Texas Southern University MPA Blog

The Year In 2012

2012-01-09T07:32:00.001-08:00

2012 has the potential of being one of the most significant years our domestic politics has seen in decades. Following on the heals of the most catastrophic economic downturn since the Great Depression, 2012 looks to be a bounce back year for many people.

From a public policy perspective—2012 will continue three trends that have the potential to transform American society.

EDUCATION REFORM

2012 will see the continued prominence of the education reform movement, particularly the emergence of charter schools and a new more aggressive form of “charter-style” public schools that have adopted high academic standards for all students. Accountability models that emphasize student performance as the basis for evaluating teachers will continue to exist—as long as a new emphasis on vocational and workforce training in public schools. In Higher education, the use of online education will continue to expand, with more and more programs utilizing user-friendly electronic platforms.

eGOVERNMENT

In the aftermath of historic layoffs in the public sector—Governments in general, and local governments in particular will place an even greater emphasis on technology and the development of eGovernment tools as a means to maintain and increase work productivity in the public sector in light of fewer employees. For several years the promise of eGovenment and electronic platforms as tools to improve customer service and data acquisition has been slow in development. In an environment of diminished resources and fewer employees, 2012 could be the year eGovernment takes center stage.

ENERGY TAKES CENTER STAGE

Energy independence and environmental sustainability will be concurrent goals. As job creation in the new Green economy continues to develop, a greater emphasis on sustainability in all facets of development—transportation, economic development, and housing will become more prominent. Developing long-term policy solutions will be a focus of policy makers both locally and nationally.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Looking back and ahead…

2012-01-01T15:46:00.001-08:00

As we look back on 2011, it is hard to forget that it has been one of the most memorable and cataclysmic years in recent memory. It was for all intents and purposes—a year of awakening and rebirth for people. The political process seemed to finally open up and set the stage for a new direction. From the Arab Spring that toppled governments in the Middle East to the Occupy Wall Street movement that brought the issue of income inequality front and center in American political discussion, 2011 has been a year of change.

Over the past year, this blog has sought to identify issues and suggest solutions that policy makers can use to solve many of the most pressing problems our society faces. If there was a consistent theme that we have advocated for, it is that Government continues to posses a transformative power to help society solve many of its most pressing and persistent problems. That power stems from bringing people and communities together toward a common vision to empower neighborhoods and individual citizens to improve their lives.

As we look ahead to 2012, the blog will continue to outline strategies and solutions to improve neighborhoods and communities. By working with policy makers and community leaders, our hope is to not just drive discussion—but to support change. By working together, we “can be the change.”

*Dr. Michael O. Adams is a professor of political science and public administration in the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University. He also serves as director of the Barbara Jordan Institute for Policy Research at TSU.

We Must Address Persistent Pockets of Poverty

2011-12-04T06:37:00.001-08:00

The following blog post was published in the Houston Chronicle on December 4, 2011. Direct Link: http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/We-must-address-persistent-pockets-of-poverty-2340970.php#page-1

A recent report by the Brookings Institution has brought into clear focus the stark reality of the current conditions many communities in Houston now face. Poverty and deteriorating living conditions are persistent and growing in many parts of our traditional inner city.

Exacerbated by rising unemployment, a lack of affordable housing throughout the city and virtually no retail and economic drivers in these communities, already strained populations have been debilitated by the prolonged recession.

In the story "More people living in poor neighborhoods" (Page B1, Nov. 3) the Chronicle highlights one of the proactive solutions that Texas Southern University is proud to be part of - the redevelopment of the historic Deluxe Theatre on Lyons Ave. into a multipurpose educational complex. That effort is a solid first step to bringing more opportunity and vitality into the distressed Fifth Ward community. But for redevelopment efforts to catch hold, it will require a comprehensive and sustained effort in the Fifth Ward and other inner-city communities.

While the causes of poverty are systemic, we as a community have to come together to develop solutions that can assist these neighborhoods while enhancing economic opportunities for the entire city. The reality is that the city as a whole can never fully prosper if persistent pockets of poverty and hopelessness exist. Our society will rise and fall collectively.

Here are the areas on which our community needs to focus:

Education: Any effort of revitalization must begin with dramatically improving educational opportunities within high-poverty communities. National studies have for years shown the correlation between educational level and income. A review of Houston Independent School District graduation rates and college readiness in several inner-city communities indicates that dropout rates in the historic Fifth Ward, Third Ward and other inner-city neighborhoods are far in excess of the state average. A comprehensive effort to keep students in high school has to be a priority. One solution that has to be explored is greater linkage between the K-12 system and schools of higher education. Community colleges, Texas Southern University and other local universities can assist in the effort in helping keep students in school through mentorship programs, dual credit and helping develop a new curriculum that better reflects what students want and need to be successful at both the college and work level.

Economic development: The lack of commercial retail has to be addressed if communities are to be given a chance to survive. Retail is often the single largest employer in a neighborhood. The anchor of that system is the large-scale grocery store. The simple fact is that in high-poverty communities, these types of stores simply do not exist. These food deserts have received increased notice by policymakers, but little has been achieved locally in food access for these communities. The effect of this has been catastrophic both economically and from a health perspective. Two recent initiatives may offer some hope on this issue. Walmart, in an initiative championed by first lady Michelle Obama, has agreed to locate 300 new grocery stores throughout the U.S. in traditionally underserved communities. Local policymakers can assist and encourage companies like Walmart to select Houston through more aggressive use of tax abatements and other incentive programs. Local government must play a role in making this work. Abatement agreements such as the one recently reached between the city of Houston and Kroger to locate a store in a nondistressed community need to be utilized in underserved communities to create incentives for grocery stores to be located in low-income neighborhoods. The other initiative, announced by the University of Texas at Austin through its University Co-Op, is the development of a grocery store located on the edge of campus to serve the university community. Texas Southern University has a presence in many high-poverty communities in Houston. It could serve as a linchpin for a cooperative program that could serve a university community as well as the community at large.

Environmental sustainability: Environmental justice has to be a consideration in revitalizing communities. Many poor neighborhoods have been identified as having a history of environmental degradation as a result of industrial pollution and neglect. Too often, these communities were treated as dumping grounds for toxic materials and chemical waste, with catastrophic results. While an enhanced commitment to enforcing environmental regulations has to be in place, a commitment to improving the living conditions - with an eye toward environmental sustainability - must also be made. One initiative to consider is the development of an environmentally sustainable housing initiative. In El Paso, a unique partnership between the city of El Paso and the federal government has resulted in Paisano Green - the first and only environmentally sustainable affordable housing community in Texas. The use of public housing dollars, paired with investments in parks and public transportation, has led to a comprehensive sustainable development. Making a comprehensive project like this work in Houston will require a sustained and joint effort. Texas Southern University and the higher education community as a whole can also play a role and bring together the expertise to make this project a reality. Houston is now home to the national expert on environmental justice - Dr. Robert Bullard, who was recently named dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at TSU.

Education, economic development and environmental sustainability are just a part of the process in revitalizing a community. It will take a prolonged and committed effort to make a difference in the lives of many Houstonians who have been mired in multigenerational poverty. By working together, the public, private and nonprofit communities can make a difference. The only limitation we have is our inability to come together.

Adams is the director of the master of public administration program at the Jordan-Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University.

Courts Weigh In On Redistricting

2011-11-29T10:44:00.000-08:00

By: Dr. Michael O. Adams*

In a series of legal decisions, the Federal courts and the Department of Justice have declined to approve several Texas redistricting plans for the state house, senate, county and congressional maps citing the dilution of minority voting strength and partisan gerrymandering. Federal Judges have instead adopted interim plans they developed with the input of community members and largely preserve existing constituencies. The decisions were a blow to the leadership of the state, and may have long-term political implications in terms of partisan representation.

The rulings are also an affirmation of the continuing relevance of the Voting Rights Act, and an approach to redistricting that is less partisan and more inclusive. In sharp contrast to the work done by County and State government, the City of Houston was pre-cleared by the Department of Justice, and faced no legal opposition to its significant redraw and expansion of Houston City Council districts. This occurred in no small part to an inclusive process that sought community input from all parties. The result was a plan that garnered almost universal support.

Having played a role in that process as an advisor to the City, along with other educational institutions in the City—it is clear that this type of process played a significant role in the smooth adoption and approval of the revised district lines. The Mayor and Houston City Council should be applauded for their commitment to create transparency. Additionally, it cannot be overstated that a commitment to upholding the spirit and letter of the Voting Rights Act made the City Plan successful. We have previously blogged about the significance of the VRA on the redistricting process. Policymakers, however have to adhere to its principals to make the process work. The bottom line was the City did this and few others followed her lead.

The Courts decisions should serve as a stern warning—heed the Voting Rights Act or face the consequences.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams is a professor of political science and public administration in the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University. He also serves as director of the Barbara Jordan Institute for Policy Research at TSU.

Environmental, Economic and Socio-Politico Sustainability

2011-11-26T07:49:00.000-08:00

By: Dr. Michael O. Adams*

Exacerbated by rising unemployment, a lack of affordable housing throughout the city and virtually no retail and economic drivers in these communities—already strained populations have been debilitated by the prolonged recession.

The Chronicle, in its story—More people living in poor neighborhoods, highlights one of the proactive solutions that Texas Southern University is proud to be part of–the redevelopment of the historic Deluxe Theatre on Lyons Ave into a multipurpose educational complex. That effort is a solid first step to bringing more opportunity and vitality into the distressed 5th ward community. But for redevelopment efforts to catch hold, it will require a comprehensive and sustained effort.

While the causes of poverty are systemic, we as a community have to come together to develop solutions that can assist these communities while enhancing economic opportunities for the entire city. The reality is that the City as a whole can never prosper if persistent pockets of poverty and hopelessness exist.

Education

Any effort of revitalization must begin with dramatically improving educational opportunities within high poverty communities. National studies have for years shown the correlation between educational level and income. A recent analysis by the Barbara Jordan Institute (the research institute of the Jordan Leland School of Public Affairs, TSU) looked at HISD graduation rates and college readiness in several inner city communities. That data indicated dropout rates in the historic 5th ward, 3rd ward and other inner city neighborhoods far in excess of the state average. A comprehensive effort to keep students in high school and graduate has to be a priority. One solution that has to be explored is greater linkage between the K-12 system and schools of Higher education. Community colleges, Texas Southern University and other local universities can assist in the effort in helping keep students in school through mentorship programs, dual credit, and helping develop a new curriculum that better reflects what students want and need to be successful at both the college and work level.

Economic Development

The lack of commercial retail has to be addressed if communities are to be given a chance to survive. One persistent criticism has been the lack of large-scale grocery stores in high poverty communities. These “food deserts” have received increased notice by policymakers, but to date little has been achieved locally in food access for these communities. Recently, two different initiatives may offer some hope on this issue. Wal-Mart, in an initiative championed by the First Lady Michelle Obama has agreed to locate 300 new grocery stores throughout the U.S. Local policymakers can assist and encourage companies like Wal-Mart to select Houston through more aggressive use of tax abatements and other incentive programs. A recent abatement agreement by the City of Houston with Kroger to locate in a non-distressed community could be a model. The other initiative, announced by the University of Texas at Austin through its University Co-Op, is the development of a grocery store located on the edge of its campus to serve its University community. Texas Southern University has a presence in many high poverty communities in Houston. It could serve as a linchpin for a cooperative program between a private change and the University that could serve both its university community—and even more importantly the community at large.

Education and economic development are just a part of the process in revitalizing a community. It will take a prolonged and committed effort to make a difference in the lives of many Houstonians who have been mired in multi-generational poverty. By working together—the public, private and non-profit communities can make a difference. The only limitation we have is our inability to come together.

Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland SPA Welcomes New Dean

2011-11-26T07:47:00.001-08:00

By: Dr. Michael O. Adams*

We are excited to announce that the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs has just named a new Dean, Dr. Robert Bullard. Dr. Bullard has been a pioneer and leader in the area of environmental research and its effects on minority communities. Notably, he has looked at the sad reality that many low income and minority communities have seen there homes and lives put in danger by the location of environmentally sensitive facilities near them. Generally regarded as the father of the Environmental Justice movement, his expertise is no stranger to Houston—having led efforts to stop the placement of waste treatment plant in the middle of a neighborhood. Moreover, his focus on the environment and minority communities was revolutionary in a movement that had previously been dominated by Anglo leaders and had been largely ignored by minority leaders. His emphasis on environmental justice has led to a greater emphasis of environmental awareness in general within the minority community. Recycling efforts, water quality improvements, and the development of sustainable communities in low-income areas are all issues that owe a debt of gratitude to the work of Dr. Bullard.

In a City like Houston, his arrival and expertise couldn’t come at a more critical time. In a city with no land use regulations and a history of placing sensitive facilities in low-income communities, the temptation to cut environmental regulations in the name of expanding economic opportunities is great. With refineries and treatment plants in the area poised for expansion—it is critical that policy makers to be vigilant in maintaining and preserving environmental standards.

We join the entire community in welcoming a new leader to our institution who will bring a strong vision and perspective to our community.

A RESEGREGATED SOUTH

2011-11-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

We have all heard the adage…never put all your eggs in one basket. The rationale being, it’s always wise to hedge your bets to ensure that if your selection is wrong, you aren’t left empty-handed. A recent report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies seems to indicate that politically speaking, African-Americans in the South may have done exactly that.

African-American’s have since the dawn of the civil rights era, voted in increasingly larger percentages in favor of the Democratic Party. As such, there electoral fortunes seemed increasingly tied to the success of the Party.

After the groundbreaking election of Barack Obama, and his success in many traditional Republican states—some experts believed we were moving towards a “post-racial” political environment. But with the large gains made by Republicans in Southern state legislatures, African Americans have seen their political power slip to historic lows.

David A. Bositis, author of “Resegregation in Southern Politics?” and one of the authors of the report has argued that legislatures are increasingly divided along racial lines — making Republican synonymous with white, and Democrat with black. The report said a majority of Democrats in both legislative chambers in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi are black. In half of the Southern legislative chambers, blacks are a majority or near majority of Democratic members. Of the 318 black legislators in the South, only 3 are Republican, according to the center.

From a policy perspective, the ramifications for African-Americans are significant. Issues of poverty, racial justice, and economic disparity may be ignored and overlooked as African-Americans are pushed into the background. To combat that, they must broaden their political appeal and look to expand there presence in all political communities. Creating bipartisan coalitions is the only way to remain effective.

Environmental, Economic and Socio-Politico Sustainability

2011-11-06T16:35:00.001-08:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

The Chronicle, in its story—More people living in poor neighborhoods, highlights one of the proactive solutions that Texas Southern University is proud to be part of–the redevelopment of the historic Deluxe Theatre on Lyons Ave into a multipurpose educational complex. That effort is a solid first step to bringing more opportunity and vitality into the distressed 5^th ward community. But for redevelopment efforts to catch hold, it will require a comprehensive and sustained effort.

Education

Any effort of revitalization must begin with dramatically improving educational opportunities within high poverty communities. National studies have for years shown the correlation between educational level and income. A recent analysis by the Barbara Jordan Institute (the research institute of the Jordan Leland School of Public Affairs, TSU) looked at HISD graduation rates and college readiness in several inner city communities. That data indicated dropout rates in the historic 5^th ward, 3^rd ward and other inner city neighborhoods far in excess of the state average. A comprehensive effort to keep students in high school and graduate has to be a priority. One solution that has to be explored is greater linkage between the K-12 system and schools of Higher education. Community colleges, Texas Southern University and other local universities can assist in the effort in helping keep students in school through mentorship programs, dual credit, and helping develop a new curriculum that better reflects what students want and need to be successful at both the college and work level.

Economic Development

It's Time For Houston To Become Leader In Building Sustainable Communities

2011-10-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams

Ask most people what they think of when they hear the term affordable housing—and visions of poor quality houses, comes to mind. The concept of environmentally sustainable affordable housing is something that many people simply ignore.

While the tenements and “projects” of the mid-20th century are gone and now replaced by smaller multi-family buildings, or even single-family homes in some cases, you still don’t expect such buildings to come with much in the way of environmental features. And to many, environmentally friendly products and designs is still considered a premium. After all—isn’t environmental sustainability the purview of the affluent? Absolutely not!

The reality is that low-income citizens—more than any other income group need affordable housing that factors in the environment. People in need of subsidized housing won’t get very far in terms of lifting themselves out of poverty if the money saved on lower rents ends up going towards utility bills. Efficiency features that make the most of energy and water, and renewable installations that provide a reliable power supply (even if it’s not 100%) not only lighten the environmental footprint of new and existing developments, but also provide ongoing cost savings for residents. Investments in these features by public housing agencies and non-profits could better serve their missions to give people a “hand up” towards economic stability.

A number of housing authorities around the US are starting to understand this, and the initiatives by the Obama administration are going a long way to making this happen. They are building new developments, or renovating old ones, with “green” in mind. One project that we in Houston should look at is an innovative project in Compton, California’s Casa Dominguez. The project not only features green building features such as blown-in insulation made from recycled materials, greywater systems, and prefabricated framing, but also hosts an onsite clinic, child care center, and counseling service to reduce transportation needs of residents.

This approach—environmental sustainability with community sustainability have to be paired for “green” initiatives to work. Large urban cities like Houston have to take the lead in building and expanding projects like this one in Compton. By pairing these types of programs together—we can create vibrant living communities.

This approach has the potential of revolutionizing how we see ourselves and develop as a community—but it will take policymakers to think more broadly about sustainability and its importance.

The Confederate License Plate and the Texas DMV

2011-10-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

The Barbara Jordan Institute blog at Texas Southern University has for the most part dedicated itself with discussing contemporary public policy issues and advocating solutions and ideas for change. It is a format that we have strived to adhere to. On rare occasions, an issue comes up that force us to enter a social and political discussion in our society because morality, decency and ethics demand it.

The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is re-considering a proposal from the Sons of Confederate Veterans to allow the issuance of license plates that will show the group’s logo that includes the Confederate battle flag. The Confederate battle flag has been synonymous with virulent racism since its popularization within the last 100 years. Largely unknown, at the time of the Civil War, it was “adopted” by the Ku Klux Klan during reconstruction and through the period of segregation as a symbol of white supremacy. During the 50’s many southern Governors added the flag to their own state flags as symbolic defiance against integration. Much like the swastika, which was taken by Nazi Germany from Indian culture—the once neutral symbol now represents nothing more than hate to many, many people.

