The Financial and Political Aspects of Disaster Relief

Disasters like the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina routinely demonstrate the best of human nature, and unfortunately, the worst as well. The unbelievable charity of average people, the heroism of the man on the street, and the scope of private response to natural catastrophes boggles the mind, giving everyone hope in the face of calamity. While private efforts are lauded, public and governmental efforts are vilified and, out of necessity, limited.

Even before the winds and rains of Katrina had passed from the Gulf Coast, the finger-pointing and blame gaming began. Those on the liberal left blamed the Bush Administration for its insensitivity and lack of response. Those on the conservative right blame Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for failing to initiate their own disaster mitigation and relief efforts. The truth, as it is with most matters, likely falls somewhere in between. The sheer magnitude of the event practically guarantees enough blame to go around—and then some.

Despite the cries of some commentators and politicians on both sides of the aisle, every major event, every disaster and every issue has political overtones and undercurrents. After all, the inescapable fact remains that politics will play a role in the evaluation of the Hurricane Katrina response. But while government efforts focus now on aiding victims and clean-up and rebuilding operations, other factors begin to creep into the picture; factors that will carry even more political consequences for the future.

Hundreds of thousands of victims are receiving substantial governmental aid. In fact, rumors are circulating of evacuees commenting that they have never had it so good, with food and shelter being provided to them at no cost. Some of these evacuees are reportedly considering not giving up their now cushy (relatively so) existence on the governmental dole. To be sure, these victims need immediate help, but at what point do we as a government and a society say, “We have helped you enough. You need to help yourself now.”

In many ways, the generosity of the American government will be tested in the months to come. The aid being offered in this case is not short term. It is not a matter of a few days or weeks. Rather government aid and shelter may continue for months for many people. As the rebuilding efforts continue, the government will have to cut off aid to evacuees, as cold as it sounds, it must be done. But here comes the rub, in many cases governmental aid to citizens is viewed as a right and a property interest that cannot be denied or removed without due process of law—meaning a hearing held to determine if the person no longer is entitled to the aid. This question is not without its potential political fallout.

The simple racial make-up of New Orleans, roughly two-thirds black, lends itself to a race baiting complaint that by cutting off aid at some point in the future, the government (read the Bush Administration) is callously denying aid to poor blacks. Further, if aid is cut off, whether done so summarily or not, the Left will claim that aid was slashed to pay for the war in Iraq or to demean the citizens of New Orleans or any number of ludicrous charges. In truth, governmental aid is not and should not be infinite.

Complicating matters will be the generosity of the states. States like Texas, Arkansas and others, who have taken in thousands of evacuees, providing access to schools, hospitals, and other services, can ill-afford to continue to provide such aid indefinitely. At some point, there will come a time when those states will ask for assistance or even reimbursement from the federal government. How should the federal government respond then? Deny the request? Pay the request? Congressional action may be necessary, but the choice will be hard.

Hurricane Katrina’s effects obviously extend beyond the floodwaters or New Orleans or the devastation of Biloxi. The economic impact is being felt in immediate terms and discussed for the long term. But when events of this magnitude occur, the question remains—what are the practical limits on governmental aid? How do we provide that aid without bankrupting the state and federal governments? This is the proper political question to ask, not who is to blame. The answer can only come from ourselves.

Cross-Posted at Watchblog and R.D.I.O.P.

It Pains Me

It pains me to say this, but I have to wonder, what the hell is the government going in New Orleans. Despite the overwhelming liberal bias of the press on many issues, I am finding it hard to believe that thre is not some significant kernal of truth to the reports of the lack of National Guard presence, the lawlessness, the lack of basic necessities for survivors. I have a large number of questions myself and I have a few suggestions for the next time (and make no mistake, there will be a next time).

