Is South Bend council broken or focused? Barack Obama Former South Bend Mayor Joe Kernan, center, speaks Wednesday about the current state of the South Bebnd Common Council and its recent infighting at a news conference at the County-City Building in South Bend. Hear the opening statement by former South Bend Mayor Joe Kernan on the status of infighting by the Common Council and his views on what he says needs to stop. RAW VIDEO: Valerie Schey says Fred Ferlic called her a cougar. Womens Reality by Anne Wilson Schaef Common Council President Oliver Davis news release SOUTH BEND – Common Council President Oliver Davis brushed aside concerns about dysfunction on the council Wednesday, calling the source of such angst — a group of current and former city leaders led by former Mayor Joe Kernan — the real problem. Councilman Henry Davis, Jr. To have people who served in government criticize us in government is really shabby, Davis said. I’m pleased and proud of the council … We have not lost focus and what the governor talked about has been another distraction. Davis’ comments followed a news conference at which a group led by Kernan, who also served as governor, called for a permanent end to the constant infighting on the council, fearing it may hurt the city and threaten business prospects. In addition to Kernan, the group included former Mayor Stephen Luecke; former mayoral assistant Lynn Coleman; Associate Director of South Bend Heritage Gladys Muhammad; former council member Ann Puzzello; city Clerk John Voorde; and county Auditor Pete Mullen. I have watched over the past two and half years with great dismay the council’s inability to come together, Kernan, who served as mayor of South Bend from 1988 to 1996, said. Like any other team, if you’re not working together, it’s not going to work. Kernan described the council as fractured in a sense that there really are two teams ... One of those teams is embarrassed to be a part of the city council, the other team doesn’t care ... because they’re not embarrassed by their behavior. That behavior, Kernan said, includes members speaking out of order during meetings, attacking each other and the administration, not respecting the public’s time and, in the case of Henry Davis Jr., posting obscene and objectionable material to social media. In terms of a solution, Kernan said, I don’t know if they need a focus group or if they need to get counseling or what it might be, but it needs to be (the council’s) call. Kernan said he’s prepared to work to remove council members from office if necessary. All nine members are up for re-election next year. The council consists of nine Democrats and one Republican, Dave Varner. County Democratic Party Chair Jason Critchlow said Wednesday Kernans statements mirror the communitys growing frustration with the councils behavior. Senator Joe Donnelly We have a unified group, representing the entire community, stepping forward to say enough is enough, he said. Though political party officials typically remain neutral in conflicts between members of their own party, Critchlow said he would support the ouster of troublesome council members in the 2015 city elections if necessary. He predicted many of the Democratic council members would face primary challenges from within their own party in next years elections, and voters may prove to be a tough sell after some of the recent antics. Our current council members are gonna have to go back to their constituents and explain their behavior, he said. Is it too late? I dont know — thats up to the voters. ‘Poison in the well’ EDUCATE BLACK AMERICA Speaking to the Tribune on Monday, Kernan blamed the situation on a lack of leadership on the council. He singled out Oliver Davis, the council president, for some of the blame, calling him a good guy but someone who is reluctant to make decisions. Davis directed the same criticism back at Kernan Wednesday, highlighting his promise, as mayor, not to expend taxpayer dollars in support of the now-closed College Football Hall of Fame. He did not show leadership on the Hall of Fame, Davis said. Davis also objected to the notion that the council is somehow distracted by what’s been going on. He noted the council has acted on 38 ordinances and 68 resolutions since January, including 38 tax abatements, 17 zoning requests and four alley vacations. And he dismissed the idea that disagreements between council members is somehow a cause for concern. We live in a democracy, he said, and a democracy believes in shared ideas. It’s not a democracy when everyone’s united; that’s a monarchy. In terms of the distraction caused by Davis Jr., Oliver Davis blamed the media. Social Media Examiner In addition to Davis, Kernan also targeted council Vice President Derek Dieter for criticism, calling Dieter the poison in the well and accusing him of acting like a bully toward other council members and the administration. Kernan said he believes Dieter aspires to be mayor and is trying to undermine the current mayor, Pete Buttigieg, ahead of next year’s Democratic primary. Kernan supported Buttigieg during the 2011 election. That’s his opinion, Dieter said Wednesday, adding, I find it very ironic that he would lash out when the premise of the press conference was to talk about the infighting and professionalism on the council. Asked if he plans to run for mayor, Dieter said, Not at this time, no. Council member Tim Scott, for his part, said he agreed with Kernan’s assessment of the council. Womens Rights There’s a lot of non-value added energy wasted on bickering, Scott said, members playing more politics than they are getting down to the business what’s going on with the council. And it’s really up to the residents of South Bend to express how they feel and give us direction. Fellow member Fred Ferlic, whose questionable attempts at humor on the council have landed him in hot water in the past, agreed. There are a few council members that personalize issues instead of trying to solve policy questions, Ferlic said. Our goal should be to diagnose and treat South Bend’s problems with facts and figures, irrespective of personalities. President Obama reschedule marijuana like Congress asked Why Congress Is So Dysfunctional -hy does Congress barely function today? The legislative branch of the worlds most powerful nation is now widely scorned as it lurches from one near-catastrophe to the next, even on supposedly routine matters such as setting an annual budget and keeping government offices open. Congress is accustomed to fierce debate, of course. But veteran lawmakers and scholars use words such as unprecedented to describe the current level of dysfunction and paralysis. The latest Gallup poll found a record-high lack of faith in Congress. Theres no single culprit, it seems. Rather, long-accumulating trends have reached a critical mass, in the way a light