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GOP Has to Reach Out to Hispanics and Other to Survive

November 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Photo courtesy of Donkey Hotey / Flickr

Forget Republican comebacks in 2014 or 2016.

Unless it gets its head and its heart straight, the party might never win the popular vote or the White House again.

The GOP today is not my father’s party.

And until the hierarchy of the GOP stops talking about how great Ronald Reagan was and starts embracing what he really stood for, the party of conservatism is destined for the ash heap of history.

Ronald Reagan was somebody who believed in inclusion, not exclusion. He found a way to reach out to all voting groups, which is why he was the last Republican presidential candidate to win the Hispanic vote.

The GOP in 2012 reminds me of the state of disarray it was in during the mid-1960s.

It was so bad for Republicans in California then that they held a special convention and invited the state’s Democratic Speaker of the Assembly, Jesse Unruh, to come and tell them what was wrong with them.

Unruh came and was blunt: The GOP had no vision and no message for voters, because they didn’t know who they were or what they stood for.

Those pre-Ronald Reagan Republicans got the message. They left that convention, turned their fortunes around, and ended up with Ronald Reagan in the governor’s chair.

Today’s national GOP needs the same kind of turnaround, and the process starts with fixing the party’s inclusion problem with Hispanic, black and Asian voters.

Last week I spoke to a room of 400 conservatives. The only blacks in the room were serving us breakfast. There were only a couple Hispanics — in Florida.

That’s not inclusive. Republicans have got to find a way to reach out to these communities.

I told those conservatives in Florida a story about a young man who as a child came to the United States illegally with his parents in the early 1980s.

He became an American citizen in 1986 when my father signed into law the Simpson-Mazzoli Act, which granted amnesty to 3 million illegal residents and made them citizens.

When he turned 18, to thank the United Stares for allowing him to become a citizen, he joined the Navy to serve his new country.

When the USS Ronald Reagan was home porting in San Diego, he volunteered to serve on the ship named after the president who allowed him to become a citizen. Now he mentors 275 sailors on that aircraft carrier and is working on his master’s degree.

There are a thousand stories like that that nobody wants to tell when Republicans talk about immigration.

The GOP has got to find a message of inclusion instead of “Get the hell out of my country.” That’s what Hispanics and other immigrants hear from the Republican Party — “Get out.”

We have to attract immigrants to the GOP, not repel them. We have to do it with more than words every two or four years. And we can’t do what Mitt Romney did.

He came to California, held a fundraiser, grabbed his money and left. He did nothing to get out the vote or reach out to the Hispanic community.

Romney wasn’t going to carry California. But we lost three good incumbents in close congressional races in the state on Nov. 6 — Mary Bono Mack, Dan Lundgren and Brian Bilbray.

Why did we lose those seats? Because only 29 percent of registered voters in California are Republican. And why is that? Because the GOP lacks a vision. Because it lacks a message.

If the GOP is to survive and get this country back on track, it has to regain its Reaganesque vision and make its message more caring and welcoming to immigrants.

The Republican Party has to reach out to the Hispanic, black, Asian and other communities and become involved with them — and do it every day from now on.

Until that happens, the GOP is going to have lots more Thanksgivings with less and less to give thanks for.

Photo courtesy of the gifted and talented Donkey Hotey.

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What’s Happening in Libya: A Guide to the Best Coverage

September 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

President Barack Obama greets State Department employees after speaking to them in a courtyard at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Sept. 12, 2012. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stands at left. The President made the visit after Chris Stevens, U.S. Ambassador to Libya, and three others were killed at the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, yesterday. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

THE ATTACK: ITS ORIGINS AND VICTIMS

U.S. Suspects Libya Attack Was Planned, New York Times The connection between an anti-Islam film that reportedly sparked this week’s protests in the Mideast and the attack that killed the American ambassador is unclear. Unnamed U.S. officials have told the New York Times and CNN that militants behind the attack may have instigated a protest against the film as a diversion or taken advantage of it as an opportunity.

Stevens ‘was thrilled to watch the Libyan people stand up’, YouTube In a U.S. embassy video uploaded to YouTube in May, Ambassador Stevens introduced himselfto the Libyan people. He described his childhood in California and how he fell in love with North Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer, and compared the challenges facing Libya to the American Civil War.