Depending on the historical context in which confederacy is viewed, the Sons of Confederate Veterans will appear either as preservers of Southern heritage or as a racist organization. Regardless of the organization’s mission and/or objective, they must appreciate how damaging the mere sight of the flag has on the psyche of so many people. To deny that fact is unimaginable. To countless people, the flag resurrects the time of a segregated south where African-Americans were treated as second-class citizens, denied the right to vote, beaten, and lynched. It is a symbol of one of the darkest periods in our history. The historical fact is that the battle flag has limited modern relevance to the Civil War. It is a symbol of racism and oppression. I would echo the words of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and ask Governor Perry to intervene with his appointees to the DMV and ask them not to divide our state and possibly ignite racial tension. Allow the Sons of Confederate Veterans to have a license plate that rightly honors fallen soldiers—but not with a racist symbol. Texas is better than that.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams is a professor of political science and public administration in the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University. He also serves as director of the Barbara Jordan Institute for Policy Research at TSU.

Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-11T10:23:00.001-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams

For the last few weeks, the Occupy Wall Street protest movement has captivated the public. Leaving aside for a moment the merits of their arguments against the global financial system—the protest itself is another example of the amazing disruption that can emerge from technology and other mobile communication devices.

The movement owes a debt of gratitude to two revolutionary technologies that developed within the last 5 years—the application based smart phone, perfected by the late Steve Jobs, and social media websites.

Unlike other American social and civil movements—this decentralized movement was organized entirely through social media, with no managing structure and no charismatic leader. In many ways, Occupy Wall Street has more in common with the Arab Uprising, than the rise of the Tea Party or even the Civil Rights movement.Like those movements, it was largely organized with and through sites like Facebook and twitter. Because the conventional media chose to initially ignore it, information and attention was generated almost entirely from the Internet.

With the movement now spreading nationally, social media continues to play the pivotal role. In Houston, the Facebook page—Occupy Houston has been the primary focal point of the messaging and the organizing. Twitter and text messaging are used to inform protesters about everything from themes and messages to locations of police and conditions at various places.

These technologies now present the very real possibility of changing the way our society operates. It is important for policymakers to embrace these technologies and use them to reach out and communicate with this next generation of activists.

The Role of Academia in the Civil Rights Struggle

2011-10-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

The Role of Academia in the Civil Rights Struggle

Dr. Michael O. Adams

Texas Southern University

75th Annual Texas NAACP State Convention

October 8, 2011

Abstract

For many people, the Civil Rights era is often considered a period in our history that began with the seminal Brown v. Board of Education and culminated with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The reality is that the quest for civil rights began almost at the dawn of our Republic and continues today.

One of the most overlooked aspects of the struggle is the critical role Academia has played and continues to play. From the earliest writings of Frederick Douglass, to the current works of Cornell West and Lani Guinier—the African American education community has laid the intellectual framework in the struggle for Civil Rights.

Of particular importance is the role the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) has played in the struggle for Civil Rights. Along with its important role of educating a generation of leaders and providing the intellectual, social, and cultural basis for the African American community, the HBCUs provided much of the data and research that provided the moral and ethical underpinnings of the movement. Today, they have been leading the efforts in looking at our current civil rights struggles.

With the emergence of think tanks like the Joint Center for Politics and Economics, as well as University based centers like the Barbara Jordan Institute, Academia continues to be in the forefront of the civil rights struggle. Whether its assisting in the development of redistricting plans, fighting against voter identification laws, advocating for more access to education, or fighting for worker rights along with a myriad of other issues—academia continues to play a key role in the current Civil Rights era.

One area that is of particular attention is the tireless efforts on behalf of the wrongly incarcerated. In an era when many have overlooked this terrible injustice, academia has led the way in freeing the innocent and working to reform our criminal justice system.

As we look ahead, it is important to remember that Academia continues to play a critical role in our lives. Universities and Colleges are not in remote ivory towers. They are in the streets of our country helping fight injustice.

Digital Dashboards can transform Governments

2011-09-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams

One of the most interesting trends in public policy is the growth of digital dashboards. Digital dashboards are web based electronic interfaces that allow decision makers and the public the ability to look at critical and relevant information in real-time. In the sea of data that exists in most governments—digital dashboards allow us to cut through the clutter and look at the most important data that exists in an easy to use format.

The dashboards themselves have the possibility of fundamentally transforming how we see and use public information. By collecting and aggregating the thousands of separate pieces of data into a usable and searchable interface, digital dashboards offer policymakers the ability to see how well a government organization is really doing. From the public’s vantage point, it can give us a level of transparency that we have never had, by allowing an inside look at the effectiveness of a government agency.

The Federal Government has taken the lead on this approach under the leadership of the Obama Administration and its initiatives to increase government transparency. "There's an underlying architecture of dashboards in development, making sure on one hand that we're serving specific communities -- for example, one about transportation, another about IT -- and allowing you to slice, dice, integrate and even create your own dashboard as a widget that can be embedded in your own page," the US Government CIO Vivek Kundra said.

The trend isn't limited to the federal government. Public-facing performance dashboards have sprouted up in Washington, D.C., the state of Washington, Texas, Boston, and elsewhere. In Houston, the trend has spread to the Houston Independent School District. The HISD Board of education just authorized the development of dashboard that would integrate school performance and spending data.

Digital Dashboards are an effective tool to allow policy makers and the public to make government more effective. The challenge is to use that data to change and improve government operations.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Electoral College Reform

2011-09-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams

As you probably know from your high school civics class—the President of the United States is not elected by a majority of the U.S. citizens. Instead he/she has to receive 270 electoral votes from the 538 Electoral College. The apportionment of the vote is loosely based upon the state population, with more populous states receiving a higher number of votes.

Now, the state of Pennsylvania is considering a groundbreaking plan for electoral reform, which has the very real possibility of undermining our democracy. The plan is clearly aimed in the near term at reducing President Obama’s total electoral votes in 2012; no Republican nominee has won Pennsylvania — or any of its electoral votes — since 1988.

Historically, states have used a winner take all approach to assigning electoral votes to Presidential candidates. For this reason, a generally divided election can result in an electoral landslide election. In 2008, Barack Obama won 55 percent of the state’s popular vote and 100 percent of its 21 electoral votes. Now the Pennsylvania legislature wants to apportion the votes based upon congressional district. The result of this in our hyper partisan congressional apportionment system is that a candidate could win the state and not win a majority of the electoral votes. If the change were in place next year, President Obama, as the Democratic nominee, could win the popular vote and carry the six Democratic districts but end up with just 8 electoral votes, while the Republican nominee would take 12.

Only two states, Nebraska and Maine, award their electoral votes by Congressional district. But because of their relative size, they are not good indicators for what this method could do in a large state. The effect could ripple across the country leading to the very real problem of a winner of the popular vote not being elected President.

If there is a silver lining to this proposal, is that it may result in candidates working harder in “swing” areas. Since there would no longer be an advantage to huge wins in a partisan stronghold—candidates would naturally focus on the middle—communities that are undecided and largely in the middle in terms of ideology. It could result in more moderate candidates on both sides.

Nevertheless, the change is so consequential that serious thought needs to be given to the consequences.

What Education Really Means for Minorities

2011-09-22T16:12:00.001-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

Data released by the U.S. Census bureau, confirms what many of us have

known for years--opportunity in our city is divided between the haves

and have nots. This time however, that division is based on education.

More than 25% of all adults and more than 40% of all Latinos- lack a

high school diploma. That number is in excess of the state average and

significantly more than the national average of 14.4%.

Policy makers looking at this data, must be far more aggressive in

devising strategies to keep students in school.

We already know that over a lifetime a high school graduate will earn

more than 10X there counterparts with no-diploma. A failure to stem

the tide of dropouts will lead to a cataclysmic shift in the wealth

and prosperity of our city, State and nation.

One possibility, is to revise and update the K-12 curriculum itself.

By looking to make classwork more relevant, through skill based

programs that assist students in getting career training we will

accomplish two important goals. We will successfully keep students in

school and help them receive a diploma, while giving them the

necessary skills to get employment.

This approach will force policymakers to make hard choices and ask

them to look fundamentally at what high school diplomas should mean in

our society. One thing is clear, inaction is not an option.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Technology & Police Reducing Crimes

2011-09-20T15:56:00.001-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

The last two years has seen our country face a significant economic downtown and a historic level of social distress. People are understandably hurting and frustrated by the loss of jobs and sluggish economy. In times like this, it would be natural to see a spike in crime. But surprisingly with all of this discord—we have not. In fact, the level of violent crime continues to decline sharply.

While there are various theories as to the cause of this decline, everything from stricter prison sentences, more progressive probation, better police work, and teens spending more time playing video games–less time causing trouble outside, the exact answer is unclear. Nevertheless, the fact remains that crime has declined and the evidence increasingly points to a public policy innovation as the reason.

In 2010, violent crime in Houston dropped 12 percent last year compared to 2009, according to the FBI’s annual crime report, with reductions in robbery, aggravated assault, rape and murder. One possible reason for the decline has been the evolution of law enforcement over the last few years with the introduction of technology tools to fight crime.

Cities like New York and Baltimore pioneered the use of Crimestat, a computerized crime modeling system that tracks crime and redeploys force in areas where crime is surging. In Houston, a 24/7 Crime Center, enables police to utilize resources efficiently and serve as force multipliers using searchable databases to quickly forward criminal background information to officers while they are on their way to a reported crime.

These innovations are having an effect. The lesson of this may be that the more we take advantage of the technological innovations before us, the better we can improve government services and the quality of life for all of us.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Rising Poverty

2011-09-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

Last week, President Obama called for a new stimulus centered on job creation. The plan is centered on cutting payroll taxes and the direct hiring of teachers and skilled workers to assist in our decaying schools as well as an expansion of our decaying national infrastructure. Economists are in agreement that the bill will create new jobs and help jumpstart the economy, but as always politics are in play.

If there were any doubt how important this effort is, new data released from the Census bureau has the number of Americans living in poverty at its highest level in almost 20 years. The percentage of Americans living in poverty rose for the third year in a row, up to 15.1 percent, the highest level since 1993. To put that in context, 46.2 million people were at or below the poverty level, defined as $22,113 for a family of four. Every region of the country except the Northeast shows income drops. Here in Texas, the number of uninsured skyrocketed—with Texas once again leading the country in the number of uninsured.

As terrible as these numbers in 2009 and 2010 have been—the outlook for 2011 remains may even be worse.

This income decline has effected those most vulnerable hardest. Children were most likely to be poor, with 22 percent of those younger than 18 in living in poverty, with people 65 and older -the lowest, at 9.0 percent largely because of Social Security.

Minority communities have borne the brunt of the decline with African-Americans having the lowest median household income, at $32,100.

Potentially even more troubling is that the income disparity between the richest and poorest Americans has grown alarmingly. According to census figures, in 1967, less than $76,000 divided the median incomes of the richest 10 percent and the poorest 10 percent. By 2010, the gap had grown to $127,000.

With incomes falling, the gap between rich and poor growing, and the need for stability in terms of healthcare—the President’s plan may be coming at exactly the right time.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Can Texting and Social Network Sites Save Lives?

2011-09-13T05:33:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

It’s time for Governments to adopt a new policy with social networks and text.

In the aftermath of the destruction caused by Hurricane Irene, policymakers have been surprised by the strength and robustness of mobile communication technologies during and immediately after the hurricane. Policymakers had assumed that mobile communication networks would have failed and that landlines would be secure. But late Sunday afternoon, Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the F.C.C., said that only a handful of radio sites, but thousands of wirelines went down during the storm, leaving 132,000 landline subscribers without service. Communication however didn’t stop because thousands were able to access social network sites and email through mobile devices. Because sites like twitter, facebook and text messaging services do not require a continuous connection—mobile networks did not overload.

The policy implications for emergency management systems are profound. Local, state and federal authorities need to adopt, more aggressively, text messaging and social networking services into emergency management protocols as a means to coordinate assistance and identify areas of damage. Currently, even the most innovative government entities have only “subscriber” based systems where citizens opt into messaging. Governments need to move aggressively to make these systems mandatory rather voluntary. By working with cell phone providers and social network sites, Governmental agencies can more effectively prepare and address the needs of people in the wake of natural disasters.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

A New Era

2011-09-13T05:32:00.000-07:00

"On this 10th anniversary of the tragedy of September 11--it is important for us to honor the victims of the tragedy and the heroism of our first responders, soldiers and others that have worked so diligently to protect our nation. It is also important for us to once again think about the geopolitical changes around the world and understand that from the tragic events of September 11th to rise of democracy in the Middle East, in the form of the Arab Spring, the policy and direction we take as a country can shape the world. Below is an

insightful op-ed that was sent to us by Senator Rodney Ellis. Written by former Ambassador Osman Siddique, it offers a call to service and understanding for the millions of Muslim-Americans. Please take a moment to read this and let us know your views."

-Dr. Michael O. Adams

###

A NEW ERA

Ambassador M. Osman Siddique*

In September, 2006, on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, I publicly called on American Muslims to come forward – despite some of the unfair insinuations against us – to be unequivocal in our support of homeland security, and create within our community a culture of zero tolerance towards those with extremist tendencies.

Since that time, I’ve been gratified, as an American and as a Muslim, to see that the Muslim community has played a pivotal role in the defense of our homeland. Through the cooperation and vigilance of American Muslims, many potential attacks have been averted, from New York to Oregon – cooperation due, in no small part, to the crucial positive outreach made by the Bush and Obama administrations.

With that in mind, what lessons can we draw today, as we mark the 10^th anniversary of that dark September day? I believe that it is time for all Americans to join together to shape our collective destiny, both here and abroad– but most particularly American Muslims.

America faces hard times, and hard times often give fertile ground to those who play to our fears and divide our society. In many cases, faith is used as a weapon to scapegoat others. This kind of stereotyping not only misrepresents to the world what America is, but also gives fodder to those who would undercut our global standing.

While many on the right and left have created the impression that American leadership is being eclipsed across the globe, I’ve found quite the opposite to be true during my international travels – and this is nowhere more true than in the Middle East, where the Arab Spring was fueled by values and aspirations intrinsic to the American Idea.

Without getting the deserved credit, the Obama Administration has signaled a refreshingly new approach to this region. In the past, both Republican and Democratic administrations have cited geo-strategic interests and happily befriended regimes that violated the human and democratic rights of their own people – but the Obama Administration broke with that tradition, siding with the people rather than their unpopular rulers.

While this approach created temporary dislocations in our security arrangements, I believe that being on the right side of history will serve us well. By acknowledging our affinity with all those fighting for their rights throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds, America has the opportunity to demonstrate that this county is with them as they create a new reality in an era of expanded democracy.

We’ve been so preoccupied, however, with winding down the ill-advised misadventure in Iraq and managing the difficult drawdown in Afghanistan that the American people hasn’t paid close attention to the contests going on in the Arab street. What better time than the 10th anniversary of al-Qaeda’s attempt to pit America against the Muslim world for us to become more visible and engaged with these promising but fragile movements?

Other countries, most notably Iran, are actively seeking to exploit the uncertainty and longing for change in order to assert influence and gain credibility. We cannot allow this to happen – we need to mobilize all our resources and relationships to properly project and represent America to this new and rising generation of activists, people who have been willing to face live ammunition, time and again, in order to gain their liberty.

American Muslims – as American as any other American, and as Muslim as any other Muslim – can provide the connectivity, the cultural background, and the leadership to achieve these goals. In the course of doing so, we will also advance the values of pluralism, enterprise and civic responsibility so central to our shared national ideals.

If we want to truly defeat the message of violent hate sown on 9/11, all Americans must reach out to the people who al Qaeda hoped to win to its side. In deepening our commitment to the freedom seekers in the Middle East, we will deliver an unequivocal message to all extremists: America is not the enemy of the Muslim world – indeed, we must be friends.

If we approach the ongoing revolutions with a helping hand, a region that has for decades been seen as “hostile territory” can in fact become some of our sturdiest allies – and the best people to provide that bridge are the members of my own community.

Ten years ago, violent criminals murdered 3,000 of our fellow citizens in an effort to get Americans to hate Muslims. There is no better way to defeat those terrorists than to work with Muslims around the world for a better future for us all.

*Ambassador M. Osman Siddique, served as US Ambassador both under the

Clinton and Bush administration

Government Still Matters

2011-09-13T05:30:00.001-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

We often take the tremendous importance of Government services in our lives for granted. Natural disasters like Hurricane Irene, the wildfires in Texas and Tornados in the Midwest are just a few of the reminders of how much our ability to live depends on our collective expression society—Government. These natural disasters, which have plagued our nation this year, are a stark reminder that in times of stress and despair we turn to Government to help us. Whether its firefighters and forest rangers to combat runaway fire or FEMA and state officials to help with shelters and massive flooding—Government intervention in these times can’t be replaced.

But what happens when Government isn’t there to help? Because of massive State budget cuts in Texas, the ability to curb the raging fires in Central and East Texas was severely limited from lack of funding. Our State government has had to look to Washington DC to allow military equipment and federal funds to be used because of our decision to not properly invest in State resources. The result has been millions in losses of property and agriculture, as well as the displacement of hundreds of citizens.

While the blame for the fires rests with no one—the blame for the muted response has to fall on our State leadership. Public safety has to be our biggest priority, and unfortunately there is no denying the fact they have failed this test. The answer is to stop this misguided approach against critical government services and begin to invest in our future. Government has a role—unfortunately we often only realize it after a disaster.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

The State of Children in Texas

2011-08-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams

A recent report by Kids Count, a national children's advocacy non-profit group highlighted the distressed condition of many children in Texas. Texas is now home to 1 of every 6 children newly added to the poverty rolls nationally, and continues to have the highest rate of uninsured children, according to a new report released Wednesday. When we look at this data alongside our spending on education, we realize that Texas is quickly becoming the poorest, least healthy (in terms of access to healthcare), and un-educated state in the nation. There is no doubt that Texas has done well relative to other states in terms of its overall economic health. But the recession has hit Texas--and it is in these times the character and morality of Government can be revealed. What the data from Kids Count seems to confirm, is that the priorities of the State of Texas have emphasized business investment over human investment. While it may make sense in the short run, the strategy runs the risk of destroying our future.

