General News

Aim High, Shoot low!

2008-07-25T09:01:00Z

Earlier this month ballistic missile Air Force crew members reportedly fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices in Minot, North Dakota. Ballistic officers are behind locked doors with classified codes and devices that allow the crew to communicate with nuclear missiles. The codes are changed periodically and are kept in secured containers, which have combination locks that can only be opened by the crew in a facility that is guarded by armed security forces. Air Force staff state the codes were no longer usable, since new codes had been installed in the missiles.

While this was only a procedural violation, it is another dark mark against a military service already under fire from Secretary Robert Gates. Gates has been publicly critical of both the current Air Force leadership and future leadership regarding several issues, including the an erroneous shipment of six armed nuclear cruise missiles from Minot across the country and the mistaken shipment to Taiwan of four Air Force fusing devices for ballistic missile nuclear warheads.

In an unprecedented move, Secretary Gates took swift action by removing the heads of the Air Force Hydra, (Air Force Secretary, Michael W. Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. T. Michael Moseley) but his Herculean attempt did not get to the systemic problems at in North Dakota.

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said, "I don't think this is an issue about the base - I think it's an issue about personnel," Dorgan said. "There have obviously been management and command problems at this base and the Air Force has made some command changes to respond to it."

North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven said the Minot base is getting extra scrutiny because of its embarrassing mistakes.

But Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo. and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called the incident very troubling. "The new Air Force leadership, when confirmed, must take decisive and urgent steps to restore the culture of respect that our strategic weapons deserve and our national security demands," said Skelton.

To date, no one has been punished in the latest Minot incident involving sleeping crew members.

Gen. Norton A. Schwartz has been nominated to be the next Air Force chief of staff, and Michael Donley has been nominated for secretary. Both have vowed to work to restore trust and confidence in the service, if Congress approves their nominations.

OhMyGov! wishes Schwartz and Donley all the best in their endeavors and certainly hope they are successful because Americans need to have faith in their government, especially the military services, during these times of crisis even more than ever.

Related Stories:

Spotlight: DoD Secretary Robert Gates

Gates Pushes out Air Force Top Leaders After Minot Nuclear Incident Inquiry

No Voter Registration, No Voter Fraud - That's North Dakota!

Utility or Useless: The Air Force's New Battle Uniform

Is there a military term for metrosexual? How about egregious waste?

Farming in a War Zone -- An OhMyGov! In-Depth Report

2008-07-24T19:31:00Z

Just two days into his ten month tour in Afghanistan, Dr. Mike Gangwer is crying. Not just crying, but bawling. It is only his first full day at Bagram Airbase, but on this particular day the base is unusually tranquil; there is a Fallen Warrior ceremony for ten American soldiers. The previous week a helicopter was shot down, killing everybody onboard. Servicemen line the two kilometer road shoulder to shoulder, end to end. American flags drape coffins that are driven, one-by-one, in spotless humvees to the back of a C-130 cargo plane, where they fly home.

The scene is one that occurs all too often at the base, but for Gangwer it is a first. As he goes into his quarters and the tears begin to flow, he wonders just what he has gotten himself into. He is an agricultural advisor, a civilian, and he has volunteered to spend the next ten months in a war zone.

Dr. Gangwer holds a Ph.D. in agricultural systems, with specialties including soil physics, dairy cattle and soil nutrition. He is 55 years old and works in the National Resources Conservation Service in the Department of Agriculture. But in March of 2006, he took a ten-month sojourn from his life in the U.S. and volunteered to go to Afghanistan to help rebuild the country.

Gangwer is one of many civilian agricultural specialists who have worked in the war-torn nations of Iraq and Afghanistan as part of Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) -- joint civilian-military operations that are tasked with rebuilding the infrastructure of each country. In the face of ongoing violence and inhospitable climates, Department of Agriculture employees put their life on hold to help rebuild the war-torn countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, literally from the ground up.

