HOLIDAY REFLECTIONS

          During the holidays that proclaim “peace on earth and good will toward men”, it amazes me that many Americans, who abhor torture of enemy combatants, fully support drone strikes that kill innocents with impunity.  Dark deeds in dark places that include water boarding and forced rectal feeding do not provide acceptable Christmas visions.  On the other hand, surgical drone strikes that kill civilians are viewed as an extension of the Xbox video game from under the Christmas tree.

          We would all do well this holiday season to set aside some time for moral reflection, apart from our busy schedules and gift giving.  This process can start by each of us putting on the shoes of someone far, far away, or of a family next door, that is being adversely impacted by misplaced American policy or world events.  This exercise is not unlike the catharsis that Scrooge went through in A Christmas Carol. 

          Start with the orphaned little girl who lost her parents, mistakenly killed by a drone strike in Pakistan.  Or, the young African American college student who has been stopped frisked and humiliated by police, while walking through a white neighborhood on the way to class.  Consider the Latino family, living in fear of deportation, who desperately wants to begin living the American dream for their children.  Ponder the broken mental health system and the family you know with no resources and nowhere to go for help.  Place yourself in the position of a parent who lost a child in the Newtown shootings, which happened two years ago during the holidays. Try to imagine the small rural village in Liberia, where every family has lost someone to Ebola. Place in your mind’s eye, the almost two million Syrian refugees who on Christmas Eve will be trying to survive in Jordanian, Turkish and Lebanese refugee camps, after walking across the desert.

          None of us alone can save the world from immoral deeds, death or destruction. Together, each of us can choose a wrong and pledge to do our part to make it right in 2015.  This small but significant act of one, when multiplied by: “a thousand points of light across a broad and peaceful sky” would provide a vision of Christmas with which even the most ardent non religious humanist could agree.

FOX NEWS RULES IN RURAL AMERICA

          I spent the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in a rural white republican community where Fox News rules the airways 24/7.  There are few minorities living in the area.  There are fewer residents with progressive views.  I found that political or social debate is futile when an individual’s news media input consistently reinforces his or her view of the world.  Even the business and human interest reporting on Fox News seems to be devoted to Obama baiting.  I quickly learned that discussing family, weather and sports were the safe topics to avoid controversy.

          No one at this extended family gathering could find empathy for a muscular young black teenager with a chip on his shoulder who was killed after a police stop for stealing cigars.  The fact that he was unarmed and shot 6 times did not seem to matter.  It was simply impossible for this crowd to place themselves in the shoes of African Americans, where the historical experience with white police officers is quite different from their own.  It was beyond the pale for them to consider, under similar circumstances, whether a pretty young white teenage girl with a chip on her shoulder, who was stopped for shoplifting, would have ended up dead.

          There was even less attempt to understand why a poor minority community would burn and loot its own neighborhood following the grand jury verdict in Ferguson.  Fox News consistently ran a conspiracy story over the Thanksgiving weekend, that the White House had commanded the Missouri National Guard to stand down, insuring that the destruction would take place.  Another constant news story was that well known civil rights leaders had entered the fray and encouraged the violence. 

          Apart from these rather ridiculous opinions, presented as facts, there was no attempt at role reversal or to understand how members of this poor black community could express their anger and rage over what was perceived as an unfair and biased application of justice.  No one at the dinner table was thankful that the aggrieved did not exercise vigilante justice as the white community has so often practiced in the past, when the legal system has not matched its expectations concerning black defendants.

          Colin Powell has stated that despite all of our progress on race relations: “a dark vein of intolerance” prevails in America.  Intolerance or the: “unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one's own”, is not as destructive as overt racism, but it is close and certainly a byproduct of times gone by.  I am not advocating shoplifting, disobeying the police or looting.  I am suggesting that more tolerance by those in authority can avoid a crisis in the first place and help a community heal, after the fact.  This is the message that President Obama delivered immediately after the Ferguson Grand Jury decision.

          The proven solution to intolerance is diversity.  When homogeneous communities diversify, different views are incorporated into the community and the whole is richer than its parts.  Anyone who has spent time in NYC or Toronto knows what I mean.  When communities of color diversify the local justice system, everyone benefits from perceptions of understanding and fairness.  In regard to Ferguson, there is no question that poor urban communities need policing.  However the police force must be diversified to include black officers with its members living in the community and being sensitive to the needs and views of their neighbors.

