Berks Democrats

DA's Drug Money Giveaway: Is It Legal?

Since Mark Baldwin announced he was turning over $1 million+ in seized drug money to the Berks County Community Foundation instead of the City of Reading there has been a lot of discussion about the issue.  The funds were seized by Reading Police officers in a raid in the City.  The District Attorney has a signed agreement with Reading to turn over 80% of all such proceeds to the City.

State law allows District Attorneys to determine who gets this money but it also has a strict determination of who is eligible.  From the statute:

(h) AUTHORIZATION TO UTILIZE PROPERTY, The district attorney and the Attorney General shall utilize forfeited property or proceeds thereof for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act.  In appropriate cases, the district attorney and the Attorney General may designate proceeds from forfeited property to be utilized by community based drug and crime-fighting programs and for relocation and protection of witnesses in criminal cases.

It appears that Mark Baldwin may be in violation of state law by giving this money to the Berks County Community Foundation.  The Foundation is a cornerstone of our community and it does considerable good but it isn't a "community based drug and crime-fighting organization."  The law uses the term "shall" which means these funds MUST be used in enforcing this particular law.  Various suggestions posed in public forums for using the $1 million for other purposes are equally illegal.

The law says this money MUST be used for enforcing this anti-drug law and nothing else.  It can go to the City or it can go to a community based drug and crime-fighting organization such as Weed and Seed.  The Berks County Community Foundation does much good but I doubt even they characterize themselves as a community drug and crime fighting organization.  In fact, nothing on their website identifies this as their mission.  As such not one penny of these funds can go to the Foundation.  That would be an obvious violation of the law.  How is the Foundation to administer and allocate these funds if they cannot take even a sliver of them to cover their expenses?  They cannot.

What community drug and crime fighting organizations could benefit from this money?  I can think of a few, Crime Alert Berks County, various neighborhood crime watch groups and Weed and Seed.  Of course Weed and Seed is already a collaboration involving the City.  Which of these groups can use and allocate this money better than the City in the quest to help enforce the Controlled Substances Act?  None.  Crime Alert handles many crime related cases, not just drugs.  Same with neighborhood groups.  I'm not sure how they can better utilize $1 million to combat illegal drugs better then the Reading Police Department.

It seems that, in order to comply with the law BCCF has to give this money to the City of Reading.  Funding additional police cruisers and overtime for officers working the streets to combat drug related crime is what the law requires this money do and no one can do that better or more effectively than they.

The law is quite clear on this and it appears the District Attorney is in violation of the law is one cent of this money is used other than to help enforce this particular law.  If the BCCF uses any of these proceeds for themselves, overhead or anything else they open themselves to litigation.  If they give any of this money to a group or organization not eligible under the law they are also vulnerable.  They have few choices.

Berks Community Foundation Announces Drug Money Committee

The raging controversy around Berks County this week has been the decision by Mark Baldwin, DA, to give $1 million in seized drug money to the Berks Community Foundation.  Violating a signed contract and verbal agreement to give the proceeds to the City for crime fighting efforts he, instead, turned around and gave it to this group.

Yesterday they announced those appointed to determine who will receive these funds.  It is a distinguished group of civic leaders led by retired Judge Elizabeth Ehrlich.  John Kramer, Karen Miller, Rick Periandi and Dr. Andres Pumariega constitute the rest of the Committee.

According to Heidi Williamson, Director of Communications for the Foundation:

"We're confident that the members of this advisory committee will provide fair and thoughtful guidance on the distribution of this money to support local drug enforcement efforts," said Richard C. Mappin, vice president for grantmaking at Berks County Community Foundation. "I'm honored that this group of highly regarded professionals has volunteered to serve the community in this capacity."

"The advisory committee will draft grant guidelines and distribute them to local police forces and community organizations later this summer. The committee will then review grant requests and recommend which should be funded to the Community Foundation's board of directors, which has final authority to approve all grants.  Grants will be distributed over a five-year period.
"The funds will be used in innovative ways, and will help continue the Community Foundation's commitment to making our region a safe one for our families," Mappin said."

