The Local Area Watch

GUILT BY ASSOCIATION? NO, GUILT BY DIRTY ROTTEN DEED

In the comment section of our last article, our esteemed colleague Nick De Leeuw of www.RightMichigan.com thought we might be unfairly tarring alleged billionaire Rich DeVos with a tenuous connection to convicted felon John Sims.  I suggested that Nick should follow the links in that article to get the full story.  I then looked it over including the links, and I can see how one might think we've been pronouncing guilt by association.  To really get the full story, a reader needs to follow a couple of links to get the news on how DeVos and other hospital officials raided the Butterworth piggy-bank during the mid-90's and then deterred a federal investigation into that self-dealing.

Consequently, our reference to DeVos in connection to Sims was a bit opaque, especially for our newer readers.  Moreover, seeing that the media never reported this news, and the healthcare rate-payers of River City are still picking up the tab for the looting of the hospital, this story doesn't get told enough.  So we're re-posting below what we first reported on August 11, 2005.

 

THE FIXER, PART III

[Note:  This is the third in a four-part series about Charlie McCallum, a local attorney involved in the transactions that lead to the dissolution of four Grand Rapids institutions:  Autodie, Butterworth Hospital, Amway, and Old Kent Bank.]

THE PIGGY BANK

Charlie McCallum and his wife Lois Temple had a good thing going at Butterworth Hospital.  They were among the select few who had their hands on the cash that flowed through River City’s premier hospital.  Charlie was chairman of the hospital’s board of directors, and when he wasn’t doing that he was the corporate secretary.  And just to make sure that he got at least one big plum out his “public” service, he was Butterworth’s corporate legal counsel.  That gave him control over which law firm got the hospital’s legal work.  Charlie made sure the lion’s share went to his law firm Warner Norcross & Judd L.L.P., where he was managing partner.  And guess who the managing partner assigned the Butterworth account to?

But Charlie got other plums beyond a monopoly on Butterworth’s legal work.  After he assisted Amway-founder Rich DeVos to devour Butterworth in the Spectrum Health merger in the middle ‘90s, he got a big prize.  Charlie was made chairman of Spectrum’s lucrative health care insurance concern, Priority Health.  He held that post until retiring two years ago.

However, Charlie wasn’t above nickel-and-diming the hospital for personal gain either.  Wife Lois was a Butterworth executive assigned to one of its for-profit subsidiaries in the late ‘80s.  That subsidiary was Butterworth Occupational Health Inc.  While Charlie was in charge, the hospital shoveled about a million dollars in cash a year from its reserves into BOH to keep it limping along as a cush sinecure for his wife.  Although Charlie had the hospital book that transfer of funds as an investment (by reflecting BOH as an asset in the hospital reserves), the subsidiary never acquired anything with the capital flowing into it.  Lois and her crew expensed out every dime, especially on salaries.  BOH was actually a cipher as an asset, even though the hospital reserves showed it as a valuable asset worth every dollar of the total of eight million dollars transferred to it during Charlie’s tenure in Butterworth’s boardroom.

A Culture of Self-Dealing

BOH was a worthless chit in the hospital reserves.  But then it had uses other than giving Charlie’s wife a comfortable job.  As told in Part II of this series, BOH was a convenient vehicle for bailing out one of Charlie’s business clients.  It was all part of the self-dealing, especially through land transactions, by those who had power over the hospital’s purse or influence with those who did.  Butterworth Hospital was their piggy bank to fund whatever deals hospital insiders could cobble together to pass the smell test.  As Llody Zwarensteyn, president of the Alliance for Health, had once remarked laconically upon reviewing Charlie’s shenanigans with BOH:  “Butterworth has a culture of self-dealing.”

Charlie and Lois were not the only ones cashing in.  Butterworth doctors also did so.  Frequently their deals involved getting options on land they knew the hospital needed for expansion, or they might form a group to develop property that the hospital would agree to lease.  One notorious doctor who got his bankroll from Butterworth Hospital was Jeffrey Askanazi.  In a very strange deal, Butterworth’s board of director approved an undocumented loan of one million dollars from the hospital reserves to Askanazi, who would then use the funds to open a string of pain clinics north of Grand Rapids.  The idea was that the pain clinics would serve as feeders into the Butterworth health care system in a region where the hospital was not getting many patients.  Everything went south when Askanazi killed a patient in 1996 at one of Butterworth’s affiliates, United Memorial Hospital in Greenville, and the feds began investigating.  Eventually Askanazi was convicted in U.S. district court on Medicare fraud.

However, Butterworth neatly separated itself from Askanazi’s problems.  (Not too difficult when the Grand Rapids Press won’t cover the story because its publisher is serving as chairman of the hospital.)  One broken deal wasn’t going to put an end to Butterworth’s use as a piggy bank by River City’s elite.  Indeed, Charlie was going to help a new bigshot client make Butterworth into a huge piggy bank to help work out that client’s huge financial problems.

DeVos Takes the Reins

In 1993 Amway-founder Rich DeVos replaced Charlie as chairman of Butterworth Health Corporation.  First thing on DeVos’s agenda was to merge Butterworth, the area’s number one hospital, with Blodgett Memorial Medical Center, the area’s number two hospital, into a new organization – i.e., today’s Spectrum Health Corporation.  Doing so would create a combined reserve of nearly one billion dollars under DeVos’s control.  Having control over the merged reserve was crucial to DeVos’s financial well-being, and Charlie put his law firm to work to make that merger happen.

Contrary to the typically fawning local media coverage of DeVos and his late partner Jay Van Andel, their Amway multi-level marketing empire was facing grave financial problems in the early ‘90s.  In fact, Amway never fully recovered and was eventually dismantled, with Charlie’s assistance, several years later.  (See Part IV of “The Fixer”.)  Briefly, the bubble burst for Amway’s Asian affiliates, which were set up as publicly traded companies on the Tokyo stock exchange.  These entities were in many ways proxies for the privately held mother company that DeVos and Van Andel had led everyone to believe was extremely profitable.

However, that was not so.  Amway had to admit that it overstated its revenues every year by 15-25% since its founding.  Indeed, the scandal twenty years ago involving Amway's Canadian subsidiary was not a tax dodge as commonly believed.  Instead it was a scheme to inflate revenues by booking the same sale twice. Anyone familiar with the current corporate scandals that have sunk Enron, Worldcom, Aldephia, and the like understands how this inflated the value of Amway, and by proxy, its Asian affiliates.  Thus, DeVos and Van Andel were facing huge liabilities as the price of the affiliates’ stock crashed to almost nothing.  On top of that the jig was up, at least in North America, on getting new marks to push Amway products.

As a consequence, Amway’s bankers forced the company for the first time in its history to take on an outside director.  By 1993, Amway was in a financial work-out.  But where would the extra cash come from to finance the work-out?  What new pools of capital could DeVos get his hands on?  As it happened, DeVos was chairman of Butterworth while his banker David Wagner was chairman of Blodgett.  Between the two hospitals were $850 million in reserves.  Merge those reserves, bring them under the control of DeVos, and maybe some of that money would find its way into investing in the multitude of real estate projects belonging to RDV Corporation, DeVos’s personal holding company, which in turn could help make Amway’s work-out payments to the bank.  So Charlie had a new mission:  Merge Butterworth and Blodgett hospitals into Spectrum Health Corporation.

Slaying the Dragon … Almost

The biggest dragon Charlie and his law firm had to slay to make the merger happen was the Federal Trade Commission.  Upon receiving notice of the Butterworth-Blodgett merger the FTC threw down the gauntlet:  No more mergers of the major non-profit hospitals in a region.  The FTC had concluded that previous non-profit mergers resulted in increased prices to healthcare consumers.  So in 1995 the agency went to the U.S. district court to request an injunction against the Butterworth-Blodgett merger.  Fortunately for Charlie, a sympathetic judge was assigned to the case, and he bought into the unsubstantiated notion that because Butterworth and Blodgett were non-profit organizations they would lack the ill intent to abuse their monopoly power once merged.  So, Charlie defeated the injunction.

Undeterred, the FTC appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.  In 1996 the Sixth Circuit ruled against the agency.  So the FTC decided that it would use its own administrative court process to challenge the Butterworth-Blodgett merger.  No more sympathetic judges.  Charlie was faced with a real problem now.  This one he could not solve.  He had no way to stop the FTC's choice to pursue the matter through its own internal process.  But DeVos did.

The FTC was slated to conclude its investigation of the merger and send the case to its administrative court in September 1997.  That led to a flurry of activity involving FTC investigators nationwide.  Eventually they learned of Charlie’s conflicts of interests, the transfer of millions of dollars of hospital reserves to BOH (the subsidiary run by his wife), and the use of BOH to bail out his client Joe Spruit.  FTC investigator Joseph Lipinski consulted with the local U.S. Attorney’s office about these dubious relationships and transactions, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Gezon reported back to Lipinski that there was “evidence of self-dealing” at Butterworth.  If Lipinski could show how non-profit Butterworth Hospital was already being abused by those entrusted with its operation, he could then show the FTC administrative court that the Butterworth-Blodgett merger would simply create a larger organization to loot.  Thus, the good intent argument that prevailed in the U.S. district court and the Sixth Circuit would be defeated once and for all.

DeVos Buys a Favor

So, DeVos decided to shop for a favor.  As a bigwig in Republican politics, he thought he knew where to go.  In April 1997 DeVos and his wife gave the Republican National Campaign Committee a $1 million contribution, the biggest ever to a political party at that time.  It was more than five times amount that the DeVoses had contributed to the Republican party in the preceding five years.  Since then the DeVoses have not made any further large contributions to the party.  It was one-time event nowhere near any important election.  So what did DeVos get for his money?  The attention of a senator from New Hampshire, Judd Gregg.

Gregg was then serving as the chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Commerce Committee and working on the appropriations bill that would fund the FTC.  In July 1997 Gregg slipped into that appropriations bill at the eleventh hour and without debate a proviso that exempted, with some very slick language, the Butterworth-Blodgett merger from scrutiny by the FTC.  If passed the FTC’s administrative court would be prohibited from hearing the agency’s challenge to the merger.  Lipinski immediately protested Gregg’s heavy-handed maneuver.  Gregg threatened Lipinski that if the FTC made a stink about the proviso he would zero out all funding for the FTC's anti-trust division on the basis that it duplicated the work of the U.S. Justice Department.

That cowed the FTC, and in September 1997 the agency announced that it was dropping all challenges to the Butterworth-Blodgett merger.  DeVos then sent Gregg for the first and only time the maximum campaign contribution allowed by law.  In November 1997 the two hospitals announced their merger as Spectrum Health Corporation with DeVos at the helm.  Charlie then collected his reward as chairman of Spectrum’s Priority Health.  It was a big success for DeVos and Charlie, but there was still a lot of work to be done.  See Part IV for the Fixer’s next assignment.

[Click here for the last installment of "The Fixer". - The Editor]

[Note:  This is the third in a four-part series about Charlie McCallum, a local attorney involved in the transactions that lead to the dissolution of four Grand Rapids institutions:  Autodie, Butterworth Hospital, Amway, and Old Kent Bank.]

THE PIGGY BANK

Charlie McCallum and his wife Lois Temple had a good thing going at Butterworth Hospital.  They were among the select few who had their hands on the cash that flowed through River City’s premier hospital.  Charlie was chairman of the hospital’s board of directors, and when he wasn’t doing that he was the corporate secretary.  And just to make sure that he got at least one big plum out his “public” service, he was Butterworth’s corporate legal counsel.  That gave him control over which law firm got the hospital’s legal work.  Charlie made sure the lion’s share went to his law firm Warner Norcross & Judd L.L.P., where he was managing partner.  And guess who the managing partner assigned the Butterworth account to?

