Auditor General Report on One Call

from the inbox:

With growing concern over the safety of underground pipelines, Auditor General Jack Wagner said today that the Department of Labor and Industry must improve its oversight of the Pennsylvania One Call System through adequate enforcement of the Underground Utility Line Protection Law, which was enacted to protect the health and safety of excavators, residents and property in Pennsylvania.

In a special performance audit released today, Wagner’s auditors found that the Department of Labor and Industry failed to consistently verify whether excavators made a required “one-call” to notify the PA One Call System of plans to perform excavation or demolition work; failed to hold excavators and businesses accountable to safety standards by failing to consistently enforce administrative penalties on violators of the law; and failed to investigate reported incidents in a timely manner.

Federal officials have recorded 2,840 significant gas pipeline accidents since 1990, more than a third of which caused deaths and significant injuries including a recent gas pipeline explosion in California that killed at least four people and injured dozens of others. Wagner noted that a 2008 gas pipeline explosion in Plum, Allegheny County, killed a 64-year-old man and injured a young girl. More recently, a crew working on a water line last week in Finleyville, Washington County, cut a gas line forcing at least seven families to evacuate their homes.

“A basic function of government is to protect its citizens,” Wagner said. “The Department of Labor and Industry must increase its vigilance in enforcing the Underground Utility Line Protection Law, so that the PA One Call System operates more effectively, and Pennsylvania residents can be assured that when excavation work occurs in their neighborhood, their safety and property are being treated as top priorities by state government.”

The full report is available at: www.auditorgen.state.pa.us.

SEPTA Resumes Route 40 Buses over South Street Bridge

from the inbox:

SEPTA Route 40 buses will resume regular operations on South Street and Lombard Street between 34th Street and 23rd Street when the South Street bridge reopens on Saturday, Nov. 6.

The first Route 40 bus is expected to cross the newly reconstructed bridge at approximately 6 p.m. on Saturday, after the conclusion of a ceremony to mark the project’s completion. A map of the restored Route 40 service can be found at http://www.septa.org/alert/pdf/040-2010-11-06.pdf.

Route 40 buses have been detouring around the bridge since the reconstruction started in December 2008.

Badgeville

We may not need no stinkin' badges, but we sure do like them. Philly.com, the site for the Inquirer and Daily News, has introduced a new feature called Badgeville. Play your cards right and you can earn nifty looking badges. Check out the details at: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/yophilly/Welcome_to_Badgeville.html

Other Post-Election Thoughts

Running for office is hard work and in a contested election, and voters should always have a choice, only one candidate gets the prize. I would like to express my gratitude to all who participated in the process. We are the better for your sacrifices, and for those of your family.

On a personal level I am sorry to see some of the people I have covered leaving public office, at least for a time. My thanks to Patrick Murphy, Bryan Lentz, and Rick Taylor and their campaigns for being hospitable and letting me tag along for the ride (at least via email) over the past four or five years. I will miss the beef and beers at the Ancient Order of the Hibernians, and similar events at similar venues -- the people who attended those are wonderful. Crashing the Young Professionals events was also fun, though usually being the oldest person in the room was not.

Thanks again to all those who took part, as candidates, staff, volunteers, and voters.

PA Firms in the Therapeutic Discovery Project Program

from the White House blog:

Every day, millions of Americans benefit from the advances made in the fields of life, biological, and medical science. Breakthroughs in these fields have helped to significantly reduce mortality from many conditions that were once considered fatal. Our support for scientific research is one of our best investments in our future—for the health of Americans and the health of the American economy.

That’s why, today, we’re happy to announce the firms that have been accepted into the Therapeutic Discovery Project Program, which was created by the Affordable Care Act. This program will advance American competitiveness in the fields of life, biological, and medical science by giving tax credits and grants to small companies conducting cutting-edge biomedical research.

The program is targeted towards projects that show significant potential to produce new therapies, address unmet medical needs, reduce the long-term growth of health care costs, and advance the goal of curing cancer within the next 30 years.

So what does this mean? It means that a firm in Oklahoma will continue its attempt to develop therapeutics to prevent the metastatic spread of cancer, and a firm in North Carolina will continue to create a gene therapy-based therapeutic for a lethal inheritable childhood disease—one that currently has no life-sustaining treatment. It means that a firm in New York will continue working on a flu vaccine that can provide protection for a period of several years—with technology that could also be used to develop cancer vaccines.

