by James Parks, May 6, 2011
Lion Television has agreed to recognize its employees’ choice of the Writers Guild of America, East, (WGAE) as its bargaining representative.
The nearly 100 Lion producers, associate producers, researchers and writers, who work on such shows as “Cash Cab” for Discovery Network, “Megadrive” for MTV and “History Detectives” and “America Revealed” for PBS, voted in December for WGAE. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certified the results this week.
WGAE Executive Director Lowell Peterson says:
We welcome the Lion employees into our creative community, where they will join thousands of other members who do some of the best work in television, film, radio, and digital. We are pleased that Lion respects their decision to become part of the Writers Guild and we look forward to a long and productive relationship.
WGAE also recently won the majority of votes in two other NLRB elections at Atlas Media Corp. and ITV Studios.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
European Unions Shine Spotlight on Georgia’s Attacks on Workers
by James Parks, May 6, 2011
Representatives of trade union organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from across Europe are meeting in Brussels today to discuss serious violations of human and workers’ rights by the government of Georgia.
Among the countries of the former Soviet Union, only in Georgia has the once government-dominated union federation reformed and become a truly free trade union federation. However, since 2008, the Georgian government has waged a wholesale and vicious attack against the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) and many of its affiliates.
The country’s labor laws were gutted in 2006. Meant to attract investment, the new code leaves workers and trade unionists with few rights on the job in law or in practice. For example, in the public sector, the government has blocked dues deductions from union members to the unions, starving the organizations of funds. The government has installed police watchdogs in schools and intimidated union representatives and teachers, all while promoting a fake, government-controlled union and encouraging or threatening members of the legitimate union to disaffiliate.
As a result of Georgia’s anti-worker actions, the AFL-CIO filed a petition with the U.S. Trade Representative to remove trade benefits for Georgia.
“Ten years ago we witnessed in the post-Soviet union area the same brutal union busting as we now see in Georgia,” says Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
Georgia is seeking to become a member of the European Union. But workers say behind then country’s façade of democracy and economic growth lie a growing number of human rights violations and total disregard and ignorance of health and safety issues.
GTUC President Irakli Petriashvili says:
European decision makers should not have any illusions that behind the democratic façade there is a government that is devoted to busting the democratic values and interests of workers. We cannot accept the increasing insecurity and lack of rights and the fact that workers are risking and losing their lives at work and that their organizations are being attacked by the authorities.
Representatives of trade union organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from across Europe are meeting in Brussels today to discuss serious violations of human and workers’ rights by the government of Georgia.
Among the countries of the former Soviet Union, only in Georgia has the once government-dominated union federation reformed and become a truly free trade union federation. However, since 2008, the Georgian government has waged a wholesale and vicious attack against the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) and many of its affiliates.
The country’s labor laws were gutted in 2006. Meant to attract investment, the new code leaves workers and trade unionists with few rights on the job in law or in practice. For example, in the public sector, the government has blocked dues deductions from union members to the unions, starving the organizations of funds. The government has installed police watchdogs in schools and intimidated union representatives and teachers, all while promoting a fake, government-controlled union and encouraging or threatening members of the legitimate union to disaffiliate.
As a result of Georgia’s anti-worker actions, the AFL-CIO filed a petition with the U.S. Trade Representative to remove trade benefits for Georgia.
“Ten years ago we witnessed in the post-Soviet union area the same brutal union busting as we now see in Georgia,” says Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
Georgia is seeking to become a member of the European Union. But workers say behind then country’s façade of democracy and economic growth lie a growing number of human rights violations and total disregard and ignorance of health and safety issues.
GTUC President Irakli Petriashvili says:
European decision makers should not have any illusions that behind the democratic façade there is a government that is devoted to busting the democratic values and interests of workers. We cannot accept the increasing insecurity and lack of rights and the fact that workers are risking and losing their lives at work and that their organizations are being attacked by the authorities.
