Citizens' Oversight Maryland---Maryland Progressives
CINDY WALSH FOR MAYOR OF BALTIMORE----SOCIAL DEMOCRAT
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August 31st, 2012

8/31/2012

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WE HAVE LOST OUR DEMOCRACY WHEN WE LOSE RULE OF LAW.  BALTIMORE HAS A BROKEN SYSTEM.


Just one more day on crime and Rule of Law for now by following the approach of lawsuits to hold the city responsible for police misconduct.  We just had a case where the city's legal team presented a settlement for misconduct to the Board of Estimates and the Mayor stood against the settlement of a few hundred thousand dollars.  The legal team who designed the settlement immediately voted against their own resolution plan.  It will now go to court where the court costs to the city will be more than the settlement.  We saw this on a grander scale with a lead paint lawsuit where the city was clearly at fault.  The case above involved 4 police officers, two convicted of crime, actually kidnapping a city youth from his neighborhood driving to a rural area and leaving the boy in a State Park with no shoes.  They did this while on duty.  A total disregard of Rule of Law.  This isn't isolated.  The most outlandish make it to the news media.......incidents that the city know will go viral and can't contain.  It is systemic and this condition exists because this complete disregard to Rule of Law is at all levels of government.  When a behavior exhibits at the lowest end of the system it has become endemic.  So here we have the reasoning for bringing in Batts as Chief of Police in Baltimore.

We only need to vote these characters out of office to start to address what is the primary concern for American citizens.  The media and politicians have the mantra of jobs, jobs, and jobs......that is the same mantra in corrupt Afghanistan.  You cannot have a working economy with no Rule of Law.  That is what gave us the financial collapse and rebuilding employment with the same criminal environment will not happen.


Those of us who are democrats know that all these issues I raise are not democratic policy............none of this meets the Democratic Platform.  So, it is not the democratic party that is failing us, it is the people who we are allowing to run as democrats who are the problem.  Third Way politicians are basically Reagan Republicans and they act with the same naked capitalist......profit-at-all-cost mentality as Republicans.  Third Way have gotten a hold of our party's leadership at all levels of government and now want to speak of Third Way policy as the Democratic Platform.  WE ARE SHOUTING LOUDLY AND STRONGLY THAT THE PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS REPRESENTS THE CORE VALUES OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND WE WILL TAKE BACK THE LEADERSHIP FROM THIRD WAY CAUCUS RESTORING TO AMERICA A GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, AND BY THE PEOPLE.

Here in Baltimore our public radio station has been captured by corporate interests and they are determined to keep Third Way politicians in office.  It is the New Economy you know!  So talk of Clinton and Simpson-Bowles abounds, Cheney and neo-cons hit the guest circuit.  Here is the coverage on WYPR this week:

Maryland vs Nebraska

August 30, 2012 Maryland is one of the “bluest” states in the Union. The Gallup organization has determined that Maryland is the 4th most Democratic state in the county, just below New York, and just above Massachusetts. WYPR’s Art Buist is at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, and decided to find out what political life is like in the 4th most Republican state.

We need to be aware that these corporate politicians are acting as if their policies define the democratic party......and they do not.  Free-market, globalization, mega-wealth, small government with little oversight are all contrary to the Democratic Platform.  WE CANNOT LET THESE CORPORATE TYPES DEFINE OUR PARTY!  STAND UP AND FIGHT BACK!

VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE!!!



Notice this article below shows action by the Court of Appeals.  This behavior passed many levels of scrutiny before a higher court stopped the injustice.  Tazing/stun guns have become the police action of choice and this is cruel and unusual punishment that often hits people not even guilty of misconduct.

Court of Appeals: Arrest occurs when stun-gun hits its mark  Maryland Daily Record

A Baltimore detective lacked legal justification to use a stun gun on a fleeing man he suspected was armed, a divided Court of Appeals has held.

________________________________________________

Baltimore City Police Officers often take extra work to boost their income and security details are one of the venues.  We don't know to whom  the article below refers, but the heightened level of abuse and intimidation regarding security is unacceptable.  WE SHOULD NOT BE SEEING THIS BEHAVIOR AT ALL!  IT HAPPENS BECAUSE OF A LAX AND ACCEPTING ENVIRONMENT FOR AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN POLICING.

Cherry Hill activist's car vandalized

Cherry Hill activist Cleoda Walker's vehicle was vandalized Thursday

By Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun 8:59 a.m. EDT, August 31, 2012

The vehicle of a Cherry Hill activist and pastor was defaced with a threatening message on Thursday, and city police say they are investigating.

It's the second time Cleoda Walker says she has been threatened since she started looking into complaints from residents about what they say are over-aggressive security officers in the Cherry Hill neighborhood. And the most recent incident comes as papers were served on officers being sued in a class-action filing by Walker and 20 other residents, according to attorney Tonya Bana, of the Murphy Firm.

In addition to Walker's car, the former home of a woman named in the lawsuit as a witness was also defaced, according to Bana. That home is in Baltimore County.

The l$25 million awsuit claims that at least two special police officers - a designation for security guards that gives them limited arrest powers on certain properties - employed by the Tenable Protection Agency have been acting like rogue cops in South Baltimore. Tenable has not returned messages seeking comment.

Earlier this year, Walker said at a press conference this month, she received a note that read, "Bitch if I lose my house job or wife, you will lose your life!" and her tires were slashed after she had complained to the security company about the officers.

Police said they were investigating the vandalism.

jfenton@baltsun.com
_______________________________________________


If you look at the examples of crime and punishment above it is easy to see where the system if broken.  A City Solicitor or Prosecutor has the power and the expectation to resolve legal issues without trial.  These two people ultimately decide who receives what legal treatment.  THAT IS NOT HOW THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK.  WE HAVE A SYSTEM OF CHECKS AND BALANCES WHERE EACH PERSON IS REGARDED AS EQUAL IN THE EYES OF THE LAW.  IF YOU FOLLOW THE STEPS EVERYONE WILL BE ON EQUAL FOOTING.  THESE POLITICIAN ARE NOT FOLLOWING THE STEPS......THEY ARE SLICING AND DICING UNTIL THINGS HAPPEN THE WAY THAT THEY WANT ACCORDING TO WHO THE CITIZEN IS.


THERE IS BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FOR THE ISSUE OF PLEA BARGAINING.  SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR MADE THIS PRACTICE THE TOP ISSUE IN PROTECTING THE JUDICIARY FROM COMPLETE DESTRUCTION.  WE ARE WATCHING AS YOUR INCUMBENT ALLOWS OUR JUDICIAL SYSTEM BE DISMANTLED.  IT IS YOUR INCUMBENT WHO WRITES THE LAWS THAT ALLOW THESE EXCEPTIONS THAT CIRCUMVENT THE NORMAL LEGAL PROCESS.  IT IS CRITICAL THAT YOU VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT!!!!
Do Prosecutors Have Too Much Power?
New York Times  Updated August 19, 2012 7:00 PMTHERE   Debaters
  • Prosecutors’ Overreaching Goes Unchecked Angela J. Davis, author, "Arbitrary Justice"

    Unchecked power in the hands of prosecutors is as much a threat to our democracy as it is with any other government official, if not more.

  • Judgment Requires Power and Vice Versa Samuel W. Buell, former federal prosecutor

    Proving sophisticated crimes requires far-reaching statutes and the leeway to use grand juries, charges and agreements for testimony.

  • The Problem With Mandatory Minimums Rachel E. Barkow, New York University

    Far from eliminating disparity by curbing judicial discretion, mandatory minimums simply shift power to prosecutors.

  • The Right to Appeal Is an Issue of Fairness Nancy Gertner, former judge

    You can’t bargain away your right to counsel; you shouldn’t be allowed to bargain away your right to appeal.

  • Limit Control Over Charges and Sentencing Paul Cassell, former prosecutor and judge

    We can and should take modest steps to ensure that the power prosecutors exercise does not encroach on the functions of the other branches.

Introduction André da Loba A U.S. district judge in Denver recently rejected a plea bargain in a child pornography case because the defendant had agreed to waive his right to appeal. The judge said such a deal would undermine the purpose of appellate courts. (He later accepted a plea bargain without that stipulation.)

Legal observers — including the editorial board of The New York Times — focused on the judge’s concern as a sign that plea bargains have gotten out of control and in the process given prosecutors too much power. When one party decides whether to bring charges, what charges to bring and whether to offer a plea bargain, is the justice system lacking checks and balances?



THIS IS THE SAME THING HAPPENING IN BALTIMORE OVER THESE YEARS OF O'MALLEY'S AND NOW RAWLINGS-BLAKE'S POLICY OF NUISANCE-ABATEMENT.  THE POLICY RARELY FINDS ANY PROBLEMS BUT HARASSES AND DISREGARDS BASIC CIVIL RIGHTS OVER AND AGAIN.  A POLICE POLICY THAT ROUTINELY REVOKES YOUR PERSONAL RIGHTS.  THIS IS NOT FIRST WORLD POLICING.


Rude or Polite, City’s Officers Leave Raw Feelings in Stops

By WENDY RUDERMAN Published: June 26, 2012    New York Times

Most of the time, the officers swoop in, hornetlike, with a command to stop: “Yo! You, come here. Get against the wall.”

They batter away with questions, sometimes laced with profanity, racial slurs and insults: “Where’s the weed?” “Where’s the guns?”

The officers tell those who ask why they have been stopped to shut up, using names like immigrant, old man or “bro.”

Next comes the frisk, the rummaging through pockets and backpacks. Then they are gone.

Other times, the officers are polite, their introductions almost gentle. “Hey, how’s it going?” “Can you step over here, sir?” “We’d like to talk to you.”

The questions are probing, authoritative, but less accusatory. “What are you doing here?” “Do you live here?” “Can I see some identification, please?” During the pat-down, they ask, “Do you have anything on you?” They nudge further: “You don’t mind if I search you, do you?” They explain that someone of a matching description robbed a store a few days ago, or that the stop is a random one, part of a pr



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August 30th, 2012

8/30/2012

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THE NEWS REPORT BELOW ABOUT A WOMAN FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE IN THE KILLING OF HER DAUGHTER IS JUST THE KIND OF POLICE DEPARTMENT POLICY THAT THRIVED IN LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, HOME OF COMMISSIONER BATTS.  SO WE SEE AN ENVIRONMENT THAT HAS A STRONG LIKELIHOOD OF BECOMING WORSE, NOT BETTER.  WHEN THE POLICE TRY TO HIDE THEIR OWN COMPLICITY IN A POLICE ACTION......EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS THE ACCIDENT THAT KILLED THIS WOMAN'S DAUGHTER WAS AN ILLEGAL  POLICE CHASE......TO SUCH AN EXTENT AS TO DENY A MOTHER THE RIGHT OF KNOWING THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HER DAUGHTERS DEATH, YOU HAVE A FAILED SYSTEM.

LAWSUITS INVOLVING BALTIMORE POLICE COST THE CITY HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS AND YOU CAN BELIEVE THAT ONLY THE FEW MAKE IT TO COURT.  THAT IS HOW WE NEED TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM.  WE NEED TO RECRUIT LAW FIRMS THAT SPECIALIZE IN THE PURSUIT OF CASES INVOLVING POLICE BRUTALITY.  THEY WILL HAVE THE MOTIVATION TO GO AFTER EVERY CASE OF ABUSE FOR FINANCIAL REWARD.
WE NEED PEOPLE TO BE VIGILANT IN CAPTURING POLICE BEHAVIOR ON TAPE AND GETTING IT TO A LAWYER FOR LITIGATION.

MORE IMPORTANTLY WE NEED TO GET THESE POLITICIANS OUT OF OFFICE WHO ARE LETTING THIS OCCUR.  CITY COUNCIL MAY DECRY THE ACTIONS, BUT THERE ARE NO LAWS THAT MAKE IT HARDER TO HIDE THIS ABUSE, THERE IS NO PUBLIC OUTCRY FROM POLITICIANS WHEN THESE ABUSES HAPPEN.....NO PROSECUTIONS.  POLITICIANS SAY THEY MUST STAND WITH THE POLICE.  POLITICIANS NEED TO ATTEND 'ALL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS' GATHERINGS WHERE VICTIMS OF POLICE VIOLENCE TESTIFY IN A STEADY STREAM.  THEY NEVER ATTEND.  SPANISH LANGUAGE MEDIA ARE ALWAYS THE ONLY WITNESSES.  THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!

VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE!!!  PETITION TO REFERENDUM RETROACTIVE TERM LIMITS AND RECALL!!!

HERE IS MY LETTER TO ALL LOCAL PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS:

WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE IN BEING THE FRONT LINE PROTECTOR OF THE PUBLIC WITH ISSUES LIKE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE, WORKPLACE INJURY, ET AL.  MANY WILL QUESTION THE MOTIVE AND/OR THE PROFIT, BUT AT A TIME OF NO GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT OF BUSINESS PRACTICES IT FALLS TO LAWYERS LIKE YOURSELF TO BE PUBLIC DEFENDER.

WE HAVE JUST RECEIVED FROM CALIFORNIA A POLICE CHIEF THAT HAILS FROM AN AREA WHERE POLICE BRUTALITY IS SO COMMON THAT LAW FIRMS HAVE A SPECIALTY IN 'POLICE BRUTALITY'.  YOU CAN FIND THEM IN THE YELLOW PAGES LISTED AS SUCH.  WE HAVE AN ABUNDANCE OF ABUSE IN BALTIMORE AND IT APPEARS POLICY WILL DICTATE MORE.  PLEASE CONSIDER  EXPANDING YOUR FIRM'S PRACTICE TO COVER POLICE BRUTALITY.  I HAVE ENCOURAGED ALL THE READERS OF MY BLOG TO VIDEOTAPE ALL POLICE ENCOUNTERS.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION,


CINDY WALSH
CITIZENS OVERSIGHT MARYLAND
citizensoversight@ymail.com




Fox News - WBFF August 29, 2012

A Baltimore mother is pleading for answers tonight from police after her daughter was killed during a chase.

Yolanda Williams is a mother overwhelmed with grief after a botched police chase caused the death of her 22-year-old daughter, Jordasha Rollins, nearly five months ago.

"No ticket, no nothing.. and every time I go to the police station, they have nothing to say to me," says Williams.

The crash happened on North Avenue and Poplar Grove just before midnight on April 16. Investigators say a suspect that they identified as Charles Jeffries smashed into Williams car. She was behind the wheel, her daughter the passenger seat. Police say Jeffries blew through a red light but deny any chase was involved, considering the department has a no chase policy.

Jeffries was suspected of eluding police, several traffic violations, including a crash that resulted in the death of an individual. Still, five months later, he has not been charged with any crime.

Williams blames the police. "Whoever was wrong.. whether it was the police or him solely.. somebody needs to pay for my daughter's death, point blank, period.. that's all I want."

A police spokesman told Fox45 the department's investigation is complete. They say it goes to the city State's Attorney office, where prosecutors will decide what charges, if any, should be filed. Thursday, August 30 2012, 08:14 AM EDT

______________________________________________________
WE ARE SEEING TIME AND AGAIN PEOPLE BEING SHOT THAT LATER SHOW NO CITIZEN WEAPON INVOLVED.  ONE THING THAT MAKES PEOPLE IN GENERAL UNEASY IS THE FACT THAT OFTEN EX-MILITARY ARE BEING HIRED AS POLICE.  WE KNOW THE TACTICS USED OVERSEAS AND WE DON'T WANT THEM IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS.

October 8, 2011 Man fatally shot by police in East Baltimore Baltimore police say a man has died after exchanging gunfire with a police officer responding to a domestic violence call.

Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says police responded to a call Saturday morning around 1:40 a.m. reporting that a man had shot his wife in East Baltimore. When officers arrived in the 1800 block of Hope St. they found the man armed with a gun.

Guglielmi says the man was combative with police and confronted officers. He says it appears several shots were fired from both sides. It was not clear if the man died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound or a shot fired by a police officer.

The condition of the man's wife was not clear. Police expected to have more information Saturday afternoon.

The shooting appears to be the second fatal police-involved incident this week. On Sunday, a 52-year-old musician was fatally shot in Brooklyn after police say he did not comply with officers' orders to put down a weapon. This year, city police have been involved in seven shooting incidents, killing four.


-With AP

_____________________________________________________________
THESE FOUR PROTESTERS WERE NEVER GUILTY OF ANY LAW.  THEY SIMPLY REFUSED TO MOVE FROM A PUBLIC AREA FAST ENOUGH FOR THE OFFICERS.  PEOPLE PROTESTING HAVE A RIGHT TO LOITER IF THEY ARE ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN PROTEST.  WE WE SEE TIME AND AGAIN, AND I HAVE BEEN THERE TO WITNESS IT, IS A POLICE STRATEGY TO ENGAGE PEOPLE IN PROTESTS WITH UNLAWFUL REQUESTS, LIKE MOVING FROM A PUBLIC PLACE, WITH THE INTENT OF CHALLENGING PEOPLE PHYSICALLY WHEN THEY STAND UP FOR THEIR RIGHTS.  THE POLICE THEN SAY THE CITIZENS PROVOKED THE INCIDENT.

ALL OF THIS IS DONE DELIBERATELY AND IT IS DONE TO KEEP PEOPLE OUT OF PUBLIC AREAS DEEMED 'FAVORED'.  IN THE CASE BELOW I WAS TOLD THAT BEING ON JOHNS HOPKINS CAMPUS ALTHOUGH ON PUBLIC WALKS BROUGHT THE FURY OF THE POLICE.  FOR WHOM DO THESE POLICE WORK?  THEY ARE PUBLIC SERVANTS.

Charges against maced EBDI protester to be dropped
Brew Editors August 20, 2012 at 3:12 pm



The attorney for Thomas Threatt, whose arrest by Baltimore city police during a March protest was captured on video, says charges against the self-employed laborer are being dropped today in Circuit Court.

“The state saw the video, which was enhanced, and zeroed in on the police brutality and decided it was not in their interest to pursue the case,” attorney Arthur M. Frank said this morning.

Threatt had been facing charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and failure to obey a police officer and in June requested a jury trial.

Frank said he hopes the state drops charges filed against three other men arrested during the protest, which had been organized near Johns Hopkins Hospital by the group Community Churches United.

The demonstrators had been protesting what they said was the failure of East Baltimore Development Inc. (EBDI) to provide construction jobs promised to East Baltimore residents.

Also arrested were Richie Armstrong, William Simmons and Earl King.

