John McCain

Give Mayors a Role in the Obama Administration

Harry Moroz — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:58:28 -0700

This year's presidential campaign has not involved the "urban decline" rhetoric that rallied politicians - and policymakers - to the cause of cities in the mid 1960s and late 1970s. Instead, as Alex MacGillis pointed out in Sunday's WaPo, Senator Obama

"has adopted the framing increasingly favored by many mayors and urban-policy types - promoting America's cities based on their strengths, not their failings."

This framing involves a slight shift of perspective from urban cores to metro areas. In many ways, this optimistic view of cities as nestled within metros (which aren't as politically, or racially, charged as cities) is productive. Economics backs up the sunny view, as MacGillis notes, with the majority of the nation's GDP generated and of its population and jobs located in metro areas.

But the champions of the metro perspective fail to defend the political relationship - the partnership - that is necessary between the federal government and cities. In interviewing mayors from cities across the country, I have consistently heard that cities will not truly prosper until mayors are provided more substantive opportunities to influence federal policy. This influence would extend beyond calls for more funds for the CDBG and COPS programs to provide mayors and other parochial officials occasions to highlight model local policies and coordinate with state officers and, indeed, with other officials inside their metro area.

Mayors have already joined together in ad hoc groups to meet Kyoto Protocol targets and in official organizations like the Conference of Mayors, but they have little formal means to influence federal policy. If mayors are heard at all, they are heard to be begging for money; if they receive money, they often receive too little or are constrained in its use. Providing mayors a platform for influence, exchange, and coordination -similar to Senator Obama's White House Office of Urban Policy - would capitalize on the economic power of metro areas while restoring urban policy to its proper place in national discourse. At its best, this would mean strengthening the power and authority of mayors at the federal level--something that Obama's transition team should embrace.

In today's WSJ, June Kronholz points out that few mayors become president. They have often been overlooked when they should be empowered. Today, mayors nationwide overwhelmingly want the next presidential administration to reverse that trend.
A recent interview DMI's MayorTV did with Mayor Dannel Malloy of Stamford, CT explores the much-needed political partnership between cities and the federal government. Check it out.

For similar video interviews, visit MayorTV.

Meet Joe the REAL Plumber

Tula Connell — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:36:16 -0700

Sen. John McCain, meet Joe the plumber. Unlike Samuel Wurzelbacher, Joe’s given name is…Joe.

And, unlike Wurzelbacher, he’s a licensed plumber.

Joe Moenck, a plumber in Zumbrota, Minn., is a member of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA) Local 6—which, like all building and construction trades unions, has high professional standards for its members—such as making sure they hold a license to practice their craft.

Moenck was dismayed to see McCain repeatedly trot out “Joe the Plumber” during this week’s presidential debate with Sen. Barack Obama. Says Moenck:

I felt that when John McCain was talking about Joe the Plumber, I didn’t feel that that was sincere. He didn’t mention the middle class in the last two debates at all. It upset me that he brought this up strictly because he had to, because his ratings are low among the middle class. I don’t think he believes what he said, but he knows his support is low there and said that strictly for the ratings, as a campaign strategy.

When “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher met Obama in Toledo on Sunday, Wurzelbacher expressed concern about being taxed on earnings of $280,000 per year should he ever start a small plumbing business.

But, as Moenck can tell you, hard workers like him in the building trades aren’t paid anywhere near $250,000 a year. For Moenck—and even for Wurzelbacher, who right now makes far less than his dream salary—Obama’s tax plan would mean a decrease in taxes by more than $1,200 a year—more than under McCain’s tax plan. And should Wurzelbacher ever pull in $250,000, he’d only pay a few hundred dollars more in taxes under Obama’s plan. Not a deal-breaker for a guy thinking of starting a small business.

Wurzelbacher also has a bit of an agenda. He’s a member of the Associated Builders & Contractors, a nonunion trade group that has endorsed McCain.

So, in addition to Moenck, we’d like to introduce McCain to a few other real Joe the plumbers.

There’s Joe Gutzwiller, a licensed plumber in Indianapolis and member of UA Local 440. Gutzwiller shares a lot in common with Moenck, including seeing through McCain’s pretensions of support for America’s middle class.

I heard the one about health care, where McCain wants to tax our benefits, and I just think he’s looking out for bigger businesses and corporations leaving middle class people out of the whole picture.

I think Obama is actually trying to help out middle class people who are feeling the effect of our economy. From what I’ve seen in the debates, he’s trying to prevent future problems and give the middle class a tax break to help stimulate the economy.

