The Florida Masochist

Now the Palm Beach Post needs a civics lesson

A week ago I blogged about a Post editorial that made me laugh. Here is another example. The topic is tasers and who should be making guidelines for their use. I'm only going to quote the very end.

But the leap from voluntary guidelines to questionable law could prove more of a shock to the public than the Taser-related deaths that spurred action toward standards and training. The questions are as basic as the legislation's lack of clear requirements regarding the civilians to whom the electric gun increasingly is being marketed. Tallahassee could make matters worse once lobbyists for the various interests enter the mix.

The problem is that there's no telling what might end up in the final bill. There's also no compelling reason why lawmakers, rather than professional law enforcers at FDLE and the Standards and Training Commission, should establish uniformity for Florida.

There is one compelling reason. Our legislators make the laws, not law enforcement. Our elected officials have the right to make the law here, get over it Palm Beach Post.

She isn't liberal enough?

No wonder they call California, Oregon and Washington the left coast. Incumbent Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell will face primary opposition from a candidate who admits he is left of Maria on many issues.

Hat tip- Richard Gardner at OTB who points out Sen. Cantwell's 95 rating from Americans for Democratic Action. He also thinks Mr. Wilson has no chance and this is further proof of the lunacy of the far left in this country. I got to agree with Richard.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Maria Cantwell, Washington's junior senator, has been quietly girding for a tough re-election challenge from the Republicans. Now she's also dealing with a primary challenge from her left flank.

Mark Wilson, who warmed up with primary races against Jay Inslee and Patty Murray, is running as a progressive "peace and justice" candidate, assailing Cantwell for everything from her vote to send troops to Iraq to her free-trade stance.

Wilson portrays Cantwell as ineffective and a tool of corporate America, and says the Democrats could lose the seat if she's nominated next September.

Cantwell doesn't seem particularly worried, but has moved to shore up her liberal base. She recently signed a letter critical of the administration's handling of the Iraq war and has taken on Enron, oil drilling in the Arctic wilderness, and supposed oil and gasoline price-gouging.

She also has taken some fence-mending sessions with some of the more liberal Democratic activists.

"You never take anything for granted and you run very hard," says Michael Meehan, her top aide. "We expect to have the support of Democrats. The roadmap to victory is to get your base behind you solidly."
___
INTO THE FRAY...

Meanwhile, Wilson is ready to exploit what he sees as a rift in the state's majority party. Even before Congress authorized the war, the Poulsbo businessman and Marine veteran was urging the party to vigorously oppose President Bush and the Iraq conflict. It's a signature issue as he barnstorms the state, meeting with local party groups and "peace and justice" groups.
So far, he hasn't made much of a dent by taking on three of the party's most popular politicians.

As the Libertarian Party nominee for the 1st District congressional seat in 2002, he polled 3 percent against Jay Inslee. Last fall, he got 1 percent of the vote in a four-way Senate race won by Patty Murray.

Undeterred, he's running against Cantwell, who is seeking re-election to a second six-year Senate term. Since he's running as a Democrat this time, the primary will be up or out for Wilson.

He says he's running to win, and not just to add his voice to the debate. But he also acknowledges the long-shot nature of taking on an incumbent who is backed by much of the party apparatus.

"Some people want to call me the snowball's-chance-in-hell candidate," Wilson says with a laugh.

"I tell people that as a former Marine and a former fisherman in Alaska, I've done both hell and snowballs."

In 2000, Cantwell edged three-term Republican Sen. Slade Gorton in the absentees, by a margin of less than 2,500 votes.

Wilson said his early campaigning has convinced him that Cantwell's party support is soft, particularly among liberal anti-war activists and progressives who fault her for not more vigorously opposing the policies espoused by the White House and the Republican Congress.

"She voted for the war and the Patriot Act and the confirmation of (Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice, NAFTA, the Bush energy policy and so on," he says. "I would have voted against each and every one of those."

Wilson wants an immediate end to the Iraq war and calls for an end to "corporate welfare."

He opposes the war on drugs, seeks a big reduction in weapons production, and proposes a national back-to-work program to rebuild infrastructure and alternative energy sources.