If President Bush declared the areas a disaster area BEFORE the hurricane hit, why then FEMA not start staging manpower, material and making plans?
If, as has been reported, everyone and their grandmother in New Orleans knew that if a strong Category 3 hurricane or stronger hit New Orleans a strong possibility of hte levees breaking existed, where were the contingency plans for that?
On a city level, with a city that is completely below sea level, and knowing that a fairly predictable percentage of the city's population, cannot or will not be able to leave, why are no provisions of food and water stored ABOVE sea level for distribution?
On a person by person level, if you know you live in a city that is below sea level, why don't you have a contingency plan and supplies?
Realizing that a flooded city may need more than just boats, whey hasn't the government asked for helicopter assistance from the Canadians, Mexicans, Carribean nations, etc? There are plenty of bases between those countries and New Orleans where the helicopters can fuel up, it is not a problem getting them there?

Some suggestiosn for the future:
When you know where the hurricane is going to hit (and you will), start moving some Navy vessels toward the area. Navy ships do several things very well.

• First, each Navy ship, particularly largers ships and logistic support ships like this one have great big, high capacity desalinators-a way to make hundreds of thousands of gallons of water a day. You will have a water source, even if the ship can't make it to a dock--they have helicopters to move the water around.
• Second, if the ship can get to a pier, the ship can provide some power to an area immediately around the ship.
• Third, ships can carry a lot of people a decent distance in a relatively short period of time. If my maps are accurate--New Orleans to Houston on a ship is about 500 hundred miles. The 1000 mile round trip would take a ship cruising at 20 knots a little over two days to make. Aricraft carriers can move a lot faster--say around 50 knots, making the round trip in just under a day, plus, with no airwing aboard, that hangar deck can carry a couple thousand people.
• Forth, Cruise ships. I have heard that Carnival Cruise Lines have offered up a couple of ships to move people. Take them up on the offer and get them going. Remember a couple of thousand people to a cruise ship, two day round trip to Houston--not bad. Plus, cruise ships have even more desalinators on board.
• Fifth, enlist the Navy's Seabees. This unit made their name during World War II by building airstrips in teh Pacific under enemy fire. Their motto of Can Do is not just a PR ploy, they can do just about anything. Need a airport runway cleared, drop them in with a couple of bulldozers and you have a runway in a couple of hours. Need some roads cleared, same thing. Need shelters built--no one is better at doing is faster than the Seabees. Every Seabee unit within 500 miles of a disaster area should have been alerted, told to pack up and be ready to move. These guys can build and repair bridges and do lots of stuff to help rebuild.

There are so many things that I can think of that can provide immediate help that just don't seem to be part of any planning or response. am I being obtuse?

Helicopters, Anyone

After hearing, as reported on CNN, that FEMA was suspending boat-based rescue operations due to safety concerns, I started to wonder, how many Coast Guard and military Search and Resuce helicopters are in operation.

Helicopters are a wonderful tool in situations like this. FEMA and the NORTHCOM need to stick a pin on a map in New Orleans and draw a circle 500 miles in radius around it and every flyable military helicopter inside the circle needs to be sent to New Orleans.

Do you need to evacuate large numbers of people from New Orleans--get a bunch of H-53 helicopters. These are big, very big helicopters capable of carrying several dozen people. You don't need to take people all the way to Houston, just to an operating airfield. So here is my plan:

Take H-53's load them with two of those big 3000 pound sandbags the Army Corps of Engineers have talked about to plug the levees. Have them drop the sandbags and then on the way back to the airbase, have the helicopter pick up some people and take back to the airbase. Offload teh people and repeat.

To get people from New Orleans to Houston, San Antonio or anywhere else, eminent domain some aircraft from the airlines. The New Orleans airport is closed, thus I would imagine there are some extra aircraft that normally fly into New Orleans everyday that are now available. If we can imminent domain someone's house for a hotel, surely the government can commandeer a few dozen aircraft to shuttle people to safety. Last I heard there was an operational runway at the New Orleans Airport.