But Charlie got other plums beyond a monopoly on Butterworth’s legal work.  After he assisted Amway-founder Rich DeVos to devour Butterworth in the Spectrum Health merger in the middle ‘90s, he got a big prize.  Charlie was made chairman of Spectrum’s lucrative health care insurance concern, Priority Health.  He held that post until retiring two years ago.

However, Charlie wasn’t above nickel-and-diming the hospital for personal gain either.  Wife Lois was a Butterworth executive assigned to one of its for-profit subsidiaries in the late ‘80s.  That subsidiary was Butterworth Occupational Health Inc.  While Charlie was in charge, the hospital shoveled about a million dollars in cash a year from its reserves into BOH to keep it limping along as a cush sinecure for his wife.  Although Charlie had the hospital book that transfer of funds as an investment (by reflecting BOH as an asset in the hospital reserves), the subsidiary never acquired anything with the capital flowing into it.  Lois and her crew expensed out every dime, especially on salaries.  BOH was actually a cipher as an asset, even though the hospital reserves showed it as a valuable asset worth every dollar of the total of eight million dollars transferred to it during Charlie’s tenure in Butterworth’s boardroom.

A Culture of Self-Dealing

BOH was a worthless chit in the hospital reserves.  But then it had uses other than giving Charlie’s wife a comfortable job.  As told in Part II of this series, BOH was a convenient vehicle for bailing out one of Charlie’s business clients.  It was all part of the self-dealing, especially through land transactions, by those who had power over the hospital’s purse or influence with those who did.  Butterworth Hospital was their piggy bank to fund whatever deals hospital insiders could cobble together to pass the smell test.  As Llody Zwarensteyn, president of the Alliance for Health, had once remarked laconically upon reviewing Charlie’s shenanigans with BOH:  “Butterworth has a culture of self-dealing.”

Charlie and Lois were not the only ones cashing in.  Butterworth doctors also did so.  Frequently their deals involved getting options on land they knew the hospital needed for expansion, or they might form a group to develop property that the hospital would agree to lease.  One notorious doctor who got his bankroll from Butterworth Hospital was Jeffrey Askanazi.  In a very strange deal, Butterworth’s board of director approved an undocumented loan of one million dollars from the hospital reserves to Askanazi, who would then use the funds to open a string of pain clinics north of Grand Rapids.  The idea was that the pain clinics would serve as feeders into the Butterworth health care system in a region where the hospital was not getting many patients.  Everything went south when Askanazi killed a patient in 1996 at one of Butterworth’s affiliates, United Memorial Hospital in Greenville, and the feds began investigating.  Eventually Askanazi was convicted in U.S. district court on Medicare fraud.

However, Butterworth neatly separated itself from Askanazi’s problems.  (Not too difficult when the Grand Rapids Press won’t cover the story because its publisher is serving as chairman of the hospital.)  One broken deal wasn’t going to put an end to Butterworth’s use as a piggy bank by River City’s elite.  Indeed, Charlie was going to help a new bigshot client make Butterworth into a huge piggy bank to help work out that client’s huge financial problems.

DeVos Takes the Reins

In 1993 Amway-founder Rich DeVos replaced Charlie as chairman of Butterworth Health Corporation.  First thing on DeVos’s agenda was to merge Butterworth, the area’s number one hospital, with Blodgett Memorial Medical Center, the area’s number two hospital, into a new organization – i.e., today’s Spectrum Health Corporation.  Doing so would create a combined reserve of nearly one billion dollars under DeVos’s control.  Having control over the merged reserve was crucial to DeVos’s financial well-being, and Charlie put his law firm to work to make that merger happen.

Contrary to the typically fawning local media coverage of DeVos and his late partner Jay Van Andel, their Amway multi-level marketing empire was facing grave financial problems in the early ‘90s.  In fact, Amway never fully recovered and was eventually dismantled, with Charlie’s assistance, several years later.  (See Part IV of “The Fixer”.)  Briefly, the bubble burst for Amway’s Asian affiliates, which were set up as publicly traded companies on the Tokyo stock exchange.  These entities were in many ways proxies for the privately held mother company that DeVos and Van Andel had led everyone to believe was extremely profitable.

However, that was not so.  Amway had to admit that it overstated its revenues every year by 15-25% since its founding.  Indeed, the scandal twenty years ago involving Amway's Canadian subsidiary was not a tax dodge as commonly believed.  Instead it was a scheme to inflate revenues by booking the same sale twice. Anyone familiar with the current corporate scandals that have sunk Enron, Worldcom, Aldephia, and the like understands how this inflated the value of Amway, and by proxy, its Asian affiliates.  Thus, DeVos and Van Andel were facing huge liabilities as the price of the affiliates’ stock crashed to almost nothing.  On top of that the jig was up, at least in North America, on getting new marks to push Amway products.

As a consequence, Amway’s bankers forced the company for the first time in its history to take on an outside director.  By 1993, Amway was in a financial work-out.  But where would the extra cash come from to finance the work-out?  What new pools of capital could DeVos get his hands on?  As it happened, DeVos was chairman of Butterworth while his banker David Wagner was chairman of Blodgett.  Between the two hospitals were $850 million in reserves.  Merge those reserves, bring them under the control of DeVos, and maybe some of that money would find its way into investing in the multitude of real estate projects belonging to RDV Corporation, DeVos’s personal holding company, which in turn could help make Amway’s work-out payments to the bank.  So Charlie had a new mission:  Merge Butterworth and Blodgett hospitals into Spectrum Health Corporation.

Slaying the Dragon … Almost

The biggest dragon Charlie and his law firm had to slay to make the merger happen was the Federal Trade Commission.  Upon receiving notice of the Butterworth-Blodgett merger the FTC threw down the gauntlet:  No more mergers of the major non-profit hospitals in a region.  The FTC had concluded that previous non-profit mergers resulted in increased prices to healthcare consumers.  So in 1995 the agency went to the U.S. district court to request an injunction against the Butterworth-Blodgett merger.  Fortunately for Charlie, a sympathetic judge was assigned to the case, and he bought into the unsubstantiated notion that because Butterworth and Blodgett were non-profit organizations they would lack the ill intent to abuse their monopoly power once merged.  So, Charlie defeated the injunction.

Undeterred, the FTC appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.  In 1996 the Sixth Circuit ruled against the agency.  So the FTC decided that it would use its own administrative court process to challenge the Butterworth-Blodgett merger.  No more sympathetic judges.  Charlie was faced with a real problem now.  This one he could not solve.  He had no way to stop the FTC's choice to pursue the matter through its own internal process.  But DeVos did.

The FTC was slated to conclude its investigation of the merger and send the case to its administrative court in September 1997.  That led to a flurry of activity involving FTC investigators nationwide.  Eventually they learned of Charlie’s conflicts of interests, the transfer of millions of dollars of hospital reserves to BOH (the subsidiary run by his wife), and the use of BOH to bail out his client Joe Spruit.  FTC investigator Joseph Lipinski consulted with the local U.S. Attorney’s office about these dubious relationships and transactions, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Gezon reported back to Lipinski that there was “evidence of self-dealing” at Butterworth.  If Lipinski could show how non-profit Butterworth Hospital was already being abused by those entrusted with its operation, he could then show the FTC administrative court that the Butterworth-Blodgett merger would simply create a larger organization to loot.  Thus, the good intent argument that prevailed in the U.S. district court and the Sixth Circuit would be defeated once and for all.

DeVos Buys a Favor

So, DeVos decided to shop for a favor.  As a bigwig in Republican politics, he thought he knew where to go.  In April 1997 DeVos and his wife gave the Republican National Campaign Committee a $1 million contribution, the biggest ever to a political party at that time.  It was more than five times amount that the DeVoses had contributed to the Republican party in the preceding five years.  Since then the DeVoses have not made any further large contributions to the party.  It was one-time event nowhere near any important election.  So what did DeVos get for his money?  The attention of a senator from New Hampshire, Judd Gregg.

Gregg was then serving as the chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Commerce Committee and working on the appropriations bill that would fund the FTC.  In July 1997 Gregg slipped into that appropriations bill at the eleventh hour and without debate a proviso that exempted, with some very slick language, the Butterworth-Blodgett merger from scrutiny by the FTC.  If passed the FTC’s administrative court would be prohibited from hearing the agency’s challenge to the merger.  Lipinski immediately protested Gregg’s heavy-handed maneuver.  Gregg threatened Lipinski that if the FTC made a stink about the proviso he would zero out all funding for the FTC's anti-trust division on the basis that it duplicated the work of the U.S. Justice Department.

That cowed the FTC, and in September 1997 the agency announced that it was dropping all challenges to the Butterworth-Blodgett merger.  DeVos then sent Gregg for the first and only time the maximum campaign contribution allowed by law.  In November 1997 the two hospitals announced their merger as Spectrum Health Corporation with DeVos at the helm.  Charlie then collected his reward as chairman of Spectrum’s Priority Health.  It was a big success for DeVos and Charlie, but there was still a lot of work to be done.  See Part IV for the Fixer’s next assignment.

[Click here for the last installment of "The Fixer". - The Editor]

THE CON ARTIST AND THE PIGGY BANK

Last week John Sims, celebrated man about town during the '90s, lauded by the media, gushed over by city officials, and business partner of River City bigwigs, was sentenced for up to 21 years in prison for defrauding investors out of $700,000 by peddling franchises to non-existent ATM's.  (Not all were taken in during Sims's heyday, such as your insightful Executive Director, who had warned the media and the city of his dubious dealings.  To no avail, unfortunately.)  A reader reminded us via e-mail that we had something to say about Mr. Sims and his benefactors a while back.

Under "Birds of Feather" published on February 21, 2006, we wrote:

Thanks to a reader of ours who tipped me off yesterday that John Sims had been arrested on charges of fraud.  The news was confirmed this morning on the radio.

You may remember Sims as Mike Webb's partner.  Webb is presently serving a prison sentence for embezzlement.  The two hucksters were front men in the Charlevoix Club scheme for Peter Cook, former used-car salesman, local bigwig, and friend of Rich DeVos.  Cook set up Sims and Webb with $100,000 to act as public cover for a transaction that secretly funneled $3.6 million from the coffers of Butterworth Hospital (now Spectrum Health) to the benefit of a client of Warner Norcross honcho, Charlie McCallum a.k.a. the Fixer.

The sordid details are chronicled here, here, and here.

Unfortunately none of the culprits has had to pay any price for abusing Butterworth Hospital as their own private piggy bank, even if a couple of the small fry have been nabbed for other scams.  Meanwhile, we the healthcare rate-payers continue to pick up the tab for their slush fund.

Webb and Sims aren't the only ones who should be in jail.

THE PUBLIC HAS SPOKEN - BP DISCHARGE ON HOLD

Faced with angry letters, activist e-mails, heated meetings and calls of dissent by Congress, lobbying  groups and everyday Americans like you and I, oil giant British Petroleum announced that they have put on hold until September 1st (possibly longer) its plan to proceed forward with increased refinery production and corresponding increased dumping of more waste into Lake Michigan.

Senators Durbin (D-IL), Stabenow (D-MI) and additional House Members met with BP officials at noon on July 24th to show their dissent. BP sent along their chairman and President of BP America, and the manger of the oil refinery at Whiting to address the concerns raised. Congress was requesting that the EPA step in and reverse the authorizing of the permit. Although BP appeared open to other ideas for waste removal, no alternatives have emerged yet. Thus, the time between now and early fall will be a window of opportunity to reverse the trend in increasing oil production at the expense of the Great Lakes fish, wildlife and humans nearby.   All parties concur, the goal is to protect the eco-system of Lake Michigan and the residents who live around it.

