First, “Pig-Roast-a-Palooza” and Now “Sausage Fest”

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Apparently, pork really is the other white meat. At least when it comes to legislative fundraisers.

Sen. Ricardo Lara, a Los Angeles Democrat, just hosted “Pig-Roast-a-Palooza on June 18.

On July 2, the legislative Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Caucus holds its first fundraiser “celebrating freedom and equality.”

That would be “Sausage Fest 2013.”

The pig on the “Sausage Fest” invite is in better shape than the one on Lara’s invitation but, based on the event’s name, that’s merely the whole before the partitioned. 

A “Wild Boar” sponsorship costs $6,800. A “Hot Link” $3,400 and a Bratwurst sponsorship, $1,000. 

Sausage Fest

Pork isn’t fenced by political lines.

Although the invitation is silent on the exact culinary offerings, it seems next to impossible that Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen’s Third Annual Hawaiian Luau won’t be serving pork — at least in some form.

The only details provided by the invitation to the  June 24 event — other than its time. location and  $4,100 price tag to be a sponsor — is that the menu will feature “authentic Hawaiian cuisine provided by Chef John Surla of Surla’s restaurant” in Modesto.

Traditionally, at a luau “authentic Hawaiian cuisine” includes pork — and lots of it. Most commonly, a whole pig roasted on coals in a hole for the better part of a day. Even venerable  Sunset‘s “lighter, finger-food” luau includes glazed pork buns with pineapple.

Saveuer recommends pork ribs marinated with soy sauce as  an alternative to a full-fledged carcass of kalua pork. Ribs or buns, it’s pork nonetheless.

So pass the cashiers check and the poi please, brah. 

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Doug Bailey, adviser who helped devise Lamar Alexander’s famous walk across state, dies at 79

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Doug Bailey, a Republican political consultant who helped U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander come up with the idea of walking across Tennessee during Alexander’s first successful run for governor in 1978, died last week in Virginia. He was 79.

In his new book Coup, which covers in detail how Alexander took office three days early in the midst of a pardons scandal engulfing outgoing Gov. Ray Blanton, author Keel Hunt writes that he and other political advisers, including Bailey, talked about how to reinvigorate Alexander’s image in 1977, more than a year before the election.

Alexander had lost a gubernatorial bid to Blanton in 1974. So he, wife Honey and the rest of his brain trust “began to discuss a new concept that would help the candidate shake off any vestige of his unhelpful 1974 image – that of a lawyer in a dark suit and necktie, who was mainly seen at airport news conferences.”

After Honey Alexander urged her husband to “do the things you like to do,” Alexander said he liked being outdoors and meeting people.

“Then he could walk,” Bailey said.

“So the idea was hatched: A walk across Tennessee,” Hunt writes. “A thousand miles. Six months. Shaking a thousand hands a day. Spending the nights in homes with Tennessee families along the way.”

In a speech on the Senate floor Monday, Alexander said Bailey “put all that on television, and I won the election.”

“Now, to some, that would seem like an ultimate political gimmick, but if you think about it, the idea of the walk across Tennessee was a good deal more authentic than the photo-ops and the press releases and the five-second sound bites that are often what we end up with in politics today,” he said. “But let me just say it this way: I would have never been elected governor if it hadn’t been for Doug Bailey.”

Bailey, who also worked with former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee and other Republicans around the country, went on to start The Hotline, which The New York Times called “a digest of political news, distributed by fax, that became an indispensable tool of the political trade in the pre-Web 1980s and ’90s.”

Posted In:  National, Politics, State

Wichita needs more, and willing, taxpayers

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What is the goal of Wichita/Sedgwick County Community Investments Plan?

And what of its companion websites for the South Central Kansas Prosperity Plan: Think Tomorrow Today and Let’s Talk Prosperity?

Here’s an excerpt from “Citizen Attachment: Building Sustainable Communities,” which appeared in Government Finance Review. Authors are Mark A. Glaser, Misty R. Bruckner, and Corinne Bannon, all associated with the Hugo Wall School of Urban and Public Affairs at Wichita State University. HWS is facilitating the planning process for the city and county.

citizen-attachment-cover

(Nearby is the illustration used for the cover of this paper (click on it for a larger version). Does anyone else think this looks like citizens rallying to send money to the shining government headquarters high on the hill?)

Increasingly, citizens are retreating from their responsibilities to community and demanding more from government than they are willing to pay for. But changes in local government behavior can be instrumental in reversing this trend, by strengthening citizens’ commitment to the well-being of their communities. Citizens who are committed to community are more willing to accept responsibility for the well-being of their fellow citizens and are also more likely to join with government and other parties to improve their communities. Citizens who are committed to community are also more willing taxpayers — that is, when government demonstrates that it can be trusted to invest public resources in ways that strengthen the community. The central thrust of this model is getting citizens and governments to work together, but realistically, many communities will require new revenue — including additional tax dollars — if they are to assemble the critical mass of resources necessary for meaningful change. Accordingly, citizens who are willing to pay increased taxes are an important component of building sustainable communities.

More willing taxpayers.

Citizens who are willing to pay increased taxes.

I recommend you read this paper. Click on Citizen Attachment: Building Sustainable Communities.

