Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, struggling to close an estimated $325 million budget hole, has engaged in an open war of words with the city's public employee unions.
At a press conference Thursday, the mayor said resistance from the American Federation of State, Council and Municipal Employees to renegotiated contracts was costing the city $500,000 per month.
"Either they can't read or they can't add or they can't comprehend -- it has to be one of the three," Bing said.
The union shot back, in a press release, claiming Bing was attempting to establish "autocratic rule" over the city and added: "Apparently, Mayor Bing can't or won't read the law, or he can't comprehend the law and his duties. Either way, he is a disgrace to the City of Detroit, and owes an apology to the hardworking families he has insulted while venting his spleen."
What's causing this fuss? The mayor is seeking a 10% pay cut by requiring the estimated 3,600 workers to take 26 furlough days and lose some fringe benefits.
Here's the funny part. The unions aren't upset about the pay cuts, according to the Detroit News:
Union officials say they understand the city's precarious finances and are willing to commit to the furlough days. But they say the city hasn't made a case for many of the fringe benefit changes they want, including changes to vacation, sick time and health care.
And what exactly are those fringe benefits? They include suspending tuition reimbursement until 2012, eliminating bonus vacation days for not calling in sick, no longer letting employees add adult dependents (parents or adult children) to their health care plans and dropping coverage for fertility or impotency drugs such as Viagra. The final item alone reportedly costs the city $1.6 million a year.
AFSCME has resisted the cuts by calling for "fact-finding" missions first, a right that Bing concedes he has to abide by. The process is expected to drag on until at least July, by which time Detroit could be $2.5 million deeper in the hole.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2010 00:00 ||
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#4
High stakes for AFSCME. By making the issue so public other mayors will start to consider going up against the Union. It's popular with non-union voters in an economy where they are suffering layoffs and their masters at AFSCME fight for ED medication. And once one municipality wins big in a high profile case, more will join. Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of thugs.
#5
But they say the city hasn't made a case for many of the fringe benefit changes they want, including changes to vacation, sick time and health care.
Because, of course, all these things are absolutely free for the city and don't cost the taxpayers a dime, right?
#6
I can image the "Do you know who I am" echoing down the halls from the Mayor's office and the council chambers. File under Red on Red.
Not quite. Dave Bing doesn't fit the traditional racebaiting sleezebag mold typified by former Detroit mayors like long-term Coleman Young and convicted felon-mayor Kwame Kirkpatrick. Bing does not appear overtly corrupt and being a businessman apparently understands budgets which is why he is banging heads with the unions. Lots of rice bowls in danger of being broken.
Detroit need fixing. He seems to have the will. The question is political muscle. I wish him luck.
#7
SteveS is right, Bing is unlike his predeccessors in many regards - I'll give hime the benefit of the doubt. Dennis Archer tried to fix detroit but was often stymied by that clown show in the city council...youtube detroit city council and see that fat woman wearing the tiara and you'll know what I mean - truly surreal.
#9
It needs to be emphasized that Bing has actually run a business, made a profit & had employees. It also needs to be emphasized that Detroit has a rapidly shrinking income. The money ain't there, and is not likely to be there any time soon. All of the unions' blustering and complaining isn't going to change that painful fact.
#10
You also need to understand that almost all city programs are seen as job programs first and services second. The unions and the recipients of city services will not allow anything to change. Bing should take the city into Chapter 9. Shuffle the cards and start over.
Posted by: Formerly Dan ||
02/27/2010 11:10 Comments ||
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#10 You also need to understand that almost all city programs are seen as job programs first and services second. Dan
Posted by: Caesar Gluter6816 ||
02/27/2010 11:50 Comments ||
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Chapter 9 makes Bing look weak. He has to rely on a Judge to get concessions from the union, and as soon as they are out, the union starts looking for clawback.
And Bing wants to do some pretty courageous things like throwing people out of perfectly good houses in perfectly horrible neighborhoods so that the land can be unincorporated and returned to agricultural use. I doubt any BK judge will sign up for that.
So Bing needs to win a fight now to build his power and reputation to avoid having future fights come to blows. It's hard to imagine a less sympathetic opponent than AFSCME. Winning will make school boards and poor old residents and squatters think twice about fighting instead of taking his deal.
With no signs of compromise from either side in President Obama's health summit, Democrats prepared a final partisan push for their massive health care plan.
After House and Senate lawmakers wrapped up the six-hour gabfest, comments of participants showed neither side was ready to give an inch on the major philosophical differences.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said after the meeting she is "not overly optimistic," any Republicans will vote yes on a bill.