On July 25th, further developments occurred as noted by a press release issued from Congressman Vern Ehler's office.  In Washington D.C., The House passed legislation that condemned the proposed increased dumping of contaminants in Lake Michigan.  This is the resolution that had been proposed earlier by Congressmen Ehlers (MI) and Emanuel (IL).  House Congressional Resolution 187 expressed the following disapproval, “The Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s issuance of a permit allowing BP to increase their daily dumping of ammonia and total suspended solids into Lake Michigan” and  notes, “The United States Environmental Protection Agency should not allow increased dumping of chemicals and pollutants into the Great Lakes”.

The bipartisan measure overwhelmingly passed the House by a vote of 387 to 26. 

The Great Lakes caucus in Washington D.C. applauded the House for taking this stand and passing this simple yet, important resolution.

Congressman Ehlers has these thoughts for his constituents, “I support expanding refinery capacity in North America, and I believe projects such as this one can help drive down the price of gasoline for consumers.  But, I do not believe that the benefits of this project should come at the expense of our most precious natural resource.  The Great Lakes are the world’s largest freshwater system and serve as a source of drinking water, food, jobs and recreation for more than 40 million Americans”.    Furthermore he notes, “The increases in discharge permitted by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management are not consistent with the regional goal of keeping the Great Lakes clean and healthy for everyone.”

We'll stay tuned through the fall to see if the EPA revokes the permit they issued earlier, if BP will still increase refinery production and have an alternative site for the increased waste produced or if other things altogether are proposed.

So, everyone surrounding Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes region can breath a temporary sign of relief.  No increased dumping…at least for awhile.

Regards,

Bridget Dupont-Tingley
Editor
Local Area Watch

MAYORAL RACE COVERAGE

FYI, folks. 

WXMI-TV FOX 17 (cable channel 5) will air interviews with the candidates for G.R. mayor -- George Heartwell, Jackie Miller, Jim Rinck, and Rick Tormala -- tonight and tomorrow night on the ten o'clock news program. 

Also, WOOD Radio (AM 1300) The "Rick & Scott Show" will feature hour-long interviews with Tormala on Tuesday morning and Heartwell on Wednesday morning starting at 10:00 a.m.  We don't have information yet if the other candidates are scheduled to appear on WOOD's morning show.

BRITISH PETROLEUM & LAKE MICHIGAN - WASTE DUMPING FACTS

L.A.W. editor Bridget Tingley has reported to you on the recent plan to allow British Petroleum to increase its discharge of waste into Lake Michigan from its refinery in Indiana.  She followed up with both British Petroleum, local elected officials, and the candidates running for Grand Rapids mayor to solicit their comments about this controversy and reported on that, too.  See previous articles for full details on that end of the story.

In keeping with that, we are making available British Petroleum's FAQ about the matter, which you can read here as a PDF file. BP provided this fact sheet to us direct. We agreed to air all sides to the story - including their explanation of the facts as they see them.  We may disagree with what they say versus what they do, but we are always open to explanations by all parties. You, our readers, get to make your own decision on issues at that point. Read on.

GRASSROOTS AGAINST GRCC TAX GRAB

On Friday, we griped about Grand Rapids Community College putting on August's ballot a request for a millage hike that the voters just defeated back in May.  One of our comments was this:

"I suppose we could lament the absence of any champion for the voters' will to oppose this tax increase on the principle that the voters had already said no to it only a couple of months ago.  However, the issue is in the voters' hands.  They should be incensed that GRCC will not take no for an answer, and so they can vote in August accordingly.  Yes, it's unfair that Michigan law allows outfits like GRCC to keep hauling people back to the voting booth every three months, and the state legislature should restrict millage ballots to the November general election.  But, unfair or not, it's up to the voters, with or without a champion, to take control of this matter."

As it happens, Eric Larson of Kent County Families for Fiscal Responsibility has taken up, as a grassroots effort, the inequity of GRCC going back to the well so soon after being told "no" by the voters.  He had this to say:

"... it's very hard to mount a response to these millages when they come up so quickly (and repetitively). It is my hope that our organization, Kent County Families for Fiscal Responsibility, will [be] just such a home base for those interested in good governance and fighting unfair tax policies/proposals.  Email at info@kcffr.org and/or visit the website at www.kcffr.org."

Although we are not making any particular endorsement of Eric's organization, we admire and support the efforts of ordinary people to make their voices heard on government policies.  This is especially so in a case like this in which the political, media, and business establishment has so firmly lined up against the voters and the taxpayers.  We welcome information about any other grassroot campaigns in our community to make a difference in the upcoming election, either for or against the GRCC millage hike.  Drop us a line and we'll put up a notice about your organization for our readers.

DEAD ZONE UPDATE

Last week we noted that the local media has been AWOL in its coverage of the Grand Rapids mayoral race.  Since then reporter Jim Harger wrote an article about the Neighborhood Business Alliance's candidate forum that ran in the Friday evening edition of the Grand Rapids Press.  Harger gave prominent coverage to the snarky remarks challengers Rick Tormala and Jim Rinck made about incumbent George Heartwell's dubious record as mayor.  Admittedly they were funny, keeping in mind how tepid local politics are, but there was a lot more to report from that forum than was covered in the Press.  Stayed tuned, because we will fill that gap.

TO HELL WITH THE VOTERS

As most of you know, Grand Rapids Community College bigwigs are demanding more money from the taxpayers again.  Several weeks ago GRCC lost a millage election that would have hit homeowners with a hike of $24 for each $100K of their property's taxable value.  The voters spoke and said no.  Apparently democracy is not to the liking of the GRCC board of trustees, because they have put the millage hike back on the ballot in August -- this time expecting the voters to give them the right answer.

Of course, the GRCC board has made dire predictions of doom and gloom if the voters don't do what they are told and approve the tax increase.  Migosh, students might have to pay higher tuition to cover higher compensation to the all of the employees feeding at the GRCC trough.  Yes, that's harsh, but then much of the argument for why the schooling GRCC offers is critical lies with the failure of the public school districts to teach the general education, college prep, and vocational classes that have become the core of the GRCC cirriculum.  As GRCC is part and parcel of the Michigan public school system, it does not escape blame for allowing this shift of responsibility for decent education from K-12 to it -- especially when it gets to stick the cost of that shift to homeowners.

The ballot box is the only brake on this ballooning of K-12 education out to K-14 left to the taxpayers.  They get to say no to pouring more money into a system of sinecures for overpaid administrators and instructors.  When they say "no", that should mean "no".  A close election doesn't change that.  A one-vote margin in favor of "no" is the same as a 10,000-vote margin.  But the GRCC board of trustees has no respect for the voters.  They don't care what they have decided, so they'll keep demanding higher taxes from us until the voters get it right.

Seeing that a reprobate like lawyer Gary Schenk is one of the leaders of the GRCC board, perhaps this contempt for the voters is not surprising.  More surprising is the endorsement of this millage hike by some other community leaders.  For example, at Tuesday's Grand Rapids City Commission meeting, mayoral candidates George Heartwell and Rick Tormala backed GRCC's demand for higher taxes.*  In light of Heartwell's sanctimonious fit (here and here) when Michigan voters banned racial preference policies by state and local governments, maybe ignoring the will of voters isn't so surprising for him.  Tormala, however, showed good sense in response to Heartwell's desire to go to war against the voters on that issue.  He should apply the same principle to this second bite at the apple that GRCC wants.

Likewise with the G.R. Press, which out of respect for the voters editorially opposed Heartwell's nonsense to go on a jihad for racial preferences.  It also has set aside that principle to support the GRCC millage hike.  I suppose we could lament the absence of any champion for the voters' will to oppose this tax increase on the principle that the voters had already said no to it only a couple of months ago.  However, the issue is in the voters' hands.  They should be incensed that GRCC will not take no for an answer, and so they can vote in August accordingly.  Yes, it's unfair that Michigan law allows outfits like GRCC to keep hauling people back to the voting booth every three months, and the state legislature should restrict millage ballots to the November general election.  But, unfair or not, it's up to the voters, with or without a champion, to take control of this matter.

It's up to them to make clear what they think of those who say, "To hell with the voters."  If they won't, they have only themselves to blame for the contempt that the GRCC board of trustees has shown for them by putting the millage hike back on the ballot.

(* At least Heartwell and Tormala went on the record.  As far as we can tell, the other two candidates for Grand Rapids mayor, Jim Rinck and Jackie Miller, are AWOL on the GRCC issue.  However, Rinck has publicly stated that he opposes further property tax increases, so that would appear to put him at odds with a millage hike.  But then he has made a lot of noise about education being the salvation of our community, so his position is not clear.)

THE DEAD ZONE

Yesterday evening the four Grand Rapids mayoral candidates appeared at the Wealthy Street Theater for a 90-minute question-and-answer session hosted by the Neighborhood Business Alliance.  It was an informative presentation of the candidates' views, and we'll have our commentary on it in an upcoming article.  However, don't expect much from the local media if you want to know what the candidates are promising.

The mayoral race is a dead zone in local media coverage.  We've noted that previously regarding last week's public call-in to quiz the candidates.  The t.v. news reportage was, if not non-existent, abysmal, and though the Grand Rapids Press did cover the call-in, you learned nothing much about the candidates' views from their story.  So far, the N.B.A.'s Q&A with the candidates isn't getting any better notice from the local media.

Last night, your Executive Director and Editor checked out Fox17 News instead of WOOD TV8 to see what the t.v. news would have to say about the Q&A.  We figured that with an hour-long local news show, Fox would have the time to report on a mayoral debate seeing that the primary election is only a week and a half away.  As it happened, Fox had time to plug as news the Fox conglomerate's entertainment products, including the premiere of The Simpsons Movie and the late-breaking flash that the new season of the t.v. show 24 will be set in D.C. rather than L.A.

But not a word about how mayoral candidates Jim Rinck, Jackie Miller, Rick Tormala, and George Heartwell want to run* Grand Rapids for the next four years.

(* Yes, we at LAW know that so long as the City Commission is supine before the apparatchiks of the city staff, no mayor actually runs G.R.  Perhaps challenging the regime of City Manager Kurt Kimball would make a good campaign issue for the local media to raise ... oh, that's right, that would mean the local media would have to actually cover the campaign.)

NEIGHBORHOOD BUSINESS MAYOR DEBATES - MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Dear L.A.W. Readers,

As a courtesy reminder, here are two upcoming events dealing with the Grand Rapids Mayoral debates. Mark your calendars and either attend in person or watch/listen if you can.

An informed voter is the best voter!

Regards,

Bridget Dupont-Tingley

Editor, The Local Area Watch

First Event Reminder:

Wealthy Street Theatre

Thursday, July 26, 2007

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

This event will be televised live on GRTV from 7:00-8:30 PM with additional air times after the debate. The debate will be moderated by Andy Guy, the managing editor of Rapid Growth. 7:00pm - 8:30pm at the Wealthy Street Theatre (1130 Wealthy St SE)

Second Event Reminder:

WGVU News Radio Candidate Forum -1480 AM / 88.5 FM & 850 AM / 95.3 FM

Friday, July 27, 2007

9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Please tune in to WGVU Radio News with Fred Martino from 9am - 11am on July 27th. The first hour of the show will be a panel interview by Mr. Martino. The second hour will be reserved for listeners to call in with their questions.

