A Bluestem Prairie

No joke: Walz asks staff to be thrifty (and ethics committee to do its job)

In a Wall Street Journal article,  Lawmakers Have Long Rewarded Their Aides With Bonuses, we read:

Each House office receives between $1.3 million and $1.9 million annually in government funds to pay for office expenses, including salaries. In 2008, some lawmakers returned excess cash to the government, including Rep. Todd Akin, a Missouri Republican (who also gave some bonuses) and Rep. Tim Walz, a Minnesota Democrat. Meredith Salsbery, a spokeswoman for Mr. Walz, said aides are asked to be "thrifty and conscious of taxpayer dollars" and that Mr. Walz "knows the power of setting a good example."

As we first reported back in December, Walz has returned his own raises for 2008 and 2009 to the Treasury. In January, he was also an original co-sponsor of a bill to block automatic congressional pay raises in 2010.

In PMA scandal dogs Pelosi, The Hill notes:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is under increasing pressure from conservative Democrats to provide political cover from GOP calls for an investigation into PMA Group, a now-defunct defense lobby under firm scrutiny for questionable campaign donations and earmarks.

Members of the conservative Blue Dog and centrist New Democrat coalitions are calling on Pelosi to fulfill her promise to set a new standard for congressional ethics by either shaking the ethics committee into action on the PMA controversy or providing an alternative resolution to the one offered repeatedly by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).  . . .
 
. . .Several newer members of Congress were motivated to run in part to help restore credibility to the House after the high-profile GOP corruption cases involving former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.). To them, voting against tabling Flake’s resolution is a way to preserve their Democratic majority by raising ethical standards, rather than a slap in the face of their Democratic leaders.

“I came to Congress in 2006 — it was the first elected office I had and I came with a very public approach,” said Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.). “The ethics committee has gotten a reputation that it doesn’t do anything, that people don’t trust it. This is a way to restore integrity to the process.”

Walz also reported a growing frustration about the PMA matter among members who were elected in 2006 and 2008.

“People feel it from the public — that there is an eroding trust in this institution and a frustration with business as usual,” he said. “I think at some point [Democrats] are going to have to deal with PMA.”

As we have observed in the past, Congressman Walz is not a member of the Blue Dog Coalition. Nor is he among the ranks of the New Democrats.  Bluestem first posted about Walz's break with the majority caucus over the PMA investigation on March 7.

The House vote on tabling the latest rsolution was 210-173. Walz's no vote indicates that wants the resolution to go forward.

Legistorm: FY 2008 house staff salaries now online

Some of our loyal readers may recall that LegiStorm [was] used to dispute Bachmann's no-earmark declaration. Our transparency fellow travelers today announced that LegiStorm Completes 2008 Salary Data from House.

The watchdog organization's blog notes:

The salaries are in. The pay figures for staff members from the House of Representatives' fourth quarter of 2008 are now available on LegiStorm, having been entered from the thick disbursement records released by the House of Representatives.

This data period is critical because it is the time when Santa Claus brings goodies to dedicated staff in the way of annual bonuses. Bonuses are not a universal perquisite on the Hill but they are a common way for members to reward staff who have merited them. This assumes that members have budgeted well and have sufficient funds available in their annual allotment, known as the Member's Representational Allowance.

The latest collection of salary data is a window into one of the fiercest fought elections in modern times. Elections can affect how congressional staffers are paid, both in legal and not-so-legal ways. For example, staff members often take leave to work on campaigns, whether their bosses' or those of others. The pay records can reflect those absences.

And sometimes, staffers receive compensation from the campaigns but volunteers on a campaign usually vastly outnumber the paid staff. Therefore, campaign work is often a volunteer or grossly underpaid activity. Occasionally, members of Congress reward aides with bonuses, even if unconsciously, for their special dedication to the campaign. Since federal law prohibits the use of tax dollars to subsidize campaigns, such a use of bonuses would be improper.

Also controversial is the payment of large bonuses by members of Congress who are departing. With no more concern about getting re-elected, members can be quite generous with taxpayer money toward their staff.

The organization promises to blog more about the data.  What's in the database for Minnesota?  Starting with the First, here's what we found:

• 07/01/2008 - 09/30/2008 | $193,125
• 04/01/2008 - 06/30/2008 | $196,189
• 01/01/2008 - 03/31/2008 | $184,982
• 10/01/2007 - 12/31/2007 | $202,862
• Fiscal Year: 2008 $777,158

For Representative John Kline in the Second:

• 07/01/2008 - 09/30/2008 | $212,611
• 04/01/2008 - 06/30/2008 | $207,138
• 01/01/2008 - 03/31/2008 | $205,013
• 10/01/2007 - 12/31/2007 | $211,893
• Fiscal Year: 2008 $836,655

For former Representative Jim Ramstad in the Third:

• 07/01/2008 - 09/30/2008 | $201,699
• 04/01/2008 - 06/30/2008 | $197,024
• 01/01/2008 - 03/31/2008 | $192,514
• 10/01/2007 - 12/31/2007 | $270,134
• Fiscal Year: 2008 $861,371

For Representative McCollum in the Fourth:

• 07/01/2008 - 09/30/2008 | $294,750
• 04/01/2008 - 06/30/2008 | $226,402
• 01/01/2008 - 03/31/2008 | $211,660
• 10/01/2007 - 12/31/2007 | $271,468
• Fiscal Year: 2008 $1,004,280

On to Keith Ellison for the Fifth District:

• 07/01/2008 - 09/30/2008 | $210,435
• 04/01/2008 - 06/30/2008 | $218,720
• 01/01/2008 - 03/31/2008 | $211,428
• 10/01/2007 - 12/31/2007 | $238,209
• Fiscal Year: 2008 $878,792

For Congresswoman Bachmann in the Sixth:

• 07/01/2008 - 09/30/2008 | $191,645
• 04/01/2008 - 06/30/2008 | $184,522
• 01/01/2008 - 03/31/2008 | $171,938
• 10/01/2007 - 12/31/2007 | $206,824
• Fiscal Year: 2008 $754,929

And Representative Peterson in the Seventh:

• 07/01/2008 - 09/30/2008 | $242,072
• 04/01/2008 - 06/30/2008 | $236,521
• 01/01/2008 - 03/31/2008 | $242,343
• 10/01/2007 - 12/31/2007 | $285,004
• Fiscal Year: 2008 $1,005,940

Finally, for Congressman Jim Oberstar in the Eighth:

• 07/01/2008 - 09/30/2008 | $262,680
• 04/01/2008 - 06/30/2008 | $280,782
• 01/01/2008 - 03/31/2008 | $318,577
• 10/01/2007 - 12/31/2007 | $291,872
• Fiscal Year: 2008 $1,153,911

Have fun with the data, kids. We'll be looking closer at the data in the coming days ourselves.

Does Cat Power have a better idea than 90% tax on bailout bonuses? Maybe not.

Back in October, Congressman Walz was scolded by the editorial board of the Star Tribune for voting against the bank bailout bill. He defended his choice in Why I Voted Against the Bailout Bill. One of the things he wrote about the legislation he said no to twice:

It continues to permit excessive CEO compensation by instituting so-called limits on compensation and golden parachutes that are essentially all bark and no bite. As the Washington Post puts it, "executive pay experts said the regulations are too weak to spark major reform in the way companies compensate top officers, and too narrow in scope to change the pay structure that encouraged finance executives in boom times to take on enormous risks."

Enormous bonuses to executives have spurred a public out cry, with Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley going so far as to suggest in a radio interview that "AIG representatives should either “resign, or go commit suicide.” He later called the suggestion rhetoric and that people can recognise that. Since rhetoric is the art of persuasion, we won't disagree with the senator from Iowa.