Stevens: ‘The whole atmosphere has changed for the better’, International Herald Tribune The International Herald Tribune published a tribute to Stevens from foreign correspondent Harvey Morris, which included passages from a “catch-up email”Stevens had written to family and friends in July.

The victims: Sean Smith messaged fellow gamers in hours before attack, Wired Sean Smith, a foreign service officer stationed in Libya who was also killed, was an avid gamer whose death was first reported by his online friends. Yesterday, he wrote a message to an online gaming friend saying he hoped “we don’t die tonight.” He added, “We saw one of our ‘police’ that guard the compound taking pictures.”

Violence at demonstrations in Benghazi is not unprecedented, BBC In 2006, during the height of the protests against the publication of cartoons depicting Mohammed in a Danish newspaper, at least 10 people were killed in Benghazi during a large demonstration. The BBC reported at the time that the Italian consulate in Benghazi had been set on aflame and police had fired on demonstrators. Protesters were reportedly angry because an Italian minister had worn a t-shirt featuring the cartoons.

THE FILM

The provenance of the movie connected to this week’s protests is murky.

A trailer for The Innocence of Muslims was posted on YouTube in July on an account bearing the name “sam bacile.” Sarah Posner of Religion Dispatches first raised questions about information “Bacile” — identified as a California real estate developer — gave to the AP and the Wall Street Journal in recent phone interviews. Christian activist Steve Klein, who has been described in the media as a consultant on the film, told the Atlantic that “Sam Bacile” was a pseudonym and he did not know the person’s true identity. The AP reported that “Bacile” is an Israeli Jew living in California and that he had raised $5 million for the film from 100 Jewish donors. But Klein told the Atlantic that “Bacile” is not Israeli.

LIBYA IN TRANSITION

With Qaddafi gone, Libya is ‘boiling over’, New York Review of Books In June, Nicolas Pelham offered an overview of the state of Libya with a focus on outbreaks of tribal violence in the south of the country. The piece also profiles Benghazi, reporting that militias “rule in and around” the city amid a collapse of central authority.

Libya Captors Become the Captives, New York Times Magazine In May, the magazine profiled former prisoners of the Qaddafi regime who are now in positions of power in Libya. Reporter Robert Worth summed up the state of the government: “Libya has no army. It has no government. These things exist on paper, but in practice, Libya has yet to recover from the long maelstrom of Qaddafi’s rule.”

State Dept. Warned Americans Away from Libya, Foreign Policy Just last month, the State Department issued a travel warning against U.S. citizens visiting Libya. “The incidence of violent crime, especially carjacking and robbery, has become a serious problem,” the statement read. “In addition, political violence in the form of assassinations and vehicle bombs has increased in both Benghazi and Tripoli.”

Libya Democracy Clashes with Fervor for Jihad, New York Times A tale of two emergent political leaders in the new Libya – one, a former jihadi who has renounced violence and says he wants to promote Islamic values as a politician, and the other a militia leader who was held in Guantanamo for six years and has said he wants a Taliban-style Islamist state.

Qaddafi: King of Kings, The New Yorker Last November, New Yorker’s Jon Lee Anderson chronicled the life of Libya’s deposed dictator Muammar Qaddafi, and how his 42-year reign devastated the country’s civil and political culture, ending in “a void, a sense that his mania had left room in the country for nothing else.”

HISTORY OF U.S.-LIBYA RELATIONS

U.S.-Led Abuse and Rendition of Opponents to Gaddafi’s Libya, Human Rights Watch A new Human Rights Watch report includes interviews with 14 Libyans who had fled the country in the 1980s, most of them members of an anti-Qaddafi Islamist group. The Libyans interviewed said they were detained by the U.S., interrogated as terror suspects, and then sent back to Qaddafi’s Libya “at a time when Libya’s record on torture made clear they would face a serious risk of abuse.”  One described being waterboarded by his American captors in Afghanistan.

Files Note Close C.I.A. Ties to Qaddafi Spy Unit, New York Times Documents found in an abandoned office after Qaddafi’s fall documented what appeared to be regular communications between the CIA and Britain’s MI-6 and Libyan officials about terror suspects, and suggested that prisoners were rendered to Libya for questioning.

