Does anti-immigrant rhetoric win?

A conservative Arkansas columnist today writes that Jim Holt, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor -- who once introduced a bill in the Arkansas Senate to deny all social services to undocumented immigrants, and who advocates full deportation of those immigrants -- may find success with his anti-immigration message.

Not only does Holt not hurt Republicans in the fall, but he helps them - a lot. These two surmised that Holt, by demagoging illegal immigration, is tapping into an extremely popular issue that cuts across party lines and will turn out people at the polls. They both agreed that Holt would force Mike Beebe and other Democrats into taking an unpopular position - opposite of Holt - on the issue, which would hurt them in the fall.

A former Democratic legislator, who asked not to be named, grabbed my arm and said Holt is a master of attaching himself to an issue and that those of us in the Little Rock media have missed the illegal immigration issue altogether. He claimed we have incorrectly defined it as a Northwest Arkansas right-wing Republican issue, and that it is just as important an issue in southern and eastern Arkansas as it is in the state's upper left corner. ...

One point I will concede - there are several individuals currently serving in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate who share Holt's beliefs that governments should suspend giving social services to illegal immigrants, and that the best thing to do would be to send them back to their home country. Perhaps he isn't as extreme as some observers want to think.

The thing is, Holt is extreme. The question is whether his anti-immigrant demagoging is the winning political strategy that he and others seem to believe it is.

The wisdom of a 'linthead emeritus'

East Alabama's JL Strickland, a self-described "linthead emeritus," knows what it's like to lose a mill job. He writes in today's Anniston Star:

The only reason 6-year-old kids are not working in American factories today is that laws were passed to prevent it. Think about it –- they had to pass a law to prevent American mill owners from working 6-year-old children in their plants.
These changes meant wealthy factory owners had to share some of their loot. And rich manufacturers loathe Roosevelt to this day for improving the lot of working folk, and want nothing more than a return to that day of virtual employee slavery — back to the day when 1 percent of the population owned 90 percent of the wealth.
And, with the help and collusion of many of our elected representatives, they’ve almost turned back the clock. Already there are horror stories about the working conditions in foreign plants producing American goods — seven-day work weeks, 18-hour days, no benefits, unsafe work conditions, child labor.
These countries don’t have a Franklin Roosevelt to defend the poor and helpless. Sadly, nowadays, neither do we.

Click here to read his entire column.

Congressional race gets VERY nasty

You can read in this article about the race for the U.S. House seat from North Carolina's 13th District. Incumbent Brad Miller, a Democrat first elected in 2002, faces a stiff challenge from the infamous Vernon Robinson, a former Winston-Salem city councilman who has lost several statewide and Congressional campaigns.

Robinson, an African-American Republican, has a reputation for mudslinging that may be unsurpassed in recent times. He has criticized Rep. Miller for being childless (thereby making his wife's hysterectomy a political issue) and has aired radio advertisements that feature mariachi music and accuse Miller of turning the U.S. into "one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals."

The Raleigh News & Observer goes beyond the usual "he said/she said" of campaign coverage in this additional piece, examining some of Robinson's outrageous claims for factual merit.

Robinson has shown an extraordinary ability to raise national money (he raised more than $4 million in 2004 even though he failed to win the GOP nomination for Congress). This is definitely a key race to watch in 2006 to see how issues of race, immigration, and sexual orientation play out in the South.

N.C. Close to Minimum-Wage Increase

As you can read in this article, each chamber of the N.C. General Assembly has passed a state minimum wage increase of $1 (to $6.15 an hour). The bills are in different forms that must be reconciled, but once that is done Gov. Mike Easley has indicated that he will sign an increase.

Former U.S. Senator John Edwards appeared two weeks ago in his home state to speak on behalf of the increase, and state Treasurer Richard Moore is making the increase a foundation of his campaign for governor in 2008. When a progressive issue polls at 80%, it's time to get excited.

Gay marriage and Alabama

A week from today Alabama voters will head to the polls for primary elections. Also on the ballot is a constitutional referendum that would ban same-sex marriage in the state. A couple of observations are in order:

1. Both houses of the Alabama state Legislature are controlled by Democrats. Otherwise the gay marriage vote would have come during the general election. That's been the case in other states. And each time Republicans have benefited (and Democrats have been harmed) by the anti-gay marriage turnout.

2. More than a year ago, gubernatorial candidate Roy Moore's challenge to Republican incumbent Bob Riley appeared more formidable. It's easy to see how back then more than a few Democrats, including some who control the statehouse, saw the gay marriage vote as a way to draw out supporters of the Ten Commandments judge (and the gay marriage ban) who could sink Riley in the primary. With Riley out of the way for the general election, a Democrat could run as a moderate against the more extreme views of Moore.