          Unfortunately, rural America will remain white, protestant and conservative with no desire to diversify and little tolerance for what goes on outside its boundaries.  Fox News is the perfect media source to encourage the lack of diversity and to perpetuate the intolerance.   Sometimes it takes a Thanksgiving weekend to remind me that while the wide open country is a beautiful place to visit, I would never want to live there.

BRAVO TO NO TAX CUTS 11/24/14

          The Washington County Commissioners are to be congratulated.  Their decision not to cut property taxes, despite a surplus in revenue, was the right thing to do.  In the 1990s we witnessed our federal and state governments accumulate surpluses, only to lose the advantage through politically expedient tax cuts.  Within a few years the recession was in full swing and the additional tax dollars could have alleviated cuts to many critical social programs.

          Commissioner Maggi announced that the present surplus would be utilized to address neglected infrastructure in Washington County, including buildings, bridges and roads within county parks.  This approach shows leadership and a far sighted view of the problems facing the County.

          It was interesting that the day following the Commissioners’ announcement; the national airlines came under attack from consumer groups for not cutting the price of tickets, when the price of jet fuel dropped dramatically.  The airline executives responded by reminding the public that the increased revenue would be used to refurbish and buy new aircraft, thereby making the industry safer for the long haul.

          In both the public and private sectors, returning all revenue windfalls to the taxpayer or the consumer is often not the prudent action to take.  Each of us might prefer the short term gain from a tax or ticket price cut, but in the long run, basic improvements and/or saving for the next recession are more constructive and better serve the public good.

PA COURTS ARE ON TRIAL

          Of our three branches of government, the judiciary is considered the most refined, dignified and less controversial.  Not so in Pennsylvania. Our Commonwealth’s Supreme Court has garnered more unwanted headlines than the do nothing legislature and is keeping pace with our lame duck Governor.  On the local scene the Washington County Court System is receiving more ink and editorial attention than the Commissioners. This is not a good thing.

          The judiciary is designed to effectuate the rule of law for all citizens by remaining non political and running a low key operation in the background of government.  It is expected to be heard when opinions are issued or legal decisions made.  Members of the appellate and local courts are held to the highest of ethical and moral standards because they are elected to “judge” the rest of us.  Any appearance of impropriety makes it difficult for citizens to believe they are receiving equal justice under the law.

          The last year has been brutal to the reputation of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.  First, a Justice was criminally charged and convicted of violating the most basic of campaign practices by involving her staff in campaign activities.  Part of her sentence was a public apology to members of the court system, the wording of which has devolved into a comedy of errors.  Most recently, a second Justice was caught in an investigation of porn, distributed via email among high ranking state officials.  The Chief Justice called him a psychopath. He has resigned to preserve his sizeable pension.

          These stains on our highest court have resurrected the age old debate over whether appellate judges should be elected or appointed.  In the short run, the good news is that our new Governor has the ability to appoint two candidates to serve on the Supreme Court for the next year, prior to the November 2015 elections.  Presumably these two individuals will be vetted and recommended by the Pennsylvania Bar Association and be well qualified.  The bad news is that any scoundrel with a thick wallet or wealthy friends who want to buy a seat on the Supreme Court can run in November, an off year election in which the voting tally and public scrutiny will be miniscule.

          In Washington County the President Judge has also limped through a brutal year.  One would have predicted that matters would have improved in 2014 after the election of two new judges to bring the bench back to full strength.  Instead, she has become the subject of several inquiries and a whistle blower lawsuit.  The Supreme Court has taken the unusual step of removing her administrative responsibilities and bringing in a retired Allegheny County Judge to perform these duties.

          As a former court administrator, I have two observations about Judges and administration. First, they generally do not enjoy it.  Second, they often have the wrong temperament and training to be good at it.  The practice of law and judging cases does nothing to prepare an administrative judge for human resource matters, case management, computers and the like.  There is a tendency to either micro manages or to leave all the details to a court administrator, with little oversight until something goes wrong.

