Speed Gibson

I normally avoid national news, as we have so many excellent blogs that more than cover these issues. I'll make an exception for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter's party switch.

Have you ever noticed that GOP moderates over time almost always edge ever to the left, almost never to the right? I added the weasel word "almost" just in case, but I can't think of any such exceptions. Norm Coleman perhaps, though I think he is an exception only in that he hasn't moved appreciably either direction - to his credit.

Have you ever noticed that GOP moderates pick some of the worst times to "demonstrate" their moderation? Specter was particularly good at this, even to the point of absurdity. Remember his invoking of Scottish law to avoid saying yea or nay on the impeachment trial of President Clinton? Remember the "gang of 14" and other shenanigans pulled by U.S. Senator John McCain, our standard bearer in 2008? Remember the "Health Impact Fee" of Prime Minister Pawlenty in 2005?

Specter's defection did not come cheap according to some grumbling fellow Democratic Senators. He keeps much of his seniority and will no doubt receive considerable campaign cash, certainly much more than a dissatisfied GOP base was going to contribute. Which makes me wonder, are moderates almost by definition the most corrupt among us? If you have no overall guiding moral code that pulls you in either direction, what else decides the issue for you? Money? Power? Press coverage? Invitations to swanky affairs? Epitaphs?

President Obama is about as wrong as he can be on economic issues, but the man is also very consistent with his stated hard Left philosophy. President Reagan was equally consistent with his stated Conservative beliefs. What guided Arlen Specter all these years? I think re-election is a fair answer, and all the trappings that come with it.

Pennsylvania Democrats might want to cautious supporting a man like Arlen Specter. I remember the DFL State Senate happily embracing the defection of Dean Johnson, making him the Majority Leader only to see his repeated lying cost him his seat.

I was up early, scanning the dial at 5 am, heard that Langdon Perry "is no longer with the company" on KTLK-FM. So said Ron Rosenbaum, the toxic asset of our local talk radio scene.

I wish Mr. Perry well. He's a good broadcaster and he struck me as one of the most well read hosts. His one problem seems to be in understanding what he's reading, wandering far into big government territory at times, enough to where Perry was just fill until Chris Baker comes on at 7 am. I can hear wandering moderates on Patrick Reusse's show, which is at least much better radio. In fact, Reusse has become my new favorite morning show, which I'll have to explain another day.

I suspect Baker will be moving into this time slot. This was always awkward, having a host change at 7 am. I welcome this change.

The American Thinker is as regular a read as I have on my blogroll. I don't always agree with them. Sometimes, I can't even quite follow their lofty analysis. It is always informative and challenging. Take this recent post, "Demand, not Supply Drives Education" by Robert Weissberg.

Free market conservatives passionately insist that school choice will solve America's education woes. So as schools proliferate and competition heats up, academic achievement will soar just as fierce market competition has delivered better and cheaper computers and TVs. This seductive analogy is, unfortunately, hardening into unchallenged dogma. Worse, it misdiagnoses the problem. It is demand, not supply that drives academic attainment. In economic terms, Say's Law -- supply creates demand -- is wrong and Keynes -- demand creates supply -- is correct. If youngsters and parents truly desired academic excellence, the market would happily supply it. Absent demand, no amount of supply, regardless of price, can whet appetites for learning.

Exactly right. Now that I think of it. With Weissberg's help.

In fact, isn't that what the public schools keep telling us? Give them motivated kids with involved parents and they'll go head to head with any other school. Of course, they usually then turn around and say all kids will succeed at their schools regardless.

Turning loose the free market via vouchers or tax credits isn't going to suddenly get parents coming to conferences and volunteering at the school carnival. And K-12 students are still going to be kids, especially "in a society subordinating the acquisition of knowledge to non-academic pursuits" as Weissberg put it.

Weissberg goes further to document just how many viable choices exist even now, some of which go wanting for lack of interest. If you want a good high school education you can get it, even if you don't think your public school is up to the job.

It's a thoughtful piece and question. I'd add this, that one reason demand for education is down is that a number of parents have given up. Providing choice won't renew interest immediately, but over time it will draw a number of them back.