3. A Moore victory appears unlikely. Riley has a large lead in the polls.

4. It's not like gay couples have been demanded marriage licenses at county courthouses around the state. In fact, there's been little discussion of the matter so far.

5. While it's been quiet so far, most of the ugliness in Alabama campaigns comes late. It's a safe bet that a few Republican judges will be smeared in the same-sex marriage fliers that are bound to circulate. These judges are moderate only in comparison with their right-wing foes who are followers of Moore.

6. Finally, Alabama already has a law that bans same-sex marriage and keeps the state from recognizing homosexual marriages performed in other states. It appears the push is a way to stir up the base and distract it from real-world problems like tax equity, sparse social services and failing schools. That's the real shame of this exercise.

Better South goes Down Under

The Center for a Better South's John Simpkins just returned from a successful trip to Australia, where he met with progressive groups in Sydney and Melbourne. Simpkins talked with academics and state and federal officeholders about the opportunities for establishing international linkages among progressive organizations.

"Australia faces some of the same challenges as the U.S. when it comes to constructing a solid progressive infrastructure. The more we can learn from each other, the better both efforts will go," said Simpkins.

Of education and environment

Two recent commentaries in The New York Times caught our eye -- one dealing with early childhood education and income equality, and another with environment, both issues for progressives to capture.

Columnist David Brooks wrote this week about investing more money in early childhood education. (While NYT columnists aren't available except for paying customers, you can find the column on other newspaper op-ed pages, such as this one here.)

Brooks says you can ignore the rising gap in income between rich and poor for awhile, but like global warming, you eventually have to concede it exists. The root cause, he suggests, to the problem is connected to human capital, which forces you to think about job training and schools:

"Earlier [learning] is better....Children who've developed good brain functions by age 3 have advantages that accumulate through life....If we want young people to develop the social and self-regulating skills they need to thrive, we need to establish long-term relationships between love-hungry children and love-providing adults."

In a separate Friday column, columnist Paul Krugman takes a look at former VP Al Gore's new film and challenge to the nation to confront global warming.

Krugman (column found here) highlights how big oil companies and some conservative interests are embroiled in a disinformation campaign to spin people into believing global warming doesn't exist, which Gore says is one of the reasons it's hard to get action on the issue. But a scientist cited by the campaign says it is using the information to confuse and mislead people.

More interestingly, Krugman offers this insight about how the issue of global warming is a test of our national character:

"Since 2000, we've seen what happens when people who aren't interested in the facts, who believe what they want to believe, sit in the White House. Osama bin Laden is still at large, Iraq is a mess, New Orleans is a wreck. And, of course, we've done nothing about global warming.

"But can the sort of person who would act on global warming get elected? Are we — by which I mean both the public and the press — ready for political leaders who don't pander, who are willing to talk about complicated issues and call for responsible policies? That's a test of national character. I wonder whether we'll pass."

Now Democrats & Progressives Have to Run on Real Issues

As the 2006 Congressional races have kicked into full gear, Democrats have been salivating at the prospect of running against the so-called “culture of corruption” of GOP-dominated Washington. However, three recent controversies - inside and outside the Beltway - involving Southern and Mid-Atlantic Democrats, could nullify the efficacy of this strategy altogether.

First, West Virginia Rep. Alan Mollohan (D) came under investigation for directing contributions to nonprofit organizations linked to his campaign contributors. Next, Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson (D) had his Capitol Hill office raided by the FBI. Now, the Washington Post is reporting that Doug Duncan, the chief executive of Maryland’s largest locality – Montgomery County – and one of the two high-profile candidates for the Democratic nomination for that state’s governorship, is returning campaign contributions that are "related to or affiliated with" disgraced DC lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Though each situation presents a different set of facts, and likely different outcomes, they all point to the fact that no political party has a monopoly on virtue or vice. Given the rules of the game, impropriety or the appearance thereof is merely a matter of degrees and who is in power. In a region like the South, where Republicans and conservatives are the dominant forces and “running against Washington” is commonplace, the corruption angle is probably not a ballot-box winner outside of a few specific districts.

In light of these emerging scandals, real or imagined, it would seem like a good opportunity for Democratic and progressive politicians, to actually offer alternative policy solutions and ideas that appeal to voters and to not simply cast themselves as more ethically sound than Republicans and conservatives. As the 2004 presidential race showed, merely presenting your party and candidates as the opposite of others is not enough; standing for something substantive is much more important.