You can email your questions ahead of time to feedback@gvsu.edu.

You can listen to WGVU live on the internet.

TUITION INCREASES IN MICHIGAN - GOING, GOING, GOING....UP!

We have been hearing on local newscasts and reading in newspapers in recent weeks about the increased tuition levels approved by local community colleges, private universities and state universities around Michigan. The numbers border on staggering. Just today, Wayne State University announced an increase of 13%. Welcome to the world of higher education (think Ward Churchill - eeeckk)!

WWW.rightmichigan.com has posted a number of articles in recent weeks about the current increases that young college first timers, returning undergraduate students and older returning graduate students can expect in the fall of 07’.  Articles such as “Statewide, Universities Jack Up Tuition Rates. U-Mich Repeats Lie First Exposed by ZR years ago” by Chetly posted on 7/21/07 and “Tuition Increases Amidst GVSU Building Palooza” by Amanda posted on 7/17/07.  Each article provided details on a breakdown of room & board along with the actual amount of the increase a full time student could expect in final dollars and cents.  One of the articles expressed frustration over the continued escalation of costs. One of the articles discussed supposed costs reductions at one school while the same school complained state aid was simply not enough to make up the difference in reforms and current fees. While there was ample irritation and disappointment, few ideas were put forth as what to do to counter this constant pattern of tuition going up each and every year.

I couldn’t help but relate to these articles as I am a graduate of The University of Detroit-Mercy and also Eastern Michigan University. I moaned and groaned in the years of 1985-1991 when I was in both schools obtaining my degrees. I thought costs were growing wildly back then, but the numbers these days border on astronomical.  By the time I hit my third year in college, all aid less student loans dried up. I remember vividly being told that since I made 10K a year working two part time jobs and my parents made 25-30K a year combined, we were considered “well off” so, I wasn’t eligible for aid any longer. Citibank was kind enough to offer me a small student loan of $2,500 at 10% interest and then they welcomed me doing a cash advance on my credit card for an additional $5,000 at 18% interest for the rest of my bill that year. I appreciated their flexibility and generosity in robbing me blind when no one else would.  It took me over a decade to pay back over $35,000 in debt. I did it, every last rotten, stinking dime (along with employing a personal therapist to help me get over my bitterness of the whole experience :-).  35K seemed like a large amount of money back then, but appears to be nothing compared to the numbers I have been hearing for this generation of students in school now.

I feel that we have all fallen prey to the false belief that becoming a college graduate is a must. No bachelors degree, you are nothing! No masters degree, you are nothing! No PhD, no zoup for you!   The real deal is you simply go in debt and have no security or guaranty for the journey you feel pressured to take.  What other choices do we make in life at such an early age where we are told;

1)  soon as you graduate from high school make a major life career decision,

2)  fork out $50,000 or more to pay for school (via student aid, scholarships, cash advances on credit cards,  family assistance if you can get it, student loans and in between jobs),

3)  spend 4 to 6 years in an isolated classroom being taught only specific information that certain professors with set agendas want you to learn (so much for well rounded learning),

4)  graduate on time if you are dedicated, smart and organized,

5) and then walk out into a world that has not prepared you for an empty piece of paper, enormous debt and no guaranteed job or career. It appears congratulations are in order college grad!

As one of the articles on www.rightmichigan.com noted, most institutions of higher learning are dealing with increased student entry and graduation numbers not reduced enrollment.  So, what gives?  How angry are all these students – both undergraduate and graduate - if all they do is get upset, yet they still fork over the dough? Or worse, has everyone bought the concept that success in the modern world is available to only those with a college education?  Sure, there are some fields that continuing education is a must. You simply cannot walk into the work world and become a doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc, without some form of higher education. The reality is most other fields, on the job training could prove wonders. But, that isn’t done much any longer.  Employers no longer want to train someone who might leave in a short amount of time or not work out altogether and thus, they have wasted money, time and benefits for nothing. Workers  don’t want traditional blue collar style jobs anymore as they’re simply not “the ones to brag about”.   

Frankly, the whole "business" of college and university education is a bit distasteful  these days. They deny they run themselves like a business. They say they are not there to increase professor profiles. They are not there to build monster alumni programs for the status of the college.  They are not there to create national athletic buildings, teams and fan followings. They are not there to make money. They are simply there to educate the kids of today to be the brilliant workers of tomorrow. Hmmm…right.

My take is that until parents, students and everyone else starts making their voice truly heard, this incredible escalation of costs is going to keep going on and on and on. Regardless of how much money the state and local parties pay out to the schools, it will never be enough. The schools will always say they are in a deficit mode. Parents are actually starting to take out home equity loans to foot their kids college bills. Parents are dipping into their 401K, pension and savings accounts to pay for their kids college bills which could harm their future retirement plans. Parents are getting second and third jobs to help their kids pay their college bills.   Some kids are working to help put themselves through school (like I did), but still not enough. If kids had to work to foot their entire bill themselves, things would change overnight. Guaranteed!

Don’t forget, communities like Grand Rapids keep going to the ballet box during voting season to get that all important millage increase to keep the schools piggy bank full.  If they don’t get the vote they want the first time, well  try, try again. 

Is the sky now the limit?

When will people say no more? 

Until we all start demanding more in return for our hard earned money, we aren't going to see a change. Even if someone is lucky enough to get grants and scholarships instead of forking out direct cash, credit cards or taking out direct loans…we all pay the bill in the long run one way or another. What you got as a grant or scholarship, people like I paid in direct expenses out of my own pocket. Or citizens in the community paid via increased millage rates. Nothing is free. Nothing. 

I would like to suggest controversial ideas such as the following to fix the current college and university tuition increase problem:

Start boycotting schools that increase tuition beyond the cost of inflation.

Start boycotting schools that do not do needed reforms and shave off waste to their own internal administrative, building and operating programs.

Start boycotting schools that do not contain costs and watch their spending - in terms of educator & administrative salaries, material costs, building booms, etc.

Start boycotting schools who do not provide guaranteed job assistance and job placement at the end of a 4 or 6 year program.

Start boycotting schools that do not show a top level placement record of recent graduates.

If these colleges and universities want to act like a big business, even if they deny they are, then let’s start holding them to successful business principals. That means watching the bottom line dollar (keeping costs in line with inflation and no more), making sure they meet the customers demands (quality surveys on teachers, administrators, books, class content, etc.), showing success in their product line(that students are getting jobs in their fields) and so on. Continuing to pay colleges and universities for minimal to poor production is a bad business practice and it shows.  You wouldn’t reward a failing business in the real world. Why reward a failing college or university when the product they produce isn't working - you (that is assuming that a student is putting 100% of their time and effort toward their major/minor properly, graduating on time and still can't make do with the degree they have earned).

We have all bought the notion hook, line and sinker that if you don’t get a college degree these days – you are big, fat zero. You can’t possibly amount to anything.  It's sad that high school counselors, teachers aids and adults themselves advise students that they must attend a college or university else they will end up unmarketable and unwanted in the work world.  It’s too easy to forget or deny that some of the biggest inventors and small business people began with minor beginnings. Beginnings that DID NOT include a college degree. Who knows what you might be able to accomplish if you take hard work, determination and dedication to a discipline other than a college or university.  Everyone should not have to pay these institutions the sun, moon and the stars to "help" make a dream happen. We should all consider taking our current money, time and effort and consider becoming the next great inventor, a small business owner, joining a military branch of service for the benefit of God, country and family, attending a technical or vocational school for a trade skill, putting years in a job and gaining experience on site and working our way up in a company the old fashioned way and so on. The key would be suggesting and supporting these alternatives instead of just frowning upon them. 

As these simple ideas and suggestions show, it's possible to avoid breaking the bank when it comes to continuing education.  We simply have forgotten how.

Regards,

Bridget Dupont-Tingley
Editor, The Local Area Watch

RINCK CAMPAIGN REPLIES TO BP DUMPING ISSUE

Dear L.A.W. Readers,

2007 candidate for Mayor of Great Rapids Jim Rinck, returned from being out of town for a few days  and apologized for the delay in providing a statement to L.A.W. on the recent increase in dumping by British Petroleum (BP) in Lake Michigan.  As noted in our previous entries, we advised if/when they responded to our story from last week we would post any comments they chose to make on the issue.

Mr. Rinck advised The Local Area Watch of the following today, " I'm appalled at the BP dumping and more appalled that our federal government apparently has done nothing about it.  As you know, the position of Mayor of Grand Rapids has very little real power, and so I or any other Mayor could do nothing about this particular incident.  Nevertheless, I certainly would not be quiet about such matters.  Perhaps, until the city charter is changed, that is all that could be done."

We are pleased to see current Mayor Heartwell, candidates for Grand Rapids Mayor Commissioner Rick Tormala , Jim Rinck and Congressman for Kent County Vern Ehlers, all agree that additional discharge of sludge and ammonia should not be happening in Lake Michigan.  Their voice as a group seems to be consistent that BP should cease such activities and make a priority of cleaning up The Great Lakes and not contributing to an increase in pollution.

We hope the candidates will stay on top of this issue and support Congressman Ehlers in his legislation to reverse this activity that BP has begun. It's an important subject to nearly everyone in West Michigan as well as those living, working and enjoying The Great Lakes region.

Regards,

Bridget Dupont-Tingley
Editor
The Local Area Watch

BP RESPONDS TO THE LOCAL AREA WATCH

Dear L.A.W. Readers,

Yesterday we posted a short article outlining the brief background of the recent approval granted by The State of Indiana, EPA and British Petroleum (BP) to increase the amount of daily ammonia and sludge that would be released into Lake Michigan on a daily basis.  See our previous entry for full details.

We had written to the following individuals involved in this issue to see if they had any feedback they wanted us to share with our readers:

British Petroleum (BP)
Congressman Vern Ehlers (R-MI)
Mayor Heartwell, Grand Rapids
2007 Mayoral Candidates for Grand Rapids,  Rick Tormala & Jim Rinck

By the publishing deadline, we had replies from Ehlers, Heartwell and Tormala. All took the time to write to us direct as they felt this was indeed an important issue.

We have not had a statement submitted by Jim Rinck as of yet (we were updated late today by Jeff Winston, campaign manager for Rinck, that he is out of town for a few days.  Upon his return, he will send us a statement of his thoughts and position on this issue.  We will post his reply once we receive it).

BP also made a point of contacting us regarding our e-mail to them and our internet posting.  Late yesterday afternoon we received a response from Valerie Corr at the BP Press Office. She advised us of the following, "We take your concerns very seriously, and I appreciate that you included BP's position on your website. Attached is a fact sheet you may find helpful.  I would like to clarify that BP absolutely does not and will not release sludge or toxic waste streams into Lake Michigan.  BP takes the issue of climate change and the environment very seriously.  We are making significant investments in bio-fuels, solar, wind and other forms of alternative energy. For more information, please visit www.bp.com”.

The Local Area Watch will attach their fact sheet for viewing by first of next week. Any interested parties are welcome to read the three pages they provided that cover the most frequently asked questions and the corresponding answers from BP’s view point.   

We are still not convinced that providing special permits for additional dumping is the final answer to increased refinery production in an aged facility and a handful of new jobs.  An increase for ammonia discharge levels here, an increase for sludge discharge levels there, where does it end?  Exemptions for large companies could mean reduced restrictions for small companies later, which then allows a domino process to begin with loosening of environmental laws meant to protect humans, wildlife and our water system in this area. Clean up of our lakes can't continue if pollution levels are allowed to be increased. Since BP is already considered the largest contributor to pollution on Lake Michigan now, we remain skeptical based upon evidence we are seeing that getting exemptions won't somehow result in ammonia and sludge reaching our lake system - even with mixers, diffusers and the like trying to control the problem.