I'm sure all that is true.  This is a distinguished group.  However they're unnecessary and redundant.   The District Attorney already has a legally binding contract to award these funds to the City of Reading.  When Mayor Tom McMahon challenges Baldwin's action in court the Foundation is going to lose this grant money.  There's no way a judge is not going to order compliance with the prior contract. 

The result is going to be additional, unnecessary legal fees for all involved and the wasting of valuable time by the very civic minded people tapped for this Committee.  The Foundation does much good around and for Berks County.  Some very good people are involved in this organization but we already have people who voters have elected to official positions to deal with such monies and determine best where they they should be allocated.  This is their job, their responsibility.  It's what we have elected them to do and diverting some of these proceeds to the Foundation's overhead, which is inevitable, is unwise and redundant.

Deconstructing Health Care Objections

The debate over how to fix our broken health care system sees three proposals being debated in Harrisburg.  The Governor has a plan, House Republicans have a plan and a group of citizens called HELP Fund PA has a plan.  The Executive Director of HELP Fund PA was in Reading yesterday to meet with the Eagle editorial board.  Chuck Pennacchio, a former U.S. Senate candidate, is supporting a universal, single payer system.

The current system is broken because more and more people are uninsured.  Insurance, as a system, works by spreading risk over large numbers of people.  The more who are in the insured pool, the less risk to everyone.  With 47 million Americans now uninsured and growing, the existing pool keeps getting smaller.  Because the insured also pay for the uninsured and health expenses for uninsured people is significantly higher than for those with coverage, costs for the insured keep rising.

A single payer system works by eliminating the single largest waste of health care dollars:  the insurance industry.  They are replaced by a single government run entity which collects premiums and pays private providers.

Some of the objections are that this is socialized medicine.  It isn't and you can read why here (I've covered these issues at length on my other blog).  There are other misconceptions and some of those came up at yesterday's meeting.  Senate Bill 300 would require a 10% payroll premium from every business.  In return everyone is covered with high quality, comprehensive and catastrophic health care.  Some are balking at having to pay their share.

For example one Eagle employee complained that their spouse has a small company with several employees.  Why should they have to pay a 10% payroll premium to cover themselves and their employees?

First of all because it's the right and moral thing to do.  Refusing to cover your workers while you yourself have coverage makes for unhappy, unhealthy employees.  That hurts productivity.   Wellness programs included in comprehensive care will keep your workers healthier and reduce your costs from absenteeism and illness.  SB 300 will also cut your workers compensation insurance in half because workers would have health coverage to take care of illnesses and injuries incurred on the job.  That's a significant savings for every business.

Secondly, where one spouse has coverage (and not every couple is allowed to marry and share benefits, mind you) and covers the other, they are one major decision by their employer from being uninsured.  Should the Eagle opt to discontinue providing health insurance or replace, outsource or eliminate your position you and your spouse no longer have health care.

Should that scenario happen, and it happens every day, you have four alternatives.  You can opt into your employer's plan (COBRA) or buy insurance coverage within 30 days from another provider with no hassles about pre-existing conditions.  Both are expensive options.  Individual coverage these days runs around $6,000, $9,000 for couples and $15,000 for families.  If you cannot afford that you go without.  The fourth scenario is one where you weren't able to buy coverage within 30 days and must buy insurance that won't cover pre-existing conditions or find you can't buy insurance anywhere because of pre-existing conditions.

This last scenario does happen.  Say, for example, you're injured at work and file for workmans comp.  Your employer fires you for filing a claim.  (This actually happened to me so it does occur).  You're injured and/or hospitalized and cannot get other insurance within 30 days.  Now no one will insure you, or insure you for anything close to what you can pay, and you're stuck.  Guess why so many people are uninsured?  They cannot afford these premiums and go without coverage, they lose their jobs, they get ill or injured, or their employers decide they simply cannot afford to keep providing the benefit.