At this point, I wonder where the common sense is. It didn't take long for me to figure out this idea. Why hasn't anyone else?

FEMA Emergency Response

The disaster in the Gulf Coast and FEMA's response have been criticized a great deal. The FEMA regional offices for Lousisiana and Mississippi/Alabama are in two different places, which I am sure is complicating matters.

The Louisiana regional office is located in Denton Texas (north of Dallas). Here are their numbers:

Regional Office Main Number (940) 898-5399
Flood Insurance Program:
General (800) 427-4661
TDD (800) 427-5593

The regional office for Alabama/Mississippi is located in Atlanta. Their number is:
Tel: 770-220-5200

The logistics alone for getting relief coordinated is complex. They are working, have no doubt, but with a relief effort this big, it takes a great deal of work to get done.

Katrina Blogburst: Giving Aid to the Gulf Coast

Although I cannot claim to be the most devout Catholic in the world, or even a good practicing Catholic, I strongly believe in the Church's ability to help those in need. If you are considering giving, I suggest the Catholic Charities.

Here are a couple of my reasons. First, their overhead expenses are pretty low since a large portion of their expenses are covered by the Church so most of the money you give will go to where it is needed. Second, New Orleans is a pretty Catholic area so some infrastructure and organziation (at least that which is left) is in place. Finally, Catholic Charities is established and has been pretty active in disaster response for a long time, they've got experience and they've got organization to handle a massive response.

I must urge, at this point donate cash. Supplies and clothes will be great in the future, but right now, it is far easier to give cash, since those funds can be used to purchase what ever is needed in the area, bulk food, medicine, shelter materials (like tens and stuff). Donating supplies at this time will just end up sitting in a warehouse for a while.

Thanks to Hugh Hewitt for the Idea and Instapundit for the publicity on the Blogburst

Technorati Tags: Flood Aid, Hurricane Katrina

USNS Comfort Hospital Ship Heading to New Orleans

Balitmore news station is reporting that the hospital ship USNS Comfort is heading to New Orleans. To my knowledge this famous ship's last domestic deployment was 9/11. Where there is disaster and misery, so goes to the Comfort to provide just that. Update: Defense Department Press release about military assets being assigned to New Orleans area confirms the Comforts deployment.

Update 9/1/05: The Comfort is reportedly expecting a deployment order sometime today, with expected arrival in New Orleans sometime mid-next week. Current deployment orders are not available, but here are the ship's vital stats:

Operating Rooms: 12
Intensive Care Wards: 80
BedsRecovery Beds: 20 Beds
Intermediate Care Beds: 400 Beds
Minimal Care Beds: 500 Beds
Casualty Receiving Stations: 50 Beds
Total Patient Capacity: 1000 Beds
Length Overall: 894 Feet
Beam: 105.9 Feet
Draft Design: 32.9 Feet
Speed: more than 17.5 knots
Total Crew Accommodations: 1,215
Reduced Operating Status Personnel: 58 Navy Medical Personnel and 18 civilian Mariner
Tons of structural steel: 69,360

If the crew "hot racks" meaning the crew shares berthing and bedding space and if some other areas of the ship are cleared, the ship could probably take on a very large number of people--even serve as a transport for the sick and injured to take them to Houston, Pensacola or other locations where the infrastructure is capable of taking such cases.

In any respect, I have always had a great deal of respect for the Comfort, her crew and medical personnel. This is a smart move. The skipper of the ship needs to poor on the speed and get there as fast as he can.

FEMA Info update

FEMA Contact Numbers: 1-800-621-FEMA or TTY 1-800-462-7585.

Evacuees can call the American Red Cross’ information line at 1-866-GET-INFO for information regarding emergency assistance and public safety information and road closures. In addition, Louisiana residents can call the Louisiana State Police at 800-469-4828 to check on roadways that are open and safe for travel in less impacted areas.