The video shows a prone Threatt trying to protect his face by pressing it to the ground, as five or six officers pin him down, yanking his head up by the hair at one point so they could continue to reach within inches of his face and spray it with the mace.

The video also shows officers putting their knees on Threatt’s back and neck.

________________________________________________
THIS CRIME WAS ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WAY TO JUSTIFY POLICE ACTION AND YET NO ONE WAS CHARGED.  WE ARE SIMPLY TOLD THAT CHANGES IN POLICY ARE HAPPENING.  TIME AND AGAIN WE ARE WITNESSING A SUSPENSION OF RULE OF LAW.



New Details Emerge On Select Lounge Shooting August 14, 2011 11:46 PM     Derek Valcourt    WJZ-TV News



BALTIMORE (WJZ)– New details emerge in the chaotic January shooting outside of a downtown nightclub. Just days after releasing surveillance camera video of the shooting, city police release their lengthy investigative report on the incident.

Derek Valcourt reports.

This report gets into the nitty-gritty. Who fired how many shots. And it names names, dozens of witnesses and what they saw.

Surveillance cameras captured the frantic moments on a frigid January night when gunfire erupted outside of the Select Lounge nightclub on West Franklin Street.

According to this lengthy police investigative report obtained by our media partner “The Baltimore Sun”, 33-year-old Officer William Torbit Jr. was wearing plain clothes, with only a badge around his neck to identify him as a police officer, when he was punched in the face and beaten to the ground by a group of males. That’s when police say Torbit pulled out his own gun and began firing, shooting and killing one of his attackers, 22-year-old Sean Gamble.

But when four other officers nearby saw a Torbit in plain clothes on the ground shooting, they assumed he was a civilian and opened fire, hitting Torbit 20 times.

In all, 42 shots were discharged that night, all of them by police. Officer Torbit himself fired eight shots. Officer Harry Dodge fired 14, Officer Harry Pawley 11, Officer Latora Craig fired five shots and Officer Toyia Williams, four.

Last week, the city state’s attorney decided not to crimnally charge any of the officers involved.

“That they acted reasonably in the use of deadly force as police officers to protect themselves and other people in the area,” said Gregg Bernstein, the Baltimore city state’s attorney.

“Not frustrated,” said Nadine Williams-Holmes, a Gamble family friend. ”At this point, outrage and anger.”

Friends of Sean Gamble, and the sister of Officer Torbit tell WJZ, they’re upset with the decision not to prosecute the officers. And disturbed by this newly released report.

“Baltimore city, we’re not safe with officers like that and the training they had means absolutely nothing,” Williams-Holmes said. “Look what happened. They killed their own person.”

Criminal charges may not be filed, but the case is far from over. The mayor has ordered an independent review of case and civil lawsuits are likely perhaps as early as this week.

Police interviewed more than one hundred witnesses as part of their investigation.


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August 29th, 2012

8/29/2012

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I TRIED TO GET THE WYPR PUBLIC RADIO TO PUBLISH MY COMMENTS ON CARDIN THREE TIMES AND THEY REFUSE TO ALLOW A COUNTERPOINT OF ACCURATE, REASONED, AND RELEVANT CONCERNS TO BE MADE.  THEY ARE A BIZARRE GROUP!  THEY ALSO ARE REPORTING RAWLINGS-BLAKE CHOICE FOR POLICE COMMISSIONER AS A  GOOD ONE WITH NO NEGATIVE PRESS.  I HAD A BACK AND FORTH WITH THE BALTIMORE SUN REPORTER WHOSE ARTICLE WAS NOTHING BUT PRAISE, ASKING HOW A JOURNALIST COULD FAIL TO IDENTIFY WHAT IS A CONTINUOUS RECORD OF TROUBLE AND CORRUPTION CLEARLY DOCUMENTED IN CALIFORNIA MEDIA.  YOU SEE THE OPINION FROM THE BALTIMORE SUN IS POSITIVE.  I THANK THE SMALL PAPER 'NORTH BALTIMORE  PATCH FOR AT LEAST RECOGNIZING A CONCERN. 

WHAT I SEE IN THIS GENTLEMAN IS A CHARACTER TRAIT THAT MATCHES MOST OF RAWLINGS-BLAKE'S ADMINISTRATION......HE WILL STARE STRAIGHT THROUGH YOU WITH AN ICY LOOK IN HIS EYE AS YOU STATE YOUR OBJECTIONS AND CLAIMS OF CORRUPTION AND ILLEGAL ACTIONS BELAYING A COMPLETE DISREGARD TO YOUR COMMENTS.

California is known for police brutality and Long Beach and Oakland is no exception.  You know when a STATE has a lawyer listing for police brutality law firms, it is reasonable to assume that Batts comes from a long line of human rights violators.  Rawlings-Blake has overseen an escalation of police brutality since coming to office and it looks like she is doubling down on human rights violations.  The people at the table choosing the police commissioner.....the enterprise zones.  No one from the communities being abused.

Police Brutality Law Firms Oakland California, Police ...Find Oakland, California Police Brutality lawfirm listings and reviews on Lawyers.com.

There is no argument as to the intentions of hiring Batts.......escalating human rights violations.....so I'd like to look at the dynamics at play when a government actively works to violate the law.  O'Malley used the technique described below when he was Mayor of Baltimore.  During his tenure we saw a police force openly harassing the public in underserved communities just as happens in New York City.....stop and frisk everybody......make everybody a suspect.  You can see why Attorney General Gansler is pushing the DNA database for anyone suspected of a crime.....same psychological warfare......AND IT IS WARFARE TACTICS USED IN ACTIVE THIRD WORLD CONFLICTS.  AGAIN, IN ORDER TO USE THESE METHODS YOU MUST SUSPEND THE RULE OF LAW.  IT IS ALSO WHY YOU SEE O'MALLEY AS GOVERNOR WANTING TO BUILD THE JUVENILE JAIL IN BALTIMORE.  IT INDICATES A CALIFORNIA-STYLE CRUSH ON POOR PEOPLE.

We talked about the fact that with the huge income inequity created by massive fraud and the elimination of the middle-class and push to ever deeper poverty of most of the people in the US, the 1% will have to develop a third world security and penal apparatus.......and this is it.  Remember, people in poverty that have no way of finding jobs and no social service support must commit crimes to survive.  In Baltimore, 40% of workers are from outside of the city.  Corresponding to that statistic is a close to 40% unemployment rate for minority youth in Baltimore.  THERE IS A CITY POLICY OF FORCING MINORITY FAMILIES TO LEAVE THE CITY BY GIVING THEM NO WAY TO SUPPORT THEMSELVES AND LIVING IN CONSTANT FEAR OF INCARCERATION.  One thing that California has that Baltimore has not is a strong civil and social justice organization.  In Maryland, the Maryland ACLU is working with groups violating civil liberties and the President of the Baltimore Chapter of NAACP is a good friend of Rawlings-Blake.  So we have a lot of work to do to strengthen civil/social justice.  The article at the bottom is by Van Jones and addresses just such broken systems as exist now.  The answer to what Baltimore officials have planned is a rebuilding of justice organizations in Maryland.  I noted above that most people......minority, white, men, and women will or already fall in the category of ever increasing poverty, so while currently the African-American community bears the brunt of the injustice, it is coming to a family near you.  Think of England at the heights of its colonialism and how they sent their poor packing in vessels bound to Australia.  Those poor were white, not minority so brutality is equal opportunity.  People might laugh at the introduction of such extremes, but these people at the top have no moral compass......their greed is all consuming.....and they will take any and all steps to get what they want.

VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE!!!

WE HEAR CITY COUNCIL SAYING THEY WANTED TO PROMOTE FROM WITHIN AND NO DOUBT KNOW WHAT IS COMING.  WHAT WE NEED TO REMEMBER IS THE LEVEL OF VIOLENCE THAT LASHES BACK AT INNOCENT PEOPLE WHEN INJUSTICE BECOMES TOO MUCH TO BEAR.  WHETHER IRAQ, LIBYA, SYRIA, OR EGYPT TO NAME A FEW......PEOPLE REACH A POINT WHEN THEY STAND UP AND FIGHT BACK.....AND IT IS THE INNOCENT COMMUNITY MEMBERS THAT ARE CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE WITH BRUTAL REGIMES.  THIS IS JUST COMMON SENSE.

THE PROBLEM WITH CRIME IN THE CITY IS A LACK OF EMPLOYMENT AND A SLOW DETERIORATION OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES FOR UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES......THINK 'ENTERPRISE ZONE' DEVELOPMENT.  THIS IS THE PROBLEM!!!!  ROUND UP THE DEVELOPERS AND YOU CAN START TO HAVE A HEALTHY CITY!!  I WONDER IF BATTS HAS A WHITE-COLLAR APPROACH TO CRIME?



In a 2006 article for the F.B.I. Law Enforcement Bulletin, Mr. Batts and Cynthia Renaud outlined his approach in Long Beach. In particular, he suggested that quality-of-life crimes like vandalism be more vigorously pursued by patrol divisions that draw on diverse skills, like those of nuisance abatement officers.




IT WOULD BE GOOD FOR BALTIMORE COMMUNITY JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS TO CALL THESE CALIFORNIA LEGAL AND JUSTICE AGENCIES FOR INSIGHT IN FIGHTING WHAT IS SURE TO COME.

Lawyers Fighting Police Brutality
Nobody is above the law, including cops.  But twenty years after the Rodney King beating we continue to witness incidents of police brutality in California.

Now communities are standing up and saying "no more" to police brutality.  Our California Police Brutality Lawyers are doing our part by using the law to help victims of excessive force, civil rights violations and police brutality in California.

 
Whether the incident involved a taser, a police dog, an officer-involved shooting or a false arrest, you might have a legal case.  You might be able to get damages to compensate you for your injuries.  You also might be able to help change the system.  It might be your case that compels the police department to weed out the bad cops and revise its policies so nobody else suffers. 

Our California Police Brutality Lawyers take justice seriously.  We have committed our careers to protecting your constitutional rights.  California Police Brutality Lawyer Darrell York is a veteran criminal defense attorney and former police officer.  California Police Brutality Lawyer Sarah Garvey is a Harvard Law School graduate and journalist.

If you've had your civil rights violated or been victimized by excessive force, we'll stand beside you in court and make sure that the real story comes out.


Gang Law in California
Police brutality does not always involve physical violence.  It can also take the form of harassment or coercion.  As gang subculture flourishes so too does an emerging body of gang law in California. 

Gang law on its own does not amount to police brutality.  But whenever we are dealing with a system that has the ability to marginalize, stigmatize and criminalize activities of certain people we need to take a close and continuing look. 

Gang law in California is a series of statutes and legal interpretations that spans civil, criminal and evidence law.  Gang law regulates what alleged gang members can wear, where they can go and how harshly they will be sentenced for crimes.  Given the latitude courts give to the use of  "gang experts" in building cases some commentators fear that gang law implicates an alleged gang member's right to a fair trial. 

I HAVE READ MUCH JOURNALISM ON BATTS AND HIS CALIFORNIA POSTS.  ONE THING I SEE IS COMMON:  THERE IS AN ACCEPTANCE OF A HIGH DEGREE OF CORRUPTION AND A SYSTEMIC ENVIRONMENT OF PRESSURE TO KEEP SECRET FROM THE PUBLIC ABUSES OF POWER AND CORRUPTION.

AS PUBLIC POLICY GOES BATTS FOUGHT THE DISMISSAL OF OFFICERS BY DECRYING THE POLICE UNION'S DECISION TO ALLOW LAYOFFS RATHER THAN TAKE MORE CUTS TO PENSIONS.  BATTS ALSO SPOKE OUT AGAINST ANY TAX HIKES TO ALLOW FOR PUBLIC SECTOR HIRING. 

THESE ARE THE TRAITS THAT ATTRACTED BALTIMORE LEADERS TO BATTS.


Batts Leaving LBPD

From Issue: Volume XVI - Number 16
1/1/1900   Beachcomber
5199 E. Pacific Coast Hwy. #608
Post Office Box 15679
Long Beach California, 90815-0679
Phone: (562) 597-8000

Jay Beeler


The Oakland Tribune Wednesday afternoon said that LBPD Police Chief Anthony W. Batts will take over the Oakland Police Department in September. He replaces Wayne Tucker, who resigned from the position in February.

Meanwhile the Beachcomber, in its Friday edition, is publishing a story about how Batts was being blackmailed by a police officer with release of a domestic violence report naming Batts and Congresswoman Laura Richardson, to whom he was once married.

Friday's Beachcomber story, part two of two parts about "Lobstergate," follows ...

Well before Lobstergate went to trial two of the plaintiffs worked very hard at getting city officials to “do the right thing” and clean up the organizational corruption they saw within the Long Beach Police Department.

“This isn’t about Lobstergate, this is far more serious,” Sgt. David Gage told a Press-Telegram reporter in October 2006. “This has shown me that the leadership within the LBPD failed to fulfill its duty when it was presented with a problem, that there is no honesty, integrity or respect in this administration.”

Fellow officer and plaintiff Warren Harris echoed those words in saying “There is so much more going on here than some unauthorized dives.”

Harris told superiors that the pending lawsuits that he, Sgt. Gage and Officer Craig Patterson eventually won for $4.1 million in February 2008 “wouldn’t have cost the city a dime” if they apologized, created a whistleblower policy that protected all city employees against retaliatory activity, and publicly broadcast that policy. It never happened.

Gage wrote a four-page letter in September 2006 to Mayor Foster, with copies to the city manager, city auditor, district attorney, city attorney, city prosecutor and others, attempting to exposed what he saw as criminal and civil laws being broken, corruption, cover-up and blackmail in efforts to sweep Lobstergate under the rug.

Blackmail: Who & Why?

Prior to becoming chief of police in October 2002 at the age of 42, Anthony W. Batts apparently had at least four crime reports taken against him for domestic violence in the cities of Long Beach, San Pedro and San Diego. One of those reports was taken before he was named chief and the reported victim was his wife, Laura Richardson-Batts, 6th District councilwoman at the time and currently Long Beach’s representative in the United States Congress.

(Richardson is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee regarding special treatment by her mortgage lender after her neglected Sacramento house went into foreclosure.)

That altercation reportedly took place in the Civic Center parking garage outside City Hall and Richardson-Batts was seen wearing sunglasses at the city council meeting shortly thereafter, apparently to cover a black eye. She also sought refuge with Tonia Reyes Uranga, councilwoman for the 7th District. About that time Richardson-Batts was said to be living in a house on Parker St. in San Pedro where her mother currently lives.

Attempts to get those reports have been unsuccessful without the cooperation of Congresswoman Richardson, who did not respond to our e-mailed questions concerning the incidents. Yet the incidents are common knowledge among many LBPD insiders contacted by the Beachcomber.

Within the Long Beach Police Department those documents are said to be under lock and key in the police chief’s office and one source has stated the crime report number has been changed and the original title changed to “bicycle report,” apparently in reference to a stolen bicycle.

It is a felony to change these documents and one of the officers who participated in taking it kept a copy and was a principal among the three night-shift officers involved with lobster diving, unauthorized discharge of assault rifles, falsification of time cards and retaliation against the officers who reported their behavior.

Apparently the threats to “blow the whistle” on Batts to local news media using a copy of the crime report worked. Disciplinary recommendations ranging from one year of demotion and eight days of suspension were all reduced to letters of reprimand by Chief Batts and his command staff, against the recommendations presented by Commander Torben Beith, who oversaw the port security detail.

This action also effectively took the matter away from Civil Service Commission hearings and the public, wherein officers were set to testify about criminal and misdemeanor activities as well as Batts’ domestic violence reports and the subsequent blackmail attempts.
Batts’ domestic violence history subsequently proved problematic for him in obtaining FBI clearance for a security clearance as well as being able to legally carry a firearm.

Black Chief Wanted

One source with City Hall insider knowledge said that the main reason that Tony Batts got the chief of police job in the first place was because he was black. “The mayor and city council wanted a black police chief and the new city manager at that time, Jerry Miller, was willing to overlook Batts’ prior domestic violence crimes and he got the job,” our source said.

Words used by former officers to describe Batts often ranged from “slick, charismatic, golden- tongued, outgoing and intelligent” to “vindictive, arrogant, egotistical, womanizer and mean.” A former detective relayed the story about how one officer said “Hi Tony” to Batts in the public service building elevator with the response “You will address me a chief” and was, shortly thereafter, given a transfer.

During the Lobstergate trials in Los Angeles early last year Batts perjured himself on the witness stand by telling jurors that the LBPD would never cite people for lobster diving in the port when, in fact, a neighbor of Sgt. Gage was cited at about the same time as the LBPD lobster diving incidents and was prosecuted by Tom Reeves. That neighbor was put on the witness stand and directly refuted Batts’testimony, thereby diminishing Batts’ truthfulness as a witness in the eyes of the jurists.

Batts also falsely testified on the witness stand that the words “malcontent” would never come from his lips in describing certain officers. Sources within the LBPD said Batts often used the words at various meetings throughout the department. “It was very common for him to say that,” one source said.

Plaintiffs Harris, Patterson and Gage claim that – in addition to the chief – they “witnessed lieutenants and sergeants lie on the witness stand at the coaxing of the city attorney.”

When all of the facts about Lobstergate – including multiple misdemeanor crimes and the more serious felonies of blackmail and changing official police reports – were laid in front of City Prosecutor Tom Reeves in January 2005, he did nothing. “Selective prosecution is itself a crime, in violation of the equal protection clauses in both the California and United States Constitutions,” one knowledgeable legal source told the Beachcomber.

Summing It Up

A letter sent to the Press-Telegram editor (only portions were published) in April 2007 by former LBPD Homicide Detective Tim Cable sums up what others interviewed for this story voiced about the department’s management, in addition to stating that it was “very top heavy.”

“The city council and our new mayor … are so full of praise for him. He’s the messiah who has single-handedly lowered the crime rate and should be rewarded. But how does he do it?

“The chief doesn’t work the streets, he doesn’t answer calls for service, he doesn’t work gangs, he doesn’t solve homicides, he doesn’t make arrests, he doesn’t deal with the criminal element at all unless they line up outside his plush office and wait to turn themselves in.

“If the Chief is such a valuable asset and sought after by other agencies then why didn’t the City of Inglewood snap him up when he applied for the chiefs job there? Why didn’t the City of Santa Monica grab him but chose a subordinate instead?

“Yes, Chief Batts is intelligent. He presents himself as a professional and he has the gift of eloquent speech but beware, he also has a large ego. You think that all the officers who have left the department did so for money? No sir! Money has always been and always will be a source of low morale within the rank and file.

