Policy Documents

The Heartlander: January-February 2009 (Full Text)

edited by Diane Carol Bast –
January 1, 2009

The Heartland Institute’s Fifth Annual Emerging Issues Forum, a day-long series of panels and presentations looking forward to the most important public policy issues in the coming year, took place on October 2. This annual event is an opportunity for Heartland supporters, elected officials, and civic and business leaders to hear the nation’s leading policy experts discuss what public policy challenges and opportunities lay ahead.

Forty elected officials--many of them members of the Legislative Forum at The Heartland Institute--joined scores of policy experts and Heartland supporters at Cathedral Hall of the University Club in downtown Chicago. The corporate cosponsors of the event were Altria, Dezenhall Resources, Microsoft, PhRMA, Secure Services Corporation, and UST Public Affairs.

Proceedings to Be Published

A book presenting the remarks delivered at the Fifth Annual Emerging Issues Forum will be published in early 2009. Those who attended the event and all current Heartland donors and members will be sent a copy; it also will be available on Heartland’s Web site at www.heartland.org.

24th Anniversary Benefit Dinner

The Heartland Institute’s 24th anniversary benefit dinner followed the Emerging Issues Forum. The event took place in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Chicago Hotel, with more than 475 guests attending, and featured a debate with two outstanding speakers, Peter Brimelow and Jacob Hornberger, on the subject “Immigration Policy for a Free Society.” It was an inspiring and entertaining evening--fine food, a spectacular venue, a stimulating debate, and wonderful camaraderie.

The debate will be published in early 2009; those who attended the dinner and all current Heartland donors and members will be sent a copy. It also will be available on Heartland’s Web site at www.heartland.org.

Silver Anniversary!

The Heartland Institute was founded 25 years ago in April, making 2009 our silver anniversary! Planning already has begun for our 25th Anniversary Benefit Dinner. If you’d like to participate in that planning--perhaps by helping us identify potential speakers, or by joining an invitation committee--please contact Vice President Lauren Chrissos or Membership Manager John O’Hara at 312/377-4000.

COMING UP: MARCH 8-10, 2009
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Please make plans to join us in New York on March 8-10, 2009, when we expect 1,000 “global warming skeptics” to come together to finally put an end to global warming alarmism! The event is the second International Conference on Climate Change to be hosted by The Heartland Institute. Last year’s was a complete success that attracted world-wide media attention.

This year’s speakers include the world’s best-known and most widely respected scientists and political leaders (see the list on this page and the next two pages). Two new additions to the program are astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, who walked on the moon in 1972, and José María Aznar, former prime minister of Spain.

This year’s theme is “Global Warming: Was it ever really a crisis?” The theme and conference logo direct attention to the global cooling trend that is now entering its ninth or 10th year (depending on what year you use as a starting point), as well as the rapidly declining support for “gloom and doom” scenarios in the scientific community, the general public, and among elected officials.

“Surveys of scientists and opinion polls of the general public clearly show the global warming scare has passed its high-water mark and is in sharp decline,” said Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland Institute. “We were able to bring 550 “skeptics” together for a major scientific conference in 2008, and we expect to double that turn-out in 2009. It will be an important event, signaling the beginning of the end of global warming as a political issue.”

The event will take place Sunday, March 8 through Tuesday, March 10, at the Marriott New York Marquis Hotel on Manhattan’s Time Square, 1535 Broadway, New York City. Hundreds of scientists, economists, elected officials, and civic and business leaders from around the world are already registered to attend. Four series of panels will address the science, impacts, politics, and economics of climate change.

To register online for this important event, please go to Heartland’s Web site at www.heartland.org and click on the event’s logo. Or call 312/377-4000 and ask for more information. A block of rooms at the Marriott Marquis has been reserved for our guests, so be sure to ask for hotel information.

We are also still seeking contributions to help offset the cost of this event. Sorry, no corporate contributions can be accepted. If you understand the importance of this issue and can provide financial support, please call Heartland Vice President Lauren Chrissos at 312/377-4000 or contact her by email at lchrissos@heartland.org.

More Information

Several Heartland staffers are involved in the planning and orchestration of this event:

Dan Miller, executive vice president, responsible for promotion and overall event success, dmiller@heartland.org

James M. Taylor, senior fellow, responsible for the program and speakers, jtaylor@heartland.org

Nikki Comerford, events manager, responsible for hotel, travel, and exhibit opportunities, ncomerford@heartland.org

Zwahy’yah McElrath, executive assistant, responsible for registration, zmcelrath@heartland.org

Zonia Pino, legislative specialist, responsible for recruiting and working with cosponsors, zpino@heartland.org

You will also find further details, including online registration, on the 2009 conference Web site, accessible from www.heartland.org.

2008 Conference Remarks Published

David Archibald, an Australian-based scientist working in the fields of climate science, cancer research, and oil exploration, wrote to us in December with news that he has published a book based on comments he delivered at our 2008 International Conference on Climate Change. The book details how the Sun, not carbon dioxide, controls climate and predicts a significant cooling for the next two decades. The book shows carbon taxes are unnecessary and extremely destructive of economic growth.

The book, titled Solar Cycle 24: Why the world will continue cooling and why carbon dioxide won't make a detectable difference, has a foreword by British botanist and conservationist David Bellamy.

BUDGET & TAX

Budget & Tax News

November was a scheduled skip month.

  • The October issue highlighted the high cost of government, reporting on the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Ten Thousand Commandments report and the annual Cost of Government Day report issued by the Americans for Tax Reform Foundation.
  • The December issue focused on the federal government’s recent “buyouts, bailouts, loans, takeovers, and giveaways” ... and warned more intervention might be on the horizon, as budget-challenged state governments begin to demand federal rescue money as well.