Right now, 1 in 4 Texas children lives in poverty and Texas has the

highest percentage of low-wage jobs in the country. If we are going to

have a strong future--we have to start investing in our children.

The 22nd annual KIDS COUNT Data Book profiles the status of children

nationally and by state. Texas ranked in the bottom third of states -

35th nationally.

Parents Leading the Front on Improving our Children's Education

2011-08-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

By: Dr. Michael O. Adams*

Over the next few weeks, parents across the country will be preparing
to send there children back to school for another school year. As we
start this school year, it is time for parents to think about their
expectations for their children--and for the schools their children
attend. For years, urban communities have tolerated a lower level of
academic excellence that has left our communities with underperforming
schools and ill prepared students. The only way to combat that is to
change our expectations and start demanding the best. We can't simply
be content with new schools and academic facilities when the students
those schools produce are failing. We have to demand excellence from
our kids, but also from our teachers and administrators.

One way to ensure this is greater participation in parent
organizations. All parents, but particularly those in urban
communities have to become more involved in schools. A recent study by
the Pew Trust, indicated that less than 10% of African American
parents are active participants in parent school organizations. If we
are to improve the school performance of children--we have to get
involved. We can't allow administrators and teachers to make all the
decisions for us. Our future is at stake.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Empowering Our Communities

2011-08-11T13:24:00.000-07:00

Empowering our communities_strengthening_our_leaders[1]

View more presentations from lappss.

MONTROSE GEM FEATURES: "SAME SEX MARRIAGE WILL BE RULED CONSTITUTIONAL"

2011-08-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

CARROLL G. ROBINSON and DR. MICHAEL O. ADAMS

Please follow this link to view article: "SAME SEX MARRIAGE WILL BE RULED" CONSTITUTIONAL as posted in the LGBT magazine MONTROSE GEM

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: PENSIONS

2011-08-04T14:39:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

The last few weeks have had most of us mesmerized at the disfunction and drama surrounding the federal debt crisis. We all watched in amazement as our federal leaders wrestled with raising the debt ceiling as the world caught its collective breadth. As important as those issues are, we can often overlook a ticking time bomb in our own backyards--the difficult situation many of our local governments are facing. With the hopes of shedding some light on their situation as well as offering up some possible solutions, the next few posts will be devoted to looking at Government at the closest level of our city--local towns and cities. This is where the rubber meets the road in terms of services, taxes, police, fire, etc. Its also the place where financial uncertainty can cause an explosion that will effect all of us immediately.

First in our series:

PENSIONS

Municipal employees--whether Police, Fire, or non-uniformed city workers--need to be compensated adequately. Historically, those workers have traded off higher salaries for job security and defined pensions. Now with the fiscal crisis--government workers have been facing the prospect of that changing forever. Recently, a Rhode Island municipality filed for bankruptcy protection under the strain of its pension obligations. Every major city in the U.S. has been forced to renegotiate its pension obligations with its workers. For policy makers, it is critical for them not to wait and rely on pension boards to inform them of potential problems. They need to be proactive in looking at the longterm pension obligations that may be around the corner and do three critical things immediately: 1)Take a look at the age and tenure of your workforce and determine how quickly your workforce is turning over. Once you know that you can see how much time you have. 2) Develop a good working relationship with your union represenatives and bring them in early in the process. It is critical to make sure that they understand how serious any situation is. 3) Take a cue from larger cities and the private sector and move away from defined benefit plans to defined contributions. In effect cities need to go away from the guaranteed pension system to a 401(k) system.

These are all only possible solutions to a complex situation--but they are a start. The most important thing to do is to start looking at your pension situation and don't wait too long.

NEXT TIME: Taxes and Debt

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

What About Our Schools?

2011-07-17T08:36:00.001-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

The decision by TEA Commissioner Robert Scott to shut down the North Forest Independent School District has created a strong reaction across Houston. The proposed dissolution of the district would be the largest school district in the State to ever have this done. Within the minority community, it has begun a debate about how best to serve the more than 7,000 students currently attending NFISD.

While we can all agree that the academic performance of many students in NFISD was not acceptable—we need to look ahead about what options can be used to help turn around those students—whether within NFISD or as part of HISD.

First and foremost, it is critical to look at what the root causes of the poor performance are. This is a district that in the last decade was run by both local officials and a State appointed Superintendent during different times. In both cases, student scores had not improved. Rather than get lost in laying blame, lets develop a detailed analysis to determine what are causes and what are the potential solutions for success.

Secondly, we have to look to successful models of school improvement that have worked in similar communities. Every community is unique and its important to create a reform plan that makes sense for the realities of people living there. One thing we might consider is the success of the Harlem Children Zone. It brings together every aspect of a community to create what its founder Geoffrey Canada calls—Cradle to College community building. Canada, one of the leading African American educators in the country has brought education, social services and job training to create a community building approach to education reform.

Finally, we need to work together. Whether NFISD continues to exist as a separate school district, the district is merged, or the State decides on another route—we have to work together and commit to helping our children.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Urban Centers: Making Health A Homegrown Priority

2011-07-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

The late Congressman Mickey Leland made global hunger his passion. His commitment to end the sad reality that many across the world lack adequate food to eat--started a movement that we still see today. The banner for ending hunger has shifted some in our own society. The quality of food and nutritional standards we all need to maintain is a cause our first lady has taken up with fervor. The sad reality is that many communities, particularly communities of color lack access to fresh quality food. The number of grocery chains in minority communities is dismal compared to more affluent suburban communities. The result are food deserts dotting the urban communities of our country. How do we as public policy advocates deal with this? One innovative solution is the spread of Farmers and community markets in urban centers. In Harlem, a new farmers market has been open for almost a year and it has dramatically improved food access to thousands. Here in Houston, markets exist around the city--but none in many of our traditional minority neighborhoods.

A solution we need to try, is an urban Market located on the Texas Southern University Campus. This market could be opened weekly and provide two critical components to our community--increased access to fresh fruits, vegetables and meat, as well as help reconnect the University with the community it serves. Our neighbor to the west-Rice University has led the way with this, and it has become a mainstay for the Rice community. This is a worthy project for TSU to consider.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

The Majority-Minority Future of Education in the United States

2011-06-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

For years, we have been hearing that the United States is fast becoming a majority-minority nation. While that day seemed far in the distant future--it has effectively arrived with newly released data indicating that for the first time in our history--the majority of young children are non-white. The significance of this day cannot be overstated--because the very future of our country is at stake.

We all know that college admission and success rates have been dismal for minorities. With the recent cuts to education, the problem is only going to get worse. What the new demographic information drives home is that if we want a future--we need to invest in expanding educational opportunities--particularly for low income and minority students. The demographic realities mean that we could find ourselves in a society that is even more polarized and divided along income and race. Education is the only way to equalize that. Policymakers have to take heed and look to once again invest in our future--through education.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Houston Passes Budget

2011-06-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

With the passage of its budget, the City of Houston joins the county, State and most governmental entities in balancing budgetary shortfalls with drastic cuts and no revenue enhancements. While this may be smart politics, is it really the most economically sound way to do it? The answer is somewhat murky. Conventional economic theory is you never raise taxes in a recession. Conversely, the same theory demands raising it during times of surpluses. The reality is that never happens. According to the Brookings institute, a recent study indicated that tax rates are at their lowest in a generation, with upper income taxation being the lowest in over 50 years. Income inequality continues to rise, and government tax policy is the only way to correct that. Without the will to bring in revenues for public spending, critical investments in education, healthcare and infrastructure collapse. In the end, it leaves us penny wise and pound-foolish. Government spending is direct investment. It is also sound economic policy.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Men of Color Forgotten in Education

2011-06-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

Few would dispute that our nation is in the midst of an education crisis. No where is that more evident than when we look at the current situation for young men of color. Only 26% of African American men, 18% of Hispanic men, and 24% of Native American and Pacific Islander men have at least an associates degree. The achievement gap between men and women of color is now almost 9%, and spreading. We are quickly becoming a society where men of color are increasingly less educated.

To combat that, the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center will release two new reports on The Educational Experience of Young Men of Color that provide the most comprehensive data, research findings and recommendations to improve the educational experiences and pathways of young men of color. One possible solution they point to is greater coordination between K-12 institutions and University and community colleges. By combining mentoring, community based social programs and workforce training initiatives we can make a difference. A successful example is the work of the Harlem Children's Zone. He Combined with findings from in-depth student interviews and a video of student voices, producedre in Houston, TSU can take the lead in bringing people together.

MIDDLE CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE RECESSION

2011-06-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

The current economic downturn is the most serious recession our country has faced since the Great Depression. The impact has been felt across the country, but has hit urban America in a way that has never been seen before. Past recessions, have largely effected the private sector--with temporary job losses. This recession has not only seen a massive disruption in the private sector, but also historical cuts in public sector services. The impact on many middle class African Americans has been pronounced. Nearly 21 percent of the nation’s working black adults are in the public sector jobs, as compared to some 17 percent of Anglo workers and 15 percent of Latinos. Public agencies are the largest employer of African American men, and the second most common for African American women.

In light of these pronounced changes--it is time to develop new approaches to the issues of employment in urban America. We all intuitively understand that work-force training programs, budget priorities, education policy and demographic shifts in our society are all inter-related. It is critical to study these issues in a clear and organized way--that can provide direction and a way out of this mess. The effect of this research on urban communities can be tremendous, resulting in policy recommendations put forth by this organization that could significantly alter the debate here in Texas and nationally. While other entities in our community deal with urban policy in general, none address labor related issues directly. In this environment, the focus of an institution housed at TSU, could leverage existing resources and expertise that other institutions currently do not have.

American Red Cross Fundraiser

2011-04-25T10:24:00.001-07:00

The Budget Impact on Higher Education

2011-04-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

The adopted budget as passed by the Texas Senate impacts higher education slightly more favorably that the House version passed earlier. As previously mentioned the House version budgets $21.1 billion for higher education spending. It includes significant reductions to every institution of higher education and places a significant burden on grant dependent institutions such as TSU. The Senate plan restores $500 million in the Higher Education allocation, mostly through the continued operation of four community colleges that were slated to be closed. The Senate plan is still $1.2 billion less in 2012-13 from the $22.7 billion budgeted in 2010-11. At TSU, the $72 million allocation for each year of the 2012-2013 biennium is a significant reduction from the $84 million requested. It represents an $8 million reduction as compared to the 2011 budgeted allocation. It is only a restoration of $1 million to each year of the 2012-2013 biennium from the $71 million allocation as recommended in the house budget.

The above analysis was derived from the Legislative Budget Board estimates 2012-2013--Review of Texas Southern University Budget

**Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Texas State Budget Prospectus

2011-04-20T10:27:00.001-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

The Texas State Comptroller has projected a budgetary deficit of $27 billion for the next biennium (2012-2013 Biennial Revenue Estimate, Texas State Comptroller, January 2011). This budgetary shortfall, and the corresponding approach to close the deficit adopted by the Texas Legislature has created a situation that will result in a disruption of critical social services for many distressed populations in Texas, with a disproportionate burden falling on the most vulnerable communities in our state.
These recommendations will reduce spending levels in virtually all categories, including a 24.6 percent drop in health and human services and 13.1 percent in public education, which collectively form the bulk of state spending. (Summary of Legislative Budget Estimates, 2012-2013 Biennium, Texas Legislative Budget Board January 2011) The budget also called for a steep retrenchment in general government -- 23.8 percent -- and a 12.7 percent reduction in public safety and criminal justice operations, including the state prison system. Id. The net result would be the closure of many state supported nursing homes and millions of children no longer having access to health programs throughout the state.

In the area of higher education, the projected reduction in state appropriations would be approximately $1.7 billion in 2012-13, according to a plan drafted by the state's Legislative Budget Board. Id. The $21.1 billion budgeted for higher education represents a 7.6 percent drop from the $22.7 billion budgeted in 2010-11. Id. At institutions such as Texas Southern University, that have a critical role in educating many new to higher education, a cut of 15-20% is projected when restrictions on state aid are factored in.

In reviewing the impact of these budget cuts, it is important to consider the potential multiplier effect that can be caused with simultaneous cuts across several areas. In urban areas, public education, health and human services, higher education and criminal justice operations are inexorably linked. Reductions in any one of these areas create pressures on the other that in effect multiply the effect of the cuts. It is critical to assess the impact of those cuts and the corresponding social pathologies that are likely to develop.

The budgetary constraints may also force a review of the efficacy of the remaining programs and how they can be better adjusted to thrive in an environment with even more limited resources.

This analysis will require a commitment of time and resources, but is critical to our state. Projections indicate that if we are not able to produce more college graduates and improve educational and health objectives—Texas will quickly become a state in decline. To stem that effect, we are recommending the development of a technical research institute, commonly referred to as a “think tank” to address the inter-connectiveness of social programs and the impact budget cuts can have across society. The effect of this research on urban communities can be tremendous, resulting in policy recommendations put forth by this organization that could significantly alter the debate here in Texas. While other entities such as the Hobby Center at the University of Houston and the Kinder Institute at Rice University conduct valuable research and scholarship—the impact of a HBCU participating in this process would be significant, providing a minority perspective that is lacking. Currently, the Barbara Jordan Institute at Texas Southern University could provide the foundation for the type of research and scholarship in order to fill the diversity gap that exists in the policy discussion.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas

The City of Houston Preliminary Redistricting

2011-04-08T20:52:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams

The City of Houston released a preliminary redistricting plan that created two new districts, bringing the total number of seats on City Council to 16. The plan has already come under fire from several leaders in the Latino community for its failure to create an additional seat that is likely to elect an Hispanic candidate. The points made by the Latino leadership are hard to dismiss. Over the past decade, the African-American population has remained constant and increased slightly, Hispanic and Asian American populations have dramatically increased, while the Anglo population has decreased significantly. Suprisingly, one of the two new districts created are likely to elect an Anglo. The other district is multi-ethnic and provides a real opportunity to elect an African -American. It is important for the general public to understand that the plan presented at council is just a first step in the process. Alternative plans can be presented, and may change the makeup of the districts. Take a look at the new lines suggested and see what you think. http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/2011/

*Dr. Michael O. Adams is the Director of the eMPA/MPA Programs at Texas Southern University and has been contracted to work with the City of Houston on its redistricting

Bloom off the Texas Rose?

2011-03-31T09:55:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams*

For the past fifteen years, Texas has been the global model for conservative governance policy. Overall, per capita government spending is dead last of all states, with per capita spending in most social spending areas at or near the bottom. Often touted as a standard for others to follow, Texas has been a low tax low service state, but has been a leader in Job growth. But the policy path taken has not kept Texas from the national recession. Texas government now finds itself facing deficits worse than California, and Texas—both much higher tax states. Education and access to healthcare are miserably low, with no improvement in sight. How is this possible? The answer is that the approach to government has been so tied to a single policy-tax cuts--it has failed to account for the need to fund basic services. No one enjoys paying taxes, but the state of Texas has been writing a series of hot checks that are now coming due. Instead of dealing with the issue directly and looking to close tax loopholes and dip into rainy day savings- it is looking like Texas will cut even further. This is a grave mistake--and a policy disaster.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Voter ID Bill- Bad Public Policy

2011-03-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

By: Dr. Michael O. Adams

The Texas Legislature is currently debating a bill that would require voters to show photo identification before allowing an individual an opportunity to vote. The bill is controversial on many levels. At first blush it appears to be a reasonable requirement to require photo identification to prevent voter fraud. But like many things, the evidence seems to indicate other motivations. Currently, citizens are already required to "register" to vote--a requirement that has as its origin the poll tax, and literacy tests, used to prevent African-Americans from exercising their right to vote. The requirement of photo identification purports to prevent voter fraud. The only problem is, none exists. In the past decade of voting in Texas there has been a paucity of cases in which voting fraud took place. Not a single election was overturned as a result of voting fraud. In reality--the bill is politics at its worst. At a time of record budget shortfalls, with the legislature contemplating significant cuts to education and social services, distracting non-issues such as voter id are counterproductive. Our legislative leadership would be better served by tackling the difficult issues ahead, rather than inventing non-issues.

Houston City Council Accepts Census

2011-03-11T09:20:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Michael O. Adams*

This past Wednesday, Houston City Council voted to accept Census information that placed the population of the City of Houston at just over 2.1 million residents. The decision by council, coupled with a provision in the City Charter guaranteed the creation of two new district council seats. The expanded council will now include 11 single member districts as well as 5 at large members. The challenge facing the council and community is where to place those two new districts. A lawsuit had already been threatened alleging partisan motivation when the population was believed to be just under 2.1 million. Now with the council solidly behind expansion, the only question remaining is where will the two districts be? Population growth has largely been in the minority communities of Houston. That in itself is not a guarantee that the two new districts will elect a minority. What we do know is that e process itself will be open and allow input. It's up to us to let our voices be heard.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Texas Legislative Black Caucus--Redistricting Panel

2011-03-10T07:55:00.000-08:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams and Dr. Karen Callaghan were back in Austin on February 28, 2011 this time presenting to the Texas Legislative Black Caucus (TLBC) at the annual TLBC Conference. leading a panel presentation on redistricting in the state of Texas. Taking a comprehensive approach, Adams and Callaghan explored the impact of redistricting on minority populations especially as it pertained to changes in the ethnic and racial populations of Texas. Adams and Callaghan look closely at voting patters and population change and provide analysis and recommendations that consider geographical boundaries and the maintenance of "communities of interest" beyond the traditional idea that often hovers around race among other influencing factors. (Please see Redistricting--TLBC for powerpoint presentation notes)

*Dr. Adams and Dr. Callaghan are professors at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs. In December, they released survey from the State of Black Houston Survey and the Voter Registration Survey. They also recently facilitated a workshop to the Texas Association of Black City Council Members on the impact of redistricting on African-Americans (Please visit www.tsumpa.blogspot.com December archive to view survey results).

