good first step might be  civics classes for all elected officials.  

Word comes from Guilford County Sheriff B.J. Barnes that the U.S. government has given a $500,000 grant to 6 neighboring piedmont counties to set up a regional task force to hunt for online child predators.  Incidentally, the grant goes to some of the more conservative sheriffs in the state:  Terry Anderson (Alamance), Sam Page (Rockingham), Maynard Reid (Randolph), David Grice (Davidson), Bill Schatzman (Forsyth) and the aforementioned Barnes.

Internet based perverts need to watch out.  North Carolina takes solicitation of child pornography seriously.  The penalty was raised last year from an "F" class penalty (10 months minimum) to an "E" class (15 months minimum). Additionally, E felonies require active prison time and post release supervision for sex offenders.

Unfortunately, lawmakers last year didn't consider the act of child molestation as seriously as they did solicitation of child porn.  While deliberating the much touted "Jessica's Law", the legislature failed to strengthen the penalty for sexually touching a child.  So, even after Sheriff Barnes apprehends the molester, the judge is not required to give them active prison time and is limited to under 2 years confinement.

Expect to see this issue come up again in the legislature. 

In this article, National Center for Policy Analysis President John Goodman tells us that any of the national health care proposals currently being offered up will increase a government rationing of care. 

Goodman notes:

there is a common pattern among all the health care proposals coming from the left: they envision expanding Medicaid and lowering the age of eligibility for Medicare.

"What that means is putting millions of people into health plans that pay below market rates. And if you have millions of people paying below market rates, then it's going to be hard for them to get health care," he contends.

The difficulty of folks accessing health care providers will be twofold. With more people enrolled in government subsidized plans, more consumers will be shielded from the cost of health care services and demand will increase.

On the supply side, fewer providers will be around to treat the consumers. As mentioned here previously, a doctor shortage is already emerging and will be worsened by the plans currently under consideration in DC.

We can look to NC's expanding Medicaid program over the last several years for an example of how this works.

As I documented here, Medicaid recipients grew by 28% from 2001 to 2007. Meanwhile, the number of physicians enrolled as Medicaid providers shrank by 23%, and the number of Hospitals serving Medicaid patients fell by 61%. In other words, more patients chasing down fewer providers. Hello longer wait times and rationing of care.

One of the more interesting items to come out of our post-election poll was that more NCers now think the state is headed in the right direction than off on the wrong track.  42% said right direction to 41% for wrong track.

In our poll taken the week before the election it was 30-58 in favor of wrong track.

Digging a little deeper into the crosstabs, the big shift comes from African-American voters, who before the election said NC was on the wrong track by a 43-47 margin, now think the state is heading in the right direction by a 59-26 spread.

So basically we've had a 38 point shift in the sentiment of African-American voters about the direction of the state.  (Me thinks they are projecting the Obama win to the state level, cause I seriously doubt they have that strong of confidence in the Perdue administration).

Similarly, white voters while still thinking the state is headed in the wrong direction by a 38-45% margin, have had a 27 point swing towards right track.  Prior to the election, the margin was 27-61%.

What this says to me is voters may be setting very high expectations for Obama to really turn things around.  Do voters have unreasonable expectations of how much "change" Obama is going to be able to bring about in a short amount of time.  It will be interesting to see how much leeway he is given if a year or two from now, things haven't gotten much better with the economy.

When $270,000,000 goes to the sixth largest city in the state, even liberals and newspaper cartoonist are bound to notice.  Senator Tony Rand and his boy, DOT Secretary Lyndo Tippett have made sure that they have represented their hometown as much as possible.  Even fellow Democrats like Raleigh mayor Charles Meeker are crying fowl.

The Raleigh News and Observer's Duane Powell says it all with this cartoon:

In addition to the nice puff piece mentioned below, Gerlach also submitted this letterto the editor of the Herald Sun in response to my op-ed. (right-hand column, fifth letter down – password may be required).

