Representation vs. Stewardship (Part 1)

A question we should ask ourselves before creating our political ideologies is one of our fundamental ideology. Our elected and appointed officials are there for a reason - arguably to run the government that we don't have time to participate directly in. Since they're there to work for us, we should ask - do we expect them to be "representatives" or should they be "stewards".

First, let's roughly define each term (as they are often used in this line of study):

• Representative: an individual who acts as an intermediary, conveying the wishes of those they were elected by to the larger body of governance with little to no interference (consideration of anything other than what the people who elected say them want).
• Steward: an individual who acts in the stead of those who elected them, striving to do what is in the "public interest" / "public good" for those who elected them, even though it may go against the espoused opinions of those who elected them.

Now that we have a general starting point, I ask you, my dear readers - do you have any general feelings on stewardship vs. representation in government? Does that view change based on the level of government you're talking about (local vs. state vs. federal)? Should it matter if the officials are appointed vs. elected?

Coming soon: Part 2 - continuing to explore this topic.

Obama the Prankster???

Retrieved on 04 December 2008 from  http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081203/pl_politico/26780_1

I had to post this - just for the humour factor!  Republican Member of Congress Ileana Ros-Lehtinen hung up on President Elect Obama twice because she thought he was a radio station trying to prank her.  The first time she hung up on Mr. Obama directly and the second time hung up on him via Rahm Emanuel's attempt to connect them.  *sigh* how will our executive and legislators ever talk if they think each is just some joker from a radio station... :-/

Ros-Lehtinen hangs up on Obama. Twice. - Yahoo! News

California Gay Marriage Poll

Retrieved on 04 December 2008 at 0942 from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081204/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage_poll

Just because I'm kind of into stats and polling and data that pretty much confirms preconceptions.  The Religion part was not at all surprising but many people fail to consider that the lower educated and lower income groups (for some reason) tend to be more conservative than their better educated and middle income counterparts...  The strong support of the ban from the Latino population shouldn't come as much of a surprise - just considering how many hold strong Christian views.

Yahoo! also posts this link:
The poll: http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i860

Poll: Calif. gay marriage ban driven by religion - Yahoo! News

ODOT plans for SR315 /SR750 Interchange

Retrieved on 04 December 2008 from http://www.nbc4i.com/midwest/cmh/news.apx.-content-articles-CMH-2008-12-03-0030.html at 0010.

Shoring up an eroding river bank, adding in turn lanes where 2 very busy State Routes (at 1 lane in each direction each) cross... not a bad idea!  Here's hoping ODOT doesn't mess this up and make things worse than they are now.  The jury's still out on how helpful the new light is with the turn arrow on SR750 WestBound at that intersection.  I guess we'll see what we see after they design this thing once the input period is over...

ODOT Plans To Fix SR 315 - News - nbc4i.com -

Ohio nabs attention of the BBC

Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7686438.stm at 1510 on 04 November 2008.

It's nice to see that Ohio managed to get the attention of the BBC and get a nod to the efforts the state has made to try to eliminate the problems of 2000 & 2004 while still recognizing that a projected 80% turnout is huge...

Unfortunately, the article highlights the fact that the Secretary of State is a partisan position and Secretary Brunner is a Democrat. I recall a certain Secretary Blackwell (Brunner's predecessor) as being one of the most hated men in Ohio (at least among Democrats) because of decisions made that ended up benefiting President Bush - I have a sneaking suspicion that Ms. Brunner will be the Democrat equivilant of that scenario with Republicans blaming her for a loss by Senator McCain.

This is evidenced in the BBC article by the statement that Ms. Brunner's office has been deluged with threatening emails and phone calls...

My radical suggestion - the Secretary of State should be non partisan or the role of heading all elections in the state should be spun off from the Secretary and given to a non-partisan administrator.  Ta-daaah!

And that my friends, is my blinding flash of the obvious for today!

BBC NEWS | Americas | US Elections 2008 | Will US voters face poll chaos?

Gov. Palin Takes Out NHL Net Minder Manny Legace

Retrieved at 0053 on 25 October 2008 from http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ap-blues-legacehurt&prov=ap&type=lgns

Okay, generally I will try to stay away from sports and comedy, but as a Columbus Blue Jackets fan and someone who appreciates physical humour...

St. Louis Blues net-minder Manny Legace somehow managed to get taken out by a carpet placed on the ice for the Alaskan Governor.  There was a comical video floating around the net a while back where a young lady botched the National Anthem, so she left the ice to get a cue card with the words and as she returned to the carpet (similar to Manny's incident) the thing slid out from under her and *ker-splat* she went....

Hopefully Mr. Legace will recover quickly and be back to playing in no time flat, but in the meantime, what's the harm in blaming Ms. Palin for ruining a hockey match?