“But don’t overlook the fact that there just may be other reasons for the exodus. They won’t tell you for fear of retaliation. They won’t tell you what it’s like to work for a man who will praise you one minute and smite you the next.

“Having worked under nine different chiefs during my 31-year career only one comes to mind that created such a hostile environment; he came from L.A. Oh, and that chief promoted Chief Batts to the command level and set his feet upon the way
.

___________________________________________________
HERE WE HAVE A BALTIMORE MEDIA OUTLET TRYING TO RAISE THE QUESTIONS PUBLICLY.  YOU WILL SEE HERE A SAMPLE OF THE ARROGANCE AND DISMISSIVE ATTITUDE FOR WHICH BATTS IS KNOWN.  THE BALTIMORE SUN PRAISES HIM AND MAKES NO MENTION OF HIS TROUBLED PAST.



New Commissioner Brushes Off Rough Oakland Tenure Anthony Batts, the mayor’s pick to be the city’s next police commissioner, tenure as Oakland’s police chief ended poorly.

By Adam BednarAugust 28, 2012  North Baltimore Patch

     Anthony Batts Anthony Batts' the mayor's choice to be the next police commissioner speaks to reporters on Tuesday

.  http://northbaltimore.patch.com/articles

When a reporter asked Anthony Batts about his decision to resign from the police force in Oakland, CA last October during a news conference at City Hall on Tuesday, he was quick with a joke.

Pretending he didn’t hear the question, Batts put his hand to his ear and asked:  "Did you say Baltimore?"

Batts went on to describe his tenure in Oakland as "gift of love from me."

But news reports from Northern California have raised some issues about his previous job performance that are no laughing matter.

Batts' tenure in Oakland reportedly started heading south after the city laid off eighty police officers when its union refused to increase the portion its members pay toward their pension plan. After the layoffs, Batts announced the department wouldn’t be able to provide some services, and refused to support a tax increase that would have allowed the city to rehire the officers, according to the East Bay Express.

He then applied to be police chief in San Jose, after only serving as the police chief of Oakland for about a year. It was also announced just before his resignation that the Federal Government was threatening to take control of the department because it hadn’t met the terms of a consent decree to reform the department after a scandal involving Oakland cops beating and framing drug suspects in 2000, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

But on Tuesday Batts had a much different take on how his last job ended. 

He called his service in Oakland a "gift of love from me."

Batts, who was serving as the police chief in Long Beach, CA at the time, explained he was approached by a headhunter about the job and declined, but reconsidered after four officers were killed in Oakland in a single day.

"As I started looking more into the city of Oakland, I was touched by the sheer carnage, the loss of life of young people in that city, the deaths of people who look more like me," Batts said.

He said that he grew up in South Central Los Angeles, which struggled with the drugs and crime that were hurting Oakland, and that he wanted to help kids who looked like him because he often wondered if anyone cared about those kids.

"Oakland wasn’t done to be a career move. Oakland was done for me to be a gift to try to take my skill base to try to address and make things better, and I think we did have progress that was there," Batts said.

He said his inability to click with Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who was elected after Batts was hired, was his major reason for leaving Oakland.

"Sometimes styles just don’t match. And it wasn’t anything personal. I don’t have any animosity against the mayor. Sometimes its just business," Batts said.

In a news release announcing Batts being hired, the administration sites his leadership training and law enforcement experience as being two reasons it decided to offer him the job.

"Anthony Batts has what it takes to lead the Baltimore Police Department forward and to continue building on the progress the men and women of the BPD have made reducing crime and violence," Rawlings-Blake said in the news release.

__________________________________________________
THIS IS FROM THE BALTIMORE SUN.  I HAVE FOUND LITTLE MEDIA COVERAGE ON BATTS THAT IS FAVORABLE....MOST MAKES THE MAN SEEM TO BE A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN.  WE HAVE A LAWSUIT IN WAITING WITH THE EBDI PROTESTOR THAT WAS BRUTALIZED ON CAMERA AND SEVERAL CITIZENS KILLED BY POLICE FOR NO LEGITIMATE REASON.  BATTS COMES FROM A POLICE ENVIRONMENT THAT MAKES THIS RECORD SEEM LIKE CHILD'S PLAY. 

Taking command Our view: New police commissioner Anthony Batts' experience, confidence and fresh perspective could serve Baltimore well
Whoever Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake had chosen to replace retired Baltimore City Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III would have had a tough act to follow. But in Anthony Batts, who comes to Baltimore after a 30-year career in California that included stints as police chief in Long Beach and Oakland, the mayor may have found a leader whose skills and experience match Baltimore's needs. If Mr. Batts can build on the solid accomplishments of his able predecessor, he will find a warm welcome in this city............

___________________________________________________
BALTIMORE CITY MAYOR RAWLINGS-BLAKE HAS SIGNALED SHE INTENDS TO HEIGHTEN POLICE BRUTALITY AND HARASSMENT RATHER THAN ADDRESS CONCERNS ALREADY EXPRESSED IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES.  IF YOU DO NOT HEAR THE NAACP AND OTHER CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS SPEAK OUT AGAINST BATTS AS THE MAYOR'S CHOICE.....WHICH I DON'T SEE HAPPENING....YOU KNOW THAT YOUR LEADERSHIP IS NOT WORKING FOR YOU!  CALIFORNIA HAS A LONG HISTORY OF POLICE BRUTALITY AND INCARCERATION RATES THAT SURPASS MOST THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES.  JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS HEADED BY LEADERS LIKE VAN JONES HAVE BATTLED THIS FOR DECADES.  WHY BRING IT TO BALTIMORE?

Police Secrecy Rules: CA Politicians Cave to Cop Union Pressure

Van Jones Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress, American Progess Action Fund

Posted: July 2, 2007 02:00 PM

Last Tuesday, in a shameful display of political cowardice, an important police accountability bill was stalled in committee.

The bill, SB 1019 (Romero, D-Los Angeles) would have overturned a State Supreme Court decision in Copley Press that resulted in the closure of public hearings on citizen complaints of police misconduct. It would also have restored very limited public access to the disciplinary records of cops who are found to have violated the law and abused the public trust.

As a result of Copley Press, officers who abuse their powers and violate people's civil rights are now protected by a cloak of secrecy. The California Supreme Court held that under State law, the "privacy rights" of abusive officers are more important than the public's right to know. The shameful truth is that California's policy of secrecy about police conduct is now one of the most restrictive in the country.

Why couldn't Senator Romero, who represents parts of the City of Los Angeles, get her relatively modest bill out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee?

Part of the reason lies in the tactics of the police unions who, prior to an earlier vote in the senate threatened to torpedo term limit reform, and repeated their mantra that allowing greater openness and transparency would somehow endanger officer safety and compromise the security of police operations.

There is no evidence to support this allegation, either in California or in any of the thirty-plus states that allow public hearings on citizen complaints. In 30-plus years of open hearings pre-Copley Press in California, there is not one single instance of a single officer being physically harmed as a result of such information being released.

In fact, the Copley Press decision had nothing to do with officer safety or operational security. The Court's 42-page opinion does not once mention either of these issues. Nor do the extensive briefs and pleadings of the plaintiff police unions to the Court.

Finally, SB 1019 contains specific provisions that allow for records to be kept confidential if a police chief or sheriff certifies that their release is likely to compromise officer safety or operational security. The fact that the police unions have rejected this provision clearly shows that their safety and security concerns are completely bogus.

Despite repeated invitations by Senator Romero, they have not proposed a single amendment of their own to address these supposedly crucial issues. The truth is that the police unions are not interested in public accountability plus protection. They are not interested in public accountability at all. Period. End of discussion.

It is important to note, however, that the national black officers' union, the Black Police Association, has endorsed SB 1019. It is reasonable to assume that these officers have no interest in putting officer safety or operational security at risk. They do, however, know all about racism and its insidious effects.

It is no accident that in California, the jurisdictions that have opted to establish open and public mechanisms of citizen oversight are all major urban centers with large minority populations. There is overwhelming evidence that these are the communities most affected by officer misconduct and, for that reason, the most distrustful of police.

Recently released statistics by the U.S. Department of Justice show that in casual encounters with the police, African American and Hispanic citizens are almost three times more likely than whites to be subjected to a search. In the same encounters, force is used against African Americans almost four times more frequently than against whites. The use of force against Hispanics is more than twice as frequent as against whites.

The experience of Oakland, where the Ella Baker Center is headquartered, confirms these findings. In 2006, seventy-eight percent of complaints filed with the Oakland Citizens' Police Review Board were by ethnic minority--mainly African American--complainants.

Under Copley Press, these citizens are deprived of the right to demand public accountability and adjudication of their grievances at an open hearing, even though this City formerly granted them this right. This enforced secrecy will inevitably cause severe damage to public confidence, especially in the communities most affected, where trust in the City's police is at its most fragile. I have no doubt that the insidious effects of police secrecy will have similar effects in Los Angeles and California's other major cities.

There has recently been much talk in California about the need for community policing. The necessary foundation of a community policing effort is public trust. If there is no public accountability, that basis of trust is undermined.

For that reason, SB 1019 is endorsed by a growing number of respected figures and organizations within the law enforcement community. These include Chief William Bratton of the Los Angeles Police Department, San Francisco County Sheriff Michael Hennessy, City of Newark Police Chief Ray Samuels, and the National Black Police Association.

As observed by Chief Samuels in his letter endorsing SB 1019, "[t]he development and maintenance of the public's trust is essential to the effective operations of a law enforcement agency. The transparency allowed under this legislation in the adjudication of administrative complaints against police officers is fundamental to that effort."

But for reasons of perceived political self-interest, California's lawmakers are refusing to hear this message.

The main reason why Senator Romero's bill has been blocked is that California's political leaders have failed to commit their support to this bill or to advocate for its passage. Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa did submit a letter of support early on in the process, but he has not publicly advocated for its passage out of committee. He declined an invitation to testify in support of the bill at Tuesday's crucial hearing.

The greatest disappointment of all has been the abject failure of leadership by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. Not only did Nunez fail to support and advocate for the bill, he actually helped to engineer its defeat--whether unwittingly or otherwise--by neglecting to fill a critical seat on the committee that blocked it. As Speaker Nunez was certainly aware, that seat was previously held by a key supporter and co-author of the bill.

Mayor Villaraigosa and Speaker Nunez both publicly denounced the May 1 police melee at MacArthur Park in which dozens of people were injured, but when the cameras were gone and there was a real chance to advance police accountability, the Mayor remained silent and the Speaker sided with the police unions.

Despite this setback, the bill can still be moved. We need to let Speaker Nunez know that he will be held accountable if SB 1019 fails and that the next time there is a significant incident of police misconduct, and the public is kept in the dark, he will bear a significant portion of the blame.


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August 28th, 2012

8/28/2012

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IT IS NO SECRET THAT MORE AND MORE FAMILIES WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SEND THEIR CHILDREN TO UNIVERSITY WITH THIS INNOVATION CENTER POLICY.  WHEN WE HEAR POLITICIANS IN MARYLAND AND NATIONALLY TOTE MORE COLLEGE ACCESS THEY ARE PREPARING TO USE STATISTICS THAT SHOW LOTS OF KIDS MOVING INTO THESE VOCATIONAL 'COLLEGES' AS ACHIEVING THE GOAL OF ADVANCED EDUCATION.  WE ALL KNOW THAT THESE ELITE PRIVATE AND NOW THESE CONSOLIDATED STATE UNIVERSITIES WILL STILL OFFER STRONG UNIVERSITY COURSES WE ALL COMPLETED AT ONE TIME, ONLY NOW THEY WILL BE RECRUITING THE WEALTHY INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AND OUT OF STATE STUDENTS WHO CAN PAY THE MOST TUITION AS LOCAL FAMILIES WHO CAN'T AFFORD THE TUITION ARE FORCED INTO VOCATIONAL 'COLLEGES'.

IF YOU LOOK AT THE STATE OF TEXAS WHERE THIS 'INNOVATION CENTER' MODEL ORIGINATED A DECADE OR SO AGO, YOU WILL SEE WHERE THIS LEADS.  THE ARTICLE BY KRUGMAN BELOW GIVES A GOOD DESCRIPTION.  YOU WOULDN'T KNOW THE FAILURES OF THIS SYSTEM IN REGARDS THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE BECAUSE THE STATE'S 'STATISTICS' WILL GIVE FAVORABLE NUMBERS.  TEXAS IS KNOWN FOR ITS TALL TALES, ITS EXTREME INCOME INEQUITY, ITS POOR QUALITY OF LIFE FOR MOST CITIZENS, AND ITS POOR EDUCATION SYSTEM.  ALL A PRODUCT OF CHARTER SCHOOLS,  INNOVATION CENTERS, AND ONLINE SCHOOLING.  IT IS A NATIONAL DISGRACE IF THE MEDIA WOULD REPORT ON THE SITUATION.  THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN GET THIS DATA IS THROUGH ACADEMIC RESEARCH.

DO MARYLANDERS REALLY WANT TO GO THE PATH OF TEXAS AND FLORIDA IN THE QUALITY OF THEIR SOCIETY?  I THINK NOT.  WITH A CAPTURED MEDIA THE CASE IS MORE OF NOT KNOWING THEN IN AGREEMENT.  I STRUGGLE EVERY DAY TO MAKE MEDIA IN THE CITY MORE OPEN AND WE NEED EVERYBODY SHOUTING LOUDLY AGAINST THIS PUSH TO THE BOTTOM.  WHEN YOU SEE INITIATIVES LIKE THESE 'FEED THE HUNGRY CHILDREN' PROGRAMS AND KNOW THAT BILLIONS IN FRAUD AND MILLIONS IN TAXES ARE LOST TO THE CITY AND STATE TO CORPORATIONS IT IS AN INSULT TO THOSE WHO REALLY CARE ABOUT THESE CHILDREN.

THESE ARE POLICIES BEING PUSHED BY CARDIN, SARBANES, AND CUMMINGS WHO ARE UP FOR ELECTION IN NOVEMBER. WE ARE GOING WITH A WRITE-IN TO VOTE THESE PEOPLE OUT OF OFFICE.   WHILE THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE IS CRITICAL IN THE REVERSAL OF THESE POLICIES, WE MUST FIRST START WITH STATE AND LOCAL ELECTIONS TO TAKE OUT THE FARM TEAM!  DO YOU HEAR YOUR UNION AND JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS NAMING WHO THEY WILL BE RUNNING IN ALL THE COMING ELECTIONS?  THAT IS WHERE WE START!!!!

VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE!!!


AS HAS BEEN THE CASE SINCE O'MALLEY BECAME GOVERNOR ANOTHER TEXAS TRANSPLANT TO MARYLAND WITH ROOTS AT HARVARD.  BALTIMORE CO SUPERINTENDENT DANCE JUST ARRIVED AS WELL.  TEXAS IS GROUND ZERO FOR INNOVATION CENTERS, CHARTER SCHOOLS, AND THE POOREST PERFORMING EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THE COUNTRY, BARRING FLORIDA, NOT TO MENTION GRINDING POVERTY FOR MOST OF ITS CITIZENS. TAKE A LOOK AT THE ARTICLE BELOW  BY KRUGMAN.  THESE O'MALLEY PICKS ARE NOT HERE FOR THE QUALITY EDUCATION BUT MORE FOR MAKING MARYLAND'S PUBLIC EDUCATION CORPORATE.  I HEAR O'MALLEY IS SELLING HIS MOTHER TO WALL STREET NEXT.  CHECK THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION STAFFING TO SEE FROM WHERE THE DEPARTMENT HEADS COME.  THEY ALMOST ALL COME FROM CONSERVATIVE, REPUBLICAN STATES PUSHING FOR PRIVATIZED EDUCATION.  THE INTEREST IS EXPANDED RESEARCH AND GLOBAL GROWTH FOR PROFIT-MAKING.......NOT EDUCATION. 



For Immediate Release
June 28, 2012
Contacts: Lee Tune, 301 405 4679 or ltune@umd.edu Mary Ann Rankin Named Senior Vice President and Provost at University of Maryland COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- University of Maryland President Wallace Loh today announced the appointment of Mary Ann Rankin as Senior Vice President and Provost. Rankin, a national leader in innovative and highly successful programs for boosting the supply of science and math teachers and other STEM graduates, will start at Maryland on October 1, 2012.

Rankin currently is CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) in Dallas. NMSI is a public-private partnership dedicated to expanding the pipeline of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) graduates and STEM K-12 teachers. Previously, she spent 36 years at The University of Texas at Austin, where she served for six years as chair of biological sciences and for nearly 17 years as Dean of the College of Natural Sciences.

As dean of the College of Natural Sciences at the UT, Rankin created, with her administrative team, numerous highly successful programs for undergraduates including the UTeach program for math and science teacher preparation and the Freshman Research Initiative. Working with the College of Liberal Arts, she created the Texas Interdisciplinary Program, a special opportunity curriculum for at-risk students that enrolls and enhances outcomes for over 900 students. These efforts significantly increased student retention and graduation rates particularly among underrepresented minorities.

UTeach has been cited as a national model for STEM teacher preparation by several state governors, Presidents Obama and G. W. Bush, and in the National Academy of Sciences report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm." UTeach is now being replicated in partnership with the National Math and Science Initiative in 34 universities in 16 states.

As dean, Rankin also led the launch of new interdisciplinary research initiatives, the construction of new, world-class science buildings, and growth of existing and the establishment of new research institutes at UT. She raised over $800 million in private funding for academic programs, research centers, and academic buildings, including the new $120M Gates Computer Science Complex. Under her leadership the number of women science faculty grew from 15 to 30 percent and gender parity in salaries was established. In her last three years, she managed strategically the state-imposed budget cuts.

"Mary Ann is one of the most visionary and innovative academic leaders in the country, and we are extremely fortunate to have her as our new Provost," says President Loh. "Her abilities and amazing track record make for an outstanding fit with the University of Maryland as we continue to advance as a research university of national and global renown."

"I'm excited and honored to have this opportunity. It is a privilege to become part of your leadership team and I am looking forward to working with everyone in the University of Maryland community," says Rankin. "Public universities today are facing heightened challenges as well as new opportunities. I think the University of Maryland is particularly well positioned to succeed in this challenging time, and I look forward to helping it do so."