Government Relations

On October 15, Legislative Specialist John Nothdurft sent to elected officials in all 50 states a Research & Commentary comparing defined-benefit pensions to defined-contribution pensions. Personal calls and emails to legislators in states where the issue is particularly pressing--including Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and New Jersey--were made. www.heartland.org/policybot/results.html?articleid=23974

On October 21, Local Legislation Manager Ralph Conner sent a Research & Commentary on the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), written by Conner and Nothdurft, to the Florida Association of Counties. Conner also contacted the individual county elected officials for the five largest counties in Florida: Collier, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach, and Polk.

On November 21, Nothdurft sent a Research & Commentary outlining the inefficiency of film tax subsidies to all 50 states. “Rolling out a red carpet full of taxpayer dollars in exchange for the fleeting glitz and glam of Hollywood is no substitute for sound fiscal policy,” he writes. www.heartland.org/policybot/results.html?articleid=24204

In the News

John Skorburg, University of Illinois/Chicago economist and Heartland policy advisor, tweaked the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who in a Chicago Sun-Times (circ. 496,000) column characteristically criticized advocates who favor lower taxes. In a letter to the Sun-Times published on October 22, Skorburg wrote, “I noticed the mentioning of an ‘Andrew Laffer and his famous Laffer curve.’ There is indeed a famous Laffer curve that does equate high taxes with diminishing government revenues--but such a curve was developed by Dr. Arthur B. Laffer, still known as Art Laffer to fellow economists. (Perhaps Andrew is his younger brother?)”

On October 27, the Daily Herald (circ. 151,190) published a letter from Assistant Government Relations Director Brian Costin about the taxpayer-financed minor league baseball stadium, Alexian Field, in Schaumburg, Illinois. “There is no time like now for Schaumburg to end corporate welfare, sell the stadium and the surrounding land to the highest bidder, and recoup as much of the taxpayers’ expenses as possible,” Costin writes. “Schaumburg’s experiment in corporate welfare for professional sports teams has failed miserably.” www.heartland.org/policybot/results.html?articleid=24036

The Elk City (Oklahoma) Daily News (circ. 5,000) liked Legislative Specialist Matthew Glans’ take on what caused the financial market meltdown. On November 6, it ran his letter to the editor, “Government, Not Market, Caused the Subprime Crisis.”

As stock prices crashed and soared amid the U.S. Treasury Department’s changes in bailout strategy, thestreet.com sought Heartland Research Fellow Steve Stanek on November 12 to explain investor uncertainty. Stanek said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s assertion that the facts have changed “is a tacit admission that he did not know what would come next, and I’ll bet he still does not know what will come next.” The next day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 400 points.

Glans played in Peoria November 16, when the Journal-Star (circ. 73,866) published his spirited defense of capitalism in “Don’t Write Free Market’s Obituary Yet.” Glans wrote, “The federal government should back off and allow the market to run its course,” Glans continued. “The market has a spectacularly better record of success than any government agency.” (See page 2 of this Heartlander.)

As reports spread of severe budget deficits among the states, Fox News/Business reporter Brian Sullivan asked November 17 “Why Isn’t Anyone Talking Later Retirement for Government Workers?” He cited a Heartland study of state pension fund obligations that showed “the average retirement age of a California state worker was 59 years old in 2004. That’s the average, meaning many workers are retiring at an even earlier age.”

Glans argued in the November 24 St. Louis Post-Dispatch (circ. 265,111) that legislative limits on consumer borrowing choices are bad policy and bad economics. Noting St. Louis officials are pushing for regulations to limit payday loans, Glans wrote, “The market for these loans developed and thrived because the lenders provided a needed service. The inherent risk of these borrowers necessitates the fees charged. If the fees are unreasonable, consumers will not use the service. The government should not interfere with the personal choices of consumers.”

Nothdurft offered some sound advice to California Gov. Schwarzenegger in the pages of the Marysville (California) Appeal-Democrat (circ. 22,431) on November 30. Nothdurft said the governor’s proposal to hike sales taxes to close a $10 billion deficit “would be about as useful as telling a person to kick his legs while stuck in quicksand.”

On November 5, Local Legislation Manager Ralph Conner sent Heartland’s Research & Commentary on airport privatization to the city council and mayor of Gary, Indiana.

Assistant Government Relations Director Brian Costin appeared on Sky TV News (UK) on November 5 via satellite feed from the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. He commented on the results of the U.S. presidential and Congressional elections and the future of free-market public policy in light of the $700 billion bailout.

WGRZS-TV Ch. 2 in Buffalo sent a crew to New York City on November 5 to interview Gary MacDougal, lead author of the Heartland Policy Study, “Welfare Reform After Ten Years: A State-by-State Analysis of Anti-Poverty Success and Welfare Reform Policies.”

SMOKING BANS AND TAXES

Government Relations

On October 21, Local Legislation Manager Ralph Conner sent the city council of Atlantic City, New Jersey the Research & Commentary developed by Legislative Specialist John Nothdurft about the financial burden of smoking bans. The City Council later voted to continue to allow smoking at Atlantic City casinos.