And then there’s Joe Tatum in Virginia, who’s been a licensed plumber for 35 years after apprenticing with UA Local 10.

McCain thinks we make over $200,000. I don’t make anywhere close to that. If I did, I could retire now instead of waiting ’til I’m 62.

Over in Colorado, Joe Martinez, a plumber and member of UA Local 3, has this to say:

John McCain doesn’t understand working families and I don’t understand how any plumber can vote for John McCain. He’s just not in touch with the working man at all.

And there’s Joe Vicena, a member of UA Local 75 in Milwaukee, who sees McCain as continuing the same disastrous economic policies as George W. Bush.

Our jobs are being sent overseas, people are losing their pensions and their 401(k)s, and the stock market is tanking. We need change in a positive manner. McCain is not the person to do it. He is absolutely not the person. Me and my family can’t take four more minutes, much less four more years, of the missteps and mispolicies we’ve had the past eight.

Moenck, Gutzwiller, Tatum, Martinez and Vicena agree with their union that Obama is the best choice for America’s plumbers—and all middle-class workers—because, as under Bush, McCain’s economic policy would benefit the wealthiest and flush the rest of us down the tank. As Moenck puts it:

If the middle class doesn’t have money to call Joe the Plumber, Joe the Plumber’s not gonna be in business very long.

(This is a cross-post from the Firedoglake blog.)

Talking Cities: A Video Letter from the Nation's Mayors

Harry Moroz — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 08:45:09 -0700

As final preparations for the last presidential debate are made – water glasses weighed and secret memoranda consulted – both candidates have revamped their economic plans for the economic crisis now gripping the country.

McCain was uncertain, at first, about whether to release a revised plan. But even after deciding that certain “economic news and conditions” demanded such action, he seems to have omitted several critical elements from the proposal. No, if you were concerned, he remembered to include a cut in the capital gains tax. And yes, if you’re worried he was going soft, he will employ a surge strategy to prevent foreclosures.

What McCain forgot is perhaps less obvious, unless you’re Mayor Doherty of Scranton, Mayor Wilder of Richmond, or Mayor McLin of Dayton. Although the McCain-Palin team rallied recently in each of these cities – McCain even announced Palin’s vice presidential candidacy in Dayton – the Republican’s campaign seems not to have taken to heart their experiences in these swing state cities.

Indeed, the McCain-Palin ticket thrived off the rallies’ rabid crowds , but their economic recovery plan provides no aid for the struggling state and local, including city, governments that employ, provide benefits to, and protect the crowds. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio all face midyear FY2009 budget gaps and city governments are increasingly pessimistic about their economic health. This is just one more example of the McCain camp’s failure to address urban issues.

Tonight is the final opportunity that both candidates will have to demonstrate their understanding of the importance of cities. We’ve put together a short video to remind the candidates why cities matter:

McCain's Job Plan: Expensive, Jobs Lost

Armand Biroonak — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:00:00 -0700

John McCain's "Jobs for America" plan would cost $280 billion and create fewer than half a million jobs in 2009.

McCain Plan Adds Tax to Employer-Sponsored Health Care Benefits

Alexander Sewell — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:00:00 -0700

McCain’s health plan will hit families with a huge new tax. Currently, employer-provided health care benefits are tax exempt, a longstanding policy that has saved families thousands of dollars and helped keep health care costs from spiraling out of control. McCain has promised to eliminate this tax break, a move that could add over $1,100 to the average family’s tax bill by 2013.

McCain Health Care Tax Places New Burden on Americans

Alexander Sewell — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:00:00 -0700

The tax credit McCain claims will offset this new burden would rise only at the rate of inflation—not the rate of health care costs, which grow much more quickly—so that by 2018 a family earning $40,000 a year will be paying $2,800 in higher taxes, even with McCain’s tax credit.

The Devil's in the Details: McCain Health Care Plan May Cause Americans to Lose Health Care

Alexander Sewell — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:00:00 -0700

The health care tax exemption does more than lower families’ tax burden; it also provides an incentive for businesses to offer health care benefits to their employees. Without the exemption, an estimated 11 million to 27 million people nationwide will lose their employer-sponsored health insurance. In the hardest-hit states— New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Connecticut—as many as 1 in every 6 currently-insured workers would lose their health care coverage.