For those victims who are not in Louisiana and have online access can apply online for assistance from FEMA. Go here for the starting page for their Individual Assistance Center.

If you are having trouble getting through, FEMA recommends calling the Red Cross at 1-866-438-4636. In addition to the requirements I mentioned earlier FEMA suggests you have this information available as well:

Your application can be taken quickly and is complete. The information you will need includes:

The street address of your damaged property
Your current mailing address and a telephone number where you can be reached in the event you have been forced to relocate
Your Social Security Number
Your household's approximate gross income at the time of the flood or, if you are reporting business damages, the gross income of the business
Information on the type of insurance coverage you have, particularly flood insurance

State Insurance Commissioners Information

Here is information from the state insurance commissioners on their websites.

Louisiana Commissioner has provided a list of LA property insurance company contacts. Here is the state's Hurricane Katrina Infomormation Page. LA Dept. of Insurance can be contact at 1-800-259-5300 or 225-342-5900 in Baton Rouge.

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner can be contacted at 601-359-3569. The state has no dedicated Hurricane Katrina page as yet.

The Alabama Department of Insurance can be contacted at 334-269-3550 or at 800-433-3966 (in-state toll free). The state also has a list of insurance company contacts for the disaster. (scroll to the bottom of the page)

More Stuff on FEMA

Here is a quick information link to what FEMA will do. One of their first steps will be to establish a Disaster Recovery Center in or near the impacted areas.

At the DRCs victims will be able to talk to PEOPLE face to face in order to:

Discuss their disaster-related needs
Obtain information about disaster assistance programs
Teleregister for assistance
Update registration information
Learn about measures for rebuilding that can eliminate or reduce the risk of future loss
Learn how to complete the SBA loan application
Request the status of their application for Assistance to Individuals and Households

Announcements regarding the location of DRCs will be released by FEMA. So far none have been posted.

List of Insurance Company Numbers

The American Insurance Association represents property and casualty insurers as a trade association. The AIA has compiled a list of toll-free catastrophy claim reporting numbers.

The Propery Casualty Insurers Association of America has this information about insurance claims as a result of Katrina. I know it is hard to imagine, but as we have seen people will take a devasting event like this one and try to turn a profit by victimizing people. The PCI offers these tips about insurance adjusters:

Independent Adjusters - During a widespread natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina, insurance companies want to respond to policyholders as quickly as possible and may hire independent insurance adjusters to supplement their own staff of adjusters. Independent adjusters are professional insurance adjusters who own their own businesses, but represent the insurance companies that contract their services. The independent adjuster will be sent to inspect the policyholders property to assess the damage and report the claim to the insurance company for settlement.
There are three types of adjusters:
· company adjusters who are insurance company employees
· independent adjusters who are independent firms that work for the insurance company
· public adjusters who are hired by the policyholder and for a percentage of the claim settlement, they will handle the claim and negotiate the settlement amount with your insurance company.

Regardless of what type of adjuster you use, make sure that the person is properly licensed. Ask to see identification, check their references and inquire as to how long they have been an adjuster. If you hire a public adjuster, check their qualification, ask about their fees, get a written contract outlining the fees and services. Avoid public adjusters that misrepresent themselves as being part of a government agency or being sent by your insurance company or agent. If you are still unsure, call your state insurance department.

Be on the lookout for scams. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Applying for FEMA Aid

Here are the handbooks for applying for FEMA Assistance. English Version Spanish Version.

To apply for FEMA Aid: Call 1-800-621-3362. For Hearing impaired ONLY call: 1-800-462-7585.


Have your Social Security Number, description of losses (see Flood Insurance Post), Insurance information (at least your insurance company, policy number if you have it), directions and Telephone number where you can be reached.

FEMA offers the Individuals and Households Program (IHP) which is designed to provide money and services to people in disaster areas that are not covered by insurance. NOTE: the program is not designed to return people to the status quo ante, but to provide some help. Not everyone qualifies.