Allow me to respond to some of Mr. Gerlach's assertions.

I write to respond to Brian Balfour's ill-informed guest column regarding the Golden LEAF Foundation.

Gerlach comes with the insult right out of the gate. Obviously, the op-ed ruffled his feathers. But answer me this, Gerlach: was my summary of how you got your job as president of Golden LEAF "ill-informed?" So that our readers are properly informed, they can read a longer article I wrote on Golden LEAF here.

"Golden LEAF received hundreds of applications for the position, hired a consulting firm to aide in the process, narrowed the search down to four finalists who were all interviewed by the full board, but yet Easley still managed to convince the Foundation to delay their decision until Gerlach was freed up from his duties negotiating the state budget this summer.

Gerlach, it should be noted, did not submit an application prior to the initial application deadline. Naturally, Gerlach was awarded the position, along with its hefty $189,000 annual salary.

“Easley’s intervention seems like the clumsy move of a lame-duck governor to find an exit strategy for a top aide,” noted (Philanthropy Journal writer Todd) Cohen.

I find it curious that Gerlach finds time to scan the newspapers for any public criticism, but didn't find the time to actually apply for his job within the application deadline. No matter, he got the job anyway. Must be nice being in Easley's inner circle - "membership has its privileges" as they say. 

Later in his letter, Gerlach attempts to justify Golden LEAF's (and therefore his cushy job) existence by predictably playing the sympathy card.

"Balfour's plan would cut out prospective investments in our poorest communities, and this should not happen. Rural and economically distressed communities struggle for resources that Balfour and others seem to take for granted."

Wrong. If these "prospective investments" are so worthwhile, they will still be funded. The funds will merely be shifted to the General Fund where they would compete with other budgetary obligations. But Gerlach apparently has a problem with this, expressing concern that the funds would "disappear" into the budget. Much better, in Gerlach's mind, to authorize a group of unelected, unaccountable political appointees and cronies like himself to allocate the money and avoid any debate.

North Carolina elects state leaders to make decisions of how to allocate state funds – but Gerlach wants to shield the Golden LEAF money from any such accountability and assume more power for himself. Never mind the extra $2.2 million in administrative costs (including his $189,000 salary) being diverted from "our poorest communities" to run the Foundation to do a job better left in the hands of elected officials.

Besides, there are already numerous state programs already in place that disburse and loan public fundsto "our poorest communities" – why is so much extra bureaucracy required? It wouldn't be that Gerlach wants to protect his job, would it? 

Given the embarrassing nature in which he obtained his job as head of Golden LEAF, one would think Gerlach would want to keep a low profile for a while. But the sense of entitlement and the elitism of folks like Gerlach who think economic growth relies exclusively on the brilliance of his chosen, centrally-planned "investments" overcomes any sense of shame. 

From an email distributed last week by Wak County Commissioner-elet Stan Norwalk:

Subject: Cuts in County Contribution to WCPSS education budget.
Importance: High
 
I need your help to stop any further cuts in the County's contribution to the WCPSS budgert.
First, please read this article in todays N&O.

Wake schools may have to lay off employees
                                                                                                    ###
A large show of support is needed to prevent the County's proposed cuts. Here are some arguments against any cuts by the County.

• Per the NC DPI, WCPSS is 85th among the 115 NC school systems in expenditures for operating schools, i.e. for education. It spends less than the average NC school system. (This does not include construction.).
• Over the last five years WCPSS's rank has fallen from 71st to 84th.
• Similarly, the rank of Wake County's contribution for education has declined from 13th to 17th.
• During that period the average increase of NC's schools was 43%. WCPSS increased only 23%. Although the state and the county are responsible for this sorry record, other NC Counties are trying harder than Wake.
• On a national basis, NC ranks 42nd among the states in support of K-12…$30,000 per classroom per year less than the national average. (Source: S&P's School Data Direct)..
• The education gap (versus other states) is totally due to the County's contribution. The states contribution has been slightly above the national average.
• Earlier this year the Wake BOC cut the BOE's operating budget request by $35 million. The County's contribution in recent years does not account for inflation – only growth.
• This history of lack of support by the County has begun to affect academic performance…e.g. graduation rate and test scores.
• Wake County has ample rainy day funds to deal with its <2% shortfall. There is no need to take more money from the schools…even in these hard times.