History of Redistricting in the city of Houston

2011-03-03T13:40:00.000-08:00

By: Dr. Michael O Adams*
The current configuration of Houston City Council is established by an agreement signed between the City of Houston and the US Justice Department. That 1979 agreement, moved Houston from a city council made up entirely of at large seats, to the current 9 district 5 at large system. That agreement, embedded in the City of Houston Charter also established a requirement the council expand to 11 districts once the population reached a threshold of 2.1 million. The most recent census numbers place the population of the city at 2.099 million. A mere 548 people away from the threshold amount. Unless the Census Department corrects the number as a result of a reporting error and recertifies the number as 2.1 million--no legal requirement exists to expand the number of City seats. It has already resulted in many Council members calling for staying at 9 members. Irrespective of the decision the Mayor and council make in terms of adding seats, the likelihood is litigation will result. Stay tuned as we find out what direction our city will take.

*Dr. Michael O. Adams is the Director of the eMPA/MPA Programs at Texas Southern University and has been contracted to work with the City of Houston on its redistricting efforts.

Redistricting

2011-03-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

*Dr. Michael O. Adams

People are always surprised to learn that the legislative and congressional redistricting process is organized and conducted in the very political arena of the Texas legislature. That is correct—the Texas Legislature redraws their “own” lines as well as U.S. Congressional lines for Texas.
With the release of the newest census information we see a continuing shift of population away from rural communities towards urban and suburban centers. The data also indicates that communities across the state are becoming more ethnically and racially diverse making redistricting even more complicated. Based upon current population numbers, Harris County should retain 25 members to the Texas legislature but may add 2 new congressional seats. Congressional districts must be precise in terms of an equal distribution of population. Legislative districts may be smaller or larger by up to 10% of an ideal size. The process now begins and earnest and we need to stay focused on what may happen.
*Dr. Michael O. Adams is the Director of the eMPA/MPA Programs at Texas Southern University and has been contracted to work with the City of Houston on its redistricting efforts.

Redistricting Workshop for the TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF BLACK CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS

2011-02-22T10:25:00.000-08:00

Dr. Michael O. Adams and Dr. Karen Callaghan* conducted a workshop on redistricting to the TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF BLACK CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS (TABCCM) in Austin,TX on February 11, 2011. During the workshop, Dr. Adams and Dr. Callaghan discussed numerous topics including the impact of Section 2 and Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act pertaining to redistricting; processes and procedures and the important role of public officials in the redistricting process. On February 18, 2011 the U.S census will release information that will impact the redistricting process tremendously. Dr. Adams has been contracted by the city of Houston to assist in the city’s redistricting efforts emerging from the 2010 Census.

*Dr. Adams and Dr. Callaghan are professors at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs. In December, they released survey from the State of Black Houston Survey and the Voter Registration Survey. (Please visit www.tsumpa.blogspot.com December archive to view survey results).

To view the powerpoint slides from the redistricting workshop please visit:

Redistricting Workshop TABCCM

Town Hall Meetings Schedule: Redistricting Houston

2011-02-16T14:43:00.000-08:00

On February 18, 2011—the U.S. census bureau will release its final population numbers for Texas. With that, the onslaught and rush to redistricting will be in full swing in Texas. Every ten years, most governmental entities in the United States are required to review and potentially change boundary lines to preserve the cherished right of equal representation.

For us in Texas—it has extra significance, because like other southern states—many of us were denied the right to entry into to the political process. To ensure that our votes matter and are counted—district boundaries for the state house to the schoolhouse will be reviewed and potentially redrawn. The City of Houston will have to add two additional district council seats because the population of our city is now in excess of 2.1 million people. That presents a unique opportunity for political access that may not have existed before. The Jordan/Leland School is proud to be part of this process to analyze data and help policy makers develop lines that are consistent with the Voting Rights Act—ensuring that equal representation exists. Over the next few weeks a series of town halls will be occurring where Houstonians can voice there concerns about the process. I would encourage you to attend as many as you can.

Town Hall Meetings Schedule Each meeting is scheduled for 6:30 – 8:00 pm. Any interested party may attend any meeting.

Date Location District Convenient To METRO Routes

March 3, Thursday Museum Fine Arts-Houston, 1001 Bissonnet St. -- Law Building, Brown Auditorium District D 1 Hospital, 8 South Main, 34 Montrose, 65 Bissonnet, 292 W. Bellfort/Westwood, 700 METRORail

March 7, Monday Woodbridge Church, 5707 Kingwood Drive District E

March 8, Tuesday University of Houston-Clear Lake, 2700 Bay Area Blvd. -- Bayou Bldg, Garden Room District E

March 10, Thursday Pershing Middle School, 3838 Bluebonnet Blvd. -- Auditorium District C 2 Bellaire, 68 Brays Bayou, 402 Bellaire Quickline

March 21, Monday Briargrove Elementary, 6145 San Felipe -- Auditorium District G 6 Tanglewood, 32 Renwick, 35 Fairview

March 22, Tuesday Oak Forest Elementary, 1401 West 43rd St. -- Auditorium District A 40 Pecore (Ella branch), 50 Heights

March 23, Wednesday Houston Community College-Southeast campus, 6815 Rustic -- Learning Hub District I 36 Lawndale

March 28, Monday Jeff Davis High School, 1101 Quitman St. -- Auditorium District H 1 Hospital, 9 N. Main, 24 Northline, 15 Fulton, 37 El Sol, 52 Hirsch, 60 Hardy, 78 Irvington

March 29, Tuesday Acres Home Multi Service Center, 6719 West Montgomery Rd. -- Auditorium District B 44 Acres Homes, 64 Lincoln City

March 31, Thursday Sharpstown Park Community Center, 6600 Harbor Town Dr. -- Auditorium District F 2 Bellaire, 9 Gulfton, 25 Richmond (Sharpstown branch), 46 Gessner, 81 Westheimer-Sharpstown, 402 Bellaire Quickline

Dr. Michael O. Adams is a professor of political science and public administration. He has been contracted by the City of Houston to assist in the redistricting process.

PRESS RELEASE-AFRICAM-AMERICAN OPINION

2010-12-20T05:25:00.000-08:00

Please see the two press releases in the following links. They report the results of two surveys of African –American opinion by Texas Southern University professors.

Press Release Voter Registration
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45685971

Press Release the State of Black Houston
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45685813

Sincerely ,

Dr. Michael O Adams* (media contact person)
Contact: (713) 418-0897adams_mo@tsu.edu

Dr. Karen Callaghan

Cell :(713) 328-9584. callaghank@tsu.edu

Carroll Robinson, Esq

Letter to Faculty-Saving Ideas

2010-12-01T12:29:00.000-08:00

TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

November 30, 201

Dear Faculty Colleagues:

The speculation is that the state will require institutions of higher education to cut our budgets an additional 10-25% when the Legislature convenes next year. i

If TSU is going to survive the coming state budget cuts, the only way to do so is to increase our tuition revenue and the best and most effective and efficient way to do so, without increasing the rate, is to increase our online graduate degree programs and course offerings.

All of our Masters Degree Programs should have an online Executive version and at least
fifty percent of our senior undergraduate courses should be offered online.
TSU must secure state and federal grants and enter into private sector partnerships to make the buildings on campus more energy efficient to reduce our electric bill. We should franchise the right to put electric vehicle charging stations on campus for a percentage of the revenue generated from the sale of electricity. ii

We should eliminate all the computer labs on campus except for the availability of printers and paper to further reduce our electric bills. Moreover, acquiring sponsorships through corporate entities would be beneficial for the printing labs. The Lexis Nexis and WestLaw printing labs at Thurgood Marshall School of Law are evidence of this. Instead of labs, we should use the student technology fee to provide all of our students with a Netbook or another such device and use downloadable books (purchased in bulk for a discount on the wholesale price).
Additionally, future campus construction projects should have a LEED Designation (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) to ensure economic and environmental efficiency in the reduction of operating costs.
We must broaden our vision of higher education and become leaders of the innovation movement in our profession. iii

There is an old story about an ant and a grasshopper.vi   In good times, the grasshopper played around while the ant prepared for tough times. We must be the ants who make the necessary preparations for the budgetary tough times to come.
Sincerely,

Carroll G. Robinson, Esq.       Dr. Michael O. Adams
Associate Professor                Professor
                                                   Director, MPA/eMPA Programs



Jeannie Kever, UH may adopt a business approach, Houston Chronicle, November 18, 2010, pg. B1. i

Tom Fowler, City To Lead The Electric Car Charge, Houston Chronicle, November 18, 2010, pg. A1. ii

See, e.g., Mark C. Taylor, Crisis on Campus; Paul Johnson, Are Universities Worth It?, Forbes, September 13, 2010, iii

pg. 15; and Naomi Schaefer Riley, Reading, Writing, Radical Change, The Wall Street Journal, August 31, 2010,
pg. A15.iiii

The Ant and the Grasshopper, Aesop’s Fables. iv

Proficiency of Black Students Is Found to Be Far Lower Than Expected

2010-11-10T10:10:00.000-08:00

By: Trip Gabriel
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/education/09gap.html?_r=1&ref=trip_gabriel
(This article was retrieved from the New York Times on November 10, 2010)

An achievement gap separating black from white students has long been documented — a social divide extremely vexing to policy makers and the target of one blast of school reform after another.
But a new report focusing on black males suggests that the picture is even bleaker than generally known.
Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys.

Poverty alone does not seem to explain the differences: poor white boys do just as well as African-American boys who do not live in poverty, measured by whether they qualify for subsidized school lunches.
The data was distilled from highly respected national math and reading tests, known as the National Assessment for Educational Progress, which are given to students in fourth and eighth grades, most recently in 2009. The report, “A Call for Change,” is to be released Tuesday by the Council of the Great City Schools, an advocacy group for urban public schools.

Although the outlines of the problem and many specifics have been previously reported, the group hopes that including so much of what it calls “jaw-dropping data” in one place will spark a new sense of national urgency.

“What this clearly shows is that black males who are not eligible for free and reduced-price lunch are doing no better than white males who are poor,” said Michael Casserly, executive director of the council.
The report shows that black boys on average fall behind from their earliest years. Black mothers have a higher infant mortality rate and black children are twice as likely as whites to live in a home where no parent has a job. In high school, African-American boys drop out at nearly twice the rate of white boys, and their SAT scores are on average 104 points lower. In college, black men represented just 5 percent of students in 2008.
The analysis of results on the national tests found that math scores in 2009 for black boys were not much different than those for black girls in Grades 4 and 8, but black boys lagged behind Hispanics of both sexes, and they fell behind white boys by at least 30 points, a gap sometimes interpreted as three academic grades.
The search for explanations has recently looked at causes besides poverty, and this report may further spur those efforts.
“There’s accumulating evidence that there are racial differences in what kids experience before the first day of kindergarten,” said Ronald Ferguson, director of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard. “They have to do with a lot of sociological and historical forces. In order to address those, we have to be able to have conversations that people are unwilling to have.”
Those include “conversations about early childhood parenting practices,” Dr. Ferguson said. “The activities that parents conduct with their 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds. How much we talk to them, the ways we talk to them, the ways we enforce discipline, the ways we encourage them to think and develop a sense of autonomy.”
The report urges convening a White House conference, encouraging Congress to appropriate more money for schools and establishing networks of black mentors.

What it does not discuss are policy responses identified with a robust school reform movement that emphasizes closing failing schools, offering charter schools as alternatives and raising the quality of teachers.
The report did not go down this road because “there’s not a lot of research to indicate that many of those strategies produce better results,” Mr. Casserly said.
Other have a different response. The key to narrowing the achievement gap, said Dr. Ferguson, is “really good teaching.”

One large urban school district that has made progress is Baltimore’s, where the dropout rate for African-American boys declined to 4.9 percent during the last academic year, down from 11.9 percent three years earlier. Graduation rates for black boys were also up: 57 percent in 2009-10, compared with 51 percent three years earlier.

Andres A. Alonso, the chief executive of the Baltimore City Public Schools, said the improvement had little to do with changes at the margins, like lengthening the school day or adding mentors. Rather, Mr. Alonso cited aggressively closing failing schools, knocking on the doors of dropouts’ homes to lure them back and creating real-time alerts — “almost like an electrical charge” — when a student misses several days of school.
“Hispanic kids and African-American kids this year had a lower dropout rate than white kids,” Mr. Alonso said.

Going Long Liberty in China

2010-10-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

BY: Thomas L. Friedman

There has been a lot of buzz lately about investors “shorting” China’s overheated real estate market, basically betting that it will go down. I say that’s peanuts. There is a much more interesting shorting opportunity in China today. It is truly “The Big Short,” and that is betting that China can’t continue to grow at this pace indefinitely by only permitting its people to have economic liberty without political liberty. I’m sure Goldman Sachs would write you a credit default swap on that, and the Chinese Communist Party would take the other side. Are you game? It seems that the Nobel Prize Committee is. I’d be, too.

Josh Haner/The New York Times

Thomas L. Friedman

Go to Columnist Page »

Times Topic: Liu Xiaobo

The Norwegian committee just awarded its 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Chinese pro-democracy activist. The message to Beijing, I’d argue, was simple: Liberty is a value in and of itself, because without it human beings can never develop their full potential. And, therefore, liberty is also an essential ingredient for any society that wants to thrive in the 21st century. Otherwise, it can’t develop its full potential. China has thrived since Deng Xiaoping by offering its people economic freedom without political freedom. And surely one of the most intriguing political science questions in the world today is: Can China continue to prosper, while censoring the Internet, controlling its news media and insisting on a monopoly of political power by the Chinese Communist Party?

I don’t think so. To be sure, China has thrived up to now — impressively — by permitting its people only economic liberty. This may have been the sole way to quickly take a vast country of 1.3 billion people from massive poverty to much-improved standards of living, basic education for all, modernized infrastructure and even riches for some urbanites.

But the Nobel committee did China a favor in sending the tacit message with its peace prize: Don’t get too cocky and think that you have rewritten the laws of gravity. The “Beijing Consensus,” of economic liberty without political liberty, may have been a great strategy for takeoff, but it won’t get you to the next level. So this might actually be a good time for Beijing to engage peaceful democracy advocates like Liu, who is now serving an 11-year sentence, or the 23 retired Chinese Communist Party officials who last week published an open letter challenging the government to improve speech and press freedoms. (Bloomberg News said that an Internet link to the Chinese-language version of the letter could not be opened in China. Screens showed “network error.”)

My reason for believing China will have to open up sooner than its leadership thinks has to do with its basic challenge: It has to get rich before it gets old.

Because of its one-child population-control policy China, over the next few decades, will go from a country where two sets of grandparents and one set of parents are all saving for the computer for one kid, to a country where one kid will be supporting the retirement of two parents and maybe one grandparent — with little government help. Moreover, because of the practice in some families of aborting female fetuses, there could be 20 million to 40 million more men than women in China in the next few decades, and that will force some men to go abroad to find brides.

The only stable way to handle that is to raise incomes by moving more Chinese from low-wage manufacturing jobs to more knowledge- and services-based jobs, as Hong Kong did. But, and here’s the rub, today’s knowledge industries are all being built on social networks that enable open collaboration, the free sharing of ideas and the formation of productive relationships — both within companies and around the globe. The logic is that all of us are smarter than one of us, and the unique feature of today’s flat world is that you can actually tap the brains and skills of all of us, or at least more people in more places. Companies and countries that enable that will thrive more than those that don’t.

Curtis Carlson, the C.E.O. of SRI International, the innovation hub in Silicon Valley, has a tongue-in-cheek way of putting it: “In a world where so many people now have access to education and cheap tools of innovation, innovation that happens from the bottom up tends to be chaotic but smart. Innovation that happens from the top down tends to be orderly but dumb.” As a result, says Carlson, “On balance, the sweet spot for innovation today is moving down, not up.”

As such, government’s job today is to inspire, liberate, empower and enable all that stuff coming up from below, while learning to live with and manage the chaos. But what would happen if China had 600 million villagers on Twitter? In a country that already has thousands of protests every week over land seizures and corruption, its system probably could not handle that much unrestricted bottom-up energy. It is a real problem for Beijing. China can’t afford chaos, and China can’t afford not to gradually unleash more bottom-up and less top-down energies. I don’t know how China’s leaders are going to balance these imperatives.

Maybe they should ask Liu Xiaobo.

This Op-Ed was retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/opinion/17friedman.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss on November 18, 2010. All rights are reserved to the author and the New York Times.

The Financial Time Bomb of Longer Lives

2010-10-17T14:53:00.001-07:00

Graphic by: Christophe Vorlet

Article by: NATASHA SINGER

FIRST the good news: We’re living longer, healthier lives than ever before.
We’re already so used to the idea of greater longevity, in fact, that it may seem ho-hum to learn that boys and girls born in 2008 in the United States have life expectancies of 75 and 81, respectively.