Rankin received her bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry from Louisiana State University, was a National Science Foundation pre-doctoral fellow at the University of Iowa and Imperial College Field Station, Ascot, England, and earned a doctorate in physiology and behavior from the University of Iowa in 1972. She was a National Institutes of Health post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University until joining The University of Texas at Austin in 1975 as an assistant professor of zoology. In 1986, she was promoted to professor. Rankin was chairman of the Division of Biological Sciences from 1989 until her appointment as dean of the College of Natural Sciences in 1994



FOR ALL THE INTEREST IN THINGS TEXAS, THIS IS THE REALITY OF TEXAS FOR ITS CITIZENS.  IF I WAS LOOKING FOR LEADERS, I WOULDN'T BE GOING TO TEXAS :

Op-Ed Columnist Leaving Children Behind
By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: February 27, 2011  New York Times

Will 2011 be the year of fiscal austerity? At the federal level, it’s still not clear: Republicans are demanding draconian spending cuts, but we don’t yet know how far they’re willing to go in a showdown with President Obama. At the state and local level, however, there’s no doubt about it: big spending cuts are coming.

And who will bear the brunt of these cuts? America’s children.

Now, politicians — and especially, in my experience, conservative politicians — always claim to be deeply concerned about the nation’s children. Back during the 2000 campaign, then-candidate George W. Bush, touting the “Texas miracle” of dramatically lower dropout rates, declared that he wanted to be the “education president.” Today, advocates of big spending cuts often claim that their greatest concern is the burden of debt our children will face.

In practice, however, when advocates of lower spending get a chance to put their ideas into practice, the burden always seems to fall disproportionately on those very children they claim to hold so dear.

Consider, as a case in point, what’s happening in Texas, which more and more seems to be where America’s political future happens first.

Texas likes to portray itself as a model of small government, and indeed it is. Taxes are low, at least if you’re in the upper part of the income distribution (taxes on the bottom 40 percent of the population are actually above the national average). Government spending is also low. And to be fair, low taxes may be one reason for the state’s rapid population growth, although low housing prices are surely much more important.

But here’s the thing: While low spending may sound good in the abstract, what it amounts to in practice is low spending on children, who account directly or indirectly for a large part of government outlays at the state and local level.

And in low-tax, low-spending Texas, the kids are not all right. The high school graduation rate, at just 61.3 percent, puts Texas 43rd out of 50 in state rankings. Nationally, the state ranks fifth in child poverty; it leads in the percentage of children without health insurance. And only 78 percent of Texas children are in excellent or very good health, significantly below the national average.

But wait — how can graduation rates be so low when Texas had that education miracle back when former President Bush was governor? Well, a couple of years into his presidency the truth about that miracle came out: Texas school administrators achieved low reported dropout rates the old-fashioned way — they, ahem, got the numbers wrong.

It’s not a pretty picture; compassion aside, you have to wonder — and many business people in Texas do — how the state can prosper in the long run with a future work force blighted by childhood poverty, poor health and lack of education.

But things are about to get much worse.

A few months ago another Texas miracle went the way of that education miracle of the 1990s. For months, Gov. Rick Perry had boasted that his “tough conservative decisions” had kept the budget in surplus while allowing the state to weather the recession unscathed. But after Mr. Perry’s re-election, reality intruded — funny how that happens — and the state is now scrambling to close a huge budget gap. (By the way, given the current efforts to blame public-sector unions for state fiscal problems, it’s worth noting that the mess in Texas was achieved with an overwhelmingly nonunion work force.)

So how will that gap be closed? Given the already dire condition of Texas children, you might have expected the state’s leaders to focus the pain elsewhere. In particular, you might have expected high-income Texans, who pay much less in state and local taxes than the national average, to be asked to bear at least some of the burden.

But you’d be wrong. Tax increases have been ruled out of consideration; the gap will be closed solely through spending cuts. Medicaid, a program that is crucial to many of the state’s children, will take the biggest hit, with the Legislature proposing a funding cut of no less than 29 percent, including a reduction in the state’s already low payments to providers — raising fears that doctors will start refusing to see Medicaid patients. And education will also face steep cuts, with school administrators talking about as many as 100,000 layoffs.

The really striking thing about all this isn’t the cruelty — at this point you expect that — but the shortsightedness. What’s supposed to happen when today’s neglected children become tomorrow’s work force?

Anyway, the next time some self-proclaimed deficit hawk tells you how much he worries about the debt we’re leaving our children, remember what’s happening in Texas, a state whose slogan right now might as well be “Lose the future.”




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IT IS RIDICULOUS TO WATCH AS POLITICIANS PRETEND TO BE SERVING THE GOOD OF THE POOR AS THEY CONSTRUCT A SOCIETY THAT FAILS THEM IN EVERY WAY.  MARYLAND HAS BILLIONS IN MORTGAGE FRAUD SETTLEMENTS DUE TO COME TO THE STATE THAT WOULD FULLY FUND ALL SOCIAL SERVICES TO THE LEVELS NECESSARY AND FAILURE TO HOLD THOSE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN DUE TO MASSIVE FRAUD ARE GUILTY OF PROVIDING THE ENVIRONMENT FOR ABUSE AND NEGLECT OF THE POOREST.  THAT MARYLAND IS THE WEALTHIEST STATE IN THE NATION ALSO SHOWS A DISTORTED DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN THE STATE THAT MUST BE CORRECTED BY SYSTEMIC MONEY FLOW NOT ARBITRARY 'GIFTING' PROGRAMS.  THIS IS WHAT THEY DO IN MISSISSIPPI.


Md. teachers finding hungry kids in their classes August 23, 2012 at 10:12 pm

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, left, and Tom Nelson, president of Share Our Strength

By Tricia McCarter-Joseph
For MarylandReporter.com

Public school teachers in Maryland say they are seeing students who regularly come to school hungry and some teachers purchase food weekly for these students.

A new report finds that 63% of Maryland teachers surveyed say children are not getting enough to eat at home and this is having a negative effect on students’ academic performance.

In a panel discussion at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker and Prince George’s County Board of Education Chair Verjeana Jacobs joined other federal and state panelists to announce the findings of a survey of over 1,000 public school teachers who teach from kindergarten to 8th Grade.

In partnership with Share Our Strength, a nonprofit organization advocating against hunger in schools nationwide, the discussion focused on raising awareness of state food programs available in schools across Maryland.

No jurisdictions are hunger free

“We don’t have a single jurisdiction [in the state] that’s hunger free,” said Anne Sheridan, director of the Maryland campaign for Share Our Strength.

CORRECTED: According to the Maryland State Department of Education website, about 368,000 school children were enrolled in programs for free or reduced-priced food for the 2011-2012 school year.

Finance officials who oversee these programs at the education department estimate its value at $241 million and project a slightly increased figure for the upcoming school year.

In addition, in the 12 months ending in March, 17,000 new kids were added to the School Breakfast Program, part of a state partnership called the First-Class Breakfast Initiative to end childhood hunger.

Not reaching enough children

But the teacher survey, called the No Kid Hungry Campaign, also found that programs were not reaching enough needy children and families. Of the nationwide 20 million eligible kids only 9.8 million were served last year.

“We have to be moved by these findings. It is a very real experience that [people] are facing everyday,” said Sheridan who also believes that in order to reach the goal of providing for more children, more attention needs to be paid to the teachers who see them everyday.

Overcoming stigma

The deputy under secretary for food, nutrition and consumer affairs in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Janey Thornton, expressed concern regarding coming up with creative ways to get kids to participate in the programs by making it “cool” especially for high school kids.

Survey data showed that some kids do not want be singled out as poor by eating in the cafeteria and will forgo eating to socialize with friends. In response schools have implemented Grab N’ Go meals and Breakfast in the Classroom.

However, some parents are taking advantage of the programs. Panelist Lareese Cathey whose daughter participates in the breakfast program at Graysonville Elementary School.

“It’s very rewarding for us as parents to step up and make sure the needs are being met for our children,” Cathey said.


Read more: http://marylandreporter.com/2012/08/23/md-teachers-finding-hungry-kids-in-their-classes/#ixzz24qdUhxsS
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
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August 27th, 2012

8/27/2012

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THESE CHARACTERS ARE TRYING TO MAKE THE COUNTRY FEEL THAT THESE POLICY CHANGES HAVE ADVANCED TOO FAR TO REVERSE BUT IN FACT IT WILL BE EASY TO REVERSE THESE POLICIES.  WE COULD HAVE DOWNSIZED THE BANKS HAD WE THE RIGHT POLITICIANS IN OFFICE, SO SAVING OUR PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM AND HEALTH CARE SYSTEM WILL NOT BE HARD.  ACTIVISM AND RIDDING OURSELVES OF INCUMBENTS WILL DO IT!

THE NEXT PROBLEM CREATED BY THESE 'INNOVATION CENTERS' AND CORPORATIZING UNIVERSITIES IS THE ACTUAL STATUS OF UNIVERSITIES AS NON-PROFITS.  OBVIOUSLY WHEN A UNIVERSITY EXPANDS TO THE SIZE OF A CORPORATION, STARTS PATENTING AND SELLING ITS RESEARCH, IT IS A CORPORATION NOT A NON-PROFIT.  IN BALTIMORE WE HAVE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY HAVING CROSSED THAT THRESHOLD.....IT IS A CORPORATION....AND YET THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY MADE CLEAR THEY WOULD NOT PAY TAXES.  THEY ALSO STILL RECEIVE BILLIONS IN GRANTS AS IF THEY WERE A NON-PROFIT.

THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM AND ALLOWS YOU TO SEE WHERE THEY ARE MOVING WITH CORPORATE TAXES.....THEY ARE ELIMINATING THEM. 

SO NOW, AS A FOR-PROFIT NON-PROFIT WITH ALL THIS OUTSIDE REVENUE REQUIRING ACCOUNTANTS AND INVESTMENT FIRMS WITH CEO SALARIES COMES A CHANGE IN CAMPUS POLITICS.  'IT'S ONLY A GAME' ON NPR ALWAYS ADVOCATES FOR WOMEN'S SPORTS AND PROTECTIONS FOR COLLEGE ATHLETES.  THEY HAVE FOR YEARS POINTED TO THIS COMMERCIALIZATION OF COLLEGE SPORTS WITH ITS HUGE REVENUES WITH STUDENT ATHLETES GETTING NOTHING FROM THE COLLEGE INDUSTRY.  I WAS PROUD TO HEAR THEM FINALLY SAY THAT IT IS 'SLAVERY' TO HAVE THESE KIDS COMMITTING TO A GRUELING SPORTS REGIMEN WITH NO FINANCIAL GAIN WITH EVERYONE AROUND THEM GETTING RICH.  WE DO NOT ADVOCATE TO PAY COLLEGE ATHLETES......WE ADVOCATE TO TAKE THE BUSINESS OUT OF COLLEGE ATHLETICS.  AGAIN WE HAVE THE SITUATION OF COLLEGE STUDENTS BEING USED AS FREE LABOR FOR PROFIT.  THEY USED TO DO THAT IN MEDIEVAL TIMES AS PEOPLE WORKED IN APPRENTICESHIPS FOR YEARS UNDER WHAT WAS THEN A CORPORATE ENTERPRISE.  THIS IS WHERE THIS 1% IS HEADING AS FAST AS THEY CAN AND YOUR INCUMBENT IS TAKING US THERE.  THAT IS WHAT ENLIGHTENMENT AND REVOLUTIONS ENDED BACK THEN AND WHAT LABOR UNIONS IN THE US REVERSED DECADES AGO.   WE DO NOT WANT TO GO BACK!!!! 


VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT!!
WRITE-IN YOUR STATE CANDIDATE THIS ELECTION AND SAY NO TO CARDIN, SARBANES, AND CUMMINGS!!!!

March 18, 2009, 8:28 pm March Money Madness By THE EDITORS  New York Times

For millions of Americans, nothing makes for better television than the N.C.A.A. college basketball tournament, which starts this week. The perennial powers, the cinderella teams and those irresistible brackets make for a sweet combination. The network advertisers know it, too. CBS paid the N.C.A.A. $6 billion for an 11-year contract to carry the men’s tournament through 2013.

Of course, this entire commercial bonanza is made possible by the student athletes, who are barred from receiving salaries by N.C.A.A. rules. Should they be paid — just as college students on work-study or otherwise hold campus jobs are paid? If not, are there ways to ensure that more of the revenues benefit the students?



Where the Amateurs Are Ellen J. Staurowsky is a professor of sport management and a graduate chairwoman of the department at Ithaca College in New York.

Despite N.C.A.A. rhetoric, the Division I men’s basketball tournament is no place for amateurs — and business executives know it.

The International Management Group knew it when it tapped into a $3 million college sport market by acquiring the Collegiate Licensing Company last year. Thought Equity Motion, a new media content firm, was on the ball when it signed a deal recently with the N.C.A.A. gaining access to a $3 billion college sport market by ensuring that the Madness of March is delivered to the basketball fans on their iPhones. And of course, the coaches often command salaries of $1 million and more, not including access to private jets, cars and housing subsidies. These are not deals made by amateurs.

Should more money trickle down to athletes who essentially work for the university? Definitely. Even women’s basketball, once thought of as the “real” amateur game in town, has changed. Although the gender gap in salaries between coaches of men’s and women’s big-time basketball programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference are still considerable (the average men’s coach makes about $1.2 million compared to about $443,000 for a woman’s coach), there are some women’s coaches who have a stake in the million-dollar game — most notably Tennessee’s Pat Summit, Connecticut’s Gino Auriemma and Texas’s Gail Goestenkors. And whatever the salary, bonuses for winning are no longer the exclusive domain of male coaches.

So where are the amateurs? According to the N.C.A.A., the “amateurs” are the athletes who play the games. These are the very same revenue-producing athletes who might be on a full scholarship but end up in debt because there is a gap between what the scholarship provides and the cost of their education — a gap, which on average is about $2,500 a year. While the college sport officials, coaches and administrators would not make deals with corporate entities without adequate counsel to advise them and protect their interests at the negotiating table, the “amateur” talent, in order to remain eligible, is barred according to N.C.A.A. regulations from having adequate legal counsel to represent them.

Should more money trickle down to athletes who essentially work for the university? Definitely. Will more money trick down to them? It’s difficult to say. The N.C.A.A. rules defining amateurism have been remarkably resilient over the years despite what the market says.
_____________________________________________
THE ASSAULT ON UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR'S TENURE AND COMPENSATION WE SEE TODAY IS A DIRECT RESULT OF WHAT WAS AN ABUSIVE SYSTEM OF GRADUATE STUDENTS USED AS THE SURROGATE TEACHING ASSISTANT WHILE THE PROFESSOR DID THE RESEARCH.  THIS IS BEEN A LONGSTANDING GRUDGE FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS.  IT HAS REACHED A TIPPING POINT IN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES AND IS NOW POISED TO HIT PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES AS THIS MODEL MOVES TO PUBLIC EDUCATION.  THE POINT IS THAT STUDENTS SHOULDN'T BE IN THIS POSITION AT ALL.  WHAT THESE 'INNOVATION CENTERS' DO IS PUT THIS PRACTICE IN OVERDRIVE.  THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE IN A STUDENT WORK PROGRAM THAT HAS YOU STAFFING A LIBRARY FOR TUITION AID AND HAVING STUDENTS SHOULDER THE WORK OF THE UNIVERSITY/CORPORATE REVENUE MAKING ADVENTURES.

Graduate Students At Private Universities Petition Labor Board For Right To Organize Unions By Travis Waldron on Jul 25, 2012 at 6:15 pm  ThinkProgress

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is revisiting a previous decision that denied graduate students who work as research assistants at private universities the right to organize and collectively bargain, drawing protests from prestigious private universities and their allies. In 2004, the NLRB prohibited the unionization of graduate-student assistants at private universities when it ruled that they were students, not employees of the university.

A NLRB regional director ruled last year, however, that some graduate assistants at New York University have “a dual relationship” that is “both academic and economic,” a decision the would make them employees and gave the NLRB an opening to revisit its decision. Private universities opposed that decision and, in briefs reviewed by the Chronicle of Higher Education, said giving labor rights to student workers would undermine the private graduate system:

“It is no exaggeration to state that the future of American private graduate education is at stake in these cases,” argued a brief submitted by Brown University, which faces the prospect of the board reversing a 2004 decision that prohibited the unionization of its graduate-student assistants.

The American Council on Education joined several other higher-education associations in arguing, “Students enroll in graduate school to complete their higher education, not to work for wages. Their relationship with the university is fundamentally one of a student and teacher, not master-servant.”

Brown’s claim that the system “is at stake” if the NLRB decides in favor of the student workers does seem to be an exaggeration, given that graduate student workers at public universities have had the right to organize and collectively bargain for decades, and those schools continue to grow and prosper. (Public graduate students are governed by state labor laws, not the NLRB.)

The ACE’s claim, meanwhile, that students shouldn’t have rights because they are students ignores that these students do, indeed, work for wages, a fact that would seem to grant them an economic relationship covered by labor law. The NLRB has also previously decided that other workers in graduate schools — such as apprentices — are subject to the National Labor Relations Act. Medical residents are also subject to labor law, though the ACE argues that their precedent does not apply because they have already graduated.

“Nobody who looks at the reality of the current university today can argue that graduate students are not employees,” Kate Bronfenbrenner, the director of labor education research at Cornell University, told the Cornell Daily Sun in 2010. “Graduate students are used as workers in the University — they are hired to fill in wherever there are openings. The faculty doesn’t spend time teaching graduate students how to teach — they use them as employees to do the teaching for them.”

________________________________________________

I AM WRITING TO STATE COMPTROLLER PETER FRANCHOT, A CHAMPION FOR THE TAXPAYER.......CORPORATE THAT IS.  IT IS HIS OFFICE THAT MONITORS NON-PROFIT TAX EXEMPTION SO I AM ASKING HOW THE CORPORATIZATION OF JOHNS HOPKINS AND UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND AFFECTS THEIR   NON-PROFIT STATUS.  NO DOUBT FRANCHOT WILL SAY HE ONLY ENFORCES THE LAWS HE DOESN'T MAKE THEM SO WE WILL SEND THE LETTER TO THE MARYLAND SENATE AND BALTIMORE CITY TAX COMMITTEE ASKING WHERE ARE THE LAWS?  IF FRANCHOT, LIKE ATTORNEY GENERAL GANSLER WERE LOOKING OUT FOR THE PUBLIC AND NOT THE CORPORATION THEY BOTH WOULD BE SHOUTING AGAINST THIS QUASI-CORPORATE STATE THAT THE THIRD WAY SEES ALL BUSINESSES JOINING GOBBLING ALL TAX REVENUE.