As U.S. Rebuilt Ties with Libya, Human Rights Concerns Took Back Seat, ProPublica The U.S. began normalizing its relations with Libya in 2004, removing the country from the list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2006. Our explainer from last year covered how oil companies were among the proponents of more engagement with the regime. Evidence also continues to emerge that the U.S. and Qaddafi cooperated on some counterterror efforts, despite the Libyan government’s often inflammatory anti-Western public rhetoric.

Obama’s defense of U.S. role in Libya, MarketWatch Last March, President Obama defended American involvement in the Libyan conflict, saying: “I firmly believe that when innocent people are being brutalized; when someone like Gadhafi threatens a bloodbath that could destabilize an entire region; and when the international community is prepared to come together to save many thousands of lives—then it’s in our national interest to act. And it’s our responsibility. This is one of those times.”

Ongoing coverage: The Guardian | The New York Times Lede Blog | CNN | The Twitter feed of Foreign Policy’s Blake Hounshell

This article was originally published in ProPublica

 

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Interactive: Who’s Eligible for Deferred Action in Texas

August 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Photo illustration by Todd Wiseman and Kyle Steed

The Obama administration next week will begin accepting applications for deferred action from what it expects to be hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the country illegally.

The policy, which was announced June 15, grants relief from deportation proceedings to certain immigrants who meet certain guidelines. Two-year work permits will also be issued to qualified applicants.

The administration has argued that the directive is part of the government’s efforts to spend its limited resources on deporting serious criminal immigrants. It has championed the measure as a way to reward children brought to the country illegally through no fault of their own, but who have since excelled in school and stayed out if trouble.

Opponents, however, claim the move is little more than election-year pandering that places illegal immigrants ahead of unemployed Americans.

Some lawmakers estimate that as many as 800,000 people will benefit from the policy, while the Immigration Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, puts the figure of people who could immediately benefit closer to 937,000. About 426,000 more could potentially qualify if the policy is kept in place and they apply when they are older.

The policy pertains to certain immigrants brought to the country illegally before they were 16 and who were younger than 31 as of the June 15 announcement. Applicants must have graduated or currently be enrolled in school, have earned a GED or be an honorably discharged veteran of the armed forces. They must have also lived in the country consistently since June 15, 2007, and never have been convicted of a serious misdemeanor, three misdemeanors or a felony.

Texas is second to California in the number of beneficiaries who could immediately apply, with about 152,550 to California’s 298,000, according to the IPC. If the policy is kept in place, about 74,000 and 114,500 could potentially apply in Texas and California, respectively, when they are older.

This interactive map reflects how many illegal immigrants could benefit immediately and if the program is kept in place after this year, using information from the Immigration Policy Center.  The potential applicants’ countries of origins are also included. Click on the map to see detailed information on potential beneficiaries in each congressional district.

The program could cost more than $585 million to implement, according to an Associated Press report released last month. On Friday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said applicants would be charged a $415 fee to apply, which USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas said would offset the cots of the program. The AP reported that the costs could range from $467 million to $585 million during the program’s first two years, with revenues estimated at about $484 million, meaning the government could gain or lose money depending on how many applicants surface.

Opponents of the plan, including key congressional leaders, have blasted the Obama administration over the initiative. After USCIS announced additional details about the program, House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, said the policy gives “lawbreakers an unfair advantage over legal immigrants.”

“When will this President’s assault on the rule of law and the American people end?” Smith said in a news release.

But the Immigration Policy Center says there is an economic benefit to giving legal status and issuing work permits to thousands of illegal immigrants, specifically because it increases their standard of living and how much they pay in taxes. The center found that college graduates earn about 60 percent more in income over their lifetime than those with no college degree, and that immigrants who were given legal status after the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986 saw their wages increase about 15 percent over five years.

Becca Aaronson also contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/immigration-in-texas/immigration/interactive-mapping-dream-eligible-youth-texas/.

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Dave Says, “If They’re Working, They’re Not Playing Beer Pong”

June 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Photo courtesy of Laura Bittner

Dear Dave,

My son is a freshman in college. Do you think he should work during his first year in school or focus all his attention on his classes?