Those life spans, however, represent a bonus of about three decades, compared with Americans born in 1900, according to a report last year from the Census Bureau. And, by the way, Spain, Greece and Austria fared even better, proportionally: Life expectancies in those countries doubled over the course of the 20th century.
Now for the bad news: At this rate, we can’t afford to live so long.
And by “we,” I don’t just mean you, me and our often insufficient long-term-care insurance policies. I mean “we the people.” I mean the bureaucratic “we.”
For the first time in human history, people aged 65 and over are about to outnumber children under 5. In many countries, older people entitled to government-funded pensions, health services and long-term care will soon outnumber the work force whose taxes help finance those benefits. This demographic shift also means that the number of people living with dementia, whose treatment is estimated to cost $604 billion worldwide this year, is expected to more than triple, to 115 million, by 2050, according to a report this year by Alzheimer’s Disease International, a group representing 73 Alzheimer’s associations around the world.
No other force is as likely to shape the future of national economic health, public finances and national policies, according to a new analysis on global aging from Standard & Poor’s, as the “irreversible rate at which the population is growing older.”
How are the most developed countries handling preparations for the boom in the elderly population — and for the budget-busting expenditures that are sure to follow?
For a majority, not very well.
Unless governments enact sweeping changes to age-related public spending, sovereign debt could become unsustainable, rivaling levels seen during cataclysms like the Great Depression and World War II, according to the S.& P. report.
If the status quo continues, the report projects, the median government debt in the most advanced economies could soar to 329 percent of gross domestic product by 2050. By contrast, Britain’s debt represented only 252 percent of G.D.P. in 1946, in the aftermath of World War II, the report said.
So what is to be done?
For starters, governments should extend the retirement age, says Marko Mrsnik, the associate director of sovereign ratings in Europe for S.& P. and the lead author of the report. Another no-brainer, he says, is that governments should balance their budgets.
Alas, private citizens often don’t see the logic in curbing public benefits in order to maintain national solvency. Witness France last week, where more than one million people took to the streets to protest pension reform that would raise the minimum legal retirement age to 62 from 60.
Moreover, global aging experts say, measures like pension reform are inadequate, piecemeal responses to the giant demographic shift that is upon us.
If the cost of maintaining aging populations could lead to World War II-era levels of government debt, a solution to the crisis will require a mass-scale collaborative response akin to the Manhattan Project or the space race, says Michael W. Hodin, who is an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and researches aging issues.
Governments, industry and international agencies, he says, will have to work together to transform the very structure of society, by creating jobs and education programs for people in their 60s and 70s — the hypothetical new middle age — and by tackling diseases like Alzheimer’s whose likelihood increases as people age.
“What we need is a very fundamental and profound transformation that is proportionate to the social shifts that are upon us and that is truly innovative in the public arena, innovation that is driven by industry,” says Mr. Hodin.
Here’s one simple suggestion: Influential international organizations, government agencies, companies and academic institutions should take up aging as a cause, the way they have already done for the environment. Although the United Nations, for example, set eight “millennium development goals” — ensuring environmental sustainability, promoting gender equality, and so on — for 2015, the list did not include ensuring the sustainability and equality of aging populations.
“This is quite unacceptable that aging hasn’t been included in these goals,” says Baroness Greengross, a member of the House of Lords in Britain and chief executive of the International Longevity Centre U.K in London.
Here’s another suggestion: Governments with national health programs or other state coverage could start curbing the growth in medical spending ahead of the looming elderquake.
If countries wait to act, says Peter S. Heller, a senior adjunct professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University, they will have to scramble reactively to cut their budgets in response to burgeoning older populations, the way Greece, Ireland and Spain have done recently. At the same time, he says, politicians must also start educating citizens to understand that greater longevity may entail personal sacrifices, like increased savings and a willingness to pay higher shares of their medical and long-term care costs.
But the carrot may be a better approach than the stick, says Laura L. Carstensen, a professor of psychology at Stanford and the director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. She describes her outfit as a multidisciplinary research center whose “modest aim is to change the course of human aging.”
Rather than uniformly extending the retirement age, she says, governments and the private sector could develop incentives that motivate older people to remain in the work force. Those incentives might include bonuses for people who work until they are 70, exempting employers from paying Social Security taxes for employees over retirement age, more flexible work schedules, telecommuting options, and sabbaticals for education and training.
“Maybe culture needs to change first,” says Professor Carstensen, “and policy will follow.”
FINALLY, some governments and companies may need attitude adjustments so they can view aging populations not as debt loads but as valuable wells of expertise.
“I rather dispute your calling it a problem,” said Lady Greengross when I called to ask her how governments could better handle global aging. “It’s a celebration.”
As one example of how to embrace aging populations, she cites an equality act, recently passed by British legislators, that prohibits discrimination against older people (among others) seeking goods and services like car rentals or mortgages. Separately, she says, Britain next year will eliminate its default retirement age of 65, allowing people to remain in the work force longer.
“In the long run, I’d like to see age irrelevance,” Lady Greengross says, “where people aren’t just labeled by their birthdays.”

This article was retrieved from the New York Times on October 17, 2010 from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/business/17stream.html . All rights to this article are reserved to the author and the New York Times.

Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore

2010-10-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

By ROBERT H. FRANK

Published: October 16, 2010

David G. Klein

During the three decades after World War II, for example, incomes in the United States rose rapidly and at about the same rate — almost 3 percent a year — for people at all income levels. America had an economically vibrant middle class. Roads and bridges were well maintained, and impressive new infrastructure was being built. People were optimistic.
By contrast, during the last three decades the economy has grown much more slowly, and our infrastructure has fallen into grave disrepair. Most troubling, all significant income growth has been concentrated at the top of the scale. The share of total income going to the top 1 percent of earners, which stood at 8.9 percent in 1976, rose to 23.5 percent by 2007, but during the same period, the average inflation-adjusted hourly wage declined by more than 7 percent.
Yet many economists are reluctant to confront rising income inequality directly, saying that whether this trend is good or bad requires a value judgment that is best left to philosophers. But that disclaimer rings hollow. Economics, after all, was founded by moral philosophers, and links between the disciplines remain strong. So economists are well positioned to address this question, and the answer is very clear.
Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, was a professor of moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow. His first book, “A Theory of Moral Sentiments,” was published more than 25 years before his celebrated “Wealth of Nations,” which was itself peppered with trenchant moral analysis.
Some moral philosophers address inequality by invoking principles of justice and fairness. But because they have been unable to forge broad agreement about what these abstract principles mean in practice, they’ve made little progress. The more pragmatic cost-benefit approach favored by Smith has proved more fruitful, for it turns out that rising inequality has created enormous losses and few gains, even for its ostensible beneficiaries.
Recent research on psychological well-being has taught us that beyond a certain point, across-the-board spending increases often do little more than raise the bar for what is considered enough. A C.E.O. may think he needs a 30,000-square-foot mansion, for example, just because each of his peers has one. Although they might all be just as happy in more modest dwellings, few would be willing to downsize on their own.
People do not exist in a social vacuum. Community norms define clear expectations about what people should spend on interview suits and birthday parties. Rising inequality has thus spawned a multitude of “expenditure cascades,” whose first step is increased spending by top earners.
The rich have been spending more simply because they have so much extra money. Their spending shifts the frame of reference that shapes the demands of those just below them, who travel in overlapping social circles. So this second group, too, spends more, which shifts the frame of reference for the group just below it, and so on, all the way down the income ladder. These cascades have made it substantially more expensive for middle-class families to achieve basic financial goals.
In a recent working paper based on census data for the 100 most populous counties in the United States, Adam Seth Levine (a postdoctoral researcher in political science at Vanderbilt University), Oege Dijk (an economics Ph.D. student at the European University Institute) and I found that the counties where income inequality grew fastest also showed the biggest increases in symptoms of financial distress.
For example, even after controlling for other factors, these counties had the largest increases in bankruptcy filings.
Divorce rates are another reliable indicator of financial distress, as marriage counselors report that a high proportion of couples they see are experiencing significant financial problems. The counties with the biggest increases in inequality also reported the largest increases in divorce rates.
Another footprint of financial distress is long commute times, because families who are short on cash often try to make ends meet by moving to where housing is cheaper — in many cases, farther from work. The counties where long commute times had grown the most were again those with the largest increases in inequality.
The middle-class squeeze has also reduced voters’ willingness to support even basic public services. Rich and poor alike endure crumbling roads, weak bridges, an unreliable rail system, and cargo containers that enter our ports without scrutiny. And many Americans live in the shadow of poorly maintained dams that could collapse at any moment.
ECONOMISTS who say we should relegate questions about inequality to philosophers often advocate policies, like tax cuts for the wealthy, that increase inequality substantially. That greater inequality causes real harm is beyond doubt.
But are there offsetting benefits?
There is no persuasive evidence that greater inequality bolsters economic growth or enhances anyone’s well-being. Yes, the rich can now buy bigger mansions and host more expensive parties. But this appears to have made them no happier. And in our winner-take-all economy, one effect of the growing inequality has been to lure our most talented graduates to the largely unproductive chase for financial bonanzas on Wall Street.
In short, the economist’s cost-benefit approach — itself long an important arrow in the moral philosopher’s quiver — has much to say about the effects of rising inequality. We need not reach agreement on all philosophical principles of fairness to recognize that it has imposed considerable harm across the income scale without generating significant offsetting benefits.
No one dares to argue that rising inequality is required in the name of fairness. So maybe we should just agree that it’s a bad thing — and try to do something about it.

Robert H. Frank is an economics professor at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.

This article was retrieved on October 16, 2010 from the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/business/17view.html?src=busln. All rights are reserved to the author and the New York Times.

The Thurgood Marshall School of Law Government Law Society Presents: Former 2008 Presidential Candidate Congressman Ron Paul

2010-10-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

View Official event flyer: Ron Paul at Texas Southern University

The Future of Our University

2010-10-06T19:38:00.000-07:00

Please follow the link below to view The Future of Our University: A compilation of past published works and recommendations on the future of Texas Southern University:The Future of Our University

Link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/38863163/The-Future-of-Our-University-1

We Need To Broaden The Discussion of Public School Reform

2010-09-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

Carroll G. Robinson, Esq.*

and

Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D

Education reform in the past few years has become so focused on tying teacher performance and retention to students’ test scores that we have lost focus on helping teachers [1] and principals become better at their job.

Scientific study of how the human brain works is providing us with a wealth of data on how best to teach and help our children learn, but we are not maximizing use of this information to reform our public school curriculum. [2] Even after No Child Left Behind, and all the testing we have been doing over the past decade, we still have an academic achievement gap; too many of our students are still dropping out of school, especially minority students; and too few of our high school graduates are prepared to do college level work.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to focus more on teacher training than on terminating teachers and on using science to help reform our public school curriculum rather than the current stockpile of test data that has not improved student performance, retention or high school and college graduation rates.

We need a broader and deeper discussion on public school reform than the one that is now dominating the national spotlight.

1. Elizabeth Green, Building A Better Teacher, The New York Times, March 2, 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html

2. Susan Engel, Playing to Learn, The New York Times, February 2, 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/opinion/02engel.html

* Carroll G. Robinson, Esq. and Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. are professors at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. Professor Robinson co-authored an Amicus Brief that was filed in the 2005 Texas Supreme Court public school funding case Neely v. West Orange-Cove. Simone Parker, a Graduate Student in the School’s MPA Program, assisted with the preparation of this op-ed.

The Counterintuitive Value of Lower Home Values

2010-09-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

Carroll G. Robinson, Esq.*

and

Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D.

Unless you are trying to sell your house or extract your equity through a reverse mortgage, lower home values are a good thing.
Lower home values means that homeowners pay less of their income in property taxes and homeowners insurance. This effectively means homeowners have more money to help pay their monthly mortgage, especially if it is a fixed interest rate mortgage.
A house is not underwater for someone who brought it to make it their home. For investors who invested in residential real estate to flip property to make a quick profit, these are tough times but they knew they were gambling with risk when they started their venture.
If nothing else, we have now all been reminded that borrowing against your home and beyond our means is a risk that is not worth taking.
If bankers and the federal government really want to help homeowners keep their home, all they need to do is lower their monthly payment requirements for homeowners to a manageable level and defer the difference until our economy recovers and homeowners are back to work and back up on their feet.

* Carroll G. Robinson, Esq. and Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. are professors at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

What is a Tax Cut?

2010-09-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

Carroll Robinson, Esq.*
&
Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D.

A tax cut is not the government sending hardworking Americans a check; it is Americans keeping more of what they earned. A tax cut is Americans sending a smaller portion of their income to the government. Even an income tax refund is not the government sending people a check; it’s the government repaying the interest free loan a taxpayer made to it.
When elected officials say that lower tax rates have to be paid for, that implies that taxes are the government’s money and the government is letting hardworking Americans receive some of the government’s money. That’s just not the case.

Government spending has to be paid for. Letting hardworking Americans keep more of their money is not a government expense. This also applies to so-called “tax expenditures.” When did letting the American people keep more of their hard-earned income become an expense/expenditure for the government?

Tax cuts are an expense only if the government wants to spend more money than it has. The government does not have to spend more money than it is taking in in taxes. Like families, the government can reorder its spending priorities and reduce its expenses to live within its means—the taxes it’s taking in.

If we are going to rebuild our economy and create more jobs to put Americans back to work, we have to agree on an answer to one of the following questions: (1) How much in taxes should the government be allowed to collect annually over the next fifty year; or (2) How much money do we need the government to spend annually over the next fifty years.

There is a significant difference between the answer for each of the two questions.
Taxes aren’t the government’s money; they are the American people’s commitment to balancing their self-interest with supporting the common good. Supporting the common good should not bankrupt the American people, smother their entrepreneurial spirit or drive jobs from our shores. If it does, there will not be enough money for people to take care of themselves, their families or to help support the common good.

###
*Robinson and Adams are professors at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

The Story of STICKMAN

2010-09-20T06:39:00.000-07:00

AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES & CHILDREN IN HOUSTON

2010-09-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 9, 2010
8:00am to 12:00pm

Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs
Texas Southern University
BJ-ML Building-ROOM 114
3100 Cleburne Street (@ Tierwester)
Houston, Texas 77004

To see event sponsors please click the link below for the official event flyer:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36866758/The-State-of-African-American-Children-in-Houston-Education-Healthcare-Hunger-Povrty

Same Sex Marriage Will Be Ruled Constitutional

2010-08-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

Carroll G. Robinson, Esq.*
and
Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D.

The United States Supreme Court will ultimately rule that same sex marriage is constitutional because states have no rational basis for making them illegal. Though the states have historically defined marriage as a legally binding commitment between one man and one woman, same sex marriage does not prevent heterosexual couples from continuing to marry and procreate. It will have no impact on whether heterosexual couples will stay married or get divorce.
Recognizing the legality of same sex marriage does not mean that churches, synagogues or mosques will be forced to conduct or recognize same sex marriages. Though the Bible may consider homosexuality a sin, the Supreme Court has interpreted the U.S. Constitution as providing a level of separation of church and state. American jurisprudence is built on the rule of law—equal justice under the law, a pursuit that continues to this day.
Under the U.S. Constitution all Americans are entitled to equal protection under the law and “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.…” Even though a majority of states have amended their constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, federalism arguments against same sex marriage based on the Ninth and Tenth Amendments will not prevail.
Under Article VI –the Supremacy Clause—of the U.S. Constitution, not even a state constitutional amendment can trump federal constitutional protections. States cannot use the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to limit the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment or those within the penumbra of the Bills of Rights. States’ rights cannot be used to nullify federal constitutional protections. The federal government cannot commandeer the states, but neither can the states commandeer the U.S. Constitution.
Arguments that the Federal Defense of Marriage Act forces states to discriminate against their own citizens by treating same sex couples differently than heterosexual couples in the distribution of government benefits awarded based on marital status will likely prevail. A congressional statute cannot supersede constitutional protections.
Finally, the Supreme Court has acknowledged that the Bill of Rights of the Constitution protects Freedom of Association.
What greater expression of freely associating is there than marriage?
We have not cited a litany of specific Supreme Court cases in this piece that we believe the Justices are likely to rely on (though there are many that run from Loving to NAACP v. Alabama to Lawrence v. Texas) because we are offering a macro overview of what we believe will be the Supreme Court’s line of reasoning and logic in ruling that same sex marriage is constitutional.
This issue and the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the new Healthcare law will be among the major issues decided by the Supreme Court in the coming years.
* Carroll G. Robinson, Esq. and Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. are professors at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Our University

2010-08-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

Dear Faculty Colleagues:

Like you we too love TSU and are committed to its mission of graduating people who will make a positive difference in their community and the faculty creating intellectual capital and practical solutions through scientific research, artistic expressions, broad based scholarship, and civic engagement in Houston, throughout Texas, nationally, and globally. We know that to do these things the faculty needs the administrative support and resources necessary to succeed, including funds to travel to academic conferences nationally and internationally.
As faculty members, we must not only advocate for shared governance we must also be responsible, active, informed and thoughtful participants in the governance of Our University.
In the coming weeks and months ahead, we must help make sure that TSU’s funding from the legislature is protected, and if possible increased.
We all agree that the Faculty needs a salary increase and that we need to reduce the university’s reliance on adjunct faculty members.
We have to use our contacts and network to serve as partners in securing funds for Endowed Chairs and Faculty Research Relief Fellowships. As partners we can work with donors and the administration to ensure that funds are specifically dedicated to faculty salaries, faculty development, and faculty research grants and travel.
As role models we should encourage our students—undergraduates, graduate and professional—to support a Professional Dress Day every Thursday as is now being done in the Business School and a once a month TSU Paraphernalia Friday.
Full time tenure track faculty members should receive free parking and faculty members with the most seniority should receive free reserved parking in the lot closest to their office.
During this year’s Opening Faculty Meeting, Provost Ohia advised us that he will be giving credit for mentoring students as apart of his evaluation of our service to our Department, School/College and The University. We now have the vehicle for formularizing all the mentoring of students we each have been doing for years. Sign up for President Rudley’s T.I.G.E.R. Project mentoring program by emailing Eva Pickens in the Office of Communications so that you can formally document the mentoring you are doing.
If we are going to make TSU one of our nation’s greatest urban universities, we who are closest to the students must not only be their teachers and role models, we must also be the conscience of Our University and the leaders of continuously regenerating our legacy of “Excellence in Achievement.”

Sincerely,

Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. Carroll G. Robinson, Esq.

PEOPLE WHO WANT TO PAY MORE IN TAXES CAN DO SO

2010-08-24T13:14:00.001-07:00

Carroll G. Robinson
&
Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D*

If Washington wants to provide real middle class tax relief, they need to do more than just extend the current tax rates. Congress also needs to eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) or at least index it to the rate of growth in inflation on a retroactive basis.

Raising the tax rate on the top 2% of the richest Americans without eliminating tax shelters, dodges and loopholes will not raise significant amounts of new revenue for the federal government.

Even if tax rates for the top 2% of the richest Americans are increased, it won’t produce enough revenue to balance the federal budget or eliminate the nation’s long term debt. (See, e.g., Jackie Calmes, Study Looks At a Lapse of Tax Cuts For the Rich, The New York Times, August 11, 2010, pg.A12.)

Government spending must be reduced and reprioritized.

Congress needs to send to the states for ratification two Constitutional Amendments; (1) a Balanced Federal Operating Budget Amendment; and (2) a Presidential Line-Item Veto Amendment.

These two amendments would do more to (1) balance the federal budget on an annual basis, (2) reduce and control the nation’s long term debt; and (3) help give confidence to the private sector and foreign investors to invest in creating private sector jobs to help lift America and other nations around the world out of recession and back onto the road of economic growth than anything that might be recommended by the Federal Debt Commission appointed by President Obama.