           By leaving each President Judge in our 67 counties to his or her own administrative devises, there is no uniformity across the Commonwealth. Worse, bad things can happen. Witness rouge judges in Luzerne County making millions on the backs of juvenile defendants in the “kids for cash” scandal.  Or the former President Judge in Allegheny County packing the court employment roster with her family and relatives.

          The present court of common pleas system in Pennsylvania is a great example of how not to manage an organization.  In most counties the President Judge is chosen based strictly on seniority regardless of credentials.  The exception is Allegheny and Philadelphia counties where all judges vote for the President Judge and the Supreme Court chooses administrative judges for each division of the court.  All county court administrators in Pennsylvania are state employees.  All other court staff continues to be county employees, although they are supervised by the President Judge and not the Commissioners.  Through each county’s salary board the commissioners have final say over new positions and raises.

          In Pennsylvania, child support collection and enforcement is already a state run operation with one computer system for case management and distribution of child support payments.  It would not be much of a stretch to make all court personnel state employees, reporting to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC).  President Judges could continue to give assignments and set schedules for the judges of each county.

          The Supreme Court has already ruled that the court system is the responsibility of the Commonwealth and not the Counties.  Once it sees fit to enforce its own edict, a unified court system, with non judicial court staff administered by the AOPC and not county judges, will prevail.  Judges will then be free to perform what they were elected to do, hear cases and render decisions.

FAILURE TO LEAD

          According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, two-thirds of Americans are worried about an Ebola epidemic in the United States, and more than 4 in 10 are “very” or “somewhat worried” that they or a close family member might catch the virus.    The media frenzy and conspiracy theories on the internet have run riot. Ebola is foreign and exotic and commands our full attention with isolation wards and full body suits.

          Senator Pat Roberts, in the fight of his life for reelection in Kansas, has latched onto this fear of Ebola to attack President Obama and bolster his campaign.  Part of his press release reads:

 “The President has failed to secure our borders, and he is now failing to lead during this crisis.  From the crisis in the Middle East with ISIS, to the standoff in Ukraine with Russia, and now to the spread of Ebola from West Africa to our own shores, this Administration has consistently been two steps behind and asleep at the wheel. We cannot afford the risk of President Obama’s inaction and failure to lead. American’s are frightened, and they deserve better.”

          It is the Senator’s reference to “failure to lead” that grabbed my attention. His party along with a coalition of conservatives and libertarians have filed suit against the President for taking action on a number of issues with which they do not agree.  The lawsuit involves a series of executive orders that Obama issued on climate change, immigration rules, the health-care law and raising the minimum wage for federal contractors.  He has also unilaterally filled important governmental positions that were left unaddressed by Congress for many months if not years.

          Republicans claim that these Presidential actions were power grabs that did not have the requisite backing from Congress.  Tea party members have actually called for impeaching the President for issuing the executive orders.  These are the very same republicans who control the 113th House of Representatives, a legislative body all but assured of being the least productive in recorded history in terms of passing legislation signed into law.

          So when is the President leading too much and when is he failing to lead?  Is it simply a matter of partisan politics or is there something more basic in our unique system of government?  Any student of constitutional history knows that while Alexander Hamilton sought a strong executive for the “protection of the community” and the “steady administration of laws”, James Madison sought a system of checks and balances that greatly limited the executive.  Madison won this debate and our constitutional republic is based on the limitation of authority and the division of power.

           Unfortunately, this division of power is not clearly defined or divided and often replicated among the three branches of government and among federal, state and local authorities.  The result is that any new crisis that has not been put to the test, like infectious disease, or is politically charged, like immigration or is constitutionally unclear, like the war powers, becomes muddled and messy until a consensus can be built.

          The President is neither a benevolent dictator nor a pawn of the Congress and Judiciary.  He is an executive constantly seeking a path to power through the maze that is our constitutional system.  This is why he can be criticized for acting and not acting in the same conversation.  When it comes to the exercise of power, the leader of the free world is anything but free.  When it comes to Ebola, my guess is that the country will learn a great deal from the present scare, similar to the consensus that was built after 9/11,  and be much better prepared in the future for “the big one”, most likely an influenza pandemic.