Arkansas primary election recap

Arkansas held its partisan primary elections yesterday, and their significance in the Southern regional context is the likelihood that Arkansas will remain among the only Democratic Party strongholds below the Mason-Dixon line.

The evidence lies in a number of areas. First of all, Democratic primary voter turnout far outnumbered that on the Republican side, reflecting voter identification that will surely be a factor in the November general election.

Also, the Republicans show signs of erasing the progress they made in the last decade, when they elected the first Republican U.S. senator from Arkansas since reconstruction (Tim Hutchinson, in 1996), and controlled the governor's mansion and the lieutenant governor's office from 1996 to the present with the administration of Mike Huckabee and Win Rockefeller. Hutchinson was defeated by U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor in 2002, and Huckabee and Rockefeller are term-limted and will leave office in January.

This year, the Republicans are going back to their old losing model, when they nominated radically conservative candidates from Northwest Arkansas, where their marginal voting base is concentrated. Their nominees for the three top state offices (governor, lt. governor and attorney general), all fit that description, which will make it difficult for them to appeal beyond the small pool of voters who cast ballots in the Republican primary.

The Democrats already are certain to maintain commanding majorities in both houses of the state legislature, and they are expected to hold on to some lower state constitutional offices. So if they sweep the top three offices, the party will dominate state government.

In that sense, Arkansas is an interesting exception to recent Southern political history, during which traditional Democratic voters converted to the Republican party in response to social and cultural appeals. Republicans in Arkansas clearly thought the same transformation was inevitable in Arkansas, and they had reason to believe things were moving in that direction. But all signs point to a rollback of Republican gains this year and the re-establishment of Democratic dominance in state government.

Another mill closes

Georgia-based Avondale Mills announced yesterday it was shutting down operations across three Southern states. That's bad news for 4,000 employees who will lose their jobs.

State government officials from Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia now must roll up their sleeves to absorb the job losses. While the timing may be a bit of a shock, the news isn't unexpected. The South has been wrestling with mill closures for decades.

Tommy Muszall, a South Carolina resident whose small town was devastated by the announcement, sums it up:

"I think half of these buildings probably going to shut down. ... They ain't going to have anybody around here. ... People got to go somewhere else to find a job."

Blogs increasing in political importance

Over the past couple of days, we've seen a couple of stories that suggest people are picking up on the political importance of blogs.

Rob Christensen, political columnist for The (Raleigh) News and Observer highlighted the growing importance of "netroots" in a Sunday piece. He focused on two well-known Democratic blog-kings (Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos fame and Jerome Armstrong of Howard Dean's campaign):

Their view is that the Democratic Party has become too reliant on corporate contributions, too self-satisfied and too dependent on a few tired Beltway strategists.

Their underlying thesis is that the country needs "an authentic and populist democratic movement to crash the gate and save our nation."

Meanwhile today, a national story from the Associated Press that made front pages of some Southern newspapers noted there will be a big increase in Net politics in the coming political season:

Strategists in both parties say the drive to use new media is simple: It's cheap and easy, and more and more people are connected.

According to a survey after the last presidential election, reliance on the Internet for political news during the 2004 contest grew sixfold when compared with 1996.

At the same time, the Pew Research Center poll showed that 40 percent of Internet users found the Web important in helping them decide for whom to vote.

Strangling state usury laws

We've mentioned several times on this blog the epidemic of payday lending in the South and how it contributes to a cycle of poverty across the region.

Today comes word of a proposed federal law that would endrun Arkansas’s constitutional limit on interest rates for all but the payday lenders. According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article:

The federal Regulatory Relief Bill with the Arkansas provision included easily passed the House. The provision would allow nonbank lenders — automobile dealers and retailers, for example — to charge the same interest rates that banks in Arkansas can charge. ...

If it passes, the law would make the Arkansas Constitution’s interest rate limitation moot for all businesses except for payday lenders, who are exempted from the proposed congressional change and still would be bound by the constitution’s ceiling on interest rates.

Consumer advocates say the change would forever end Arkansans’ right to set limits on usurious interest rates.

“It’s completely outrageous for any state that has the rights to set their own interest rates to be pre-empted by the United States,” said Margot Saunders, who is of counsel with the National Consumer Law Center in Washington. “Arkansas would go from the most protected state in the country [as far as usury law] to being worse off than 49 other states.”