On October 29, Nothdurft sent a Research & Commentary on cigarette taxes to Kansas, where a push is being made by the Kansas Health Policy Authority to use a 75-cent cigarette tax increase to pay for health costs. He writes, “Funding a high-profile need such as health care with a cigarette tax increase is particularly hazardous because it ties an inherently unstable tax to an increase in government spending.” www.heartland.org/policybot/results.html?articleid=24056

A proposed smoking ban in Michigan was narrowly rejected ... but then revived during a lame-duck session of the legislature. On November 5, Nothdurft sent a Research & Commentary describing the effect a smoking ban would have on the economy, property rights, and consumer choice in Michigan. He writes, “Violating the rights of smokers (who are using a legal product, after all) and the businesses that cater to them is wrong--especially when the free market already provides both smoking and non-smoking environments from which employees and customers can freely choose.” www.heartland.org/policybot/results.html?articleid=24103

In the News

USA Today (circ. 2.3 million) provided Nothdurft with an opportunity October 22 to respond to an article about state-run colleges in Pennsylvania banning smoking anywhere on campuses. Calling such bans “political correctness overkill,” Nothdurft observed, “While some campuses offer ‘free-speech zones,’ areas designated for student demonstrations where people speak out on whatever they wish, many of those campuses don’t offer a similar area to smokers.”

On November 9, Nothdurft’s letter to the editor criticizing The Oregonian’s (circ. 375,913), stance on cigarette taxes was published. “The Oregonian seems to miss the fact that higher cigarette taxes have a far more negative impact on citizens and budgets than on the tobacco industry.” Nothdurft forwarded the letter, along with more in-depth information on cigarette taxes, to the governor and Oregon’s legislature.

Nothdurft warned legislators November 10 in The Times of Trenton (New Jersey) (circ. 84,232) to beware of smoking bans in casinos. “In Illinois, where I reside,” Nothdurft wrote, “casinos are struggling mightily since implementation of a statewide smoking ban. Many anti-smoking special-interest groups try to downplay the economic effects, but the numbers are too staggering to reasonably dispute. Since the beginning of 2008, the cumulative adjusted gross receipts of Illinois casinos are down 18.35 percent from where they were at this time last year.”

FINANCE AND INSURANCE

Government Relations

On October 15, Legislative Specialist Matthew Glans distributed a new Research & Commentary on the Community Reinvestment Act. He comments on CRA’s effect on the current credit crisis and the unintended consequences of its lending policies. “Any expansion of CRA that limits market flexibility and unnecessarily increases risk is not good policy: A financial collapse benefits no one,” he notes. The R&C was published in the online libertarian journal, Rational Review. www.heartland.org/policybot/results.html?articleid=23980

On October 16, Glans, Assistant Government Relations Director Brian Costin, and Heartland President Joseph Bast attended the Schumpeter Symposium at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. The lively discussion covered the role of capitalism in moving the economy out of its current slump and its continued importance in the face of growing regulation.

On October 21, Glans sent a policy update to legislators in South Carolina on student loans in the state. “One of the great tragedies affecting higher education today is the overpricing of an education that carries less and less value. Any plan to address the student loan ‘crisis’ needs to be paired with a plan to cut colleges’ unnecessary spending,” he writes.

On October 29, Glans distributed a new Research & Commentary on the state of California’s unemployment insurance program. He comments on the imminent failure of the state’s unemployment fund and discourages legislators from raising California’s unemployment taxes, among the lowest in the country. Glans also presents a private alternative, encouraging legislators to consider a free-market system. In addition to state elected officials, the R&C was sent to editors in California and was published in the online newspaper News Blaze.

On November 4, Glans sent a policy update to legislators in Florida commenting on the closure of Freedom Bank. “Freedom Bank is the 17th bank to be seized by the FDIC since the beginning of 2008,” he notes. The piece was published in the online libertarian journal, Rational Review. www.heartland.org/policybot/results.html?articleid=24104

On November 11, Glans distributed a new Research & Commentary on worker’s compensation insurance, commenting on how different states approach the issue and some of the failures and successes they have encountered. www.heartland.org/policybot/results.html?articleid=24115

On November 25, Glans sent a new Research & Commentary on Ohio’s unemployment insurance program. He comments on the rising number of recipients entering the system and the inability of the state to cover the benefits. He notes, “tax increases and federal bailouts do little to address the systemic deficiencies in the unemployment system; they merely allow the existing problems to survive and continue to grow. Real reform--reform that fundamentally re-examines the state’s role in providing unemployment benefits--must get underway.” www.heartland.org/policybot/results.html?articleid=24212

In the News

Assistant Government Relations Director Brian Costin appeared on Jerry Hughes’ Straight Talk radio program on October 8. The two discussed the $700 billion financial bailout bill and why the government--not the free market--was the cause of the collapse in the housing and banking industries.

Also on October 8, a letter written by Glans on the effect of runaway spending by colleges on student loans was published in the Seattle Times. “The real cause of the growing cost of education is the growing addiction to spending in colleges nationwide,” he writes. “Higher education has a spending problem, and it is trying pass its own excesses on to the government and taxpayers.”

On November 5, an op-ed written by Glans commenting on the government’s role in creating the subprime mortgage crisis was published by two newspapers, the News Blaze of California and the Elk City Daily News. “[I]t’s wrong to write an obituary for the free market,” writes Glans. “To blame the current crisis on a lack of regulation is not only inaccurate, it’s dishonest. The true failure of the meltdown in the financial sector lies with the institutions of government that are now attempting to regulate themselves out of the mess they made of the economy.”

Also on November 5, a letter written by Glans discussing residual insurance markets in Alabama was published in the Mobile Press-Register. “While the goal of restarting the real estate market is important, subsidizing the construction and coverage of new homes in coastal areas vulnerable to wind and flood damage is both irresponsible and unfair to homeowners who build in safer areas.” The letter also was published, the following day, in the Birmingham Press-Register (circ. 99,742).