Ben

Dear Ben,

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with either direction during their first year of college. But as a parent, I’d urge you not to fall into the trap of thinking that a kid’s grades will go down if they work while in school. Research shows that kids who work while in college carry higher grade point averages than those who don’t.

To me, the reason for this is pretty simple. If you’re working and going to school at the same time, you have to learn how to manage your life and your time effectively. Lots of kids could pay their way through college, and not have to worry with student loans, if they just used the time they spend on social activities and watching television at a job.

I never required my kids to work during the school year. But they all have good work ethics, and they’re definitely not bums. During the summer, though, there was no such thing as sitting around. They had jobs. My youngest just finished his sophomore year, and he’s already started a job. Being a vegetable for the entire summer is useless, and we don’t do useless in our family.

But the philosophy of not wanting a kid to work so they can spend all their time studying is misguided. For the most part, kids who work while they’re in school will make better grades and develop into more mature and well-rounded individuals. And besides, if they’re working they can’t waste all their time playing beer pong!

—Dave

Dear Dave,

I plan to move to Los Angeles to chase my dream of working in the television and film industry. I’m not married, have no kids, and I have $2,500 saved to live on until I can pick up a couple of jobs. I may have to finance a car, though. I’m not sure mine will survive the trip. Under these circumstances, how much of an emergency fund should I shoot for?

Cameron

Dear Cameron,

So, you’re looking at moving to California with $2,500 in your pocket, a car payment, and no job waiting. This is a disaster waiting to happen, my friend. Don’t get me wrong. I want you to live your dream, but I don’t want it turning into a nightmare.

There’s no way I’d take a car payment to California. And you’re going to need a lot more than just $2,500, unless you have a job lined up. Even if there’s work waiting for you, $2,500 will disappear in about 20 minutes in Los Angeles.

Slow down and take your time. Plan a trip to the coast and figure out what your living arrangements and expenses are going to look like first. Then, line up a job that will pay you enough to cover your expenses. In the meantime, save up enough money to fix your car, or if it’s in really rough shape, to buy a good, used one.

Once all this is done, then you make the move—without a car payment. Moving when you’re broke with no job prospects and a car payment hanging around your neck is a recipe for disaster!

—Dave

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Along These Lines: Foods For Thought

June 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Mmmm... turducken sandwich. Photo courtesy of Christopher Najewicz.

After the Los Angeles School District banned sodas in schools in 2004, then-governor Arnold Schwarzenergger went on to sign sweeping laws to improve the nutrition standards in California schools. Continuing that trend, flavored milk was outlawed in LA schools in 2011.  Now, New York mayor Bloomberg is proposing a ban on sodas larger than 16 ounces at restaurants and sports venues.

While those steps may sound drastic, perhaps other states need to follow these leads since obesity often follows children into adulthood. Studies have shown that this is especially true for folks in the South who seem to be losing the battle of the bulge. For instance, Alabamians and Tennesseans are now amongst the fattest in the nation, waddling in a close equal second behind the folks from Mississippi.

So perhaps we all need to get our heads out of the fridge and our tails off the couch, and re-examine our lifestyles.

We can begin by increasing our weekly exercise. For instance, instead of driving to the supermarket, I now try to walk there. I find carrying home a couple of shopping bags stuffed with glazed donuts, chocolate chip cookies, Rocky Road ice-cream, hot dogs, and frozen pizza burns off plenty of calories.

However, there’s one food item I refuse to bring home: turducken.

Have you heard of this? It’s straight from the American calorific hall of fame, and the mere mention of this dish plunges vegetarians into cardiac arrest.

It consists of a turkey, stuffed with a duck, which is stuffed with a chicken, which is stuffed with sausage. Several Laws of Nature are broken in preparing this monolith of meat.

Credit for inventing the turducken generally goes to (no surprise) a Louisiana chef who obviously wanted to push fellow Cajuns to the top of the Fattest State in the Nation list.  And there are even some cooks intent on cramming more fat into these poultry beasts by deep-frying these mountains of cholesterol. It would be healthier to cook by just basting with high-level nuclear waste.