The Therapeutic Discovery Project Program also means that these firms, and other companies who have been awarded tax credits or grants, have an incentive to keep growing and create high-paying jobs right in their local communities.

We are very excited about the possibilities of this program; it is a great example of the way the Affordable Care Act will help advance research to find life-saving treatments and diagnostics and help U.S. companies lead the way in making innovative medical discoveries.

A number of Pennsylvania firms are on the list. You can check it out at: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=228690,00.html

Morning After

For at least a few years there Pennsylvania sent two women to congress at the same time. We're now back to an 18-1 gender ratio. Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz was re-elected, though by a smaller margin than one might expect [Update: 52% of her district are registered Democrats but she won with 56.4% of the votes.] Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper will be out of office at the end of the year. I don't have the exact figures but looking over the list of names I think women lost ground in the state house, too.

The Philadelphia suburbs saw red, with Mike Fitzpatrick's win over Patrick Murphy in the 8th congressional district and Pat Meehan's win over Bryan Lentz in the 7th.

The statehouse now has a Republican majority, which means the party now holds both the legislative and executive branch (governor, state house, state senate).

But, remember now, there is apparently only a two year window (actually 22 months) to fix things, and only a shorter time to blame the other party. So we'll be expecting great things in short order.

No Joy In Muddville

This was not a very fun evening. Even the leftover Halloween chocolate didn't help much. I tweeted some election results. For detailed numbers and complete information on all Pennsylvania races take a look at http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/

A Few Thoughts on the 2010 Campaigns

The polls have closed but results aren't available yet, so let's take a minute in between the reflect. While this blog is definitely partisan people on both sides of the aisle have also told me it is fair. I think what they mean by that is the blog is even-keeled to a degree. I don't do "gotcha" and try to avoid partisan hyperventilation. Sometimes that gets tricky because I can't call the Republicans on something the Democrats do as well, unless I call foul with them too. As an example, sometimes a campaign will send me press releases criticizing an incumbent for being in office too long. The district down the road praises their incumbent for being such a good legislator so just as long or longer. I avoid writing on either because you can't do both without tying yourself into a pretzel.

Given that, let me say a few things:

1) It is never a good idea to mess with ballots. Regardless of how pure one's motives may be, no good can come of it, and plenty of trouble probably will. Monitoring the process or working to fix flaws is one thing, getting involved in it is another.

2) It is never a good idea to help a ringer get on the ballot. Most campaigns find that getting signatures for one candidate is enough work, trying to get signatures for two will only trip you up.

3) Your righteous outrage when someone attacks your religion is lessened when you have belittled other religions, even if you did so in the name of "humor."

4) Transparency is always the best option. Made up names and dodgy answers aren't good campaign tactics.

Sermon over, let's go back to watching the returns.

Some Quick State House Campaign Notes

No matter how prepared I think I am for an election there are always posts I wanted to write but didn't have the time. Here are a few candidates deserving of longer blog posts.

Tina Davis, a Bristol Township Council member, volunteer for many causes including serving as a Big Sister, basketball coach, room mom, Girl Scout and American Cancer Society volunteer, as well as a Democratic Committee person, is running for the 141st state house district. State Rep. Tony Melio (D) is retiring so it is an open seat.

Mary Lou Readinger is running for the 61st state house seat. She is a nurse and also currently vice chair of the Plymouth Township Council. She helped found the township's first environmental advisory council and has served on the boards of the American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter and the Fellowship House community center in Conshohocken. In 2009, she was appointed to the Montgomery County Parks and Heritage Services Advisory Committee. The 61st Legislative District of Pennsylvania is located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and is composed of all or parts of Lower Gwynedd, Montgomery, Plymouth, Towamencin, Upper Gwynedd, and Whitpain townships, and North Wales Borough.

Andrea Baptiste the only Democrat on the Collegeville Borough Council and has served a prominent role on the Board of Directors of the Collegeville Economic Development Committee since 2008, for which she Chairs the Economic Restructuring Committee. She is running for the 150th State House District, currently represented by Mike Vereb. The 150th Legislative District includes Collegeville, Trappe, and parts of East and West Norriton, Lower Providence, Upper Providence and Norristown.

General Comparison of Candidates for Pennsylvania Governor

There seems to be a lot of interest in finding a comparison between the two candidates for governor so let me see if I can supply it. (full disclosure: the blogger is a Democrat).