New Jobs Numbers Send Mixed Message
by Mike Hall, May 6, 2011
The nation’s unemployment rate jumped to 9 percent in April, up from March’s 8.8 percent, according to the latest government figures. But the monthly payroll survey shows the economy added 244,000 jobs, the largest monthly gain in five years.
Economists say the more reliable economic health indicator is the payroll survey and today’s number is relatively good news, but still far from what’s needed to put Americans back to work at pre-recession levels. Says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
The monthly job growth is welcome news, but the economic recovery and job market remain fragile.
He adds that proposed deep federal budget cuts and continuing job losses in state and local government:
could jeopardize prospects for sustained job growth, given ongoing weakness in the housing market, high levels of consumer debt, and weak income growth for the middle class.
Young people (24.9 percent), African Americans (16.1 percent) and Hispanics (11.8 percent) continue to suffer the highest jobless rates.
Job gains were spread across industries, including retail (57,000), hospitality and leisure (46,000), health care (37,000), manufacturing (29,000), management and technical services (11,000), mining (11,000) and computer design (8,000).
Today’s numbers follow yesterday’s announcement from the Labor Department that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week rose to the highest level in eight months. In addition, gas prices are soaring and food prices are climbing.
While working families face increased economic pressure, U.S. corporations are raking in record profits. Figures released yesterday show that in 2010, the 500 largest U.S. corporations saw their profits rise by 81 percent—the third largest gain in the history of the Fortune 500. Says Trumka:
This could not be a clearer reminder that for a handful of Americans, times have never been better, while for most of our country, joblessness and economic insecurity are becoming the new normal.
He says lawmakers should be taking every necessary step to create good jobs now to address economic inequality and insecurity, including investing in infrastructure and job creation, insisting that corporations and the super-wealthy pay their fair share of taxes and improving rather than cutting the social safety net of Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.
Instead we see state and national politicians doing everything they can to destroy jobs, heighten economic insecurity, and transfer more of our country’s wealth to the richest Americans. The House Republican budget proposal would cost about 900,000 jobs in 2012, 1.3 million jobs by 2013, and 1.7 million or more jobs by 2014. It would constitute the single largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in U.S. history.
The nation’s unemployment rate jumped to 9 percent in April, up from March’s 8.8 percent, according to the latest government figures. But the monthly payroll survey shows the economy added 244,000 jobs, the largest monthly gain in five years.
Economists say the more reliable economic health indicator is the payroll survey and today’s number is relatively good news, but still far from what’s needed to put Americans back to work at pre-recession levels. Says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
The monthly job growth is welcome news, but the economic recovery and job market remain fragile.
He adds that proposed deep federal budget cuts and continuing job losses in state and local government:
could jeopardize prospects for sustained job growth, given ongoing weakness in the housing market, high levels of consumer debt, and weak income growth for the middle class.
Young people (24.9 percent), African Americans (16.1 percent) and Hispanics (11.8 percent) continue to suffer the highest jobless rates.
Job gains were spread across industries, including retail (57,000), hospitality and leisure (46,000), health care (37,000), manufacturing (29,000), management and technical services (11,000), mining (11,000) and computer design (8,000).
Today’s numbers follow yesterday’s announcement from the Labor Department that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week rose to the highest level in eight months. In addition, gas prices are soaring and food prices are climbing.
While working families face increased economic pressure, U.S. corporations are raking in record profits. Figures released yesterday show that in 2010, the 500 largest U.S. corporations saw their profits rise by 81 percent—the third largest gain in the history of the Fortune 500. Says Trumka:
This could not be a clearer reminder that for a handful of Americans, times have never been better, while for most of our country, joblessness and economic insecurity are becoming the new normal.
He says lawmakers should be taking every necessary step to create good jobs now to address economic inequality and insecurity, including investing in infrastructure and job creation, insisting that corporations and the super-wealthy pay their fair share of taxes and improving rather than cutting the social safety net of Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.