So how should we improve our eating habits – and our health?  We could look to other nations where traditional diets often consist of more protein and less fat.

This might include tackling a bowl of Chinese cold shredded jellyfish, sampling some Vietnamese burnt sea slug, or digging in to a plate of live Ecuadorian lemon ants (which, if you have a liking for bugs, probably taste better than dung beetles).

Asia is also home to a low-cal treat known as Baalut: fertilized duck or chicken eggs that are buried in the ground for several weeks, then dug up, and eaten “ripe.”  I believe I’d only be handling those babies wearing a Hazmat suit. Although, I might be able to appreciate their delicate flavor after some beers ‒ many, many, many beers.

Along these lines, Australians are turning to local, leaner sources of meat, too, such as plump, juicy, tree-dwelling, witchety grubs. These are huge, chunky, white insect larvae that look like bleached caterpillars on steroids. Nowadays, these healthy treats are served in the finest Aussie restaurants and they taste like ‒ you guessed it ‒ chunky, white insect larvae.

While we probably won’t see bugs or grubs turning up on LA school cafeteria menus in the near future, the California Calorie Cops don’t appear to be going away any time soon. In 2011, they gave school menus a major revision replacing time-honored school cafeteria staples like corn dogs and chicken nuggets with treats such as sushi rolls and spinach tortellini in butternut squash sauce.

Perhaps hungry, soon-to-be-healthier Californian school kids will be tempted by these new dishes, and echo their former governor: “I’ll be back… for seconds.”

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Bracing For Disaster

June 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Having a disaster kit in your home has several benefits: it makes adults feel more responsible and in control, offers kids a good lesson in survival, and, who knows, may even come in handy. Photo courtesy of Sue Harper/dreamstime.com

Apparently, there’s just no escaping disaster. When I lived in California, we got earthquakes. In Colorado, we got blizzards. In Kansas, we dodged tornadoes. Now in Florida, we brace for hurricanes.

Though disasters differ with the territory, home disaster plans are pretty much the same: Close your eyes and scream, “This can’t be happening!” If that doesn’t work, look at your husband and say, “Good Lord, would you stop watching the game and do something already!”

During the two natural disasters I’ve been through – one major earthquake (Northridge), one seven-day blizzard. Both times my strategy has worked. Neither time did I have a disaster “kit.”

I’m sorry, but a kit in the face of disaster seems about as useful as a squirt gun in combat. Just the word “kit” seems too trite for the task. Kits are for sewing, hatching butterflies and making gingerbread houses, not for typhoons. But if a kit makes you feel better, knock yourself out.

The idea of preparing a disaster kit reminds me of that David Sedaris book, “When You Are Engulfed in Flames.” The title came from some actual instructions Sedaris read while staying at a foreign hotel. I can’t remember how the instructions finished, but they went something like … dial the hotel operator. Never mind that the phone lines have melted, that the operator has run away screaming, “This can’t be happening!” and that you’re on fire.

When I was in grade school, we had these duck-and-cover drills. Every so often some bell would ring, and we’d have to dive under our desks and curl up like snails. Then we carefully folded our hands over the backs of our necks to protect them. Even to my 7-year-old mind this seemed rather pointless in the event of a nuclear attack; however, I gave the adults the benefit of the doubt, granted that they knew what they were doing. Now I’m the adult, and I know for a fact none of us has a flippin’ clue!

Nonetheless, the other night, after I learned that hurricane season had officially begun here in the Southeast, I decided to do some adult role modeling and told my teenage daughter that we needed to put together a disaster kit. Actually, I suggested she assemble the kit now that it was her first day of summer, and she had free time I need to account for.

I was also motivated by the fact that since my husband lives in another state, and so would be fairly unresponsive if I yelled, “Do something already!” I’m the responsible one here, which in itself is terrifying.

My daughter looked at me as if I just told her to curl up under a desk. “A home disaster kit?”

“Seriously,” I said. “That’s what people do.”

“Right, but not us.”

She had a point. “Well, it can’t hurt.”

“Mom, last time you had an emergency earthquake stash in California, you used up all the water bottles and the tuna cans for our school lunches until there was nothing left but some expired batteries.”