snowfall can trigger an avalanche because so many earlier snows have piled atop each other. At the core of this gridlock is a steadily growing partisanship. Couple that with a rising distaste for compromise by avid voters. Unswerving conservatives and liberals dominate the two parties nominating processes, electing lawmakers who pledge never to stray from their ideologies. Instead of a two-party system, American government has become a battle between warring tribes, says Mickey Edwards, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma who has taught at several universities. When House and Senate leaders set out their goals and strategies, he said in an interview, it comes down to the party first, with the publics welfare lagging behind. The parties have driven all but a few centrists from their ranks. House districts are ever more sharply liberal or conservative because both parties collude in gerrymandering to protect incumbents and because mobile Americans like to live among like-minded people. For many Republicans, the biggest threat to re-election is from their partys right flank. For Democrats, the danger is being insufficiently liberal. The problem in a nutshell is that most members are more worried about their primary election than the general election, said former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., now a campaign strategist. They ask themselves, `Why should I go out and be the next Bob Bennett or Mike Castle? So they become very averse to compromise. Bennett, a three-term Utah senator, and Castle, a former Delaware congressman, were veteran GOP lawmakers who unexpectedly lost Senate nominations last year to tea party activists who had denounced them for occasionally working with Democrats. Some Washington insiders thought the downgrade of the nations credit-worthiness, which followed last summers bitter battle over the governments borrowing limit, might shock congressional leaders into ending their brinksmanship. But just days ago, a relatively minor disagreement over disaster aid money brought new threats of a government shutdown. Also, many lawmakers are deeply pessimistic that a special bipartisan committee can develop a viable plan this fall for sharply reducing the deficit. Interviews with current and former lawmakers, congressional scholars and others point to several events that have tangled up Congress that lawmakers barely can keep the governments lights on, let alone tackle big problems such as illegal immigration and soaring health costs. They include: _political realignment. Years ago, Southern conservative Democrats often worked with GOP lawmakers, and Rockefeller Republicans joined forces with moderate and liberal Democrats. Now, except for black enclaves, the South is overwhelmingly Republican. Liberal Republicans hardly exist, and even moderate Republicans face intense criticism from tea partyers and others. _The 1994 Republican revolution. The GOP ended four decades of House minority status when Newt Gingrich of Georgia led an insurgency that would change Congress way of doing business. He greatly increased the party-versus-party polarization, Edwards said. Republicans saw their mission as less to be a lawmaker than to be a champion of the Republican cause, constantly at war, defeating Democrats. When Democrats regained the majority for four years starting in 2007, they did not bring back the days of letting the minority party offer alternative bills. In fact, the House minority now plays a vastly diminished role, and both parties spend huge energies trying to gain or hold the majority. _Cultural shifts. Unlike two and three decades ago, most lawmakers now keep their families back home, and many spend as little time in Washington as possible. They rarely socialize or talk politics across party lines, further discouraging compromise. The media world has been reshaped by a decline in traditional, straight-news outlets and the rise of opinionated blogs, cable TV shows and talk radio. Republicans live in mortal fear of Rush Limbaugh outing anyone for being insufficiently conservative, said Rep. David Price, D-N.C., a former Duke University political science professor. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., in one of several essays on Congress decline, writes that Fox and MSNBC ... certainly inflamed partisanship. Social media, he says, has popularized nonfact-based reality. _Unrestrained use of partisan tools. Until the mid-1990s, the House majority often let the other party offer legislation for debate and votes. The measures typically failed, but the practice gave the minority a chance to air its philosophies and push for compromises where possible. That rarely happens now. When Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was speaker, he adopted a majority of the majority rule, which essentially made the minority party irrelevant. He would let no major bill pass without support from most of his fellow Republicans, even if it would pass easily with Democratic votes and just under half of the Republicans backing. Bigger changes occurred in the Senate. The powerful filibuster tool was used sparingly throughout most of the 20th century. But both parties now routinely employ it, enabling the minority to block almost any bill if its members stick together. Unrestrained use of the filibuster contributes heavily to gridlock, Edwards said. Its a failure of character in my view, of leadership for whichever party is in charge, he said. _Moneys role in polarization. New laws and tactics have steered millions of campaign dollars to interest groups on the far left and far right, and they spend it to defeat candidates they oppose. Most of the money is now not with the parties, said Davis, who once headed the GOP House campaign effort. Theres no centering force in politics, he said. The money has moved to the extremes. Everything has moved to the extremes. The voters bear some blame, Davis added, noting recent elections in which the greatest energies were on the edges, not the middle. Edwards, who has written extensively on government since leaving Congress in 1993, said in a recent article for The Atlantic that Americans have created a political system that makes cooperation almost impossible and incivility nearly inevitable. Theres hope it might improve somewhat, over time, Edwards said in the interview. But for now, he said, members of Congress are responding to voters who say if you compromise, if you reach across the aisle, we will defeat you. huffingtonpost/.../congress-dysfunction-l... The Huffington Post by charles babington - Oct 2, 2011 - Congress is accustomed to fierce debate, of course. But veteran lawmakers and scholars use words such as unprecedented to describe the ... EBlasko@SBTinfo
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 14:15:48 +0000
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