He portrays Cantwell, a former RealNetworks executive who used $10 million of her own wealth to mostly self-finance her last campaign, as a tool of corporate America. After losing cliffhangers for Gorton's Senate seat and the governor's mansion last year, Republicans are gunning for Cantwell and she'd be a weak nominee, he says.

"I am left and forward of Maria on many issues," he says.

My State legislator Shelley Vana- Part III

She got mentioned in another George Bennett column in today's Palm Beach Post. For background, read my two prior posts here and here.

State Rep. Shelley Vana, D-Lantana, a former president of the Classroom Teachers Association, had to give up her classroom job to accommodate her legislative schedule. She took an administrative job with the school district but contends the CTA's collective bargaining agreement allows her to remain in the union.

The school district says otherwise, so Vana has filed a grievance.

Vana, who holds a newly created science program coordinator position that allows her to take unpaid leave for Tallahassee duties, says she still needs union protection.

"As a legislator, I could very well speak out on issues that might not be popular," Vana says.

Staying in the union would also make her eligible to run for CTA president again. Asked whether she might seek the top union post again, Vana said, "I wouldn't rule it out. But that's not the reason" for the grievance.

Shelley is an absolute hoot. She would be my knucklehead winner today except for the Broward County story is better.

I mean how many ways does she want it? State Legislator, a county job made JUST for her and now union membership. Shelley you're entitled to no more priviliges than anyone else. You've gotten far too many special ones already. Your constituents may take the privilige your of booting your butt out of office next fall.

Where is the Post on this story too? Not a word from Schultz and the editorial board on this topic. Randy do you only criticize Republicans?

Open Post- Indepundit

Tom Delay

Unless you been in a cave for 24 hours, you know the House Majority Leader was indicted yesterday in Texas. Delay has also stepped down from his leadership post and been replaced by Roy Blunt of Missouri.

The blogosphere is unsurprisingly lining up by what ideology one holds or what party one supports. Where do I stand? I don't really know. Previously I've expressed my skepticism towards politicians and unfolding corruption scandals. Whether its Democrat or Republican I tend to be a skeptic and believe the charges being made but not always.

The charges against Delay are as complex as the laws. What Dr. Stephen Taylor says at Poliblog pretty much sums up how I feel.

If anything, it seems to me that this whole case will underscore the labyrinthine nature of campaign finance rules and regulations.

Put me down as undecided then. Don't count on me blogging too often on the legal fight that is sure to be coming in the months and years ahead.

Lunch- Basil's blog

Bill Frist's sale of HCA stock- Getting hard to believe

AP has a very detailed article on the Senate Majority Leader's handling of his so called blind trust and the HCA stock in it. I blogged earlier about this here. If what AP is reporting is true, then I feel Bill Frist has a great deal of explaining to do. Right now the Senator's sale is under investigation by the SEC.

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., was updated several times about his investments in blind trusts during 2002, the last time two weeks before he publicly denied any knowledge of what was in the accounts, documents show.

The updates included stock transactions involving HCA Inc., the hospital operating company founded by Frist's family.

Frist's sale of HCA stock is under scrutiny by the federal government. Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA said Friday it had received a subpoena from prosecutors for the Southern District of New York, asking for documents the company believes are related to Frist's sale of company stock this past summer.

Prosecutors also have contacted the senator's office, Frist spokesman Bob Stevenson said Friday. He said neither the senator nor his office had received a subpoena.

But the interesting part comes here.

Frist sold his HCA stock from several blind trusts this summer, at a time when insiders in the company also were selling off shares worth $112 million from January through June. Frist aides say he sold his stock to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.
Frist, asked in a television interview in January 2003 whether he should sell his HCA stock, responded: "Well, I think really for our viewers it should be understood that I put this into a blind trust. So as far as I know, I own no HCA stock"

Frist, referring to his trust and those of his family, also said in the interview, "I have no control. It is illegal right now for me to know what the composition of those trusts are. So I have no idea."

Documents filed with the Senate showed that just two weeks before those comments, the trustee of the senator's trust, M. Kirk Scobey Jr., wrote to Frist that HCA stock was contributed to the trust. It was valued at $15,000 and $50,000.

The documents filed by the trustees of Frist's blind trusts were obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.

On Nov. 20, 2002, Scobey wrote Frist that 14,781 shares of HCA were sold, along with three other investments. The same day, Scobey wrote that four other investments were sold, none of them HCA stock.