I'm sometimes accused of being too supportive of public education, that it's a failed system beyond repair. I think I've explained myself before, but now is a good time to restate and reflect.

I've spent about 18 months studying, and yes, working with my home District 281. I have participated in some efforts, most notably the 2008 Strategic Plan. Frankly, I'd do more if they'd let me. For I see with people dedicated to their work, who within their sheltered paradigm try to do the best they can for our students.

That said, I recently received another email from my home district's "Legislative Action Coalition" (LAC), urging we contact our Legislators. Quoting the letter, "Ask [your Legislators] to move forward with the New Minnesota Miracle." I'll do no such thing. Why not? Am I being inconsistent here? I don't think so.

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When I started this involvement following the defeat of the November 2007 Referendum, I brought with me my seemingly well-founded assumptions. First among these was that the Public Schools operate to serve themselves first. That's a fair judgment of most teachers' unions. Remember Education Minnesota's "Schools First!" campaign? But the schools themselves, District 281 in particular, no, I see people that would be the first to celebrate closing the achievement gaps.

What really opened my eyes was to find out how Public School funding works as directed by the Legislature. You may remember a five part post I did called "I Had No Idea." I quickly began to realize just who the real enemy was, the Legislature, and us if we keep electing these incompetent micro-managers. Over and over, I saw decisions made whose reasoning process started with "What's allowed?" and "What's the revenue effect?" and often ended there.

I'll further point out that while this is largely a DFL show, there is plenty of blame for the Republicans as well. These ridiculous property tax caps sound great, but on the whole are foolish and I think adversely impact students. Q-Comp is a joke. Meanwhile, we let perhaps the best Education Commissioner in Minnesota get sandbagged by a DFL-led Senate out for political revenge against the Governor. And when the final votes are taken, there are plenty of GOP ayes on most of the education bills passed.

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So that's why I'll generally support my District at the local level and generally accuse the Legislature as the source of most of our K-12 troubles. Square one is competition, as in real school choice, be it vouchers, tuition tax credits, or whatever is equivalent. Any organization, including the Robbinsdale Area Schools, will not reach their full potential while a protected de facto monopoly.

Part of that choice is giving schools full freedom to hire, promote, and fire, without the union favorable licensing and other regulations written into law. Until then, the Legislature deserves virtually all the blame if public schools don't perform.

That line is crossed when Districts directly and indirectly lobby the Legislature for more money and special favors. I consider this a very clear conflict of interest when taxpayer money and facilities are so used.

I don't have a problem with these groups presenting data and research. But all to often, as here, they're telling the Legislators which bills to write, amend, and support, such as the so-called Minnesota Miracle tax increase. That's between the us constituents and our Legislators. The District, directly or indirectly, has no standing to speak for me any other constituent, not if you're using my tax money to do it. That's why I cannot support the Legislative Action Coalition.

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So am I OK with the Legislature "starving" the schools? Yes, reluctantly to some extent, but yes. It's starving the students that I'm not OK with, with is an entirely separate question. Throwing good money after the bad system the Legislature has created is one way of starving those students - our kids. Count me out.

So what are the public schools to do? Do what you can, within the myriad of regulations. And one other thing, which I'll save for a post later this week.

There's been a common theme repeated in a number of news accounts about how the DFL wants to balance the Minnesota state budget to be "ready" for the economic recovery to come. This weekend's Almanac segment with Representative Paul Marquart was the latest example. Marquart is chair of the House Property and Local Tax Division committee, who kept repeating the mantra:

"When you go into this, you have to do more than just look at solving the budget. You have to look at how can you a plan that positions yourself for a good economic future. So when the economy turns around, how can we be ready to take off?"

...

"We can go down the roads of cuts, cuts, cuts and when the economy turns around, we're not going to be ready to take advantage of that."

...

"When the economy turns around, we're going to be ready to take advantage."

You know what I'm hearing? If we raise the volatile income tax rates now, we'll reap a huge surplus when the economy turns around, billions more to spend as we please. Ditto the sales tax. They assume of course that raising these taxes now won't delay or diminish Minnesota's participation in that recovery.