Republicans confirmed she was right to be pessimistic. "The core problem is this," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said as he left the summit. "We don't think a 2,700 page bill that cuts a half-trillion dollars out of Medicare and raises taxes by a half trillion dollars and drives insurance premiums up is a good idea."
Nothing at the summit convinced Republicans to put aside their demand that Democrats scrap the current $1 trillion bill and start over. And Democrats appeared unmoved by a GOP plea to scale back the bill and incorporate ideas like tort reform favored by Republicans.
Democrats remain poised to move ahead on the Senate health care reform bill, which would mandate insurance coverage, expand Medicaid significantly, and use tax increases and Medicare cuts to pay for it. They will attempt to pass it in the House first then tweak it with changes recommended by President Obama. Then, Democrats will try to pass a new bill using the parliamentary tactic known as reconciliation, which would require 51 votes rather than the usual 60.
"The fact is we are going to move forward," Pelosi said, adding that Democrats should not be deterred by opposition to the use of reconciliation, which the GOP calls the nuclear option. "We have to have the courage to get things done."
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas., who attended the summit, said afterward Republicans would be willing to sit down with Democrats "if they were willing to change their model," but that he does not expect that to happen.
In the closing minutes of the marathon event, Obama instructed both sides to return to the Capitol and determine whether they could work on some areas of disagreement, including how many people should be covered under health care reform. The Democratic plan would add 30 million people to the rolls of the insured, while the less expensive GOP proposal would cover just three million.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Gobsmacked I am, totally gobsmacked. The dem's body language and the lofty chin and nose plane of President Soetoro... I was sure they were full of.... of.... of..... yes, that's it, ooptimisms.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/27/2010 11:07 Comments ||
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Posted by: Caesar Gluter6816 ||
02/27/2010 11:19 Comments ||
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The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 22% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21. That matches the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for President Obama.
The only other time the Approval Index was this low came in late December as the U.S. Senate prepared to approve its version of health care reform
Heh. Please, more media exposure.
Posted by: ed ||
02/27/2010 11:43 Comments ||
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for Saturday shows that 22% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President.
He's catching up to Bob. Only 19% of Zimbabweans approve of Robert Mugabe's performance. Mind the 3 point margin of error in either direction.
The Democratic National Committee's Organizing for America has quietly launched an initiative aimed at making Obama supporters' voices heard on the largely conservative airwaves.
"The fate of health reform has been a focus of debate in living rooms and offices, on TV and online -- and on talk radio. And since millions of folks turn to talk radio as a trusted source of news and opinions, we need to make sure OFA supporters are calling in with a pro-reform message," says the introduction to the online tool.
The online tool presents users with a radio show discussing political topics, to which supporters can listen live, and the phone number for that station, for when health care comes up. It also offers tips for callers and talking points on the issue.
My quick sampling produced Christian radio, a local talk station in Buffalo, and the syndicated talk shows of Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Sean Hannity -- who will no doubt be thrilled with their new, liberal callers.
Supporters are then encouraged to report back on their encounters.
TechPresident's Nancy Scola writes that the program is a product of a new push inside the organization to develop new software tools to give supporters "achievable, tangible tasks to do that fit into the nooks and crannies of their day to day lives."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2010 00:00 ||
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More desperation, progressive psyops campaigns. Moving web trolls to conservative radio are they? Careful screening and caller ID should render this technique ineffective.
#2
Howie Carr (Boston's AM 680, WRKO) mentioned that he was on the list, though I didn't hear any moonbats successfully get on the air yesterday during his last two hours.
There are two problems here for the Turfers - conservative talk show hosts feast on such calls, and (probably) drive up ratings because of the added entertainment value. I doubt this plan was well thought out, nor will it be successful.
#3
When they call, they're put into the line. While on the line, they have to actually listen to the show. Doing so they 1 - hear their fellow travelers being ripped to shreds for handing in the same homework and stand there without any rational discourse to continue to blindly follow the talking points and 2 - they're actually hearing, for once, what the other side is saying, other then being told what they said by Big Brother. And it's no fun having to wait for half an hour just for your Two Minutes of Hate(c) exercise.
#4
...oh, and welcome to being cannon fodder. Consider this a warm up to where your handlers are going to push you soon enough for them to retain their POWER.
#5
Careful screening and caller ID should render this technique ineffective.