Almost all businesses providing health insurance are paying over 10% of their payroll.  Many significantly higher, much higher.  I've heard some small business people say health insurance is 40% of their payroll.  Part of the problem is those providing this coverage are subsidizing those who do not.  In the end, though, everyone pays because this raises costs for everyone.  The employee with the coverage is paying because the employer isn't paying as much in wages due to the high cost of the health care.  That could be money in their pocket instead of going to health care.

Insuring everyone with universal coverage in a single payer system frees enough dollars to cover all the uninsured.  Doing this brings the cost down for everyone, but, conversely, everyone has to be in the system to spread the risk.  That's how insurance works.

That Eagle employee with coverage will find the spouse's employees will be happier and more productive when they have quality health care and so will they.  How many of you have friends or family members stuck in jobs they hate but can't leave because of the health insurance benefit?  I bet we all do.  These people have serious health problems or someone in their family does.  If they leave their miserable job they risk losing that coverage and so they're trapped.  A universal coverage system eliminates this problem.  Because everyone is covered by a single state agency everyone is free to move to another job or start their own business without risking their health coverage.

It will also be an economic engine for Pennsylvania.  Companies looking to relocate or build new facilities will be attracted to the state because of affordable, predictable health care costs and a healthy, productive work force.

Disclosures:  Now for the ethics part of this article.  I have worked with Chuck Pennacchio and HELP Fund PA on this bill.  I was also Interim Campaign Coordinator for Chuck's U.S. Senate campaign.

Divorce Judge Sentenced For Fixing Cases

A New York Judge who accepted gifts for fixing divorce cases was sentenced to 3-10 years in prison according to CNN.   Gerlad Garson, 74, was a crooked judge.  This case proves that this type of injustice occurs in our system.   I sure hope nothing like this is going on locally.

Yeungling Goes Non Union

The Yuengling brewery in Schuylkill County has gotten rid of the Teamsters union which represented their workers.  Teamsters officials and workers say Dick Yuengling threw the union out of the company.  Management claims workers left the union voluntarily.  However Yuengling Brewing Company threatened to close unless laborers decertified their union.  This is called union busting and used to be illegal.   Lots of management union busting used to be illegal.

The last several Republican Administrations have removed many of the rules which leveled the playing field for workers.  It's now tilted heavily against them and the Yuengling episode is one more example.  In the midts of the fight Dave Argall actually showed up at a campaign event full of union members last year wearing a Yuengling shirt.  It's a miracle he got out alive.

Send a message to Dick Yuengling and stop buying his beer.

Kessler Votes For Nursing Reform

Rep. Dave Kessler, along with others, voted for and passed H.B. 834.  The bill prevents hospitals from forcing nurses and other health care professionals to work mandatory overtime.  Thousands of professional, dedicated nurses have left the profession because of the mandatory overtime.  Besides being unfair to the workers it affects the quality of health care to patients.

Hospitals can approach nurses at the end of their shifts and force them to work extra hours with no regard for their personal or family commitments.  Imagine putting in a stressful eight hour shift  and have your supervisor notify you you cannot go home, you have to do another eight hours.  You have no choice in the matter other than quitting your job.  25% of Pennsylvania's trained nurses have left the profession rather than accept such working conditions.

H.B. 834 ends this practice and restores worker's rights for nurses and insures safer conditions for patients.  Long work days equates to medical errors.  The bill now goes to the state senate.  Gov. Rendell says he supports this bill and will sign the legislation.

Eagle Refuses to Print My Letter

Last week the Reading Eagle printed this letter:

Bush accomplished much in Middle East

Editor:

There were 39 combat-related killings in Iraq in January. In Detroit there were 35 murders in January. That’s just one American city that is about as deadly as the entire war-torn country of Iraq.

Some said President Bush shouldn’t have started this war.

President Roosevelt led us into World War II. Germany never attacked us. Japan did. From 1941 to 1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500 a year.