On November 16, an op-ed written by Glans defending the free-market was published by the Peoria Journal-Star. “Despite the quagmire of mismanagement at the federal level, evidence of the market’s wisdom remains abundant. After the fall of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, banks became increasingly risk-averse, which led to an increase in the overnight lending rate, the rate individual banks charge one another for loans. Many banks also raised the interest rates they paid to depositors, to attract more capital. This was the fiscally responsible thing to do.”

On November 24, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published Glans’ letter to the editor commenting on the death of payday lending in Arizona and Ohio and a proposed payday lending ban in St. Louis.

On November 29, a letter written by Glans discussing the effect of college spending habits on student loan availability was published in the Sacramento Bee. “The private student loan industry’s reliance on government aid ultimately encourages poor spending habits and stifles financial innovation. Increasing the flow of student loans without addressing the spending problem will only ensure that another bailout will be just around the corner,” he notes.

HEALTH CARE

Health Care News

October was a scheduled skip month.

  • The November issue reported Census Bureau news that the number of uninsured in the U.S. fell by nearly two million in 2007 and covered California’s budget battle, health IT, retiree health care, and consumer-directed health care news.
  • The December issue reported, among other things, passage of the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act--a “mental health parity” measure onto which the $700 billion Wall Street bailout was attached.

Consumers for Health Care Choices

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, chairman of Freedom Works, keynoted the November 12 annual meeting and awards banquet of Consumers for Health Care Choices, Heartland's initiative to build grassroots support for consumer-driven health care.

“Dick Armey was a very rare politician in Washington,” said CHCC President Greg Scandlen. “He was able to admit it when he made a mistake, and learn from the experience. He told me once that supporting HIPAA [the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996] was one of the biggest mistakes he made while in Congress.”

Scandlen said Armey lived up to his reputation as “an idea machine and one-man think tank and is one of the most dynamic and inspiring speakers ever to lead a majority party in the nation’s capital.”

In the News

Endocrine Today--a leading trade publication for physicians--queried MDs in October about the presidential candidates’ health care plans. Heartland Senior Fellow Dr. Richard Dolinar, an endocrinologist, noted both candidates “favor greater government intervention in various ways.” He also warned that schemes that compensate doctors for their performance pose a danger: “If you set up a doctor on a pay-for-performance basis, you are going to fundamentally change the doctor-patient relationship because, ultimately, you will look at how you are treating the patient as a ‘will this patient help or hurt my statistics?’ type of situation.”

Investor’s Business Daily (circ. 172,618) reported November 20 that congressional proposals to mandate health insurance--either by individuals or through employers--are gaining ground among insurance companies. But proponents have trouble facing up to the issue of the enormous cost to healthy individuals and employers to provide coverage to those too poor to afford to provide private insurance. In analyzing huge cost overruns in mandate-heavy Massachusetts, Greg Scandlen, president of Consumers for Health Care Choices at The Heartland Institute, warned, “Because those taking up subsidized coverage were so high, it has cost more than the state expected. [The state] estimated about 38 percent, or 162,000, of those who have gained coverage in Massachusetts receive it through state-subsidized plans. These plans could cost the state $1.35 billion by 2011, double what was initially estimated.”

Jeff Emanuel, managing editor of Health Care News, wrote in the November 26 PharmaLive, an influential online newsletter, “legal history was made earlier this month when an intermediate appeals court in San Francisco became the first appellate court in the nation to let a civil case go forward against a product manufacturer by a consumer who used the generic equivalent of that product. The theory behind the suit was that Wyeth, as the original developer and manufacturer, had a responsibility to warn all consumers of generic equivalents of its drugs--not just Wyeth’s own customers--of risks and side effects of its drugs.”

Lamenting the Clinton-tint to the newly named Obama cabinet, columnist John Eby of the Niles (Michigan) Daily Star (circ. 3,383) wrote on November 30, “This is change?: Former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle from South Dakota, who lost his seat to a Republican four years ago, is rewarded for his early public support of President-elect Obama with Health and Human Services Secretary. ... Jeff Emanuel, legislative specialist on health care at The Heartland Institute and managing editor of Health Care News, says Daschle’s selection sends a ‘very disappointing signal about what direction his administration will go in terms of health care policy and reform.”

More Choices, Better Health

In November, Bart Madden, a Heartland policy advisor and author of More Choices, Better Health, toured Europe promoting his ideas for improving patients’ access to experimental drugs. Madden's booklet develops a “dual tracking” model for easier access to pharmaceutical innovation. The model empowers doctors and patients with wider therapeutic choices and improves decision-making about experimental products.

On November 7, Madden was the keynote speaker at the inaugural MedECON conference in Geneva, Switzerland. The conference was hosted by Medicine & Liberty, an organization established to promote interchange between economists and health care professionals in order to further the understanding of how market economics relates to accessible, patient-centered, quality health care and medical progress.Madden’s More Choices, Better Health--which was translated by Medicine & Liberty into French and distributed at the conference.

Madden reported on his European adventures in mid-November:

“Today is day no. 20 of a long European trip and I finally fly home tomorrow. Participated in dual tracking presentations, panel discussions, private meetings, etc. in London, Geneva, Brussels, and Vilnius, Lithuania.

“Presentation in London had some exceptionally high level and sharp drug regulators, academics, and pharma guys. Best criticisms that I have yet received. That caused me to modify my presentation to include the ‘standard argument’ for maintaining the status quo regulatory system and four reasons why that is a weak argument. In subsequent presentations, that material has been especially well received.