Republican Tom Corbett does not want to put any tax on marcellus shale extraction; Democrat Dan Onorato wants an impact tax on the natural gas that companies extract, which will bring Pennsylvania in line with other gas-producing states. Both want to reduce business taxes. Corbett calls for a 10% reduction in state government; Onorato calls for 20%. As County Executive of Allegheny County Onorato reduced the number of elected row offices and consolidated 911 call centers to cut government spending. Onorato calls for campaign finance reform; Corbett does not. Onorato calls for term limits; Corbett does not. Both call for reform of perks and unvouchered expenses. You can read more on the policy statements on their campaign web sites.

The Pittsburgh area, where Onorato has been Allegheny County executive, has not had a property tax increase in years, and the unemployment level is lower than that of the state. Corbett is the state attorney general. He has filed charges against some legislators in the bonusgate cases. In this process he used subpeona power to try to find out who owned a twitter account that had been critical of him.

As for campaign donations, Corbett has taken sizable donations from the natural gas and drilling industries (the marcellus shale people). Onorato has received a lot of union money. Both received support from national party organizations such as the Republican Governors Association and the Democratic Governors Assocation.

You are encouraged to visit their sites yourself and look at their finance reports at campaignfinance.state.pa.us

What People are Looking For

As usual there is an uptick in blog usage just before the election. What's interesting is what people are looking for. The number one search strategy I am seeing in usage stats is candidate comparison, often paired with pa or pennsylvania. Unfortunately this doesn't tell me much of what they want other than they want information. The second most popular search is similar except it includes the word governor; sometimes, but not often the candidates' names (Dan Onorato, Democrat, and Tom Corbett, Republican) are included.

I find this a bit alarming as people don't know what race they are researching and seldom search for candidate names. I'm not seeing as much interest in the congressional races but where there is, it is split more or less evenly across the 6th (Dr. Manan Trivedi, Democrat, and Jim Gerlach, Republican), 7th (Bryan Lentz, Democrat, and Pat Meehan, Republican), and 8th (Patrick Murphy, Democrat, and Mike Fitzpatrick, Republican).

Most years I split my vote but I think this time I'm going with straight D.

PA Tops in Kids Jailed for Life

In last Friday's WSJ there is an article, "Judges forced to revisit juveniles' life sentences," by Nathan Koppel. It is on juveniles serving life without parole. The accompanying graph lists the 2,589 kids in this category, broken down by state. nearly a fifth, or 444, are in Pennsylvania. That puts us at the top of the list. The second state, Michigan, has 346.

This is a distinction we can do without.

Quick Look: Bryan Allen in 6th State Senate District

Bryan Allen is the Democratic candidate for the 6th state senate district (part of Bucks County). The Bucks County Courier Times has endorsed him. In various travels around to political events this season I've run into Bryan three or four times and intended to write up a long post on him but time has gotten away from me so this is shorter than originally intended.

Bryan is personable and easy to talk to; he can work a room well. Allen has worked as a legislative aide in State Rep. Tony Melio's office for several years and served a four year term on the Bensalem council, the first Democrat to be elected in 20 years. He was the second highest vote getter when elected in 2005.

While he was on the Bensalem council he worked to preserve wetlands, lowering the business tax for those earning less than $12,000 a year, and questioned the city's contracts for legal services and the amounts spend on vehicles.

Among the issues he has listed for his state senate race are government reform, better protection of children of gamblers, and reduction of the property tax.

Following Dan Onorato Around

In 2006, I wrote up some general guidelines for evaluating candidates. A few times I’ve used those guidelines to write about meeting candidates over a period of months and how they measured up to them. It’s been awhile since I wrote a “meeting” post, so let’s dust off the guidelines and see what happens.

Dan Onorato is the Democratic candidate for governor. I’ve watched a couple of gubernatorial debates on pcn and written them up, went to an early endorsement rally, read his policies extensively and posted on that, did an email interview, reviewed his campaign finance reports, attended three of the picnics he held on this side of the state over the summer, went to one house party where he was the featured guest, and attended one diner stop (see the Dan Onorato and Governor 2010 blog post labels for those and other posts). That’s not as extensive as the contact I had with previous “meeting” post candidates so this is more a “following around” post. Also, at very few of these events did Onorato make public remarks, for the most part he would walk around the room or area and talk with people individually. But his detailed policy statements fill in, providing his platform and electoral positions. Having read up on his work in Allegheny County and Pittsburgh I see a lot of consistency in what he promised and what he did in office. So, here goes:

The Utility Test
Voters might assume that high rollers and influentials can get face time with elected officials and candidates, but how are those further down the food chain treated? This is important because no matter how useful you are at any one point in time the wheel usually turns at some point and you will lose your utility. What happens then? How receptive is the candidate to regular voters?