Goalie injured after tripping on Palin carpet - NHL - Yahoo! Sports

Corruption in the Cleveland ODOT office....

The Columbus Dispatch : State officials took cash and sex from vendors, report finds

Retrieved 17 October 2008 at 0118 from:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/10/16/odot.html?sid=101

My favourite line in the article is "The misdeeds took place from 2000-2007"...  MISDEEDS???  Seriously?  Someone at the Dispatch needs a Thesaurus.  This is appalling - my only hope is that when I enter the world of Public Administration is that I do not have to deal with such a corrupt culture and have to be the marked individual who has to clean it up and cut large portions of staff and have to rebuild an entire department.

Best wishes to ODOT in getting this mess straightened out...

Funding for the 3C rail corridor

This Week News : Agency awarded passenger rail grant

Retrieved 01 October 2008 at 1605 from:
http://www.thisweeknews.com/live/content/marysville/stories/2008/09/26/Rail.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=104

This is great news!  The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC - See link under my "links I like") was awarded $62,500 from the Federal Rail Administration to study the feasibility of reviving passenger rail to more portions of Ohio.  According to the article the Cleveland - Columbus - Cincinnati would service nearly 60% of the State's population - many of whom have not had passenger rail service since 1971. 

I for one, applaud the efforts of Gov. Strickland and the ORDC to bring passenger rail back to Ohio.  I have traveled by rail, and depending on the destination, prefer it.  Some locations I went to include Toronto, Ontario, NYC, and Philadelphia, however - to go to NYC & Philly I had to drive to Pittsburg to catch a train and to go to Canada I drove up to Niagara Falls, NY...  Having to drive hours just to get to a train and leaving your vehicle in some scarry looking lot in a city far from home is not the way to attract passengers.  This step to bringing rail closer to more citizens is a much more effective way of increasing ridership!

Hopefully this study will bear out evidence that people will utilize rail options if they are made available to us.

Rail projects see an increase in funding

State rail projects get boost as driving declines - Yahoo! News

Retrieved 01 October 2008 at 0032 from:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080930/ap_on_re_us/rail_and_roads;_ylt=AqVEJupq00aJR2dJxGXmamGs0NUE

I just wanted to post this one real quick - and I will comment later.

Fallout of a failed bailout...

Dow plummets record 777 as financial rescue fails - Yahoo! News

Retrieved 29 September 2008 at 2309 from:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080930/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/wall_street

I'm going to keep this somewhat short and assume that my readers are capable of reading the article on their own...

Starting with some quotes from Gordon Charlop of Rosenblatt Securities:

"How could this have happened? Is there such a disconnect on Capitol
Hill? This becomes a problem because Wall Street is very uncomfortable
with uncertainty," said Gordon Charlop, managing director with
Rosenblatt Securities.

"The bailout not going through sends a signal that Congress isn't willing to do their part," he added.

Seriously???  Where do I start?  Wall Street is uncomfortable with uncertainty...  If you are afraid of risk or losing your investment - you should NOT be investing in the market.  I know this seems like a blinding flash of the obvious - some businesses FAIL!  When you purchase a stock, you are basically betting that that company will succeed and you will increase your net worth... no uncertainty there.  Second: "Congress isn't willing to do their part" - someone please tell me when it became the responsibility of the government to bailout a business sector in a CAPITALIST FREE MARKET based economy?  I will not even continue without mentioning that this industry (namely investment banking) has lobbied extensively for decreased governmental oversight and regulation.  If the banking industry learned anything from the S&L failures of the 1980s it is that they can make bad choices, teeter on the edge of failure and the Fed will be their knight in shining armor coming to bail them out. 

Another problem involves the ridiculous amount of interconnectedness of all of these institutions combined with the fact that none of them were far-sighted enough to even fathom the possibility of losing money.
Please see the article below regarding AIG's failure:

Retrieved 29 September 2008 at 2320 from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/business/28melt.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=AIG%20blind%20eye%2028%20september&st=cse&oref=slogin

I would like to point out the opening quotation preceding the article by former AIG executive Joseph J. Cassano:

“It is hard for us, without being flippant, to
even see a scenario within any kind of realm of reason that would see
us losing one dollar in any of those transactions.”

How could you not even plan for the eventuality that insuring unsecured loans could result in the potential for a loss???  This man ran a small office in London, England that is for most intents and purposes the reason AIG is failing, and he lives comfortably with relative impunity for his actions that lead to this collapse...

Before closing - here is a link to the Bill as voted on:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/business/20080928bailout_text.pdf

In closing: on to the failure of the Bill to pass - I'm still reeling from the finger-pointing and "reasons" given so far today of why this did not pass...  Once more information comes available and I can digest it, I will post again.