They also don't seem to understand that significant reliance on significantly progressive taxes produces the very instability they now face. Making the schedules even more progressive will make future deficits even wider, starting with the next biennium. And of course, taxes will have to be raised again to cover those deficits, probably even more than this round. If the DFL has their way, it's your disposal income that's going to take off, for St. Paul you hoser!

Dane Smith, President of Growth & Justice, was all for it, still stuck in his revisionist vision of the Minnesota economy that no longer exists, if it ever did. As Minnesota Revenue Commissioner Ward Einess reminded them, it's a global economy now where jobs and investment flow freely, based in part on, yes, tax policy.

I must add that Dane Smith continues to disappoint me, offering little more than repeated non-facts, non-sequiturs, and irrelevancies. As the former chief political reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, I somehow keep thinking he should be something more than, say, Wy Spano or Ember Reichgott Junge.

The Minnesota House just passed their K-12 bill that holds spending flat, courtesy of a hefty tax increase of course. Last I saw, the Minnesota Senate was proposing a small cut, somewhere in the 3-7 percent range, and again with a tax increase.

Am I looking at this right? After squandering much time trying to portray Prime Minister Pawlenty as the bad guy, without success as usual, Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller has a new plan. Pass the bills on the way out the door, daring, double dog daring Pawlenty to veto them. The House and Senate are ostensibly not in agreement, so, according to the script, they will compromise! They will play that up, and carp that the Governor wasn't more involved in that "final" compromise.

For K-12, that compromise will be flat spending, portrayed as a victory over the Pogemiller plan, who will be gracious in his pre-arranged defeat, saying he had to compromise so Pawlenty must also.

This might fool a Tattaglia, maybe even a Sturdevant but it's not going to fool a Pawlenty. Larry Pogemiller's political dancing is about as elegant as Lawrence "LT" (Lawn Tractor) Taylor was on Dancing With the Stars.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it. Meanwhile, get ready for the Special Session(s).

I was at a public group dialog between the District 281 School Board and representatives of the Robbinsdale Federation of Teachers (RFT). Most of that time was spent on communication, and most of that on the "40 teacher" issue. The Referendum blitz had said passage would allow the District to rehire up to 40 teachers to lower class sizes.

Since passage of the 2008 Referendum, a Facilities study showed that three buildings could be closed, not one. This was done. The resulting efficiency, load balancing, and some better demographic data that came with the study allowed the District to reach the desired class size targets with well under 40 more teachers. The union steward claimed this was driving general mistrust of the Administration by the union and by the community. You can read between the lines without my help.

We also heard the RFT's concern that the District just wasn't prepared to handle a surge in enrollment the RFT thinks is quite possible. Better to hire a few more teachers now just in case than to scramble later. And one teacher seemed convinced that some classes would have to be held in the hallways, that the District had downsized too much.

Let's broaden this beyond the union. We've been hearing similar comments from the community at large for some time, especially at the public forums for closing the three buildings. Many said it was a conspiracy, with the District deliberately hiding key facts.

Folks, to borrow a phrase, we have to get over this. We have to move on. The buildings are closing. And those teachers in waiting that would bring the rehire count to 40 will have to wait another year at least.

Let's take this supposed enrollment surge. Professional demographer Hazel Reinhardt is wrong? Technology Director Dennis Beekman doesn't understand all that attendance data he collects and analyzes several times a year? The critics have no data of their own, no basis for overturning the professional opinion and hard data on file.

Let's take the space issue. The consultants were wrong? Several key District officials were wrong, including the Superintendent? The School Board was wrong? People like me who went through the reports in detail were wrong? Again, critics, what did we all miss?

Let's take the this 40 teacher business. OK, let's hire the dozen or so more to reach that number. Where do they go if all the bases are covered, i.e. the desired class size targets are achieved. It would have to be a subjective decision as to what subject areas would gain headcount. The departments left out would soon be complaining that the wrong subjective decision was made. We've seen some of this already with Elementary Art. And at the end of the school year, what student testing could tell how many teachers were rehired?

District 281 has been very busy these last 18 months. After some initial turmoil, it now has a Strategic Plan, a Facilities Plan, a successful Referendum, and a new Superintendent come July. En route, the three questions I listed have been asked and answered, many times, by qualified people, many of whom will have to live with the consequences if they're wrong. Yet some insist on pressing further until they hear what they want to hear.