I think some people on the Onorato campaign were tipped off early on as to who I might be, which removes the some of the element of surprise and objectivity. All the same, this is a governors race and I am a low level blogger. At most of these events I sat quietly and watched the interaction between candidate and people, but a couple of times I had specific questions about policy matters or campaign finance. Not all candidates take unexpectedly detailed or pointed questions well, but Onorato did. He was willing to discuss matters and explain his position, and, when I did not appear convinced, where he thought we agreed. I still disagree but appreciate the effort he put into his answer. I saw him engage in lengthy discussions with other people as well. A videographer from the campaign of his opponent, Tom Corbett, attended some of the same events I did. I watched carefully to see how the young man was treated. At each event he was invited to get something to eat or drink. Onorato came over to talk with him at one event. If a representative from the opposition is greeted in a calm, welcoming fashion, then voters can expect the same. The research I have done on various posts, on Onorato and the minority business community in Pittsburgh for example, indicate that he works with the community he represents. Of the various criticisms I have heard and read, inaccessibility is not one of them.

The Staff and Supporters Test
People are judged by the company they keep. What sort of staff does a candidate hire and do they stick around? High turnover is a warning sign. What kind of people attend the candidate’s events? As always, one reason I can write a post like this is that someone on the campaign staff kept me in the loop, where would the candidate be and when. I was added to the press release list and, especially in the last few months of the election, there was a public schedule with a number of free public events on it. I could usually get an answer to an emailed question. Campaign staff were efficient and friendly. Onorato hosted a number of picnics in various parts of the greater Philadelphia area over the summer, and has done a number of diner stops. The people I spoke to at events were civic-minded and pleasant. I enjoyed going out to Onorato events and just chatting with the people who were there. Onorato appears comfortable wading into the masses and chatting with people one on one. He doesn’t seem to bend his campaign positions to fit the audience – I saw and heard a lot of consistency in what he said in public remarks and in what was said in individual and small group conversations.

The Motivation Test
Can the candidate get people who otherwise disagree to work together? Can the candidate get people to come out and get involved? Here again I’d say yes. In doing research on his work in the Pittsburgh city council and Allegheny County government I found evidence that he could work with people he disagreed with and get them to come on board for projects. His low key, no drama approach seems effective. As always, when writing a post like this, it is worth noting that I was willing to give up a fair number of Saturday or Sunday afternoons to drive around and go to events to follow the campaign.

The Rope Test
My mother's basic judge of character is to ask this: If you were dangling over a cliff and hanging on to a rope, would you want this person to be holding the other end of the rope? In this case I’d say “yes.” Onorato is methodical, both an accountant and a lawyer. If he makes a commitment, say holding a rope, I think he would carry through. He would, of course, make sure he got the rope at a good price and you shouldn’t expect a big fuss when you got back up the cliff, but you would not fall.

Summation: No candidate will share your views on everything, or do everything the way you would have liked. What is important is if you can voice that view and be heard without fear or repercussion, and if you can count on the candidate to follow through with stated intentions. That has been my experience with the Onorato campaign and what has been reflected in the research I have done on his work in office. It may be telling that in nearly six years of blogging, this is my third “meeting” post.

GOTV Rally in Ambler with Rick Taylor and Rendell

This afternoon a number of elected officials gathered in support of State Rep. Rick Taylor (D-151), who is running for re-election this year. It was a beautiful crisp fall day. These are my notes from the rally.

Montgomery County Democratic Chair Marcel Groen started the festivities. He mentioned some of the local officials present, including Mayor Bud Wahl and Bob Pesavento, President of the Upper Dublin Township Board of Commissioners. Other local elected officials were present but not named. Groen introduced Ruth Damsker

Ruth Damsker, candidate for state senate in the 12th district. She said everyone knows what needs to be done. We need to preserve what has been done for open space. We also need to tax Marcellus shale.

Next up, State Rep. Josh Shapiro (D-153), whose district contains part of Upper Dublin Township. He said if the GOP wins a majority in the state house it will mean we didn’t go our job here. Rick Taylor is key. We need to make the gas drillers pay for cleanup. We need to keep communities safe.

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel welcomed the crowd and introduced Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz.

