stAllio!’s way has a great recap/summary of the Daylight Saving Time debate so far. (And thanks to him for referring folks over to this blog)
Scooter Libby
So, I expect I’m the only one blogging about the indictment of Scooter Libby right now. A copy of the indictments are here (pdf).
The jist of the charges are that on June 11 and 12, 2003, Libby was told by an Under Secretary of State and Vice President Cheney, respectively, that Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA. That notwithstanding, he told the grand jury that he hadn’t been aware of that fact when Tim Russert asked him about it on July 11th, 2003. Instead, Libby told the grand jury that he learned it from Russert and that Russert said “all the reporters knew it.” Similar charges with respect to Libby’s false testimony about conversations he had with Judith Miller and Matt Cooper on July 12th, 2003.
Contrary to Libby’s false testimony, he actually told Judith Miller about Plame on June 23, 2003. Wilson’s New York Times column came out on July 6, 2003. On July 8, 2003, Libby met with Miller again and asked her to attribute any information he gave her about Wilson and Plame to “a former Hill staffer” rather than to “a senior administration official.” During Libby’s conversation with Russert, the subject of Valerie Plame does not appear to have come up at all, making false Libby’s assertion that Russert said “all the reporters knew” about Plame’s CIA employment.
There are some interesting mysteries left. The indictment refers to a “senior official in the White House (“Official A”)” who advised Libby on July 10 or 11, 2003, of a conversation Official A had with Robert Novak in which Plame was discussed as a CIA employee. Also, sometime between June 1, 2003 and July 8, 2003, Cheney’s assistant for public affairs told Libby that the assistant had learned from “another government official” that Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA. One wonders whether Official A and/or the “other government official” happen to be Karl Rove.
Interim study committee on eminent domain recommendation
Rep. Dvorak has a post on the final meeting of the interim study committee on eminent domain. The eminent domain issue was brought to the fore by the the Supreme Court decision of Kelo v. New London. This was a case where the City of New London was implementing an economic development plan under the provisions of a Connecticut statute. The development plan was a comprehensive plan which, when completed, would have public land and private land components, designed to work in concert to make the city a better place. Kelo was apparently unwilling to sell and, therefore, the City of New London proceeded to use its condemnation powers. Kelo argued that the City couldn’t use its condemnation powers if part of the condemned land was going to be transferred to private developers. The Supreme Court disagreed and stated that the Connecticut law and the City development plan were permissible in that the condemned land was going to a public use and just compensation was being provided for the condemned land.
In my opinion, most of the coverage and negative reaction to the case has been to the concept of eminent domain generally. Most of the wailing and gnashing of teeth arguments you’ll see would be just as applicable if, say, a utility company was condemning the land instead of the City economic development commission or whatever. It’s fair enough to be against eminent domain generally, but its nothing new. It’s been part of our legal system, probably at least since the Normans invaded England in 1066.
The final report isn’t online yet, but according to Representative Dvorak, the interim study committee had the following recommendations:
[The committee] resolved to tighten the definition of an “area needing redevelopment†to something that is beyond doubt a “condemnation-eligible†property.
This would prevent a normal home or neighborhood from being placed at risk just because someone thinks its location might be a great spot for a new strip mall.
The Committee also resolved to:
revamp the “just compensation†criteria for property taken in eminent domain actions, consider limiting eminent domain only to those instances where there is “no reasonable alternative,†address insufficient attorney’s fees for plaintiffs in eminent domain actions, and specify that “economic development†cannot be defined solely by an increase in tax revenue.
I’ll be interested to see the text of the report. I’m not a huge fan of the condemnation power being used lightly, but I don’t really think it makes much sense for the power to be harder to use for a comprehensive development plan like that in Kelo than it is for a park board or a utility company or a railroad or the Dept. of Transportation or an airport authority. I would recommend setting compensation at something like 125% of fair market value to make sure the compensation is actually ‘just.’ Homeowner attorney’s fees would also be in order, but I would tie it somehow to the homeowner being realistic about what the property is actually worth. If the actual fair market value, as determined by a jury or court, is less than the offer (ostensibly 125% of FMV), then no attorney’s fees.