PRTs Moving In

Agriculture is essential to the present livelihood and future stability of both countries. In Afghanistan, agriculture dominates the economy and employs 80% of the population. In Iraq, agriculture is the second largest employer and the second largest contributor to GDP (oil is still king, big surprise). Instability in recent years has made farming in these countries extremely difficult, but PRTs are working to reestablish a base of sustainable and profitable farming. With increased funding, continued effort by USDA employees and the military, and some much needed luck, agriculture may be the stable and secure foundation both countries have thus far been missing.

The vehicle tasked with sparking a resurgence of agriculture is the "Provincial Reconstruction Team", or PRT. The idea first spawned as an offshoot of what was called "Coalition Humanitarian Liaison Cells", a group of soldiers tasked to assess and address humanitarian needs during Operation Enduring Freedom in early 2002. In the course of their work, these soldiers established relationships with NGOs and United Nations aid missions. The success of these partnerships led to the launch of the first PRT in Gardez, Afghanistan in January 2003. This rapidly expanded into 26 separate operational PRT units across the Afghani countryside by the start of 2008, run by U.S., coalition, and NATO commanders.

The PRTs were considered so effective in Afghanistan that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice applied the model to Iraq in late 2005. Iraq now has 31 operational PRTs in the country, run almost exclusively by State Department officials. An experiment that began six years ago as a small military aid unit has become much, much more: PRTs are now an integral part of the rebuilding process in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Organizationally, PRTs operate as part of "integrated command," meaning they are by-definition a civilian-military cooperative effort. Each PRT has a Team Leader in charge of coordinating the local efforts of the team and reporting progress back to all of the agencies involved and the command or committee overseeing the total reconstruction effort of the country. In Iraq, PRT team leaders report to the Joint Executive Steering Committee (JESC); in Afghanistan, the ISAF-NATO command is the overarching body.

Regardless of the official chain of command, PRTs are designed to be autonomous by region, as each area has specific concerns. The need for regional solutions is underscored by the diverse and sometimes sectarian demographics of both Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We can get shot at too"

Security is always the chief concern for PRTs. According to Otto Gonzalez, a Special Projects Officer of the Foreign Agricultural Service focusing on Afghanistan, "security concerns override everything else." Gonzales was responsible for all USDA PRTs in Afghanistan from July 2004 to April 2006, and is still intimately involved with the programs. He pointed out two keywords for working in a hostile and dynamic environment: Patience and Flexibility. An event planned weeks in advance can be cancelled or delayed at a moments notice because of the rapidly changing situation, and adapting to the situation is crucial to accomplishing the goals of the team.

Yet there is some element of a Catch-22 for PRTs working in risky areas. They need a secure environment to work in, but the best way to establish a secure environment is often through the work of the PRT. Successful advances in the agricultural sector are important to long-term security concerns, Gonzalez explains. If agriculture takes root in a region, it helps stability, and there can be a cascading effect of development. Team leaders must constantly weigh the risks and rewards of a PRT action, but keeping the team safe is always the primary concern.

Despite the caution, PRTs can and do come under attack. Over the course of his time in Afghanistan, Dr. Gangwer came under attack on three separate occasions as a part of military convoys. On one of those occasions, an AK-47 round struck the window of his humvee approximately 20 cm from his head. The glass was bullet-proof, but the impact was still felt. That some members of a convoy are non-military civilians is of little concern to those attacking. "We can get shot at too," Gangwer notes.

Sadly, sometimes even the best military protection is not enough. On October 4, 2007, Forest Service employee Steven Thomas Stefani was killed in an explosion while on assignment for a PRT in the Ghanzi province of southern Afghanistan. He was 28 years old.

Orchards, Not Poppies

PRTs effectively perform three distinct roles: they help foster security and stability; they help extend the reach of the local and central Afghan governments; and they rebuild the physical and institutional infrastructure of the area. Because of the regional-specific structure, individual projects vary according to the needs of the province. Projects have included installing windmills to pump water, training veterinarians, developing the agricultural studies department in a university, and rebuilding irrigation canals. The PRTs have also constructed seed and crop storage facilities, advised ministry of agriculture officials, and conducted seminars to teach agricultural techniques.