Instead we see state and national politicians doing everything they can to destroy jobs, heighten economic insecurity, and transfer more of our country’s wealth to the richest Americans. The House Republican budget proposal would cost about 900,000 jobs in 2012, 1.3 million jobs by 2013, and 1.7 million or more jobs by 2014. It would constitute the single largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in U.S. history.
It’s Time for Investors to Weigh In on Refinery Safety
Gary Beevers, United Steelworkers (USW) international vice president for Oil Bargaining, sends us this report. Beevers has extensive experience negotiating with major oil companies with the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Union (OCAW).
A little after midnight on Good Friday last year, a heat exchanger on a naphtha hydrotreater unit at the Tesoro oil refinery in Anacortes, Wash., catastrophically failed. The unit exploded, setting off a blast that shook homes five miles away and igniting a fire that could be seen anywhere in Anacortes. Three oil workers died in the blast; four others died at the hospital from injuries sustained in the accident.
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) said the explosion was preventable. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) reported that Tesoro failed to adequately maintain the nearly 40-year-old heat exchanger and that microscopic cracks had built up, making a rupture possible.
Companies need to “make the investments necessary to ensure safe operations,” said CSB Chair Rafael Moure-Eraso to the press.
Companies that continue to invest in safety and recognize its importance will reap benefits far into the future.
L&I Director Judy Shurke told reporters, “The bottom line is that this incident, this explosion and these deaths were preventable,” as she cited the company for 44 safety violations and issued a record $2.39 million fine. (Tesoro is appealing the fine.)
The Anacortes explosion was certainly not the only accident in the oil sector last year. In just the months of April and May there were 13 fires, 19 deaths and 25 injuries in the oil industry. That includes, of course, the Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers and created one of the most devastating ecological disasters in history.
Our union has been working for years to pressure oil refiners to fix serious hazards and take real steps to improve refinery safety. We’ve suggested standards for reporting incidents at refineries to improve transparency and we’ve proposed standards to address fatigue and eliminate excessive overtime caused by companies not replacing a worker assigned to another job duty.
Our members have raised safety issues on the refinery floor, we’ve worked closely with fence line communities that are concerned with refinery safety, and we’ve taken these safety issues to Congress. Now it’s time for investors to weigh in on refinery safety because it impacts the bottom line.
This year, in collaboration with the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund, our union is presenting shareholder proposals at four major refining companies—Marathon, Valero, Tesoro and ConocoPhillips. Our proposal calls on each company to:
Prepare a report, within ninety days of the 2011 annual meeting of stockholders, at reasonable cost and excluding proprietary and personal information, on the steps the Company has taken to reduce the risk of accidents. The report should describe the Board’s oversight of process safety management, staffing levels, inspection and maintenance of refineries and other equipment.
An identical report was filed at Sunoco, but it was withdrawn when the company agreed to fully comply with the request.
Marathon, Valero, Tesoro and ConocoPhillips opposed our resolution. After seven workers were killed, Tesoro said it was committed to safety so a report on their performance wasn’t necessary. Valero said it was already disclosing numbers on its total reportable incident rate (TRIR) so information on process safety, staffing, and inspection and maintenance was unnecessary. Valero also said that publishing a report would be too expensive.
Refining companies usually don’t mind providing the public with data on reportable injuries. The problem is that information provides a deceptive picture of refinery safety. BP’s Texas City Refinery posted an incredibly low reportable injury rate just before the 2005 explosion that killed 17 people and led to the biggest fines in OSHA history. Simply put, reporting slips, trips and falls doesn’t tell us anything about whether or not an explosion is likely to happen.
It’s exactly this type of failed logic that led Transocean to give its executives ”safety bonuses” for turning in the company’s ”best year” in safety in 2010. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, management actually said “…we achieved an exemplary statistical safety record as measured by our total recordable incident rate and total potential severity rate. As measured by these standards, we recorded the best year in safety performance in our company’s history.”