Schwartz said we need everyone to come out and vote. Ambler is a great place. Rick Taylor is responsible to the community. She cited his work on the Willow Grove Naval Air Station as an example. Not only is Taylor a good legislator but a really good person.

Taylor himself took the microphone. We have the heart we have to get the votes. Nothing is more important than education. The GOP wants to gut education. On Marcellus shale, the state senate walked way without getting anything done. He and his campaign have knocked on over 30,000 doors.

Gov. Ed Rendell arrived in a big bus. He said Rick Taylor has the courage of the heart of a lion. On the statewide elections, Dan Onorato [Democratic candidate for governor] and Joe Sestak [Democratic candidate for Senate] are within the margin of error in polls and can win. We should go out and talk to people and motivate voters. Allyson Schwartz has done a great job with CHIP; 4 million more kids are now insured. With the Lilly Ledbetter Act women now can receive equal pay for equal work. Credit card reform means no more families put in the poor house. We took the middle man out of student loans. The health care reform bill isn’t perfect but it protects us in many ways.

Rendell continued, saying that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus bill kept unemployment lower than it would have been otherwise. The stimulus worked. The GOP seems to think the health care reform bill was written by the devil. We are the only developed nation without universal health care. The Congressional Budget Office says the health care reform bill will cut the deficit 20 trillion dollars [not sure this amount is right and did not catch the time period this would cover.] With the bill, young adults can stay on their parents coverage until they are 26. There is no cap on coverage, and insurance companies can no longer drop people when they get sick. Let’s not be ashamed of what we’ve done.

He said we cannot even get a vote in the state senate on taxing Marcellus shale. Tom Corbett [Republican candidate for governor] is against a severance tax because he has received nearly a million dollars from the drilling industry. On the state level Rendell said he has targeted programs that work, pre-kindergarten and full day kindergarten, free after school tutoring; he said Pennsylvania is the only state to make substantial progress in all areas on educational tests. We’ve tone a good job. The tea party has some scary ideas. Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, in line to be chair of the government oversight committee under a Republican majority, has said she would issue subpoena after subpoena. President Obama didn’t do that when he took office. John Boehner, in line to be speaker of the house if the Republicans win a majority, campaigned for a candidate who posed in a Nazi uniform. Mitch McConnell has said his top priority is to keep President Obama from getting anything done.

Rendell ended by saying that like long distance runners we need to find the energy to sprint at the finish line.

Personal notes: I’ve been a fan of Rick Taylor since his first run for office in 2006. My favorite photo of him is when he took on Tom Corbett for using subpoena power to try and find out who owned a twitter account.

Conference Call with Nutter on Voter Suppression

This afternoon Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Will Crossley, Director of Voter Protection at the Democratic National Committee held a conference call on voting in the city. It was in response to Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett's comments on keeping the voting percentage down in Philadelphia. To be fair, directly after the "keep it down" comment he did say he wanted everyone to vote, but from the fuller comments I saw on an extended video, he did seem to be saying he wanted to keep Democratic voting down, and wanted lots of people of all political stripes to vote for him. Sure, every candidate wants everyone to vote for him or her. But there is no denying that Corbett said:

I saw today that the Governor said yesterday that Bob Brady should resign as chairman of the Democratic committee of Philadelphia if he doesn't get 50% turnout....

I don't think he's going to get 50%.

But we want to make sure that they don't get 50%.

Keep that down." (watch video of comments here)

Given the history of voting rights among the African American community comments like that can bring up old and ugly memories. Nutter referenced the many who fought and suffered, even violence, for the right to vote. He called on all Philadelphians to come out on election day and vote.

Crossley referenced other voter suppression tactics across the country:

From sending out flyers with the wrong date for Election Day to misleading voters by telling them that if they have parking tickets or owe child support you will not be allowed to vote.

In Nevada there were ads telling Latinos not to vote.

In concert with Mayor Nutter I would encourage all registered voters to participate in the Democratic process.

Review of Pat Toomey's Road to Prosperity

Over a series of posts I reviewed Pat Toomey's Road to Prosperity. Each post covered a chapter or two, with an additional post on how women are presented in the book (hint: by and large they aren't), and another post on his view of the separation of church and state (based on the book). While it is true that I disagree with much of what Toomey says, I also find his reasoning to be cold. Rest assured, this is an economics book; it is not intended as anything even faintly warm and fuzzy. This is perhaps best summed up in his statement on the fact that new jobs are seldom created where old jobs were lost:

This is a very real problem for those individual auto workers and their families, and, as society, we should have a serious discussion about the public policy options for helping them deal with this problem (p. 113)

That strikes me as being particularly heartless. And he has no solution, other than, we'll have to talk about it. Small comfort to those who are left behind.

