Grassroots officials stand up for the law

 

Bill Knight column for 12-7, 8 or 9, 2020

 Last week was disturbing and inspiring, and lesser-known officials became the “Avengers” against dark forces and enablers.

First, President Trump’s (recently pardoned) ex-National Security adviser Michael Flynn shared a message encouraging Trump to “temporarily suspend the Constitution,” “declare a limited form of martial law,” and “silence the destructive media.”

Also, Trump made a 46-minute video making unproven or false allegations about voter fraud; Trump lawyer and conspiracy theorist Joseph diGenova said cybersecurity expert Chris Krebs (who Trump fired because Krebs said the election was smooth and fair) should be “taken out and shot”; and Georgia Republican Gabriel Sterling criticized such calls for violence – one of a growing number of conscientious grassroots Republicans who are standing up for the law.

“This is the backbone of democracy,” said Sterling, a state voting-system manager citing threats to Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and a 20-year-old tech in Gwinnett County.

“All of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this,” he added. “It’s too much.”

U.S. Rep. Denver Riggleman, a Virginia Republican ousted by a more conservative primary challenger in June, acknowledged other threats.

“We have been tagged and called ‘traitors’ based on our use of data analytics, facts and common sense,” he said. It’s “time for a GOP that represents the core of America, not the manic fringes.”

He described servile GOP leaders as those whose “career is more important than the facts. It’s that simple.”

It’s not just Republicans. State Rep. Kathleen Willis, an Addison Democrat, also showed courage, announcing her opposition to Illinois’ Mike Madigan’s bid to retain his Speaker post.

State and local officials taking principled positions despite more prominent figures staying silent is outstanding. It’s not just because they’re defying bullies like Madigan and Trump, but that they’re bravely upholding the Constitution and laws, decency and democracy.

Madigan, 78, head of the Illinois Democratic Party for 22 years, has been Speaker since 1983 (except for 1995-97, when Republicans were the majority). Although he’s not been charged with a crime, he was implicated in alleged bribery that saw ComEd reportedly send $1.3 million to Madigan’s associates for doing little or no work for the corporation, federal prosecutors say.

Willis wasn’t the first Democrat to stand against the power broker, Starting with State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, a Marine, there have been 19 Dems in Springfield’s House to oppose him. Since Madigan needs 60 votes to get reelected Speaker, that means he’s already several votes shy.

“We need to put the distraction that has been created by Rep. Madigan behind us and move forward in mending the State of Illinois,” Willis said.

Mending – Illinois or political parties or the nation – apparently will depend on such conscientious public servants who may be relatively unknown to most of us but are far more heroic than “leaders” who go along with outrage, if not outright illegalities.

GOP leaders like Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy seem to be spineless . Elsewhere in Washington, a few such as Nebraska’s Ben Sasse and Utah’s Mitt Romney have stepped up, along with Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

Kinzinger, a 42-year-old Air National Guard veteran, communicated to Trump: “STOP spreading debunked misinformation. This is getting insane.”

In Arizona, Republican Clint Hickman, chair of Maricopa County’s Board of Supervisors, said he also was “concerned about the misinformation,” and Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers defended the decision to have electors accurately reflect a majority of votes going to Joe Biden, saying, “I took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona.”

In Michigan, Sterling Heights Mayor Michael Taylor, a Republican, wrote that Trump “is deliberately lying to Americans … in order to create uncertainty, fear and distrust.”

Republican Aaron Van Langevelde, a 40-year-old member of Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers that resisted Trump’s call to delay certifying Biden’s victory there, said, “As John Adams once said, ‘We are a government of laws, not men’.”

All of these officials may not save the GOP or Illinois’ Democratic Party, but they’re helping to save the country.

Conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg, author of “Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics Is Destroying American Democracy,” recently blasted national Republican politicians who say they’re conservatives.

“Whereas [William F.] Buckley’s generation saw the party as a tool for conservative gains, today’s ambitious Republicans see conservatism as a malleable tool for personal and partisan gain.”

Trump’s tantrums could inadvertently bring us together

 

Bill Knight column for 12-3, 4 or 5, 2020

As 2020 winds down, the world seems tired; America is exhausted after a year of pandemic, unrest about police violence, and an election that exploited our divisions. Common interests remain, of course, from patriotism and charity to optimism and the recognition of good neighbors of all political preferences.

The bull in the china shop is Donald Trump, and even his most devoted followers must be as weary as Joe Biden’s backers of countless tweets, unproven accusations and exaggerations that continue.

The Electoral College votes next week; Biden will be inaugurated next month. But recently Trump has implied the Justice Department and FBI were involved in election fraud, said he’ll leave the White House but won’t concede losing, and is reportedly considering holding a rally announcing his 2024 campaign DURING Biden’s inauguration.

With about 45 days until then, many anxious Americans wonder what else Trump will do.

Trump’s attorneys filed and lost lawsuits in several states, sought recounts and threatened not just challenges in the courts but disorder in the streets (despite Biden getting 6 million more votes).

Trump seems to be trying make Biden’s start difficult, and arguably risks long-lasting harm. Leaving behind environmental threats, an unchecked North Korea, and a flood of falsehoods, he delayed the transition, is purging government of “disloyal” people including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and cybersecurity agency head Chris Krebs, and is damaging the structure of the federal government.

He could fire more high-profile and lesser-known officials.

People Trump regards as insufficiently devoted to him include FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspel, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, our top infectious-disease expert for decades. (Technically, Fauci can’t be fired without the OK of National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, who said he won’t, so Collins may be out, too.)