“Made a great many useful contacts in each city. I made the case with Lithuanian politicians that there is significant economic opportunity for the first country to implement DT. [I sent a summary of] these ideas ... to the right people with whom I have spent considerable time. One is a very smart woman who is special advisor to the president for economic and social policy. The other is Remigijus Simasius, who has been the president of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute. Remigijus has just been appointed minister of justice, and that position involves organizing new legislation. We’ll see where this goes ...

“I also want to pitch this economic proposal to Switzerland. ... In addition, the DT concept continues to gain traction in Sweden. Any ideas for a pro-free-market, heavyweight Swedish politician I should contact?”

INFOTECH & TELECOM

Three issues of InfoTech & Telecom News were released since publication of the last Heartlander:

  • The October issue highlighted computer security concerns, from transit system hacking to DNS vulnerabilities to Russia’s cyberwar against Georgia.
  • The November issue spotlighted privacy ... and the market’s efforts to address those concerns.
  • The December issue featured Google’s announcement that it would not jump through federal regulators’ hoops to pursue a search ad deal with Yahoo. Page 1 also reported on Sen. Herb Kohl’s questioning of telecom companies about their text-message pricing practices.

In the News

Jim Lakely, managing editor of InfoTech & Telecom News, was published in The Hill, a must-read newsletter in Washington, DC. In an analysis piece published October 14, he warned, “Most Americans would be shocked to learn that when they return from an overseas trip, the Department of Homeland Security could confiscate their laptop, personal digital assistant (PDA), or any other piece of personal electronics equipment--without cause. And copy all the material on that electronic device. And keep it for an indefinite period of time. But that is precisely Department of Homeland Security policy, and it needs to be changed.” Lakely concluded, “The United States can protect itself from potential terrorists without the kind of arbitrary property seizures that violate the basic tenets of a free society.”

The Baltimore Sun (circ. 232,138) ran on October 13 Lakely’s letter to the editor following the failure of the city-run WiMax system--just the latest in a long line of muni WiFi failures. Baltimore’s cratering was followed by Sprint’s move into WiMax, and Lakely observed, “Sprint saw a market need and is investing its own funds to meet it. The city saw a need to spend public funds and energy on WiFi technology, whether or not there was a market for it. The result: Sprint will likely succeed, while Baltimore’s ‘free’ city WiFi has been a wasteful flop. This experience should be a lesson to Baltimore and other cities: The market will provide--better, faster, and cheaper than any government can.”

EDUCATION

School Reform News

Three issues of School Reform News were released since publication of the last Heartlander:

  • The October issue highlighted proposals for teacher merit pay and reported how an eclectic mix of Democratic wunderkinds, tough-talking education reformers, and one elder statesman are challenging their party to step away from teachers unions and return to fighting for the educational rights of poor and minority children.
  • The November issue spotlighted charter schools and also addressed vouchers, homeschooling, autism, cash-for-grades, the presidential candidates’ positions on education reform, and more. The issue offered an exclusive interview with Patrick Byrne, founder of Overstock.com and co-chairman of the board of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, and a review of Charles Murray’s new book, Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality.
  • The December issue reports that the “most frivolous lawsuit ever” has been filed against Arizona’s tuition tax credit programs. The state supreme court has agreed to hear the case.

In the News

Dan Proft, regular columnist for School Reform News, countered Florida educrats’ plan to pay students for the grades they achieve in school. “Paying cash for grades cheats education,” Proft wrote in the Florida Sun-Sentinel (circ. 226,591) on October 22. “The fundamental problem with cash-for-grades programs is that they are yet another bailing-out-the-Titanic-with-a-teaspoon approach to education reform.”

Heartland Senior Fellow Robert Holland, in a letter to the editor of the Mobile (Alabama) Press Register published October 27, asked state legislators who rejected a charter school option, “Is Alabama afraid of charter schools? Why does Alabama stand virtually alone in the South in rejecting even the possibility of education entrepreneurs starting a public charter school?”

The Philadelphia Bulletin (circ. 89,771) liked Holland’s post-election analysis of voters on a key education question. “Not all the voting was done by ballot,” Holland wrote in a November 6 letter. “The parents who camped out Sunday night en masse in order to be first in line for their choice of public school in Delaware’s Brandywine School District were voting with their feet--or their sleeping bags. That zeal to exercise school choice compares with that of voters who stood in line for hours to participate in an historic election. It shows how badly parents want to be able to select the very best school for their child.”

On November 9, Holland used the Richmond, Virginia Times-Dispatch (circ. 186,441) to caution the local school board against trying to fill the vacant superintendent’s job with a superman or superwoman, as media coverage is touting. Wrote Holland, “Super ego leads the superintendent to conclude that he or she can do no wrong and can push to implementation any sort of flashy innovation (iBooks for all comes to mind) without building the necessary consensus among teachers and families. The leader should never be so self-absorbed as to refuse to hear other views or to admit error and make corrections when that is in order.”

The Baltimore Sun (circ. 232,138) also gave Holland space on November 9 to point out, “There is a way to avoid the high cost of educational faddism implemented by central school administrations on a mass scale: Rely on independently managed charter schools to address actual public demand for innovative classroom arrangements.”

On November 11, Holland took Mississippi to task in the Delta Democrat Times (circ. 12,632) for opening a single charter school in the state while “imposing absurd barriers to opening (more charter schools).” He noted President-elect Barack Obama strongly endorsed charter schools as instruments of school reform, concluding, “If Mississippi wishes to let this opportunity pass it by, its lawmakers ought at least do the honest thing and repeal the phony enabling law.”