Jon Stewart from “The Daily Show” did a great job capturing the absurdity. He said:
OK, that’s just crazy. You gave yourselves a safety bonus because statistically the Deepwater Horizon explosion, killing 11 people and pumping 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf Coast counts the same as Bob cut his hand on a bolt—it’s just one incident.
It’s worth pointing out that, out of embarrassment, the executives donated their safety bonuses to charities working to clean up the Gulf Coast.
The real information that we need to know—whether or not a refinery is running safely—is the information we asked for in our shareholder resolution: the board’s oversight of process safety management, staffing levels, and inspection and maintenance of refineries and other equipment. To know whether or not there’s a risk of a deadly explosion, we need to know whether or not people at the top level of the company are directly involved in process safety; we need to know how much overtime people are working and what the risk of fatigue is; and we need to know whether or not the company is inspecting and maintaining its refineries.
I honestly don’t know if the bankers and billionaire stockowners care about whether or not oil workers die. But I do know that they care about making money. And blowing up refineries is bad for business. Not only do these accidents lead to months of downtime and cause insurance rates to go through the roof, they’re also bad for the public perception of our industry and drive down investor confidence.
So whether they’re doing it to save lives or just to protect their investments it’s time for investors to weigh in on refinery safety. Their profits, and our lives, depend on it.
A little after midnight on Good Friday last year, a heat exchanger on a naphtha hydrotreater unit at the Tesoro oil refinery in Anacortes, Wash., catastrophically failed. The unit exploded, setting off a blast that shook homes five miles away and igniting a fire that could be seen anywhere in Anacortes. Three oil workers died in the blast; four others died at the hospital from injuries sustained in the accident.
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) said the explosion was preventable. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) reported that Tesoro failed to adequately maintain the nearly 40-year-old heat exchanger and that microscopic cracks had built up, making a rupture possible.
Companies need to “make the investments necessary to ensure safe operations,” said CSB Chair Rafael Moure-Eraso to the press.
Companies that continue to invest in safety and recognize its importance will reap benefits far into the future.
L&I Director Judy Shurke told reporters, “The bottom line is that this incident, this explosion and these deaths were preventable,” as she cited the company for 44 safety violations and issued a record $2.39 million fine. (Tesoro is appealing the fine.)
The Anacortes explosion was certainly not the only accident in the oil sector last year. In just the months of April and May there were 13 fires, 19 deaths and 25 injuries in the oil industry. That includes, of course, the Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers and created one of the most devastating ecological disasters in history.
Our union has been working for years to pressure oil refiners to fix serious hazards and take real steps to improve refinery safety. We’ve suggested standards for reporting incidents at refineries to improve transparency and we’ve proposed standards to address fatigue and eliminate excessive overtime caused by companies not replacing a worker assigned to another job duty.
Our members have raised safety issues on the refinery floor, we’ve worked closely with fence line communities that are concerned with refinery safety, and we’ve taken these safety issues to Congress. Now it’s time for investors to weigh in on refinery safety because it impacts the bottom line.
This year, in collaboration with the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund, our union is presenting shareholder proposals at four major refining companies—Marathon, Valero, Tesoro and ConocoPhillips. Our proposal calls on each company to:
Prepare a report, within ninety days of the 2011 annual meeting of stockholders, at reasonable cost and excluding proprietary and personal information, on the steps the Company has taken to reduce the risk of accidents. The report should describe the Board’s oversight of process safety management, staffing levels, inspection and maintenance of refineries and other equipment.
An identical report was filed at Sunoco, but it was withdrawn when the company agreed to fully comply with the request.
Marathon, Valero, Tesoro and ConocoPhillips opposed our resolution. After seven workers were killed, Tesoro said it was committed to safety so a report on their performance wasn’t necessary. Valero said it was already disclosing numbers on its total reportable incident rate (TRIR) so information on process safety, staffing, and inspection and maintenance was unnecessary. Valero also said that publishing a report would be too expensive.