Politically motivated purges could affect more than 100,000 federal workers, too, as Trump paved the way to eliminate tens of thousands of government employees. Two weeks before Election Day, Trump issued an executive order creating a new classification within the Civil Service giving him the power to fire anyone: scientists and economists, medical experts and lawyers, policymakers and regulators working in all areas of government, from foreign policy to infrastructure.

Since 1883, the Civil Service has been a buffer to patronage. Trump’s directive unilaterally opens the possibility of firings without cause. Of course, the real cause would be resentment of competent, independent professionals who report that climate change is real, that mask-wearing helps against the pandemic, and that some White House claims are hogwash, whether it’s Trump taking credit for an economy that he inherited or his insistence that hurricane Dorian threatened Alabama.

Besides abusing power to purge (or PARDON, in the case of Michael Flynn and who knows who else), recent weeks have seen:

* the administration issuing a rule freezing wages of some 250,000 farmworkers for years;

* Trump asking advisers if there were options for a military strike against Iran;

* the administration announcing rules to make it harder for disabled people to get Social Security and to jeopardize those already receiving SS Disability benefits;

* the feds reviving executions, with Orlando Hall’s killing the eighth federal execution since 2003 (actually, the eighth THIS YEAR), with five more scheduled before Inauguration Day, and suggesting a bringing back firing squads and electrocutions;

* the federal Comptroller of the Currency announcing a rule forcing banks to lend to oil companies despite risks;

* the administration withdrawing from the Open Skies treaty, a decades-old pact between 34 nations to cut the chance of accidental war by permitting aerial reconnaissance of those countries;

* the administration shutting down the Federal Reserve’s $650 billion emergency-loan program for medium-sized businesses and local governments;

* the White House limiting pension managers from considering social and environmental impacts in investments; and

* Trump seeking to weaken the Migratory Bird Treaty and rushing plans to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

 

Meanwhile, also next week, the White House must agree with Congress on spending, or another government shutdown could occur.

If all that takes your breath away, his conduct could have an unintended effect.

True, a YouGov poll of voters says 88% of Republicans think Trump won. But as National Audubon Society vice president Brian Rutledge told the Associated Press. “We’re going to see a real scorched-earth effort here at the tail end of the administration,” and Trump is boldly endangering public health, the planet, peace and the Constitution.

If Trump is really the Grifter-in-Chief, it may be a case of a con man who takes the scam too far.

Americans’ outrage could create an ironic twist: Maybe Trump, not Biden, will bring the nation together.

Fast virus surge, slow gov’t make homelessness worse

 

Bill Knight column for 11-30, 12-1 or 2, 2020

Cold weather’s coming, along with an annual estimate of homelessness, so advocates for the homeless are preparing for winter – amid the worsening pandemic.

Meanwhile, Illinois’ public health department issued recommendations urging people to stay home, which is literally impossible for those with no home to stay in.

Government aid – most from federal COVID assistance – was helpful, but it’s either gone or runs out this week. The absence of assistance such as the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program and an eviction moratorium, plus questions about the actual extent of the problem, cause concerns.

“The lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing-assistance programs has led to high rent burdens, overcrowding and substandard housing, which has not only forced many people to become homeless but has also put a growing number of people at risk,” reports the National Coalition for the Homeless, which blames 1970s and ’80s cuts to affordable-housing programs and inadequate help since.

            Current reality remains unclear. First, the halt to evictions and utility shutoffs was temporary, and advocates fear when the safeguards end, there’ll be a huge jump in homelessness. The eviction moratorium already had unintended consequences, like landlords leery of accepting new tenants because there’s little recourse if renters don’t pay. The result? Empty units but few available to lease.

Also, some see flaws in the yearly Point in Time (PIT) count of the nation’s homeless population. released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty cites a study using data from homeless service providers that the actual number of homeless individuals is 2.5 to 10.2 times greater than what’s reported by Point In Time counts.

One night last year, 567,715 Americans experienced homelessness, according to HUD’s PIT count. The National Alliance to End Homelessness breaks that down: 171,670 people in families, including children; 396,045 single individuals; 96,141 people chronically homeless; and 37,085 veterans.

Some homeless advocates say scheduling the PIT counts in January depresses the true number since some families let homeless friends or family move in for the winter, but with spring the numbers rise. Counting in July would be more accurate.

The level of the problem, if not precise numbers, is obvious, even as a crisis within a crisis, according to Peggy Bailey and Douglas Rice in a 10-page report from the Center for Housing Policy,

“The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis have brought to light the fundamental role housing plays in people’s lives and the life and death implications when they cannot afford the rent,” they write. “Even before the pandemic, millions of individuals and families were homeless or struggling to pay the rent; the health and economic crises have deepened these problems.”

Policymakers must include comprehensive housing assistance in the next COVID-19 relief package, say Bailey and Rice, who offer other ideas:

* homelessness assistance for state and local agencies to expand safe, non-congregate shelter options, revamp facilities to prevent the virus’ spread, and provide services to help people remain housed,

* remodel existing shelters to improve staffs’ and clients’ ability to socially distance,

* help people experiencing homelessness move from the streets or shelters into safer, non-congregate housing such as temporary lodging in hotels,

* increase outreach to people living on the street to improve access to health care or other support, and

* continue efforts to help individuals and families with children move into more stable, permanent housing.

 

People need places to stay.

THEN they can stay home and be safe.