President Truman finished the war and started one in Korea. North Korea never attacked us. From 1950 to 1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,334 a year.

President Kennedy started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietname never attacked up.

President Johnson turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965 to 1975, 58,000 lives were lost, an average of 5,800 a year.

President Clinton went to war in Bosnia without United Nations or French consent.

Bosnia never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden’s dead on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Bin Laden did attack us on multiple occasions.

In the years since terrorists attacked us, Bush has liberated two countries; crushed the Taliban; crippled al-Qaida; put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran and North Korea without firing a shot; and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people.

Walter J. Jurasinski
Exeter Township

I sent in a response and they haven't printed it so I will here.  The Eagle is infamous for mangling LTE's so they're almost indistinguishable from what was submitted.   It's gotten so bad many of us now post our letters on various local Yahoo Groups so everyone can see how the Eagle editors cut them.

Here was my response.  I couldn't address every misstatement in Jurasinski's letter because of the 200 word maximum but I did do so over at The Pennsylvania Progressive.

Dear Editor:

     In his letter in this morning's Eagle Walter J. Jurasinski relied on false facts and analogies in defending Bush's Iraq escapade.  First, in reference to World War II he should educate himself on the impact of military alliances so he can truly understand why we wound up in a war with Germany.  His ignorance is appalling. 

     He cites statistics about Iraq and Detroit that are not comparable.  They aren't even true.  He compares murdered civilians to murdered security personnel.  They aren't comparable.  He equates the "39 combat related deaths" (the real number is 83 American and 91 Iraqi) of security forces in Iraq with the 35 murders in Detroit that same month.  If you want to compare murders you must use all Iraqi deaths for that time period, not just those providing security.  The "39" soldier's deaths would equate to the same number of Detroit policemen killed, not civilians.  The 35 Detroit civilian deaths would equate to the 1,711 Iraqi civilians murdered.  If you're going to compare statistics it's necessary, unfortunately for Mr. Jurasinski, to compare apples and apples.  It also helps to use correct statistics.  These are known as facts.

     Mr. Jarasinski is correct about one thing:  Bush has accomplished much in the Middle East.  Much death and destruction.  Every Walter J. Jurasinski who misquotes history and confuses facts is responsible for enabling this death and destruction.

John Morgan

Ruscombmanor Twp

Source of statistics: http://icasualties.org/oif/

The Oley Supervisor "Conflict"

Republicans in the 130th State House District seem to be spreading the misinformation that Dave Kessler is doing something wrong because he's remained an Oley Township Supervisor while also serving in the state House.  Wrong.  There is no "conflict."  The only difference between Dave's serving and any other township official serving is that Dave's day job is in the state House. 

State law only requires that Mr. Kessler not get paid for two elected positions.  He dealt with this by foregoing his salary as a township supervisor.  So he's serving Oley Township for free.  Here's the really interesting part:  the two REPUBLICAN Oley Supervisors also, voluntarily, surrendered their pay so Dave could remain on the Board.  Dave Kessler couldn't unilaterally relinquish his small stipend unless all three did so and they did so he could remain on the Township Board.

I think it says an awfully lot about the work Dave has done for Oley that both Republican Supervisors surrendered their stipends so Dave could remain.  The Republicans going about spreading this tale trying to smear Mr. Kessler ought to get their facts in order first.

Making Government "For Profit"

This is what happens when you decide to privatize government:  you turn it into a "for profit" business.  You take people's hard earned tax dollars and convert them to profits for private individuals and companies.  You make the cost of government higher because you now also have to include the profit for owners and shareholders.  I have news for Republicans:  government isn't business and we're the owners and shareholders, not your businesses.

More and more often we hear GOP officials begging to privatize this or that government service.  It isn't even always Republicans as evidenced by Gov. Rendell's plan to sell OUR turnpike.  We already paid for that highway and now he wants to privatize (sell) it so it costs us more.  Every government program that's outsourced costs good government jobs with great benefits and done economically and turns into some GOP business owner's dream:  making money from the public trough.