Refining companies usually don’t mind providing the public with data on reportable injuries. The problem is that information provides a deceptive picture of refinery safety. BP’s Texas City Refinery posted an incredibly low reportable injury rate just before the 2005 explosion that killed 17 people and led to the biggest fines in OSHA history. Simply put, reporting slips, trips and falls doesn’t tell us anything about whether or not an explosion is likely to happen.
It’s exactly this type of failed logic that led Transocean to give its executives ”safety bonuses” for turning in the company’s ”best year” in safety in 2010. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, management actually said “…we achieved an exemplary statistical safety record as measured by our total recordable incident rate and total potential severity rate. As measured by these standards, we recorded the best year in safety performance in our company’s history.”
Jon Stewart from “The Daily Show” did a great job capturing the absurdity. He said:
OK, that’s just crazy. You gave yourselves a safety bonus because statistically the Deepwater Horizon explosion, killing 11 people and pumping 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf Coast counts the same as Bob cut his hand on a bolt—it’s just one incident.
It’s worth pointing out that, out of embarrassment, the executives donated their safety bonuses to charities working to clean up the Gulf Coast.
The real information that we need to know—whether or not a refinery is running safely—is the information we asked for in our shareholder resolution: the board’s oversight of process safety management, staffing levels, and inspection and maintenance of refineries and other equipment. To know whether or not there’s a risk of a deadly explosion, we need to know whether or not people at the top level of the company are directly involved in process safety; we need to know how much overtime people are working and what the risk of fatigue is; and we need to know whether or not the company is inspecting and maintaining its refineries.
I honestly don’t know if the bankers and billionaire stockowners care about whether or not oil workers die. But I do know that they care about making money. And blowing up refineries is bad for business. Not only do these accidents lead to months of downtime and cause insurance rates to go through the roof, they’re also bad for the public perception of our industry and drive down investor confidence.
So whether they’re doing it to save lives or just to protect their investments it’s time for investors to weigh in on refinery safety. Their profits, and our lives, depend on it.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Trump: I Ran a Great Airline: Exclusive
By Ted Reed05/05/11 - 10:45 AM EDT
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- During a year and a half in the airline business, Donald Trump leveraged up too much, defaulted on his loans, fired the airline's president and then wouldn't make good on the president's contract.
He also improved the property, won praise from the employees and made a little money. "It worked out well for me," Trump said in an interview with TheStreet. "I ran an airline for a couple of years and made a couple of bucks. The airline business is a tough business, [but] I did great with it."
With Trump considering a bid for president, it may be timely to review his stewardship of the shuttle, which he purchased from Eastern Airlines in May 1989 for $365 million, branding it with his name and seeking to bring a luxury to a largely utilitarian segment of the airline business that provided convenient, hourly service in two key markets: New York's LaGuardia/Washington National and LaGuardia/Boston.
In particular, Trump recalls the positive relations with Trump Shuttle employees, many of whom embraced him after moving over from Eastern Air Lines, which had an acerbic labor climate and rundown equipment and facilities. "I was tentative about it at first, but i ended up with some of the finest employees," Trump said. "They worked as hard as any employees I ever had, because they wanted to prove that what was said about them was not true.
"Even today, I sometimes hop on the shuttle, or on a plane back from Florida, and there are people who say 'Thank you, Mr. Trump, for the great job you did at the shuttle.'"
The positive view of Trump was not universal. "Donald was challenging," recalled Bruce Nobles, president of the Trump Shuttle from October 1988 until June 1990. "Like a lot of charismatic entrepreneurs, he tended to be intimately involved in a lot of the details, [although] he didn't interfere in the operations per se. He didn't really know much about the airline business.
"When I first met him, I told him that old joke about how the way to make a little money in the airline business is to start with a lot of money, and he thought I was kidding," Nobles said.