These nutters frequently go to the front of the line because the hosts love to make hash of them. The hosts practice their trade 15 hours per week, on air and a lot longer off. They are prepared and welcome the chum who practiced for 10 minutes before calling and are easily thrown off script to look stoopid. They liven up the program and get the blood of the regular listeners flowing.
#6
Andrew Wilkow (one of my favorite talkshow hosts) gives libs front of line priveleges so he can skewer them. BTW - why is it that so male libs always always have that lispy weak voice? They always sounds like an english prof who took too many valium...
#11
Report back. I'd love to read some of those...
"He made me cry."
"He is a thought criminal who must be reeducated! Please put him on the list!"
"He convinced me that this health reform plan is wrong and I don't support it anymore."
"I called. Can you send me a free 40 and some scratch tickets now?"
"He must be killed! I admonished him for his "hate speech"!"
"I called, but mom said she had to use the phone, so I had to hang up."
"I pointed out that this is all Bushitler/Cheney's fault and hung up to savor my victory over the right wing hate machine."
Rep. Charlie Rangel's lawyers are firing back at the House ethics committee, saying the panel was "wrong on the facts and unsupported by the law."
In a letter to the ethics panel on Friday afternoon, Rangel's attorneys complained that the committee erred in admonishing the veteran New York Democrat for failing to know two trips to the Caribbean were corporate-funded, a violation of House rules. The ethics committee found that two Rangel aides knew about the source of funding for the trips, but it found no evidence that Rangel himself was aware of that fact.
Rangel was the only one of six lawmakes sanctioned for participating in the trips, which were sponsored by the Carib News Foundation.
The Standards Committee report holds "Congressman Rangel accountable under the rules for errors by his staff, even though it acknowledges that he did not know of those errors," said Leslie Kieman and Jason Knott of the law firm Zuckerman Spaeder. "The Committee's conclusion is wrong on the facts and unsupported by the law."
Kieman and Knott also complained that Rangel did not have adequate time to respond to the committee's lengthy report on its investigation.
"Rather, by the time the report was first made available to Congressman Rangel, the findings of the Committee had already been improperly leaked to the public. Releasing the report on less than a day's notice compounds this unfairness by presenting the public with a one-sided and incomplete account of the events," Kieman and Knott added. "Ethics matters are too important to be handled in this fashion."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2010 00:00 ||
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and if there is anyone who knows about being "wrong on the facts and unsupported by the law." it's Charlie Rangel.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
02/27/2010 3:51 Comments ||
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White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers will leave her post next month, according to the White House, months after she drew criticism for a major security breach at a state dinner in November.
The leading candidate to replace Rogers is Julianna Smoot, currently chief of staff for U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and the financial director for President Barack Obama's campaign, according to a senior administration official.
Rogers, who plans to return to the corporate world, became one of the administration's most high-profile staffers. A friend of both Obamas dating back to Chicago, she appeared in the pages of Vogue, on the cover of the Wall Street Journal magazine and was in the front row during last year's New York Fashion Week.
But it was a blast of unwelcome publicity -- the gate-crashers at Obama's first state dinner -- that put Rogers into the national spotlight. After Tareq and Michaele Salahi got into the dinner and shook hands with the president, all apparently without an invitation, Rogers's handling of security for the event came under fire.
Rogers was criticized for failing to post someone from the East Wing at a security checkpoint. The White House defended her, placing full blame on the Secret Service, yet a subsequent investigation led to procedural changes.
When asked if she was hit hard by the resignation, longtime friend and White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett told POLITICO in an e-mail: "No, it didn't hit me hard. Desiree never intended to stay more than about a year."
"She has made a tremendous contribution, and I completely respect her decision to return to the private sector," Jarrett added.
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, blasted the White House in December for declining to have Rogers testify in the congressional probe into the state dinner security breach. King, asked if he will now call Rogers to testify, told POLITICO through his spokesman: "No further comment on Desiree Rogers; I wish her well."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2010 00:00 ||
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"No, it didn't hit me hard. Desiree never intended to stay more than about a year."
Really, show me the proof of that. No one ever goes to the White House especially with the first American American president with the intention to stay one year.