One continuous point of concern in Afghanistan is the seemingly dominant production of poppies. Poppies make opium, and opium in turn makes heroin. The United Nations estimated that Afghanistan produced 8,200 metric tons of opium in 2007 -- 92 percent of global production! For reference, 8,200 metric tons is a little over 18 million U.S. pounds. In other words, it's a lot.

The enormity of the opium problem is not lost on the mainstream media, but many important facts slip under the radar of the typical Afghan opium story. In fact, only 4% of agricultural land in Afghanistan is used for growing poppies, and 80% of poppies grown in the country are grown in only five southern provinces. Perhaps not surprisingly, these provinces are areas under Taliban influence and control. Despite the Taliban government banning the production of poppies in 2000 before the U.S.-led invasion, most evidence points to poppy cultivation providing the economic base of the resurgent Taliban.

While poppy production has skyrocketed in the south for the past few years, most of the other provinces have seen significant reductions, with 12 provinces deemed "poppy free" for the current year. So how do PRTs fit in to the equation? They work to keep the poppies out by establishing other crops, particularly orchard crops such as apricots and almonds. Because the initial investment for orchard crops is rather high, Afghanis are very reluctant to revert away from cultivating them. This is especially true if the orchards grow into maturity, as the harvest increases each year as the trees grow. When the trees grow to a mature level, they can even generate more profit than poppies on a per hectare basis. Many PRTs focus
specifically on the development of horticultural knowledge in the hope that an orchard economy can take hold and keep poppies out for good.

Boot Camp, Then Deploy

So how do bureaucrats and researchers go from agricultural academia to the desert of Iraq and the mountain valleys of Afghanistan? They volunteer. Applicants then go through a screening and hiring process, ensuring that they are qualified and the areas of expertise are matched to the areas of need. After selection, the USDA employees enter three weeks of training and preparation at Fort Bragg with other incoming members of PRTs.

The "Fort Bragg experience" serves a double purpose in preparing PRTs for work in potentially hostile areas. First, it introduces civilian PRT members into military lifestyle, a more difficult transition than you might initially think. Second, it makes sure there are no personal issues with members of the same PRT; if there are, it is considered much better to discover and deal with them in the hills of North Carolina. After completing the three weeks of "civilian boot camp" the teams set off across the world, beginning a term lasting anywhere from six months to over a year.

As of June 30, 2008, the USDA had 22 employees as part of PRTs in Iraq and 12 employees in Afghanistan. They are continuously seeking highly qualified persons to apply. USDA employees that deploy on PRTs are compensated for the risk and inconvenience a position in Iraq or Afghanistan entails. Including the additional salary, associated risk pay, and the cost of food and other expenses, total compensation while on a PRT is generally close to double their base salary.

But the increase in pay is not seen as a significant motivator. What does often motivate employees is a call to service, one currently being made by USDA Secretary Ed Schafer and the White House. In a department-wide memo sent in mid-May, Schafer urged USDA employees to apply for a position with the PRTs.

Larry Trouba is the Special Projects Officer in charge of selection, deployment, and support of USDA employees on PRTs in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Trouba, the USDA is "...still actively looking for qualified candidates, and we want even more employees to consider this option -- but let the record reflect that we plan to keep that skill level high."

Sowing Seeds of Success

While the true measure of the success of PRTs and agricultural advising will only be evident in the decades to come, there is an enormously positive sentiment about the program thus far. The Afghan and Iraqi governments love PRTs because they empower the government to better serve their people, increasing their legitimacy and power. The Afghani people are also excited about the work of the PRTs, and based on interactions with USDA employees, the Afghanis were grateful that somebody would leave their home and travel halfway across the world to help them grow crops. The Iraqi people expressed similar sentiments, albeit with less enthusiasm then their Afghani counterparts, but that is also reflective of the differing attitudes of the local populations.