Under the Bush Administration there's no accountability for performance either.  No bid contracts are let out to their friends and backers.  Now I've discovered a website showing how the Pentagon is privatizing military recruitment (hat tip to Don at BerksDemocrats.com).   Because I write about national security issues a lot I get hits from Pentagon offices and various military bases.  I'm used to seeing Site Meter items with army.mil and senate.gov on them.  Pentagon computers and websites always end in one or the other suffix:  .mil or .gov.  Now go to this website and notice the .com suffix.  Now scroll down to the bottom and you'll see it's a Monster.com website.

This is a recruiting website for our armed forces but it isn't run by the Pentagon.  It's run by Monster.com, another government function that's been outsourced for profit.  Aren't you happy to see your tax dollars going to Monster.com's bottom line instead of for armor for Humvees?  There's even a front page story on the this website decrying the proposed cuts in veterans benefits.  Hmmm, maybe if Monster.com wasn't a private, for profit company there'd be more tax dollars to pay for those benefits.

I'm fed up with watching our governmental services privatized.  Business isn't government and government isn't business.  Governmental services are totally and completely different from business.  They aren't designed to be customer friendly, driven by the bottom line, and to make you come back for more.  No one wants to go to the DMV more than they need to, same for the welfare office, programs for abused women and children, court, or the myriad of other routine governmental programs our taxes fund.  Our taxes shouldn't be funding Monster.com's profits or any other company for that matter.  Government is government and we pay enough for what we need.  It's time for businesses to stick with business and stay out of governmental affairs.  If we need you we'll issue a RFP (request for proposal). 

Civil servants are underpaid as it is.  Working for most governmental agencies, unless you're an elected official, isn't a path to wealth.  These people aren't paid awfully well and to attract them we offer them generous pension plans and good health insurance.  These private companies can't compete with that and don't.  As these services are outsourced to private industry good jobs are lost and, with them, years of knowledge and experience. 

One result of all this is patronage.  Corruption in the form of patronage ran rampant in the early centuries of our country.   Patronage is back and rearing its ugly head as BushCo is privatizing our services.  Their buddies are getting the fat contracts and corruption is once again endemic.  The civil service system was designed and implemented to eliminate patronage and its resultant corruption.  George W. Bush has brought it back with a vengeance with this scheme.  It's shame, a darned shame.

Fattah's Drive-In Fee

Congressman and Mayoral candidate Chaka Fattah, whom I support, has proposed what I see as a stupid idea:  charging fees for people who drive into center city during the daytime.  It is similar to a program instituted in London credited with easing congestion and pollution.  This is fine for those with access to public transportation but not all of us have that luxury.  When I need or want to go to Philadelphia I have two options:  walk or drive.  Since it's about 75 miles I really have no choice but to drive.

I already pay a steep price for doing so.  Have you seen what it costs to park in center city?  I pay anywhere from $14-20 every trip no matter how long I'm there.  If I need to see my lawyer whose office is near Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, watch a nephew run in the marathon, hit a downtown campaign headquarters for materials for use here in the hinterlands, attend a Philly for Change meeting or other political event I have to drive and pay the exorbitant parking fees.

There is no train from Reading to Philadelphia.  This is especially weird since anyone who has played Monopoly is familiar with the old Reading Railroad.  The old rail yards remain but the passenger trains disappeared long ago.  There is an effort to build a new light rail communter line but Congress hasn't found the $1.4 billion for it yet.  That might be a better idea for the Congressman to push.

His idea would work for the suburbanites with access to Septa but how about the rest of us?  Should we be punished because we don't have that access?   I tried driving to a Septa station a couple times to go into the city but it's a complicated mishmash and trying to get directions and questions answered by Septa personnel was a disaster.  Even they can't tell you which train to take or which station to use.  Heck they couldn't even tell us which platform to use for which train!  I learned a solid lesson from my brief experience with Septa:  never again.  I always thought getting told which train to take and where to get off was a Philadelphia specialty.