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posted by Steve Sebelius
Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Ready for a few random musings about stuff? Here we go!
- U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, who was unconscionably excluded from a Fox News debate to which former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was invited, ended up coming in just behind Giuliani in the New Hampshire primary. (Final tally: Giuliani 9 percent, Paul, 8 percent.)
- Hey, UNLV professors! Do you want to know where your merit pay went? Try the Officially Rendundant Jack Bauer Command Center, the brainchild of would-be commander-in-chief Gov. Jim Gibbons. Don’t press that red button, Jim!
- OK, scheduling a discussion of budget cuts is a start, but now that the attorney general and the secretary of state know they can outvote Gov. Jim Gibbons on the state prisons board, how about breaking bad on a state department head who refuses requests for information from state elected officials (both of whom, by the way, outpolled Gibbons in 2006!)?
- The other union that endorsed Obama.
- We really enjoyed this story about "digital storytelling" in journalism, even if it means there’s going to be a pack of young people streaming out of Greenspun Hall on the UNLV campus able to use digital cameras, audio recorders and the Internet to make videos, slide shows, podcasts and other fancy things, while we at Various Things & Stuff are still trying to illustrate the news using Mr. Stick Man and his faithful companion, Stick Kitty. Look, here they are at the beach…!
posted by Steve Sebelius
Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008 at 11:11 AM
The Culinary Union Local 226 has endorsed U.S. Sen. Barack Obama for president, which we all knew because pundits said so yesterday. This is so like opening a present on Christmas morning when you already know you got the new X-box. Anyway, here’s what the union said in its statement:
"Barack Obama began his career organizing working families who were trying
to pick up their lives as their industries were leaving them behind. As he
entered politics, we knew that he would understand our members and we
supported him from the start," explained General President Bruce Raynor.
"Our organization and our members will do everything in our power to see
that he reaches the White House this fall, because we know he will bring
working Americans with him."
And by "from the start," Raynor of course means from the "start" of his career until he announced for president, and then starting again after the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary when they saw he could get some votes. And he also means that the union also liked former Sen. John Edwards, but not anymore, since he can’t get that many votes.
More? OK.
Since the day he took a job in Chicago fighting for families who had been
devastated by steel plant closings over two decades ago, Senator Obama has
been a champion of working Americans. He marched with striking workers at
Chicago’s Congress Plaza Hotel picket line as a state senator and U.S.
senator. He spoke at the founding convention of UNITE HERE in 2004, and he
has worked extensively with the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 in Nevada
supporting their latest contract campaign. As president, he will fight for
and sign into law the Employee Free Choice Act, an increase in the minimum
wage, and affordable health care for every American.
And you know who else pledged to walk the picket line with the Culinary and would sign the Employee Free Choice Act, an increase in the minimum wage and affordable health care for every American? All the other Democratic candidates!
How about some more?
"Barack Obama is not a fair-weather friend to working Americans, he has been
there when the going gets rough, on the picket line with hotel workers again
and again and there when we need him," says President/Hospitality Industries
John Wilhelm. "Even among this impressive field of candidates, we are proud
to offer him our support in this election, and eager to help him win."
Oh, it’s not Obama who’s a fair-weather friend, Mr. Wilhelm….
And finally, one more, from our own D. Taylor:
"Barack Obama has shown us that he understands our members’ struggles and
dreams," explained D. Taylor, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Culinary
Workers Union Local 226. "He stood with our union in every step of our
recent contract negotiations and showed us that he too understands that
organizing and bringing people together is how we move forward. We want to
make the American dream we have established in Las Vegas a reality for the
entire country and we think that Senator Obama will take us there."
And you know what? Taylor is right: Obama will work to do all the things he promises. But the Barack Obama of today and the Barack Obama of Jan. 1 are the exact same guy. So why not endorse him on Jan. 1 (or even before that?), especially since the union supported him "from the start"? What’s the difference?
Iowa, baby, and second place in New Hampshire.
Now, however, the union is going to have to work hard to make sure its endorsement turns into a reality of an Obama win in the Silver State. Because now the union’s reputation as a political force is on the line, in a contest that’s far from Obama’s to lose. It’s going to be 11 days of fun, people!
posted by Steve Sebelius
Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008 at 10:34 AM
For U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, going up against the Culinary machine is a daunting prospect. So, it’s most definitely an emergency. What’s under the glass?
U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, of course!