On other policies, make no mistake that he favors privatizing social security; people will be required to put money into accounts, similar to 529 college savings plans which "for a very modest fee, a financial services firm provides this service efficiently and seamlessly." I am concerned about how those firms will be regulated, what happens if some of the accounts are held by a firm that collapses, and what that modest fee might be.

You are encouraged to read the book for yourself, although these posts may direct you to specific sections you might want to focus on. A note on his sources is also provided below.


Pat Toomey: No Ladies' Man
Introduction and Chapter 1: Principles of Prosperity
Chapter 2: Lessons from History
Chapter 3: Tax Policy
Chapter 4: Government Spending
Chapter 5: Free Trade Facilitates Economic Growth
Chapter 6: Transforming Social Security
Chapter 7: School Choice
Chapter 8: The Crash of 2008
Chapter 9: The 2009 Lurch Left, and Epilogue

Toomey on church and state


A Note on Sources

Researching and writing a book is a lot of work, and I commend former Congressman Toomey and his co-author for making the effort to do so. However, I do question their use of sources. Research is often a tedious and difficult task, especially if done in a thorough fashion. A writer wanting to reach a diversity of people must make sure the sources refered to reflect some diversity as well. Mr. Toomey does not do well here and if he farmed out the research, his assistants did not do him many favors. Other than government reports the notes section is populated with primarily newspaper articles and reports from and websites of partisan organizations, such as the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation, both conservative think tanks, and the Friedman Foundation, which is dedicated to school choice. While, yes, it is logical to base your book on people who agree with you, it does require you to paddle in a very small pond. There are a number of ways to diversify your sources but they require a lot of work, combing through books, articles, and reports from a variety of publishers, shifting through the strands and weaving together a strong base that brings a larger group together.

Limiting yourself to what you can find easily among your friends leaves you with a flimsy foundation. As one example. When Toomey wants to make a point about the effect of government regulation on the Great Depression (in chapter 2) he cites four works but depends more heavily on one than the others. A book by Milton Friedman and Anna Jacobson Schwartz is cited once, perhaps because that particular work has little to say on the subject. Another book by Gene Smiley is listed in the references a total of five times. Another book, by Jim Powell (a senior fellow of the Cato Institute), is cited 15 times, but only seven of those times alone; most often Powell is cited in conjunction with another source and that source is usually a book by Amity Shlaes. In addition to the eight times she is cited in conjunction with someone else, 7 times with Powell, she is cited 14 times on her own, for a total of 22 citations.

Why does this matter? I did some checking on Shlaes to see why her book, The Forgotten Man, was so important, why Toomey referenced it so frequently. I found a number of reviews of it. The popular press seemed to like it; the scholarly publications not so much. The Journal of Economic History (68, 2008, 325-328) says "Schlaes and many others sadly perpetuate this incorrect myth [of the New Deal as a Keynesian response to the Depression]. While JEH praises the books storytelling structure and calls it "a welcome addition to Great Depression scholarship" it says it is less successful as an "analysis of Roosevelt's New Deal economic policy..." Yet this was how Toomey was citing it. Labor History (50#2, 2008, 217-221), as one might expect, also does not like it, although the review does say the book was praised it the Wall St. Journal and Commentary. The review refers to her "ideologically driven bent" and her book as a "tract for unbridled self-interest." In the New Republic (Mar 18, 2009, pp. 38-42), the review states:

Now here is the extremely strange thing about the Forgotten Man: it does not really argue that the New Deal failed. In fact, Shlaes does not make any actual argument at all, though she does venture some bold claims, which she both fails to substantiate and contradicts elsewhere. Reviewing her book in the New York Times, David Leonhardt noted that Shlaes makes her arguments "mostly by implication." This is putting it kindly. Shlaes introduces the book by asserting her thesis, but she barely even tries to demonstrate it.

American History (December 2007, 63-64) says Shlaes "makes no attempt to be balanced." The reviewer states "She cherry picks economic data to make her case ..." Even Commentary (Sept 2007, 72-77) has some reservations: "If it is true that New Deal policies were not so effective in ending the depression, it is also true that FDR's leadership was instrumental in maintaining the public's faith that the crisis could be met within the boundaries of traditional institutions."