Johns Hopkins University Mission Statement

The mission of The Johns Hopkins University is to educate its students and cultivate their capacity for life-long learning, to foster independent and original research, and to bring the benefits of discovery to the world.



State Income Tax Exemption



John P. McDonough, Secretary of State    

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION


Upon receiving an IRS tax determination letter stating that your organization is exempt from federal income taxes, your organization may also apply for an exemption from state income taxes. The Comptroller of the Treasury is the state agency responsible for acknowledging an exemption from Maryland income tax.

To apply for a state income tax exemption, your organization should submit to the Legal Department of the Revenue Administration Division the following information:



  1. Request for exemption from Maryland income tax;
  2. An explanation of the nature, purpose, and scope of your organization;
  3. A copy of the IRS tax determination letter;
  4. A copy of your organization's by-laws; and
  5. A copy of the latest financial statement of your organization.
When the request for an exemption has been granted, no income tax returns need to be filed with the Comptroller unless your organization files an IRS Form 990-T. (The Form 990-T is required if your organization has unrelated business income.)

The request for a state income tax exemption and the supporting documentation should be forwarded to the Comptroller of the Treasury, Revenue Administration Division, 110 Carroll Street, Annapolis MD 21411 and to the attention of the Legal Department. The telephone numbers of the Revenue Administration Division are 1-800-MD TAXES (638-2937) and 410-260-7980.

______________________________________________
YOU CAN BET THESE GUYS HAVE NO INTENTION IN MAKING THESE NEW QUASI-GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES RESPONSIBLE FOR TAX PAYING.  THESE PARTNERSHIPS ARE A MODEL FOR ALL BUSINESS CONNECTIONS AND A FAILURE TO TAX THESE UNIVERSITY INNOVATION CENTERS NOW WILL SET THE STAGE FOR CORPORATE EXEMPTION FROM TAXES.  THERE ARE THOSE WHO FEEL THAT CORPORATIONS SHOULDN'T PAY TAXES BUT I DARE SAY IF YOU AND I ARE LEFT PAYING FOR ALL INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT, WARS, PUBLIC SAFETY AND MAINTENANCE, WHEN CORPORATIONS USE AN OVER-SIZED AMOUNT OF ALL, THE ENTIRE ECONOMY WILL BECOME BASED ON CORPORATE AND SHAREHOLDER PROFITS......WHICH IS THE THIRD WAY POINT AND HAPPENING NOW.

MARYLAND SENATE BUDGET AND TAXATION COMMITTEE
Edward Kasemeyer
Nathaniel McFadden

NATHANIEL J. McFADDEN
Democrat, District 45, Baltimore City

    Miller Senate Office Building, Room 422
    11 Bladen St., Annapolis, MD 21401
    (410) 841-3165, (301) 858-3165
    1-800-492-7122, ext. 3165 (toll free)
    e-mail: nathaniel.mcfadden@senate.state.md.us
    fax: (410) 841-3138, (301) 858-3138

BALTIMORE CITY TAXATION, FINANCE & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Carl Stokes, Chair (410) 396-4811

Date:  August 26, 2012

To:  Maryland State Comptroller Franchot - Tax Exemption
       Status
      Maryland Senator Nathaniel McFadden - Budget  and       Taxation Committee
      Baltimore City Councilman Carl Stokes - Taxation and  
      Finance Committee

From:  Cindy Walsh
           CitizensOversightMaryland

RE:  Rethinking tax exemption for 'corporatized' universities

The State of Maryland is in the process of incorporating technology or innovation centers into their academic structure with the expressed mission of providing market value for research done on the campus and by extension reaping financial gains for the university from those products and patents.  Whereas a great many citizens in Maryland plan to fight and reverse this trend, it is prudent to have laws in place that recognize this move from a non-profit academic university to one of a profit-making corporate subsidiary.  It is wise to define not only this development and marketing mission in the description but also the size of the institution as universities have always been singular institutions with maybe a few off-site satellites and what is being created now are regional and if left unchecked nationally positioned institutions.  This is clearly not the intent of a non-profit designation.  If an organization if left to grow without restriction simply because it uses profits to grow the organization rather than pay dividends, then we all know the final result will be an eventual privatization of an organization built purely on taxpayer money.  Which is no doubt the objective of this process.

Our organization would like an explanation as to how the Federal, State, and local governing bodies are working together to create a restructuring of tax designation for these quasi-governmental agencies.

Thank you,

Cindy Walsh
CitizensOversightMaryland
0 Comments

August 24th, 2012

8/24/2012

0 Comments

 
What we saw yesterday is the American Troika with corporate politicians in the government leadership and the corporate 1% both pressing the state public university system to privatize its administration with MBA department heads and CEOs replacing academic deans.   We talk of the tuition prices going sky high at public universities and this is why:  O'Malley and Third way state legislators took a basic  university structure and built an administration to support the Wall Street affiliation, an administration to support the corporate affiliation, and an administration to support the Federal agency affiliation.  So a university must connect Goldman Sachs, the National Institutes of Health, and Johns Hopkins University.....that is a lot of administration and student tuition is supporting what taxpayers aren't.  This is the "NEW ECONOMY" and it is killing the middle/lower class and our democracy.  YOUR DEMOCRATIC INCUMBENT IS BACKING THIS 100%.  ANTHONY BROWN AND MAGGIE MCINTOSH IN MARYLAND ARE HEADING THE EFFORT FOR O'MALLEY AND RAWLINGS.  Below you'll see the prototype for these university based innovation centers.  Every time you hear of these programs they always use the code words strong education and innovation.  This is the same as the code words job-creator and working for the middle-class.  In both cases these politicians and policies are doing neither.  They are simply subsidizing the costs of research and development for technology with taxpayer and student tuition while transferring labor costs to students working for free and getting tax breaks for being good corporate citizens.  WE HAVE PASSED THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS AND ARE NOW IN THE LAND OF THE MAD HATTER FOLKS!  THESE PEOPLE AT THE TOP ARE SOCIOPATHS OF THE HIGHEST DEGREE AND WE MUST BE RID OF THEM.

VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT! 

BELOW YOU SEE THE CONSERVATIVE FOUNDATION WHOSE POLICY WAS ADOPTED BY CLINTON IN THE 1990s AS THESE PUBLIC-PRVATE PARTNERSHIPS STARTED. ITS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT THIS WHOLE HEALTH CARE REFORM IS A REPUBLICAN CORPORATE PLAN TO PRIVATIZE HEALTH CARE.

IT IS NOT IN THE PUBLIC'S INTEREST!!!!


Kauffman Foundation Analyzes
New Approach to Moving University Innovations to Market and Filling Seed-Stage
Funding Gap
 

 
 Foundation to form network to facilitate 'proof of concept' center development
 
 (KANSAS CITY, Mo.) Jan. 24, 2008 — An emerging approach to identifying, funding and commercializing university-based innovation is proving quite effective at seeding new companies, according to research conducted by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Max Planck Institute of Economics.

According to the Kauffman Foundation, "proof of concept centers" are an effective vehicle to help launch the commercialization of university innovation
and to fill the seed-stage funding gap for new technologies.

Proof of concept centers provide seed funding to university-based early stage research as well as a host of advisory services and educational initiatives to
assist students and faculty with market research, mentoring, development and testing of innovations, preparation of business plans and connections to the
commercial market.

The report examines two such centers, the Deshpande Center at MIT and the von
Liebig Center at the University of California San Diego.


According to researchers, since the two centers' creation in 2002, they have collectively awarded nearly $10 million in seed grants and launched 26 seed-stage companies that have accumulated more than $159 million in private
capital. Both centers are funded from philanthropic donations.

The lessons learned from the proof of concept study have led the Kauffman Foundation to form a network that will bring centers together to study best
practices, establish metrics and define points of future research. The Deshpande and von Liebig centers will be founding members of the new network.


"The centers' successes and strategies provide a promising model for replication, and this network will help advance this new approach," said Lesa
Mitchell, vice president of Advancing Innovation, Kauffman Foundation. "The network will help them to share strategies such as how to help grantees leverage
more capital for their technologies."


"By legitimizing a researcher's technology, these centers enable and accelerate the acquisition of private capital for university technology," said Christine A. Gulbranson, director, Advancing Innovation, Kauffman Foundation,
and one of the paper's authors.

"Proof of concept centers assist with the exchange of ideas between the university innovations and industry," said David B. Audretsch, director, Max Planck Institute of Economics. "Providing mentors with experience in innovation and industry connections help link faculty and students to external networks."


The report also provides an outline for other universities to use in replicating proof of concept centers.


According to the report, a successful proof of concept center benefits from locating at universities that produce innovative and marketable technology, are located within a strong external network of investors and innovators and have an administrative team and advisors with a depth of commercialization expertise. A unified approach of providing seed funding, advisory services with industry connections and educational initiatives also is vital to ensure the commercialization of university technology.


A copy of the paper
is available for download. In addition,
an analysis of the Kauffman Foundation report will be published in the June 2008
issue of The Journal of Technology Transfer.


My background is as a medical research academic and I've spent 30 years in the medical field.  There has always been a slow deliberative nature to medical research that necessarily meant when data was published it had been qualitatively and quantitatively duplicated and tested until safety and accuracy was assured.  We did this with public money and with no financial benefit other than our salaries.  That made us unbiased and committed to the science.  Once the discoveries were made, then anyone could become the enterpreneur.  Below you'll see a current article by Health and Human Services that describes the need for all these outside sources and efficiencies to create an effective research environment.  I DON'T KNOW HOW WE MANAGED TO CREATE THE GREATEST SPAN OF MEDICAL INNOVATION THE OLD FASHION WAY.......PERHAPS IT INVOLVED THE CORPORATIONS AND THE RICH PAYING TAXES THAT SERVED AS REVENUE FOR THIS PUBLIC RESEARCH.  SO, IT IS OBVIOUS THAT THESE CORPORATE POLITICIANS ARE TRYING THEIR HARDEST TO CREATE A MODEL THAT TAKES BEST PRACTICES AND CORPORATE FUNDING OUT OF THE LOOP.  LEVERAGE IS IN.


CHAPTER ELEVEN - Health and Human Services Text


Fostering Evidence-Based Practice and Innovation

Funding Research

Researchers increasingly have relied upon private sources and clinical revenues for funds.  Funds for health research and development increased by 10.5 percent annually between 1984 and 1994 (Mechanic, 1996), but the source of
research money has shifted from predominantly public sector (45 percent of funds in 1993 compared to 56 percent in 1983) to private sector sources (50 percent in
1993 compared to 39 percent in 1983) (NIH, 1996).  The pharmaceutical industry, for example, invests $19 billion a year in research (Bello, 1997).  THIS SHIFT IS DUE TO THE PRIVATIZATION OF MEDICAL RESEARCH FOR PROFIT.  PHARMA AS WE KNOW MADE MEDICINE A PROFIT MACHINE.  THEY ALSO PROVIDED TONS OF MEDICINE THAT PROVED NOT TO DO WHAT THEY SAID AND WAS MARKETED BEFORE TESTING ELIMINATED CHANCES OF HARM.  THIS IS WHAT THESE INNOVATION CENTERS WILL PUT INTO OVERDRIVE!!!


Research Infrastructure and Workforce.

Expanded  public and private funding of health care research needs to be accompanied by a robust research infrastructure and a workforce of highly qualified investigators.  The
highly competitive health care market poses challenges to academic health centers and may threaten the subsidies that clinical revenues provide for research and education (HHS, 1997).  One study estimates that clinical services delivered by medical school faculty raised more than $800 million in 1993 that was used to subsidize clinical research -- an amount equal to about one-fifth of the funding medical schools received from NIH grants (AAMC, 1997).  The costs that academic health centers incur due to their research and teaching functions, as well as the disproportionate share of uncompensated care that many provide, leads to charges that have been estimated to be as much as 15 percent to 35 percent higher than community hospitals, even after adjusting for case-mix differences (Skirboll, 1997; Blumenthal, 1996).  These higher charges can make it difficult for academic health centers to compete with other health care delivery organizations. 
THE FACT THAT THE HEALTH CARE FIELD HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO BECOME 'COMPETITIVE' FINANCIALLY RATHER THAN ACADEMICALLY IS THE PROBLEM.


In addition, academic health centers face increased competition from private research centers as a greater share of funding flows to these entities from industry sources.  One analyst estimates that these contract research organizations currently manage one-half to three-quarters of Phase III and Phase IV clinical trials (Blumenthal, 1996).  Although the portfolio of health care research conducted by academic health centers and private research centers often
differs, traditional research institutions are facing increased competition not only in the funds available for research, but also in the increasing array of organizations available to provide research capability.

ACADEMIC HEALTH RESEARCH DOES NOT NEED TO COMPETE .....THAT IS NOT ITS MISSION.  PRIVATE INDUSTRY CAN SUPPORT PRIVATE RESEARCH ALL IT WANTS AS LONG AS IT IS PAYING TAXES TO SUPPORT PUBLIC RESEARCH!  THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF HEALTH CARE IS AN ANATHEMA IN A FIRST WORLD DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY AND MUST STOP.  THIS IS A THIRD WAY CAUCUS POLICY........WE NEED REAL PROGRESSIVES IN OFFICE.

VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE!!!!!

 

0 Comments

August 23rd, 2012

8/23/2012

0 Comments

 
I wrote a letter to our Maryland Attorney General asking for an investigation of the Sparrow's Point dealings.  The workers who spent their lives committed to the success of that mill deserved to see part of the profits from the sale of assets rather than a cut in benefits.  The fact that O'Malley not only failed to protect those benefits but took questionable efforts to make sure an outside investment group received them at local citizen's loss is despicable.

I want to introduce many who don't know the workings of these public-private partnerships that O'Malley has been funneling local and state money to since the 1990s.  You'll notice right off that is the time that pensions were defunded and community infrastructure left to crumble.  Keep in mind that almost all of this is driven by taxpayer money.  What is alarming and has me calling the process Perestroika is that all of the public agencies like NASA and NIH were built by public money and all the technology has benefited the general public.  We didn't complain when Defense Department technology like XRays or the Internet were used by private companies for profit because we were not denied use of the products because of cost or patent.  The public could expand upon original research for their own gain making invention something anyone can do.

The idea of partnering private business with public institutions financed in part by Wall Street with research patented...... fences in all those possibilities to the 1% basically.  These companies forming to partner with the University Of Maryland or Johns Hopkins are not Uncle Joe wanting a start up.  These companies are owned by the same national corporations headed by the 1%.  The big corporate executives decided that in order to hide from the public that all these assets were moving to the same small group of people, they would create smaller start-ups serving as branch businesses.  We are experiencing this now with the internet.  Taxpayers paid for the development of the internet and you would not want those same taxpayers unable to access it.  It should arrive like your electricity at a regulated, affordable cost.  What we are seeing is a gradual selling off of public airwaves, lose of access for people in rural areas, private companies driving costs too high to afford with no end in sight.  The idea that government will subsidize access to internet for very long is unrealistic.  People will simply not have it. 

In Maryland it is health care that is being captured in the case of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).  Both receive billions of taxpayer dollars and have provided the public with the quality of life for which the US was known.  What O'Malley has done these past two decades is help to create a system of operations that uses taxpayer money for research and infrastructure and university students as research workers that will take the usual academic research breakthroughs, patent them as a private corporation would, and immediately channel all the profits from endeavors to those private companies tied to the university.  These companies not only get the profits from the discovery of XRays for example, the patent keeps that discovery to them only.  No one else would benefit from that discovery.  Innovations would be all theirs.  Shareholders would get the profits and taxpayers may or may not be able to access the technology.  THE 1% ARE USING THESE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP TO COMPLETELY FENCE IN ALL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ADVANCES FROM ALL PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS WITH TAXPAYERS AND STUDENTS FOOTING ALL THE COSTS.  WALL STREET WILL BE THERE TO MARKET AND LEVERAGE.

VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE!!!!!!  WRITE-IN A CANDIDATE IN THIS COMING ELECTION FOR STATE AND LOCAL CANDIDATES!  

WE CAN TURN THIS AROUND.....WE ONLY NEED TO SEND THESE POLITICIANS PACKING!

BioHealth Innovation’s new directors MARYLAND DAILY RECORD

Two Baltimore-based business leaders have joined the board of directors of BioHealth Innovation Inc., a regional private-public partnership focused on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Central Maryland. They are Scott E. Dagenais, M&T Bank Corp.’s senior vice president/regional president Baltimore; and Jay S. Ridder, managing partner of Ernst & Young  Baltimore office. ;I am pleased to welcome Scott and Jay to the BHI board,” said Scott Carmer, BioHealth Innovation Inc.’s board chairman and a MedImmune Inc. executive. “They will both bring valued expertise from the Baltimore community and also provide depth in commercial banking and accounting experience


BHI is a private-public partnership that reports only to its board of directors made of business, academic and government leaders in Montgomery County and the Greater Baltimore region.

Michael Baader
Partner-In-Charge, Venable, LLP

Scott P. Carmer (Chair)
Executive Vice President, MedImmune

Kenneth C. Carter, Ph.D.
President and CEO, Noble Life Sciences

Scott Dagenais
Senior Vice President, M&T Bank

Ronald J. Daniels
President, Johns Hopkins University

David M. Gillece (Secretary)
Regional Managing Principal, Cassidy Turley

Doug Liu
Senior Vice President of Global Operations, Qiagen

William E. Kirwan
Chancellor, University System of Maryland

David M. Mott
General Partner, NEA

Jerry Parrott
Vice President, Corporate Communications and Public Policy at Human Genome Sciences

Jay Ridder
Office Managing Partner, Ernst & Young


William G. "Bill" Robertson (Treasurer)
President and CEO, Adventist HealthCare, Inc.

J. Thomas Sadowski
President and CEO, Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore

Thomas J. Street
Assistant Chief Administrative Officer, Montgomery County, Maryland

Richard Bendis
President & CEO, BioHealth Innovation, Inc.