In fact, despite the industry wisdom, the late 1980s and early 1990s were a time when airlines, for some strange reason, were viewed by many as trophy investments. Even Warren Buffet bought in, later declaring that his US Airways (LCC_) investment was his biggest mistake. Trump's own airline itch intensified after the shuttle purchase. In August, 1989, the Miami Herald reported that Frank Lorenzo had several times solicited Trump to buy Continental. In October, Trump bid $7 billion or $120 a share for American Airlines(AMR_).
BA-Iberia Swing to Profit in First Quarter Following Merger
By Steve Rothwell - May 6, 2011 3:41 AM ET
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, formed from a merger of British Airways and Iberia on Jan. 24, logged a profit in its first quarter of operations, beating predictions, as traffic rose and the deal cut costs.
IAG posted net income of 33 million euros ($48 million) in the three months ended March 31, versus a pro forma loss of 243 million euros a year earlier, the London-based company said in a statement. Analysts had forecast a loss of 138.5 million euros.
Traffic advanced 5.6 percent in the quarter, led by an 18 percent jump in premium bookings in March that buoyed ticket prices and helped lift sales 15 percent to 3.64 billion euros. IAG also cut non-fuel expenses 5.2 percent in the three months, and earnings were swollen by an 80 million-euro tax credit.
“The trends that we’ve been seeing, with good premium volumes and yields, particularly in long-haul, will continue through the summer,” Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh said on a conference call, predicting “significant growth” in operating profit for the full year. “We have also achieved a significant reduction in our controllable costs.”
IAG rose as much as 3.7 percent to 255 pence and was priced at 253 pence as of 8:20 a.m. in London, reducing the stock’s decline since the merger to 12 percent and valuing Europe’s third-biggest airline at 4.69 billion pounds ($7.7 billion).
Earnings equated to 1.7 cents a share, compared with a loss of 13.2 cents a year earlier. Sales also beat the 3.56 billion- euro average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Strong Trend
“The trends are still good in premium traffic and that’s where the money is, though fuel prices are still very high,” said Gert Zonneveld an analyst at Panmure Gordon in London.
Premium yields, a measure of ticket prices, rose 4.4 percent in the quarter even as volumes rose almost 12 percent.
“They are still benefitting from the big post-recession recovery in yields, but that’s a factor that has started to run its course,” said Douglas McNeill, an analyst at Charles Stanley in London with a “hold” recommendation on IAG. “Increasingly, the focus will be on the hard graft of reducing unit costs.”
The price of oil has surged 20 percent in the past six months, prompting British Airways to lift a fuel surcharge three times since December, though the levy passes on only 50 percent of the cost and hasn’t so far hurt bookings, according to Walsh.
“All of the indications that we have seen is that it hasn’t had any discernable impact on demand,” said the CEO, who previously led BA. “That’s true of both premium and non-premium cabins, but clearly it’s something that we are looking at.”
April Surge
Traffic surged almost 25 percent in April, IAG said separately, after flights last year were disrupted by ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland. First- and business-class bookings leapt 40 percent and economy demand advanced 22 percent.
Walsh said capacity increases at British Airways and Madrid- based Iberia were “appropriate” in the light of summer bookings that are “looking good.” The carriers have flexibility to curb seating if need be, he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Rothwell in London at srothwell@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net
Abel Harding: Jacksonville's entangled in 2012 hullabaloo
Submitted by Abel Harding on May 6, 2011 - 1:54amPolitiJax
In print: May 6, 2011
One campaign argues it's all about 2012; the other says it's not. Behind the scenes, there's no question some of the supporters involved in both of Jacksonville's mayoral campaigns are looking ahead to the next game.
For proof, look no further than Florida's two U.S. senators. They've weighed in along party lines, with Bill Nelson backing Alvin Brown and Marco Rubio supporting Mike Hogan.
The parties are also very involved. Republicans have pledged at least $100,000 to Hogan. The Florida Democratic Party has now covered bills in excess of $313,000 for Brown.