We will continue to keep an eye on this issue and report developments as they occur with Congressman Ehlers & Emanuel ,and if the State of Indiana and the EPA choose to revoke the permit they issued under an exemption earlier.

Regards,

Bridget Dupont-Tingley
Editor
The Local Area Watch

BP - BEYOND THE PROPAGANDA - SLUDGE, AMMONIA & THE GREAT LAKES

The story of British Petroleum (BP) being allowed to dump MORE waste into Lake Michigan caught our eye.

The story was picked up briefly this week by our local media and also on the AP, UPI and important publications like the Chicago Tribune. We live in the shadow of Lake Michigan – we are considered the Gold Coast of Michigan after all – and felt our readers could use an update on what this dumping issue means.

We have extra interest in corporate dumping after all our work in the Berkey & Gay - Toxic Towers Grand Rapids, MI  incident (see our side bar menu for articles that relate back to that scandal).  We understand how easy it is for corporations to evade and circumvent laws and do bad deeds with barely a blink from officials.  In BP’s defense, they got approval before dumping instead of doing it behind our backs and then covering up the crime as happened in the Toxic Towers case.

Even with BP receiving the blessing of the EPA and the State of Indiana - that doesn't mean the final results are good for all of us. Read on.

HISTORY OF BP AND WASTE DISHCARGE

The Whiting, Indiana refinery plant was originally built by Standard Oil (J. D. Rockefeller) back in 1889.   It is located just off the beautiful shores of southern Lake Michigan on Indiana’s border.

The facility processes about 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily. The current production level is expected to grow by about 15% by the time the newest 3.8 billion dollar expansion is completed in 2011. BP itself states that once the expansion is done, the re-configured refinery will go from 30% heavy Canadian crude to 90%.

Approval was granted recently by the EPA, State of Indiana and BP for additional waste dumping of about 1,584 pounds of ammonia and 4,925 pounds of industrial sludge per day into Lake Michigan in order to increase refining capabilities for heavier Canadian crude oil. Extracting petroleum from this heavier crude is a dirtier process than conventional methods. That means more energy is needed to produce the final product.  Thus, there is a corresponding increase in waste and greenhouse gases as well.  In the end, the approval to deviate from current environmental laws by The State of Indiana and the EPA means 54% more ammonia and 35% more sludge are going to be added to Lake Michigan on a daily basis.

Even with this increase, the refinery will still be within federal water pollution guidelines.

BP POSITION

BP has a formal letter to the public on their website www.bp.com by Dan Sajkowski , BP Whiting Refinery Business Unit Leader.

They feel the recent news reports about wastewater discharge is inaccurate and their letter helps to clarify the issues.  BP assures the public that any new environmental permits have been done according to acceptable guidelines. 

They assure everyone that they meet or exceed federal and state regulatory requirements. They clarify in this letter that sludge does not go directly into the lake. It’s only discharged after it is treated and the final treated wastewater is 99.999% water ONLY.  The same with ammonia discharge.

BP believes it is continuing to provide a reliable and clean fuel supply to the nation and the people that need its products – products that include gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel. They employ 1,700 BP employees at the refinery and another 2,000 contract workers in the Great Lakes region.

They advise the public that they remain committed to keeping the environment clean along with creating jobs and upgrading the facility for a better tomorrow.

L.AW. TAKE ON THINGS

Because there isn’t enough room at the current 1,400 acre BP site to update the refinery’s water treatment plant, the surrounding environment will be negatively impacted.  BP assures the public that a mixing zone is in place to assist the discharge problem (equipment installed about 200 feet offshore that mixes toxic waste with clean lake water), yet they don't tell the whole story that actively diluting pollution this way is actually banned in Lake Michigan under current Indiana law and they had to get an exemption to get this done. Regulators granted BP the first ever exemption for this.

If BP wants to refine more oil products for the good of the nation, that’s understandable. We are not against oil companies, refineries or the energy system when they are trying to increase availability of a product we all need each day. Especially when it means getting further away from Middle Eastern oil.  On the flip side, we aren’t tree huggers looking for the environment to trump anything to do with man either. We are looking more for a balance between man and nature – the best we can. 

What seems wrong is that the facility in Whiting is getting old and is not appropriate any longer to handle the additional growth and corresponding waste.  The surrounding region then must pay the burden for this lack of planning and internal investment by this company.  BP is the one that chose NOT  to install more effective pollution controls at the nation’s fourth largest refinery until fairly recently (and still not at the level truly needed). Due to the lack of new refinery’s being built in the last 30 years around the U.S.  Citizens are paying the price right here in Michigan for this lack of advancement and endless EPA restrictions.   The big question is why residents, animals and plant life in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana must pay the price for everyone else?  Discharge into Lake Michigan will continue to have negative results to our lives and ecosystem.  Increased ammonia will allow algae to grow faster and kill off fish. Heavy metals contained in the sludge will affect humans, birds and other local wildlife. The domino process from these two things will be without question harmful long term. 

Is a handful of additional jobs (roughly 80) and further refining really worth the damage to The Great Lakes - the world’s largest surface body of freshwater in the world  and the contamination of drinking water for an estimated 40 million Americans?   The protection of The Great Lakes should always trump an aged refining facility. We say the tradeoff is too great.

If we have one claim to fame in the Midwest and especially the great state of Michigan, it's the beauty of the Great Lakes.  We not only view this precious body of water, but we play in it, eat from it and drink from it as well.  Increased pollution will be devastating to all of us  – humans, fish and wildlife.  Let’s not forget how many rivers and inland lakes tie into the Great Lakes system as well.  It’s possible to get cross contamination.

The current direction that the EPA, State of Indiana and BP is taking is to water down The Clean Water Act of the 1970’s.  An act that had been slowly reversing the awful trend of decades past where grease, oil and other toxic chemicals had been pumped from local factories, mills and refineries into the Great Lakes unchecked. With the relaxing of important regulations such as that from BP this past week, the clock begins to be turned back.

We don’t support this additional discharge into Lake Michigan.

POLITICAL ACTIONS AND REACTIONS TAKEN TO DATE 

Vern Ehlers (R-MI, Barry-Ionia-Kent Counties) and Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) have introduced a concurrent resolution on Capital Hill expressing disapproval to this action as of 7/18/07.  Their websites state what the five items are that they hope will be addressed.  The actions are:

1. Congress expresses its disapproval of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s issuance of a permit allowing BP to increase their daily dumping of ammonia and sludge  into Lake Michigan;

2. Congress urges the State of Indiana to reconsider issuance of a permit allowing BP to increase their daily dumping of ammonia and sludge into Lake Michigan;

3. Congress should take action to protect and restore the Great Lakes;

4. The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s actions in the Great Lakes basin should be consistent with the goal of preserving and restoring the Great Lakes; and

5. The United States Environmental Protection Agency should not allow increased dumping of chemicals and pollutants into the Great Lakes.

The Local Area Watch of Grand Rapids, Michigan is offering its support to Representatives Ehlers (R-MI) and Emanuel (D-IL) in their introduction of the concurrent resolution.  We let them know of our agreement with their actions by sending an email about their proposal.  I received a return reply from the congressman’s office within a day of my initial contact.   

R. Ehlers supported all the BP wastewater discharge details that I summarized earlier. Beyond that, he noted, “I am deeply concerned that a permit of this nature was issued. I support the expansion of refinery capacity, which can help to lower gas prices, but I do not believe that these benefits should come at the expense of our most precious natural resource”. 

R. Ehlers further noted, “The Great Lakes are the world's largest freshwater system and serve as a source of drinking water, food, jobs and recreation for more than forty million Americans. It is critical that we enhance our restoration efforts for this critical resource, not degrade the condition of the lakes even further. The permit for increased dumping of harmful pollutants is totally inconsistent with the goals of Great Lakes restoration. Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish and trigger beach closings.  TSS is also harmful to the ecosystem in a variety or respects - these solids settle to the bottom of the water body, often choking or drowning aquatic life and interfering with fish spawning.  TSS discharges also contribute to algae blooms, which not only overtake the native ecosystem by taking nutrients away from the surrounding plant life , but also feed harmful bacteria which remove all the oxygen, kill aquatic life and ruin beaches.”  We requested in our note to his office that they stay on top of this issue beyond the initial concurrent resolution put forward by his office and  Illinois  Congressman Emanuel.   

Finally, Congressman Ehlers advised The Local Area Watch of the following, “I have joined several of my colleagues in writing to Mitch Daniels, the governor of Indiana , and to Stephen Johnson, the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to express our serious concerns with this permit. We have asked the EPA to review the matter to make sure these actions do not violate the Clean Water Act, and we have urged the State of Indiana to take a second look at the dumping permit and take the steps necessary to revoke it.  I have also cosponsored a Congressional resolution that disapproves of the permit and says that the EPA should not allow increased dumping of chemicals and pollutants into the Great Lakes”.

We sent an email to each of the local mayoral candidates for Grand Rapids -  George Heartwell, Rick Tormala and Jim Rinck (we could not find an email contact address for Ms. Miller or we would have included her) to find out if they had a position on this issue.   

Mayor Heartwell was quick to reply to the BP increased dumping problem. He believes the additional wastewater discharge issue is of great importance to our region and state.  He told us, “Damage to any portion of the Great Lakes basin is damage to the whole basin.  We simply cannot allow the dangerous levels of toxic discharge that BP proposes.  What was Indiana thinking when this approved this permit?"

Commissioner Tormala advised us of his thoughts on the issue by stating, "The dumping of toxic chemicals into Lake Michigan is totally unacceptable and threatens our environment while posing a direct public health threat to the millions of Great Lakes residents (including Grand Rapids) that use Lake Michigan as a source of drinking water. The EPA is looking more like a red tape cutter for big business than the guardian of public health and welfare. The Commission can and should do a letter to Congress and the EPA objecting."

By the deadline of this article, we had not received feedback from the Rinck campaign.

Finally, we submitted an email to BP expressing our disagreement with their actions and the expected results to the environment.  We are concerned at the double standard they are creating when you compare their heavily advertised “green” ads on t.v., newspapers and website versus what they are doing in the real world. Even though they are under state and federal waste discharge levels, I’m not sure it’s their proudest moment as they are choosing to increase their pollution discharge levels instead of decreasing or eliminating it altogether. We feel they should be exposed on this contradiction of words versus actions.

By the deadline of this article, we had not received a return reply from BP.

ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE

Without question, there are many pressing issues of great importance in all of our lives today; the war effort, terrorism, illegal immigration, the economy, health care, taxes, jobs, business growth, education and our environment . We can’t make them all a priority all the same time, but we can make a difference with just a quick e-mail now and then . It’s up to each one of us, Midwest Am ericans and Michiganders to stand up and consider doing something about the increased BP dumping issue. I was pleased to see half of my emails were quickly returned. I hope you'll consider contacting one of these officials if you have a position as well.

Contact addresses are:

BP:  www.bp.com – go to “contact us’ and send off an e-mail letter

VERN EHLERS:  www.house.gov/ehlers/contact - go to Congressman Vern Ehlers (you must be a resident of his district to contact him) and send off an e-mail letter

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:  www.house.gov – and search for your representative if you live in any county other than that of Mr. Ehlers .  Then send off an e-mail letter

GEORGE HEARTWELL:  gheartwe@ci.grand-rapids.mi.us – send off an e-mail letter

RICK TORMALA:  rtormala@ci.grand-rapids.mi-us - (for city related matters) ricktormala@aol.com (for election related matters) – send off an e-mail letter

JIM RINCK:  www.jimrinck.com – there is a section to send emails and contact him direct

Regards,

Bridget Dupont-Tingley
Editor
The Local Area Watch

IS THERE A MAYORAL RACE?