The rich Americans who have already said that they are willing to pay more in taxes can do so without waiting for tax rates to be raised or loopholes to be closed. If they really mean what they say then they should “put their money where their mouths are” – send the money to the IRS.

The billionaires that have recently agreed to leave 50% or more of their wealth to charity could send that money to the IRS now or in the future unless they don’t believe that the federal government will do a good job and be responsible stewards of their wealth. If that is the case, then they need to expressly say so. If it is not, then why won’t they send more money to the government even above what they would have to pay under higher tax rates?

# # #

*Robinson and Adams are professors at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Please view the following article taken from the New York Times website:
Warner. Judith. The Charitable-Giving Divide. The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22FOB-wwln-t.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=judith%20warner&st=cse Retrieved on August 22, 2010

Press Release - Press Conference to be held at the Bob Casey Federal Courthouse

2010-08-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

Join Us To Celebrate a New, Innovative Program for Felony Defendants

The U.S. Pretrial Services Agency of the Southern District Houston Division will hold a press conference with Texas Southern University on Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at 8:45 am to announce a new, innovative program that focuses on the needs and well-being of federal defendants as they await trial.

Reporters, judges, attorneys, and advocacy groups are invited to attend this important event.

In the past, little emphasis had been paid to the needs and concerns of federal defendants in the U.S. Justice System. Senior U.S. Pretrial Services Officer Cynthia McMurray-Smith, who coordinates the program, says that this program “exemplifies the federal courts’ desire to serve the courts and the community by enabling those on bond to achieve, or continue to achieve, a law abiding lifestyle.”

The program was evaluated by Dr. Karen Callaghan from TSU’s Political Science Department and a team from the Administration of Justice Department including Myron Hopes, ABD, Chandra Miles (graduate students), Dr. Sharlette Kellum, and Dr. Helen Taylor Greene (project consultants).

The evaluators found that after program participation, defendants became less apprehensive about going to trial, more inclined to seek beneficial resources, and held more positive views of the justice system.

LOCATION: Jury Assembly Room, 1st floor of the Bob Casey United States Courthouse located at 515 Rusk Street in downtown Houston, TX 77002. The building is between Capitol and Rusk (north & south of the building) and between Smith and Bagby (east & west of the building).

SECURITY: All attendees are advised to arrive by 8:15 am to get through security. Security officers will escort media participants with cameras to the room.

PARKING: Available near the building (metered) or in the parking garage accessible from Capitol or Rusk Street.

CONTACT: Cynthia McMurray-Smith at 713.250.5810 or Cynthia_McMurraySmith@TXSPT.USCOURTS.Gov

TAX CUTS DON’T NEED TO BE “PAID” FOR

2010-08-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

Carroll G. Robinson, Esq.

and

Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D*

Taxes are not money earned by the government; they are the wages, income and profits of American workers, entrepreneurs, small business owners and corporations.

Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, recently said that tax cuts don’t pay for themselves and that he is opposed to paying for tax cuts with borrowed money.

“Paying” for tax cuts with borrowed money means the government is continuing to spend beyond its means. Tax cuts don’t have to be “paid” for; government spending needs to be reduced and reprioritized.

This is not just a debate about economic recovery and reducing the national debt, which is becoming more of a national security issue as opposed to being solely a macro and global economic issue. It is also about building and implementing a policy framework to create jobs, eliminate poverty and generate broad based wealth, especially among African-Americans and Hispanics, that can be passed on to future generations.

# # #

*Robinson and Adams are professors at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Educational Institutions and Climate Change

2010-07-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

Carroll G. Robinson, Esq.

and

Dr. Michael O. Adams

As Congress and the EPA continue to work to address the issue of climate change, whatever policy solution they adopt should allow educational institutions to monetize and sell reductions in their carbon footprint resulting from their ongoing LEED (“green”) building and sustainability efforts. (Cf. Trevor Hughes, More Colleges using green as selling tool, USA TODAY, July 9, 2010)

This credit should be granted on a five to ten year retroactive basis.

*Robinson and Adams are professors in the Master of Public Administration Program at Texas Southern University’s Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs.

Pinnacle Awards

2010-07-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

HOUSTON CITIZENS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

75th Anniversary
&

African American Business Achivement
Pinnacle Awards

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2010

6:30 pm

Houston Intercontinental Hotel

Please see link for Official Event Flyer:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34882023/Pinnacle-Award-Flyer2-1

2010-07-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

To: Leo Bobadilla

CC: Willie Burroughs, Terry Grier

Date: July 21, 2010

From: Carroll G. Robinson, Esq., HISD Bond Oversight Committee Member and Chairman, Houston Citizens Chamber of Commerce

RE: New Bond Oversight Committee Charter

It was a pleasure meeting you at today’s HISD Bond Oversight Committee (BOC) meeting. I was very impressed with your ideas and outlook on how to make HISD better. I look forward to working with you and your staff to protect the taxpayers interest and to ensure that our students, parents, teachers and community receive – at the least- what they were promised and voted to support when they passed the HISD Bond Program.

Pursuant to your request for comments on the proposed new BOC Charter, following are my comments, questions and concerns. If you have any questions, need any clarification or just want to discuss these matters, please feel free to contact me at (832)863-8092. Calling me is the best way to contact me during the next few weeks.

I.
At the BOC’s first Executive Session meeting today, Mr. Ber Pieper, the current Chairman of the committee once again reiterated his position that the committee has no fiduciary responsibility for the Bond Program and anyone who disagrees with his position should basically leave the committee.

The proposed new BOC Charter however, contains the following language in the sections – (1) Committee’s Charge and (2) Duties and Responsibilities:

• “The HISD Board, in response to community interest in the effective and efficient use of bond proceeds, has established a mechanism to encourage greater accountability by creating the Bond Program Oversight Committee.” (Charge)

• “The Committee’s charge is to monitor Bond funded construction projects . . . . “ (Charge)

• The Committee’s “purpose is to monitor performance in order to confirm that HISD implements Bond Program work in general conformance with the program approved by the voters.” (Charge)

• “The Committee shall be available to inform the public concerning the District’s expenditure of bond proceeds.” (Duties)

• “The Committee will review quarterly reports produced by the District to verify general compliance with the purposes set forth in the Bond Program as approved by the voters.” (Duties)

• “The Committee may recommend improvements or make other suggestions regarding the effective and efficient use of bond proceeds . . . . “ (Duties)

Is Mr. Pieper correct that how bond funds are being spent is not an area of fiduciary inquiry and concern for the BOC?

If he is, then how is the language quoted above to be interpreted? Is the BOC no longer needed? If so, then oversight of the Bond Program should be returned to the HISD Board of Trustees.

II.
Under the section on Committee Structure and Membership continued service on the BOC is dependent “upon the recommendation of the Chairman and approval by the Superintendent.”

As a former public official and a public administration professional*, this language – structure - raises several concerns.

First, a favorable recommendation from the Chairman should not be the prerequisite for continued service on the BOC. The prerequisite should be regular, competent and thoughtful participation on the committee in combination with constructive contributions to the successful fulfillment of the committee’s Charge and Duties.

Second, who will watch the watcher? Who will be responsible for recommending to the Superintendent that a chairman continue in that capacity or even remain a member of the BOC? Whoever that person is, they would also possess the competence to comment – independently from the chairman – on each member of the committee to the Superintendent. This would be better than the current proposal.

Third, as now written the reappointment provision essentially gives the Chairman the defacto power of reappointment notwithstanding the requirement of “approval by the Superintendent.” In other words, under the current proposal, if the Chairman does not recommend your reappointment, the Superintendent has nothing to approve. The proposal does not give the Superintendent the power – right – to reappoint a member even if they are not recommended by the Chairman. This deficiency should be rectified.

Finally, the reappointment provision as now written would have a chilling impact on the deliberations of the committee and the quality and diversity of recommendations for improving monitoring of the Bond Program. (Charge and Duties)

III.
The CONFLICT OF INTEREST provision states in part that “[a] Committee member shall not make or influence a District decision related to . . . any contract funded by bond proceeds . . . .”

Does this language prohibit leaders of Chambers of Commerce from serving on the BOC since they advocate for HISD to contract with the members of their organizations even though the proposed Charter allows “Members active in a business organization representing the business community located in the District” to serve on the BOC?

How these two provisions are intended to interact with each other needs to be clarified.

Hopefully these observations will be of assistance to you, the Superintendent and the HISD Board of Trustees as you work to finalize the new Charter. – CGR

*I am an Associate Professor at Texas Southern University’s Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs where I formerly served as an Associate Dean. I am also a former member of the Board of Directors of the National League of Cities, State Bar of Texas, Houston- Galveston Area Council and a former member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association (ABA). This document was prepared with the assistance of Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D., Director of the MPA, eMPA and eGovernment Center of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University.

2010-07-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

CITY OF HOUSTON TERM LIMITS REVIEW COMMISSION

DISSENTING REPORT

BY

HONORABLE CARROLL G. ROBINSON, ESQ.

JULY 13, 2010

This report was produced with the assistance of Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D., Director of the MPA, eMPA and e-Governance Center of Texas Southern University’s Barbara Jordan – Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs; and Richelle Jones, MPA, a second year law student at Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston, Texas.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

________________________________________

INTRODUCTION 3

NO CORRELATION 3

EXPERTISE, POLITICS OR POLICY POSITIONS? 4

COMMISSION’S RECOMMENDATIONS 4

THE CHANGES REALLY NEEDED TO IMPROVE HOUSTON CITY GOVERNMENT 5

INTRODUCTION

People used to believe that the world was flat, but that belief did not make it true. Now, a majority of the City of Houston’s Term Limits Review Commission wants to change the City’s existing term limits law because they believe that giving city elected officials more time in office will make them more effective and give council members more power to deal with the mayor in our City’s strong mayor form of government.

For some members of the Commission, changing the City’s term limits law has become a talismanic solution for issues—the impact of public policies—that have nothing to do with term limits.

Belief in the context of religious faith is one thing, but in government it is policies and procedures, not belief, which determine what is real. The perception of power is not the same thing as having legal authority.

Changing the City’s term limits law may cause Houstonians to believe that council members have more power, but the reality is that legally, they will not. Fixing a perception is different from fixing what is really broken.

NO CORRELATION

During the course of the public hearings and workshops held by the Commission, no objective information or data established a statistically valid correlation between the City’s existing term limits law and the alleged ineffectiveness of council members and mayors. Nor was there any statistical or aggregate data provided supporting the supposed lack of influence of council members over City employees as compared to other specific provisions of the Houston City Charter, Code of Ordinances, state law or the Texas Constitution.

Essentially, there is no empirically valid basis for a recommendation to change the City’s existing term limits law. No statistically valid information was presented to the Commission that verified that changing the City’s term limits law would in fact provide council members with more power, individually or collectively as the City’s legislature in light of the existing structure of the City government of the City Charter, Code of Ordinances, state law or the Texas Constitution. For example, changing the City’s term limits law would not give council members the power to put items on the council agenda independent of the mayor. It would not convert the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) into an actual plan, as opposed to a rotating list of projects, nor give District council members more power over funding and implementing projects in their Districts.

Changing the term limits law would not give council members more power over City employees beyond that which they already have under the City Charter. Once Council has confirmed a Department Director, not even a super majority of Council can remove that person though Council can impeach the independently elected mayor.

Changing the term limits law would not change the fundraising practices of incumbent city elected officials. Houston has one of the toughest municipal campaign finance laws in America thanks to Vince Ryan and Chris Bell, both former members of the Houston City Council. During the public hearings, Jeff Ross spoke of his opposition to the 30-day black out period for fundraising when an item was on the Council Agenda as a part of the overall problem with the City’s current term limits. Changing the City’s term limits would not have any impact on the 30-day black out requirement that was a concern of Jeff Ross.*

EXPERTISE, POLITICS, OR POLICY POSITIONS?

Most Houstonians believe that Bob Lanier and Bill White have been two of the best mayors in our City’s history. Lanier served under term limits and White was elected under term limits. Mayor Annise Parker is considered the most experienced city official to have ever been elected mayor in terms of prior service in city government. She was elected under term limits. Peter Brown, an architect, was elected to City Council under term limits. Many in the development community opposed him in the race for mayor in 2009 because they disagreed with his policy position on development, land use and planning issues.

For those who argue that term limits need to be changed to attract people with specific expertise to run for city office, Peter’s campaign proves that it is not expertise, but politics—policy positions—that really matter. Interestingly, in 2009, Steve Costello, an engineer, was elected to Council, as was C.O. Bradford, a former Chief of the Houston Police Department. Let’s see how they will be treated, notwithstanding the fact that they are experts in specific policy area, when people don’t agree with their policy positions. Will politics trump their “policy expertise?”

COMMISSION’S RECOMMENDATIONS

On Monday, July 12, 2010, eight (8) members of the City of Houston Term Limits Review Commission voted to recommend to the City Council that the City Charter be amended to change the City’s term limits for city elected officials—Mayor, City Controller and Council Members—from three two-year terms maximum to two four-year terms maximum.

The eight (8) members also recommended that current elected officials in their first two-year term be allowed to run for the full two four-year terms if the Charter were amended and City officials in their second two-year term be allowed to run for one full four-year term.

The Commission members present, except for me, opposed allowing the most experienced City officials, those in their third two-year term, to run for one full four-year term, if the change to two four-terms were adopted. This does not withstand the fact that the primary substantive argument for changing the City’s term limits to two four-year terms was to ensure more experienced city elected officials served in government. Essentially, the position adopted by the Commission is that term limits should be changed to ensure that we have more experienced city elected officials, but the first thing that needs to be done is to throw out the most experienced city elected officials. To me, that just does not make common sense.

At the close of the Commission’s meeting, Dr. Bob Stein of Rice University, a member of the Commission, acknowledged that there was no substantive basis for changing the City’s term limits. His position was that he was opposed to term limits, but since the Commission was not authorized to recommend the elimination of term limits, then they should be extended because he believed that two four-year term would reduce the cost of elections and the amount of time city officials spent on campaigning.

The only problem with that position is that going to four-year terms will require mandatory elections to fill partial terms and unless the City’s campaign finance ordinance is changed, city elected officials will have more time to raise money than they do now under the current term limits. Reducing the amount of time city officials can spend on campaigning can be achieved without changing the City’s term limits. It can be done by simply changing the City’s campaign finance ordinance.

Changing the City’s term limits is the wrong answer for addressing perceptions and problems that can only be fixed by policy changes that have nothing to do with changing the City’s term limits.

I support leaving the City’s term limits as they currently are, three two-year terms maximum. Therefore, and because of the aforementioned reasons, I respectfully dissent from the Commission’s recommendations as they relate to extending to four two-year terms maximum.

THE CHANGES REALLY NEEDED TO IMPROVE HOUSTON CITY GOVERNMENT

 The City’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) needs to be improved so that projects are objectively evaluated; the projects on the plan have a positive strategic, tactical and practical cumulative impact on improving the City’s infrastructure. Projects should be funded and implemented once placed on the CIP unless they become substantively redundant or unnecessary. GIS technology should be used to do continuous cumulative impact analysis on the CIP, proposed projects for the CIP and the issuance of building and infrastructure permits.

 Council Members should have the authority to place items on the City Council Agenda independent of the Mayor. This would eliminate the perception that Special Meetings called by a petition of three Council Members are an attack on the Mayor as opposed to a true policy disagreement.

 A majority of Council Members should be able to fire Department Directors as they now have the power to impeach the Mayor.

 Council Members, and not the Mayor, should have the authority to nominate the Mayor Pro-Tem.

 The Mayor Pro-Term, nominated and elected by Council should have the responsibility for organizing and appointing City Council committees.

 The Mayor should only be allowed to vote on Council to break a tie.

 The Department of Finance and Administration (F & A) should be consolidated into the City Controller’s Office and the City Controller should have the responsibility for preparing the City budget as they now have responsibility for setting the City’s official revenue projection, which in fact determines the size of the City budget.

 City Council Members should have their own budget expert to assist them in reviewing, amending and approving the city budget.

One City Council meeting

 Should be held in the evening and one meeting per quarter should held at one of the City’s Multi-Service Centers on a rotating basis to encourage and help to increase citizens’ participation in city government.

*I support the 30-day black out period because it addresses one of the concerns raised by some of the Commission members—a supposed perception of public corruption at City Hall.

Out of chaos comes Houston's term-limit proposal (story in the Chronicle by Bradley Olson)

2010-07-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

Houston Chronicle members

Not Logged In Login / Sign-up

Top stories

Out of chaos comes Houston's term-limit proposal

Panel votes to recommend a move to two four-year stints for officials

By BRADLEY OLSON
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

July 12, 2010, 11:14PM

Share

Resources

TERMS OF CHANGE

The city of Houston Term Limits Commission has proposed the following changes:

• For future office holders: Limiting the mayor, city controller and City Council members to two 4-year terms instead of three 2-year terms.

• For current office holders: Those serving in their first terms will be allowed to run for two additional four-year terms, for a total of 10 years in office; those serving in their second terms will be allowed to run for one additional four-year term, for a total of 8 years in office; those serving in their third terms will not be allowed run again.

Houston's Term Limits Review Commission voted Monday night to recommend changing the existing limits from three 2-year terms to two 4-year terms.

After a contentious and chaotic final meeting, commission members also approved a transition plan that would allow Mayor Annise Parker and seven others to serve for a total of 10 years.

That decision may create a headache for a future City Council, as it effectively could shut down the body from November through January.

According to the city charter, if a majority of council members is being replaced in one election, they are not allowed to take any votes once an election turns them into lame ducks. If the changes were enacted as proposed, that could take place as soon as 2019.

If approved by City Council, the proposed charter amendment would be decided by voters in a Nov. 2 referendum.

Arthur Schecter, appointed by former Mayor Bill White to chair the commission, said the recommendation was the product of extensive study, including telephone surveys on public opinion and testimony from dozens of witnesses.

"The future and best interest of the city, as far as governance is concerned, would be enhanced by changing term limits in this way," he said.

Additional time

Commission members who supported the change said it would help office holders by giving them additional time to work on city problems and free them from the pressures of running for office every two years, particularly fund raising.

Polling data showed that nearly two-thirds of registered Houston voters supported term limits, although some were persuaded to support modest changes to term limits if they resulted in fewer elections and were found to save the city money.