But, at the end of the day, the authority to set policy about when and how to use the eminent domain power is that of the General Assembly. I’m glad we have a study committee looking at the issue and the General Assembly will decide what changes, if any, need to be made to Indiana law. I really disagree with those who say that the federal Supreme Court should be second guessing the state legislatures on this issue. Similarly, I disagree with the notion that the U.S. Congress should get involved. This is a state issue and should be addressed accordingly.
Matt Tully on Governor Time
While I disagree with his opinion that Daylight Saving Time was necessary, I like this article by Matt Tully. (Found via TDW.)
Daylight-saving time is Gov. Mitch Daniels’ own personal Harriet Miers.
A heavy and politically painful weight pulling him down, a target drawing flak from all directions.But while President Bush released his Supreme Court albatross Thursday morning, Daniels can’t, and won’t, back away from his own mess of an issue.
He’s gone too far. So even as the federal government mucked things up this week, revealing senseless preliminary plans for time zones across Indiana, Daniels stood by his tick-tocking Harriet Miers.
. . .
For now, however, it’s got to be a headache of the pounding sort. This Mount Everest of Indiana issues never really goes away. It keeps finding new ways to irritate and aggravate.
And it’s back, with a federal plan that puts bordering counties with integrated economies in different time zones. Even Daniels — Gov. Time — called a part of the feds’ plan “unworkable.”
Tully points out that, under the preliminary federal plan, 3 of the state’s 5 largest cities (Evansville, Gary, and South Bend) will be on Central Time while the other two will be on eastern time. (Indianapolis and Fort Wayne.)
Eastern Time: Bad for your health
Computer problems are giving me problems linking directly to the document. But if you go to the USDOT Time Zone docket and look at the October 27, 2005 submissions, you’ll find a submission from Dr. David Avery, Professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He writes:
About 10 to 20% of the people in northern latitudes in the US have either SAD or subsyndromal SAD. It is well known that the prevalence of these disorders increase with latitude. Recently, we found that those living on the western edge of Eastern Time Zone are significantly more likely to have SAD symptoms than those living on the eastern edge of the time zone. The best explanation of this finding is that the sun is rising much later on the western edge of the time zone compared to the eastern edge and those on the western edge are getting less morning light.
As I understand it, Seasonal Affective Disorder is essentially depression caused by lack of sunlight. Dr. Avery’s letter states that morning sunlight seems to be more effective at diminishing this sort of depression that sunlight during other times of the day. During part of the year, a person waking up at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time will be getting up 2.5 hours before sunrise at 8:30 a.m.
USDOT action prompts new round of time discussion
The Indy Star has published an editorial entitled There’s no time for clock confusion. The Star says that clearing up Indiana clock confusion was the main premise behind adopting Daylight Saving Time. Nevermind that it was a pretext with nothing but anectdotal evidence supporting the claim that adopting DST would do anything to improve the economy or give any unemployed Hoosier a new job. The Star says that putting as much of Indiana as possible on the same time should remain a goal. I agree. Put the whole state on Central Time, and we have a deal. The Star doesn’t explicitly state a preference, but I get the idea they have Eastern Time in mind. But let me just reiterate, the whole State has never been on Eastern Time. The whole State has been on central time. And, prior to adopting of DST, the whole state was functionally on Central Daylight Time for 7 months out of the year except for those renegade counties around Cincinnati that were observing Eastern Daylight Time illegally.
May Beth Schneider also has an article in the Star entitled, Time Zone Plan to be a Hard Sell. It focuses on the split between St. Joseph County and Elkhart Counties. The story has a comment by Elkhart mayor, David Miller, that seems to suggest that in terms of influence, Elkhart is the dog and St. Joseph County is the tail. Perhaps my reading comprehension is flawed or Mayor Miller’s local pride got the better of him, but that’s clearly ridiculous. Basically, he is saying that, while he wants Elkhart and South Bend to be on the same time, he isn’t sure he wants Elkhart County to go Central because that would be the tail wagging the dog. Meanwhile, Logansport Mayor expresses a sense of defeatism. He thinks the local attitude is that the residents of Logansport don’t have much of a say in the matter, so why bother with upcoming hearings. As for other parts of the state, Rep. Crooks and Rep. Grubb pretty well sum it up:
Rep. David Crooks, the Washington Democrat who had led the fight against daylight-saving time in the legislature, said his Daviess County neighbors are upset. The county wanted to move to Central time to make daylight-saving time more palatable. With the time zone change, the county would have been aligned with Vanderburgh and other southwestern Indiana counties year-round.