Not if you are relying upon the local media to find out.

Last night the four candidates in the race for mayor of Grand Rapids -- incumbent George Heartwell, grocery clerk Jackie Miller, GR school board member James Rinck, and City Commissioner Rick Tormala -- participated in a discussion in which the public could call in questions.  It was televised on the GRTV cable channel.  Unfortunately, your Editor and Executive Director had to attend a meeting at Davenport College during the broadcast, so we didn't get to watch the candidates in action.

No problem.  We thought we would tune into the 11 o'clock news on TV8.  Sure, enough the anchor informed us that the call-in forum took place -- and that was it!  Absolutely no coverage as to what transpired.  Nothing about the questions asked, nor the answers given by the candidates.  Pitiful coverage.

HONOLULU SPENDFEST

Back in May I had this to say about the cost to taxpayers of our public pension officials jetting off to Honolulu for one of those conventions that industry groups routinely host as a money-maker for their coffers:

NCPERS is concerned that the public will see this Honolulu junket for what it is, and so attempts to arm its members with some disinformation to feed the taxpayers.  For example, NCPERS claims the per-person cost to attend a conference in Honolulu instead of Orlando (note, another vacation spot as opposed to Des Moines or Grand Rapids) is only a couple hundreds bucks more at around $1,400 including airfare, ground transportation, lodging, food, and beverage.  The idea is to pitch the Honolulu location as incidental to this most important event.  Hawaii just isn't that much more expensive, according to the NCPERS propaganda.  Yeah, right.  The hotel bill alone for NCPERS 2007 is nearly $1,600, and that's if your public servant gets the cheapest discount-rate room sponsored by NCPERS at the Honolulu Hilton.  Add on at least $70 for ground transportation, $300-$400 for food and drink, and the $595 admission fee into the conference, and the total tab is nearly double what NCPERS tells its members to report to the taxpayers.

So, NCPERS told it members to tell the public that the cost of the junket would be only $1,400.  I figured the cost to be about $2,665.  Yesterday, the Grand Rapids Press reported that the ten trustees from from local public employee pension boards who want to the NCPERS conference in Honolulu spent anywhere from $3,300 to $4,600 each to lollygag in Hawaii for a week on the taxpayers' dime.  The total cost to you was $37,692 so that your public servants for network and share information with their colleagues across the country.  (I wonder what the Internet is for then?)

However, Peggy Korzen, who went to Honolulu as one of the six representatives of Grand Rapids city employees pension fund, assures us that the taxpayers' money was well spent.  That's because, according to the Press, she says, "I don't know that anybody was unhappy with the conference.  I heard good comments from everyone who went."  No kidding.

THE QUIET ONES

A few of our regular readers noticed we did not have any entries recently regarding the tragic shooting of Grand Rapids Police Officer Robert (Bob) Kozminski.

Since you asked, we’ll address it.

We decided to leave this issue to the main media outlets to cover.  We couldn’t help but notice the high level of exposure this incident received in the G.R. Press, on local radio stations and of course, on t.v. stations 3, 4, 8, 13 and so on. Grief was expressed in normal ways;  anger that domestic violence took another tragic turn, sadness over the loss of an honored police officer – the first in many, many years,  words of condolences for a precious life lost, flowers of honor at police headquarters, photographs of the officer,  interviews with those who knew and  loved him and words of support and admiration for the life this officer lived.  All appropriate and expected outpourings of loss over the unexpected and heartbreaking death of a well respected public official, boyfriend, son and co-worker.

But, as the days went on, expressions of grief started to reach a crescendo we did not expect.  Flags were flown at half staff at many buildings.  Signs all around town had words of comfort for the fallen and for fellow officers. Television stations and radio broadcasts couldn’t seem to discuss any other topic. Interviews were being done constantly with friends, family, church members, etc. City buses were advised they needed to pull over for a moment of silence before resuming their route. Roads were closed off for the long procession of city and private cars involved in the open funeral ceremony.   The funeral was even broadcast on t.v. for anyone to view.

We chose to stay on the sidelines as the media frenzy ensued.

Our distance did not mean we did not feel similar sadness over such a tragic and unexpected loss of life – especially by a trusted public servant.  Our sympathy also goes out to the officer’s family and his fellow officers – those left behind.  I’m sure his loss will be a vacancy that will take many, many years to fill. As for Kozminski himself, he was on the job doing his sworn duty to protect the citizens of this city and lost his life in the line of duty.  He seemed to be a top officer and a quality human being.  We thank him for his service and his ultimate sacrifice.  May he rest in peace and have perpetual light shine upon him always.

We have no way of knowing if Officer Kozminski would have wanted such a public display of grief and loss on radio, t.v. and news print.  We’ll have no answer to that question in our lifetime.  We chose not to shine the media spotlight on him that way.   On the other hand, we hope he wouldn’t mind that each one of us says a private prayer on his behalf in our own quiet way.   

It’s at times like this, it’s important to remember the “everyday” people who are out there making a difference.  Doctors, nurses, ambulance workers, police, firefighters, security personnel, all branches of our military – Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, National Guard and Coast Guard and more. Thank them now for their service, not after it’s too late.  Each one of these groups, along with everyday average citizens like you and I, make a difference in keeping our communities safe, healthy, clean and beautiful. We just do it in our own ways.  Most of us don’t loose our lives in the pursuit of these things. For those that do, we share with you our eternal thanks.

At The Local Area Watch, we may be quiet in our appreciation and remembrance of this honorable local officer, but it is there nonetheless. Our outpouring is simply more reserved and private than that of the general media.  I'm sure many of you agree.

Regards,

Bridget Dupont-Tingley
Editor
The Local Area Watch

HER WAY - WELCOME TO HILLARYLAND

Book Review 

Her Way
By Jeff Gerth & Don Van Natta Jr.
June 2007 by Back Nine Books, LLC – Little, Brown & Company
Available at all major books stores- Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Walden, Schuster, etc.

Type of Book:

Non-fiction.

This book is an unauthorized biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Background: 

Per Back Nine Books LLC, Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta, Jr. were both investigative reporters for The New York Times for many years. Both have been awarded either group or individual Pulitzer Prices for their investigative journalism and written works.  Between the two, they have written a number of books and have taught at renowned universities such as Princeton. One lives in Washington D.C. and the other in New Jersey. Further information can be found on Wickepedia.

General  Book Overview: 

As she makes her historic run for the top job of first female President of The United States, this book lays out a complete portrait of the woman we know as Hillary Rodham Clinton. The authors of this book take you on a journey from her youngest years, through her undergraduate education, law school, years as a professional lawyer, first lady to Arkansas and the nation and finally, to current times.  She is a commanding force in the world of politics, both in her early days and well into the early 21st century. Whether you approve of her or not, whether you like her or not, she remains a leading candidate for the 2008 Presidency.  This book draws upon many sources, both disclosed and undisclosed, to paint a picture of a woman few truly know. Fortunately, this book provides a glimpse into who she really is, what she stands for and what she is willing to do to win the nomination and obtain the ultimate job – leader of the free world.

The authors noted early on in this book the following important items:

1) They approached Mrs. Clinton along with current and past aides, supporters, associates, friends and even fellow senators for input and research into this project. Most declined to speak on the record – some due to possible fear of retribution, others out of pure loyalty and yet others who had been advised not to cooperate per instructions from Mrs. Clinton herself.

2) Even without direct cooperation, the authors were able to conduct more than 500 interviews with current and former aides, confidants and other senators.

3) The authors were able to examine thousands of pages of documents – some previously undisclosed by government archives via FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) and the Library of Congress.

4) The authors examined more than a thousand of Mrs. Clintons own speeches, interviews and public statements.  The authors also tie into Mrs. Clinton’s own biography Living History for reference. Mrs. Clinton may not have spoken to the authors direct, but her voice remains loud and clear through documented mediums such as mainstream t.v/cable (interviews, sound bites, commercials and campaign speeches), books/transcripts (her written word) and audio clips.   

5) The authors attended a number of Mrs. Clintons’ conferences and campaign events for a first hand experience with the Senator.

6) Last, but not least, most of the information in this book is derived from named sources cited in the end notes. Dozens of people spoke to the authors but only under the cover of anonymity for fear of retribution if they got directly named. The authors honored anyone who was not willing to be identified as long as the source checked out and had credibility.

The authors are well aware that Hillary Rodham Clinton is many things to many people. To some, she is a pioneer and hero. To others, the sum of all fears. She is said to be forthright and open at times. She can be evasive and downright dishonest at other times. She pats herself on the back when she wants to take credit for something done right. She denies any wrong doing when dangerous mistakes are made as she does not want to empower her adversaries.  She often commands great loyalty and admiration in her direct core of supporters. On the contrary, she often triggers dislike and mistrust in those she uses and tosses aside once they are no longer valuable or are no longer considered her most trusted insiders.  Ultimately, she is complex and hard to understand, even to some of her closest friends and advisors. She is unique in that such a high profile candidate has occupied the spotlight for so long with so few knowing who she really is.

The book takes you on a full journey from Hillary growing up in Illinois to a middle class family, to her college years at Wellesley & Yale, her early involvement in political campaigns for Republicans (yes, the other guys), helping the Black Panthers during a turbulent time, speaking out against the Vietnam war and finally becoming an advocate for children (once she moved toward being a liberal Democrat).  We see further development and changes once she marries Bill Clinton and they move to Arkansas, as she becomes an active lawyer and partner at The Rose Law firm, becoming First Lady of Arkansas, First Lady of the White House and finally, the current Senator to New York.  The book ends with details regarding her current campaign to be President of The United States in 2008.

In between all of these major life events you will discover hundreds of facts about her public and private life, many not disclosed or analyzed by the mainstream media to date. Many issues are clarified in greater detail, as is deserving of a Presidential candidate. 

For instance, the book sheds additional light on some of the following topics:

 Her status as one of America’s most influential female lawyers (she failed the DC bar and only passed the Arkansas bar).  She pumped up her resume to look a little better than it really did, saying she was voted top or best – she was not per the organizations who nominated her.

 The 20 year plan Bill and Hillary discussed in 1973 to reform the Democratic Party and take over the White House. Eight years for him and then eight years for her.  Half of which  has come to pass so far.

 Her questionable legal work for the troubled savings and loan, Madison Guaranty in Arkansas.

 Her preventing disclosure of evidence that she padded her legal bills and had frequent business/legal dealings with state regulators who worked for Bill when he was governor of Arkansas in apparent conflict of interests. She either denied or stated inaccurately the work she did do. Records show differently.

 The questionable land deal called White Water and their relationship with Jim and Susan McDougal (one convicted of fraud, the other did time in jail in order to not speak out on the full truth of events).

 Hillary ignoring established rules in trading commodities and gaining large revenues in a short amount of time. Typical margins were not covered and standard trading practices seemed to be ignored. She didn’t disclose all gains on financial records.

 Hillary sitting on Wal Mart’s board of directors and gaining sizable profits from her investments  with them and also with big oil companies.

 The secret war room (the “defense team”) set up to manage the first 1992 election for Bill Clinton.  This special team had been organized to handle any and all charges that they would have to fend off to get the golden prize – the Presidency and what they did to get past the firing line.

 The concealment of Bill Clinton’s true draft record.