Rationale rejected

Carroll Robinson, a former City Council member who also sat on the commission, rejected the rationale for changing term limits, saying they are an attempt to address other problems with the political system through term limits instead of focusing on those problems directly.

Concerns about the pressures of fund raising, he said, could be more easily dealt with by limiting the time periods in which elected officials are allowed to raise money or otherwise changing campaign finance laws.

"We seem to have decided to change term limits to change a perception but not change the substance of what people perceive to be a problem," he said.

The proposed changes would impact various council members in different ways. Parker, City Controller Ronald Green and six other council members elected to their first terms in 2009 would be allowed to run for two four-year terms for a total of 10 years in office.

Those serving in their second two-year terms would be allowed to run for one four-year term for a total of eight years in office. And those serving in their final term would not be eligible to run again.

'A compromise'

Parker declined comment earlier Monday because it was not yet clear what the commission would recommend.

Councilman Mike Sullivan, who chairs the committee that will consider the recommendation Wednesday, said he believes City Council will support the proposed changes.

"It's a compromise," he said. "We are continuing to follow term limits as they are now, and we are, by adoption today, going to allow some extension of the length of service to terms, but we will still have term limits. No one will be able to serve forever."

bradley.olson@chron.com

Houston Taxpayers Need the Protection of the Law Enforcement Agencies We Pay For

2010-07-12T12:06:00.000-07:00

Carroll G. Robinson, Esq.
Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D.*

As the Houston Chronicle’s recent front page story on the numbers of burglaries happening in our city clearly indicates, it’s time for our elected officials to stop talking about the need for greater inter-agency cooperation and radio interoperability among local law enforcement agencies and start getting it done to stop crime and catch more criminals. (Yang Wang, Houston-Area Burglars Strike Every 30 Minutes, Houston Chronicle, July 11, 2010, pg. A1).

When it is time to pay our property tax bill, Houston businesses and homeowners do not receive a discount from the county on school districts.

Receiving services and protection from all local law enforcement agencies our tax dollars pay for is a benefit we have bought and paid for. Houstonians are residents of Harris County, we pay county as well as city taxes. HPD is not the only law enforcement agency that works for us.

It’s time for all the people who work for us—elected officials and law enforcement officials—to put away their technical disagreements and start working more closely to protect us, our property and catch more criminals.
###

*Robinson and Adams are professors in the Master of Public Administration program at Texas Southern University’s Barbara Jordan – Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs in Houston, TX.

Properly Funding Our Education System Is An Investment, Not An Expense

2010-07-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

Carroll G. Robinson, Esq.
Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D.*
___________________________________

If Texas is to remain a great state and Houston a growing and prosperous city, we must improve our public schools and increase our investment in our community college systems and four year institutions of higher education.

This coming legislative session -2011- must not be dominated by the politics of redistricting or be an exercise in shortsighted budgeting. Legislators must make a distinction between investments and expenses as they develop the state’s next biennium budget. Properly funding our education system is an investment; it is not an expense.

Numerous research studies have informed us that the more formal education a person has, the more money they will earn during their lifetime; they are less likely to commit crime or end up costing tax-payers in terms of social services expenses.

The studies also tell us that among African-Americans and Hispanics, college graduates are more likely to start a business, create jobs and expand access to not only to an income and homeownership, but also to the possibility of generating and growing wealth that can be passed from one generation to the next.

It’s long past time for the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to stop the politics of trying to rewrite history into a list of prevarications. TEA needs to focus on working with local school districts to make sure our children are learning, graduating from high school, and going on to successfully complete college or are ready to enter the workforce with the reading, analytical, math, science, writing and reasoning skills necessary to compete globally.

If we aren’t going to properly educate all of our children in our public schools and prepare them for college level academics, then legislators must provide sufficient funding to community colleges and four year colleges and universities to take on the additional remedial responsibility of leveling up our high school graduates so that they can compete, succeed and graduate from college with the intellectual skills and resources necessary to go on to graduate or professional school or immediately enter the workforce.

Professors Stephen L. Klineberg and Steve Murdock of Rice University, the former head of the United States Census Bureau and Texas’ former State Demographer, have both been warning us for years that if we don’t start properly educating the ever-growing number of Hispanics and African-American children in the Texas public school system, we will not just have a widening academic achievement, we will have a negative long term impact on the economic growth and prosperity of our state.

If we properly invest in education now, it will pay dividends for years to come. If however, we are “pennywise but pound foolish,” over the long term, it will cost us billions in terms of increases in crime and social services expenses.

We support investing in education now, rather than waiting to pay a higher price later.

###

*Robinson and Adams are professors in the Master of Public Administration program at Texas Southern University’s Barbara Jordan – Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs in Houston, TX.

CAREER PATHWAYS -- PUBLIC HEARING

2010-07-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

Below are a series of statements and recommendations made by Executive Director of NASPAA Laurel McFarland. I would like to thank Mrs. McFarland for taking such a strong stance on behalf of students who seek careers in public service at the federal level. The reality is that this type of reform is needed at all levels of government in some shape or form. Graduate students of the 21st century have a multitude of skills that can benefit the public sector tremendously and it is time that we gage our resources and give students the opportunity to contribute. -Dr. Michael O. Adams

STATEMENT BY

LAUREL MCFARLAND,

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND ADMINISTRATION

WASHINGTON, DC

U.S. OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

“CAREER PATHWAYS”

PUBLIC HEARING

JUNE 25, 2010

My name is Laurel McFarland, and I serve as the Executive Director of NASPAA, the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, the organization of 275 graduate schools of public administration, policy, and affairs. For forty years, we have been their accreditor and a force for promoting quality in professional public service education. In recent years, NASPAA has come to believe that our concern for quality education cannot end at the doorway of the graduate school. It must also include attention to the pathway to public service, and an effort to remove the barriers that prevent our publicly spirited students from achieving professional careers in public service, including federal service.

“Competitive” Hiring is NOT competitive for students!

NASPAA’s recent experience with our graduate students and federal hiring has led us unequivocally to declare that normal, competitive hiring is NOT an effective avenue for bringing recent college graduates into the federal workforce. The current system of federal hiring is anything but competitive for graduate students seeking to enter federal service. It is confusing, fragmented, and not aimed at young people who lack “inside” information and work experience.

Why competitive hiring is NOT an effective avenue for bringing recent college grads into the federal workforce:

1. The future of the federal government depends not just on filling positions, but hiring the best possible people for these positions. To ensure this, there must be mechanisms for recognizing those of exceptional academic and leadership promise, and attracting them to government. If we do not have challenging, competitive, dedicated programs for attracting and recruiting them, we will lose them from federal service, probably forever. We have developed these mechanisms for choosing the most talented the when it comes to awarding federal grants for cancer research, and so on. Within a fair and democratic framework, we should still allow for the selection of excellence. Innovation and creativity in government depend on it.

2. We're not just looking to select federal workers from pools of applicants. Rather we are seeking to recruit highly capable individuals, including students, who might not otherwise consider working for the federal government. Again, it’s not just about having one pathway for “filling positions,” but about having as many pathways as it takes to find the best people for the positions. If you want to find promise, ability, and leadership potential, and not just experience or “years in,” you need to reach deeply into the student talent pool.

3. Many undergrads and grads lack work experience, particularly the professional work experience that documents the skills and abilities required in the current “competitive” system. If you want to skip the next generation of federal workers and leaders, keep doing what you're doing and hire only those with significant work experience. A separate pathway that provides opportunities for “try-on” work experience for students without obligations on either side would benefit both potential workers and their government employer.

4. Under the current "competitive process" and USAJOBS, students appear to be disproportionately unsuccessful as applicants (based on the limited data available). The idea that students might be taking jobs from incumbent workers, veterans, or other categories of applicants is laughable. Worse, their failure as applicants is damaging the perception among the young that federal employment is a meritocracy. Having a mechanism tailored to students, but that is selective and competitive among students, will ensure that they can be seen to have a fair shot at federal jobs. A clear pathway with visible and positive results will enhance democracy!

5. Grad students in particular have cutting edge skills. Grad students have the freshest, most vital skills, straight from the frontier of research and scholarship. That infusion of skills and energy is essential to the continual regeneration of the civil service.

6. Students are on a very particular calendar, with large numbers graduating at the same time, looking for work at the same time, and available to start at the same time. Because of this very predictable calendar, it is more efficient and effective to have a separate, tailored pathway for dealing with this large, predictable, annual cycle of potential applicants. And it comes around every year!

7. The assumptions about where potential applicants get their information do not apply to students. Students get their information from different places and in different ways than full-time workers—they do not generally have any “inside” tracks on jobs and rely a lot on professors, social networking and other recent forms of communication to form opinions and make decisions. In contrast to more mature or experienced workers who know and choose to go directly to USAJOBS for federal jobs, most students now have less attachment to particular sectors or job categories. A separate pathway that extends recruitment all the way to where students “live,” involves universities (and faculty) and social networking, and that takes a “vault” approach to matching students to multiple federal jobs from single uploads of skills and interests profiles would work better for the majority of students.

Justification for Federal Reform

If you don't have a separate pathway for students, you will miss the best of this generation. If it's hard to apply, or students see that their peers are all unsuccessful as applicants, they'll go elsewhere. You'll lose the best of this generation forever for federal service, and it will be hard to get them back later. In short, we need a separate pathway in order to build excitement and respect for public service in the next generation; tap the latest skills and knowledge; attract those driven to serve the public and change the world; and build a cadre of highly skilled, dedicated public servants at a young age. They can be ongoing examples for their peers and fellow citizens. We are trying to recruit the very best… aren’t we?

Needed Policy Changes

1. Construct clear pathways for students into federal service.

a) Begin by building on SCEP to establish clear, well-marketed opportunities for career-oriented term-time and summer internships for students that encourage explorations of federal service.

b) Replace the Federal Career Internship Program with a selective, 2-year developmental program targeted just at graduating students and recent graduates, drawn from both undergraduate and graduate ranks. Give students a chance to “try on” federal employment, with the possibility of conversion at the end if it is a good fit.

c) Thoroughly overhaul the fading flagship student recruitment program that NASPAA helped to start more than 30 years ago: the Presidential Management Fellowship Program (the PMF). Restore it to be the jewel in the crown of graduate student recruiting: prestigious, competitive, fiendishly hard to get into. Turn to “good government partners” to help market to students, then open up the application process at the university stage to encourage as many qualified applicants as possible, and establish appropriate assessment tools that can identify the next generation of leadership and management talent for the civil service. Consider tracks—management, science and technical, IT-- for communicating clearly the different advanced skill needs of the government to graduating students. And above all, restore the in-person interview process that once was the hallmark of the PMF!: require applicants to think, argue, and write their way into a world-class federal career development opportunity! Make the goal to attract the very best graduate students, many of whom might not consider federal service otherwise, by making it so challenging and so compelling they can’t say no to applying! Why should Singapore have a better student recruitment vehicle than we do?

d) Create a system: all three of these student oriented programs are important —internship opportunities while in school, recruitment of recent graduates into a two-year developmental program, and a top-notch, highly selective PMF for capturing some of the best of each generation of graduate student into federal service.

2. Create a public-private partnership among OPM, universities across the country, “good government” associations and foundations, to foster an attractive, compelling student recruitment process and PMF assessment and interview process. Nonprofits such as NASPAA can reach deeply into our constituencies to help identify potential applicants, generate excitement for public service, and enhance diversity.

3. Develop and market programs for encouraging veterans to use the GI Bill to get graduate degrees that are good preparation for future professional and leadership positions in civilian federal service. Veterans preference is not at odds with encouraging student hiring.

4. Collect better data, not just about hires, but also about the effectiveness of recruitment efforts; the experience of students, other “external” applicants, vets in the application and hiring process; and about the attempts to better “match” the skills of graduating students with the skill needs of the agencies seeking to hire them. Right now, we are all operating in a data vacuum and it is hurting all of us who are committed to improving federal hiring of students. Better data will yield more accountability.

----------------

For 40 years, NASPAA has been an advocate of students entering federal service. Long after this hearing, we will continue to offer our assistance, encourage our students to take up careers in government, and work to support the programs that make it happen.

But ultimately, this is not just about federal jobs and the need to hire more students. Federal hiring reform is about ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government in coming decades, and our ability to tackle the wickedly tough public problems we face, and with limited resources. We at NASPAA believe it is not an understatement to say the future of our government, and our country, depends on these future generations who take up the challenge of public service in the years ahead.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

The Future of Public Governance

2010-04-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

Masters of Public Administration Program

&
E-Government Center
Presents a Discussion On

Science, Technology & The Future of Public Governance

Hon. Alicia Hughes, Esq.
City Councilwoman, Alexandria City, Va
Attorney, United States Patent and Trademark Office
Alumna, Texas Southern University

Monday, April 12, 2010
5:30 p.m.
Room 217
Barbara Jordan – Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs
Texas Southern University
3100 Cleburne (@Tierwester)
Houston, Texas

From Congress to the Courts – The Future of Health Care Reform

2010-03-24T12:30:00.001-07:00

Carroll G. Robinson, Esq. *
Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D.
&
Laolu Davies - Yemitan

The future of the healthcare reform bill passed by Congress on Sunday will ultimately be decided by the federal courts. The United States Supreme Court will likely have to decide the constitutionality of several key provisions of the new law.

The key cornerstone of the legislation is the individual mandate that all Americans must buy healthcare insurance or pay a penalty for not doing so.

The policy argument that undergirds the individual mandate is that it is necessary to have all Americans in the health insurance pool, especially young and healthy “invincibles,” to cover the cost of preventing the denial of coverage for preexisting conditions.

As a matter of policy, as opposed to politics, preventing health insurance companies from denying coverage for preexisting conditions could have been achieved without the individual mandate and it should have been done that way.

Some lawyers and scholars have argued that the penalty for not buying healthcare insurance is an unconstitutional tax. Others have argued that the individual mandate is the same as requiring auto insurance to legally drive.

Whether the individual mandate is the same as the requirement to buy auto insurance to drive will be a significant point of legal contention. Traditionally, the “right” to drive a vehicle has been characterized by the courts as a privilege granted by the state as opposed to being a fundamental right.

Opponents of the individual mandate (including us) have argued that there is a significant difference between Congress telling Americans what products they must buy if they choose to buy as compared to being denied the right not to buy anything at all. In other words there is a vast difference between if you are going to buy these are your options as compared to you must buy or pay a penalty for not buying.

If the individual mandate to buy healthcare insurance is determined to be constitutional, does that mean that Congress has the power to mandate that all Americans must buy a gun or only cars made and fully assembled in America or pay a penalty for not doing so?

Interestingly, nothing in the Constitution expressly grants or denies Congress the power to impose an individual mandate to have all Americans buy healthcare insurance. This gray area gives rise to a very profound constitutional question whose resolution will have long term constitutional consequences and repercussions. If you need a point of reference, by way of analogy, think about the impact of the constitutionality of mid-decade redistricting.

Whether the individual mandate is constitutional will be decided based on the interpretation of Supreme Court precedents, historic understandings about “First Principles” – the scope and breath of the meaning of a limited federal government, the breath of the Commerce clause, the “Necessary and Proper” clause, providing for the “general welfare,” and Congress’ power to tax individuals as compared to freedom of speech, expression, association and choice as well as the contours of the “Equal Protection” clause, the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment and our understanding of the meaning of Freedom and Liberty within the context of the traditions of our democratic republic. The question of what substance, if any, is contained in the Ninth Amendment will likely, once again, be at issue. The Ninth Amendment says, “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” Do Americans have the right to choose whether or not to buy something?

We have been surprised by how little attention – or concern – the individual mandate has aroused among civil libertarians, Civil Rights activists and those who were, and still are, opposed to the powers given to the federal government under the Patriot Act. As a matter of constitutional consequences, interpretation and precedent, the individual mandate has long term potential to negatively impact civil rights and civil liberties.

As we watch the lack of concern about the individual mandate from the civil rights community, we can’t help but think about Alice in Wonderland, the law of unintended consequences, and Professor Derrick Bell’s allegory, The Space Traders.

*Professor G. Robinson is an Associate Professor at the Barbara Jordan – Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. Dr. Adams is the Director of the Masters of Public Administration Program and the e-Governance Center at the School of Public Affairs. Laolu Davies – Yemitan is a Managing Director at the public affairs firm CarrenoGroup and chairs the Advisory Board of the School of Public Affairs MPA program.

2010-02-21T11:33:00.000-08:00

Post-Election 2009 Analysis & Assessment- February 4, 2010

2010-02-03T06:36:00.000-08:00

AN EYEWITNESS TO CHAOS – The Mismanaged Response to the Newark (NJ) Airport Security Breach-Surreal By: Carroll G. Robinson Esq.

2010-02-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

Airport security in America needs an administrative overhaul. While the national media attention has primarily been focused on the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas day, the better indicator of the current failure of our nation’s airport security system is how the security breach at Newark (NJ) Liberty Airport on Sunday, January 3, 2010 was mishandled.

I was there and saw and experienced the chaos firsthand. It was surreal. It was an eye opener after all the Post-9/11 reforms, supposed security upgrades and coming less than a week after the Detroit incident when the airport security system was supposed to be on heightened alert. (Honestly, I can’t even remember what color of the terror threat alert code the system was on and if it was even publicly announced and if it was, when. The existing color coded alert system needs to be scrapped or be simplified to just two colors: red and yellow.)

The response at Newark Airport was a case study in mismanagement; a lack of leadership, planning, preparation and practice; inadequate personnel training; a lack of crisis communication; and inadequate (nonexistent) communication between TSA, the Port Authority of NY/NJ and Continental Airlines and with passengers and the other people in the terminal and on the airport’s property. Personnel from all three organizations each told passengers that one of the other two entities was in charge when in fact none of them stepped up to take ownership of the situation and exercise the leadership necessary to bring order and organization to a chaotic situation.

The Incident

At Newark Airport, someone got pass the security screening area by going down the exit ramp used by arriving passengers even though there was a TSA staff person at the exit. About fifty minutes later Terminal C was shut down and even planes that were on the runway waiting to take off were brought back to the gates. All planes were emptied and passengers sent back for a second security screening. There was no coordination or order to the process. There was no crowd control to facilitate the second screening of what has been estimated to have been up to 10,000 people.

