NEVADA'S WIDE-OPEN RACE: Making conservative choices
Three Republicans compete in Nevada's 2nd
Congressional District
By ED VOGEL, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Carson City, Nevada, July 31, 2006 -- There are few sure things
in life -- death, taxes, the Chicago Cubs won't win a World Series and
voters in Nevada's vast 2nd Congressional District will elect a
conservative Republican.
Burns, Tester to debate in Butte
By Charles S. Johnson, Montana Standard
Helena, Montana, July 31, 2006 -- Republican U.S. Sen. Conrad
Burns and Democratic challenger Jon Tester have agreed to debate in
Butte and Helena, and their campaigns are still trying to agree where
else to square off.
Counting a June 25 debate in Whitefish, the two major-party candidates
are now slated to debate five times before the Nov. 7 election in what
is a high-profile race being closely watched nationally.
Colorado Supreme Court: No vote for parolees
By Howard Pankratz, Denver Post
Denver, Colorado, July 31, 2006 -- The Colorado Supreme Court
ruled today that parolees can't vote.
The ruling was the outgrowth of a lawsuit filed late last year by the
American Civil Liberties Union.
At the time, Norm Mueller, an ACLU volunteer attorney, claimed that the
Colorado Constitution provides that offenders lose their right to vote
only during the time they are incarcerated in prison.
Tobacco firm joins smoking ban fight
Phoenix, Arizona, July 31, 2006 --
Cigarette-maker R.J. Reynolds is expected to invest millions in Arizona
to defeat a strict statewide smoking ban on the November ballot and
support a compromise measure that would strike down more restrictive
local ordinances, such as the one in Tempe.
Big surplus sets record in Utah
Huntsman, legislators looking to boost the
promised tax cut
By Bob Bernick Jr., Deseret Morning News
Salt Lake City, Utah, July 30, 2006 -- As Utah legislators
campaign for re-election this summer and as they debate what kind of an
income tax cut to give state residents, hanging over those discussions
is the largest tax surplus in the state's history.
The Utah Tax Commission says the state ended its fiscal year June 30
with a $351 million tax surplus in the state's two main revenue funds.
That is twice the size of the last largest surplus, a $172 million
whopper seen in July 2005.
Lamm continues attack on illegal immigration
By Felix Doligosa, Rocky Mountain News
July 27, 2006, Denver, Colorado -- Illegal immigration fuels terrorism
and brings economic burdens on Americans, former Gov. Dick Lamm said at
a breakfast this morning at the University Club.
"It used to take an army and navy to hurt America," Lamm said about the
terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. "Not anymore."
Lamm was continuing the theme he espoused Monday when he said in a
speech in Vail that Hispanics remain an "underclass" in America because
their culture is "not success-producing."
He also pushed his new book, Two Wands, One Nation, where he wrote that
Hispanics and blacks need to take responsibility for their "under
performance" and should adopt the values of the Japanese and Jews.
His talk this morning was aimed at illegal immigrants in general.
Lamm said 12 of the 48 people prosecuted for the 9/11 attack were
illegal immigrants who had created bank accounts in America to fund
their attack.
"It’s not people coming to do our yard work only," he said.
Lamm said illegal immigration cuts wages and hurts Colorado.
He recently visited a Denver home where three illegal immigrant families
had 11 children in public schools.
Lamm said it takes about $11,000 for each child to go through school and
it costs just as much for health care.
"The taxpayers are being abused," he said.
Lamm said we can’t have America as the health care provider for the
world.
It’s the magnet of American jobs that are attracting illegal immigrants,
he said.
"You have to do something with that magnet," he said.
Lamm supports the guest worker program and advocates employers to check
social security cards better.
As for the jobs illegal immigrants have in America, Lamm said America
needs to "find ways to start upward mobility of America’s lower economic
people.
"America has to rediscover its work ethic."
Lamm is behind enforcing borders to control illegal immigration.
"It’s so unfair to our people," he said.
Lingle looks safe a filing
closes
From
Politics1.com
Governor Linda Lingle (R) go some good news when candidate filing
closed this week, leaving her without a major challenger. Former State
Senator Randy Iwase appear likely to capture the Democratic nomination
against Lingle, when all of the bigger names passed on the race.
Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim (D) announced the day before the close of
filing he appreciated the encouragements from party members, but he
declined to enter the race.
Liberal US Senator Dan Akaka is facing an aggressive Democratic primary
challenge from centrist Congressman Ed Case. Case argues Akaka is
ineffective, while Akaka's boosters tout his seniority clout and
progressive record. Right now, Akaka appears the frontrunner.
New polls: Kyl leads 50-42, Napolitano up 49-41
New polls show Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl and Democratic Gov. Janet
Napolitano with 8 percentage-point leads in their respective reelection
bids.
A new survey by Zogby International and The Wall Street Journal shows
Napolitano leading Republican challenger Don Goldwater 49 percent to 41
percent. Napolitano leads another potential GOP rival, conservative
attorney Len Munsil, by a 50 percent to 39 percent margin.
Goldwater, Munsil and two other Republican challengers will face off in
a September primary.
Initiative states to watch
From the
I&R Institute
South Dakota
In an effort to create a test case for the Supreme Court to reverse Roe
v.Wade, the South Dakota legislature passed a law banning abortion in
early 2006. Abortion rights activists promptly collected enough
signatures to hold a referendum on the new law, in which the people will
have the option to repeal the law. This election will be watched closely
by pro-choice and pro-life activists nationwide.
Arizona
So far 10 measures are on the ballot and the total could rise to 19. A
cluster of issues placed on the ballot by the legislature focus on
illegal immigration. One measure would deny state services to illegal
immigrants, another would deny them bail in certain circumstances, and a
third would prohibit them from receiving punitive damages in lawsuits.
There is also a measure to declare English the state’s official
language.
California
Only 13 propositions are on the ballot in the Golden State, down from
the historical average of 18 in an even-numbered year, but those
measures propose combined spending of close to $50 billion, almost all
of it with borrowed money.
Topping the list are five bond issues authorizing the state to borrow a
combined $42.669 billion, which must be a record amount. The money is
dedicated to a variety of projects, mainly highways and roads, water
projects, and low-income housing.
A citizen initiative would establish a $4 billion alternative energy
program.
Tax increases are also on the agenda, with Prop. 86 proposing a
cigarette tax increase of $2.60 per pack to fund tobacco awareness
programs and hospitals, and Prop. 88 proposing a $50 parcel tax for
public schools.
“Voters turned down an initiative to tax millionaires for
universal preschool and a $600 million bond measure for libraries in
June, so the public’s appetite for government spending is not unlimited,
but the fate of these measures will give a barometer on whether big
government is coming back,” said IRI president and University of
Southern California professor John G. Matsusaka.
Trans-Texas Corridor another of Perry's big government proposal
Austin, Texas -- Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) proposed the
Trans-Texas Corridor in 2002, envisioning a combined toll road and rail
system that would whisk traffic from the Oklahoma line to Mexico.
The opposition is varied. Some see it as an assault on private property
rights; some object to putting the project in foreign hands (the state
accepted a proposal by a U.S.-Spanish consortium to build and operate
it, although the final construction contract hasn't been signed); and
some see the project as an affront to open government because part of a
development contract with consortium Cintra-Zachry is secret.
Of Mr. Perry's major opponents – Democrat Chris Bell and independents
Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman – Mrs. Strayhorn has stirred
the most fury regarding the corridor.
At campaign stops she calls the plan the "Trans-Texas Catastrophe," a
"$184 billion boondoggle" and a "land grab" of historic proportions. She
refers to Mr. Perry's appointees on the transportation commission as
"highway henchmen." She lets loose with Texas-twanged jabs at the
contract with the "foreign" Cintra-Zachry.
Murkowski pushes for dad's deal
Fairbanks, July 24, 2006 -- U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is among federal
officials encouraging the Alaska Legislature to approve a natural gas
pipeline contract with North Slope producers.
But Alaska's junior senator says she's not demanding the contract be
approved as is.
"Given what we've got in front of us today, I would say that there are
still some issues that have to be worked out," Murkowski told the
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
She understands Alaska legislators' worries about locking in oil tax
rates for 30 years, she said.
"I would share their concerns," she said.
However, she wants the Legislature to approve a contract this year.