To Qualify for Housing Needs All of the following must apply:

• You must have losses in a Presidentially declared disaster area.
• You must have filed for insurance benefits and the damage to your home is not covered by the insurance.
• You or a member of your household must be a U.S. Citizen
• The damaged home is where you usually live and was where you were living at the time of the disaster.
• You can't live in your home now, can't get to you home as a result of the disaster or need repairs as a result of the disaster.

You can receive assistance for needs other than housing. Basically, the same conditions apply, meaning you MUST HAVE FILED A CLAIM with your insurance company.

If you have a vacation home or a time-share, you are problably not going to be eligible for this kind of FEMA aid.

More to come.

Flood Insurance Information

In response to an appeal on Michelle Malkin's Page, here is some info on filing flood insurance claims.

Here is a link to the FEMA Flood Insurance Claims Handbook .

According to the handbook, take the following steps after a flood. To be honest, in this case, some of these steps are a little rediculous, but don't give your insurance company an excuse to deny your claim.

Step 1. Contact your insurance agent or insurance company to let them know you have a a claim. Here is a list of insurance companies from the FEMA website for Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. (If those links don't work, here is the main search page. Don't know your insurance company name, call your mortgage company--they will know. The Handbook says that you should have your policy number available, but I don't know any of my policy numbers, they can look it up by social security number.

Step 2. Separate Your Property. For those people who live in New Orleans, obviously not helpful, but others should start to separate damaged and non-damaged property. THROW NOTHING AWAY UNLESS REQUIRED TO BY LAW. If you have to throw something away, FEMA says to photograph it. The claims adjuster will need to look at the property to determine payout.

Step 3. Make a List of Damgaged Property. This is your personal property along with an esitmate of cost. For many people in affected areas, this is going to be important and difficult. The pre-flood steps say to make a complete list of property with value. Since many people might not have done this, you are going to have to do the best you can. Market prices on items can be helpful.

Step 4. List Areas of Structural Damage to your home. REbuilding is a while away, but if you can, make this assessment.


Filing Your Claim will require a proof of loss within 60 days. FEMA has the power to extend that 60 day deadline. FEMA will notify your insurance company and local news about the extension. Given the severity of this event, an extension is very likely BUT DO NOT RELY ON IT. Get you claim process started now.

There is a lot of information in the Handbook about flood claims. Refer to it and your insurance policy. Here is a summary of flood insurance coverage. Here is the homepage of the National Flood Insurance Program. Got a condo? Go here, it includes information about timeshares as well.

Linked to Michelle Malkin.

National Governors Association Education Choice Report

The National Governors Association has released this report on School Choice options. While the report itself is not long, it does discuss, in general terms, some of the options, ideas and requirements to make a true school choice regime work.

While I admit that I am relatively new to researching the realm of school choice, this is probably the first study by a non-partisan group to present a pretty balanced look at choice options for parents.

The report looks at different strategies for assisting the development of school choice options as well as current challenges. The only challenges that the report identifies are financing challenges. To be sure, addressing issues of funding education is a huge step in the right direction, particularly in light of a recent Fordham Institute report detailing the inequities of funding for charter schools.

Although briefly mentioned, one of the real obstacles to true choice is the current management of schools. Alhtough some states have muliple tracks to the authorization of charter schools, the fact remains that most local and state school boards, captives of local teachers unions, are at best ambivalent about charters and at worst outright hostile to charters. Until such management reforms come to pass to remove this managment issue, charters will continue to face hostility among educrats.

The NGA policy studies carry a great deal of weight in state policy making circles. This report should be read by all who are interested in school choice. In addition to the ideas presented, the report contains many footnotes with great source material to a vast array of articles and studies on school choice options.

FEC Commissioner Toner on Media Misrepresentation

FEC Vice Chairman Toner takes the MSM to task about their misrepresentation of the recent Berman/Doolittle Advisory Opinion.

Vice Chair Toner begins:

The Aug. 24 editorial criticizing the Federal Election Commission's ruling that the McCain-Feingold law does not apply to this fall's ballot initiatives in California did not mention the most important part of this and every other administrative agency action: what Congress provided by statute on the matter.

Commissioner Toner implies, without impolitically saying so, that the real cause of the Berman/Doolittle AO is Congress. If they don't like (and I haven't heard a great deal of complaint from Capitol Hill on the matter) Congress can amend the law, just as I argued earlier.

While Commissioner Toner takes a more diplomatic approach, I will say this more directly. Newspapers need a course in civics and administrative law BEFORE they should be allowed to comment on regulatory outcomes. Regulators often have very little wiggle room when it comes to interpreting and enforcing statutes passed by Congress.

We need to do more to force Congress to make more concrete decisions in the campaign finance realm and other, more important, areas of law.

Is Politics the Next Venue for a Speech Code?

Is America in the early stages of developing a political speech code, similar to those now found on hundreds of college campuses across the country? These speech codes, often imposed in violation of basic free speech rights by state universities, obstensibly aimed at preventing harassment, in reality serve to contain speech that is subjectively offensive to one person or a favored group, making the free exchange of ideas difficult, if not disasterous, for those whose speech runs counter to the accepted "norm" of the college campus. In his 1991 book on the changing campus environment, Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus, Dinesh D'Souza noted:

Universities are a microcosm of society. But they are more than a reflection or mirror; they are a leading indicator...Of all American institutions, perhaps only the military brings people of such different backgrounds into more intimate contact.

From the early 1980's onward, the cultural outlook on college campus swung decidedly to the left. In order to advance what D'Souza called the victim's revolution, speech codes became increasingly common as a means of controlling debate and dissenting views. The venues and content of speech were sanitized, dissenting views regulated, if not de facto banned, and thus was born a new world on campus, one in which any speech viewed subjectively as offensive was verboten. In other words, campus speech codes served as the progenitor of the political speech code now at hand.

Last week, a transcript of a Washington state case dealing with political ads became the subject of a little internet reporting, here and here.

One of the most interesting lines from the decision is this little gem from Judge Richard A. Jones:

Under any notion of rational interpretation the suggestion that an elected official engaged in a "cover up" is an assertion that clearly and unambiguously suggests the official engaged in an act of deceit, deception, fraud or concealment...The notion that this advertisement was desigened to discuss the issues and noted a personal attack on the character strains credulity. Any listener knowing of the citizen's candidacy for attorney general would have only one reasonable interpretation: that is, that the ad was an exhortation to vote against [candidate Deborah] Senn.(emphasis added)

The ad in question was one of a pair that attacked Washington State Attorney General candidate Deborah Senn. The inclusion of the line accusing Senn of a cover-up distinguished this ad from the other, more general issue ad.

Aside from the attack on Senn's character, this would have been a case of no import, but by interpreting an attack on a candidate's character as a type of campaign activity designed to pursuade the voter about a person rather than about an issue, the court said that the ad with the personal attack was subject to regulation by the state.

Admittedly, I am unfamiliar with the Washington State precendent cited in the ruling, but it seems to me we are looking a a different realm of political speech regulation than had been previously contemplated in earlier times.

With the passage of BCRA, the regulation of more types of campaign ads, and the growing calls for more regulation of the media of political speech (namely anonymous blogs), are we as a nation heading toward a world in which political speech is to be the next victim of a speech code?
Consider for a moment that under the old, pre-BCRA Federal Election Campaign Act as interpreted in Buckley vs. Valeo, in order for speech to be regulated political speech, the advertisement in question had to contan the so-called magic words, such as "elect, vote for, vote against," a particular named candidate. Under BCRA, any ads which promote, attack, support or oppose an indentifiable federal candidate are regulated. Thus if you put a picture up on the TV screen and say nasty things about a canddiate, that can be interpreted as a campaign ad and thus subject to regulation.