The Transportation Department didn’t buy Daviess County’s request but did recommend that the county’s neighbors — Knox and Pike counties — move to Central time.
“People think its just ridiculous. Almost laughable,” Crooks said.
He will try to get the Republican majority in the House to revisit the issue and pass a statewide referendum letting voters say whether the state should be in the Central or Eastern time zone.
Rep. F. Dale Grubb, D-Covington, said turning back the clock on the time zone debate will be next to impossible next year. “The bottom line is, it’s going to be screwed up no matter what happens.”
Google revealed a column by Rod Rose of the Lebanon (Ind) Reporter in the Cushing (Oklahoma) Daily Citizen, the jist of which is summed up in these paragraphs:
before someone wound Daniels’ clock, we’d always known what time it was — Indiana is officially on Eastern time, except for five counties near Evansville and five near Chicago, where Central time is observed. What time is it in Indiana? Why, in 82 counties, it’s Eastern Standard Time, 12 months a year.
That was apparently too complicated for Daniels and others who decided that what wasn’t broken needed to be wound tighter.
The DOT recommendations only expand the wackiness.
. . .
There’s only one solution for this: A referendum. Hoosiers should be given the option, next November, of a straight-up choice between Eastern and Central time for the entire state, and whether to observe daylight-saving time in that zone.
The Lafayette Journal & Courier has an editorial scolding the State and the Feds from their handling to date. The State dodged the question. The Feds threw it down to the counties. The result was a crazy quilt. But the J&C seems satisfied so long as White, Carroll, and Cass counties are forced to stay with Lafayette and Lafayette stays with Indianapolis. Hoosiers, the J&C says, will get used to the time no matter what it is. Very democratic of them.
Two Time Zones, Not Three
Reading this WNDU time zone story, I came across what seems to be Governor Daniels’ latest:
Governor Mitch Daniels says the split between St. Joseph and Elkhart counties is simply “un-workable”.
“There’ll be changes as the DOT made clear. I’ve singled out a couple of them,” said Daniels. “Clearly, the evidence will show you don’t run a line between St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties. But in general, now we have a map for Indiana that’s much simpler than before, two time zones, not three, (which will hopefully be) an end to confusion.”
First, with respect to Daniels’ opining that an Elkhart/St. Joseph split is “unworkable”. He may be right, but what happened to his assertion that for the state to intervene in County time zone considerations would be “presumptuous”? Clearly, this Governor has never shown an aversion to presumption in the past. A skeptic might conclude that it was done out of convenience once he realized how badly he’d screwed up by opening the Pandora’s Box of Indiana Time.
Second, the “two time zones, not three” is nonsense. If his mission had really been to simplify Indiana time and he considered two time zones a success, he would have cracked down on the Cincinnati area counties who were observing Eastern Daylight Time illegally. That would have left us with Central Daylight Time and Eastern Standard Time. All of Indiana would have been on the same time for 7.5 months out of the year. So, hammering DST through the legislature followed by a county-by-county free-for-all over time zones is sure a Rube Goldberg approach to getting two time zones.
USDOT NPRM on Time Zones
The USDOT has posted its Notice of Proposed Rule Making. The short version is:
DOT tentatively proposes to relocate the time zone boundary in Indiana to move St. Joseph, Starke, Knox, Pike, and Perry Counties from the eastern time zone to the central time 7one at the request of the County Commissioners. We are tentatively not proposing to change the time zone boundary to move Marshall, Pulaski, Fulton, Benton, White, Carroll, Cass, Vermillion, Sullivan, Daviess, Dubois, Martin, and Lawrence Counties from the eastern time zone to the central time zone based on the petitions from the commissioners in these counties. If additional information is provided that indicates that the time zone boundary should be drawn differently, either to include counties currently excluded or to exclude counties that are currently included in this proposal, we will make the change at the final rule stage of this proceeding.