Why does this matter? If Toomey is only reading and listening to people who agree with him he is only hearing half of the story. Each time he cuts the pie, to limit references to women in his book, to limit his sources to only those from a few conservative organizations or those whose thinking is like his own, he closes off part of the world. Eventually he ends up representing only a select few.

Pat Toomey: No Ladies' Man

Pat Toomey is the Republican candidate for Senate. Reading through his book, The Road to Prosperity, I noticed something. Women are practically non-existent. Even though his co-author, Nachama Soloveichik, is female, he seldom references women in the book. Most people these days will make an attempt to balance out pronouns, so that not every hypothetical example is a "he" or "him" and to ensure that a good percentage are "she" or "her." Toomey and Soloveichik seldom reference women at all. All but one worker is male (the only exception is a hypothetical fashion designer). He does reference congressmen or -women in one place. Otherwise all workers are "he" or "his" or "him." Women are referenced as a mother who buys inexpensive Chinese-made clothes for her children, and as single mothers with little education. Even the American taxpayer is referenced as "he." Does this mean if Toomey is elected the IRS will stop taking money out of my check?

I made a list of references in the book to gendered examples. References to historical people (FDR, Herbert Hoover, etc) are not included, though most of those were male. Ditto for experts quoted or referenced in the text (also mostly male). If one hypothetical situation is mentioned more than once only the first reference is listed -- Toomey makes several references to a coffee shop owner, only the first is included below.

Not many people are going to notice this, and perhaps not many will care, but to me it says a lot about how Toomey sees the world -- it is mostly male and women exist only a mothers, fashion designers and congressional representatives. Each example is preceded by the page number on which it appears. This isn't cherry picking. I may have missed one or two but, to the best of my ability, this is complete.

1, coffee shop owner …. he
7, example of farmer, Andy Drysdale
9, homebuilder …. he
10, single person …. himself
13, producer must recover all of his costs
14, the investor, he
17, examples of “ridiculous” projects Cowgirl Hall of Fame
19, shoemaker … his
20, a small homebuilder …. he
42, the trucker … he
52, a worker … he
54, a worker … his tax rate
55, individual families … a working-class father … he
55, entrepreneur … he
58, carpenter … his
64, “Consider a young man from a middle-class family who embarks on a business career” as example of how people move form one income level to another
69, if one man is given …
70, “first, we need to elect congressmen and –women
74, thing that enrich our lives …. piano lessons for a daughter
80, no rational person would ever fund with his own money ...
90, “What bureaucrat feels the need to spend money on the Cowgirl Hall of Fame”
91, the American taxpayer … he
100, An American mom chooses to buy Chinese-made clothes for her children …
100, a Chinese farmer … his
101, one man trims trees, another is a heart surgeon
118, Chinese farmer … his
119, a worker … his
122, Ida Mae Fuller – first American to get social security (paid in $44, received $22K)
127, cites case of Ephram Nestor, Bulgarian immigrant deported
128, your surviving spouse … she
129, a hypothetical 25 year old male
131, among occupations mentioned … fashion designer … she
134, a worker … he
137, cites Kathleen Casey-Kirscling – first baby boom to file for social security benefits
150, random college student … he
172, broken homes, kids “are raised by a parent who has little education herself”
177, home buyer … he
214, productive activities … men and women producing goods and services

China, Toomey, and Wall Street

Something interesting showed up in a New Yorker article this week (11/01). The article itself, "The Online Threat," by Seymour Hersch, is on cyber warfare. This passage caught my eye:

James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who worked for the Departments of State and Commerce in the Clinton Administration, has written extensively on the huge economic costs due to cyber espionage from China and other countries, like Russia, whose hackers are closely linked to organized crime. Lewis, too, made a distinction between this and cyber war: “Current Chinese officials have told me that we’re not going to attack Wall Street, because we basically own it”—a reference to China’s holdings of nearly a trillion dollars in American securities—“and a cyber-war attack would do as much economic harm to us as to you.”

What does this have to do with Pennsylvania politics? One of the candidates for Senate, Republican Pat Toomey agrees with the Chinese. From his book, The Road to Prosperity (p. 105):

Trade skeptics worry about the risks Americans take when we borrow heavily from the Chinese. They argue that the Chinese government might quickly sell off our bonds some day, driving down bond prices and raising the corresponding interest rate the United States would have to pay on new debt. But the Chinese have no incentive to do such a thing -- at least not for now.

Neither of these passages makes me very comfortable. I'd rather we weren't so heavily indebted to another county. I also plan to vote for Joe Sestak.