Thus, despite what I think is a dumb result, Judge Jones is exactly right in his ruling under federal law and I would presume state law. While this may be a correct legal ruling, the underlying question becomes, what about politics has changed so much that we need a speech code, a set of regulations designed to inform the voter as to who paid for the ads?

Politics has always been a bit of a blood sport. At the heart of politics is control over the policy-making and enforcing apparatus of the state. Politics has been the venue of a number of episodes of character assasinations, brutal outings and complete misinterpretations of the indiscreations of youth. Yet, in 2005, reforms like John McCain and other think that our sensitivities are too delicate to allow unfettered debate. In their eyes, we need a speech code, because we dumb common folk are too stupid to understand that when one group charges a candidate allegedly covered up some incident, that we can see through the rhetoric to see an attack ad when presented with it.

The next several election cycles will surely test the growing political speech code. Too much regulation is a bad thing and leads to stagnation, indoctrination and lack of diverse opinions. If you don't believe, go to any college campus with a sign that says "Feminists and Minorities are Destroying Education" and see how long you last.

When In Doubt, Blast the FEC

The New York Post has joined the chorus of major newspapers(Wash. Post and Fred Wertheimer in particular are strident in their opposition) decrying the FEC Advisory opinion that would allow California Congressment Howard Berman and John Doolittle to raise funds to counter a ballot initiative in their homestate that could redistrict them out of a job.

Of course it is very easy for the press and campaign reformers to take a stab at the FEC, since the FEC is an easy scapegoat. But like all complicated questions of public policy, the real culprit lies elsewhere. In this case, the fault and blame should be place squarely at the feet of Sens. McCain and Feingold and Reps. Shays and Meehan--the authors and architects of the train wreck called BCRA.

You see the FEC is guilt only of interpreting a law given to it by Congress. Congress is setting up the regulatory framework of BCRA could have said no candidate for federal office or federal officerholder may raise any soft money for any election regardless of whether that election is a federal election, state or local election or a ballot question. But Congress didn't. They restricted the soft money ban to elecitons in which a federal candidate appears on the ballot. In this case, neither Berman nor Doolittles nor any other federal candidate will appear anywhere on the ballot. Thus it is not an election for the purposes of BCRA--which is exactly the opinion given by the FEC.

In short, the FEC followed the law as it was written. If Shays and Company along with the Reform community want to argue something different, they need a different law. To change the law, Congress needs to amend it by making the tough choices and running the risk of political and constitutional obstacles.

FEC Asks for Shays Rehearing

The FEC announced that it is petitioning for an en banc review by the entire Court of Appeals for the DC circuit of the Shays v. FEC case which invalidated a fair number of regulations, including those involving electioneering communications and others.

the mainstream media is already on the case:

Washington Post
L.A. Times
Boston Globe
S.F. Chronicle

Talk About Your Community Perks!!

Check out this latest .effort by housing developers to bring more people to its developments.

Cambridge Homes, based in Libertyville, wants to build a school for about 1,000 pupils in kindergarten through 8th grade in its new subdivision near Pingree Grove in the northern part of the county.

The developer said the public school is part of a quality-of-life package that home buyers want, and future residents said it's an undeniable draw.

If this is for real, I wonder what the outcome will be. Apparently the school board is opposed to the idea saying, oddly enough:

Susie Kopacz, vice president of the school board, believes the charter school would cause the district to take money from other campuses.

"The community should know it's a wonderful proposal and the school district would never turn down a good proposal if it was to benefit everyone," she said. "When it cuts deeper into our financial woes, it's not a wise decision."

This is coming from a school district that is some $140 million in debt, so the financial impacts are real. But wait, if the school is designed to server 1000 new K-8 students, wouldn't the district have to build a school for all those kids? Yes, but in this story, the school district is getting the school for FREE--the developer is footing the bill for the $18 million dollar facility.

