The Mail, Part I: The Legislature, Library Closings, Income Tax Myths, U.S. Sen. Larry Craig And Burning Garbage, And I Am Out Of Breath Now

Please press the sptimes to to research and describe the process of selecting the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House.  This could be the most fascinating expose' ever published. Why a  Speaker-designate when it hasn't even been elected for the designated term?. What does the candidate have to give in money, pork, and power  for a vote? What prompts the support for a candidate? I would like to know. -- Hal Seckinger, Homosassa

Dear Mr. Seckinger: Great observation by you! As soon as a new Legislature's freshman class is elected every two years, the jockeying begins for who is going to be in power six years down the road. This process has accelerated under 8-year term limits. You are quite right -- the contenders court money and power from lobbying groups, typically involving business interests (for some reason they rarely court, say, Common Cause). We end up with a "winner" who is guaranteed power long before he or she demonstrates the ability to wield it well, the classic example being the speaker before last, Johnnie Byrd. The "official" speaker designation does not occur until the last cycle beforehand. I suppose there is some value in having that designation, since it allows for a smooth transfer of leadership.

Your column today about reductions in hours for the St. Petersburg main library was right on the mark.  Also Saturday's and Sundays receive very heavy use because those are the rare days parents and kids have time to visit libraries together.  Your point about how the public relies on libraries and library computers so that they can conduct their business was perfect and particularly well nuanced.  In the past some may have considered libraries nice amenities, but today there is not doubt that they are essential services. -- Charlie Parker, President, Florida Library Association

Dear Mr. Parker: Thanks! Here's another library comment:

If the amount to keep the main library open on Saturdays for a year would be $80,000, I believe there must be 80,000 people who'd contribute a dollar each to do that. And there would be more than one who'd contribute more than a dollar - me for one! Your column really touched me - a life long library patron whose love of books has made a difference in my life. -- Mary Cross, St. Petersburg

Dear Ms. Cross: Double thanks! I am hopeful the city will find an alternative to the Saturday closing. The City Council is having its final public hearing on the budget at 6 p.m. Sept. 13 at City Hall, 175 Fifth St. North in downtown St. Petersburg.

You had indicated in your article that the people balking about the Income Tax Law were perpetrating a hoax.  Can you please provide the law where it states a Federal Income Tax can be charged?  I know there have been many people who have sued and requested the actual law referring to income tax and it has not been provided.  Maybe you have access to that information. -- Marsha Wojewnik

Dear Ms. Wojewnik: Here's a great link to a web page about all the myths and half-truths on the claim that we aren't legally obligated to pay a federal income tax. The bottom line is that if you try it and get caught, you will be convicted. The federal tax code -- which is, by golly, a real law -- is contained in Title 26 of the United States Code. The relevant portion begins: "There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of every individual..."

A regular TroxBlogger, Schauer, points out this interesting potential defense for U.S. Sen. Larry Craig:

Article 1 Section 6 of the US Constitution reads as follows: The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. The senator was arrested while traveling to his home state in order to conduct the business of the senate on the same day that he cast a vote on a cloture motion in the United States Senate.

Dear Schauer: You know, I kind of like this. Have you pointed it out to Craig's folks?

This has always ticked me off, but now that St. Petersburg is designated a "Green City" and our mayor is the green guru it would be nice if our city was honest about those recycling bins around town...It is bad enough that we are a green loser for not having curbside recycling. But, for years the city has lied to us.  We rinse our plastic juice bottles and detergent bottles and dutifully save them up and tote
them down to the recycling center thinking we are doing a good thing for our community and our children's future.  Don't we feel like dopes when we learn that all that is a big lie.  The plastic just goes to the incinerator. -- Robin Peacock

Dear Ms. Peacock: Oh, so you don't buy the city's explanation that burning garbage is a form of "recycling," since it converts it into energy? Me neither. There might be economic advantages to waste-to-energy, but it is NOT recycling. BTW, on my long, long list of Things I Ought To Do is to look at Mayor Baker's numbers on why a curbside recycling program would actually put more hydrocarbons into the air (garbage trucks, diesel fuel, etc.) than it would save.

Can you explain to me what the big deal is about the Democratic Primary? Why did they move it and why is the DNC p----d? -- Dwayne Mayo

Sure. The Florida Legislature voted to move our primary earlier, to Jan. 29, hoping that we would be a bigger deal in the campaign. Both Republicans and many Democrats voted for it. But the NATIONAL parties don't like it. The traditional early states, such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have a LOT of clout and power -- especially since their votes can knock candidates out of the race early.