McCain Health Care Plan Doesn't Work For The Sick

Alexander Sewell — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:00:00 -0700

McCain’s plan will sink anyone with a pre-existing condition. Plenty of families won’t be able to obtain health coverage at any price, since the McCain plan offers no protection for those with pre-existing conditions. That will allow insurers to refuse to cover an estimated 56 million people who have preexisting conditions such as cancer or diabetes

The Audacity of Contempt

Robert Borosage — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:31:00 -0700

Take gas prices, the most pressing issue on the minds of Americans. Offer a blatant ploy that in fact won't help — but will profit Big Oil. Pocket over a million in contributions from oil executives and use the money to put up an ad promising to take on Big Oil.

Call it the audacity of contempt. Sen. John McCain seems intent on proving that it is possible to scorn Americans into voting for him. Consider McCain's latest ad in the context of his "drill, drill, drill" energy policy. The text of the ad reads:

"Washington's broken. John McCain knows it. We're worse off than we were four years ago. Only McCain has taken on big tobacco, drug companies, fought corruption in both parties. He'll reform Wall Street, battle Big Oil, make America prosper again. He's the original Maverick...

"Battle Big Oil." Say what?

This is the same John McCain who just made offshore drilling for oil a centerpiece of his campaign, reversing his longstanding opposition to it. He did so, not incidentally, while on his way to Texas for a series of fund-raisers. The result unleashed a gusher of donations for Big Oil executives — according to Campaign Money Watch, a nifty $1.2 million from Texas gas and oil interests in June alone, the very month McCain came out for drilling. He no doubt was told what to expect from the dozens of oil company lobbyists and retainers that reportedly are working with or raising money for his campaign.

Exxon reports an $11.7 billion profit for the last three months — a new record in the history of corporatedom. The big five pocketed more than $140 billion last year. So Sen. Barack Obama suggests that we provide every American with a $1,000 tax rebate to help pay for rising prices, paid for by levying an excess profits tax on the oil companies.

What does the maverick battler of Big Oil say? No way. McCain angrily dismisses the idea, saying that it would lead the oil companies to reduce their drilling in the US.

Now, all of this is based upon what might generously be called a big lie. The Big Oil companies, who hold leases for millions of acres that they aren't drilling on, have no intention of drilling for oil off our shores in the near future. They are simply looking to use the crisis to accumulate rights to drill in the future.

Moreover, even if they started tomorrow, it wouldn't help. As Bill Scher of the Campaign for America's Future has detailed, Bush's own Energy Department reports that offshore drilling would produce no relief until about 2030. (McCain disputes that, saying that we'd see oil in a year or two. His source? Anonymous Big Oil executives who no doubt have only the public's interest in mind.) And once the oil comes on line, the Energy Department tells us, it would save us about 6 cents a gallon off the price of gas.

Ironically, McCain regularly sneers at Obama for suggesting that simply filling our tires would have more effect on supply and demand than drilling offshore. But again, according to the Bush Environmental Protection Agency, Obama had that right. If every American kept their tires filled, they'd save the equivalent of 12 cents a gallon starting tomorrow. Drilling sounds muscular but it is simply hot air that would be better used filling up tires.

But this isn't about policy; it's about politics. McCain pretends he's for action now. He paints Obama as out of touch. The fact that the plan would cater to the interests of the oil companies and not the pocketbooks of Americans is beside the point. After all, John McCain is the maverick, ready to "battle Big Oil."

Will it work? Daily tracking polls suggest McCain has been gaining on Obama. And other than House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democrats have been deciding to switch rather than fight on offshore drilling.

But there is one problem. Americans really are hurting this year. It isn't just a "mental recession;" it's the real deal. And they are paying greater attention than ever before. This week, Obama released a full-scale plan to move to energy independence, investing $150 billion over 10 years in renewable energy and conservation, providing subsidies to ensure that the U.S. captures some of the new green auto and appliance markets of the future. That puts us on a long-term path to a sustainable energy future. In the short term, Obama takes on Big Oil with the excess profits tax to help Americans struggling with the cost of gas and food. McCain has a pretty good long-term plan also. The differences would be worth debating.

One difference, though, is clear. McCain's not about to support a tax on the big oil companies, whose executives are helping to fund his campaign. But that won't stop him from selling himself as a maverick promising to "battle Big Oil." If nothing else, he has the audacity of contempt for the very voters he needs to win.

This article originally appeared on The Huffington Post.

McCain Plan Cuts Corporate Taxes

Armand Biroonak — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:00:00 -0700

McCain would cut the corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent and give corporations larger tax deductions. Big oil companies would receive an additional $3.8 billion every year under his plan—$1.2 billion a year for Exxon Mobil alone.