Within the U.S. government, the PRTs have garnered the praise of nearly everybody involved in the process and have, perhaps, become the new poster child for American success in the everlasting war on terror. It is sometimes easy to dismiss the praise of the organization running the operation, but it is based in fact and for once the spin actually rings true. PRTs have made a significant impact in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and seem to be a legitimate and potent weapon in the battle for the hearts and minds of the Islamic world.

NGOs seem to be the only group unhappy with the state of affairs, as it forces them to come under the fold of the U.S. or NATO authority. While this certainly does indicate a loss of autonomy for those organizations, it also provides them with the best opportunity to make the greatest impact. The more successful the PRTs are, the more NGOs should accept this medium as the best way to administer aid and promote development.

Finally, the impact on the USDA employees themselves is impossible to be quantified, but in the words of Mike Gangwer, "To say that it is profound is an understatement." For many the experience is so transformative that reentering civil life can be difficult. In the best kind of endorsement possible, many of the USDA employees serving on PRTs have gone back for second, even third tours in the region.

Despite the risks and the inconvenience, the rewards are so immensely gratifying that the experience can linger long after the actual time has passed. And after ten months, Dr. Gangwer has realized exactly what he got himself into: something special and important, a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity. When asked if he would go back, Gangwer said he would go in a moments notice if called upon. He even keeps a bag half-packed just in case.

Stop Driving So Fast, 81-Year-Old Senator Tells America

2008-07-24T18:59:00Z

Senator John Warner (R-VA) recently suggested that the nation reexamine a 55-mph national speed limit. Supposedly, this measure would save 167,000 barrels of gasoline a day -- 2% of America's daily usage -- and even diminish traffic deaths by 4,000 per year. It will also help maintain our nation's highways, abate global climate change, and quite possibly, win us the War in Iraq and the one in Vietnam retroactively.

Warner's enthusiasm comes from a Department of Energy study claiming that automobile fuel efficiency diminishes every 5 mph past 60. Like many people born in 1927, Senator Warner remembers the 1974 National Maximum Speed Law, as well as when ice cream used to cost only a nickel. Originally set at 55 mph, the national limit was raised in 1987 and repealed altogether in 1995.

This is a solution that would only exacerbate the problem. The modern highway system depends on cars moving at variable speeds, individually fit to the variable demands placed on each stretch of road by the flow of traffic. In other words, slower traffic means more gridlock and more time on the road, which means burning more gas, at a slower speed indeed.

And every car engine works differently -- 55 is not some magic number. The most efficient speed of a Prius is different than a Ford pick-up's. Or maybe it's even more efficient for the pick-up to be carrying the Prius; let's mandate that.

If Senator Warner's limit were properly enforced, the fender-bender backups prevented will undoubtedly be offset by the sheer friction from so many drivers being pulled over for driving at the logical speed they are used to. And would their violation of this nation-wide law be treated as a federal offense? Think of what we could do with all the revenue generated from the speeding tickets, like...buy more oil!

I admire Senator Warner's bravado-it takes a certain, daring courage to propose a measure that has already been tried and abandoned. Unless, of course, his real motivation is just to prohibit "those dang kids from driving so fast."

Senator Warner's speed limit solution is a stalling tactic on the large scale. It is as if the 81-year-old is begging us to have the decency to postpone crisis until he does not have to worry about it (or anything else).

We've already made air travel as unpleasant as possible. Let's not do the same to car travel -- it's already slow enough.

VA of two minds when it comes to voting help for veterans

2008-07-24T14:45:00Z

The Department of Veterans Affairs looks after the health and well-being of those who once served the country. Does this mandated care also extend to assisting veterans in the voting process?

Actually, it does. According to a Department of Veteran's Affairs directive issued last May, the department is responsible for helping "patients who seek to exercise their right to register and vote."

But the department has been heavily criticized recently by politicians and voters' rights groups who find current VA policies to be more of a hindrance than help.

The department recently banned third-party organizations from holding registration drives in all federally-run nursing homes, homeless shelters and rehabilitation centers, troubling many officials across the country.