The Orlando Sentinel (circ. 226,854) liked advice from Karla Dial, managing editor of School Reform News, who praised Florida education officials November 18 for developing a robust online virtual school program online. Wrote Dial, “Kudos for thinking outside the box, Florida. But, since you are, after all, Florida--a state that serves parents by providing almost every form of school choice--I can’t really say this is a surprise. Keep up the great work.”

Dial also won a spot in the Racine (Wisconsin) Journal-Times as she thanked the paper for its “excellent editorial on school choice, ‘Take a Hard Look at Bringing School Vouchers to Racine’ (November 15). It’s great to see such thoughtful commentary from the mainstream media on this issue.”

ENVIRONMENT

December was a scheduled skip month.

  • The October issue featured several articles about the rapidly waning concern over global warming and covered nuclear power, oil shale, wind power, and more. Heartland Science Director reviews How to Spend $50 Billion to Make the World a Better Place, by Bjorn Lomborg.
  • The November issue highlighted wind power and also addressed Seattle’s plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, California’s plan to regulate chemicals, San Francisco’s plan to impose green building codes, ethanol, endangered species, and more.

Gore in the Classroom

Throughout October and November, Legislative Specialist Zonia Pino worked on Heartland’s "Gore in the Classroom" project, which seeks to find parents concerned that their children are being indoctrinated on the issue of global warming. Pino has been in contact with parents as well as teachers, letting them know there are alternatives to Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Pino has sent more than 200 copies of Heartland’s “Climate Change in the Classroom: Education or Indoctrination?” package, which includes a copy of the book Unstoppable Global Warming,” the “Unstoppable Solar Cycles” and “Great Global Warming Swindle” DVDs, and Heartland’s Scientific Consensus on Global Warming booklet. The package also includes the complete text of Justice Michael Burton’s October 2, 2007 British High Court decision finding Gore’s film to be “partisan” and “propaganda.” Burton ruled the film should not be shown to students without a guidance document pointing out Gore’s mistakes and exaggerations.

Iowa Science Teachers Conference

In October, Pino and Senior Fellow Maureen Martin attended the Iowa Science Teachers Conference, where they met with and distributed materials to science teachers who were interested in how to best teach climate change. The conference gave Pino and Martin the opportunity to meet with and speak to the heads of school science departments who are responsible for curriculum implementation.

Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed new rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The rules proposed are draconian, would economic liberties, and would cost taxpayers and consumers billions of dollars a year.

Senior Fellow Sandy Liddy Bourne attended weekly coalition meetings at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and The Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC to coordinate the free-market movement's response to EPA’s request for comments on the ANPR. She and Senior Fellow Maureen Martin submitted testimony on behalf of The Heartland Institute, and Bourne's national alerts about the ANPR were posted on the Heartland Web site. More than 30,000 coalition comments were sent to EPA, several of which are posted on the Heartland Web site at www.heartland.org/suites/environment/ANPR.html.

Pino has made it a priority to inform all members of Congress about the propose,  and Heartland’s work on it. She has sent copies of the proposed rules, as well as free-market responses to them, and has spoken to the offices of more than 90 elected officials on the topic.

On October 22-23, Bourne gave a presentation on the federal initiatives for greenhouse gas emission regulation to the Council of Industrial Boiler Owners in Charleston, South Carolina.

Global Warming Curriculum

Pino has been working with the Idea Channel on a new curriculum for science classrooms that would serve to counteract the damage done by “An Inconvenient Truth.” The curriculum is designed to appeal to high school students and will be science-driven, not politically motivated. She hopes to have the curriculum ready early in 2009. If you can help us on this project--perhaps by identifying ways to get the new curriculum into classrooms--please contact Legislative Specialist Zonia Pino at 312/377-4000, email zpino@heartland.org.

Taylor Rules in Denver

There was no doubt who won the face-off November 20 featuring Heartland Senior Fellow James M. Taylor, managing editor of Environment & Climate News and a fearsome debater on climate issues. At a forum for 40 mayors arranged by the Independence Institute in Denver, Taylor debated Marty Hoerling of the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

How’d it go, James?

“Marty was so ticked that he refused to shake my hand afterward, even after we had talked amiably for 20 minutes beforehand. Gee, all I did was professionally, cordially, and amiably present the science ...”

Singer Wins One for Sound Science at Argonne

When Argonne National Laboratory invited Unstoppable Global Warming author S. Fred Singer to debate Michael Schlesinger, the notorious global warming alarmist from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, on November 24, we thought we had the ideal venue for a battle of titans on the causes and severity of global warming.

Alas, Argonne was having none of it. It not only refused to allow even a single Heartland staffer to be present to take notes, it prohibited Heartland from distributing its publications, except Fred’s own Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate, which Heartland published.

One of the 300-or-so scientists in attendance reported Singer carried the day. In fact, Schlesinger apparently was so flummoxed that he felt obliged to send an email for distribution to Argonne scientists explaining a point he couldn’t explain in open debate with Singer.

Singer said the Q&A that followed “could have continued much longer. Too bad we ran out of time.” Always a good sign for sound science.

On the Road with Lehr

On November 10, Heartland Science Director Jay Lehr--who travels with a library of Heartland material on climate issues--spoke in Tucson, Arizona to staffers and executives at Syngenta, the world’s largest pesticide and herbicide producer. “They loved the Heartland stuff,” he reported. “Then I had 200 ag people at the Kentucky Agriculture Conference in Lexington, and each one walked away with Environment & Climate News and my card. I got rave reviews. So plain folks like our take.”

The reverse side of Lehr’s business card carries 10 statements of fact-not-myth about global warming. It’s so succinct and handy that other Heartland staffers are having the statements printed on their own business cards.