So, the national parties cracked down on Florida. The Republicans will punish Florida by taking away half of our delegates to their convention. The Democrats will punish Florida by taking away ALL our delegates. This is a much bigger deal for the Democrats than the Republicans, looks like. Most of the leading Democratic candidates have taken a pledge to stay away from Florida. It is a blatant suck-up to the early states.

Lastly, if the Dem candidates aren't here and the Republicans are, there's some worry that Democrats in general might not turn out to vote as much in January. If the Republicans are campaigning here from early on, maybe that gives them an advantage and a head start in winning the state in November. Meanwhile, we're also voting on Jan. 29 on that big "super homestead" tax exemption, and if Republicans turn out more than Democrats (think public employee unions, teachers, etc.), does that make the big tax cut more likely to pass?

Whew! Thanks for all the e-mails. My apology for not answering them all individually -- I try to acknowledge as many as I can... have a great weekend, everybody!

Comments

[Craig's Mistake]

Howard and Schauer, but isn't it Breach of Peace that Larry Craig ended up pleading guilty to. Nice try, though.

[Schauer]

Well two things to consider. First the crime he committed was "solicitation" they amended the complaint to disorderly conduct. Second, technically, "disorderly conduct" is not exactly the same as a "breech of peace".

ps the only reason I want Sen. Craig to stay is I enjoy the spectacle of another republican family values politician being exposed as a the phony they are. Maybe Sen Allen can use this argument....

[mike t]

Libraries, schools, children, and bridges (bad policy making in the Midwest).

Maintainence

Minnesota's Mississippi bridge fell because anti tax people now have a stranglehold on our politics, suppressing even the most basic maintenance of our most necessary infrastructure.

A republican, a democrat, and a rabid anti tax voice debate public policy on all of Minnesota's major media and guess who's winning?

Minnesota has no counter voice to the loud aggressive arguments offered by David Strom and the anti tax league.

The bridge failure will end up costing about one billion dollars (below) and if our policy makers would wake up, they will see that it was about five hundred times more expensive than the requested bridge maintenance that would have kept the bridge in "pristine condition"**

Are we doomed to see our once safe city streets, superior schools and, child protection system, fall apart just like the bridge? As a CASA volunteer and child advocate, I am well connected to the benefits of taking care of children when they are young to avoid their collapse when they are juveniles.

Former Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Blatz states, "ninety percent of the youth in our juvenile justice system have come through child protection". Identified and treated early, young children can be given the skills to succeed in school and our community. Ignored because of our new anti tax paralysis, the serious issues faced by children in child protection are not dealt with until someone gets hurt (and it is exponentially more costly to warehouse them in schools, jails, and prisons than it is to help them lead normal lives)
www.invisiblechildren.org/weblog

Minneapolis City Pages September 5th, Economy In Freefall article quoted Governor Pawlenty as estimating the addition costs of gas and extra miles due to the bridge collapse at $400,000 per day (146 million dollars over the next twelve months).

An accurate calculation must include a fair minimum amount for the (lower estimate) 144,000 cars that used this bridge every day. Forty eight cents per mile is the IRS allowance for automobile deductions and this does not include the headache factor of stopped traffic and longer commutes that I seem to be experiencing.

Assume an average of ten additional miles for each car each way (some people take the longer 694/494 route around town and others drive fewer miles through downtown city streets or the 280 detour). Multiplying ten miles each way for 144,000 cars per day equals 2.8 million miles per day times the IRS forty eight cents equals $1,382,000 per day, or almost four times the governors estimate. If the bridge is completed in twelve months, the cost will be a little over five hundred million dollars. I

If the bridge is completed in eighteen months, the cost will be seven hundred and fifty million dollars. With no extra consideration for the ten to twenty minutes at each end of our commute we can honestly call this a hard cost of the bridge failure.

Add to this the two hundred million dollar estimate for the new bridge, and the sure to be substantial lawsuit settlements for wrongful death and injury from the victims of this disaster, and some minimal value for the businesses that are failing because of their new inaccessibility, and a billion dollars becomes a realistic estimate of the total hard cost of NOT MAINTAINING OUR BRIDGE.

**New York's twenty year veteran bridge engineer, Samuel Schwartz (NYT OP-ED 8.13.07) estimated 178,000 dollars annual maintenance would keep all of his states bridges in pristine condition.

It was five hundred times more expensive for our public policy makers to ignore the advice of the bridge maintenance engineers than it would have been to listen to them.

I have made a similar calculation for the children in child protection systems (3 million children per year are reported to child protection agencies in the U.S.)

We are not saving any money by not maintaining our bridges, courts, schools, or children.

It is time to counter the inaccurate assumptions of the anti tax people that have been given complete credibility by prominent Minnesota media. We have lost a great deal with these people making our public policies.

Don't let this happen to you.

www.invisiblechildren.org/