"It just seems wrong to the league that the VA is erecting barriers to voter registration for our nation's veterans," Mary G. Wilson, president of the League of Women Voters told the New York Times. "They appear to be using technicalities to block many veterans from registering to vote."

This sentiment has been echoed by numerous senators, secretaries of state, and advocates of voter's rights from groups like the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and Common Cause.

"There is no reason why the Department of Veterans Affairs should not proactively assist veterans in exercising their right to vote. To do otherwise is an insult to the sacrifices these men and women have made for our country," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). "It's time the Department of Veterans Affairs reverse its directive and allow these non-partisan, third-party organizations into VA facilities to register veterans to vote."
Feinstein, along with fellow Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veteran's Affair Committee, sent a letter to VA Secretary James Peake urging him to end the prohibition on non-partisan voter registration at VA facilities.
But Peake refuses to budge. According to the Daily Record, Peake recently reaffirmed the VA's stance, citing concerns about "patients' rights, disruption of operations and involvement in partisan political activities."

The VA references the Hatch Act in its justification for the ban. The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from participating in partisan political actives on official time or on government property.

However, opponents say that the Hatch Act does not validate the VA's argument whatsoever. The act only prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan activities, freeing them to help with nonpartisan voter registration drives. Additionally, the act does not ban third-party organizations from running registration drives.

"No veteran who has defended freedom and democracy overseas should experience democracy denied here at home," Kerry said. "We must support voter registration for veterans in every way possible, including allowing assistance from nonpartisan registration organizations. Impeding voter registration in any way insults the ideals our veterans fought for in uniform, and that's something the Department of Veterans Affairs cannot stand for."

But the department also raises other concerns with running registration drives, insisting that these events could direct attention away from the primary goals of these facilities---looking after veterans.

Matt Smith, a VA spokesman, told the New York Times that the department "wanted to ensure that our staff remains focused on caring for our veterans instead of having to determine the political agenda of each group that might try to enter our facilities."

The VA also insists that it already has programs in place to facilitate the registration and voting process for the hundreds of thousands of patients that check into their facilities each year. However, voter's rights advocates, like Jim Dickson and Joe Davis still say that registration drives are necessary. "Veterans with disabilities have a harder time registering to vote through state agencies, so we call on Secretary Peake to help," Dickinson, the vice president of the AAPD, told the Daily Record.

"Voting is an American right," Davis, a spokesman for the VFW, told USA Today. "Why the VA would not want to help fellow Americans exercise that right is a puzzle."

Yet, VA officials have continued to deny organizations the right to hold registration drives. And Senators Akaka, Kerry and Feinstein are merely a few of the people who find something wrong with that.

"Right before the Fourth of July, Connecticut's Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz attempted to provide voter information and register residents at a West Haven Veterans Affairs facility," they wrote in their letter to Peake. "Secretary Bysiewicz was denied entry to the VA facility under the VA's Directive. Instead she sought to register veterans leaving the facility. One such veteran who was registered to vote by the Secretary was Martin Onieal, 92, a World War II veteran. Mr. Onieal told her ‘There was nobody here to do this last year.' That is simply unacceptable."

The Legislate - Legislative highlights from Congress last week

2008-07-23T16:39:00Z

For Government Workers

1. As reported by OhMyGov! in early June, the U.S. Senate has privatized its dining services. And now, the dining service employees, previously receiving the wonderful benefits of government employment, will continue to get these same benefits even though Uncle Sam no longer signs their paycheck. S. 2967 became law with little to no resistance last Friday.

2. A House bill that would create an "Office of the Ombudsman" in the Department of Veterans Affairs has been scheduled for debate on the House floor. The Office would act as a liaison for veterans and their families to facilitate the distribution of health care and benefits.

3. The "American Veterans Disabled for Life Commemorative Coin Act" became law on July 17, honoring disabled U.S. troops in the form of commemorative silver dollars. These coins will be sold as part of the Disabled Veterans LIFE Memorial Foundation with a $10 surcharge. Proceeds will fund the construction of a memorial for disabled veterans on the southwest side of the National Mall.