To borrow that phrase again, can we move on? Is this the sort of pointless dialog we want to burden a new Superintendent with? As one Board member put it, ask yourself: what's my role in this? To wallow in misinformation and minutia? To continually revisit past decisions you don't like? To repeat or encourage others' dissatisfaction? Or take a positive step to put a stop to this, as I'm trying to do here.

Look, this District still has issues, serious issues like a pronounced demographic achievement gap. This is what the new Superintendent should be working on, not having to rehash old complaints.

With my big project at work implemented, the pressure is off but other projects rushed in to fill the time gap. We'll knock off another in two more weeks, ready for crunch time at the Legislature.

Finally having some time to catch up, I see we're in "Earth Week" which started April 16th and ends on "Earth Day" itself, April 22. One day is not enough to worry about our coming demise unless we give up the Pursuit of Happiness.

Actually, Earth Day no longer has much caché. Oh, there's the obligatory news stories here and there, a backpack item or two about some event, but the thrill is obviously gone. What to do?

Pretend. Pretend the issues are so serious that one day is not enough to cover it all. Personally, I think this is just to bring the weekend into play every year, to boost attendance at whatever events are left.

We should do the same, have a week long tea party around Independence Day.

Much as I'd like to, I won't be at the Tea Party this afternoon. My current appointments won't let me get there before maybe 7 pm, after the speeches, before the cleanup. But maybe I'll catch a break. I have thousands of reasons to go.

In looking at our tax returns, it struck me how little of the last few thousand dollars we made that we actually got to keep. What if we had just decided to work a little less and spend a little less? Maybe take an extra week of vacation, just relax around the house, clip a few coupons, a day trip to Como Zoo, a picnic at Minnehaha Falls.

If you use TaxCut or TurboTax, try it. Take your return and lop off a few percent of your income. See what effect it has on your tax bill. Don't forget the "payroll" taxes, FICA and Medicare. Then look at your budget, and ask what the difference bought.

Maybe this is the type of protest we should really be making, deliberately taking a small pay cut to inflict a disproportionately larger tax cut. Even New York City has come to realize what a large percent of its tax revenue comes from relatively few tax payers. Collectively, maybe we could have the same effect, particularly on St. Paul.

North Star Beef of Buffalo, Minnesota is closing, putting 200 people out of work. As the Minneapolis Star Tribune article notes, the owner has had a string of bad luck, the latest issue being "high" arsenic levels in the ground water. He couldn't afford the remediation investment, not in this economy.

You may remember that President Clinton ordered this as a Parthian shot leaving the White House in 2001. The old standard of 50 parts per billion (ppb) was lowered to 10 ppb, effective 2006. Rather than do the right thing, President George W. Bush let it stand. Some say it was a political trick, to make "W" look bad by repealing it.

A quick web surf suggests that the old 50 ppb standard is still workable, that reducing the level doesn't produce any measurable results. There are no bodies stacking up at the morgue. There never were. There never would have been. And yet, this is an important action? Where are the bodies?

Sounds like second smoke, where again, there are no bodies and no death certificates citing it as even a contributing cause of death. Not even from the 1950's, when half the population smoked cigarettes, at home, in the car, in restaurants, even at most workplaces.

We have a decision. Dr. Aldo Sicoli was offered and has accepted the position of Superintendent of the Robbinsdale Public Schools, District 281. He is currently an Assistant Superintendent in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage system. Before that, he was principal of Edina High School for three years.

I participated in the one hour public interviews held Tuesday and Thursday with the finalists. Alas, after my long day of implementing a new system at work, I didn't have the stamina left to stay for the subsequent Board meeting last night that made this decision. It seemed a little rushed to me to decide the same night, but another participant said they would only do so if it was unanimous. Neither the Minneapolis Star Tribune article nor the District web site so indicated, but I surmise this was the case.