So, two from the northwest and three from the southwest. The biggest fish is, of course, St. Joseph County. It seems odd they wouldn’t include Marshall County.
County Commissioners who have submitted petitions and want to provide additional data until November 10, 2005. Other comments should be received within 30 days of publication (by November 24 I suppose.) The earliest effective date of any time zone change would be April 2, 2006.
“An opportunity for oral comments will be provided at four public hearings in Jasper, Logansport, South Bend, and Terre Haute.”
The notice emphasizes the preliminary nature of the proposed rule and, in particular, stresses that neither counties for which a time change is proposed nor counties for which a time change is not proposed should regard the matter as resolved. “If supplementary information is filed by the County Commissioners supporting the inclusion of additional counties and it is not otherwise refuted, an
appropriate change will be made in the final rule.”
To aid us in our consideration of whether a time zone change would be “for the convenience of commerce,†we ask for comments on the impact on commerce of a change in time zone and whether a new time zone would improve the convenience of commerce. The comments should address the impact on such things as economic, cultural, social, and civic activities and how time zone changes affect businesses, communication, transportation, and education.
. . .
We specifically invite comment from neighboring Indiana counties, and counties in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois that may also be impacted by any change. For example, we are aware of the importance of South Bend to its neighboring conimunities in Indiana and Michigan and specifically request comment on potential effects to those communities to the north, east, and south if St. Joseph County is changed at the final rule stage and placed in a different time zone from the greater Michiana area as additional information could change our tentative decision.
Updated 5:20 p.m. EST to include information from the NPRM after I had had a chance to read it.
Update #2 An AP Story has some comments from Governor Daniels and Representative Bauer. After noting Gov. Daniels’ Sept. 30 prediction that everyone who requested Central would get Central, the article states:
“Clearly there will be changes in this proposed rule before the process is complete,” he said. “Some counties that failed on the first try will, I believe, ultimately make a credible case to move to the Central time zone. And it’s obviously unworkable to divide St. Joseph and Elkhart counties, which form one, economic, social and cultural region.”
Unlike St. Joseph County, neighboring Elkhart County in northern Indiana did not seek a switch to Central time.
Democratic House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer, whose hometown of South Bend is in St. Joseph County, agreed that having the two counties on different times would create an odd situation.
Bauer, who opposed statewide daylight-saving time, also suggested that zone changes in general would create more confusion about time in Indiana.
“This whole adventure in time has been bizarre,” he said.
I’ve also created a new map based on the NPRM. The solid red counties are the ones the USDOT proposes to place in Central. The pale red counties are those who requested a change but have been preliminarily denied. The yellow counties are those that submitted a petition but reconsidered and backed out of their requests.
Update 3 Mary Beth Schneider has an article in the Indy Star. South Bend mayor Stephen Leucke said he is pleased South Bend is in the running, but criticized the process saying it pitted county against county. Similiarly Dennis Estok, the mayor of Knox, Indiana in Starke County was happy to be on the Central side of the preliminary notice, but was concerned that neighboring Pulaski and Marshall counties had been excluded. House Minority Leader Pat Bauer described the situation as simply “screwed up”.
Jennifer Whitson also has an article for the Evansville Courier Press. A Dubois County commissioner said they were done with the topic, meaning the county will not try to supplement its petition to get Central Time. Perry County Commissioner Terry Lock had been under the impression that each county would get an individual hearing. And, Rep. Dave Crooks called the situation a “complete mess.”
“I don’t want Pike and Knox on Central and the rest of my area on Eastern,” Crooks said. “This is just making matters worse. If we can’t unify the region, then just leave it alone.”
The Elkhart Truth has a story entitled Central Time proposed for St. Joe County notes the USDOT action as well as Elkhart County’s position that they would prefer Eastern time but they would also prefer to remain with St. Joseph County. I think their priority is staying with St. Joseph County, but it is not entirely clear which they want more.