However, Congress looks to be going ahead with a third alternative to either resignation or suicide. CQPolitics reports in AIG Backlash: 90 Percent Tax on Bonuses Up for House Vote:

While American International Group Inc.’s chief executive says the firm could recover millions in bonuses via voluntary means, that’s not slowing a legislative effort to recoup the money and shift the incentive-based pay structure traditionally used by financial institutions.

The House is scheduled to act Thursday on legislation (H.R. 1586) that would impose a 90 percent tax on bonuses given to highly paid employees not only of AIG, but of all recipients of more than $5 billion in federal bailout funds, a group expected to include about a dozen financial institutions, according to Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel , D-N.Y. Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. would likely be among the affected companies.

“I expect to see an overwhelming vote,” House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , D-Md., told reporters Wednesday afternoon.

The House response, and Senate legislation also likely to see action in the coming days, will largely change the incentive structure for many banks on the receiving end of federal bailout funds.

The bills represent a continuation of a huge shift in the government’s approach to corporate management that began last fall, when the government started to take stakes in private firms. . . .

. . .But for lawmakers barraged with calls and e-mails from critical constituents, the corporate bonuses are part of a larger problem surrounding the troubled institutions — the idea that there is no financial accountability for risk-taking.

As one staffer suggested, it's certainly an I-told-you-so moment for Congressman Walz.

Other friends' recent observations foreshadowed Senator Grassley's rhetoric about what to do about those who received both bailout benjamins and bonuses.  Cat Power has a how-to video. Or maybe not--though certainly a lovely voice. We offer the following video for rhetorical purposes only, in order to point out that today's bill simply isn't an extreme moment of the bonus discourse:

Sunday digest: news, link farming and Muse Tube as well

It's interesting how the same article by the same reporter is packaged differently by two different nearby newspapers in the same chain. The LaCrosse Tribune chose the headline Minnesota Rep. Walz confirms support for disputed labor bill, while the Winona Daily News picked Business leaders criticize Walz for backing labor bill. The lead (clipped directly from the WND):

American workers would gain leverage to organize unions under a controversial bill that Rep. Tim Walz, DFL-Minn., recently confirmed he will support.

Federal lawmakers, particularly in the U.S. Senate, are ginning up for a bruising fight on the Employee Free Choice Act, which supporters say could help reverse decades of declining influence for American labor. Business leaders have fiercely criticized the bill, calling it a “job killer” and saying it would rob some workers of the right to a private vote on whether to unionize.

The act would enable employees to unionize without a secret vote that is now required, if a majority of workers sign cards to support forming a union. It also would set deadlines to force employers to negotiate contracts with newly formed unions or enter binding arbitration moderated by federal labor officials.

Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., and Walz voted for the act in 2007 before it stalled in Congress, but this year, Walz waited until last week to co-sponsor it — causing a business leader in Owatonna, Minn., to speculate earlier this month that the congressman might be undecided. But Walz said Thursday he hasn’t wavered on the measure.

Employees should be able to control their destiny,” Walz said. “We’re just trying to make sure that people have the opportunity to make a living wage.”. . .

You'll have to go read either paper to find out the management view. we're happy Walz is sticking with a campaign pledge and vote during his first term.

Bob Collins at MPR: News Cut:writes about The 'earmarks factory', giving a hat tip to Bluestem for our earlier post about the PMA Group pay-to-play scandal.  We like the post, but commented with a cautionary note about overly dramatic political rhetoric:

Thanks for the hat tip.

However, isn't "ensnaring" somewhat overblown rhetoric?

Can you demonstrate which of the individual contributions from employees of PMA Group clients to Minnesota's federal lawmakers are linked with the corruption probe? As you point out, that probe seems more linked to the big honchos at the PMA Group giving money to others to contribute to campaign and leadership PAC committees. This violates federal law.

The other scandal--which though legal--is the apparent quid-pro-quo of contributions for earmarks. Again, the connection between our lawmakers should be established prior to claims of ensnarement.

Both instances underscore the need for meaningful reform in the appropriations process. How's about a civil conservation about that?

It seems difficult when burdened by loaded language. While the Star Tribune used the Taxpayer for Common Sense's recent report on all earmarks as the basis for an article larded with loaded language like "pork", the careful reader of Taxpayer s for Common Sense documents will note that the organization never uses that sort of language. At the recent Transparency Camp in DC, a thoughtful employee of the TCS explained to me that the group's choice of words was deliberate so as to avoid oversimplification of the debate.

An excellent point, though it seems to have gone over the head of reporters like Kevin Diaz. I hope that MPR will avoid dramatic hyperbole as well. Jeff Rosenberg called for a rational discussion of earmarks at MnPublius recently. Good idea. [final link added here at BSP]

The Albert Lea Tribune has posted answer to questions about public service in Sparks, Dorman and Walz answer questions on service. Interesting read.

Our friend the Political Muse at Liberal in the Land of Conservative: has posted three MNMuseTubes on Tim Walz. The YouTubes are posted below. He writes: 

Over the past few weeks Congressman Tim Walz has given a few one minute speeches on the floor of the House of Representatives. The first came the day after the speech to Congress by President Obama. Walz highlighted how the 1st District would benefit from the investment (energy, health care, & education) priorities laid out by the administration.

Here's the first MN MuseTube:

The second, on veterans :

The third:

We appreciate the Muse's putting together these YouTubes almost as much as his Weekly romp through the Blogosphere.

The New Ulm Journal reports Irish carry on St. Patrick’s Day Tradition. And you thought New Ulm was just about Germans and great beer. A sample:

The Irish in New Ulm are hopeful that the new stimulus package that President O'Bama is working on will finally lead to a 4-lane highway leading into New Ulm. "It will make it easier for the Germans to leave and the Irish to move in," said O'Connor.

It would also ease the traffic jams leading into New Ulm on St. Patrick from all the tourists coming to town to see the parade. The traffic sometimes backs up as far as Nicollet.

Southern Minnesota: To know Mayberry 2.0 is to love it.

Photo: Our friend DJ is tired of seeing our stock pictures of Congressman Walz, so he supplied this gorgeous picture of a 6-lb pot roast from a union meat cutting shop.  Don't you just want a slice of that emblem of the middle class American way of life?

For once, the weather agrees: it's Sunshine Week

Today's the first day of Sunshine Week, which

is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, civic groups, libraries, non-profits, schools and others interested in the public's right to know.

We won't be doing much different here on the Prairie, where sunlight is a vital part of our ecosystem and transparency a frequent topic. Government data, after all, should be so readily accessed that even cows can get at it; those multi-chambered stomachs are a great tool for analysis.

And what better way to start the week than a cheery tune for atmosphere:

Saturday digest: roads, rest stops, recovery money and urban legends edition

 News is getting out about the projects MNDOT will be funding with Recovery Act dollars. The Jackson County Pilot reports in Stimulus upgrades local rest areas:

Federal stimulus money will pay for repaving of the parking lots at Interstate 90's Clear Lake and Des Moines rest areas in Jackson County, according to a list of state projects announced Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

The $320,000 parking lot overlay and rehabilitation of curb and walkway at both rest stops is expected to start in September.

Bridge work in Windom was the next closest state project.

MnDOT earlier announced federal stimulus package projects being undertaken by local governments, of which one was the replacement of the Highway 20 bridge over County Ditch 3 a mile and a half west of Okabena by the Jackson County Highway Department. That project has a price tag of $378,000 and construction is expected to start right away this spring.

Click here for a map and click here for a list of the state transportation projects funded by the federal stimulus program.

Click here for a list of the local transportation projects funded by stimulus money.

In We need solutions, not slogans, an LTE from DFL activist Phil Castrovinci published in the Rochester Post Bulletin, we read:

Just three months into his second term, right wing Republicans have begun their attacks on Rep. Tim Walz, as demonstrated by Mr. Klinger in your paper on March 4.

Shame on them.