Innovations

1. H.R. 3403: the "New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008" or the "NET 911 Improvement Act of 2008" passed Congress and now awaits the President's approval. The Act requires 911 access for all internet-phone services, which most people can agree just makes sense. The innovation in this case is not the technology, but the passage of simple and effective legislation.

Just for kicks

1. President Bush vetoed the "Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008" knowing that his veto would be overridden. The Act fills a 10.6% scheduled physician payment cut and speeds up the accreditation process of image service providers (MRI, CT, PET, and nuclear medicine). President Bush vetoed the legislation last Tuesday, in what could be described as the President's first "Hey! I'm still here!" veto. Congress overrode his veto by comfortable margins hours later.

2. Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has invited the House Ethics Committee to investigate him. He has been accused by the Washington Post of soliciting donations for the "Charles E. Rangel Center for Public Service," at the City College of New York, on Congressional stationary.

3. Congress also named a few things last week, including 7 post offices, 1 lock and dam, 1 customhouse, 1 Border Patrol station, and 1 bankruptcy courthouse. Who said Congress never got anything done?

New Law Bolsters U.S. Efforts to Make Ocean-going Ships Cleaner

2008-07-23T15:32:00Z

With the president's July 21 signature of the Maritime Pollution Protection Act of 2008, U.S. agencies are setting course to implement a key international agreement to reduce air pollution from large ships. This key step clears the way for U.S. ratification of the international treaty regulating emissions - known as MARPOL Annex VI -- from large diesel-powered, ocean-going vessels.

DC job fair a success, but many more are necessary

2008-07-23T13:33:00Z

With more college students having trouble entering the job market than ever, and the federal government having more trouble hiring than ever, the Partnership for Public Service decided to solve the problem for both parties. The remedy? An old-school career fair.

On July 16, the Partnership held the sixth annual Public Service Career Fair in the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. The fair was geared towards D.C.'s summer interns, and almost 3,000 registered for the event on the Partnership's website-twice the number from 2007.

"It [the fair] really evolved over the past six years, " said Tim McManus, the Vice President of Education and Outreach at the Partnership. "It was initially planned around inspiring young people who are already in DC, like federal interns. They would get to listen to an inspirational speaker talk about the value of federal service, and the career fair was just an add-on."

Now, the career fair is the main event. After listening to just a quick question-and-answer session with some young federal workers about why they love their jobs, the guests, decked out in suits and carrying folders filled with resumes, were let loose.

Tables set up by each of the organizations surrounded the perimeter of the room. If the young men and women could beat their way through the huge crowds surrounding each display, they could get informative pamphlets, job applications, talk to the federal workers running the tables, and even hand in a resume. The center of the room contained tables covered in water bottles and bags of pretzels for people to munch on while they scoured the displays. It was like a job hunting marathon.

Drew Tidwell, a senior at Georgetown University, was one of the few men at the event without a tie around his neck. He stood out from the crowd in comfortable shorts and loafers, but like the rest of the people there, he came with resumes in hand. Fifty-five resumes to be exact.

"Yeah, I went kind of crazy at work," Tidwell said. "But I figured why not."

Tidwell's attitude towards the career fair seemed to reflect many students' pessimistic outlook towards the job market.

"Where would I want a job? I would just like to get a job. I want to work before I go to law school," he said.

Six years ago only 25 organizations showed up to the job fair held in the Air and Space Museum. On Wednesday, 65 different agencies and organizations were in attendance, including the Peace Corps, Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Library of Congress, and the ornery staff from the Department of Homeland Security who refused to let those hired from previous job fairs tell their story. (Apparently, providing an interview about a hiring success is a threat to national security.)

But that's a story for another day.

The Partnership's career fair is the only fair solely for federal jobs, and because of that, it's popular among the agencies.

"It's hard for individual agencies to do something like this," McManus said. "Bigger ones can do events, but usually on campuses or more targeted audiences. Our Public Service Fair has a much broader approach...You really need to show them what it's like to work in your federal agency. Unlike USAJOBS, the fair offers personal interaction."