WHEN THEY TELL US THAT THE UNIVERSITIES WILL DIRECT THE BENEFITS BACK TO THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES
THOSE WHO KNOW JOHNS HOPKINS KNOWS THAT THIS INSTITUTION IS NOT A TEAM PLAYER AND DOES NOT GIVE TO THE COMMUNITY UNLESS TO ADVANCE ITS OWN INTERESTS.  COMMUNITY CLINICS FOR RESEARCH AND SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS FOR VOCATIONAL MEDICAL TRAINING FOR EXAMPLE.  EVERYTIME YOU LOOK AT THE TAXPAYER MONEY HOPKINS USES, IT GOES TO EXPAND THE INSTITUTION EVER LARGER.  BALTIMORE HAS AN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITY WITH A LIFE EXPECTANCY 20 YEARS LESS THAN MORE AFFLUENT COMMUNITIES BECAUSE OF LITTLE ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE AND THE POVERTY CREATED BY A MINIMUM WAGE KEPT SO LOW BY HOPKINS.  IT HAS CRUMBLING PUBLIC SCHOOLS BECAUSE HOPKINS CHANNELED THE CITY'S REVENUE TO OTHER PROJECTS.  THIS IS NOT A BENEVOLENT DICTATOR LOOKING TO DO WHAT IS BEST FOR THE COMMON GOOD.....IT IS WALL STREET MENTALITY.  THE WORKS COMING FROM THIS BLEND OF PARTNERSHIP WILL NOT BE LOOKING OUT FOR THE INTEREST OF THE PUBLIC, BUT TOWARDS THEIR OWN BENEFIT.

Maryland Technology Development Corporation |     www.marylandtedco.org

The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), an independent entity, was established by the Maryland General Assembly in 1998 to facilitate the transfer and commercialization of technology from Maryland’s research universities and federal labs into the marketplace and to assist in the creation and growth of technology-based businesses in all regions of the State.



NIH Office of Technology Transfer |     www.ott.nih.gov




The NIH Office of Technology Transfer evaluates, protects, markets, licenses, monitors, and manages the wide range of NIH and FDA discoveries, inventions, and other intellectual property as mandated by the Federal Technology Transfer Act and related legislation.Other major functions within OTT include the development of technology transfer policies for NIH and with the other two major research components of HHS (FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]) and the implementation of decisions by the Technology Transfer Policy Board. 





Federal Laboratory Consortium |     http://www.federallabs.org

The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is the nationwide network of federal laboratories that provides the forum to develop strategies and opportunities for linking laboratory mission technologies and expertise with the marketplace. The FLC was organized in 1974 and formally chartered by the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 to promote and strengthen technology transfer nationwide. Today, approximately 300 federal laboratories and centers and their parent departments and agencies are FLC members.

Johns Hopkins University |     www.jhu.edu


Since our founding in 1876 as the nation's first research university, we have been committed to excellence. This commitment can be seen across our campuses in deeply focused research and dramatic interdisciplinary study, and is palpable in our outreach to our many communities. Whether you are a student, an alum or a prospective member of the Johns Hopkins family, we invite you to explore this site, and join us on campus.

WILL YOU AND I BE ABLE TO GRAB THE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED BY THIS GROUP AND START A BUSINESS?  OF COURSE NOT.  JUST LOOK AT THE PUBLIC COMMISSIONS ASSIGNED TO WORK IN OUR INTEREST.......THEY ALL WORK FOR THE CORPORATIONS........WE DON'T NEED AN EXPANDED VERSION OF THE SAME.
0 Comments

August 21st, 2012

8/21/2012

0 Comments

 
MY ORGANIZATION WORKS TO OPEN MEDIA THAT HAS A CORPORATE FORMAT AND WE KNOW THAT BALTIMORE IS CRONY PAR EXCELLENCE!  WYPR IS OUR LOCAL PUBLIC MEDIA STATION.  IT WAS A STRONG PROGRESSIVE STATION AND IS NOW CONTROLLED BY A CORPORATE BOARD THAT REALLY WORKS TO CONTAIN ANY DISSENTING MESSAGES.  BELOW YOU CAN SEE HOW THEY ARE WORKING TO LIMIT COUNTERPOINT TO THEIR CONTENT AND I HAVE A NEWS JOURNAL, THE MARYLAND DAILY RECORD THAT USES STRATEGIES TO KEEP MY COMMENTS AT BAY, ALTHOUGH NOT AS THOROUGHLY AS WYPR.  WHEN CHOOSING WHICH ARTICLES TO ALLOW FREE ACCESS ONLINE, ONE CAN SEE THAT MANY ARTICLES ABOUT THE ISSUES I ADDRESS ARE CAPTURED BY MEMBERSHIP.  WHEN I SEE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GIVE MY PROGRESSIVE COUNTERPOINT ON FREE ARTICLES, IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT, THEY IMMEDIATELY MOVE THE ARTICLE TO LOCK-DOWN.  THE AVERAGE PERSON WON'T PAY $120 - 180 A YEAR FOR SUBSCRIPTION AND THIS IS A VALUABLE RESOURCE FOR THE MOVINGS AND SHAKINGS OF THE CITY.  INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, LIBRARIES IN THE CITY DO NOT OFFER THIS JOURNAL AS SUBSCRIPTION ONLINE.  THE BALTIMORE SUN IS DOING BETTER AS THEY USED TO FOLLOW THE DAILY RECORD'S FORMAT, BUT HAVE BEEN MORE ACCOMMODATING TO ALL VIEWS OF LATE.

IT IS CRITICAL THAT ALL CITIZENS PRESS THE MEDIA FOR FAIR AND BALANCED COVERAGE IN THESE DAYS OF CORPORATE CONTROL.  YOU WATCH THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN ON MAINSTREAM TV AND YOU GET NOTHING THAT HOLDS THESE GUYS ACCOUNTABLE TO ISSUES CRITICAL TO THE PUBLIC INTEREST, SIMPLY A BANTERING OF TALKING POINTS.  THIS IS NOT FREE PRESS AND IS NOT DEMOCRACY IN ACTION.

IF YOUR INCUMBENT ISN'T SHOUTING LOUDLY AGAINST THIS CAPTURE.....IF THEY ARE USING IT TO THEIR ADVANTAGE, THEN THEY ARE NOT WORKING FOR THE MIDDLE/LOWER CLASSES!

VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT!

Hello Tony,
I questioned you a few months back about providing a free and open dialog on WYPR's website that is representative of a public media station.  I voiced a concern about your removing the ability to comment directly onsite as you transitioned to Facebook commenting.  What this does, as you know, is limit who sees the comments and who makes the comments as people know Facebook postings are permanent.  This is an anathema to public media!  So we want to work to make WYPR work for a people-friendly format.  The ability to post right to your website, as is done with NPR et al, would provide a democratic dialogue for which public media was designed.
For example, I post to your Facebook connection and I see all my comments all the time.  When my friends use their Facebook accounts, they don't see my comments.  As a message I received from WYPR earlier said........your messages will be sent to spam.  Now, I am a professional researcher and academic and write nationally on a wide variety of topics, so my comments on WYPR are certainly accurate 99.9% of the time.
You seem to be able to provide a platform for politicians to give interviews that focus on what they see as accomplishments while giving no ability to the public to state concerns or counterpoints.  Now, you told me that WYPR has to remove most of the comments it receives because of profanity and vulgarity, but I assure you I don't fit either category.  As a public station you are required to provide a fair and balanced democratic platform for the audience and I'm letting you know that you are failing in that respect.
Please let me know how this may be corrected!
Thank you,
Cindy Walsh

CitizensOversight
____________________________________________________

ALONG WITH CORPORATIZATION OF UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES AND CURRICULUM COMES AN EFFORT TO TAKE THE PROGRESSIVE/LIBERAL OUT OF THE MEDIA.  AS WE SEE MBAs AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS, SO THESE EDUCATION REFORMERS ARE TRYING TO DECONSTRUCT JOURNALISM FROM THE SOURCE......THROUGH ACADEMIC CLASSROOMS.  THEY ARE DOING THE SAME FOR EDUCATION CLASSROOMS AS WELL AS THEY TEACH FUTURE TEACHERS TO LIKE THE MARKET APPROACH TO K-12.  LOOK AT THE FOUNDATIONS BELOW TO SEE HOW THE USING PRIVATE NON-PROFIT DONATIONS TO PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES DRIVES CURRICULUM AND STAFFING.  THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS AS STATE FUNDING FOR UNIVERSITIES IS REPLACED BY CORPORATE DONATION.  THIS IS WHAT THE 'GIFTING' AND B CORPORATION FORMAT IS DESIGNED TO DO.  MARYLAND AND BALTIMORE ARE GROUND ZERO FOR THIS DEFUNDING OF PUBLIC FINANCING WITH REPLACEMENT BY PRIVATE.

IF YOUR INCUMBENT IS ALLOWING THIS RESTRUCTURING OF JOURNALISM FROM FAIR, BALANCED, AND UNBIASED WITH A DUTY TOWARDS FREE SPEECH AND PUBLIC INTEREST.......THEY ARE NOT WORKING FOR THE MIDDLE/LOWER CLASS

VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT!!!!

UNIVERSITIES ARE SLOW TO ADOPT THIS CORPORATE APPROACH BUT THE PRESSURE IS ENORMOUS.  YOU MUST SHOUT LOUDLY AT YOUR INCUMBENT THAT YOU WANT CORPORATIONS OUT OF YOUR EDUCATION!!!!

I had to respond to the Open Letter you signed intended for journalism schools.  I want you to know that the American people are deeply disturbed by the mainstream media capture today.....these professional journalists of which you speak are simply corporate talking heads.....no one respects them.  So to suggest that these people mentor and somehow have something to teach future journalists is an insult to the American people.  We want our journalism graduates, like all academic disciplines, to be free of corporate influence as this influence stifles free thought and creative growth.....both very important to a democracy and both of which is currently missing from mainstream journalism.  Just look at what has happened to NPR to see a disturbing corporate drive to take a stellar news program and turn it into a mediocre version of CNN and a few of these very foundations are sponsors to NPR.  They are often located in conservative/corporate states.

Please stop this approach!

Cindy Walsh

 Yesterday's News August 6, 2012 - 3:00am By Kaustuv Basu

A group of foundations that support journalism education issued a letter Friday saying that top professionals in the field, not career academics, need to be doing much more of the teaching of journalism students.

As digital media have evolved, so have journalism programs. But the 
open letter criticized them for not changing quickly enough.

“We believe journalism and communications schools must be willing to recreate themselves if they are able to succeed in playing their vital roles as news creators and innovators. Some leading schools are doing this but most are not,” said the letter addressed to university presidents, and signed by senior officials of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, the Scripps Howard Foundation, the Brett Family Foundation and the Wyncote Foundation.

The letter said that the “teaching hospital” model – where programs not only teach journalism students, but serve their local communities by producing news – has enormous potential. One example of this model is Arizona State University, which houses
News 21, an initiative by the Knight Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York to train a new generation of journalists. The initiative began in 2005 with five programs in the country.

But programs taking part in such initiatives may be the exception.

Eric Newton, senior adviser at the Knight Foundation, said that many journalism schools still teach analog broadcasts and treat newspaper, magazine, radio and television as separate components of a program.

“Students cannot be taught in silos such as print, radio, TV or magazine. There are still journalism programs where there is no experiential or service learning involved,” Newton said. As for journalism faculty members from the “pre-web” days, they need to constantly update their skills, maybe even indulge in “reverse mentoring” and learn about digital media from their students, Newton said.

“If you are in a recession, and you decide to cut the school’s website instead of the newspaper, then that is a problem. The schools should be willing to give up the things that should be given up,” Newton said. “We know that most jobs in journalism now involve digital media. These programs should change like society has changed. If you continue to teach things from the 1980s, you are going to become irrelevant."

He said the main purpose of the letter was to call attention to these problems and to point out that there is a tremendous opportunity for those programs that want to make the transition. Those that don’t, Newton said, will find that their graduates are unemployable in the mass communications industry.

According to Newton, four broad areas in journalism education need change: curricular innovation with programs better-connected with the rest of the university, technological innovations with programs serving as incubators, the teaching of an open collaborative model where schools can share resources with outside organizations, and providing content to the community while engaging in a two-way conversation with its members.

There are some journalism schools that are committed to these areas, where students learn by “doing,” Newton said.

Some examples: The City University of New York has an
entrepreneurial journalism program that encourages student innovation by partnering with start-ups or traditional media companies, while Mercer University in Macon, Ga., has teamed up with the The Telegraph, a daily newspaper, and Georgia Public Broadcasting for a collaborative journalism center. Columbia University’s journalism school started a digital project called The New York World last year to provide accountability journalism about state and local government, while journalism students at three public universities in Ohio – University of Akron, Youngstown State University, and Kent State University – have been producing news for regional and statewide media through a partnership called The News Outlet.

Administrators at journalism and mass communication schools said they understand the frustrations of the foundations, but they also said programs are trying hard to keep up with changes in digital technology.

Beth Barnes, director of the school of journalism and telecommunications at the University of Kentucky and president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, said that programs can't always change quickly. “We have to weigh in the cost factor, and the challenge for faculty to keep up with these changes,” she said.

Regional accrediting bodies have certain expectations about academic faculty, and their rules don’t make it easy to hire faculty members from professional institutions, she said. “Sometimes we have to make the case to administrators to hire someone who doesn’t have a terminal degree, but has current professional experience,” she said.

The letter urged programs to challenge such roadblocks from regional accreditors and suggested that "competence as the primary concern" for faculty in these programs. If they don't, they would have a hard time raising money from the foundations, the letter said.

Barnes said most j-schools are trying to change. “The changes may not happen quickly, but they [the foundations] should keep pushing us,” she said. “It keeps us honest and gives us some leverage we can use on our own campuses."

She said that the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, which is currently reviewing changes to accreditation standards, is likely to add more specific requirements, such as multimedia storytelling. “These changes are going to make us more innovative,” Barnes said.

While the letter from the foundations said it supported efforts by the ACEJMC, which accredits 109 journalism and mass communication schools in the United States, to modernize standards, it also suggested that the organization develop standards that highlight the importance of technology and innovation.

Susanne Shaw, ACEJMC’s executive director and a professor of journalism at the University of Kansas, said that one proposed change in standards relates to the number of credit hours a journalism and communications major is required to have outside the major. The previous requirement was 80 credit hours with 65 of those hours coming from the liberal arts and sciences. The proposed new standard would enable 72 credit hours outside the major, but not restricted to the liberal arts and sciences, thus encouraging more collaboration and innovation. “So, for example, those who want to take a business class … we will be able to accommodate those folks,” Shaw said.

Another proposed change in the accrediting standards will let schools offer six hours of credit instead of three for unpaid internships. “Accreditation can only help some of the problems. I also want to help students and faculty get better,” Shaw said. “We are making the changes that the majority of our schools want.”

These proposed changes will be discussed at an ACEJMC meeting later this month, said Shaw, who said the council's members are open to discussing new ideas. Shaw said that the process of revising the standards had been ongoing for a year and a half, while the letter was less than a week old. “The council may want to talk about it. Some people might feel we already address these issues in our standards,” Shaw said, referring to standards for keeping the curriculum “current” and a separate one for equipment and facilities.

She said that the accreditation standards would have to be changed every month if the council were to respond to new technology. “Nothing is perfect. Of course, we are trying to address changes,” Shaw said. Shaw said that the standards already ask for a "current" and "demanding" curriculum and there is a separate standard for resources and equipment.

Susan King, dean of the school of journalism and mass communication at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, can understand the arguments from both sides. King previously was the vice president for external affairs at the Carnegie Corporation of New York and is well-acquainted with the world of funders.

“I agree that it is imperative to prepare the next generation of journalists, and to prepare them [students] for jobs that do not yet exist,” King said. “We have to prepare them for a digital future that might change twice before the end of the decade.”

King said programs have to constantly sharpen their focus and do so without losing their core values, but added that theoretical research is as important as applied research. “Universities have a greater chance to experiment. Businesses cannot experiment as much,” she said.

She said that she expected someone like Eric Newton to be provocative. “There is this myth that journalism professors spend their time telling stories about what they did,” King said, but her experience had been different. “There is a lot of worthwhile innovation going on. The challenge is to attract more schools to do the same. But I don’t think we are your daddy’s journalism school any more,” King said.

_______________________________________________

The MarylandReporter.com is a good source for what is happening in Annapolis.  I do not see any attempt to be investigative; they simply provide information.  They are financed by conservative sources so the issues that are chosen may be slanted, but they aren't bad.  They would be the go-to for resources and as you see below, even they know of no way for the general public to find out in advance when and where open public meetings across Maryland will occur.  IT IS INCREDIBLE THAT THERE IS NO CENTRAL ACCESS SITE ON THE GOVERNMENT'S WEBSITE FOR CURRENT, UPCOMING PUBLIC MEETINGS!  THIS IS THE TRANSPARENCY AND CORRUPTION PIECE........WHO ATTENDS THESE PUBLIC MEETINGS AND HOW THEY ARE PORTRAYED AS 'PUBLIC CONSENT' FOR ISSUES THIS MARYLAND ASSEMBLY WANTS TO PUSH FORWARD.

You will notice that only after the fact will you hear on your local news that a public meeting on issues in front of the Public Works or Public Service Commission has taken place.......and almost every time, the groups supporting the issue as the governor or assembly leaders want amass a good crowd while the dissenters have relatively few.  WELLLLLL, IT'S BECAUSE NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT THESE MEETINGS IN ADVANCE.  UNLESS YOU CHECK EVERY COMMITTEE, AGENCY, OR ORGANIZATION'S WEBPAGE ALL THE TIME, YOU CANNOT BE APART OF THESE PUBLIC MEETING ENFORCE.  THIS IS HIGHLY IRREGULAR AND UNDEMOCRATIC.

So, when you see these paltry crowds outside the General Assembly......it has as much to do with one or two organizations having contact with politicians on the issue.  I'm not saying that apethetic crowds are a problem, BUT THESE CROWDS MAY BE APETHETIC BECAUSE THEY ARE LEFT OUT OF THE LOOP AT EVERY TURN!

IF YOUR POLITICIAN IS NOT SHOUTING LOUDLY AGAINST THE FAILURE OF THE STATE TO GET INFORMATION OUT ON THESE PUBLIC MEETINGS.....A CUMULATIVE LISTING ON THE GOVERNMENT WEBSITE, PRESS RELEASES THAT LOCAL MEDIA ARE REQUIRED TO BROADCAST WELL BEFORE THE MEETINGS........VOTE THAT INCUMBANT OUT!  

BELOW IS THE RESPONSE FROM ONE OF THE BEST SOURCES FOR GOVERNMENT RESOURCES:

You can’t get what you want. You generally have to go to the right site, and know where to look. Sorry. And compiling these while useful would be mighty time consuming.