All in all, this was a successful process in terms of timing and input. I'm glad to see that we didn't go to extra innings as with the facilities decision. But I must say, based solely on the published resumés and my one hour interview sessions, I am somewhat surprised by this decision. Maybe Sicoli had also had a long day and wasn't at his best. For all I heard was standard Education Speak, lists of possibilities, anecdotes more personal than illustrative, a full measure of political correctness, and nothing at all "out of the box." I'm sorry if I'm blunt, but again, this is just a first impression. I truly hope I'm wrong about any and all of this.

In fact, when asked about merit pay or other ways of rewarding great teachers and eliminating poor teachers, his response was, gosh I hate to put it this way, but his response was positively cowardly. Education Minnesota should have no problems with Dr. Sicoli, as they would appear to agree that it's better to keep teachers happy than put students' needs first. Again, this is a first impression, but there it is. That's what I heard.

That's not to say that Dr. Carlton Jenkins would have been the right choice. There is always that little matter of due diligence, though I expect the search firm did that with all four of the candidates they presented. There were many other hours of interviews that I of course could not attend. But again, based on a first impression and published resumés, I rated him higher.

I have a feeling this post might just cross Superintendent Sicoli's desk. All I can say is, my door is open. All he need do is, prove me wrong.

Having had 7 consecutive days above 40 degrees, today, April 9th, is the first Spring on the Speed Gibson calendar. Last year it was April 20th.

And what better day than to see my latest project at work go live. We had a couple of problems as there always seem to be, but they were resolved before lunch. Yes, that means I'll be resuming normal posting frequency, whatever that is.

Tomorrow. I'm going to snore louder than the dog tonight.

The Newspaper Guild is worried about the future of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The paper filed for bankruptcy recently, and revenue continues to contract. They have launched a Save The Strib web site to facilitate some sort of local ownership takeover, by those who "share their values."

As journalists, we consider our jobs a civic duty. We want to continue to shine a light in dark places, to tell you where your tax dollars are going, and to help you follow your hometown sports teams and understand how our natural places are being managed. We want to share stories of interesting people, to highlight great restaurants and fun recipes and to help you explore the world of art, theater and travel.

Shine a light in dark places? Like the flying Imam follow-up stories they ignored, which the Washington Post had to provide us instead? The demise of the Global Warming premise in light of abundant new evidence? The cavernous rat hole that is Light Rail? Fact checking Nick Coleman's columns?

It still hasn't dawned on them that they themselves might have to change.

Is it our civic duty to support a paper no matter what their bias or what they don't cover or what they get wrong? No, if there is a civic duty, it is to withhold support until this paper decides that fact is more important than fancy.

I think John Hinderaker of PowerLine said recently that a moderate Democrat is the political equivalent of the unicorn. He's never seen either one of them. Rush Limbaugh has argued from day one that what few moderates might actually exist are too few in number to even register in polls and elections.

I offer Channel 2's latest "Almanac" program as a case in point. The political panel featured three moderates, Curt Johnson, Dean Barkley, and Peter Hutchinson. I voted for Hutchinson over Tim Pawlenty and Mike Hatch in 2006, preferring what I thought was a reasoning, predictable "moderate" to the other two unpredictable candidates.

I must say, I was surprised and disappointed in Hutchinson's performance. There he was, a grown man, someone I thought intelligent, well read, and capable of independent thought, claiming that President Obama is a centrist. He then went on to praise his G-20 summit performance, citing events that never happened. It was nothing but White House talking points.

Then we have Dean Barkley, who still acts like he has his old job working for Governor Jesse Ventura. Ventura had shown the way - raise sales taxes - but of course neither major party would listen. Whose administration raised spending the most from 1994 to 2006? Carlson? Pawlenty? No, it was Barkley's common man "moderate" idol, Governor Ventura. Yes, we got rebates, but most of the "windfall" surpluses was spent, and the "Big Plan" is a big part of the deficit today.

Curt Johnson, former head of the Metropolitan Council was soft-spoken, but clearly had no problem raising taxes this year. You may remember that he won praise from liberals for flipping on Light Rail, like Prime Minister Pawlenty also did. By any reasonable definition, a moderate should never support anything with an extraordinarily lopsided cost - benefit ratio like Light Rail.