“It did come in handy when we ran short, which is another good reason to have one!”

Eye roll.

“Let’s make a list,” I hand her a pen. “Flashlight, first aid kit, bottled water, booze.”

“Blankets, batteries,” she says, writing.

“Did you get the booze?”

“Canned goods,” she adds.

“Right. Tuna, and peanut butter,” I say. “Because when your house has burned down, or your roof has blown off, a jar of Jif will be just the thing.” I can only be an adult for so long.

“Will this really help?” she asks.

“Probably not. But plans make people feel like they have some control, even though we’re all at the whims of the universe.”

We continue like two girl scouts planning a sanitized campout. Afterward, we cross check our list with legitimate ones we found on websites for the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

So here are the basic disaster kit elements. Tailor yours for your region’s brand of devastation, but do make one. It will make you feel better, or at least more responsible:

  • Bottled water, a gallon per person per day for three days
  • A battery-powered radio
  • Flashlight and extra batteries, candles
  • A lighter, matches (in a plastic bag), Sterno, a small non-electric grill
  • First aid kit, including several days of prescription medications
  • Instant coffee and tea bags
  • Canned and jarred foods for several meals, also crackers, dried pasta and other foods that won’t perish
  • Baby and pet food and supplies (diapers, leashes)
  • Plastic or paper plates, cups, utensils, pans
  • Manual can opener
  • Moist wipes, and hand sanitizer
  • Copies of insurance policies
  • Cash. When the ATMs don’t work, cash usually does
  • Blankets, towels, sleeping bags
  • Tools
  • A deck of cards and other amusements
  • Phone number of a good hotel or friend with a guest room

Put all in a waterproof trashcan, in an accessible place, because you never know when you’re going to be engulfed in flames.

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Bill O’Reilly: Justice for Justin

June 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

Photo courtesy of Isaac Brekken

In this corner, weighing 110 pounds and standing 5-feet 7-inches tall, 18-year-old pop star Justin Bieber. In the other corner, some guy who was aggressively taking his picture in a California shopping mall.

Los Angeles County police are investigating accusations that Justin struck a photographer, which, if true, would violate California Penal Code 242 even if the striking blow was, well, glancing. Detectives want you to call them if you saw the brawl or if Justin attacked you, as well.

So far Bieber is not talking.

Apparently, the photographer called the Malibu-Lost Hills Sheriff’s department last Sunday afternoon. The victim says he was “battered” by the singer, who was accompanied by his girlfriend, Selena Gomez. The victim complained of “pain” and was transported to a local hospital where he was treated and released into the custody of a lawyer who immediately contacted the media.

Now, I am certain being attacked by Justin Bieber is no laughing matter. If the guy ever got a haircut and a neck tattoo, he could look menacing. Perhaps Justin knows kung fu.

But the odds are that this is yet another shakedown generated by a loser and his sleazy attorney who will game the system hoping Bieber will throw some money at them in order to make the annoyance go away.

There are now legions of lawyers who will file lawsuits against famous and rich people for just about anything. Lawsuits cost money to defend, and the media are overjoyed to publicize any and all alleged “transgressions.” No evidence has to be provided to the press; a lurid accusation is enough. This is now an industry: Fleecing the Rich and Famous. In fact, it could be a reality show. Paging Robin Leach.

But if you really look at what’s happening, it’s despicable. Legalized extortion and blackmail are now epidemics in America. Famous people are routinely slandered, libeled, followed and menaced in public. And there’s little they can do about it. If you are a public figure and/or have money, you are a huge target and will get little sympathy from the court or from the court of public opinion.

Recently, I took three young teenagers to see the play “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Upon leaving the theater, a guy who identified himself as an “Occupy protester” was waiting for me with a camera and recorder. He began screaming nonsense. I told the guy to knock it off because he was scaring the kids. He actually yelled louder and even chased my car down the street. The girls were unnerved.

I truly wish Bieber had been with me that night so he could have smacked down that guy. I guess I could have done it, but the line of attorneys responding would have stretched from Broadway to Michigan.

We absolutely need tort reform in this country, and we need to adopt a brand-new slogan, as well: “Free Justin Bieber.”