Update 4 The South Bend Tribune has its story up. In particular, there appears to be a lot of surprise that Marshall County did not get a hearing. Additionally, a lot of sentiment that Marshall, St. Joseph, and Elkhart counties should be in the same time zone.
In the comments, Paul O’Malley brings up a good point. Only one of the four hearings is set to be held in a county, South Bend in St. Joseph County, where the USDOT proposes to change time zones. The others, Logansport, Terre Haute, and Jasper are outside of the proposed areas. Logansport in Cass County and Jasper in Dubois County are at least in counties that requested a change but were preliminarily denied. But Terre Haute is in Vigo County which did not even request a change.
Just thinkin’
I was reading a little more about the investigation of the Bush administration blowing the cover of CIA agent Valerie Plame in retaliation for her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson’s, assertion that the Bush administration was wrong (and probably lying) about Iraq’s nuclear program and attempts to get yellowcake from Niger. (The assertions about Niger yellowcake were withdrawn from a speech Bush gave in Cincinnati in October 2002 before being reinserted into the State of the Union Speech he gave in January 2003.)
This got me thinking about the nature of rhetoric and reality and political scandals. The political flashpoint never seems to be about the things that really have people angry. In this case, I think that most people are pissed because they realize they’ve been lied to by Bush and Co. and, as a result, we’re stuck in Iraq, hemorrhaging money, having just lost the life of our 2000th soldier, and dying a death of a million cuts. But, at least in the past, complaints about the wisdom of choosing a war in Iraq and the veracity of those who led us there have not gained much traction. Now, on the other hand, an investigation into a comparatively minor issue about a retaliatory move taken against one of Bush’s critics has the White House essentially paralyzed and seems poised to cripple the White House for the forseeable future. It gives the left the power to rally behind the relatively simple accusation, “They compromised national security by outing a CIA agent for temporary political gain.” True enough, and certainly a bad thing. But it pales in comparison to the damage the Iraq war has caused and will continue to cause this country.
I think a similar thing happened with Clinton and the Lewinski scandal. The impeachment proceedings went forward with the right holding forth about the dire crime of perjury and how unthinkable it was to have sex in the Oval Office. But, in reality, those screaming loudest about perjury as a high crime or misdemeanor requiring Clinton’s expulsion from office were mad about other things: Clinton’s tax increases, willingness to have gays in the military, being a Democrat. But, their opening was an allegation that Clinton perjured himself talking about whether he had sex with Monica Lewinsky. So, they focused their anger and their energy on that.
I’m too young to know, but I’ll bet Nixon and Watergate was a lot like that as well. Cover up of involvement in a third-rate burglary was the opening, but folks were mad at Nixon for Kent State and Vietnam and Cambodia and being Nixon.
It seems like, therefore, major scandals tend to erupt where simple, easily understood wrongs that are difficult to defend overlap to some degree with major policy problems that are more difficult to understand and much easier to defend. The anger and energy created by the latter are focused on the former and all hell breaks loose.
Legislative action on garnishee defendant issue
Thanks to Representative Dvorak for his update on the Commission on Courts’ latest meeting and, in particular, the garnishee defendant issue. The short version of that issue is that the General Assembly passed a fee increase for small claims and plenary civil cases which requires an additional $10 for each additional defendant. So, a small claims case with one defendant is $70, two defendants is $80, etc. The question is whether a “garnishee defendant” (usually an employer named after judgment is entered for the purpose of garnishing the wages of the original defendant) is a defendant for which a $10 fee must be paid before being added to the suit.
According to Rep. Dvorak, the Attorney General has provided a preliminary opinion that concludes:
Based on the garnishee defendant’s role as a “defendant†outside of the original action, the garnishee defendant is named as the holder of wages or funds for the defendant that are subject to claims of the plaintiff. Our preliminary research would indicate that the “garnishee defendant†is not a “judgment defendant†to the original action and therefore the fees assessed to such defendants would not apply to the garnishee.
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