          These downward trends have to stop!  A four vote majority is needed to avoid any further cuts. That is by no means assured. Your support for WCPSS is needed at this critical point.
 
The BOC meeting will start at 2PM. The meeting is held in the 7th floor board room of the Court House  I will be sworn in with the other newly elected commissioners shortly thereafter. (As ever, parking, security and the elevators will slow you down.)The public speaks out session starts at 3PM. I suggest you get there early and sign up. Signs and posters showing your support would be of help. (Save our Schools; Stop the Cuts).
 
Please pass this e-mail on to your friends, associatesand neighbors
 
Thank you.
 
County Commissioner Elect
Stan Norwalk
tel:363-4685

                              ##### 

The email listed above was distributed last week by County Commissioner-elect Stan Norwalk. Norwalk hasn’t  even taken office yet and he’s doing all he can to make sure everyone knows the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) can not afford to absorb  $11.2 million in state cuts. Interestingly, Wake County has put off action on school cuts until December 1, when  Norwalk — whose election tips the balance on the school board in favor of Democrats 4 to 3 — takes office. Norwalk and others who read the email should consider the following:

• This past year, Wake County Public Schools received  an additional $5.5 million in state funds due to WCPSS overestimating school enrollment. 

• The 2008-09 state budget included $35 million in a transportation fuel supplement for districts to help cover rising fuel costs. Since passage of the budget bill, fuel costs have been cut almost in half.

• WCPSS has been assuming 6-8 percent budget growth per year for the past three years, based on expected enrollment growth. For the past two years,  enrollments have fallen short of WCPSS projections.  Budgets have expanded while the number of students have not.

• Norwarlk claims S& P Data Direct  NC ranks 42nd among the states in support of K-12…$30,000 per classroom per year less than the national average. S&P Data Direct lists no such data. 

Oh look at this… Less than a week after Civitas' Brian Balfour pens an op-ed in the Durham Herald Sun calling for the shuttering of corporate welfare behemoth Golden LEAF, a glowing profile piece just happens to be written by the Associated Press to run in many papers across the state.

That's just a coincidence, right?

There's NO WAY Golden Leaf head Dan Gerlach would call up a buddy in the press and get them to write a puff piece to do a little damage control… Nah… That would never happen…

In light of Chris' "cost" vs. "saved" post, this Freeman article discusses the importance of word choice when it comes to public debate.

Take the word “generous.” When I think of someone being generous, I think of the dictionary definition: magnanimous, kindly. But the term is often used to describe government programs that forcibly take money from some people and give it to others. Where is the generosity? Certainly not in the government’s treatment of those whose wealth it takes. Perhaps, then, the government is being generous in the size of these forcible transfers. But that’s not really generosity either. How can a government official be magnanimous with money that’s not his own?

Read the whole thing. The left has mastered this art and continues to shift debate onto their playing field through the effective use of well-chosen words – words that intentionally distort the discussion and force their political opponents onto the defensive.

I'm getting pretty annoyed at the mainstream media continuing to frame the capping of the gas tax as a "cost" to the state.

The latest, is this AP article entitled, "Gas tax limit means $600 million lost for state."

Why is it not written, "Gas tax limit means $600M savings for taxpayers."

Apparently, the press thinks the economy is just peachy and we taxpayers should gladly give up an additional $600M in revenue.  It's almost like it believes the money belongs to the government first and is generously letting us keep it.

Absolutely ridiculous.