Local Election Serves as Political Lesson for Growing South

This week, the Independent of Durham outlines the recent Chatham County Commissioners race. The Democratic primary on May 2nd ushered in a new era for North Carolina's largest county (sq. miles). The details of the race should be of interest to all Southerners living in traditionally rural areas facing the rapid expansion of suburbs and commercial development. The conflict between growth and comfort was the central campaign issue for the newly elected commissioners

The three candidates, supported by a wide grassroots effort and an umbrella PAC of citizens' groups called the Chatham Coalition, campaigned on a platform of putting land-use plans in place to direct and shape growth patterns in ways that protect the county's quality of life and its natural resources. They proposed specific planning tools like a "major corridor plan" to define what the county's main highways should look like--before they are overtaken by an endless strip of strip malls--and financial measures such as a land-transfer tax to help pay for county services for newcomers.

The key concept promoted by the new commissioners is that of "smart growth." Too often, developers are given free reign in counties struggling economically. While the tax base is expanded, often the traditional way of life and natural beauty is destroyed and neglected. Environmental issues are also integral to this political debate. Frequently, moneyinterestssts prevail through campaign financing.

The Democratic primary was a resounding defeat for those who stand to profit from fewer regulations and industry-sympathetic public policies that have so far governed Chatham's building boom--large landowners, developers, homebuilders and real estate attorneys, many from outside Chatham County. Throughout the spring, they propped up Morgan's unsuccessful re-election bid with big money and indignant public defenses of their candidates in full-page newspaper ads.

A few days before the election, Morgan reported $13,500 in campaign donations--all from professionals in the building and real estate industry in Wake County. He did not report one dollar from a single Chathamite, but folks like Cary's Robert D. Swain gave him the maximum of $4,000. Swain partners with Raleigh real estate magnate Tommy Fonville in large-scale Chatham projects. The pair's recent deals include selling 400 acres that will become "The Parks at Meadowview" subdivision to a Charlotte developer for $9 million in February, according to county land records.

The grassroots effort in Chatham County should give hope to those in other counties and regions facing frequently overwhelming commercial and real estate development.

Bynum resident Roland McReynolds, one of the coalition's leaders, put it this way: "This election is proof positive that citizens can stand up to powerful moneyed interests and successfully demand government that nurtures and strengthens the people it serves."

Southern Hispanic population growing fast

The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics reports: "the states with the fastest growing Hispanic population are Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee; these same four states lead the nation in increases in the number of total live births among Hispanic mothers."

According to an AP story about the report:

Hispanic births are skyrocketing in the Southeast, where an increase of at least 40 percent was recorded in five states between 2000 and 2003, according to a new government report.

Among the states with the largest increases were Kentucky (80 percent), South Carolina (62 percent), Alabama (53 percent), Tennessee (53 percent) and Arkansas (40 percent), the report found. ...

[T]he relative increase in the Southeast states is notable, and may have implications for health-care facilities and state budgets, particularly if some or many Hispanic families are uninsured.

Southern innovation summit set for June

From the Southern Growth Policies Board:

The Southern Innovation Summit will focus on the creation, accumulation and application of knowledge for the South's businesses, universities, citizens and governments, and develop strategies for increasing innovation as part of the South's economic growth policies. The conference will feature the release of the 2006 Report on the Future of the South, with keynotes and panel discussions featuring Southern Growth Chairman, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco; Southern Technology Chairman, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue; Missouri Governor Matt Blunt; Tennessee Representative Zach Wamp, champion of the East Tennessee Technology Corridor; Ping Fu, Inc. Magazine's 2005 Entrepreneur of the Year and Chairman and CEO of Geomagic; Dr. Walter Massey, President of Morehouse College and former director of the National Science Foundation as well as key researchers and strategists from universities and innovation centers from across the country.

More: View the agenda

Study Examines Red and Blue States

A recent article in the New York Times outlines a new academic paper from Harvard University. The paper, "Myths and Realities of American Political Geography," by the Harvard economists, Edward L. Glaeser and Bryce A. Ward examines the deep rooted political differences between the “Red” and “Blue” states. One of the most notable findings of the study is that religion is now a better indicator of political inclination than income.

The most remarkable phenomenon is the rise of religion in politics. Thirty years ago, income was a better prediction of party affiliation than church attendance, but this is no longer true. Religion also played a big role in politics a century ago, so we may well be returning to the historical norm.

This correlation may explain the recent success of Republicans in the highly-religious South.

…the biggest effect seems to be the correlation between religion and Republicanism. Among white voters who attend religious services at least once a week, 71 percent voted Republican in the last election, according to the Pew survey.

The findings of the study appear to simply validate what many politicos have recognized over the last 40 years. The analysis of the Republican party is accurate, but rather obvious.