Attracting and recruiting new talent to the federal fray is essential with the impending wave of federal retirees on the horizon. But it will take more than a local job fair to fill the anticipated 58,000 jobs per year. The Partnership for Public Service is doing their part to help the human capital crises, but more job fairs in areas where people are less familiar with government work will likely have more bang for the buck. Some of the best places to target are college towns like Boston, Austin, Athens, Triangle Park, and San Francisco, where the federal government isn't such an obvious choice for a career path and the competitive job market propels students to look outside their comfort zones for work.

BY Briana Kerensky

Also Interesting:

Job Spotlight: Why Patent Examiners are getting up to a $9,000 signing bonus from Uncle Sam
Government Job Spotlight: Contracting Officer
What you may not know about federal student loans…
Federal vs state worker wages: who's making out better?
Raising the visibility of public service

Maryland suburb passes resolution "opposing" foie gras

2008-07-23T04:02:00Z

Takoma Park, Md.----In this leafy suburb northeast of Washington, D.C., foie gras lovers now find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Or at least on the wrong side of a strongly-worded resolution that may or may not have any legal power.

The city council in this notoriously activist community of 20,000 people recently passed a resolution "opposing" the production and sale of foie gras, the French delicacy made from fattened goose and duck liver. The resolution, number 2008-49, spells out in detail the force-feeding methods by which farmers produce foie gras, and "encourages Takoma Park residents not to buy foie gras in order to avoid supporting this extreme form of
animal cruelty."

“My mother was French, and I’ve eaten a bit of foie gras in my life,” City Councilman Dan Robinson said. “As I was educated about the process, I won’t eat it again."

Tough words, indeed. Too bad that Maryland state law doesn't grant municipalities the authority to enforce a ban on the consumption of food. Any such law has to come from the state legislature.

As it is, no food stores in this liberal-activist enclave even carry foie gras. And going into people's homes to enforce a ban on consuming the dish is a ridiculous thought.

Or is it? The "People's Republic of Takoma Park," as it's sometimes called, has a long history of taking aggressive stands on issues stretching far beyond city lines. In 2007, the city voted to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. And since 1983, it has proudly declared itself a "nuclear-free zone," banning manufacturers of nuclear weapons from doing any business with the city. Well, except for that one exception in 2002.

City councils have all the right in the world to grandstand about matters outside their jurisdiction. But voters should only tolerate it when all the roads are adequately paved, taxes collected, children educated, police trained, and all the other myriad municipal duties completed. So, congrats Takoma Park city council --- take care of those one or two offending hors d'oeuvres and a perfect little utopia you'll have.

City and baseball team in rent dispute? No problem, just tax the fans!

2008-07-22T15:22:00Z

Stories like this are why Washington D.C. is the home of OhMyGov!

A dispute between the billionaire owner of the Washington Nationals baseball team and the D.C. government which owns the stadium where they play may end up pinching -- you guessed it, the very fans who support the team.

Nationals owner Ted Lerner is withholding the team's $3.5 million rent payment to the city, which financed the stadium with public money. He claims the city has failed to live up to the contract because the stadium is "incomplete." What's more, he is demanding the city pay him $100,000 a day in damages. The Nationals have played 50 games in the stadium since March 29.

But without the rent payment needed to service the debt, the city is in a lurch. Revenue from sales taxes levied on concessions at the stadium has been lower than expected because attendance has averaged only around 29,000 fans per game, far below the 42,000 capacity.

So the D.C. City Council is considering raising the sales tax on Nationals tickets, parking, concessions, and merchandise from an already steep 10 percent to 15 percent! That's what we like to see -- thanking the fans who've actually been coming out to games to support the team.

More on the story from BizofBaseball and the Washington Post.

Arizona and Washington leave other states in dust on online voter registration

2008-07-22T13:55:00Z

Just about everywhere in the U.S. you can now file your taxes online, pay for parking tickets, update your driver's license and registration, and conduct various other types of government business.