On May 16, 2002, Scobey advised Frist that four investments were contributed to a Frist
blind trust, including HCA stock valued at $500,000 to $1 million. A second letter the same day mentions the same four investments going into a different trust, but with different valuations, including HCA stock valued at $250,000 to $500,000.

On Jan. 14, 2002, a trustee for Frist's children notified the secretary of the Senate that two investments were added to the blind trusts of Frist's sons Jonathan and Bryan — including HCA stock valued at $5,000 to $10,000. It was not clear whether Frist received a copy of the letter.

Senator Frist 2003 statement and the blind trust statements gotten by AP are absolutely contradictory. If true the Senator is lying, and recent sales of HCA stock by other corporation officials and him look awfully damning.

The Senator was a yet unannounced GOP candidate for President. This in no way can help him even if exonerated. I'll reserve final judgement but this smells to me. You'd think Frist would be smarter, but powerful people make dumb decisions regularly. To me it don't matter Democrat or Republican, I don't like corruption or politicians flouting the laws.

Again the laws of insider trading are murky to me, but this is a matter for prosecutors to look into. I have to agree with Captain Ed, Bill Frist should step down as Senate Majority Leader while this investigation plays out. The Republicans don't need this albatros hanging over their heads with the mid-term elections approaching.

Open Trackback- Stop the ACLU and My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Bill Frist Insider Trader?

The Washington Post reported the following yesterday.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a potential presidential candidate in 2008, sold all his stock in his family's hospital corporation about two weeks before it issued a disappointing earnings report and the price fell nearly 15 percent.

Frist held an undisclosed amount of stock in Hospital Corporation of America, based in Nashville, the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain. On June 13, he instructed the trustee managing the assets to sell his HCA shares and those of his wife and children, said Amy Call, a spokeswoman for Frist.

Frist's shares were sold by July 1 and those of his wife and children by July 8, Call said. The trustee decided when to sell the shares, and the Tennessee Republican had no control over the exact time they were sold, she said.

HCA shares peaked at midyear, climbing to $58.22 a share on June 22. After slipping slightly for two weeks, the price fell to $49.90 on July 13 after the company announced its quarterly earnings would not meet analysts' expectations. On Tuesday, the shares closed at $48.76.

The value of Frist's stock at the time of the sale was not disclosed. Earlier this year, he reported holding blind trusts valued at $7 million to $35 million.

Blind trusts are used to avoid conflicts of interest. Assets are turned over to a trustee who manages them without divulging any purchases or sales and reports only the total value and income earned to the owner.

To keep the trust blind, Frist was not allowed to know how much HCA stock he owned, Call said, but he was allowed to ask for all of it to be sold.

This may or may not be insider trading. Further proof would be needed. You would think someone like Frist would know better but of course there are plenty of politicians who don't think they need to play by the rules they help to create.

What this story does is give the Democrats ammunition against Frist if he runs for President in 2008. The timing of the stock sale rightly or wrongly is going to look suspicious.

Professor Bainbridge has an excellent write up on insider trading laws related to the Frist story. However the laws did make my eyes glaze over. Only lawyers can understand laws this technical and I think I have a decent lay knowledge of the law.

I'd just like to remember where I read a saying. It went something like- If you have to write down your ethics rules the battle is already lost.

Traffic Jam- Outside the Beltway

Palm Beach County Knucklehead of the Day

There are so many knuckleheads out there today for me to write about.

Our local winner is Palm Beach County Commissioner Adele Greene. She gets the local award for her recent comments regarding the shooting of Jerrod Miller and the Grand Jury decision to not charge Delray Beach Police Officer Darren Cogoni in the death.

I blogged about this story before. A inquest ordered by the State Attorney Barry Krischer had determined charges should be filed but the feckless Mr. Krischer sent the case back to a Grand Jury. I still don't agree with that decision.

There is a long catalog of mistakes in the entire Miller-Cogoni affair but Commissioner Greene is only fanning the fires and looking for trouble. Here are her two of her most insane statements.

First she'd advise black teens to be careful when approached by law enforcement. "I'll them him to run and find the biggest crowd of people. If he doesn't, he will be killed. We in Palm Beach County are living in the days of the Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia lynchings."

The end comment is outrageous enough. But the idea of suggesting teens to run from the police borders on the insane. That's what Miller did, and look what happened.