Posted by: Caesar Gluter6816 ||
02/27/2010 11:32 Comments ||
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Good lord! Someone please put in a call to Judith Martin (aka Miss Manners), to see if she'll take the job, at least temporarily. She was, I think, Director of Protocol for one of the presidents -- Bush, Sr perhaps? -- and would take a firm hand on matters that need to be handled very firmly indeed. Social secretaries do not swan about at fashion shows, they invisibly make sure things go as they ought. Ms Rogers was a fool to take the job, and President Obama even more of a fool to offer it to her. He would have been better off demonstrating his friendship in the traditional way, by making her ambassador to Jamaica or the Czech Republic Viet Nam... somewhere the parties are good, the shopping for native artifacts fabulous, and the responsibilities non-existent. (Important things actually happen in the Czech Republic nowadays, so that absolutely wouldn't do.)
After the Democrats regained control of the House in 2006, Nancy Pelosi promised NBC's Brian Williams that she would "drain the swamp" and "turn this Congress into the most honest and open Congress in history." So when news broke that a House Ethics committee found that long time New York Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel accepted corporate money for trips to the Carribean one would think Williams would be all over the story -- he wasn't.
On Thursday's NBC Nightly News Williams completely ignored the charges, as did ABC's World News Tonight. Of the three broadcast network evening news shows, only Williams' competitors at CBS Evening News covered the Rangel scandal as Katie Couric reported Rangel "broke House rules," and Nancy Cordes told viewers he could be "censured," but didn't tell them that he was a Democrat.
Williams' NBC News colleague Amy Robach did mention the investigation into Rangel's wrongdoing, the next morning on the Today show, but omitted Rangel's party affiliation in the one and only story aired on the morning show.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2010 00:00 ||
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NBC does not wish to anger the CBC. Nothing much new here.
#2
See, by being a Donk you're given dispensation from the crimes of lesser mortals. The MSM is great on issuing Indulgences to members of the inner party.
#3
Isn't it time we disabused ourselves of the notion that people reading the news on TV are 'journalists'? Not that being a journalist is something to aspire to these days.
Chris Matthews, during a special post-health care summit two hour edition of Hardball on Thursday night, dissected the GOP strategy as one of keeping their "crazies" like Michele Bachman and Joe Wilson, "in the closet" and mocked that their "rehearsed" phrases made them sound like a "North Korean assembly" and exclaimed it was "an example of Pyongyang democracy, which is "What the Dear Leader told us to recite."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2010 00:00 ||
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What a tool. If Olbermann ever gets kicked out of MSNBC, Mathews can take over the role of lead whackjob.
#2
Hey, he's gotta get the attention while he can. Once the Olympics are over and the curling fans stop tuning in, PMSNBC will be lucky to get any ratings love from the public.
#4
Hey, he's gotta get the attention while he can. Once the Olympics are over and the curling fans stop tuning in, PMSNBC will be lucky to get any ratings love from the public.
NBCU just got bought out by Comcast, who certainly wants to pay for their new acquisition.
Posted by: Angomp Prince of the French3259 ||
02/27/2010 11:55 Comments ||
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Rogers, 50, told the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday that she was leaving because she had achieved a major goal of the Obamas: turning the White House into the "people's house" by opening it up to many of those who normally do not get to visit.
Well, from the picture above, she certainly did that...
"She is loved by the Obamas and part of the Chicago White House gang, but it became apparent Desiree was totally in over her head in her role as White House social secretary," a top Dem source said."Desiree was under-prepared and broke the cardinal rules of the job: Keep your head down, work your ass off and do not permit the camera to focus on you," added the source, who is familiar with the inner workings of the White House.
"She was the wrong pick in the first place," the source said.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, struggling to close an estimated $325 million budget hole, has engaged in an open war of words with the city's public employee unions.
The Democratic National Committee's Organizing for America has quietly launched an initiative aimed at making Obama supporters' voices heard on the largely conservative airwaves.
Rep. Charlie Rangel's lawyers are firing back at the House ethics committee, saying the panel was "wrong on the facts and unsupported by the law."
White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers will leave her post next month, according to the White House, months after she drew criticism for a major security breach at a state dinner in November.
After the Democrats regained control of the House in 2006, Nancy Pelosi promised NBC's Brian Williams that she would "drain the swamp" and "turn this Congress into the most honest and open Congress in history." So when news broke that a House Ethics committee found that long time New York Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel accepted corporate money for trips to the Carribean one would think Williams would be all over the story -- he wasn't.
Chris Matthews, during a special post-health care summit two hour edition of Hardball on Thursday night, dissected the GOP strategy as one of keeping their "crazies" like Michele Bachman and Joe Wilson, "in the closet" and mocked that their "rehearsed" phrases made them sound like a "North Korean assembly" and exclaimed it was "an example of Pyongyang democracy, which is "What the Dear Leader told us to recite."