Check out the General Assembly hearing schedule. They have things other than legislative meetings. http://mlis.state.md.us/2012RS/hearsch/0524_date.htm

Len Lazarick

Editor and Publisher

MarylandReporter.com



CITIZENSOVERSIGHT
How does one get news alerts that tell, in advance when and where public meetings across Maryland will occur?  All I can find is the Board's regular meeting schedule.....

Thanks,

Cindy Walsh
_______________________________________________________________________________



0 Comments

August 20th, 2012

8/20/2012

0 Comments

 
An article below is making more clear that the Baltimore County's Sparrow's Mill bankruptcy after only two years is more about corruption and fraud and less an effort to revive a union steel mill.  It seems that when you investigate who is involved in the buying and selling, there appears to be a concerted effort to send tens of millions of taxpayer money to reopen a mill-----with no requirement to invest in infrastructure everyone knew was needed for the mill to succeed to an investment group that includes the same people now buying it in bankruptcy for a fraction of the price.  So, the original buyers received copious taxpayer grants and credits, the bankrupt company executives received huge severance packages, the liquidation company owned again by the same buyer group will make millions on infrastructure after winning a bid selling the mill far worth its listed value.  NOT TO MENTION THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN UNPAID WATER BILLS SHED IN BANKRUPTCY.  IT IS TRULY BIZARRE WHAT WE ARE LETTING THESE POLITICIANS DO!   The new owners are Wall Street investors who will come in and develop Sparrow's Point as an affluent community.  The union workers took great cuts to retirement and benefit.  The same corrupted processes that brought us targeted sub-prime loans to clear under-served communities for development are still going strong because we have the same politicians.  Now O'Malley will be running that photo op of he and the steel union leader proud that they reopened that steel mill for good union jobs.  You won't hear any of this if the local media can help it.  O'Malley will say.......'Didn't see that coming'  if asked.

'Didn't see that coming' will be the election mantra this Fall.  WYPR in Baltimore will have Ben Cardin on the show today.  I've written a list of questions for Dan Rodricks that I'm sure he will have forgotten to ask.  Cardin's Northern Park Heights home is rolling in local and state tax credits, Federal Grant money, money from Wall Street.  I heard a developer for Park Heights say that they never in their wildest dreams expected all this money for Park Heights.  Cardin will say 'he didn't see that coming'.

MY QUESTIONS DAN SHOULD ASK CARDIN:

SO BEN, ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE 2008 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM.....STRONG MIDDLE-CLASS AND SAFETY NETS FOR THE POOR?  IF SO, GIVEN THAT YOU HAVE BEEN IN OFFICE THE ENTIRE 20 YEARS IT TOOK TO CREATE THIS HUGE MESS THE COUNTRY FACES,  HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF RUNNING AGAIN THIS FALL? BEN SAYS: 'I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING'.

NOW BEN, YOU AND ALL THE OTHER MARYLAND DEMOCRATS VOTED TO END THE GLASS-STEAGALL WALL IN BANKING EVEN AS HEATED DEBATES ON HUGE INCOME INEQUITY AND MEGA-INDUSTRIES WITH NO ACCOUNTABILITY RAGED....EVERYONE KNEW THEN WE WOULD HAVE TODAY'S SITUATION.....DOESN'T THAT MEAN YOU ARE A BAD DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE?  BEN SAYS 'I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING'.

WHEN YOU JUMPED ON BOARD DURING THE DEBT CEILING CRISIS FOR THE GRAND BARGAIN THAT MAKES HUGE CUTS IN SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE WHILE CUTTING TAXES ACROSS THE BOARD FOR THE RICH AND CORPORATIONS....THE ONLY THING STOPPING THIS BEING A TEA PARTY REVOLT, YOU HAVING A 14TH AMENDMENT SAYING DEBT CEILINGS ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL,  DO YOU THINK YOU ARE REALLY MEETING THE OBJECTIVES OF THE PARTY PLATFORM?  BEN SAYS 'I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING'.

SO BEN, WHEN YOU SAY THAT TIERED WAGES FOR GOVERNMENT WORKERS ARE JUST FINE AS MARYLAND'S MIDDLE-CLASS IS CRUSHED WITH LABOR CONCESSIONS AND PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS THAT DRIVE ALL WORKERS TO POVERTY, DO YOU REMEMBER THAT IT WAS THE PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS 20-30 YEARS AGO THAT DROVE THE MIDDLE-CLASS BOOM BY FORCING PRIVATE BUSINESS TO RAISE WAGES AND BENEFITS TO COMPETE FOR WORKERS?  BEN SAYS 'I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING'.

EVEN AS THE CAUSE FOR THE SHORTAGES IN PENSION FUNDS AND HOUSING FORECLOSURES WERE CAUSE BY MASSIVE BANK FRAUD, WE DON'T HEAR ANYTHING FROM YOU ON BRINGING BILLIONS OF AS YET COLLECTED FRAUD PENALTIES BACK TO MARYLAND WITH NO ONE GOING TO JAIL.  WITH FINANCIAL REFORM BASICALLY GUTTED AND BANKS OPERATING AS USUAL, DO YOU THINK IT ODD NOT TO HEAR ELECTED POLITICIANS SHOUTING OUT FOR THAT SOLUTION RATHER THAN PUBLIC SECTOR PAY CUTS AND ENTITLEMENT CUTS?

BEN, WE ALL KNOW THAT HEALTH CARE REFORM IS CHIEFLY A MECHANISM FOR CREATING HEALTH SYSTEMS THAT WILL BE AS LARGE AS WALL STREET BANKS, JUST AS PROFIT-DRIVEN AND UNACCOUNTABLE.  KNOWING THAT THEY WILL NOT CARE FOR THE POOR AND ELDERLY ....HOW DO YOU THINK YOU ARE SUPPORTING ENTITLEMENTS, WHEN THEY WILL NOT EXIST IN TEN YEARS WITH THIS GROWTH OF CORPORATE SIZE?  BEN SAYS 'I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING'.

SO BEN, YOU TOTED 'KOOL SMILES' AS A DENTAL CARE FOR THE UNDER-SERVED.  THIS IS AN EXAMPLE TO COME OF WHAT HEALTH CARE FOR SENIORS AND THE POOR WILL LOOK LIKE WHEN NATIONAL CHAIN HEALTH INDUSTRIES FORM.  KOOL SMILES IS UNDER INVESTIGATION ACROSS THE COUNTRY FOR MASSIVE ENTITLEMENT FRAUD AND PATIENT ABUSE AND YET IN MARYLAND POLITICIANS EMBRACE THE COMPANY.  BEN SAYS 'I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING'.


  I could go on forever on Ben's voting record and how he is single-handedly responsible for the state of our union.  He in fact knew all of this would occur because he is a Third Way politician working for free-markets and protecting wealth.....what we have now was Third Way objectives.   Why are they running as Democrats?  To give you and I no choice but corporate.  Why will Dan Rodricks not ask one of these very basic questions....we in fact never hear any of this on any news media discussion in Maryland?  BECAUSE THE MEDIA IS CAPTURED.  WYPR LOVES BEN CARDIN!

   

 
IS IT REALLY A GOOD THING TO ELECT POLITICIANS WHO JUST KEEP SAYING IT ISN'T THEIR FAULT.....THEY DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING?

my·o·pi·a  (m-p-) n. . 2. Lack of discernment or long-range perspective in thinking or planning: "For Lorca, New York is a symbol of spiritual myopia" (Edwin Honig).   A lack of foresight or discernment : a narrow view of something.

PLEASE SEND BALTIMORE BREW FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR THEIR HARD WORK IN PROVIDING  INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN BALTIMORE.  THEY DON'T NECESSARILY AGREE WITH MY TAKE OF THESE SITUATIONS! 

Union: Sparrows Point workers should expect loss of benefits Mark Reutter August 14, 2012 at 4:22 pm  Baltimore Brew



Today, Local 9477 President Joe Rosel revealed that, in fact, the 1,600 laid-off steelworkers face the loss of all health, supplemental unemployment and life insurance benefits in the very near future.

While Hilco Industrial, the successful bidder, intends to preserve the “core assets” of the Baltimore steel mill for at least six months, it has made no promises to pay – or retain – the workforce, said Rosel in a letter issued today on the local’s Facebook page.

The sale of the mill to Hilco and a St. Louis property developer is expected to be approved tomorrow (August 15) at a hearing before U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kevin Carey.

RG Steel will soon cease to exist as a corporation, which also terminates the USW’s contract.

Rosel said the union “is trying to negotiate very short extensions of the benefit programs,” but that the current owner of the mill, RG Steel, is “under pressure” by its bank creditors to ask the judge to immediately end all employee benefits.

(Apparently, employee health insurance is prepaid through August 31.)

Once the mill is sold to Hilco, RG Steel Sparrows Point will end as a company, and the union would have to negotiate a new labor contract with Hilco

No Need for Steelworkers?

A Chicago-based liquidating and industrial auction company, Hilco has indicated that it does not plan to operate Sparrows Point as a steel mill, hence it is questionable whether it would need more than a minimal number of steelworkers to maintain and protect the mill’s assets.

Its partner, Environmental Liability Transfer Inc. of St. Louis, remediates industrial brownfield sites.

Rosel wrote that he and chief USW negotiator David McCall “will reach out to Hilco later this week after the hearing regarding the sale approval.” He reiterated his earlier vow to find “the right owner for Sparrows Point” that will operate the plant as an ongoing concern and recall the idled force of steelworkers.

Underscoring the union’s connection to Maryland Democratic officeholders, including Gov. Martin O’Malley and Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, Rosel said the USW “will continue to work with local and state government officials and agencies to assist in our endeavors.”

“In the meantime,” he concluded, “we would be remiss not to warn you, our members, to prepare for the worst even as we hope for the best.”

__________________________________________________
IT IS INTERESTING THAT THIS HILGO CORPORATION IS OUT OF CHICAGO......EXELON OUT OF CHICAGO GOT MARYLAND'S ENERGY COMPANY...........BOTH AN OBAMA CONNECTION......GAMBLING MGM OF NEVADA IS A SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADER HARRY REID CONNECTION.  ALL THIS IS NO COINCIDENCE.  CITY ASSETS ARE BEING GIVEN UP FOR O'MALLEY'S RUN FOR NATIONAL OFFICE.  HILGO HAS IN ITS INVESTOR MEMBERSHIP THE SAME PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE OF THE MILL.  IT WAS ALL STAGED.
New Sparrows Point owner can void labor contract with Steelworkers

The "successorship clause" in the current contract will have little impact once Sparrows Point is sold. A hearing to approve the sale is scheduled for this morning.

Mark Reutter August 15, 2012 at 7:28 am Story Link 39   BALTIMORE BREW

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley confers with RG Steel President John Goodwin last January after Sparrows Point escaped a cash crisis.

Under terms disclosed in court documents last night, the new buyer of Sparrows Point can tear up the existing United Steelworkers labor contract and cease paying wages and benefits to the existing 1,600-member workforce.

The “successorship clause” of the current contract between the USW and RG Steel will have little impact once Sparrows Point is sold because the new owners can terminate RG Steel employees at their discretion.

This morning Judge Kevin Carey is expected to approve the sale of the mill during a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

Whether the new owners plan to exercise their legal rights was not disclosed in last night’s Asset Purchase Agreement. Nor have the purchasers made any public statements of their intentions since they won the August 7 bankruptcy auction.

Steelworkers Local 9477 President Joe Rosel said yesterday that he plans to “reach out” to the new owners after the sale is completed and pursue his plan to find the “right owner for Sparrows Point” that will return the mill to active production and recall its idled workforce.

That might be difficult given the terms of the purchase agreement between RG Steel and the new buyers.

“All rights, obligations and interests in or relating to any labor agreements, collective bargaining agreements, shop agreements, work rules or practices” are null and void after the property is sold to Hilco Industrial, a Chicago liquidator, and Environmental Liability Transfer (ELT), a St. Louis brownfield developer, according to the purchase agreement.

In addition, the new buyers “shall have no obligation to pay wages, bonuses, severance pay, benefits or any other payments to employees of the debtors [RG Steel],” the document says.

Today’s sale hearing before Judge Carey will cap an expedited bankruptcy proceeding that began when Sparrows Point’s parent, RG Steel, filed for Chapter 11 protection last May 31.

No Provision to Preserve “Core Assets”


The asset purchase document also does not require Hilco and ETL to preserve the core assets of the steel mill for six months.

Last week, mill manager Glenn Mikaloff wrote in an internal memo saying that Hilco did intend to preserve the plant’s assets for six months, reportedly in hopes of reselling the mill to an operating steel company.

Hilco and ETL did agree to assume the existing environmental agreements with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Maryland Department of the Environment, including a 1997 consent decree to clean up the heavily-polluted property.

In a separate document, James Tumulty, RG Steel’s investment banker, disclosed that six companies were involved in last week’s auction of Sparrows Point’s assets.

In addition to Hilco-ELT, they consisted of three demolition companies, one steel distributor and one unknown entity.

Brazilian steelmaker CSN – widely reported as interested in buying the mill – did not participate in the auction.

The bidders were Niagara Worldwide LLC (demolition), C.J. Betters Enterprises (demolition and property redevelopment), D.H. Griffin and Gibb International (demolition), SB International Steel (steel distributor), and Georgia Financial IV LLC, an entity formed in Delaware last May.

Tumulty Denies “Any Collusion or Fraud”

Tumulty denied in his affidavit that Cerberus Capital Management, which owns 24.5% of RG Steel and advanced more than $200 million to the steel company, has any involvement or interests in the new owners of Sparrows Point.

“I an not aware of any collusion or any fraud or attempt by the purchasers to assert any unfair advantage over any other potential bidder,” Tumulty stated.

“Also, to the best of my knowledge, none of the purchasers is an affiliate of any of the debtors’ lenders, including without limitation, any affiliate of Cerberus Business Finance LLC, the agency for the debtor’s second lien lenders.

“As a result, I believe that the purchasers are good-faith purchasers and the auction process was open and fair.”

Last Friday, The Brew cited public records and press accounts that indicated that Cerberus owned a stake in Hilco’s parent company, Hilco Trading.

The article noted the existence of Cerberus Hilco Investments LLC, whose business address is the same as the New York offices of Cerberus Capital Management

___________________________________________________

EVERYONE CHOSEN TO SPEAK AT THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION ARE THIRD WAY CORPORATE POLITICIANS.  THIS IS THE VENUE FOR ELECTIONS AFTER OBAMA SO YOU SEE THEY HAVE A FARM TEAM THEY PROMOTE WHILE PROGRESSIVES HAVE NO NATIONAL CANDIDATES.  WHERE ARE LABOR AND JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS AND THEIR CANDIDATES?

THIS IS MY COMMENT TO THE ARTICLE BELOW:

Someone will have to give him a quick heads up as to what the Democratic Platform says.  It doesn't say work for health system consolidation that will rival Wall Street's unaccountability and profit-drive killing entitlements.  It doesn't say push charter schools as a way to create a tiered education system and hand K-college to Wall Street.  It doesn't say privatize all public assets like Transporation knowing that routes will tell people where they can live and fares so high will have people moving only to work.  It doesn't say let widespread fraud diminish the assets of the people without politicians saying a word about the as of yet failure to bring billions back to the state in outstanding fraudulent profits.  It doesn't say supplant all labor rights and wage laws by allowing subcontractors to bring in Right To Work states and employees while Maryland's workforce pickets for work.

Let me count the ways that a corporate politician like O'Malley cannot run as a Democrat.  His being at the Democratic Convention shows how the party is captured by corporate Democrats.


O'Malley to speak at Democratic Convention Gov. Martin O'Malley will have a speaking role at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC next month -- another example of his burgeoning leadership role in the Democratic party. 

He was one of six speakers announced early this morning by the DNC, and one of four current or former governors on the program.It'll be the second time O'Malley has spoken to the convention. He gave a speech in 2004 that was remembered for its over-the-top rhetoric. ("America the beautiful, whose alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears; oh, my friends, to govern is to choose.")

That year the Democrats nominated Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry for president. And another young star also took the stage: Barack Obama.

Other speakers for this year's convention announced today include: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, CA Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, CO Gov. John Hickenlooper, former VA Gov. Tim Kaine, Kerry, MA Gov. Deval Patrick, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.

They will join: Former President Bill Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro (the keynote speaker.)

The DNC did not say when O'Malley will take the stage. The committee also promised to unveil additional speakers and details in coming days -- which may come as a relief to other rising Democratic stars who haven't made the list. Like NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
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August 17th, 2012

8/17/2012

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The average person watching the politics of their community would not see the connection it has to global politics.  It is important you do because then you can see what the 1% have planned for you in the longer term.  People may laugh at terms like Non-Governmental  Organization (NGO) or Geopolitical, but what they indicate is a movement to shift control from local powers to larger global powers and it is often bad for the local people.  I want to use a local example of city contracting public work to private contractors who are usually connected to national development corporations.  City ordinances require a posting of city work to be done in your community.  That is why you see parking notices on road construction in advance of construction or a sign on your dead tree stating a date it will be taken down.  What we see in Baltimore as with other urban areas that have been taken over by development corporations is less and less of an attention to local laws and ordinances and the city government, having eliminated most of its middle-management assigned to oversight pay no attention.  WE ARE WATCHING AS PRIVATE CONTRACTORS AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS COME IN TO IMPLEMENT THEIR PLANS WITH DISREGARD TO LAWS.  We are not only losing a voice in what our environment looks like, we are losing our rights to know when things will change in our community.

Geopolitical means actions like China moving in to annex Tibet, Israel moving in to annex Palestine, the Taliban moving in to replace government control in Afghanistan.  All of the strategies used in these modern geopolitical movements come from the playbook of the greatest takeover artists in history.....the Roman Empire.  In each case the idea is to move into the area you want to take power incrementally.  You first cut off its resources as the world is doing to Iran now making the existing government unable to perform its duties.....increasing public discontent.  You then move your people in as NGOs to offer to fill that vacancy making yourself seen as a protector of the people...think Taliban or Hamas.  So you become the benefactor, the legal system, and the educator as the existing government is forced to watch as they no longer have the ability to provide.  In Tibet, the Chinese imported the Han people to do this, in Israel it is the 'settlers', and in Baltimore it is the affluent class.  The strategies are all the same.  THE PROBLEM WITH THIS IS THAT NONE OF IT IS DEMOCRATIC, IT DOESN'T WORK IN FIRST WORLD COUNTRIES BECAUSE IT NEGATES THE RULE OF LAW THAT ALREADY EXISTS, AND THE PROCESS NECESSARILY INVOLVES ENRICHING ONE GROUP OVER ANOTHER TO MOVE THE DEVELOPMENT FORWARD.  So what we are seeing locally in the US is the use of third world development tactics on first world communities.  That is why you see this disregard of Rule of Law and open fraud....it is why your local media simply repeat what the powers say and no longer report what the interests of the people would be......it is why your local development is staffed with NGO people so development goes as planned....and it is why people say it feels like a third world country....don't like that Royal Farms or Wall Mart......don't like that school or rec center closing or that lost playground or charter schools.  Blame it on geopolitics!  THESE 1% DON'T LOOK AT THE US AS A COUNTRY, THEY ARE SEEING IT AS PERSONAL TERRITORY.