Rather than come up with sound solutions for the devastating problems facing our country, they want to use funny names (like "Porkulus," coined by Rush Limbaugh) and associations with tired old rhetoric to describe Democrats (tax and spend).

Sadly, right wing ideologues have made it clear they are rooting for failure that seems to be their only hope.

Mr. Klinger, Rush Limbaugh and the other right wingers should take a deep breath and actually think about proposing solutions rather than partisan slogans.

Thank you to Rep. Tim Walz for standing up for Main Street rather than for the Wall Street banks. Walz voted to create jobs in southern Minnesota and he voted against spending billions on a Wall Street Bank bailout. Clearly, his priorities are to represent and fight for Southern Minnesota.

The comments that follow the letter are instructive, as the Republican line seems to be that none of the funding in the Recovery Act or Omnibus spending bill is destined for southern Minnesota. For ourselves, we can only hope that, whatever the passion that informs their denial, those Republicans slow down for the safety of the construction workers on Highway 14 (Omnibus funding) and I-90 (Recovery Act), as well as using the rest areas as needed when passing through Jackson County.

Kudos to the Pilot and sister paper, the Lakefield Standard, for posting a pdf of the local projects. The Winona Daily news reports that Low I-90 project bids announced in the eastern part of the First.  Local police hope for federal grants because they'll be losing state fudning, the WDN reports. The Money would come from the Recovery Act:

Winona and Goodview police will lose state funding in 2009 but hope to bolster or maintain their forces with grants from a federal program re-invigorated by the federal stimulus bill.

The departments are joining thousands of police forces nationwide vying for $1 billion in the stimulus bill to hire officers through the Community Oriented Policing, or COPS program. Winona police hope a COPS grant will pay to replace an officer position they expect to lose next month, while Goodview police say the grant could fill a longstanding need to expand patrols in that department.

The Rock County Star Herald reports in Luverne HRA gets $92,000 in stimulus money:

Luverne was among more than two dozen southern Minnesota communities to receive funds for the express purpose of modernizing and developing public housing.

In Luverne that translates to more money for maintenance and improvements at the Blue Mound Tower apartments.

Luverne HRA Director Marcia Linssen said the money will be a welcome addition to the capital improvement fund at the Blue Mound Tower.

"Every little bit helps," she said. "We're looking forward to finding good ways to utilize that money, either by upgrading apartments or by making improvements to the building itself."

She said Luverne's HRA has been receiving roughly $72,000 in federal funds for capital improvements, so the $92,287 will allow for extra or more thorough improvements.

HRA owns the Blue Mound Tower apartments, which were built in 1970.

"It's an old building, and there are always capital projects that need attention," Linssen said. "Whether it's air exchange issues, plumbing issues or structural issues."

The Mankato Free Press Dan Linehan reports in Politicians weigh in at Futures Summit:

An ambitious project to identify and seize economic opportunities in southern Minnesota sought advice Friday from hundreds of southern Minnesota leaders from the public and private sectors.

Using hand-held voting devices, 250 participants winnowed six key industries to three: bioscience, health care and renewable energy. It’s in these areas the region has the best resources and opportunity to create jobs, they agreed.

The wider process is called the Southern Minnesota Regional Competitiveness Project, led by the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation. . . .

. . .Next up was Margaret Anderson Kelliher, speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives and a Mankato native.

“This is not the southern Minnesota of the 1970s,” she said. No one here is looking back, Kelliher said.

After her address, she said the best economic strategy takes advantage of home-grown entrepreneurs, who are looking at a range of factors, not just tax breaks.

“Relocation is a bit of the Old World of economic development,” she said.

Both Klobuchar, currently the state’s only senator, and Rep. Tim Walz touted the recently passed $787 billion stimulus bill as promoting similar goals.

Walz acknowledged the bill essentially borrows from the future and said he doesn’t like deficit spending.

But doing nothing was a worse option, and the only way out of the recession is creating growth, Walz said.

Read the entire article about the Summit at the MFP.  A biobusiness in coming to Pine Island. The Post Bulletin has published more about the Elk Run project in Elk Run seems to have all the right stuff. along with companion articles, $1 billion in a 'pile' for Elk Run and Pine Island city administrator pleased with infusion of capital into Elk Run.  There's even more in Much to be found under biotech umbrella and Interchange is necessary, but unfunded, piece of the project.

URBAN LEGEND ALERT: Finally, loyal readers know we're always on the lokkout for false urban legends being circulated as if they are factual. The Worthington Globe has published an LTE attributing a prayer to the late Paul Harvey. The text instantly set our bull detector tingling; sure enough, it's an item at the Urban Legends Reference site. The praye, falsely attributed to both Harvey and Billy Graham, wasn't aired on radio, but rather delivered on the opening day of the Kansas State House in 1996.

Photo: A waggish friend sent us this lolcats, recommending it as an allegory of First District Republican efforts to unseat Congressman Walz. We have some really funny friends.

If you've stuck with us and read this whole post, you deserve a song. How about a little Anthony and the Johnsons:

MNDOT releases list of bids for Recovery Bill projects (and a note on transparency tools )

Facebook friend Jacob Grippen brought this Commerce and Finance article to our attention: MnDOT announces first bid results for federal stimulus projects. Southern Minnesota projects from the MNDOT pdf:

Location: I-90 – Hwy 74 to Hwy 43 in Winona County
Description: Bituminous overlay
Construction start estimate: May 2009
Apparent low bid: $4,484,583.93
Contractor: Dunn Blacktop Co.
State Project # 8580-154

Location: I-90 – CSAH 1 to Hwy 63 west of Stewartville
Description: Mill and overlay eastbound only
Construction start estimate: May 2009
Apparent low bid: $2,096,319.36
Contractor: Ulland Brothers Inc.
State Project # 5080-152

Location: I-90 Alden to Albert Lea
Description: Concrete overlay eastbound and bituminous overlay westbound
Construction start estimate: May 2009
Apparent low bid: $15,997,537.76
Contractor: Ulland Brothers Inc.
State Project #2481-50

Location: Region-wide District 6 [Rochester/Owatonna]
Description: Guardrail replacement
Construction start estimate: May 2009
Apparent low bid: $1,685,285.76
Contractor: Mattison Contractors Inc.
State project #8826-68

Location: Region-wide District 7 [Mankato/South Central Minnesota]
Description: Install guardrail and end treatments
Construction start estimate: May 2009
Apparent low bid: $481,006.50
Contractor: Highway Technologies Inc.
State project #8827-88

The projects above are only those for which bids have been let.  On its page for Recovery Act-funded projects, MNDOT has posted a List of projects by county (pdf), a Map (PDF) and a list (Word).

We're really happy to see MNDOT post this data online about actual projects funded by the Recovery Bill, since it may help prevent local publishers from rushing to the sorts of judgments like the one David Phillips jumped to in his weekly column in the Spring Grove Herald:

The federal stimulus package is supposed to help America get back on track. A turnaround in the national economy will help Spring Grove, but there are no specific projects targeted for our community or any of the other small cities in southeastern Minnesota, according to a list put together by StimulusWatch.org, which is tracking the "shovel-ready" projects.

As we pointed out in February, Stimuluswatch.org used a report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM draws its membership from the leadership of cities of 30,000 and over) for its dataset. No projects from Mankato and Rochester (the only cities in Southern Minnesota with populations over 30,000) were supplied for the USCM report.

Spring Grove is part of MNDOT Region 6, in which guardrails will be replaced. Will any guardrails be replaced in Houston County? Good question. Will other Recovery bill funds head that way?

Media--old or new--should not confuse the information in stimuluswatch.org with the actual projects MNDOT and other agencies pick for the Recovery Bill dollars. We'll try to post links to southern Minnesota's share of the funding whenever we learn of it.

Photo: I-90  near Albert Lea.

MnPublius: What do we talk about when we talk about earmarks

Radio Winona reports:

Good news for Winona State University's National Child Protection Training Center.