Then yesterday Greene held a press conference to clarify her comments. Law enforcement officials from the county showed up to protest and the conference turned into a ugly shouting match. You can read the entire Palm Beach Post story here.

At a news conference, Greene was met by members of the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association who said she was "preaching hate," was a racist and was disrespectful to members of law enforcement. They wore T-shirts that said "Addie Must Resign," shouted comments and chanted "Resign. Resign. Resign."

Afterward, Greene flatly rejected their demands and said their behavior was rude and disrespectful: "The only thing they left at home was the sheet."

Ms. Greene just further proves what her accusers say about her. I predict Ms. Greene won't resign from office nor will she be defeated for re-election. I feel sorry for her constituents, they have a Knucklehead for a County Commissioner. Then I think most of Palm Beach County does. I'll save that for another time.

Zogby International- Where for art thou?

Blogger Don Surber notes the curious absence of polling on the 2006 West Virginia Senatorial race. Robert Byrd is facing his most serious re-election fight ever from Republican Shelley Moore Capito. Zogby International has polling data on 25 of next year's 33 Senatorial races but none for West Virginia so far. That's interesting because the Byrd-Capito already appaears to be one of the most critical races for the next election cycle.

I don't see anything sinister behind Zogby's lack of coverage. If you forgot, Zogby was perhaps the biggest cause of last year's exit poll debacle. They were way off in predicting how states would fare in the Bush-Kerry election. Some people speculated back then if Zogby's figures were off due to a prevalence for polling in urban rather than rural areas. West Virginia is mostly rural and this may be the cause of Zogby's current inattentiveness to this important 2006 race. To be honest, I don't give much credence to polls done this early. There is just too much time till election day.

My State House Representative Shelley Vana Part 2

She is back in the news today. Earlier this month I blogged about the cozy little job Rep. Vana was lining up for herself. Before getting elected to the State House, Vana was a Palm Beach County School teacher and President of the local teacher's association.

State Rep. Shelley Vana, D-Lantana, is in line for a new "science programs coordinator" post approved by the school board last week. Vana was a teacher, but wanted a non-classroom job to allow her time in Tallahassee. With salary and benefits, the new job's listed as an $88,716 budget item, but Vana will make less because she won't be paid when she's on legislative business, schools spokesman Nat Harrington said.

A new job just for Rep. Vana? Smells like a sweetheart deal to me. In my prior post, Vana was listed as a schoolteacher when it was obviously incompatible with her state rep. duties. Is this someone's idea of a solution?

The school board decision happened last week but only rates a tiny comment in a weekly political comment today. Why isn't Randy Schultz and the Palm Beach Post Editorial board asking uncomfortable questions right now? I would be if I were them and I assume they read your own newspaper.

I'm going to email the author of today's article and Mr. Schultz. Stay tuned.

Breakfast- Basil's Blog

My State House Rep. Shelly Vana- Something smells

This little tidbit was in Monday's Palm Beach Post.

As the new school year approaches, teacher and state Rep. Shelley Vana, D-Lantana, is looking for a new job that's compatible with her Tallahassee obligations.

Vana, elected to the House in 2002, hasn't had a full-time classroom assignment since 1998. As president of the Classroom Teachers Association from 1998 to 2004, she was officially on leave while the union paid her salary. After her presidency, Vana spent the 2004-05 school year on sabbatical at half pay to allow time for her elected job.

Now the sabbatical is over and the district early last week was listing Vana as a science teacher at the Palm Beach School of the Arts for 2005-06. That would leave students teacherless during committee weeks, special sessions and the regular 60-day legislative session next spring. As of Friday, Vana said she was talking to district officials about finding a non-teaching job that would allow her to miss chunks of time while she's in Tallahassee.

Rep. Vana happens to be my State House Representative. Is she going to be a paid school teacher while at the same time serving in the legislature? The school district had her listed as a science teacher. Rep. Vana says its impossible for her to carry out the two jobs, and correctly so. But in my opinion the school board owes her nothing. What school board job will there be for someone who can't work at least 60 days out of every school year?

Maybe one designed specifically for Ms. Vana. There have been other sweetheart deals done in this county for unemeployed politicians or former judges. This story smells to me and I hope the Post follows up on it.