Activists obviously see Jacksonville as crucial to the next presidential election. That's despite the fact that the presence of a Republican in City Hall and in the governor's mansion failed to deliver Florida for the GOP in 2008.
So what's all of the hullabaloo about? Simply put, for activists outside the city, it's bragging rights.
Think of it as the 2010 Florida-Georgia game. A victory ultimately meant nothing, but it did give a certain columnist a week to crow about the win to a Bulldogs-fan brother.
In all seriousness, the injection of national politics demonstrates the entrenchment of the two-party system. Local issues may not be partisan - and there is a strong argument to be made that they aren't - but both candidates have a track record of loyalty to their respective parties.
And for voters who subscribe to a specific philosophy, there's a reluctance to differ with their preferred party, even when core principles may not be at stake.
Hogan's legislative voting record shows a willingness to align himself with the leadership of his party, something he's never denied.
Brown has never cast a vote as an elected official and touts his bipartisanship, but his track record of donations - checks in excess of $50,000 over the past 16 years - indicate a definitive preference for Democrats. Only one of his contribution went to a Republican, according to opensecrets.org.
With the drumbeat of national issues holding sway, conversations about Jacksonville's quality of life, its levels of taxation and the future of its public schools have been drowned out. For voters, that's an unfortunate occurrence.
Elections overhaul en route to governor
by Dara Kam | May 5th, 2011
An elections overhaul likely to wind up in court that would cut nearly in half the number of days for early voting and impose tougher restrictions on groups registering voters is headed to Gov. Rick Scott.
The GOP-dominated legislature easily pushed through the elections revamp over the objections of Democrats who argued the bill will make it harder for Floridians to vote and get their ballots counted.
The 157-page elections measure will reduce the number of days available for early voting from 14 to 8 but keep the same number of hours – 96 – and allow supervisors of elections to extend weekend hours.
Palm Beach County elections supervisor Susan Bucher estimated the early voting changes would cost her office more than $941 million to secure additional polling places, equipment and salaries.
The overhaul make it tougher for like the League of Women Voters, labor unions and the NAACP to sign up prospective voters by requiring them to register with the state, give voter registration forms to elections supervisors within 48 hours or face $1,000 fines, among other things.
Republicans said the changes are aimed at reducing voter fraud although fraudulent ballots have become a rarity in recent years thanks to past reforms including the creation of a statewide voter database.
“The fact is there’s a lot of bad actors out there and there’s an opportunity currently to game the system,” said Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, the Miami Republican carrying the proposal (HB 1355).
But Democrats argue the changes are aimed at suppressing Democratic voter turnout in 2012 because Democrats tend to use early voting more than Republicans and relied heavily on third-party groups to register voters in the 2008 presidential election.
“This is just a mean-spirited attempt to disenfranchise Democratic-leaning voters,” said Rep. Franklin Sands, D-Weston.
The bill would also eliminate a long-standing provision that allows people to change their address or name at the polls. Under the bill, voters who want to change their registration on Election Day will have to cast provisional ballots, which Democrats contend have a higher percentage of not being counted.
Critics say that will make it harder for college students who flocked to the polls in 2008 to vote in future elections.
“The hope is that those college students who are likely to be the most affected by this, their votes won’t count,” said Rep. Richard Steinberg, D-St. Petersburg.
But Sen. Mike Bennett, a Vietnam veteran, said that voting is too easy and voters have a responsibility to be prepared.
“How much more convenient do you want to make it? You want to go to the house? Take the polling booth with us?” Bennett, R-Bradenton, said. “I wouldn’t have any problem making it harder. I would want them to vote as badly as I want to vote. I want the people of the state of Florida to want to vote as bad as that person in Africa who’s willing to walk 200 miles…This should not be easy.”
Union leaders Thursday morning advised Senate Democrats to question the measure during floor debate to pave the way for lawsuits.
“The questions you ask lays the basis and foundation for the challenges on this,” Florida AFL-CIO president Mike Williams advised the Senate Democratic caucus this morning.