Veteran TV news anchor Bill O’Reilly is host of the Fox News show “The O’Reilly Factor” and author of the book “Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama.”

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Billion Dollar Bait & Switch: States Divert Foreclosure Deal Funds

May 24, 2012 By 2 Comments

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto

States have diverted $974 million from this year’s landmark mortgage settlement to pay down budget deficits or fund programs unrelated to the foreclosure crisis, according to a ProPublica analysis. That’s nearly forty percent of the $2.5 billion in penalties paid to the states under the agreement.

The settlement, between five of the country’s biggest banks and an alliance of almost all states and the federal government, resolved allegations that the banks deceived homeowners and broke laws when pursuing foreclosure. One part of the settlement is the cash coming to states; the deal urged states to use that money on programs related to the crisis, but it didn’t require them to.

ProPublica contacted every state that participated in the agreement (and the District of Columbia) to obtain the most comprehensive breakdown yet of how they’ll be spending the funds. You can see the detailed state-by-state results here, along with an interactive map. Many states told us they’ll be finalizing their plans in the coming weeks. We’ll be updating our breakdown as the results come in.

What stands out is that even states slammed by the foreclosure crisis are diverting much or all of their money to the general fund. In California, among the hardest hit states, the governor has proposed using all the money to plug his state’s huge budget gap. And Arizona, also among the worst hit, has diverted about half of its funds to general use. Four other states where a high rate of homeowners faced foreclosure during the crisis are spending little if any of their settlement funds on homeowner services: Georgia, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Maine.

Overall, only about $527 million has been earmarked for new homeowner-focused programs, but that number will go up. A number of large states 2014 in particular New York, Nevada, Illinois, and Florida 2014 have indicated they’ll be dedicating substantial amounts of the funds to consumer programs, but haven’t yet produced a final breakdown.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who led the coalition of attorneys general who negotiated the deal, argued that only a very small portion of the settlement was being diverted and it will “overwhelmingly” benefit homeowners. The centerpiece of the settlement is a requirement that the banks earn $20 billion in “credits” by helping homeowners in various ways 2014 from reducing principal on underwater homes to bulldozing empty ones. Because the system awards only partial credit for certain actions, Miller said the settlement would bring more than $20 billion in benefits to consumers 2014 he estimated $35 billion. Critics contend those sorts of numbers far overstate the benefits to consumers, because the banks can claim credit for some activities that were already routine.

The banks will only pay $5 billion in actual cash penalties under the agreement. The largest chunk, $2.5 billion, goes to the states’ attorneys general, while about $1 billion goes to the federal government. $1.5 billion will be sent to borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure during the crisis in the form of $2,000 payments.

Compared with the billions going to consumers, Miller contended, $1 billion going to states’ general funds was minimal. It was always expected that the states would divert some of the money to their general expenditures, he said.

But when announcing the deal, state and federal officials said the states’ $2.5 billion would mainly fund housing counselors and legal aid organizations. Studies have shown homeowners stand a better chance of avoiding foreclosure if they get the help of a counselor, and homeowners lack legal representation in the overwhelming majority of foreclosure cases. The money was divvied up among the states according to a formula that took into account how large the states were and how hard they were hit by the crisis.

As you can see from our breakdown, 15 states have so far allocated over half their amounts to consumer-focused efforts. But the uses range widely. In Ohio, $75 million has been set aside to destroy some 100,000 abandoned homes. In Minnesota, the state is setting up a fund to compensate victims of the banks’ foreclosure abuses.

In two of the states most affected by the foreclosure crisis, California and Arizona, the attorneys general had intended to use most of their funds on homeowner-related efforts before the governors intervened.

After California Attorney General Kamala Harris prepared a proposal to spend the money on counselors, lawyers, and other consumer-related efforts, Gov. Jerry Brown released a proposed revised budget last week that used the state’s $411 million for existing housing programs. In other words, the money would just be used to help fill the state’s $16 billion budget deficit. Harris opposes the move, which still must make its way through the state legislature for it to become law.

In Arizona, the attorney general had similar plans. Then state lawmakers and the governor took $50 million of the $98 million coming the state’s way. Although the budget legislation stated that the money should be used to fund departments related to housing and law enforcement, there will be no new spending. Housing advocates are readying a lawsuit to stop the transfer and expect to file in the coming month, said Valerie Iverson, Executive Director of Arizona Housing Alliance.