So the real problem is the fact that this school will be a charter school, something that does not sit well with educrats and teachers unions.

That could create disparities within school districts where charter schools are built in wealthier subdivisions, said Denise Cardinal, spokeswoman for the National Education Association, a Washington-based union that represents 2.7 million education workers.

"That's one of the things we object to in charter schools, is charter schools that drain taxpayer dollars from [other] publicly funded schools," Cardinal said.

Hmm! Here is the funny thing, this is likely to be a pretty wealthy school district. If the school board built the school, that fact would not change in the least. The chances are that this school will probably be superior to other schools because it is new, whether it is a charter or not. Finally, regardless of whether it is a traditional public school or a charter school, two facts remain.

First, there may be as many as 1000 new kids that will need a school--whether it is charter or not. Second, the parents and adults in this upscale community will no doubt be paying significant taxes to support both the education of their kids and the education of other kids.

In trying to find a downside here, I am at a loss.

Electioneering Communictions Proposed Regulations

The Federal Election Commission has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to change the regulations regarding electioneering communications.

The Commission is considering a couple of different alternatives, but the only viable alternative is one that eliminiates all communications that promote, attack, support, or oppose (PASO--the FEC's acronym--not mine) a federal candidate.

Under BCRA, Congress defined an elecitoneering communication as any broadcast, cable, or satellite communication which refers to a clearly indentified federal candidate withing 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election and is targeted to the relevant electorate. See 2 USC 434(f)(3)(A).

One of the concerns of the FEC in this rulemaking are whether or not to apply these electioneering communication rules to 501(c)(3) organizations--charities. The FEC wonders whether applying the rules woudl be confusing to charities and impact their ability to perform their charitable missions. The FEC goes through a very long argument about this matter because their original regulations, according to a court decision did not cover these issues enough.

Here is an opportunity for the FEC to say, "we have enough regulation of speech, we don't need to make more." According to the NPRM, "The Commission is also considering exempting from the "electioneering communication" definition all communcations that do not PASO a federal candidate. This is the right course of action. The whole purpose of campaign finance regulation is to prevent the corruption or appearance of corruption of candidates and the electoral process. Any communication that is designed to impact the election of a federal candidate falls within the contemplation of the rules, any communcation that does not intend impact election does not fall into the purview of the FEC. End of story.

The plain language of the statute creates all the exemption necessary--the media exemption, exemptions for debates and their promotion and exemption for other regulated activities such as independent or coordinated expenditures. In short, what other exemptions are necessary? All this concern about charitable communications that might be subjectively interpreted as a PASO detracts from the real point, that all of these communications are protected speech. The fewer regulations the better.

I am planning on submitting comments to the FEC on this one, so more on the subject later.

National Governor's Association on School Choice

The National Governors Association has released this report designed to help states expand quality school choice programs. I have not gotten through the whole report yet, but this from the Executive Summary:

States have identified approximately 20,000 schools that did not meet expectations for adequate yearly progress and more than 11,000 schools that failed to meet adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years. Increasingly, policy leaders are concluding that providing quality education options can raise student achievement and improve existing schools.

Later on in teh summary:

Between 1993 and 2003, the percentage of students in grades 1-12 choosing to attend a public school other than their assigned public school increased from 11 percent to 15 percent, while the percentage attending assigned public schools decreased from 80 percent to 74 percent. The percentage of students attending private schools also increased during this period. This increase, however, was smaller than the increase in the percentage of students attending a public school other than their assigned public school.

As an aside, what about the data on home schoolers?

What I find interesting is the decrease in students attending assigned public schools, six percent is a big number among the universe of students in America. When, if ever, will public school administrators wake up and smell the coffee, Americans are increasingly frustrated with the ability of public schools to provide the necessary education for their kids.

More on the report when I finish reading it.