The Senate approved the measure by a 25-13 vote with two Republicans joining Democrats in opposition. The House passed it with a partisan 77-38 vote late Thursday.
Scott is expected to sign it into law.
Energized Jacksonville electorate flood early-voting sites to cast mayoral ballots
Mayoral showdown gets many people out to cast their ballots early.
Posted: May 6, 2011 - 12:00am
By Jim Schoettler, Timothy J. Gibbons
If current trends continue, by the beginning of next week more early and absentee votes will be cast in Jacksonville's runoff election than were submitted during the entire two-week early-voting period before the city's first municipal election in March.
At the end of the fourth day of early voting Thursday, 27,522 ballots had been cast, up about 85 percent from the last election.
Absentee ballots are up 89 percent; early votes are up 80 percent. Voting at early polling places in the Gateway, Regency and Highland areas have more than doubled.
"What you're seeing now is the supporters going out and following through with their votes," said Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland. "They're not going to change their mind."
The first election, which featured six candidates vying for the mayor's seat plus a host of other races, saw fewer than 30 percent of registered voters participating. The low turnout, combined with the ability of Alvin Brown and Mike Hogan to energize their bases, set up the confrontation that will be decided May 17.
Of the 152,505 votes cast in the first election, 43,074 came in before Election Day.
It's unclear who benefits from high turnout this time: Both votes cast at early polling places, which traditionally favor Democrats, and absentee votes, which break Republican, have seen a surge.
Hogan pollster John Libby said his candidate has done well in areas where he has traditionally run strong and picked up support in the first election; and some areas that would likely favor Brown also have shown an uptick.
"I'm very encouraged where we're sitting in terms of the ratios and knowing some of the demographics," Libby said. "But it's a long way from being over."
Brown's campaign saw the surge as an indication that its message is getting through. "It's a testimony to the strength and endurance of Alvin Brown," said his campaign manager, Craig Kirby.
Voters are now paying attention to the race, Kirby said, and are faced with a clear choice as to who to support.
Narrowing the mayoral field helps raise the interest level of voters, said Stephen Baker, professor of political science at Jacksonville University.
"The fact that you have only two candidates per race means people can focus on them more easily," he said. "There's a tendency to postpone the decision with more candidates. Now, there should be fewer undecideds."
Whatever the reason for the surge at the polls, Holland said, it's not likely to end before Election Day.
"I think we'll see more interest," he said. "It's a good thing people are getting engaged in this."
timothy.gibbons@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4103
jim.schoettler@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4385
Walker Strikes Again: Signs Repeal of Milwaukee Paid Sick Days Law
by Mike Hall, May 5, 2011
Paying back his corporate donors and allies and sticking it to working families once again, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed a bill that overturns Milwaukee’s paid sick leave law.
The law was passed with a 70 percent vote in 2008 and Milwaukee corporate interests soon filed suit against it, but in late March, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld the law. Today, Walker went to the headquarters of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC), the business group that tried to block the law, and signed the bill that preempts all Wisconsin communities from approving ordinances requiring paid sick days.
The bill was passed at the urging of the MMAC by the Republican-controlled legislature and specifically designed to block the Milwaukee law. Dana Schultz, lead organizer for 9to5, the National Association of Working Women, says Walker’s action is “an assault on democracy, local control, and working families.”
Voters can see that the governor and state legislature are more committed to paying back their corporate donors than creating good jobs for Wisconsin.
Milwaukee Area Labor Council President Shelia Cochran says state government should be working “for the people that elected them, not for a narrow group of corporate interests.”
The governor and his associates have disregarded the will of the voters, the decision of the court and opened the door to reverse local control wherever they see fit.
Walker’s action comes just days after he cynically announced a program to recognize state employees for their hard work—the same workers whose collective bargaining rights he stripped—and after he appointed a union-busting attorney to head the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.
Here’s a scary question. Who’s his next target?
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