"I believe very strongly that the basic proposal ... is something that
we can make work," she said of the contract negotiated between the North
Slope oil companies and her father, Gov. Frank Murkowski.
Daddy's jet use raises questions
Business trips also include personal, campaign
stops
By ANDREW PETTY, Juneau Empire
July 23, 2006
Defying public outcry from critics who called it wasteful government
spending, the governor authorized the purchase of a $2.7 million
Westwind II jet last year.
Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau, a watchful observer of the Republican
governor's use of the jet, noted in his constituent newsletter "Off the
Record" earlier this month examples of flights that were possibly
wasteful to the state or timed with campaigning.
Murkowski is seeking the Republican Party's nomination for re-election
in November.
Highlands regents vote Aragon out
Las Vegas, New Mexico -- The governing board of New Mexico
Highlands University voted 4-1 to approve a settlement ending the
turbulent two-year tenure of university President Manny Aragon.
The vote came at a Board of Regents meeting today at the university's
campus in Las Vegas, N.M.
The settlement calls for Aragon to step down July 28 in exchange for a
$200,000 lump sum payment and 18 months of health insurance coverage.
Regent John Loehr voted against the settlement. He had said prior to the
vote that he objected to a payment of public money to end Aragon's
employment and contended Aragon could be fired for cause, which would
not obligate the school to pay compensation.
The Regents also unanimously approved hiring Manuel Pacheco as an
interim president.
Lawsuit seeks to kill ballot question
Attempt to rein in eminent domain power
potentially crippling, according to coalition
By OMAR SOFRADZIJA, Las Vegas Review-Journal
A coalition of Southern Nevada governments and business alliances filed
a lawsuit seeking to kill a ballot question that would rein in eminent
domain land-seizure powers.
The suit's backers ask a Clark County District Court judge to strip from
the Nov. 7 ballot the question known as the People's Initiative to Stop
the Taking of Our Land, or PISTOL, which they call overly broad and
potentially crippling to prudent land-planning and government coffers.
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"The lawsuit is an effort to present ... what we believe to be the
invalidity of the initiative in several regards," said Bruce Woodbury, a
Clark County commissioner who is among the plaintiffs.
"Of course, our concerns go well beyond that, and they have to do with
what we think would be a very destructive effect that this proposal
could have on our quality of life for everybody in the state."
Don Chairez, a petition backer, former district judge and current
Republican candidate for attorney general, dismissed Woodbury's claims
as those of power brokers trying to retain power on the backs of
property owners.
"He (Woodbury) is trying to stifle and muzzle the voices of the people.
I don't think people will go for it. I don't think the courts will go
for it," Chairez said. "I'm not worried.
DeLay PAC fined for
violating donor laws
Austin, Texas -- The fundraising committee that former Rep. Tom
DeLay used to help catapult him into the Republican leadership and
launch the GOP redistricting effort in Texas has been fined for
violating campaign finance laws.
The action by the Federal Election Commission marks the latest in a
series of ethics problems dogging Mr. DeLay, who quit Congress in June
and faces felony money-laundering charges.
Under an agreement with the FEC, Americans for a Republican Majority was
fined $115,000 and will go out of existence.
An FEC audit found that the DeLay committee failed to properly report
contributions and illegally used unregulated corporate money for
get-out-the-vote efforts in Texas and elsewhere in 2002.
Texas Sales Tax Holiday August 4-6, 2006
Austin, Texas -- Texas shoppers get a break from state and local
sales taxes on August 4, 5, and 6 - the state's annual tax holiday.
Lay-away plans can be used again this year to take advantage of the
sales tax holiday.
The law exempts most clothing and footwear priced under $100 from sales
and use taxes, which could save shoppers about $8 on every $100 they
spend.
California Attorney General Lockyer Names New Chief Deputy Attorney
General for Legal Affairs
By WesternPR staff reporters
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has named Chief Assistant
Attorney General Robert R. Anderson, head of the Criminal Law Division,
to succeed Richard M. Frank as Chief Deputy Attorney General for Legal
Affairs.
“Bob has earned a well-deserved reputation as a consummate professional
dedicated to excellence,” said Lockyer.
Anderson’s appointment will take effect August 7, 2006. Frank is leaving
the post to head up the newly-created California Center for
Environmental Law and Policy at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law.