It is important to remember that all this is politics and we still live in a country were, hard as they have made it, we can still vote people out and vote our people into office.  THAT IS WHY I HAVE MADE IT MY MANTRA.  WE CAN TURN THIS AROUND. 

VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT!!!!

COME OUT TO SEE WHO IS REPRESENTING YOUR PUBLIC INTEREST ON THE BOARD OF THIS NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION.

BALTIMORE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

THE NEXT MEETING IS THURSDAY, AUGUST 23 AT 7:30 23 S. Charles St.  17th fl.  BE THERE!!!

I ASKED MS WALSH TO PURSUE AN ARTICLE THAT USED MARYLAND AS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW STATES ARE IGNORING THE MUNICIPAL BOND FRAUD AND EXPANDING BOND LEVERAGE AS FAST AS THEY CAN.  MARYLAND POLITICIANS ARE LOOKING TO CREATE AS MUCH FRAUD POTENTIAL FOR WALL STREET AS THEY CAN AS THEY DID WITH THE LAST MASSIVE FRAUD.  O'MALLEY CONNECTED MUCH OF THE MUNICIPAL BOND MARKET TO COMPLEX FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS (CODE FOR ILLEGAL/FRAUD) FOR WHICH TAXPAYERS ARE RECEIVING PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR BACK IN SETTLEMENTS FROM ALL BANKS WITH WHICH THEY STILL DO BUSINESS.  RAWLINGS-BLAKE HAS CITY BONDS CONNECTED TO MORE OF THE SAME AND THE SCHOOL BOND ISSUE IS ALL THE SAME.  THESE POLITICIANS ARE NOT ONLY IGNORING A SYSTEMIC WALL STREET FRAUD, THEY ARE DOUBLING DOWN ON OUR CITY'S BONDS.  THIS FAILURE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE CRIMINAL ELEMENT AND THE BLATANT CONTINUING EXPOSURE AT PUBLIC RISK SHOWS THE PUBLIC DOES NOT CONTROL THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT.  IT IS WORKING FOR WALL STREET (1%) INTEREST.

Municipal Bond Rule Mired in Legislative Limbo
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH Published: August 13, 2012

Financial reform was supposed to help protect local taxpayers from getting burned by
municipal bond deals. But a measure that would require municipal bond advisers to put the interests of taxpayers first has been bogged down in a rule-making quagmire in Washington for nearly two years.

What’s more, a House bill, sponsored by Representative Robert J. Dold, Republican of Illinois, would eliminate the measure.

As part of the wide-ranging regulatory changes that followed the financial crisis of 2008, the Dodd-Frank Act included a provision that would make municipal advisers “fiduciaries,” meaning they must show an undivided loyalty to the communities that hire them, putting local residents’ interests ahead of their own.

That’s a much higher standard than the one for the banks that underwrite municipal bonds. The law in that case takes for granted that underwriters are looking out for their own interests in bond deals, and requires only that they deal fairly and not mislead.

Making advisers fiduciaries would be “the first time in the history of the securities laws that issuers of the securities have been protected,” said Robert W. Doty, president of AGFS, a consulting firm in Sacramento. He is a registered municipal adviser and favors the fiduciary mandate. But before that provision can take effect, the law calls for the Securities and Exchange Commission to define “municipal adviser.”

The S.E.C. proposed a definition 20 months ago, but it was swiftly beaten back by the banking, brokerage and engineering industries, among others. Opponents argued that the S.E.C. was overreaching and that they were already regulated and should not be given a new mandate.

In addition to serving as fiduciaries, municipal advisers would have to register with the commission, meet professional standards and allow periodic inspections. As fiduciaries, they would have to speak out when they see something amiss, even if it means going against powerful political forces and financial incentives.

Mr. Dold’s bill, introduced last summer, now has 35 other sponsors from both parties. In addition to ending the fiduciary mandate, it would exclude banks and other financial institutions from being deemed municipal advisers, even though bankers often do advise municipalities. A group of engineers that provide cost-benefit studies for municipal energy projects, typically financed with bonds, has also been calling for its members to be excluded.

“As a small-business owner, I believe that it is important to correct a problem when it becomes apparent,” Mr. Dold, who represents a district north of Chicago, said in announcing his bill. “While the Dodd-Frank Act had good intentions, the broad scope under which it was written brings unintended consequences,” like delays and higher costs. The jockeying over the measure continued as it was reported out of a subcommittee just before the recess in July, and the wrangling is expected to continue in September. Mr. Dold has said the fiduciary mandate could stay in the law if everyone agreed that it applied only to “actual municipal advisers, defined as Congress intended,” but so far there is no such agreement.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, the municipal bond underwriters’ watchdog, is flexing its muscles after getting a new mandate from Dodd-Frank to keep an eye out for local taxpayers. When it was created 37 years ago, its only mandate was to protect the investors who buy municipal bonds.

In May, the board expanded its existing fair-dealing rule, requiring underwriters to make sure local officials understand the risks of complex bond deals, and to disclose any incentives they may have for supporting certain transactions.

But those changes barely squeaked by the S.E.C., which must approve the rule-making board’s actions. Two of the five commissioners, Daniel M. Gallagher and Troy A. Paredes, issued an unusual dissent, saying the board had not done enough to make sure the benefits of the expanded rules were worth the cost, which could be borne by local taxpayers

The need to protect residents from borrowing debacles is coming increasingly into focus, as fiscal distress mounts in many communities. In some cases, poorly structured bond deals are a big part of the problem.

Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press Robert Dold, sponsor of a bill that would eliminate the rule.

“What has happened to the taxpayer is just atrocious,” said John Stoffa, the county executive of Northampton County, in rural eastern Pennsylvania, which just paid Bank of America $27 million to get out of a bond-related contract that a previous county government entered in 2004. That’s more than the county’s annual spending on social services to youth, children and families.

But Northampton County got off easy compared to places like Jefferson County, Ala., where imprudent bond deals figured in the biggest municipal bankruptcy in United States history, and Harrisburg, Pa., which is now in receivership.

The bonds in those places, and many others, involved
derivatives that were supposed to lower the communities’ borrowing costs. But the financial crisis of 2008, and the low interest rates that followed it, have changed the underlying math, forcing communities to pay more interest than expected over the remaining life of their bonds. In some cases the bonds no longer exist, but the derivative contracts are still running, costing local residents money year after year.

The S.E.C. says no comprehensive data exists on how many municipalities have been caught with such contracts, or how much they are paying.

“This has gotten much worse over the past year,” said Craig Underwood, president of Bond Logistix L.L.C., an advisory firm that works with state and local governments. He said that last year, some of his client communities had been thinking about whether to get out of their derivatives contracts by making a large payment to a bank, the way Northampton County did. But while they hesitated, interest rates fell even lower, and now they can no longer afford the termination fees.

Had there been a fiduciary mandate a decade ago, the riskiest bond deals might not have been struck at all. And on the transactions that did go forward, a qualified municipal adviser might have taken the time to renegotiate better terms and pricing, said Andrew Kalotay, a debt-management specialist now serving on the committee that is helping draft educational requirements for municipal advisers.

“It pains me to see what’s going on,” said Mr. Kalotay.

What often happened instead was this. A trusted banker told local officials they could save money by adding derivatives to their bonds, then recommended other companies to work on the deal for contingency fees. The officials focused on the ostensible savings, without stopping to consider that none of their advisers would be paid unless the deal went through — however unsound or overpriced it might be.

“Without the fiduciary duty, tens of thousands of local governments, hundreds of thousands of local officials, and hundreds of millions of local taxpayers and ratepayers would be at significant risk, as they have been in the past,” said Mr. Doty, the adviser from Sacramento.

________________________________________________

WHAT WE SEE BELOW IS THE PLAN THAT DR. ALONZO PUT FORWARD AS A SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION MODEL FOR BALTIMORE.  YOU SEE IT IS JUST A COPY OF WHAT WAS DONE IN SOUTH CAROLINA SOME YEARS AGO.  WHAT THIS DOES IS COMMIT TAXPAYER MONEY TO A PRIVATE PROJECT FOR 30 YEARS, THIS AS WE SEE A PUSH TO PRIVATIZE PUBLIC EDUCATION.  SO, WE WOULD SEE YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF PUBLIC MONEY PAYING FOR PRIVATE INFRASTRUCTURE.  THIS WILL BRING HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS TO THE BANKS.  MORE IMPORTANTLY, IT TAKES THE PUBLIC'S ABILITY TO CONTROL ITS OWN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS AND THIS IS BEING DONE DELIBERATELY.  THIS IS HOW NGOs THE WORLD OVER TRAP LOCAL ECONOMIES AND TAKE AWAY SOVEREIGN CONTROL......IT IS THE SAME ON A LOCAL LEVEL.

I HAVE A BETTER IDEA.......WHAT IF ATTORNEY GENERAL GANSLER SIMPLY  WORKED TO GET THE $800 BILLION IN MORTGAGE FRAUD SETTLEMENT MONEY FROM THESE SAME BANKS, BILLIONS TO COME TO MARYLAND ALONE, AND PAY CASH FOR THE PROJECT?

PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ A BORING SET OF ARTICLES......IT IS CRITICAL TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS HAPPENING IN BALTIMORE!

Greenville’s Model Could Mean $1 Billion for School Construction in Baltimore Now!

This Campaign calls upon elected officials and decision makers at
the local, state, and federal levels to adopt and act upon a funding
plan to renovate and modernize all public school buildings in
Baltimore City within 8 years.

www.transformbaltimore.

NOTE THAT TRANSFORM BALTIMORE ARE THE SAME COALITION OF ORGANIZATIONS AS BALTIMORE EDUCATION COALITION.  A PARTNERSHIP OF THE PRIVATE NON-PROFITS, CHARTER SCHOOLS, AND JOHNS HOPKINS. 

Transform Baltimore - Build Schools. Build Neighborhoods
 
 
Partnership Organization

✦ A Partnership Organization is needed to borrow a large sum
of money up front so that a large scale construction program
can be implemented.

✦ A “63--‐20”corporation, like Greenville’, could be formed to sells
bonds or borrow large amounts of money from a financial institution.
Alternatively, other institutions like the Maryland Health and Higher
Educational Facilities Authority (MHHEFA), could also be used to
borrow money up--‐front.

✦ The size of Baltimore City Public Schools’ annual funding for
improving school facilities will determine how much could be
borrowed for school construction.

✦ The amount that the Partnership Organization can borrow is
also determined by the length of time the loan must be paid back.

✦ The current payback period on government debt is15 years.

Extending the payback period to 30 years will allow for increased

borrowing, just like a home mortgage. 

Dedicating Existing Revenue

✦ Baltimore City Public Schools needs a consistent revenue stream
annually to pay back debt, so that bondholders and banks are
confident that the loan will be repaid.

✦ Existing Revenue that is already alloted for school construction
in Balimore City can be used to borrow large sums of money.

✦ Current annual funding for improving city school buildings varies
slightly each year averaging approximately $60 million in total in recent years; $45 million per year from the state and $15 million
from the city.

✦ State and city legislation is needed to ensure that this funding
remains consistent over 30 years.

✦ Like Greenville,  Baltimore City Public School’s Partnership
Organization could borrow about $1 billion up front for school
construction.

✦The city school system would then use its $60 million in existing
revenue as annual installments, each year to pay back the debt
over a period of 30 years.


THIS IS THE PROJECT ALONZO WANTS TO COPY......

finance & labor PROGRESSIVE PROJECT DELIVERY Innovative Financial Plan Pushes Greenville Schools Ahead Construction program languished until district found nonprofit catalyst 11/13/2006
By E. Michael Powers

The Greenville, S.C., school board struggled for 10 years to find a means to pay for a much-needed construction program that would build or expand 70 different school buildings. Realizing its effort was going nowhere, the board advertised for a construction manager that could offer a creative solution. It found one, locally, when a group of business executives formed their own firm to attack the financial problem and partnered with New York City-based construction manager Faithful + Gould for construction expertise.

Institutional Resources, Greenville,  found a way to finance a $1-billion deal, avoid the state’s debt restrictions and provide comprehensive construction management services. The program is on schedule for a 2008 completion, after only 5 years of operation.

Financing was the biggest hurdle for the program because tax rates had tripled recently and South Carolina has a constitutional debt limit for public entities of 8% of holdings, says school board member William Herlong. Institutional Resources won the bid with its financing plan that utilized a third-party holding corporation to circumvent the debt rules.

Financial plan is similar to that of a mortgage agreement with a bank. The nonprofit company, dubbed Building Equity Sooner for Tomorrow (BEST), is classified by the Internal Revenue Service as a 60-23 corporation, which means that it exists and must function solely to support the school district, says Bob Hughes, chairman of Institutional Resources. BEST is run by a board composed of five members, all appointed by the school board. BEST contracted New York City-based UBS to underwrite $999 million in bonds that it issued for construction of new schools, using projected usage figures as collateral.

“We proved that the school district will always need the schools, that the schools would all be completed, and that it would be very unlikely that the [board] would be able to get equal quality schools for a lower payment,” says Hughes. Those factors allowed BEST to receive an excellent bond rating that made its interest rates comparable to what a school district would expect to pay


______________________________________________

WHAT WE SAW WITH THE GAMBLING BILL WAS JUST THIS SORT OF CAPTURE OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN THE PROCESS.  AS THIS ARTICLE POINTS OUT, A COMMISSION CREATED BY THE GOVERNOR WILL DO THE GOVERNOR'S BIDDING.  WHAT YOU DON'T HEAR VERY MUCH IS THAT THIS NEWLY PASSED BILL WILL MOVE GAMBLING ISSUES TO JUST SUCH A COMMISSION....YOU HEARD IT ON PAID ADVERTIZING, BUT NOT ON MAINSTREAM MEDIA.  THINK OF THIS BGE ISSUE WITH SERVICE AND RATES......ALL THAT IS HANDLED BY A COMMISSION THAT WORKS FOR INDUSTRY AND NOT PEOPLE......THAT IS WHAT THIS GAMING COMMISSION WILL DO.  THESE COMMISSIONS ACT TO CIRCUMVENT THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS.

THIS IS ELIMINATING REPRESENTATIONAL GOVERNMENT!!!

Gambling commission named, special session planned for July
By Pamela Wood | Capital Gazette 

Posted: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 9:22 am | Updated: 11:25 am, Wed May 23, 2012.


Get ready, yet another special session of the General Assembly — this one to discuss gambling — is likely coming the week of July 9.

Gov. Martin O’Malley, House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Annapolis, and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert, appointed an 11-member committee on Monday night to explore gambling expansion in Maryland.

The committee will meet twice in June, with the goal of drafting gambling legislation for a July special session.

The committee — officially called the “Work Group to Consider Gaming Expansion” — is made up of Democrats and O’Malley associates. The members are:

  • Chairman John Morton III, a businessman and Naval Academy graduate who heads the Maryland Stadium Authority.

  • Matthew Gallagher, O’Malley’s chief of staff.
  • Budget Secretary T. Eloise Foster.
  • Appointments Secretary Jeanne Hitchcock.
  • Joseph Bryce, O’Malley’s chief lobbyist.
  • Sen. Edward Kasemeyer, D-Howard.
  • Sen. Nathaniel McFadden, D-Baltimore.
  • Sen. Richard Madaleno, D-Montgomery.
  • Del. Sheila Hixson, D-Montgomery.
  • Del. Peter Hammen, D-Baltimore.
  • Del. Frank Turner, D-Howard.
Several alternate members also were named, including:

  • Sen. Douglas J.J. Peters, D-Prince George’s.

  • Sen. George Edwards, R-Western Maryland.
  • Sen. Rob Garagiola, D-Montgomery.
  • Del. Dereck Davis, D-Prince George’s.
  • Del. Bob Costa, R-Deale.
  • Del. Eric Luedtke, D-Montgomery.
Costa said he was asked on Monday afternoon to join the committee. He said he’ll sit through the meetings, but won’t be allowed to vote unless a full member of the committee drops out.

Costa said he wasn’t surprised to see the committee filled mostly with Democrats. That’s always the case in Maryland, he said.

“I’m just happy they did put some Republicans on there,” said Costa, the lone Anne Arundel representative involved with the committee.

Del. Ron George, an Arnold Republican who leads Anne Arundel’s delegates, said the gambling committee is a waste of time, because the governor has packed it with yes men.

“It’s just to put a rubber stamp on what he wants,” George said.


When lawmakers adjourned their regular 90-day General Assembly session in April, they left behind a proposal to expand gambling in the state.

The proposal, pushed by Miller, would have given voters the option this fall of voting on a new casino in Prince George’s County — likely at the National Harbor development — and allowing table games at all of the state’s casinos, including the Maryland Live! slot machine parlor at Arundel Mills that’s scheduled to open on June 6.

George said he doesn’t think there’s support among Anne Arundel’s lawmakers for table games or for allowing another casino in Prince George’s County, which may lure customers away from Arundel Mills.

“We’re going to stab them in the back by cutting into the area they’ll draw from” if a Prince George’s casino is approved, George said.

Maryland Live! developer David Cordish of the Cordish Cos. said last week at a gambling convention that he thinks politicians are approving too many casinos and risk oversaturating the market.

“They think you can have casinos like Starbucks,” Cordish said at the East Coast Gaming Congress on Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

In addition to the soon-to-open Maryland Live! casino, slots are already in operation at Hollywood Casino in Cecil County and at Ocean Downs near Ocean City. Voters have approved slots parlors for Baltimore City and at Rocky Gap in Western Maryland that have not yet opened.

In a statement issued Monday night, O’Malley said the work group’s “expertise and guidance will help us move forward toward consensus on this issue.”

Work group meetings are planned for 10 a.m. on June 12 and 1 p.m. on June 20

~

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    Cindy Walsh is a lifelong political activist and academic living in Baltimore, Maryland.

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