 The support she gave Bill during his numerous infidelities and his impeachment trial.  In the end, their shared decision that the goal of power, wealth and position outweighed marital rifts of infidelity, mistrust and lies.

 How Hillary’s poll ratings increased when she was “a victim” of Bill’s adulterous affairs. How her ratings went down when she tried to be the one in charge of everything and wore the family pants.

 The death of Law Rose Firm lawyer, Vince Foster, one of Hillary’s earliest confidents and closest friends. A man who stated at the end, “The Whitewater tax matter is a can of worms you shouldn’t open”.  He then committed suicide.

 Webb Hubbell, Hillary’s second buddy at The Rose Law firm, eventually convicted of defrauding his clients, his partners and imprisoned after intensive investigations.  The original three musketeers –  Foster, Hubbell and Hillary – were down to one. She was the last ‘man’ standing so to speak.

 The Travel-gate firings and incident at the White House while she was first lady.

 The attempts to nationalize health care and its disastrous demise.

 Failure to provide proper documents for the hiring of staff members and consultants per Senate rules, whether paid or voluntary,  full time or part–time. Hillary chose not to file documents on many occasions. Her team appeared to operate “unlike any other senator” according to a well known Senate ethics expert. She did as she wanted, not as she was supposed to do.

 Hillary muscling her way into meetings and onto bill’s that she had no direct part of, but needed for her growing status and Senate leverage.

 This is the power of Hillaryland and so much more.

In the end, the authors confirm what most analytical and thoughtful people think. Hillary Clinton is far from the only politician to exaggerate her past accomplishments (she was one of America’s supposed “top” female lawyers), to stuff the unpleasantness of the past into corners where few look (Bill’s dirty, dirty lady laundry), to make mistakes and pretend not to have done so (the Rose Law Firm padded bills and denials of work done for the state of Arkansas), as a politician to have said one thing and done another (the support of taking out Saddam Hussein and his WMDs and then changing the tune when the outcome was not perfect), to have left former friends and allies on the side of the road as she’s moved on (Vince Foster of the Rose Law Firm and Marian Wright Edelman of the Children’s Defense Fund), and finally in the end, she is not the only politician in America with tremendous ambition and an affection for both power and money.  She is like many politicians on today’s public stage.

The difference is that Hillary wants us to think SHE is the smartest. 

She wants us to believe that SHE is the most qualified of the pack.

She wants to be a first for us. The first female President of the United States.   

Sadly, the star that her team makes her out to be does not shine quite so bright once the light of the sun illuminates her history and her record.

Previous books told of positive, charming and inspiring stories of Bill and Hillary as relayed by their friends, supporters and best allies. Two of the many books are by Bill and Hillary themselves.   The spin was required to go their way and to date, when it comes to books, articles, interviews, speeches and how the main stream media covers them, it has been all THEIR way.  There has also been released a number of other books that have told hair-raising stories about the dubious characters, the shenanigans, and even criminality of the Clintons. Those books often focused on the Clintons as a couple and the path their lives took together. These books got much less press coverage in the hope of keeping negatives away from public viewing.

This book, Her Way, tells another portion of the story.  Hillary’s story.  Hillary’s rise from a middle class American girl to the halls of the most power buildings and people in the world.  A look into her goal to be the first woman to hold the oval office in the history of the United States. What concessions she has made to get there so far and the additional lengths she will go to in order to obtain the final prize.

It’s not too late to get the full picture before you pull the lever in November of 2008.

Personal Review

I feel the authors did a solid job of trying to present facts about Hillary in this book based upon numerous reference sources. Their personal comments about her were few and far between.  They never seemed to kick in side comments that could be deemed nasty, mean or cruel.  They did not try to make you form an opinion based upon their opinions.   I give them much credit as so much more could have been said in response to specific events, articles, or evidence that was less than flattering to Hillary.  Many issues bordered on unethical and immoral and above all, was certainly nothing a person with honor and integrity would be proud to say they had done, yet Hillary does. They present the evidence, it’s up to each one of us to determine her innocence or guilt.  The authors tried to show all sides to her – the young and the middle aged, the innocent and the intentional, the good, the bad, the deliberate and the questionable and so on.  I believe the authors held back intentionally from stating exactly how they each felt so, Hillary’s own living history in written words, media events and interviews could stand alone for serious consideration by each one of us.  That’s a tribute to their restraint in this book. 

Hillary is a polarizing figure anyway you look at it. Many love her, yet really don’t know her. Many can’t stand her, yet really don’t know her. Many in the middle haven’t a clue about where they stand. If you are woman, a feminist, should you vote for her – a fellow woman? If you are a mother and wife, should you vote for her – a fellow mother and wife? If you are a man, do you vote for her and allow women to break the ultimate glass ceiling in the world of business, economics, politics and power? Do you vote for her based upon her historical record in law and business?  Do you vote for her based upon her congressional record alone?  Do you vote for her because you liked Bill Clinton and need some more Billie time?  Do you vote for her because you won’t vote for a Republican? Do you vote against her because of all the above? Questions, questions, questions….

My guess is that liberal and democratic supporters will instantly assume this is a book meant to smear Mrs. Clinton and avoid it like the plague.  I certainly saw the sharp knives come out on all the major shows (CNN, MSNBC, PBS, ABC, NBC, etc.) as this book made its early arrival to book stores around the country.  Even though almost none of the commentators confirmed they had read the book themselves or even spoken to the authors direct, the vast majority of the main stream media played down the importance of the book and assumed the very worst.

I chose to buy the book and read it just for those reasons.

Was the MSM right in their early analysis that this unauthorized biography was just to make Hillary look bad?  Was it a book meant to discredit all she had done to date?  Was it meant to take away the steam of her candidacy?  Or, was it a critical look at who she is, what she is and the legacy she has built to date?  Was it a true reflection of what we can expect if she becomes the next President? 

After 346 pages of information from birth to current times, and an additional 77 pages of end notes, I can say this book hit the right note.

To quote a major previous Bill Clinton donor and supporter, California multi-millionaire David Geffen in February of 2007, he said, “Everybody in politics lies, but the Clintons do it with such ease, it’s troubling”. He said this once he jumped ship and chose to support the Obama 2008 campaign and not Hillary’s.  This statement made headlines and was splashed along every cable t.v. news ticker and 15 minute news update around the country for days.  It made the Clintons and their die hard supporters very unhappy and they cried foul.  To those who know the Clintons well and aren’t afraid of them, or those of us who are standing on the outside looking in, the truth of his words rang out loud and clear. Many shook their heads in complete understanding.

Important marks against Hillary come in the form of issues like: The Rose Law Firm, Madison Guaranty S & L, White Water, Travel-gate, Bill’s true draft record, Bill’s constant infidelities and Hillary’s desire for more power and prestige which eventually trumped their earlier marriage vows.  These things were covered in the media at the time, but many of us have forgotten the fine details and the outcome. Prior to the next election, it’s critical the population revisit these cases so we remember who this woman was and how she made decisions on things. Of utmost importance is how she covered up possible truths so that her hopes and dreams could be realized.  Nothing was to get in the way of the ultimate goal. One of the most glaring questions we must ask is this…if we as a people and a nation value truth and honesty, many of her life choices beg us to question, should she really be applying for such an important job where truth and value are the cornerstones of the position and the nation she would over-see?  Her history is very clouded at best when it comes to truth and honesty.

I think the reason this book will upset supporters is that they don’t want to see the negatives in their candidate and their chosen party. They want to see, focus and promote only the positive.  The rest is disregarded, denied altogether or attributed to the right wing conspiracy. Human nature downplays the bad and acknowledges the good.  That’s understandable whether you are conservative, moderate or liberal. On the other hand, it’s not rational to refuse to read, understand and admit the dark side of a candidate that is as much a part of her as her favorable side just because you don’t want to. 

Most of what is secretive, evasive and disturbing in Hillary’s past is well documented in written reports, interviews, articles, legal proceedings and even her own words.  Democrats and liberals can choose to ignore these issues of concern, that is their choice. Republicans, conservatives, moderates and independents have an equally important decision to decide if they want to see the real Hillary and find out the truth the best we can before we make a decision for her or against her.  But, to ignore all sides to her  - both past decisions, currents decisions and possible future decisions -  is a major error.

As a well known psychologist always says,”past behavior is an indication of future behavior”.  Meaning, what we did before, we probably will do again unless we make very conscious work and effort to avoid repeating the past. In Hillary’s case and her most ardent supporters, change won’t happen as they refuse to acknowledge or discuss past mistakes.  Therefore, it is up to the rest of us to see the big picture and decide on what to do with her ambitions and decision making abilities (or lack thereof ).

On a final note, this review is being written by me, a woman, who for her first 33 years of life was born and raised into a very Democratic household and family unit. When I was able to start using the power of my vote, sometime in my early 20’s,   I always pulled the lever for Democrats across the board.   I wasn’t about to vote for those scoundrel Republicans, people I had heard about but never met (after all, they visit fancy restaurants, have stocks & bond portfolios, attend fancy schools, live in big, expensive houses  and drive cars we could never afford). Things my family and friends never experienced.   I voted with pride and made sure not to empower the “bad guys” – those for big business and never the little guy.  I voted for Bill Clinton 2x and Al Gore 1x.

Then the 2000 election happened.  Voters and pollsters went crazy and the courts had to intervene to get us a President because no one had the good sense to go back to basics. The crazies and the nuts on both sides were out in full force.

Then 2001 arrived. 

Then 9/11 happened.

Then Islamic terrorism and Islamic extremism reached a crescendo both around the world and especially in the U.K, Israel and the U.S. 

Then illegal immigration hit a major milestone – potentially 12-20 million here without legal authorization to do so. 

Then courts began writing laws for the people instead of interpreting and enforcing those on the books already. 

Then the precious nature of life started taking a back seat to medical milestones, life conveniences and the unwanted result of casual sex and the power of female reproductive rights.   

Then marriage became the butt of all jokes or should we say the great 50% divorce rate equally opportunity program.

Then God started to be removed from all public life with a vengeance– a court approved challenge to the first Amendment of The Constitution of the U.S. “ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”.

And, many more issues then time and space permit being listed here.

All the above items at one time I found a way to justify and support. After all, I was given all the “reasons” these things were to be embraced if you were deemed an able bodied and rational modern person.  It’s all about human rights, it’s all about universal cultures and diversity, it’s all about the minority not the majority.  Right?  Right.  Or is it?   But, like all things times and people change.  The last seven years have seen me morphing from a die hard Democrat to newly discovered conservative tendencies and beliefs.  Like many in recent years, being a Democrat has been more out of out of habit and history than true convictions.  From hearing other people speak at conferences and on shows, I know I am not alone in wanting more details, more information and more insight before making tough decisions when it comes to politics, national and world issues and above all, Islamic extremism.   As a well known quote says, “if you are not liberal in your 20’s you have no heart…if you are not conservative by your 30’s, you have no mind”. Guess with this quote as reference, I realized I might have lost a little heart along the way, but I started gaining a brain in its place.

So, with my history in mind and my gradual growth, I tried very, very hard to read this book, Her Way and see the many positives to Hillary’s life and try to balance them against her darker side. I tried to put my old Democratic hat back on and see if it helped. I tried to focus on positive things such as:

Did Hillary have a fairly normal and enjoyable life growing up in a middle class American family? Definitely. 

Did she have an interesting early life beginning with her years at an all girl college, law school and into her early work life as a minority female in a male dominated profession?  Definitely. 

Did she touch many people with her feminist ideas, thoughts and actions, especially for the good of children and the impoverished?  Definitely. 

Did Hillary have goals and dreams and work hard to obtain them – beginning with being a highly regarded female lawyer, a partner in a law firm, 1st lady of Arkansas, 1st lady of the White House and now Senator from New York? Definitely. 

Was Hillary a good friend to a number of chosen people,  a loving mother and supportive spouse? Definitely

Is Hillary to be admired for taking on the task of running for the position of The President of the United States – the first female to do so?  Definitely.

Much like Hillary transitioned over the years from a young Republican to a liberal Democrat, the best thing this book showed is never be afraid to change who you are. You might have been one person in the past, but you can be someone altogether different later. Or you can continue on the same road as well. It is up to you. Go after what you want with all your energy and determination.  The sky is the limit if you dream and plan and work to make it happen.

Only difference between Hillary and a large portion of the world is that most of us try to go after what we want with honesty, integrity and truth as part of the success package. Do onto others and all that.  Somewhere along the way, Hillary tossed aside many important  things and people for the good of her final plan. That’s where she deviated and went off course. It is up to each one of us to determine if the positives of Hillary outweigh the negatives or if the negatives are too alarming to over-look. 

One way or another, we’ll all be dealing with Hillaryland now, the next 16 months and possibly years beyond that depending on which lever you pull in 2008.  Hillary has a number of good points, but she also has a disturbing past and serious ethical issues that deserve further questioning and scrutiny. When she’s up for the top job, additional auditing is a must.  She is unfortunately not alone on Capital Hill with negatives on their resume’.  Many have lost their way in pursuit of money, power and position. That’s an unfortunate end result sometimes of success that goes awry.  Bad behavior too often gets a pass in today’s world – especially in national politics.  The important question for 08’ is will YOU be one that let’s bad behavior pass or will you stand up and put a stop to it (that goes for the House, Senate and Presidential candidates).

Just be sure you read up on everyone in detail, including the front runners like Hillary before you cast that all important vote in 2008. Know not only who they are and what they stand for, but how they will handle the most pressing issues of our day. When it comes to Hillary, remember there are many sides to this woman, make sure you know her before you choose to vote for her.

This book, Her Way, goes a long way to completing the picture of candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Final Rating

Four stars.  ***  Solid, dependable, and interesting , but not earth shattering.

Reviewed by: 

Bridget Dupont-Tingley
Editor
The Local Area Watch

TO VOTE OR NOT TO VOTE - HEARTWELL, TORMALA, RINCK, MILLER

The mayoral race in Grand Rapids is said to be “heating up” per local newspapers and television stations with the recent endorsement of certain unions in the city on behalf of candidate Tormala.  Candidates Rinck, Miller and current Mayor Heartwell did not receive similar endorsements, but none appeared concerned over the lack of approval to their active campaigns.  They all continue to pitch us the typical political "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah" on why we should choose them and why the city will be better off if they get the top job.

We at The Local Area Watch have been limited in our reporting on the race to date as frankly, we haven’t found it very interesting, exciting or motivating so far. Our guess is the “heating up” that the press is detecting is probably a by-product of the Global Warming concerts held around the world recently by sweetie to the stars himself, ex-politician, Al Gore. 

We were wondering, how do you, our regular readers feel about things.  Have you been following the campaigns?  Have you selected a favorite yet?  Have you been impressed enough to actually get out the vote?  Will you conveniently be out of town and not voting at all?  Do you even care?

August 7th is fast approaching.  That’s the first big date for the primary election to narrow down the main contenders from four to two.  From there, the final vote will be in November to elect a new mayor for River City.

Who might you be considering for the primary run-off and then the final election?

George Heartwell
Rick Tormala
Jim Rinck
Jackie Miller
I won’t be voting at all

We don't believe we are alone in our boredom on this issue (important as it is).

Regards,

Bridget Dupont-Tingley
Editor
The Local Area Watch

Bill Tingley
Executive Director
The Local Area Watch

A VIEW FROM THE LEFT - THE MICHIGAN BUDGET BATTLE GOES ON AND ON AND ON...

Here comes a time when regardless of which side you stand, left or right; you must take a step back and look at the big picture of the Michigan budget.   Senate Majority Leader, Broken record Bishop continues to propose more and more cuts – none of which affect his lifestyle or the lifestyles of the wealthiest.  Instead, his cuts proposals dig deeper in to the poorest of our citizenry.  Cuts like:

* More money in the classroom through education reforms.

* Labor and wage concessions from public employees or on public projects when Michigan's unemployment rate exceeds the national rate by more than 20 percent.

* Cost reductions in the three main budget areas growing the most and representing more than 60 percent of the total budget. (Corrections, Medicaid, and Human Services).

The idea of more money in the classroom sounds great.  But will it be at the expense of classroom sizes and a reduction of teachers, or will it be from a reduction in teacher pay and benefits?  Bishop doesn’t really go in to that little detail.  He just leaves it at the catch-all ‘reform’. 

Labor and wage concessions from public employees.   Now I ask you, the reader.   How would you feel if your employer or clients decided that YOU make too much money for the hard work that you do?  After you have budgeted your income for yourself and your family; it would be just fine and dandy for you to simply, do with less”?  Would you just shrug your shoulders and accept this wage cut?  The constant call for wage cuts and concessions equates to a form of coercion.   Employees either concede to wage and benefit cuts, or will be threatened with the cutting of the jobs all together.  The employee has the choice to either lose their job, or take the wage cuts.  Put yourself in their situation.. how would you feel?  Just because we are talking about state employees doesn’t make them or their families any different that you and your family. 

Bishop and company really go aloof in the call for cuts in Medicaid, and Human Services.  Nearly everyone agrees that we need reform and cuts in the Corrections department.  However, advocating for cuts in Medicaid and Human Services is going to hurt those who need the help of others the most.  Cuts in these departments will harm seniors and children the most. 

The constant charge for more and more and more and more cuts is getting tedious.   Bishop’s all-out fear of a tax increase is beginning to reach the extreme Grover Norquist level.  Nearly every economist who has studied Michigan’s economy has agreed that a mix of both cuts and a tax increase are needed to bring Michigan back to prosperity.  Knowing this… we need to find that new tax.  The cuts have already been made time and time again. 

If Bishop and company do not like Granholm’s tax proposal… let them come up with the new tax or tax increase… on top of the previously made cuts.  They are wasting valuable time by politicking and stalling trying to come up with more and more cuts when they know that the “Revenue enhancement” is also needed to bring our budget and our state back to where it needs to be.

Guest Writer –

Jeff Winston
www.michiganliberal.com

A VIEW FROM THE RIGHT - THE MICHIGAN BUDGET BATTLE GOES ON AND ON AND ON...

Following hot on the heels of the action in the Senate last week, the continued intransigence of the  House and the way Governor Granholm became completely unhinged there’s been more and more discussion about just what exactly we CAN cut and just what exactly we CAN reform in Lansing to make sure these budget deficits don’t happen in the future and more importantly, to prevent the radical left from picking our pockets and robbing us blind.

Last week at RightMichigan.com we broke the story and were the first to unveil the Senate GOP reform lists.  This generated some talk in the MSM.  Gongwer referenced Right Michigan and MIRS talked about the lists as well. 

But more than that it generated some discussion on the site and about three metric tons worth of email about other potential savings that didn’t make the Senate list.  We’ve gone over most of the savings that are out there thirty or forty times but it’s always been piecemeal.  A reform here, a chance for savings there.    I figure it’s about time to get them all collected so bloggers, lurkers, readers, voters, residents, citizens, taxpayers, families, legislators, local elected officials and anyone else I may have missed can see the enormity of the potential for real savings in Lansing.

All of that said, this list is certainly NOT exhaustive.  If there’s anything I’ve clearly and obviously missed post it after the story and we’ll keep the list growing.  Any other ideas?  Let everyone know! 

So without further ado, potential savings and reforms to state government that will balance the budget  without job-killing tax increases include:

Reform eligibility and work requirements in welfare to be more in line with our surrounding states and the national average: est. annual savings of $30 million.

Limit welfare to 2 years for able-bodied adults.

Medicaid reform:  est. annual savings of $60 million.

Prison reforms (aside from employee wage concessions): est. annual savings of $200 million from targeted privatization and reforms to address recidivism.

Tether all 65 year old non-violent prisoners and put them out on probation.

Tether non-violent criminals and charge them to be out on a tether.

Seek wage concessions in corrections to bring us inline with the national average instead of releasing felons: est. annual savings $150 million.

Senate GOP Public employee healthcare and retirement reform: est. annual savings of $220 million.

Privatize the public employee pensions:  cash out pension fund and change them to a 401K.

Define contribution for all state employees/teachers.

Change healthcare benefits for state employees 65 years old over to Medicare. </strong>

Consolidate Departments- HAL/DIT/DNR/DEQ: est. annual savings $3 million if consolidated.

Suspend state worker raises for `08:  est. savings $109 million.

Agree to suspend prevailing wage on all public projects when our unemployment rate exceeds 20% of the national average: est. savings of $150 million.

Cut executive travel expenses: est. savings $11 million.

Eliminating barriers to consolidation (SB 550 & 551, Sen. Garcia): Clarifies statutes to provide that when local units of government choose to consolidate or transfer services that the highest wage and benefit package of the two units does not have to be paid.

PA 312 Reforms (Language being drafted):   

--Adhering to time limits for the arbitration and awards process.

--Requiring that the timing of the presentation of the last best offer be moved to the beginning of the process to limit the number of items arbitrated and to facilitate faster resolution.

--Increasing the number and quality of arbitrators through training and a more refined selection process.

--Clarifying what constitutes a local units' "ability to pay".

-- Sell some or all of the state lottery: $750 million.

-- Cut legislative pay 5% (or more).

-- Cut public employee salaries 1% for those under $50K, 2% for those under $100K and 4% for those over $100K.

-- Remove or loosen the cap on Charter Schools to bring private dollars into the education system and force traditional public schools to “sharpen their pencils.”
   
-- Separate research from general support for Universities.

-- Change the funding mechanism for Universities to per-pupil funding like in K-12.
    
-- Privatize non-instructional school services.
 
-- Attract new jobs by passing Right-to-Work legislation.
   
-- Shovel ready permitting:  State, county, local unit permits pre-approved.

-- Consider selling sponsorship rights for public schools to local businesses.

-- Cancel plans to waste $5 million on a new State Police HQ and instead continue to lease property on the MSU campus for $1 a year.

-- Eliminate the Office of the First Gentleman: Savings of $250,000 a year.

-- Reign in state contracts: All told information and technology contracts alone have ballooned by over $1.67 BILLION.

-- Prohibit the state from spending money to Savings of at least $1.35 million annually (based on 2006 numbers).

-- Prohibit union officials from drawing a salary from the taxpayers for doing union business.

--  Part-time legislature with part-time salaries.

-- Reduce legislative staff (The legislators earn enough money to pitch in and help answer constituent requests).

-- Freeze or reduce salaries for legislative staff.

-- Increase health care contribution from legislators and legislative staff.

-- Implement Medicaid Estate Recovery program.

Fresh thinking, eh?  Many of these ideas I like quite a lot.  Note, if you will, that nowhere on the list is a single dollar being cut from K-12 funding nor are the old and infirm being cut from Medicare or Medicaid, insuring that the state won’t cause “people to die.” 

Please add any changes, savings or reforms that are missing in the comments section.  And the next time someone tells you the state absolutely MUST have more cash and that tax hikes are the right thing to do, dig out this list and illuminate things for them.

Guest Writer –

Nick De Leeuw
www.rightmichigan.com