But one thing you can't do is register to vote.

Only 2 of our 50 states, Arizona and Washington, give its citizens the ability to register to vote online. This is not an impressive showing for the birthplace of the Internet and the driver of global technological innovation.

It's especially disappointing, election officials say, because online registration is efficient and encourages more people to register.

"As technology marches forward in virtually all other aspects of the election process, the methods of registration remain firmly entrenched in the 20th century," a study released by electiononline.org noted.

How did Arizona and Washington manage to break out of the outdated "ink, paper, stamp, and mail process" for voter registration? Their story should be required reading for the other 48 states.

"Washington activated online voter registration to make it more convenient for citizens to register to vote when it was convenient for them," Brian Zylstra, a spokesman for the Washington's Office of the Secretary of State, said in an interview. He said people conduct so many personal transactions online that they expect the same level of customer service from government.

Although many states let residents download voter forms from the Internet, they still must be printed and mailed to local election offices. Arizona was the first state to eliminate this process when they introduced EZ Voter, an online registration site, in July 2002.

"It has been a goal of my administration from the very beginning to get more Arizonans registered to vote," Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer said. "Making voter registration easy really helps ensure that everyone has an opportunity to participate in our democratic process."

And participate they have. After introducing EZ Voter, Arizona saw nearly a 10 percent increase in voter registration between 2002 and 2004. That's hundreds of thousands of new voters joining the democratic process just in one state.

Even more impressive: 72 percent of all Arizona voter registrations in 2007 were completed online, up from 25 percent in 2003.

Washington followed suit when the Secretary of State Sam Reed requested that the Legislature approve a bill allowing online voter registration. The bill was passed in 2007 and went into effect on Jan. 1, 2008. "People do so much business now online that this is kind of a normal way many people want to transact their business, including with government and voter registration -- and this is particularly true with young people," Reed told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Since January, the state has registered more than 31,000 people and over half are between 18-30 years old.

If Arizona and Washington have been so successful with their online approach, why aren't more states implementing their own registration sites?

Many states remain concerned over privacy, security, and fraud, stalling plans to introduce similar online systems. In its study, electiononline.org cited a California Internet Voting Task Force report which stated that an online voter registration system would be "an invitation to automated, large-scale vote fraud."

"Often it is difficult for state legislatures to trust that an online service dealing with sensitive information such as this can be secure, and will at the same time not allow ineligible people to be placed on the voter rolls," Zylstra says.

Arizona and Washington both require online registrants to possess either a valid driver's license or state ID card. This ensures that the state has a digitized signature in their databases, which can be used later to confirm eligible voters.

"One of the most effective arguments used to convince Washington's legislators that online voter registration is more secure than mail-in voter registration applications was the fact that a person had to appear before a Department of Licensing agent in order to get a driver's license or state ID card before they could use the online voter registration system," Zylstra said.

However, officials from both Arizona and Washington insist that their residents have nothing to worry about when they log on to register. Zylstra says that Washington has no cases of online voter registration fraud and that the system uses the same technology that banks use to encrypt and protect personal information.

Likewise, the Arizona Office of the Secretary of State Web site insists that "all confidential records are kept locked inside an ‘electronic vault' protected by IBM's most advanced security technologies and among the most comprehensive security programs and services in the industry."

But other concerns remain as well. A 2004 security analysis conducted of the US Department of Defense's "Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment" questioned whether Web sites would be able to handle the heavy online traffic during registration deadlines. Arizona recently saw a glitch in its system when its Web site went down the day of the registration deadline this past January. Fortunately for residents, the site was properly working by the end of the day.

Still, officials from both states consider the implementation of online voter registration a success and expect other states to follow in their footsteps.

"Just like Arizona, Washington's state government leaders look to use innovative ways to make government more accessible and efficient for its citizens," Zylstra says. "We believe that making online voter registration available to people is another way to accomplish this objective. As more Washingtonians use our online voter registration system, more states will see the benefits of this system and will eventually emulate it."

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