Republicans have traditionally appealed to those with higher incomes. The genius of Republicans, beginning with Ronald Reagan and continuing with Karl Rove, was to bring the religious vote into their party, forming a winning coalition of Main Street businessmen, the very wealthy and evangelical Christians. Strange bedfellows, to be sure, but they win elections.

The problem with the marriage between business and religion is that often the two contradict one another. Specifically, in the South, this union does not adequately serve the needs of poor Southerners attracted by the religious element of the party. The tendency of churchgoers to vote Republican is disturbing. No political party should have a monopoly on religion. Overall, this study is a worthwhile read, but fails to introduce many new ideas.

State Employee's Blog Comments Draw Ire of Local & State Officials

One of Virginia’s leading bloggers and commentators, Will Vehrs has run afoul of state politicians and local economic developers due to comments made in jest on leading blog on which he is a major contributor. Noted for its strong conservative stances and a humorous weekly caption contest, the Commonwealth Conservative blog is one of the most popular in Old Dominion. Vehrs, an official with one of Virginia’s state economic development agencies, submitted several entries, all under the auspices of good fun. That fun quickly turned into a little tempest.

Some of the state’s leading bloggers have offered their take on the matter, mostly coming to Vehr’s defense, while acknowledging that he demonstrated questionable judgment. To his credit, Vehrs quickly offered a heartfelt apology, but that failed to satisfy some local leaders in hard-pressed areas of Martinsville and Henry County. The stakes were raised even higher when state legislators representing the offended region called on Gov. Tim Kaine to ask for Vehrs' resignation.

How this matter plays out should be of interest to all public employees who engage in blogging and opinion writing unrelated to their jobs. If Vehrs is forced to resign, such an action could send chills throughout the Commonwealth's civil service community. This situation raises the issue of how far free speech protections extend to public employees not acting in an official capacity. It also calls into question the extent to which elected officials and local leaders should go in exercising their respective bully pulpits. Without a doubt, this will be a lesson for Mr. Vehrs and the larger blogging community, especially those who do so during work hours. Though cooler heads may eventually prevail, this situation seems far from over.

Curtailing press freedoms

Last week, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said his office will no longer deal with the Arkansas Times because he says the newspaper is not "a legitimate news organization." He removed its reporters from lists through which they received press releases, press conference notifications, etc., and Huckabee's staff won't talk to Times reporters or answer their emails.

His action has received a lot of national attention, including write-ups in U.S. News and World Report, the New Republic, Columbia Journalism Review and several widely-read blogs (Atrios named Huckabee "Wanker of the Day" yesterday). UPDATE: The political blog Wonkette added an item about the situation today.

In response, Huckabee defended his action in a long essay posted yesterday on his government website. Arkansas Times editor Max Brantley answered it here.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which is the state's largest and only statewide daily newspaper, today criticized Huckabee's action in its editorial.

When a government official can decide which news organizations are "legitimate" and thereby deserving of basic, publicly-funded information services, everyone's press freedoms are threatened.

What is pork?

While many Southerners can appreciate the taste of fine country ham, there's another kind of "pork" that can raise political rankles from sea to shining sea.

The practice of Congressional earmarks, often called pork-barrel spending, is derided by some groups as glorified vote-purchasing -- members of Congress designate projects for federal spending in their home districts and insert them into larger spending bills -- sometimes anonymously, sometimes in highly unrelated bills.

To be sure, there are numerous egregious examples of earmarks gone bad, with Alaska Rep. Don Young (R) and the "Bridge to Nowhere" being a most recent example.

But part of Tennessee's Democratic Congressional delegation today made their earmark goals for the coming year public, as noted by a story in today's Tennessean. While even those within the group publicizing the often-secret requests disagree as to the merits of the earmark system, their forthcoming step shows a tacit knowledge that not all local projects are merely worthless "pork." Rep. Jim Cooper (D) was quoted in the article:

"Earmarks (the special funding projects) can be spent wisely, but there is no safeguard," Cooper said. "I think a process so open to abuse has to be curbed."

And wise spending is the key.

In many areas, especially in the South, local governments are strapped for cash, and local resources are in desperate need of improvement. Where there's a need, it is often only the federal government who can meet it. While bridges to nowhere when a ferry service would do are in the extreme, projects from dam improvements on the Tennessee River to community centers in cities like Atlanta, Nashville and Birmingham make a difference in our economy and the lives of thousands of citizens.

So let's be realistic when we talk about the evils of "pork" spending, and recognize that the earmark process needs to be cleaned up, not eliminated. Before you condemn it all, sit back, take a bite of that country ham, and remind yourself that not all government spending is wasteful.