Berkley broke her promise of neutrality to endorse the New York senator, right before the Culinary Union Local 226 was expected to announce it’s late-in-the-game support for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. (That news conference is happening in a few minutes.)
Here’s the Official Berkley Quote from the Official Clinton Campaign News Release about the endorsement, clearly designed to keep the senator’s name in a news cycle dominated by the Culinary nod.
"When I first met Hillary years ago I was struck by the depth of her caring and knowledge of the concerns of my fellow Nevadans. And I have always been impressed that she is ready, able, and willing to take action. Her record against Yucca Mountain is 100 percent on the side of Nevada. I know firsthand her tenacious advocacy for family health care, veteran’s services, education, and affordable housing. And have no doubt Hillary Clinton has the strength, knowledge, courage, and vision to be a president who will lead by action to solve our great challenges at home and abroad."
So, there you have it. But make no mistake, people. The battle is most definitely joined, between Obama and his state organization, now buoyed by the Culinary nod, and Clinton’s disciplined machine in the state, buoyed by Berkley’s supporters.
The Culinary’s goal all the time was to back the winner. Because Clinton and Obama each have a victory in an early state, Nevada is now a tie-breaker. And the Culinary is going to work hard to ensure that it has backed a winner, just as Clinton is going to work hard to keep her early lead (according to polls) and put another victory under her belt going into South Carolina and then the Feb. 5 deciding day of voting.
posted by Steve Sebelius
Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008 at 10:22 AM
At first, we thought Mayor Oscar Goodman’s annual State of the City speech was going to be the same old thing. He talked about downtown, the 61 acres, a new City Hall and the revitalization of that area. He talked about green building, and touted two awards the city won in London for sustainability. He gave out some awards for urban design. He made his joke about gambling on cockroaches.
And then he hit some high notes.
"You have to have the courage to declare what kind of society we want," the mayor said. "We haven’t really had a voice. The city of Las Vegas has to be heard. … From this point forward, we’re going to be heard."
"Our tax system is broken," the mayor continued, noting the absurdity of cutting education budgets when so many students receive free or discounted meals at school, and when child welfare caseloads are more than twice the annual average.
"What are we supposed to do, look in the mirror and do nothing about it?" he asked. "Who are we kidding?"
Goodman didn’t outline a proposed solution to the broken tax system, but he did say that everybody — from business to banks to the gambling industry — needed to participate in the solution. (That sounds like a business tax to us!)
The mayor did make one minor mistake: He said that when the state was flush with cash in 2005, it should have banked a $300 million surplus instead of returning it to taxpayers via car registration refund checks. If that had happened, Goodman said, there would be no need to cut schools budgets now.
He’s right about the refund; it should have been saved. But even without it, we still don’t need to cut schools budgets now, as the amount Gov. Jim Gibbons has said must be trimmed from education could easily be covered by a check from the existing Rainy Day Fund.
The mayor’s initial step, convening a group of citizens to look at the issues and decide how best to address them, may seem like more of the same. But Goodman also said he’s committed to following through by continuing to talk about what he called an "unacceptable" state of affairs in Las Vegas. And if there’s one thing Goodman has proven he can do well, it’s get attention to issues by talking about them.
So, let’s do the list: We’ve got university Chancellor Jim Rogers saying the way things are is unacceptable. We’ve got heads of major gambling corporations like Terry Lanni (MGM Mirage), Keith Smith (Boyd Gaming) and Gary Loveman (Harrah’s) talking about a better tax system than the one we have now. We’ve got Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley talking about the insanity of cutting an already-thin schools budget and expecting it to produce quality students. And now we’ve got Goodman saying he’s sick of seeing the results at the local level of bad decisions being made at the state level.
Is it too much to hope that a groundswell is forming here? That leaders are finally going to level with their constituents, tell them its time to decide (as Goodman said) what kind of a city and state they want? That Nevada voters will take a hard look at the numbers and decide that good schools, good roads and a strong social safety net are finally worth paying for, and that everybody who benefits from those things needs to be part of the solution?
Call us a dreamer, but we think there may be something to it. And, since we’ve been writing about these issues for years, we couldn’t be happier to see it happen.
But as Goodman said, it’s going to take political will to get things going, including the will to overcome potential gubernatorial no-tax vetoes. That will will only come from people telling their lawmakers that they won’t vote for anybody who doesn’t promise to go to Carson City and fix things — starting in 2009, not at some point in the future. We’ve put off doing the right thing long enough. Maybe now is when it changes.
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