President Barack Obama Wednesday signed an appropriations bill that contains funding for sixteen important projects in southern Minnesota, including for the WSU center.

Congressman Tim Walz says the bill contained $700,000 for the National Child Protection Training Center which will help the center keep operating. The center trains social workers, teachers, and healthcare professionals to recognize and report signs of child abuse.

The bill also contains nearly $2.4 million for a four-lane expansion if Highway 14 between Waseca and Owatonna. It contains $200,000 for the Sheriff's Youth Program in Rochester, and another $712,000 for a new 60 bus garage facility to serve as a transit operations center in Rochester.

The Austin Hormel Institute gets $323,000 to develop an International Center of Research Technology to provide cutting edge technology to biomedical researchers from across the country. And $713,000 goes to Minnesota State-Mankato for its Center for Renewable Energy.

WSU's National Child Protection Training Center is an interesting exhibit in the national debate over earmark reform. One small part of that debate was launched yesterday by Jeff Rosenberg at MnPublius in the post Let’s have a more intelligent discussion of earmarks.

There's a mostly intelligent discussion going on, and we recommend that our readers add their thoughts.

One commenter suggests that all federal funds be doled out according to a competitive grant process, with grant applications being reviewed and scored. The implicit assumption is that an administration or bureaucracy will always be more fair and less corrupt than congressional review.

Administrations too need scrutiny. The recent history of grant applications by the Child Protection Training Center demonstrates that the grant process too can be corrupted. As we've posted repeatedly in the past year, Congressman Walz and others sought the earmarks for the Center after a high-scoring grant application to the DOJ's youth justice program division was turned down--and a Bush administration sent money to a much lower scoring youth golf program.

Last March, in Walz brings DOJ grant process to Waxman's attention we noted Peter Cohn's article in Government Executive:

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is investigating how a Justice Department agency awarded grants in fiscal 2007, when most federal agencies operated with a freer hand under the yearlong earmark moratorium Democrats imposed.

Waxman wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey March 13 requesting a briefing no later than Friday -- and related documents by April 4 -- in response to reports that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention awarded noncompetitive grants in fiscal 2007 to less-qualified applicants.

Citing a recent investigation by the trade publication Youth Today, Waxman noted that in fiscal 2007 the the office awarded a $500,000 grant to the World Golf Foundation, even though its application was ranked lower than 38 other bids in a review done by career Justice Department officials. . . .

. . .Waxman said the situation was brought to light by Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., a freshman who complained that a worthy applicant in his district was unfairly shut out of the grant-making process in fiscal 2007. An aide to Walz said his interest was piqued when OJJDP ignored a request to direct money to the National Child Protection Training Center at Winona State University, even though it ranked fourth out of more than 100 applicants in the agency's review.

The center trains social workers, teachers, nurses, police officers and others to detect and respond to signs of child abuse. The funding was dropped when the OJJDP administrator made the final decisions. Walz and other Minnesota lawmakers successfully restored about $1.2 million for the center in the fiscal 2008 omnibus appropriations bill, including $446,000 funded through OJJDP. . . .

Murray Waas and others covered the Waxman committee investigations last June.

There's also the case of the Lewis and Clark Regional Water System. Though a big-ticket item, the project will provide an essential service for residents and businesses in three states: potable water for people and livestock. After praising the project earlier, President Bush zeroed it out in his budget--without explanation.  Down in Southwestern Minnesota, Cornerhouse Comments reacted at the time.

At Bluestem, we've been writing about transparency and accountibility in the earmark process (see our archived government reform posts), and are please to see more discussion underway on Minnesota's blogshere. Go over and add your thoughts to the MnPublius thread.

More on the background of the WSU's child protection center from the Mankato Free Press.

The Hill: Walz's "common sense" legislation to ban congressional insider trading

Public Citizen legislative representative Craig Holman writes in The Hill's Congress Blog:

Apply Same ‘Insider Trading’ Restrictions on Members and Staff of Congress

It should come as a shock to most Americans, but members of Congress, their staff and many employees of the executive branch may conduct legal “insider trading” on the stock market, that would otherwise be illegal for you and I.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not have the authority to hold employees of Congress or the Executive Branch liable for using non-public information gained from official proceedings for insider trading. Under current law, “insider trading” is defined as the buying or selling of securities or commodities based on non-public information in violation of confidentiality — either to the issuing company or the source of information. Most federal officials and employees do not owe a duty of confidentiality to the federal government and thus are not liable for insider trading.

There is some evidence that insider trading by government officials may already be a problem. As part of his plea agreement on corruption charges, Tony Rudy, former staffer to then-Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), acknowledged making 500 stock trades from his Capitol Hill computer in 1999 and 2000, profiting handsomely from the day trading. In another incident, stock prices for companies with asbestos-related liabilities rose dramatically in 2005 just before former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) proposed a $140 billion public bailout for asbestos liability claims, raising suspicion that the information had been leaked to lobbyists or “political intelligence” consultants beforehand.

What are “political intelligence consultants”? They are lobbyists or stock traders who hang around the halls of Congress eagerly seeking information on the stock and commodities markets from congressional staffers, who may have learned of insider information in the course of congressional oversight proceedings. This non-public information can then quickly be turned into a gold mine of stock trading.

Reps. Brian Baird (D-Wash.), Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-NY) and Tim Walz (D-Minn.) have introduced common sense legislation to apply the same insider trading restrictions we face on members and staff of Congress and the federal government. The “Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act” (H.R. 682) would prohibit congressional and executive branch officials and employees from using non-public information for personal gain. It would also prohibit private individuals and firms that attempt to mine this information from using it for insider trading. The legislation would also require members of Congress and their staff to disclose stock transactions of $1,000 or more within 90 days, and require “political intelligence consultants” to register under LDA and disclose their financial activities.

This legislation is long overdue. And it has become all the more critical today as the Congress and the federal government assume an even greater oversight role of Wall Street.

Photo: Congressman Walz and constitutent in Luverne. Courtesy of Dale at Cornerhouse Comments.

Walz voted against tabling PMA Group investigation resolution

Over at the appropriately named Hot Air, conservative blogger Ed Morrissey writes in House votes to ignore PMA pay-for-play scandal:

Jeff Flake tried his best to get the House to clean up after itself in the wake of raids on the lobbyist group PMA and some of its clients.  Flake got a vote on a resolution to begin an investigation into PMA and the hundreds of millions of pork dollars that has flowed to its clients from Representatives who have financially benefited from them.  Unfortunately, only 21 Democrats went along with Flake — and a few Republicans defected (via Instapundit)...

Morrissey's source article in Politico doesn't link to the Roll Call vote on this one. Congressman Walz was one of the 21 Democrats who voted to begin the investigation. With the exception of Representative Kline, who voted "present" because he is on the ethics panel that would hear the evidence*, the rest of Minnesota's delegation voted along partisan lines.

In Firm with Murtha Ties Got Earmarks From Nearly One-Fourth of House, CQPolitics explains part of the issue fairly well. Over 100 current and former House members secured earmarks for clients of the lobbying firm (no current or former Minnesota representative is on the list). The article notes:

“It shows you how good they were,” said Keith Ashdown, chief investigator at the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. “The sheer coordination of that would take an army to finish.”

PMA’s offices have been raided, and the firm closed its political action committee last week amid reports that the FBI is investigating possibly illegal campaign contributions to Murtha and other lawmakers.

No matter what the outcome of the federal investigation, PMA’s earmark success illustrates how a well-connected lobbying firm operates on Capitol Hill. And earmark accountability rules imposed by the Democrats in 2007 make it possible to see how extensively PMA worked the Hill for its clients.

In the spending bill managed by Murtha, the fiscal 2008 Defense appropriation, 104 House members got earmarks for projects sought by PMA clients, according to Congressional Quarterly’s analysis of a database constructed by Ashdown’s group.. . .