Obama Remarks at Temple Today

from the inbox:

Hello! Hello, Philly! Hello, Philadelphia! (Applause.) Oh, this is a good-looking crowd here. (Applause.) Are you fired up? (Applause.) Are you ready to go? (Applause.)

First of all, thank you, Elliot, for the unbelievable introduction. We appreciate you. We’ve got a couple other special guests here. I want to make sure that I acknowledge them. Governor Ed Rendell is in the house. (Applause.) U.S. Senator Arlen Specter is here. (Applause.) U.S. Senator Bob Casey. (Applause.) Congressman Chaka Fattah. (Applause.) Congressman soon-to-be-senator Joe Sestak. (Applause.) Mayor Michael Nutter. (Applause.) Allegheny County Executive and soon-to-be-governor Dan Onorato. (Applause.)

I want to thank the first-time voters and Temple University Young Democrats -- (applause) -- for all the great work you guys have done. And give it up for Quincy Lyons for the great job he’s doing organizing. (Applause.)

Now, I am not here to give a long speech, because I want everybody out there, not in here. I’m here to deliver two messages.

The first message is thank you, because not only did all of you mobilize, organize and energize in 2008 to help send me to the White House -- (applause) -- but over the last two years, so many of you have continued to be involved each and every day to make sure that we could keep moving this country forward. It’s because of you that young people are getting college scholarships that weren’t getting it before. (Applause.)

It’s because of you that young people can now stay on their parents’ health insurance till they’re 26 -- (applause) -- and folks who have health insurance aren’t dropped by insurance companies when they get sick.

And the fact that -- and it’s because of you that we’re also going to be able to fund AIDS. It’s because of you that we are going to be in a position to make sure that each and every person out there is able to find work after a devastating economic crisis that made such a difference to so many families all across this country.

Now, here’s the thing, though, guys. You cannot stop now, because the fact of the matter is we are in a difficult election. It’s difficult here in Pennsylvania. It is difficult all across the country.

And unless each and every one of you turn out, and get your friends to turn out, and get your families to turn out, then we could fall short, and all the progress that we’ve made over the last couple of years can be rolled back.

So the key right now is not just to show up here, it’s not just to listen to speeches. It’s to go out there and do the hard work that's going to be required to bring this home over the last few days. That's going to be the key. (Applause.)

And so I know that some of you may have been at the rally we had with 20,000 folks of Germantown. (Applause.) But you know what, coming to a rally, that's not the hard part. What I need this weekend is 20,000 doors knocked on by all the volunteers who are here today. (Applause.) Is that something that you think you can do, 20,000? (Applause.)

In order for Joe Sestak to be successful and Dan Onorato to be successful and the entire Democratic ticket to be successful, you're going to need to talk to folks everywhere you can and make sure that you describe to them the future that you see for this country.

You want a country where every young person can get a decent education. You want a country where nobody is bankrupt because they get sick. You want a country where our seniors can retire with dignity and respect, and Social Security is there not just for this generation but for future generations.

You want a country that has the best infrastructure in the world. We used to be number one. We can’t have the best rail lines and the best airports built in China or Singapore. They need to be right here in the United States of America. (Applause.)

We don't want to be falling behind in math and science and technology. We’ve got to be first in research and development and technology to make sure that the new products and new services are developed right here in the United States.

We want clean energy here. We don't want solar panels and wind turbines and electric cars built in China or Europe. We want them built here in the United States with American workers. (Applause.)

And so it is absolutely critical that you go out there and you describe your hopes for the future, especially the young people here, because this election is not just going to set the stage for the next two years. It’s going to set the stage for the next 10, for the next 20.

And for those of you who were so excited two years ago, I just want to remind you this. Two years ago was not about me. It was about you and it was about this country. And I said then that change was going to be hard. Now, we’ve been involved in some tough fights over the last two years. We can’t move backwards now. We’ve got to keep moving forward now. And that's all going to be up to you.

So I want everybody to get out there, knock on doors, make phone calls, volunteer, talk to your friends, talk to your neighbors, go into the beauty shops, go into the barber shops, when you’re in church or -- you know, this weekend, I want everybody to be talking about -- have folks voted.

If you do that, then I am confident we’re not just going to win this election but we’re going to keep on moving this country forward so that the American Dream is accessible for everybody, not just some.

Thank you very much, Philadelphia. I love you. (Applause.) God bless you. Let’s get busy. Let’s go to work. Thank you. (Applause.)