Several other large states have diverted most or all of the money:

2022 Georgia directed all of its $99 million to programs designed to attract new businesses. A spokesman for the governor said, “He believes that the best way to prevent foreclosures amongst honest homeowners who have experienced hard times is to create jobs here in our state.”

2022 In Missouri, the state legislature used almost all of its $39 million to fund higher education, which had been slated for cuts. The attorney general’s office kept $1 million for hotlines and outreach related to the settlement.

2022 Virginia put the entirety of its $66.5 million into the state’s general fund without restrictions. In March, Democrats proposed a budget amendment that would funnel that money to foreclosure prevention and homeownership programs, but it was voted down.

2022 Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announced soon after the settlement was finalized that the bulk of it2014roughly $26 million2014would go into the state general fund. Two million went to an economic development fund, including funds for demolition in blighted neighborhoods. Many state Democrats and housing advocates opposed the plan, but failed to block it.

2022 Texas directed its $135 million to the state’s general fund, of which $10 million has been allocated for basic services to low-income Texans. The legislature won’t formally decide what to do with the rest until next January because it meets only once every two years. John Henneberger, co-director of Texas Housers, an affordable housing group, said that in speaking to legislators, advocates had “received no assurances that this money will be used according to the purposes of the settlement.”

ProPublica will continue to track how the funds are being used in the coming months. Check out our breakdown and interactive map for updates.

 

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On the Records: Texas 1 of 5 “Minority-Majority” States

May 18, 2012 By 1 Comment

Graphic by Rebecca Aaronson / Todd Wiseman

More than half of the 2011 Texas population, 55.2 percent, was of a race other than non-Hispanic white, according to demographic data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. That makes Texas one of five “minority-majority” states in the country. The release of new population estimates reveals that trend will continue to spread nationally, as 50.1 percent of babies younger than one in 2011 were a minority race.

“Texas, of course, has been at the forefront of that process,” said Steve Murdock, a demographer and professor at Rice University.

In 2000, 43 percent of Texas children younger than 18 were non-Hispanic white. In 2010, that number dropped to 34 percent. The new data for 2011 shows that percentage continuing to drop, as only 30 percent of Texas children under age 5 are non-Hispanic white.

Overall for Texas children under age 5, minorities outnumbered non-Hispanic white children 2.2 to 1 in 2011. The map below shows the ratio of minority to non-Hispanic white children under age 5 by county. Click on a county to see its specific figures.

“All 50 states — all 50 — had increases in the number of Hispanic children [from 2000 to 2010],” Murdock said. “We’re seeing a very dramatic change, but it’s a change that’s been taking place for a very long period of time.”

Of all counties in the nation, Maverick County (Eagle Pass) and Webb County (Laredo) had the highest and second-highest percentage of minority populations in 2011 at 96.9 percent and 96.4 percent, respectively, according to the census data. Although Los Angeles County in California had the largest Hispanic population, Texas’ Starr County, which lies along the border with Mexico, had the highest percent of Hispanics at 95.7 percent.

“As the baby boomers in Texas move into the mortality years, eventually you’re going to start seeing a contraction of the non-Hispanic white population,” said Lloyd Potter, the state demographer and a faculty member at the University of Texas at San Antonio. “But because we have healthy growth in the minority population, Texas has a fairly healthy labor force, and I think it is a significant factor in the economic strength in Texas.”

Although the national fertility rate for non-Hispanic whites has dropped below replacement level, that population grew more in Texas than any other state since 2010 with an increase of 80,000. The black or African-American population also grew more in Texas than any other state since 2010, with an increase of 84,000.

Without the growing minority population, Potter believes Texas would resemble Japan or some of the northern European countries whose falling population has hurt economic growth. Both Potter and Murdock say the future of Texas and the nation is tied to how well this minority population develops.

“The future of the United States, like the future of states like Texas, is tied to its minority populations,” Murdock said. “How well they do is increasingly how well America will do.”

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This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/texas-counties-and-demographics/census/on-the-records-majority-texas-minority-races/.

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