The Washington Post focused on the FBI probe of PMA in Despite Listing, Donors Don't Work for Firm Being Probed:

These errors, along with other unusual donations linked to the firm, come as the Justice Department examines allegations that PMA may have violated campaign finance laws. The offices of PMA, which ranked last year as the 10th-largest Washington lobbying firm by earnings, were raided in November by FBI agents and Defense Department investigators.

. . .Federal investigators are focused on allegations that PMA founder Paul Magliocchetti, a former appropriations staffer close to  Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), may have reimbursed some of his staff to cover contributions made in their names to Murtha and other lawmakers, according to two sources familiar with the investigation. PMA has long had a reputation for securing earmarks from congressional appropriators, particularly for defense contractors, and it has donated generously to influential members of Congress. Magliocchetti personally gave $98,000 in campaign donations last year, according to campaign records.

Federal election laws limit the amount of money individuals may contribute to candidates, but lobbying firms often show their clout by collecting and bundling contributions. It is illegal for employers to reimburse donors for their contributions.. . .

Walz received one $1000 in 2008 from the group's PAC ( none in the 2005-2006 cycle), but did not receive any contributions from individual PMA Group employees as near as we can tell by looking at the FEC database by the employer search feature of the advanced search option. 

Looking  for Minnesotans in the committee's giving in the 2007-2008 cycle, we see that former Senator Norm Coleman, and Representatives McCollum and Oberstar received contributions. None of the potentially scandalous earmarks or suspicious individual giving involved Minnesotans serving in Congress--at least as far as we know.

We think the investigations of the PMA Group should lead not so  to partisan gotcha, as to calls for the continued reform in the process of earmarking and transparency. We're guessing this vote didn't come easy for Walz, but we're pleased that he's walking the talk about reforming congress.

One additional Minnesota connection with the story: former representative Tim Penny is on the advisory board of Taxpayers for Common Sense.  Unlike Morrisey, this group doesn't use the word "pork" to describe earmarks, one staff member told us at last weekend's Transparency Camp noted that calling appropriations "pork" oversimplifies the issue and impedes real earmark reform. An interesting point we're inclined to agree with. Congress is charged by the Constitution with appropriating money for the federal government: what is the best method for funding worthy projects in districts and regions (such as public works like the Lewis and Clark Regional Water System) while avoiding corruption?

As the CQPolitics articles points out:

earmark accountability rules imposed by the Democrats in 2007 make it possible to see how extensively PMA worked the Hill for its clients.

We hope Congressman Walz continues to work for accountability and tranparency.

*The Yahoo/CQ Politics article contains some minor inaccuracies about the vote, so we're relying on the official House Roll Call.

Thursday digest #1: clean congress and recovery request edition

Over a month ago, we posted about Congressman Walz's support for legislation to prevent members of congress and their staff from profiting from "insider" information. The Post Bulletin and other venues picked up on it. The Washington Independent notes that watchdog groups are picking up on the bill in A Congress of Inside Traders?:

You might think that members of Congress and their staffs would be prohibited from using their privileged access to nonpublic information to cash in on Wall Street. But you’d be wrong.

Congressional insider trading is not, in fact, illegal. In a letter to lawmakers today, several watchdogs groups offer explanation:

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not have the authority to hold employees of Congress or the Executive Branch liable for using non-public information gained from official proceedings for insider trading. Under current law, ‘insider trading’ is defined as the buying or selling of securities or commodities based on non-public information in violation of confidentiality — either to the issuing company or the source of information. Most federal officials and employees do not owe a duty of confidentiality to the federal government and thus are not liable for insider trading.

The letter — signed by Public Citizen, Democracy 21, Common Cause, U.S. PIRG and the League of Women Voters — was drafted in support of legislation to prohibit congressional and White House insider trading. Introduced in January by Democratic Reps. Brian Baird (Wash.), Louise Slaughter (N.Y.) and Tim Walz (Minn.), the bill would prevent policymakers from profiting from their access to nonpublic information. At the time of the unveiling, Baird pointed to a 2004 Georgia State University study indicating that investments made by members of Congress return 25 percent more than those made by other Americans.

The watchdog groups point out another reason they say Congress should consider the bill quickly: The hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout cash coming out of Washington will provide wonderful investment opportunities for policymakers who know where the money is going before the public does. . . . .

Read the whole article at the Washington Independent. Closer to home, KEYC-TV reports in Walz Office Flooded With Stimulus Requests:

The nearly 800 billion-dollar stimulus plan was laid out in a bill totaling more than one thousand pages.And now Congressman Tim Walz has set up a point person to help decode the massive piece of legislation.News 12's Ryan Gustafson has the story.Meredith Salsbery has been coordinating the numerous requests from city and county administrators for projects ranging from school repair in Rushford to handicap accessible sidewalks in Slayton . . ..

. . .Salsbery wants to encourage Congressman Walz's constituents to call with any questions, because in a thousand page document, it's easy for things to get overlooked.Meredith Salsbery says, "The recovery package also includes a one-time payment of 250 dollars to people who receive social security disability or veterans disability - a lot of them don't know about that."The checks are expected to arrive in May and June. . . .

Sadly, the Senate's reluctance to include money for school construction has left the Rushford-Peterson district out, the Rochester Post Bulletin reports in No construction funding for Rushford-Peterson included in stimulus bill:

Rushford-Peterson school district won't receive stimulus money to help build a new school.

The school district had hoped to receive some money to build a $25 million replacement for its century-old high school, but the money wasn't included in the final stimulus bill.

Superintendent Chuck Ehler had traveled to Washington, D.C., with 1st District Rep. Tim Walz last week to lobby federal education officials for funding, but no money was set aside for new school construction.

"It's a little disheartening, but we are hopeful that our new school initiative will move forward," Ehler said. "We're not real optimistic about the stimulus funds, but we'll explore other avenues."

Ehler said when the House and Senate met, they had to compromise and the Senate advocated for the removal of new construction funding. . . .

According to the New Ulm Journal, Stimulus funds go to roads, bridges rather than the local short line rail, but Senator Klobuchar and Cognressman Walz are working on securing other federal funds to assist the rail rehab:

On Feb. 26, Minnesota House File 660, authored by Morrow, appropriated $10 million in bond proceeds for a grant to the Minnesota Valley Regional Rail Authority (MVRRA) to rehabilitate track.

He added that a separate pot of money will be available for nationwide rail projects.

Morrow said Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and Congressman Tim Walz helped appropriate $950,000 in federal railroad improvement funding.

He said his office expects to receive federal guidance on funding criteria and application procedures in the next few months.

The project is already attracting businesses to the area. According to the article, Land O' Lakes will be building an 80,000-square foot distribution facility in Winthrop.

Not all job losses are cuased by cuts; some are triggered by off-shoring work. In Moving to China?, KTTC looks at the corporation's transfer of jobs to other countries:

In the last month, hundreds of high-paying jobs have been slashed at IBM/Rochester. Tonight, how jobs with very similar descriptions are now popping up a half a world away.  In places like China, India, and Brazil.

IBM stands for International Business Machines, and IBM has facilities around the globe.

So it should be no surprise that a world-wide company would come up with something it calls "Project Match."

It's a program that offers those recently laid-off in Rochester and other U.S. sites a chance at jobs opening up in countries that have developing markets. . . .

. . .If you would leave IBM Rochester to go to IBM China, you would be paid at the IBM China rate.

"It's a real concern. We're not opposed to trade but one of the problems we see in this country is that if we have a race to the bottom on wages, we aren't going to beat the Chinese to the bottom. They're going to continue to undercut us," said U.S. Representative Tim Walz.

"It's the job you thought you would retire from but now have lost," said President Barack Obama.

President Barack Obama addressed the issue of offshoring jobs in his address to Congress, promising to restore a sense of fairness and balance to the tax code by ending tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas.