The only instructions the crowd received as we waited to go back through security was “don’t push” and “no pictures with your cell phone.”

I overheard a TSA employee telling some people that Continental flights would not leave until all of us had gone back through security and gotten back on our plane. This turned out not to be true. Most flights left hours before the second screening had even started.

While we waited hours to go back through security, an older lady passed out. The doctor (another passenger waiting in the crowd) who helped her was screamed at by a ticket agent when she got to her gate and asked why her flight had left her.

It Could Have Been Worse

If the security breach had been part of some coordinated terrorist attack, crowding all of us in a confined space while we waited to go back through the security screening process would have resulted in a greater loss of life if there had been a suicide bomber among us.

Experienced Eyes

As a public administration professor and former member of the Houston (TX) City Council who chaired the council committee with jurisdiction over the city’s airport system, one of the largest in the world, I can tell you, if what happened in Newark is the norm, then our airport security system is putting people’s life at risk. The administrative deficiencies I saw and experienced in Newark need to be promptly corrected. TSA, airport operators and airline personnel need to work together as a team in a seamless manner to not only communicate with each other, but to also communicate with passengers, employees and other individuals on the airport property to keep everyone safe.

Overhaul

•All airports must review, update and practice plans for evacuating planes and terminals. This should be a coordinated activity between TSA, airport operators and airlines. Crowd control needs to be an integral part of this effort.

•Congress should review, clarify and update communication protocol between TSA, airport operators and airlines, and designate an overarching communication and operation team leader.

•Improved training for TSA personnel.

•Flights should not be allowed to leave passengers going through a second screening unless necessary to enhance security and safety.

Changes or additions to federal law should be implemented as needed as quickly as possible but no later than this Spring. Where improvements can be made by changes to administrative rules, regulations or Executive Order, they should be.

Finally, Fareed Zakaria is wrong. The reaction to the Christmas Day bombing attempt is not an “overreaction”. It is an expression of outrage and mind numbing disappointment and frustration that a problem that was supposed to have been fixed is still broken even after the 9/11 Commission Report and the expenditure of billions of taxpayers’ money, changes in the law and a major restructuring of the security infrastructure of the federal government with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

What Americans want is not a 100% guarantee of security perfection. What we want, expect and deserve, is a 100% guarantee of a commitment to achieving security perfection. There is an organized and organic enemy who has declared war on America and they won’t stop until we win. If we don’t remain committed to winning, the enemy will.

# # #

*Robinson is an Associate Professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas where he is a Co-Principal Investigator of the University’s National Transportation Security Center of Excellence. He was a member of the Houston City Council on 9/11.

50% Citizens?

2010-02-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

Carroll G. Robinson
Shamira M. Gelbman
Michael O. Adams
Maurice Mangum
Randall Swain

Authorizing full voting representation for the District of Columbia in the House of Representatives but not in the Senate is tantamount to making the District a part-time state with 50% citizens.

Full voting representation in the House of Representatives for the District of Columbia under Congress’s Article I (District Clause) authority raises serious constitutional questions and practical political and public policy problems. We highlight those issues while reaffirming our commitment to full voting representation for the District of Columbia in both the House of Representatives and Senate.

First, if Congress has the power to authorize full voting representation in the House of Representatives for the District, a proposition that is highly disputed by some constitutional scholars, then it must also have the power to authorize full voting representation for the District in the United States Senate. It is clearly politically unpalatable for Republicans to support giving Democratic Washington, D.C. two seats in the Senate as opposed to voting to give the District a full voting representative in the House while simultaneously giving Republican Utah another member of Congress. Politically, the vote for the off-setting representatives in the House does not add to the Democrats’ advantage.

Advancing Utah a new member of Congress in anticipation of the results of the 2010 census raises its own set of constitutional questions. Reapportionment under Article I is supposed to happen after a decennial census, not before. The “preapportionment” of Utah’s seat raises the question of whether other states expected to gain congressional seats after the 2010 census can and should get their additional new seats in advance. This is a political Pandora’s Box. If you are from Texas, California, or another growth state, don’t you want your members of Congress to protect your interests as a voter and taxpayer? Don’t the members of Congress from the growth states have an ethical, moral and, fiduciary responsibility to protect their residents’ interest?

Even before the current shift in the makeup of the U.S. Senate, where Democrats are now on the verge of a filibuster-proof majority, giving D.C. two Senate seats was already a political improbability.

Second, if Congress were to authorize two Senate seats for the District under its Article I authority, an interesting constitutional question would come into play. Does the language of Article V – “no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate” – mean that Congress could not repeal federal legislation authorizing full voting representation in the U.S. Senate for the District without the District’s consent? If Congress cannot, then you have the problem of it being able to eliminate the District’s full voting representation in the House but not in the Senate. This is a slippery slope that would eventually end up in the courts to be resolved.

Under United States Supreme Court precedent, even the Senate cannot refuse to seat a legally elected senator from the District, as the controversy over the seating of President Obama’s Senate successor recently reminded us.

Third, full voting representation in the House but not the Senate would deprive the District of symmetry of representation in the advocacy and protection of its legislative interests and priorities in Congress.

Fourth, full voting representation in the House also raises potential Article II and 23rd Amendment issues. With full voting representation in the House, the District would be able to vote on “selecting” the president when there is a tie in the Electoral College but have no vote in the Senate to select the vice president if there were a tie for that office in the Electoral College. The District is already entitled to three electoral votes under the 23rd Amendment. In other words, the District’s electoral votes could help cause a tie in the Electoral College but they would only have a voice in the ultimate outcome in the House. That is unfair to both the District and the fifty states.

While our concerns might seem like hypothetical examples to some, they are in fact realistic constitutional questions and practical political and public policy considerations that must be addressed by Congress or they will ultimately have to be resolved by the courts. Part of the responsibility of thorough and thoughtful legislators is mitigating the unintended consequences of their legislative decisions. That is why we are raising these issues, so that they can be addressed in advance.

Instead of playing around with the Constitution, Congress should use its Article IV power to make the District a full-time state with 100% citizens.

###

Robinson, Adams, and Mangum teach at the Barbara Jordan –Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University; Gelbman teaches in the Department of Politics and Government at Illinois State University; Swain teaches in the Department of Government at Eastern Kentucky University.

Editorial

Blaming the Banks Won’t Fix Our Economy

2010-01-20T11:36:00.000-08:00

Carroll G. Robinson, Esq.*
And
Dr. Michael O. Adams, Ph.D.

If Congress is going to adopt a new tax or fee to make sure that taxpayers don’t lose any of the TARP money we invested in rescuing the economy, it should be applied fairly equally across all the business sectors that received taxpayers help.

Companies that have already repaid, with interest, the TARP funds that they borrowed should not be unfairly singled out to be politically and economically punished for doing what Congress had refused to say was impermissible or had expressly said they could legally do.

Blaming and punishing banks may strike a populist political note, but voters will not absolve Congress of its failure to exercise proper oversight of the financial industry as a whole, including the Federal Reserve, simply because it adopts a new bank tax.

Instead of TARP and an indirect economic stimulus, Congress should have helped individual taxpayers directly and they then could have paid their mortgages, shopped with small businesses and more effectively kept our economy afloat.

A new punitive bank tax (or “fee”) will not help our economy recovery or help Americans who have lost their homes to foreclosure recover them, or create new jobs or result in more lending to small business owners. It will likely have the opposite effect and cause a slower economic recovery on “Main Street” America.

If Congress really wants to help average Americans, then they should permanently fix or eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), reform and simplify the federal tax code to eliminate loopholes and incentives for moving jobs out of America. They should also send to the states for ratification a federal balance operating budget amendment.

Congress must prioritize federal spending, eliminate waste, fraud, abuse, pork barrel spending and programs and projects that are no longer needed or working. Every request, project or program can’t be a priority. If they are, our nation’s debt burden will become unsustainable as we tax away the wealth of generations to come.

If we don’t fix and grow our economy, improve our education system and reform our tax code, the economic path we are on now, will disproportionately burden and disadvantage minorities as they become the majority population of our nation in the coming decades.

We can fix the economy and our education system, but to do so, we must have a fair and equitable tax system that protects individual Americans and does not unfairly attack businesses and drives jobs abroad.

*Robinson is an Associate Professor at the Barbara Jordan – Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. He is also Chairman of the Houston Citizens Chamber of Commerce, the oldest and largest African-American chamber of commerce in Houston. Adams is a Professor at the School of Public Affairs and Director of the Masters in Public Administration Program and the Director of the E-Governance Center. Kevin Osemene, an MPA Graduate Research Assistant helped prepare this article.

NO NEGRO DIALECT?

2010-01-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

It has recently been reported that during the 2008 presidential campaign Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the United States Senate Democratic Majority Leader, said that then candidate Barack Obama could be elected president because he had light skin and had no negro dialect.

Harry Reid’s comments should not be compared to former Senator Trent Lott’s comments that America would have been a better place if Strom Thurmond had been elected President as a Dixiecrat. Comparing the two statements distracts from the real conversation we need to have. Instead of trying to sweep Senator Reid’s remarks under the rug, we need to acknowledge and discuss their substantive implications.

There are numerous studies documenting the racial bias against African-Americans in our nation, even if they have light skin and no negro dialect. The studies document the fact that even when more qualified, African-Americans are less likely to be offered jobs, business loans, mortgages and apartment rentals.

We need to talk about these substantive issues honestly and openly. If we remain afraid to talk about race in America, it will remain a divisive issue even when swept under the rug.

Senator Reid can use this moment to do our nation a great service, or we can all stick our heads back into the sand until the next incident rears its ugly head and forces all of us to engage in another round of avoidance. Let’s talk. And let’s do it now.

# # #

*Robinson is an Associate Professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University (TSU) in Houston, Texas. Adams is a Professor at the School of Public Affairs and Director of its MPA program and the TSU E-Government Center.

“Ten” (+) Things African Americans Should Read

2009-12-21T09:39:00.001-08:00

“Ten” (+) Things African Americans Should Read

For the past several years I have been giving a great deal of consideration to the “ten” things that every African-American college, graduate and professional school student should read in addition to the Bible and the great texts of other religious faiths.

The following is my list of “ten.” Please let me know what you would have on your list.

1. The Declaration of Independence (the ideal it asserts and the concerns (complaints) it lists) and the Constitution of the United States.
2. The United States Supreme Court’s Dred Scott, and Plessy v. Ferguson decisions, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall’s speech on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution (The Bicentennial Speech) and then-candidate Barack Obama’s March 18, 2008 “A More Perfect Union” speech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
3. Derrick Bell’s books And We Are Not Saved, and Faces at the Bottom of the Well.
4. Barbara Jordan’s 1976 Keynote Speech to the Democratic National Convention (here and http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barbarajordan1976dnc.html), Jesse Jackson’s speech to the 1984 Democratic Convention (here and http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jessejackson1984dnc.htm) and then-Illinois State Senator Barack Obama’s Keynote Speech to the 2004 Democratic National Convention (here and http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/convention2004/barackobama2004dnc.htm).
5. Lani Guinier’s book The Tyranny of the Majority and her law review articles and other writings on race and political representation as the 2010 Census, Reapportionment and Redistricting are here and litigation is sure to follow. Also read the United States Supreme Court decisions on “extreme partisan political gerrymandering” and mid-decade redistricting and its 2009 decision on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act – Bartlett v. Strickland.
6. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech and his Letter from the Birmingham Jail.
7. Robert Caro’s books The Power Broker, and Master of the Senate and Terry H. Anderson’s book The Pursuit of Fairness – A History of Affirmative Action.
8. Stephen R. Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Jim Collin’s book Good to Great and The Social Sectors.
9. Steven R. Weisman’s book The Great Tax Wars, Risieri Frondizi’s book What is Value and Michael Wheeler’s book Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics.
10. Frank Luntz’s book Words That Work and Robert Green’s book The 48 Laws of Power.

(+) Ok, technically, my list has more than ten things – but reading is knowledge and knowledge is power.

*Robinson is an Associate Professor at the Barbara Jordan – Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. He can be contacted at robinson_cg@tsu.edu or (713) 313-6848.

It's The Economy Stupid

2009-12-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

“It’s The Economy Stupid”

Carroll G. Robinson, Esq.

Congressman David Obey is advocating imposing a “war surtax” on Americans’ income to pay for President Obama’s military surge (troop increase) in Afghanistan. Instead of a “war surtax” the federal government should confiscate the illegal drug money being collected by a number of Afghanistan officials to help pay for the President’s military surge

A “war surtax” is a terrible economic idea. America is still in the midst of what is considered the worst recession since the Great Depression. The nation’s overall unemployment rate is still over 10% and over 15% for African-Americans. Millions of other Americans are underemployed or just a paycheck or two away from bankruptcy and millions move have lost their homes or are on the verge of foreclosure.

Representative Obey says he wants to impose a “war surtax” to make sure that all Americans share in the sacrifice of the war against terror.

Congressman Obey must not be paying attention, but tens of millions of Americans are sacrificing. As it is now, poverty is increasing in our nation, “[m]ore than a third of all black children in America are poor, and that tragic percentage is expanding”, and on Sunday, November 29, 2009, The New York Times reported that “[t]he number of food stamp recipients has climbed by about 9 million [people] since the recession began in December 2007, resulting in a program that now feeds 1 in 8 Americans and nearly 1 in 4 children.”

In 2010 the taxes Americans pay will increase as the Bush tax cuts expire (unless they are extended by Congress), the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) continues to eat into the income of an increasing share of middle-class taxpayers, Health Care Reform tax increases will also start (if legislation is passed by Congress), and the cost of “cap and trade” (a carbon tax currently being debated in Congress) could also begin. Taxes and fees at the state and local levels are also likely to be increased.

Even with taxpayers subsidies to: (1) help low income Americans buy health care insurance to comply with the “individual mandate” of the Health Care Reform legislation, and (2) to mitigate the economic cost of “cap and trade” a “war surtax” if it became law would undercut those efforts. Inflation, the decline in the value of the dollar and the increasing cost of agricultural produce such as corn will also negatively impact the pocketbooks of American workers and taxpayers.

Instead of a “war surtax”, Congress needs to prioritize spending within the billions in existing tax revenues already being collected from taxpayers. Before talking about new taxes or raising taxes, Congress must make the tough decisions necessary to: (1) eliminate projects and programs that are no longer needed, (2) clamp down on and vigorously prosecute fraud, theft and waste in federal contracting, and (3) eliminate pork barrel spending. Congress should also establish the bi-partisan debt reduction commission being proposed by several member of the United State Senate and sent to the states for ratification a Balance Federal Operating Budget Amendment and a Presidential Line Item Veto Amendment.

Our growing national debt is both an economic and national security liability along with our dependence on foreign oil.

To fix our economy and create jobs in America, Congress needs to focus on supporting and incentivizing small businesses and entrepreneurs. A “war surtax” will not help this effort. “Americans are already suffering and sacrificing, there is no need to place another economic burden on their shoulders while they are struggling to keep their heads above water.”

# # #

Carroll G. Robinson is an Associate Professor at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas

Texas Southern University MPA Blog

The Year In 2012

Looking back and ahead…

We Must Address Persistent Pockets of Poverty

Courts Weigh In On Redistricting

Environmental, Economic and Socio-Politico Sustainability

Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland SPA Welcomes New Dean

By: Dr. Michael O. Adams*

A RESEGREGATED SOUTH

Environmental, Economic and Socio-Politico Sustainability

It's Time For Houston To Become Leader In Building Sustainable Communities

The Confederate License Plate and the Texas DMV

Occupy Wall Street

The Role of Academia in the Civil Rights Struggle

Digital Dashboards can transform Governments

Electoral College Reform

What Education Really Means for Minorities

Technology & Police Reducing Crimes

Rising Poverty

Can Texting and Social Network Sites Save Lives?

A New Era

Government Still Matters

The State of Children in Texas

Parents Leading the Front on Improving our Children's Education

Empowering Our Communities

MONTROSE GEM FEATURES: "SAME SEX MARRIAGE WILL BE RULED CONSTITUTIONAL"

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: PENSIONS

What About Our Schools?

Urban Centers: Making Health A Homegrown Priority

The Majority-Minority Future of Education in the United States

Houston Passes Budget

Men of Color Forgotten in Education

MIDDLE CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE RECESSION

American Red Cross Fundraiser

The Budget Impact on Higher Education

Texas State Budget Prospectus

The City of Houston Preliminary Redistricting

Bloom off the Texas Rose?

Voter ID Bill- Bad Public Policy

Houston City Council Accepts Census

Texas Legislative Black Caucus--Redistricting Panel

History of Redistricting in the city of Houston

Redistricting

Redistricting Workshop for the TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF BLACK CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS

Town Hall Meetings Schedule: Redistricting Houston

PRESS RELEASE-AFRICAM-AMERICAN OPINION

Letter to Faculty-Saving Ideas

Proficiency of Black Students Is Found to Be Far Lower Than Expected

Going Long Liberty in China

Josh Haner/The New York Times

Go to Columnist Page »

Related

Times Topic: Liu Xiaobo

The Financial Time Bomb of Longer Lives

Article by: NATASHA SINGER

Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore

Published: October 16, 2010

David G. Klein

The Thurgood Marshall School of Law Government Law Society Presents: Former 2008 Presidential Candidate Congressman Ron Paul

The Future of Our University

We Need To Broaden The Discussion of Public School Reform

The Counterintuitive Value of Lower Home Values

What is a Tax Cut?

The Story of STICKMAN

AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES & CHILDREN IN HOUSTON

Same Sex Marriage Will Be Ruled Constitutional

Our University

PEOPLE WHO WANT TO PAY MORE IN TAXES CAN DO SO

Press Release - Press Conference to be held at the Bob Casey Federal Courthouse

TAX CUTS DON’T NEED TO BE “PAID” FOR

Educational Institutions and Climate Change

Pinnacle Awards

Out of chaos comes Houston's term-limit proposal (story in the Chronicle by Bradley Olson)

TERMS OF CHANGE

Additional time

Rationale rejected

'A compromise'

Houston Taxpayers Need the Protection of the Law Enforcement Agencies We Pay For

Properly Funding Our Education System Is An Investment, Not An Expense

CAREER PATHWAYS -- PUBLIC HEARING