On November 20, Lehr and Kim Rasmusson, chief executive of an electric cooperative in Utah, spent an hour with 350 members of the Washington State Farm Bureau in Seattle debunking the junk science behind the alarmists’ warnings on global warming. Reported Jay, “150 attendees followed us into an hour-long break-out session for Q&A. A few people told us how much they already enjoyed receiving Environment & Climate News.”

In the News

On October 9, a letter to the editor by Local Legislation Manager Ralph Conner, “Green Pipe Dreams,” was published in the San Jose Mercury News (circ. 230,870). He wrote about phony green jobs estimates made by Mayor Chuck Reed and noted, “The 1,500 new jobs created by renewable energy solar panel companies pale in comparison to potential jobs that would be created from clean coal, deep geothermal, domestic oil drilling, and new nuclear plants. If the goal is economic development instead of political correctness, then Mayor Reed should access the pipeline of new jobs in a diversified energy.”

Terry Evers, a citizen of Springdale, Arkansas, referred to a Heartland study in a November 7 letter to the editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times (circ. 13,447): “For global warming’s alarmists, evidence increases against them. The Heartland Institute ... links long-term changes in Pacific Ocean temperature to global surface temperatures and finds that with the Pacific cooling over the last eight years, 2000 to 2008, global temperatures are cooling rather than warming. ...”

On November 14, Dow Jones News Service cited Heartland as a key opponent in a court case that could set a precedent for far-reaching and harmful U.S. federal regulation of greenhouse gases. The case centers on EPA’s attempt to stymie expansion of a coal-fired power plant, the Deseret (Utah) Electric Cooperative. Dow Jones reported, “The Deseret case has drawn the attention of a raft of groups both in support and opposition of the permit appeal. Industry organizations such as the American Petroleum Institute, the National Mining Association, and the National Association of Manufacturing, as well as the climate skeptics group, The Heartland Institute, submitted briefings supporting Deseret Power.”

Heartland Senior Fellow James M. Taylor, managing editor of Environment & Climate News, was in demand in early November, after news broke in the San Francisco Chronicle about a statement President-elect Barack Obama made months earlier that chilled the coal industry. Obama told the Chronicle he would “bankrupt all new coal-fired electric power plants as a means of addressing global warming.” Obama’s startling pledge, made in a January interview but kept hidden from voters until leaked right before the election, threatens an industry that employs 80,000 American workers at a time when the U.S. faces its deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Taylor was interviewed by several media outlets seeking reaction. “The U.S. coal industry supplies American citizens with cheap, abundant domestic energy at a time when electric bills are skyrocketing and our staggering economy needs every bit of assistance it can get,” Taylor observed.

One of the radio hosts who interviewed Taylor, Matt Patrick, popular morning drive host on WKDD AM and FM in North Canton, Ohio, said, “James did a GREAT job!! Thanks for the opportunity to interview him. Keep in touch!!”

Will do, Matt.

URBAN AFFAIRS

The September-October 2008 issue of Lincoln Review, a publication of The Lincoln Institute for Research and Education, cited Booker T. Washington: A Re-Examination, the collection of presentations delivered at a symposium organized by Heartland Senior Fellow Lee Walker and published by The Heartland Institute.

Walker was selected to participate in the Chicago Public Schools’ Principal for a Day program, held October 30. He served at Montefiore Special School on Ashland Avenue, an all-boys school in the Chicago Public Schools system for at-risk youth. Walker is a long-time supporter of the school: In 2005, he addressed a commencement exercise celebrating the school’s Diamond Jubilee (75 years), and he is a substitute teacher at the school. More than 1,600 corporate, community, and civic leaders across the city of Chicago served as principals for a day in the 600 Chicago Public Schools.

On November 7-8, Walker was among eight key speakers at the two-day Economic Empowerment Summit 2008, hosted by The Joseph Business School. Thousands attended the event. The Joseph Business School, in Forest Park, Illinois, was founded by the Rev. Dr. Bill Winston, one of the city’s leading proponents of economic empowerment for the black community.

On November 11-15, Local Legislation Manager Ralph Conner and Vice President Latreece Vankinscott attended the Annual Meeting of the National League of Cities in Orlando, Florida. They staffed the Heartland exhibit booth and distributed hundreds of policy reports and publications. Conner also collected more than 50 business cards of local elected officials, to whom he sent a direct mail solicitation to join the Legislative Forum at The Heartland Institute.

On November 17, Walker was one of two speakers at a Socratic-format forum addressing the topic “What Is Race and Racism”? He was joined as a speaker by the Rev. Gregory Seal Livingston, national field secretary and chief of field operations for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. The event was hosted by Olive-Harvey College and attended by more than 200 people.

On November 20, Walker attended an honors and awards banquet to benefit Excellent Way Shelter, a refuge meeting the long-term needs of homeless women and children. The event’s keynote speaker was Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, wife of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

On November 30, Conner appeared as a panelist on the nationally broadcast Beyond the Beltway program. The show appears on cable television and also audio broadcast on talk radio, by podcast, and on Sirius radio stations. The show was hosted by Bruce DuMont; other panelists included Virg Bernero, mayor of Lansing, Michigan; Dan Swinney of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council, a charter school recently praised by President-elect Barack Obama; and John Challenger, CEO at Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, Inc. The group discussed the Big Three auto bailout, charter schools, and surviving the current economic crisis.

Ralph Conner, Heartland’s local legislation manager, has been working to launch a new Chicago chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the venerable civil rights organization founded in Chicago in 1942. Conner is “taking the economic principles of entrepreneurship from the ivory towers of University of Chicago to the mean streets around 63rd and Halsted Street.”