It's certainly not illegal for a company like IBM to bulk up its work force in China or Brazil, but it might seem like the "end of the world" if you've lived and worked at IBM Rochester for decades and then suddenly see your job popping up on the other side of the globe.. . .

Read the whole article at the station's web site. We'll be back later with part two of the news digest.

New Ulm Journal editorial: Fairness, not perfection, is issue in recount

The conservative New Ulm Journal endorsed former Senator Coleman in 2008, but now the editorial board is rejecting Camp Coleman's call for a redo. In Voting fairness, not perfection is the issue, the paper observes:

Wednesday was the 4-month anniversary of the November election. About this time four months ago, Minnesotans realized we were heading for a recount in the Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken.

Today, Coleman's slim lead turned into Franken's slim lead following the recount, and a three-judge panel is hearing Coleman's challenge in a courtroom in St. Paul.

Coleman's attorneys are disappointed with the way the case is going, and suggested earlier this week that since there are disputed ballots that aren't being counted, and a some that may have been double counted, and no way to tell which is which, the whole election should be thrown out and done over.

Without proof of voter fraud or systemic unfairness, the court should ignore the call to overturn the election. We will never get a perfect recount. Let's just be sure it is fair.

Smartest guy in Southern Minnesota thanks Congressman Walz for earmark

The Rochester Post Bulletin reports in Hormel Institute could land $323,000 in appropriations:

The Hormel Institute in Austin will likely receive federal dollars to help develop an International Center of Research, which officials believe will help provide cutting edge technology to biomedical researchers.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved it 245 to 178 Wednesday, with the Senate taking action on the bill in the coming days. If passed, it would be sent on to President Obama for his signature.

The institute would receive $323,000 from the bill, said U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, the DFL congressman from the 1st District who included the item in the bill.

Officials with the Hormel Institute were excited about the news.

"We are deeply indebted to Congressman Walz and the diligent, dedicated effort he makes to secure funding support for the Hormel Institute," said Dr. Zigang Dong, Hormel Institute executive director. "The growth we have achieved -- and the future growth we will continue to strive for -- depends on the important partnerships we share with our community and the support we receive from our leaders, such as Congressman Walz."

At the Hormel Institute, Dr. Dong has assembled an incredible staff of researchers from throughout the world to engage in research aimed at curing and preventing cancer. Expanding the research center's reach is a good thing.

The Congressional appropriation isn't the only federal money going toward the Hormel Institute. Back January, the Post Bulletin (article available here) reported:

A $1 million federal grant is going to the Hormel Institute to study an herbal compound's ability to help prevent prostate cancer.

The National Institutes of Health also is providing another $525,000 for supporting the costs related to the project, according to the Hormel Institute.

Junxuan "Johnny" Lu, a cancer biology professor at the Hormel Institute in Austin, will lead the five-year project to study an herbal compound known as PGG, or 1,2,3,4,6-penta-O-galloyl-beta-D-glucose, which is present in some Asian medicinal herbals, officials at the institute said.

Cell studies indicate the compound might have a strong cancer inhibitory effect, researchers say.

Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in American men and was expected to kill about 29,000 people nationwide in 2008, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Work on the project started earlier this month in the institute's labs, Lu said.

"What we hope is to prevent the cancer from ever happening," Lu said during an interview last week in his second-floor office at the institute's newly expanded building.

The researcher probably will want to first target men with high risk, he said, then eventually see if it's good for the general public.

If the research proves PGG is a safe and effective cancer preventive compound in models, the Hormel Institute plans to do further research to plan for human clinical trials, Hormel Institute says. The goal is to benefit both prostate-cancer patients and men's health, in general.

A collaboration between Lu, the grant's principal investigator, and professor Sung Hoon Kim led to the project, officials said. Kim is a visiting professor at the institute from Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea.

The Hormel Institute is a University of Minnesota research unit and a research collaborative partner with Mayo Clinic.

While Dr. Dong and his colleague are thanking Walz, we think we'll thank the researchers themselves for the work they're doing battle this scourge.

Photo: Dr. Zigang Dong of the Hormel Institute. We've listened to him discuss his research several times, so we're not joking about "the smartest guy in Southern Minnesota." For more on the Hormel Institute's work, see our earlier post, Another common sense earmark: Austin's Hormel Institute.

Transparency Camp

Blogging will be light here from Friday through Monday, when we'll be traveling to Washington DC to take part in the Transparency Camp sponsored by the Sunlight Foundation and The Institute for Politics Democracy & the Internet @ George Washington University.  We were invited to attend because of our many posts about the need for transparency in government.

We're a little minnow in that pond, since the other campers hail from places like the Heritage Foundation and the Mercatus Center to Mother Jones, along with staff from government agencies like the Veterans Administration.

And in that spirit, some sunlight of our own: a small grant from the Alliance for a Better Minnesota Education Fund is covering our travel and lodging in exchange for some workshops on transparency and government data. We'll let readers know when the public training sessions take place.

As always, the opinions at Bluestem Prairie are our own; quoted material like press releases and excerpts from articles and other blogs are clearly sourced.

Tuesday digest: finding what we find edition

An member chapter reports that the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce organized meetings of business leaders and Congressman Walz so that they could tell him about their opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act:

FEDERAL ‘CARD CHECK’The Minnesota Chamber is leading an effort to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act, otherwise known as “Card Check,” at the federal level. While we are working with our national partners like the U.S. Chamber and the National Association of Manufacturers, our members feel very strongly that this legislation undermines the principles of workplace democracy. Last week, we coordinated meetings with Congressman Collin Peterson and with Congressman Tim Walz attracting more than 100 business leaders in total. We also are trying to meet with Senator Amy Klobuchar.

We hope Congressman Walz sticks with his support of the bill. Here's why.

The Post Bulletin reoprts in Elk Run may get $1 billion boost:

The proposed Elk Run biobusiness park could get a huge capital boost this week, although all parties involved have been mum.

Published reports say that California-based developer Tower Investments is close to a deal with a major investor in California to create a $1 billion venture capital fund to help bring biotechnology startups to the state.

Tower Investments has proposed a 2,325-acre bioscience and residential campus along U.S. 52 near Pine Island.

According to a Star Tribune  report, San Francisco-based Burrill & Company CEO G. Steven Burrill will be the lead investor in the venture fund that will offer money to as many as 30 companies that agree to move to the Elk Run facility. . . .

. . .Brase said there has been ongoing dialogue between Mayo and Elk Run developers for a few years. The clinic has been part of a focus group and one of its employees, Larry Pease, has been on Elk Run's nonprofit advisory board.

"Mayo Clinic is really supportive of any effort to increase bioscience in Minnesota, especially in southeast Minnesota," Brase told the Post-Bulletin.

One project on a list sent to 1st District Rep. Tim Walz for federal stimulus money includes a $50 million project to improve highway access to the development site. Pine Island City Administrator Abraham Algadi said there has been discussion with the Minnesota Department of Transportation about a possible interchange near the site. 

In MinnPost's Obama's speech tonight: Watch for specifics and tone, Walz says:

Minnesota's representatives, most having just returned to Washington after a week spent in their districts, said that questions abounded over the specifics of the stimulus and bailout plans.

"I hope he [Obama] hits on the things that people are talking about," said Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn. "They want a sense that there is a plan. They want confidence again."

While traveling through his district in southern Minnesota, Walz said that he continually heard questions about the U.S. banks.

"They wanted to know, and not in talking points, what does it mean if the government takes over control of the banks?" said Walz. "What does nationalization mean?"

Good question.

This afternoon's song is from Idlewild, and goes out to all those who research, and find what they find:

Coffee talk, and reflections about researching the recovery bill online

The Albert Lea Tribune offers a good picture of Coffee with a congressman at the local Hyvee on Saturday. Another photo in the online edition demonstrates how slippery the roads were.