The Chief Deputy Attorney General for Legal Affairs directs the full
range of the Department of Justice’s civil and criminal legal work in
the courts and before regulatory agencies, its representation of state
governmental agencies and officials, and its defense of state laws.
Kulongoski picks up backing of two public-employee unions
No. 2 union for state workers was neutral in
primary
By STEVE LAW, Salem Statesman Journal
Gov. Ted Kulongoski's re-election drive picked up endorsements from two
more public-employee unions, including the second-largest state-workers
union.
The executive board of Council 75 of the American Federation of State
County and Municipal Employees agreed to back Kulongoski in the general
election, said Ken Allen, the union's executive director. That's a
turnaround from the primary, when the union stayed neutral because of
lingering resentment about Kulongoski's support for 2003 pension reforms
and a 2003-05 wage freeze.
Kulongoski also received an endorsement from the American Federation of
Teachers-Oregon.
AFSCME's decision was a "no-brainer," Allen said. Only one member of the
executive board, out of about 60 people present, voted against a motion
to endorse Kulongoski, he said.
New Mexico Highlands University president to resign
By the Albuquerque Tribune
Manny Aragon will resign as president of New Mexico Highlands University
and receive a lump sum of $200,000 under terms of a settlement announced
today.
Board of Regents Chairman Javier Gonzales and Aragon said in a joint
statement that differences between the board and the embattled president
had been settled.
"Concerns raised by the regents have been adequately addressed by the
president, and the board has no reason to believe, based on the
information provided by the president and its own investigation, that
the president took any improper action," Gonzales said.
The Board of Regents still must approve the settlement at a meeting set
for Saturday in Las Vegas, N.M., where the school is located.
Aragon had ruffled feathers over his management style at the university.
New target set for receiving waste at Yucca
DOE estimates proposed repository won't be ready
for shipments until 2017
By STEVE TETREAULT, Las Vegas Review-Journal
The Energy Department has set a new schedule for the long-delayed Yucca
Mountain repository, projecting a March 2017 date to begin accepting
high level nuclear waste at the Nevada site.
But the new deadlines depend on a number of key financial, legal,
political and regulatory obstacles getting resolved, officials said,
meaning the project could fall even further behind if nagging problems
resurface or if new obstacles arise.
NEVADA PRISON INDUSTRIES: Prisoners to launch clothing line
Duds intended to complement inmate motorcycle
program
By SEAN WHALEY, Las Vegas Review-Journal
A Nevada prison industries program that builds customized motorcycles
will soon expand with its own clothing line as well.
The clothing line, to be called "Most Wanted," will be designed by Jan
Rousseaux of Las Vegas and will be manufactured by inmates within the
Nevada Department of Corrections at the Lovelock Correctional Center.
The clothing is intended to complement the motorcycle program, called
"Big House Choppers," which is run out of the Southern Desert
Correctional Center, northwest of Las Vegas.
The new clothing line will be launched at the motorcycle event "Street
Vibrations," which will be held in Reno in September.
Nebraska Right To Life Was Pressured To Turn On Democrat Nelson
By NE StatePaper.com
Julie Schmit-Albin isn’t known for mincing words, and she was
particularly plain spoken when explaining why U.S. Senator Ben Nelson
received the Nebraska Right to Life endorsement in his bid for a second
term.
Schmit-Albin, executive director of the organization, told the Lincoln
Journal-Star that Democrat Nelson earned its support through his
consistent anti-abortion record.
Nebraska Right to Life resisted all manner of high pressure efforts from
Republicans who wanted the group’s backing for GOP Senate candidate Pete
Ricketts, she said.
The fact is, Schmit-Albin said, if Nelson were a Republican, the party
would be bragging about his record.
Governor: Prepare for fires
National Guard will be called if needed,
Schweitzer says
By JIM GRANSBERY, Billings Gazette
Gov. Brian Schweitzer says that dry weather and lightning will continue
to present fire danger and that Montanans should be prepared to protect
their own property.
The National Guard, if needed, will be called out, Schweitzer said
before flying over several blazes in south-central Montana.
"We aren't there yet," he said referring to the National Guard.
At least eight major fires have burned in southern and Eastern Montana.
Together, they had burned as many as 345,000 acres - the equivalent of
more than 540 square miles.
Campaign finance violations alleged
By MIKE DENNISON, The Missoulian
Groups supporting a trio of ballot measures to restrict government in
Montana are breaking campaign-finance laws, including the ban on “money
laundering” of political donations, a Helena attorney said in formal
complaints this week.
Jonathan Motl, himself a veteran of several ballot-issue campaigns in
Montana, asked the state political practices commissioner to investigate
his complaints and levy fines against the groups.
The violations are “likely to be the most extensive, consistent and
deliberate assault on Montana's initiative process witnessed to date,”
Motl said in four separate complaints filed late Monday.
The complaints are directed at four groups supporting Constitutional
initiatives 97 and 98 and Initiative 154, which have yet to qualify for
the November ballot.
CI-97 would limit state government spending; CI-98 makes it easier to
recall judges; I-154 enables property owners to be compensated if
government action reduces their property value.
Former senator to run for lieutenant governor
By Richard Borreca, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Former state Sen. Malama Solomon, a campaign co-chairwoman of Randy
Iwase's gubernatorial campaign, has announced that she will run for
lieutenant governor in the Democratic primary election.
Solomon is the first recognized Democrat to announce for the second spot
on the state ticket.
Although candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separately
during the primary election, the winners run as a team in the general
election.
Before Solomon's announcement, Democrats had no candidate for lieutenant
governor with any campaign experience.
Casinos want to clear the air on smoking rules
By Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News
As most of Colorado's businesses adjust to a statewide crackdown on
smoking, the new law remains hazy when it comes to casinos.
State lawmakers intended to exempt gambling establishments when they
prohibited smoking in workplaces starting July 1, but they recently
discovered a loophole allowing casino workers to demand smoke-free
workplaces. Another gray area in the new law: whether casino restaurants
can still allow smoking areas or must smoking be confined to the areas
of casinos where gaming actually takes place.
Jones says lower court was wrong
From the Arizona Capitol Times
In an appeal to the state Supreme Court, lawyers for Rep. Russ Jones say
he should still be allowed to run for state Senate because a lower court
judge erred when he tossed the lawmaker from the ballot and found him
guilty of petition forgery. However, attorneys for Paul Moreno, a
Democrat activist from Yuma who challenged the validity of Mr. Jones’
Senate run, say in a cross-appeal that Maricopa County Superior Court
Judge Kenneth Fields didn’t invalidate enough petitions, as he allowed
14 signatures to stand, even though the date of the primary election was
not listed on the petition.
Kolbe's charge to change change
By Tom Beal, Arizona Daily Star
Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., who will be giving up his congressional seat in
January, is making one last stab at getting rid of the pennies in your
pocket.
He's armed now with evidence from the U.S. Mint that it costs 1.4 cents
to produce a penny at current prices for copper (2.4 percent) and zinc
(97.6 percent).
While he's at it, Kolbe would like to change the composition of the
nickel, which costs 6.4 cents to mint in its current composition of 75
percent copper and 25 percent nickel.
When Kolbe last went on a crusade against pennies in 2001, he introduced
a bill to cease their production. That bill went nowhere.
This time around, he's going after their use, rather than their
manufacture.
Under the Currency Overhaul for an Industrious Nation (COIN) Act, all
cash transactions would be rounded to the nearest nickel, some up, some
down. Noncash transactions such as checks and credit cards would not be
affected.
Governor Schwarzenegger Has Been Good For Small Business In
California
It is impossible to overstate the importance Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger has been to California small-business owners.
In a
life-imitating-art moment, Governor Schwarzenegger rode to the rescue of
California small businesses in 2004. For four years prior, they had been
reeling from a costly energy crisis and a state government in total
disarray.
His Propositions 57 and 58 on the March Primary Election Ballot of 2004
refinanced old debt at lower rates and limited state spending. In a rare
feat in the annals of state electoral history, the Governor’s hard work
and charisma managed to get both measure passed while simultaneously
defeating Proposition 56, a smoke screen put up by opponents of
budgetary reform.
With two successful ballot initiatives under his belt, the Governor
scored his most important coup for small businesses two months later –
and without firing a shot. Using the capital of his popularity, he
strong-armed one of the most anti-small-business legislatures in state
history into reforming the workers’ compensation system. Workers’
compensation premiums are a mandatory tax every employer must pay. But a
toxic combination of bureaucratic inattention, rising health-care costs,
and lawyers (whom the system was designed to negate the need of) had
conspired to double and sometimes triple premiums on small businesses.
In June 2004, the Governor signed Senate Bill 899 into law, and since
that time workers’ compensation rates have been falling to the relief of
mom-and-pop business owners and to the benefit of the state’s economy.
The Governor has resisted every legislative attempt since then to tinker
with this historic success.
Most politicians would have put their feet up and called it a year, but
the Governor wasn’t finished. He put those famous muscles of his behind
passage of Propositions 64 and 72 on the November ballot of that year.
The former ended the insidious practice of shakedown lawsuits (Imagine
demanding lawyers produce an actual victim in a lawsuit!). And, in yet
another electoral coup, the Governor succeeded in getting voters to
approve a referendum, not an initiative, in securing passage of
Proposition 72, which overturned Senate Bill 2, a $7 billion dollar tax
increase that would have financed a socialized medicine scheme.
In between all of his ballot work, Governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate
Bill 796 into law, putting common-sense clamps on the so-called,
sue-your-boss law, and vetoed costly minimum-wage and regulators bills.
For the record, I have been asked to co-chair a couple of the Governor’s
committees, but that has less to do with politics and more to do with
how much he values the input of small business, something very rare in
Sacramento.
Martyn B. Hopper is state director for the 35,000-member California
arm of the National Federation of Independent Business.
How Green Is Your Governor?
From San Francisco Chronicle
Maybe it's midsummer madness, but Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is posting
every corner of California with his outdoors credentials.
On the coast, he is opposed to
plans to weaken a ban on offshore drilling and supports disaster aid for
the hard-hit salmon industry.
In the Sierra, he is opposed
both to roads in wilderness areas and expanded timber cuts.
In the Central Valley, he
backs farm-grown bioenergy fuels and favors solar power on subdivision
roofs.
But it is also a deserved label for Schwarzenegger, earned on many
counts during his three years in office. He's by no means a total
greenie -- environmental groups
are divided about his record -- but he has delivered on several
significant issues.
He has famously broken with the White House by
acknowledging global warming and
backing a legislative package from Democrats that would cap greenhouse
emissions. The detailed rulemaking remains unfinished though,
leading critics to wonder if the final package will be tough or tame on
emissions.
One of his accomplishments has been his "Million Solar Roofs"
initiative. After legislators
stalled on financial incentives for solar panels in new-home
construction, the governor's team fashioned a plan through the state
Public Utilities Commission to get the program rolling.
How all this plays out is unclear. One Rashomon-like example is his
decision this week to oppose a Bush administration policy allowing roads
on federal wilderness land. The White House directive is widely seen as
a paved path for lumber trucks into the West's untouched back country.
But on the same issue,
Environment California, which does not endorse candidates, is effusive
in its praise for the governor. He could have stayed silent or
supported limited road-building, noted Dan Jacobson, legislative
director for the group. Instead, the governor firmly rejected the White
House initiative. The group goes so far as let Web site visitors send a
pre-written thank-you note to the governor.
In judging his record, it helps to include a broad range of criteria,
not just highly publicized stances taken on the campaign trail. Yet it
is clear from his tenure that
Schwarzenegger is working as hard as any California governor in recent
history to earn the green stamp of approval.
The entire editorial is available at:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/16/EDGOBIQ6S81.DTL
UCLA's Williams Institute Analyzes the United States’
Noncompliance with International Human Rights Standards
Los
Angeles, California
July 17, 2006
A new Williams Institute report identifies four ways in which the
United States is noncompliant with antidiscrimination standards
defined by the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Based on the
Williams Institute’s empirical research, the report concludes that
noncompliance harms a substantial number of gay and lesbian
Americans and their families.
The report was released as a delegation from the United States
prepares to meet with the Human Rights Committee (HRC) in Geneva,
Switzerland, on July 17 and 18 to discuss the United States’
compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR). The HRC is a body of 18 independent experts that
interprets the ICCPR and monitors state parties’ compliance with the
treaty. The HRC’s interpretations of the ICCPR are not binding, but
are highly persuasive and respected by the international legal
community. The HRC has repeatedly stated that Article 26 of the
ICCPR forbids sexual orientation discrimination.
“By taking actions to comply with the ICCPR, as it has been
interpreted by the HRC to protect sexual minorities, the United
States would be catching up with its peer jurisdictions,” said the
author of the report, Holning Lau, who teaches Law & Sexuality at
the UCLA School of Law and serves as the Harvey S. Shipley Miller
Teaching Fellow at the Williams Institute.
The report identifies the following areas on noncompliance:
First, unlike Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the European
Union, the United States has failed to pass a federal law forbidding
discrimination based on sexual orientation. Second, the U.S.
government also refuses to investigate federal civilian employees’
complaints of sexual orientation discrimination. Third, in contrast
to its major allies, the United States bars openly gay, lesbian, and
bisexual individuals from serving in the armed forces. Finally, the
federal government fails to offer same-sex couples any form of legal
recognition. For instance, the federal government does not
recognize same-sex partnerships for immigration purposes. In
contrast, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand,
Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the
United Kingdom all allow individuals to sponsor same-sex partners
for immigration rights.
The report also uses empirical findings to illustrate how
noncompliance affects Americans. Census data and other data sources
suggest that 4 to 6 million adults in the United States
self-identify as gay or lesbian, and that same-sex couples are
raising over a quarter million children under the age of 18.
According to data from state agencies, the rate of sexual
orientation discrimination complaints in the United States is
comparable to the rate of sex discrimination complaints. Failure to
protect sexual minorities from discrimination contributes not only
to psychological harms, but also to economic harms. In the
employment context, for example, Williams Institute researchers
estimate that gay and bisexual men earn from 17 to 28 percent less
than similarly qualified heterosexual men.
The full text of the Williams Institute’s report, “Assessing the
Harms of Noncompliance with the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights’ Protections of Sexual Minorities,” can be accessed
at
http://www.law.ucla.edu/willamsinstitute.
Professor Lau is available for press inquiries by phone
(310-206-5782) and email (lau@law.ucla.edu).
Pacific Legal Foundation KO'S California
Coastal Commission in two key cases
Sacramento, California
July 17, 2006
In the entire nation, there may be no
regulatory body that is more consistently hostile to property rights
than the California Coastal Commission. The good news is that the score
for 2006 is now Pacific Legal Foundation: 2, California Coastal
Commission: 0.
In May, PLF won a court victory for a
family in San Luis Obispo County that had been prevented by the Coastal
Commission from replacing an earthquake damaged home. In that case--Crowther v.
California Coastal Commission--a Superior Court said the Coastal
Commission had no business interjecting itself in the approval process
when a proposed home has already been OK’d by local officials.
Our latest victory--in late June, in the
case of Schneider v. California Coastal Commission--involved (as
an Orange County Register editorial put it) "whether boaters,
kayakers, and others traveling and frolicking on the Pacific Ocean have
a ‘right’ to a pristine view of the land along the coast--a right that
would trump property rights."
PLF’s client, Dennis Schneider, had
sought to build a home on his property on the San Luis Obispo County
coast. The Coastal Commission, applying a new policy restricting
construction that might impede views from the ocean, denied approval for
a home on the proposed site. Instead, the Commission demanded that
Schneider build in an area far from the bluff--an area that happened to
be geologically unsound for construction.
After hearing arguments by PLF, the 2nd
District Court of Appeal unanimously ruled against the Commission. As
the Register's editorial put it, "the [appellate] court actually
looked at the law, which stipulates that the Coastal Commission can
protect views of the ocean from land, not the other way around." The
appeal court was especially critical of the Coastal Commission’s
executive director, Peter Douglas, and his attempt to justify the
view-from-ocean-policy based on the desires of the United States Sailing
Association and practices in Maine. As the justices put it, "In
construing [the relevant California legal provisions], we look to
California law not the State of Maine, or the United States Sailing
Association."
PLF attorney, Dave Breemer summarized
the case incisively, in remarks quoted by the Los Angeles Times:
"The Commission was attempting an outrageous power grab that would have
put projects up and down the coast in jeopardy based on nothing more
than the arbitrary aesthetic whims of Commission staffers and members."
Read coverage in the
Los Angeles Times,
The Orange County Register, and
The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Buffett
Decides Government Is A Bad Investment
By Jon Coupal, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
July 17, 2006
The world's second richest man, Warren Buffett, is in the news again.
This time for donating a huge chunk of his fortune to the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, whose founders are the only people who, until
the creation of their foundation, outranked Buffett in wealth.
New website: Pension Tsunami
That approaching
wave of pension debt is bigger than it looks. The purpose of this site
is to provide an overview of the multiple pension crises that are about
to drown America's taxpayers.
Click here:
PensionTsunami.com
Redistricting Update from the Texas
Attorney General
Statement from Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz
The following statement can be attributed to Texas Solicitor General Ted
Cruz. The Press Office will not be commenting further.
In response to the federal district court's order, the State
Defendants have submitted a remedial plan that would correct the Supreme
Court's legal concerns regarding District 23, and otherwise fully
respect the legislative preferences of the already enacted congressional
map. The proposed plan is directly responsive to the Supreme Court's
opinion upholding the statewide map; it leaves 28 congressional
districts completely untouched, and alters only District 23 and three
adjoining districts. The plan likewise avoids pairing any incumbent
Members of Congress and leaves the existing partisan balance of the four
altered districts (2 Democrats and 2 Republicans) undisturbed.
Legislature fights eminent domain
Gov. Tom Vilsack's veto of a bill limiting
government's ability to seize private property has set up a
philosophical clash at the Legislature
By JONATHAN ROOS, Des Moines Register, July 14, 2006
The Iowa Legislature, determined to curb local governments' power to
take private property, is expected today to stage the first successful
override of a governor's veto in 43 years.
Gov. Tom Vilsack's veto last month of an eminent-domain bill that
received lopsided approval from the Legislature in May could be swept
aside today when lawmakers return to Des Moines for a special session to
address the volatile election-year issue.
The legislation, sparked by a controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling
last year, clamps down on local governments' ability to seize property
for business-related projects. It also imposes new restrictions on
condemning property to make way for lake or airport projects.
Denver, Colorado -- Colorado lawmakers are returning to to
deal with illegal immigration in a rare special session beginning July
6.
Specifically, the governor is asking legislators to curb state spending
on services that benefit the estimated 250,000 illegal immigrants in the
state.
A recent analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Council says Colorado
spends about $200 million on federally mandated services such as
emergency medical care and education for illegal immigrants.
Honolulu, Hawaii -- Gov. Linda Lingle and Mayor Mufi Hannemann
have glowing job approval ratings, suggesting that people have
confidence in the state's top two political executives to handle
challenges from traffic and education to the homeless and sewer repairs,
an Advertiser Hawai'i Poll shows.
Lingle's 73 percent job approval rating is the highest for the
Republican governor in the Hawai'i Poll since she took office four years
ago. Her popularity extends across political, ethnic and income lines,
putting her in an enviable position in an election year.
Juneau, Alaska -- Gov. Frank Murkowski signed a nearly $3.5
billion capital projects bill sending a flood of money into roads,
schools, ports, museums and ice rinks around the state.
The state's bounty is the product of record high oil prices this year
that pumped an extra $1.4 billion into the state treasury.
The most contentious items remained in the capital budget: $93.6 million
for the Knik Arm Crossing in Anchorage, $91 million for the Gravina
Island bridge project in Ketchikan and $45 million to extend the highway
north of Juneau.
"Some of the pundits outside the state suggest we have roads to nowhere.
We think we have roads to somewhere and we are going to make damn sure
we do," said Murkowski.
Meanwhile, those challenging Murkowski for the Republican nomination in
the governor's race criticized his work on the budget.
Former state senator John Binkley of Fairbanks said the capital budget
should be an embarrassment to a governor who bills himself as a fiscal
conservative.
"The governor needs to be the adult in the household when it comes to
budget responsibility," Binkley said.
Former Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin said lawmakers should have set aside
more of the surplus for the years ahead.
"This budget will look odd to Alaskans coming from a Republican governor
and a Republican Legislature," said Palin. "I think there's going to be
some confusion there."