Conner is working with Operation HOPE to ensure CORE-Chicago is part of the Chicago Federal Reserve Banking on Community program that trains inner-city youth in capitalism. In January, he attended and presented at a business planning class for ex-offenders at Kennedy King College, and he hopes to help replicate these business plan classes at Malcolm X College by Spring 2009.

With the election of Chicago’s own Barack Obama as president, it is important that Chicago-area black conservatives and libertarians have a venue to express their opinions. Heartland and CORE-Chicago have launched a blog, titled “Core Freedoms,” at http://corechicago.wordpress.com, featuring Ralph and a growing number of other black spokespersons commenting on issues of the day.

According to Conner, “CORE-Chicago will emerge in 2009 as a ‘literary and debate’ society which conducts debates on public policy issues (such as welfare reform, Second Amendment support, affordable energy, and domestic energy supply expansions). The society will operate through church networks and host speakers in church venues, promote conservative and libertarian authors, distribute books and Heartland policy studies to the grassroots, Hispanics, and Blacks in the inner-city.”

For more information about this exciting effort, contact Conner at 312/377-4000 or rconner@heartland.org.

Helping a New Ally in Brazil

On September 16, Paulo Uebel, the young CEO of Brazil’s new free-market think tank, the Instituto Millenium, came to Heartland’s office for two hours of discussion regarding tactics. Uebel’s organization is based in Rio de Janeiro, and its mission is “to promote democracy, a free-market economy, the Rule of Law and freedom.” While Uebel was most interested in how Heartland uses Total Quality Management to stay focused on how elected officials go about forming opinions, we learned about Instituto Millenium’s use of monthly prizes to incentivize volunteers to write letters and participate in other ways in the public policy debate.

Uebel can be reached at Paulo.uebel@institutomillenium.org.

NEW MEDIA REPORT

Heartland's Web site at www.heartland.org attracted 4.8 million visitors in 2008, resulting in more than 13.1 million page views and 13.1 million hits. In December, rotating images of important figures in the history of freedom began to appear on the home page, and new "issue suites" on health care, environment, school reform, and telecom became active. 

Heartland’s reinvigorated blog, www.fromtheheartland.org, is attracting hundreds of new visitors a day with its sometimes edgy, sometimes irreverent, always provocative content.

Postings from Heartland staffers, policy advisors, and friends can be light and humorous (“David Mamet on Rod Blagojevich”), very serious (“Are Tax Increment Financing Districts Good for Boosting Local Jobs?”), kind of serious (“Car Czar Redux”), cultural (Why Plaxico Burress Should Be Freed”), and argumentative (“Amazon Defense Coalition Attempts to Demonize Heartland, Douglas Southgate”)

New Media Specialist Keely Drukala says, “A typical posting will attract several hundred viewers who may not otherwise visit www.heartland.org. Our best postings top 1,000 viewers.”

Drukala also has recruited new media technology such as Twitter and LinkedIn to bring the Heartland message to audiences who had not known of us, and of course we have a FaceBook page. You can reach all of them by clicking the “Get Connected” link at www.heartland.org.

RIP, FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Marshall Fritz

Marshall Fritz, for decades one of the leading lights of the libertarian movement, died November 4, 2008 of pancreatic cancer.

Fritz founded the Alliance for the Separation of School and State in 1994. Before that, he was president of the Pioneer Christian Academy and founder of the Advocates for Self-Government, which drew upon his experiences in sales and public speaking to teach lovers of liberty how to express their views positively.

Fritz began his career with IBM in computer sales, education, and design. He was active in several organizations reflecting his wide-ranging interests, including the Christian Businessmen’s Committee, Serra (not Sierra!) Club, Toastmasters, and Overeaters Anonymous. He also coached and refereed youth soccer and worked as a volunteer in a homeless shelter.

Alan Schaeffer, president of the Alliance for the Separation of School and State, commented on Fritz’s passing, “More than anything else, Marshall was a man devoted to truth and goodness. He stood fast on principle, solid as the rock he often seemed when those around him wavered or doubted.”

Fritz is survived by his wife of 44 years, a son, three daughters, 12 grandchildren, and his brother.

Paul M. Weyrich

Paul Weyrich, co-founder of The Heritage Foundation and Free Congress Foundation and one of the conservative movement’s leading strategists, died December 18. He was 66 years old.

Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, offered this moving tribute to Weyrich:

I am saddened by Paul Weyrich’s death. For forty years, Paul was one of the conservative movement’s most honorable and effective leaders. Paul put backbone in the conservative movement. He achieved so much on so many of the great political issues of our time; and even when the cause seemed lost, Paul never gave up and never compromised his principles.

Paul was a brilliant political strategist and tactician. He founded or helped found many of the major conservative groups in Washington and played the key role in developing the methods and institutions of conservative grassroots activism. Conservatives still have a lot to learn from Paul’s action-oriented grassroots organizing. Some people accused him of being too rigid and demanding too much ideological purity. In fact, Paul was tactically flexible, but he understood that the tendency of Republicans in office to capitulate pre-emptively could not be a winning strategy."

Heartland’s local legislation manager, Ralph Conner, added:

All African-Americans owe a debt of gratitude to Paul Weyrich for his tireless efforts to reach out to the black community with the manna of liberation: The free market rules. He was a supporter of every black conservative effort in D.C. over the past 40 years. I have attended various soirees and conferences of the Free Congress Foundation, mixing with the likes of Armstrong Williams and Michael Steele. His contribution to the charge of freedom is unfathomable.