Slippery conditions are on our mind of late. We're heading to the Sunlight Foundation's Transparency Camp this weekend in Washington D.C. The ability of citizens to access government information is important to us, and lookng at various stimulus watch sites brings this home to us after friends asked for help in understanding one site in particular.

The friends' questions about that "stimulus watch" site taught another lesson:  the importance for site designers to make the nature of their own sites--and the nature of the data that they contain--perfectly clear to the casual researcher.

All data isn't equal, and potential users--especially those who don't research for a living--need to be able to know what they're mining. They shouldn't have to dig to find that basic information about the database, either.

Our friends' confusion, coupled with headlines like Saturday's WaPo's Obama to Hold Cities Accountable for Stimulus Spending . sent us looking for sites that allow people to learn more about how money is being spent under the newly signed Recovery bill.  Our search provided a look into the fascinating world of websites that re-crunch datasets, what the sites are, and what the casual reader might take take them to be.

The Obama administration has set up http://www.recovery.gov with the intent of allowing citizens to see how their tax dollars are being spent. The self description:

Recovery.gov is a website that lets you, the taxpayer, figure out where the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going. There are going to be a few different ways to search for information. The money is being distributed by Federal agencies, and soon you'll be able to see where it's going -- to which states, to which congressional districts, even to which Federal contractors. As soon as we are able to, we'll display that information visually in maps, charts, and graphics.

The site features a timeline, which suggests when information about projects and spending with become available. However, since the project themselves in the 50 states haven't been selected yet, there's still not much to look at. That situation should change quickly in the coming weeks.

Again: recovery.gov is the official site.  Given the enormity of the database management issues involved, it's not surprising some kinks need to be worked out. Watchdogs are keeping an eye on the Big Dog at recovery.gov.  More on this development in a moment.

When using the limited, non governmental stimulus watch sites that have been set up, users should look carefully at the way those private sites' designers used what are at this point essentially wish lists   We're hoping that users stop to consider the critical thinking tools they need to evaluate watch sites themselves. A look at the site that brought friends to us for help in a bit.

First, the watchdogs taking a close look at the government site.

The challenges of integrating different sets of data from state and local governments are detailed in Transparency of Recovery.gov under scrutiny at the Federal Computer Week site:

Some of the state and local government databases and networks expected to send data into Recovery.gov are not as advanced as the federal site. They are not all compatible with one another or federal formats, according to several watchdog groups involved in oversight of the stimulus. Experts say fixing the problem could prove challenging at a time when the goal is to speed stimulus money into the economy as rapidly as possible.

“When the federal authorities give money to states, that tracking is kind of opaque,” said Craig Jennings, federal fiscal policy analyst with OMB Watch, which recently helped form the Coalition for an Accountable Recovery with 32 organizations. “The federal government gives money to states, states give it to cities, and it gets convoluted.”

The watchdog groups urged the Obama administration and the states to quickly standardize those data formats and transmissions to maintain the most up-to-date and accurate stimulus spending totals.

The database challenges with tracking federal spending are not all new. Some issues surfaced in the development of USASpending.gov, which has been operating since December 2007. While the Web site has received high marks for transparency in general, it has a mixed record on subcontracts and grants.

Administration officials have pledged that Recovery.gov will allow visitors to track the stimulus spending. That database will contain data flowing into it from federal, state and local agencies and possibly contractors. About half the stimulus money is expected to flow through state and local governments.

On May 20, federal agencies are to begin reporting their competitive grants and contracts, according to Recovery.gov. On July 15, the recipients of grants and contracts, which include state and local governments and businesses, will report on their performance.

OMB Watch lists the membership of the Coalition for an Accountable Recovery:

The coalition members are (alphabetically):

21st Century School Fund Building Educational Success together (BEST) Center for Cities and Schools Center for Community Change Center for Economic and Policy Research Center for Fiscal Accountability Center for Responsive Politics Center on Policy Initiatives Common Cause Consumers Union Economic Policy Institute Good Jobs First Moms Rising National Institute for Money in State Politics National Training and Information Center

OMB Watch Open Technology Initiative/New America Foundation OpenTheGovernment.org Partnership for Working Families PICO National Network Progressive States Network Project on Government Oversight Public Citizen Public Knowledge Smart Growth America Sunlight Foundation Taxpayers for Common Sense Transportation Equity Network United States Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) WashingtonWatch.com

Go take a look at what the umbrella recovery transparency watchdog group is up to. We've bookmarked the site for our own reference.

Now, the look at one the most heavily promoted private sites set up to let citizens monitor recovery project. Unfortunately, the limited scope of this site doesn't offer any local projects for Southern Minnesotans to follow. Friends report their consternation after using one site in particular, though their reactions are the result of a simple omission of prefatory information than from some darker to design to exclude them.

The Sunlight Foundation blogged about the launch of Stimulus Watch, a  private site some acquaintances took to be the official site--despite the site's own disclaimers to the contrary:

StimulusWatch.org was built to help the new administration keep its pledge to invest stimulus money smartly, and to hold public officials to account for the taxpayer money they spend. We do this by allowing you, citizens around the country with local knowledge about the proposed "shovel-ready" projects in your city, to find, discuss and rate those projects. These projects are not part of the stimulus bill. They are candidates for funding by federal grant programs once the bill passes.  [emphasis added by BSP] Learn more by reading the FAQs.

This site has gotten a lot of attention, but what impressed us as we dug into the FAQ was the very limited scope of the data. If the projects are NOT part of the stimulus bill, what are they?

We had to  go off the site itself to find out.urns out that the projects are drawn from a report--itself complied from four surveys--by the U.S.  Conference of Mayors, which draws its membership from leaders of cities of 30,000 or more. In Minnesota's First Congressional District, that means Rochester and Mankato.

And yet when we dig into the USCM's report from 779 cities, we find that neither community was part of the four surveys. We also had to go the the USCM site, and dig into the pdf of the report to find out in one place the number of cities included; on page 3 in the pdf, we learn:

Today we are reporting that, in 779 cities of all sizes in all regions of the country, a total of 18,750 local infrastructure projects are “ready to go.”

The USCM site provides a number of ways to review the data. What the Stimulus Watch site provides, then, isn't so much accessible data (since that is searchable from a number of ways at the USCM site) but a forum for citizen watchdogging and commentary.

For the moment, it has nothing local for Southern Minnesotans to watchdog, though some of them were eager to chart the progress of the $625 million in local project requests they'd heard or read Congressman Walz forwarded to the Pawlenty administration. That's what brought this site and the larger questions raised about all citizen monitoring sites  for the recovery to our attention.

As the comments on Stimulus Watch's own post about a recent KSTP report that mentioned the project reveal, our friends aren't the only ones going to Stimulus Watch and drawing hasty conclusions.  The difference between projects in the USCM wish list that was used to construct the site's database--and the yet-to-be determined projects that will actually be funded-- could be clarified with a single sentence.

That sentence, on the front page of Stimulus Watch could simply state that it database only includes projects from the 779 cities included in the United State Conference of Mayors' report. We don't think the project's creator wanted to mislead anyone--we think they just didn't give enough thought to the casual researcher who isn't familiar with site and database evaluation.

In short, most of the country. Figuring out the limits of the database needn't be that hard. Transparency advocates should create tools that don't require a grad school bakground in research methods to use.

Photo: from the Albert Lea Tribune's  Scott Schmeltzer.  Rep. Tim Walz on Saturday morning at Hy-Vee in Albert Lea.

Attention shoppers! Albert Lea Saturday store stop is first for 2009

This has been a busy district work week for Congressman Walz an his staff. Still there's time for a store stop during which constituents can meet with their U.S. Representative and some of his staff.

The details:

Today, Congressman Walz announced that he will resume his tradition of Saturday Store Stops this Saturday, February 21 in Albert Lea.