Paul Ryan and the MD GOP on the Affordable Care Act

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As we have discussed previously this week, Rep. Paul Ryan is headlining a Maryland Republican Party fundraiser in Baltimore. Unconscionably, policies endorsed by Mr. Ryan and the Maryland Republican Party would have direct and devastating effects on people across Maryland.  In fact, Maryland’s only Republican Congressman, Andy Harris, is a supporter of Mr. Ryan’s budget [...]

USA vs. You: The problem of overcriminalization

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Events in recent months have justifiably caused Americans to ask whether a powerful, activist, and interventionist government and bureaucracy is good to have. Those who have been looking at overcriminalization, however, have known that government and regulatory agencies have been targeting and oppressing Americans for a long time. And it’s getting worse.

USA vs. You cover

The new website USAvsYOU.com holds useful information for Americans to know about how law has changed in recent years, compared to how it operated for centuries before. The booklet available for reading is titled USA vs. You: The flood of criminal laws threatening your liberty.

As an example, here is a troubling trend:

In many criminal laws, the “guilty mind” requirement has been removed or weakened. This means people can go to prison regardless of whether they intended to break the law or knew their actions were in violation of the law.

Traditionally, crimes had two components: (l) mens reu (guilty mind), and (2) actus reus (bad act).

Today, many criminal laws and regulations have insufficient or no mens rea (guilty mind) requirement — meaning, a person need not know that his or her conduct is illegal in order to be guilty of the crime.

An example story is the following:

THE CRIME: Rescuing a baby deer

Jeff Counceller, a police officer, and his wife Jennifer spotted an injured baby deer on their neighbor’s porch. Instead of turning a blind eye to the dying fawn, the Councellers took the deer in and nursed it back to health.

An Indiana Conservation Officer spotted the fawn (named Dani) in the Councellers’ yard — and promptly charged the couple with unlawful possession of a deer, a misdemeanor offense. Fortunately for her, the day that “Little Orphan Dani” was to be euthanized by the state, the deer escaped into the wild. Due to public outrage, the government dropped the charges.

The website and booklet is a product of Heritage Foundation and it partners such as the American Civil Liberties Union. Heritage has been covering the issue of overcriminalization here. It describes the problem as this: “Overcriminalization describes the trend to use the criminal law rather than the civil law to solve every problem, to punish every mistake, and to compel compliance with regulatory objectives. Criminal law should be used only if a person intentionally flouts the law or engages in conduct that is morally blameworthy or dangerous.”

We have problems like this in Wichita, believe it or not. An ordinance passed by the Wichita City Council in 2010 might ensnare anyone visiting city hall, if they happen to have a broad-tip marker in their purse or briefcase:

Animated marker

“Possession of Graffiti Implements Prohibited in Public Places. It is unlawful for any person to have in his/her possession any graffiti implement while in, upon or within one hundred (100) feet of any public facility, park, playground, swimming pool, skate park, recreational facility, or other public building owned or operated by the city, county, state, or federal government, or while in, under or within one hundred (100) feet of an underpass, bridge, abutment, storm drain, spillway or similar types of infrastructure unless otherwise authorized.”

“Graffiti implements” are defined broadly earlier in the ordinance.

If you’re thinking about a career in taxicab driving, be advised that the city has ordinances punishing you if you’re found to have violated these standards: “Fail to maintain their personal appearance by being neat and clean in dress and person” and “Fail to keep clothing in good repair, free of rips, tears and stains.”

Former Santorum National Campaign Manager to Advise Clovis Campaign

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Mike Biundo has a lot of fond memories of Iowa, but now he wants to make some more.  Following his campaign kick-off last week, U.S. Senate candidate Sam Clovis has hired RightOn Strategies to serve as his general consultant for his campaign.

Biundo served as Rick Santorum’s national campaign manager in 2012 during the nomination phase on the campaign.  He served as Mitt Romney’s Deputy Coalitions Director in the general election.  Biundo then started the political consulting firm, RightOn Strategies.

“We are pleased to be joining the Clovis for U.S. Senate team,” Biundo told TheIowaRepublican.com.  “I had the honor of getting to know Sam Clovis during the 2012 campaign, and I am confident that Sam has the experience, dedication and work ethic needed to be Iowa’s next U.S. Senator.”

Like Santorum’s campaign at the onset of the 2012 campaign, many view the Clovis campaign as a long shot to win the nomination.  However, the similarities between Clovis and Santorum go beyond the fact that establishment Republicans and the media are skeptical about their chances.  Clovis is well versed on foreign policy issues and is an unabashed conservative who should find a following among GOP primary voters.  Biundo also intimated that the campaign intends to travel the entire state looking for votes.

“After working in Iowa for Rick Santorum campaign, I know first-hand that it takes a strong 99 county campaign to achieve victory in Iowa.  My team and I are looking forward to the working with Sam to ensure just that,” Biundo stated.

“I am excited to have RightOn Strategies join my team,” said Clovis.  “Their track record of putting together strong grassroots campaigns, including the one here that visited and competed in all of Iowa’s 99 counties, is exactly the type of campaign we are going to build.  In my opinion, Mike Biundo ran an outstanding campaign for Senator Santorum, and I am excited that he and his team have agreed to bring their extensive skills and abilities to our campaign.”

Clovis has scheduled a meet and greet at the Coralville Public Library on Wednesday, June 26th.  All three announced U.S. Senate candidates also have a fundraising deadline looming at the end of June.

More information on the Clovis campaign can be found at www.SamClovis.com.

 

Photo by Dave Davidson, Prezography.com

 

 

 

 

 

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