So, do moderates exist? Before answering, let me use myself as a last example. I oppose the local property tax caps that most in the GOP support. I would give school boards the same power to levy property taxes that the city and county have, requiring referendums only for bonding. Does that make me less than a purebred, at least a little bit moderate? Not at all. I seek the same government restraint and accountability all Republicans embrace. I differ only in how best to get there.

You know what the real difference is? I don't claim to be a moderate. I claim to be an American, a Conservative, and a Republican. It's the people who claim to be a moderate that should stand up and just admit what they really are.

Spring is coming. By my calendar, which requires 7 days in a row over 40º, which worked out to April 20^th last year. It's looking like April 14^th this year. But the weather is good enough now to do crazy things like walking home from work to get in shape.

I'm approaching my three year anniversary with Weight Watchers. I did lose 75 lbs the first year, fell back to about 60 lbs year two, and of late been just below 50 lbs. It's time to get serious again, and I did starting with the April 1^st regular weekly meeting.

Weight Watchers is a great program. I should have done better, no question. Without them, I would have gained it all back. But like the time crunch I posted about yesterday, the economy is a good excuse to spend less by eating less.

I have kept up my walking, even in some cold and sloppy weather, and can get out more now. As a side project, I'm timing myself on a one mile loop at home. Look, I hate jogging as much as I love walking, but I'm curious how well I can do. I did the first at my regular walking pace, a 17 minute mile. I've done an increasing combination of faster steps, longer steps, and some pathetic jogging, and today turned in a 13.5 minute mile. Hey, I'm 60 years old, don't forget.

Anyway, I'll post on this again from time to time if you don't mind, more if I'm successful.

The economy has many of us in a crunch, directly or indirectly. Even for the fortunate employed, there are fewer people shouldering the wheel at most companies. It only takes one unforeseen problem or challenge to rearrange one's calendar significantly, as in extra hours to catch up.

I like to think this is often a good thing, a time to recheck assumptions, starting with time itself. At our house, we decided to drop HBO, for example. We hardly watch it anymore; most of the new movies aren't worth watching and "The Sopranos" is over. We can spend some of that HBO money on Pay per View on the good movies, in fact. In reviewing the bill, also saw that we were being billed for the old receiver that we had upgraded to an additional DVR late last year, so we'll get a credit for that, too.

On the audio side, the current work crunch has made it clear I don't have time to listen to it all. I recently subscribed to Bill Bennett's "Morning in America" podcast, initially just to hear Michael Steele filling in on a Friday. But Steele is now the defacto host every Friday, and he doesn't really know how to keep the show fresh week to week. Plus, Bennett takes quite a few other days off. He conducts some of the best interviews on radio, but I just don't have the time that justifies it. End of subscription.

I eagerly rejoined "Pragertopia" when Dennis Prager finally settled his legal fight with Salem Radio. He's absolutely profound at times. Question is, is he profound enough to justify the time? I'm going to compromise here, canceling the podcast and recording on my Pogo instead. I'll just have to be more selective listening, hour by hour.

That leaves me with Rush 24/7, Live 365 for music, and my "RUSC" old time radio service. I'm feeling more relaxed already.

I really don't know much beyond what's been officially published regarding the two finalists to replace retiring Superintendent Stan Mack II. Even if I did, unless there's a felony conviction or Nobel Prize in plain sight, it wouldn't be proper to post it at this point in the proceedings. May the best man win.

With all due respect to the four candidates, it just seems to me that there should more of them. The job of Superintendent is probably more difficult than we know, but it also pays accordingly. The benefits are stellar by any comparison when you include severance. Let's break it down.

To lure a competent incumbent Superintendent is going to be difficult. You may find a few wanting a larger challenge. You may find cases where they want to relocate for climate or family reasons. There will be hostile work environments (St. Paul, e.g.?). But I suspect these are exceptions, that most of the applicants are seeking a promotion, like our two finalists.

That said, where are they, all those Assistant Superintendents and Executive Directors out there? Anoka-Hennepin couldn't find very many either, it would seem. Maybe our requirements are too high. Maybe politics gets in the way, as in unpublished rules about race, party affliation, and gender. Or, maybe licensure is keeping most who could do this job completely out of the running.