By visiting local grocery stores during peak shopping hours, Walz hopes to hear from constituents who might not otherwise request a meeting or submit their opinion on policy topics.

"I hope that people will take a few minutes Saturday morning to stop by and express their thoughts and concerns. I feel it is important to give everyone a voice during this time of economic trouble," said Walz.

Saturday Store Stop
Saturday, February 21
9:30 – 11:00 a.m.
Hy-Vee Food Store
2708 Bridge Ave
Albert Lea, MN 56007

Constituents can find Rep. Walz and his staff at a table near the Hy-Vee dining area.

This will be the first store stop of 2009 for Walz. During his first term in Congress, Walz conducted hundreds of meetings with individual constituents and representative organizations around southern Minnesota and in his Washington, D.C. office. Constituents can also contact Congressman Walz through his website at www.house.gov/walz or by calling 1-877-TIM-WALZ.

Photo: Walz meeting with constituents in a grocery store in 2008.

West Central Tribune: "Walz is walking the talk" on pay raises

Our last post, Tim Walz, troublemaker: making noise about raises blocks 2010 pay hike, noted that House leadership had decided that members should forgo next year's automatic pay raise.

Today's editorial in the West Central Tribune goes one step further in Congress should return ’09 pay raise:

What is it that congressional lawmakers don’t get on the economy?

The economy is in the tank, but it is OK for members of Congress to take a raise. It must be Washington economics.

Members of Congress just got a 3 percent or $5,000 raise in January and the majority accepted it.

Now the No. 2 Democrat in the House said Washington lawmakers are going to have to give up their automatic raise in 2010. It would be “inappropriate,” said Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer, for Congress to accept its 2010 raise when the economy is in bad shape and people are losing their jobs.

Well, Mr. Hoyer, what about the 2009 raise last month?

We think is not only inappropriate but almost immoral for Congress to have accepted a 3 percent pay increase last month, which raised members’ salaries to $174,000.

The congressional pay raise in January added an additional $2.5 million to the budget.

Minnesota Congressman Tim Walz has returned his pay increase every year since he was elected in 2006. Now that is true leadership — Walz is walking the talk. [emphasis added]

We call on Congress to not attempt to fool Americans by rejecting the 2010 increase; when they just accepted the 2009 increase in the midst of a failing economy, crashing markets and a banking slowdown.

The House should repeal their 2009 salary increase and do it now.

It's worth noting, as Bluestem did when it first reported on the First District Congressman's refusal to accept the 2009 raise--and the continued return of the 2008 raise--that Walz had simply do so without having either his congressional office or campaign issue a press release about the move. Nor was a press release issued when the congessman signed on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 156

Of the other two co-sponsors in Minnesota, only Johnny-come-lately Kline boasted about it in a press release when he signed on in later January; Blue Dog DFLer Peterson came onboard earlier on January 14 without publicizing his move. Neither Kline nor Peterson followed Walz's led in returning the 2009 raise.

Bluestem Prairie and the Minnesota Independent led the media, old and new, in getting news of Walz's actions out to the public.

Photo: Walz talking with constituents in a grocery store.

Walz "making headlines" in district for co-sponsoring congressional pay freeze bill?

We'll file this one under the "could have fooled us" category.

The Niles (MI) Daily Star reports in Upton sponsors raise freeze, that a Michigan Republican has signed on to the bill to stop an automatic raise in 2009 for U.S. representatives.  A couple of Minnesotans show up in the coverage:

Those lawmakers adding their names to the list are making headlines in their respective districts, including Democrats Tim Walz and Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Michigan's Rep. Mark Schauer, a Democrat representing the state's Seventh District.

The news that Upton added his name to the list of co-sponsors came late Thursday afternoon.

"Nobody is hurting more than folks in Michigan," Upton said.

"As our unemployment rate continues to rise, Michigan's families are desperate for Congress to pass a bipartisan stimulus package that will actually help our small businesses, put folks back to work, and put more money in the pockets of those who need it most," Upton said in a statement to the Star.

Neither Walz nor Peterson put out statements when they signed on as co-sponsors (Walz was an original co-sponsor on January 6 and Peterson followed a little over a week later) and this reticence didn't exactly cause the district press to trumpet the news when it was timely.

Nope: blame the bloggers for this story in Minnesota: the Strib picked up on the news two weeks after both Bluestem Prairie (Walz) and the Minnesota Independent (Peterson) noted on January 14 that the Minnesota representatives had become co-sponsors. We didn't exactly see hordes of headlines in First district papers about it.

Much later, Second Distrist Republican John Kline managed to get coverage in the Post Bulletin a couple of days after he signed on and put out a press release in late January. As we noted at the time, the article's writer phrases her report in a way that puts Kline out in front of Walz and Peterson on this issues. It's press release journalism at its most dreadful.

There's even more to the story. Many Minnesota newspapers wrote editorials scorning the automatic increase this year; until very recently, none except the Mankato Free Press noted Walz has refused this raises (and continues to decline old increases along with new), nor did they mention his sponsorship of the bill until the Strib brought it up. as Bluestem  and the MnIndy reported in late December--and again without the aid of a press release).  Perhaps Minnesota's press corps simply depends upon readers to look things up in Thomas for themselves.

 Speaking of Thomas, we have to hand it to the Niles, Michigan, paper for being ahead of the curve in its reporting, unlike the legacy press in Minnesota. Upton became a co-sponsor yesterday, and the article is online today even before the congressional staff has entered Upton's name in the list of co-sponsors (see the screenshot posted as a thumbnail in this paragraph; Upton' name did not yet appear among those of the bill's co-sponsors).

A short delay between signing on as a co-sponsor and having one's name appear on the list of co-sponsors on Thomas isn't unusual. What seems too rare among some of Minnesota's "real" journalists is simply looking at Thomas to see what the state's representatives are co-sponsoring.

Especially if it's an issue--like the automatic pay raises--for which representatives are being scolded in editorials. For more background, see our post, More Minnesota media mum on Walz when kvetching about congressional raises, which ironically enough was posted on January 6, the day that H.R. 156 was introduced and Walz became a sponsor.

Tuesday digest: Rosie, wind, credit and a good dive edition

Must see TV: We're listening to the Ag committee hearings on regulating credit swaps while putting together our daily digest. Now that the canned statements are given, the witnesses and committee members are conducting a lively debate over the issues. We'll be reviewing the transcripts' this is feisty stuff.

Elsewhere, in a letter to the editor of the Pipestone Star, her son-in-law tells of one real Rosie the Riveter's response to the inauguration of the 44th President. His Rosie wasn't the model for the icon, but she certainly embodies the spirit of the women who worked in the nation's defense industry in WWII.

The Strib and other venues are reporting Daschle withdraws as nominee for HHS secretary We're happy he came to his senses.

In the First, the Dodge County Independent proclaims America needs wind energy, Nature Energies responds! and Triple Creek Wind Farm coming to rural Kasson. Finance and Commerce reports Minnesota wind power development stalled due to a logjam of wind projects, "a power-transmission system in need of repairs and a shortage of adequately financed wind farms." North American Windpower says US, China Lead Global Wind Installation.

The Mankato Free Press editorial board writes against coal and for wind and other renewables in Big Stone II the wrong plan at the wrong time.

There's an update on B.J. Sprenger, the Sleepy Eye National Guard soldier who was badly burned in Iraq, in the New Ulm Journal. The article notes organizations that help service members and their families. We'd like to see members of congress donating their frequent flyer miles (earned on the taxpayers' dime) to the families of hospitalized military personnel, rather than taking the upgrades to fly first class. Private citizens should consider donating their miles, too.

Former Congressman Tim Penny, is crtical of the stimulus bill in his column in the Waseca County News, Community Perspective: Business as usual (again)?.

And now, an inspiring dive by America's top soldier, Fairmont-area native and WSU student Sgt. David Obray and the Golden Knights: