Category: Adam Kredo
Iraq Still Plagued by Many Forms of Corruption and Chaos
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, April 25 – Rampant corruption is just one of the many problems Iraq and the United States face in the three-year-old war in that Middle East country, the head of the Government Accountability Office, Congress’s watchdog agency, told lawmakers Tuesday.
David M. Walker, who as comptroller general heads the Government Accountability Office, told a Government Reform subcommittee chaired by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, that a “legacy of corruption” left over from Sadaam Hussein’s government continues to plague the war-torn country.
Walker’s conclusions were based on several recent agency visits to Iraq and four reports the GAO presented to Congress since last July.
“Transparency and accountability mechanisms are essential given the legacy of corruption inherited from the previous regime,” Walker said during the subcommittee hearing. “More needs to be done to help the Iraqis help themselves build capable government institutions that can deliver real results.”
Walker said it is “critically important” for the international community to get involved in Iraq, but he said that many countries have been hesitant because of unstable security conditions and Iraq’s failure to pay back previous investments.
Walker insisted that Iraq must rid itself of corruption and increase its oil revenues in order to produce a successful and viable economy.
“Sadaam Hussein is gone,” he said. “We’re dealing with a new situation.. The real key is substantive success.”
Addressing the panel, Shays, who just returned from his 12 th trip to Iraq, asked rhetorically, “how do we succeed” in Iraq? He agreed with Walker that America must stay the full course, saying, “I am convinced that premature withdrawal of our military will guarantee failure.”
But Walker reminded the committee that the “war in Iraq will not be won by the military alone.” Instead, he emphasized the need for reconstruction projects, calling 2006 a critical and revelatory year in America’s war effort.
When asked if President Bush had fulfilled his reconstruction promises, Walker said, “No; the objectives have not been met with regard to oil, electricity and water sectors.”
As of last month, oil and electricity production was below pre-war levels and the administration’s reconstruction goals for oil, electricity and water had not been met, according to the Government Accountability Office’s report.
Walker also said that while the U.S. effort has helped Iraq produce clean water, 60 percent of that water is lost to leakage and contamination.
“We have not achieved the objective with regard to potable water,” Walker said. “There are problems in transmission, there’s a significant amount of loss of water between the water treatment facilities and Iraqi homes.”
In addition, Walker said Iraq produced 2.6 million barrels of oil per day before the war, but by 2005, production averaged 2.1 million barrels per day. This resulted in diminished oil revenues.
Walker said that “we’ve got a ways to go” when it comes to electricity production in Iraq, stating that current levels are “slightly below pre-war levels” and “quite a bit below what the goal is.”
Currently, Iraq produces an average of 12.3 hours of electricity per day, but the level can vary depending on area and circumstance, Walker said.
In fiscal years 2001 through 2005, the United States spent $278 billion attempting to secure and stabilize Iraq, according to the Government Accountability Office’s report. Another $248 billion, the report said, was spent “to support U.S. military operations and forces.”
“Higher than expected security costs, funding reallocations, inadequate maintenance and other challenges have slowed the pace of reconstruction efforts and limited the impact of the services provided,” Walker said.
Approximately 130,000 U,S. troops remain in Iraq and about $30 billion has been spent to develop capable Iraqi security forces. Moreover, in February, the administration requested an additional $123 billion “to support U.S. stabilization and reconstruction operations” in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Walker estimated that Iraq is likely to need more than the $56 billion originally estimated for reconstruction and stabilization efforts, but he said it was unclear where the money would come from, citing decreased Iraqi oil revenue and international hesitance as reasons for the uncertainty.
Shays-Farrell Redux
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, April 20 - With U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, in possibly the toughest race of his political career, even his campaign manager has expressed uncertainty about both the outcome and the strategy for re-election victory in November.
Shays is typically known for avoiding negative campaign advertising and focusing his television ads on issues and his own record rather than on his opponent and his campaign plans to continue that approach this time around.
"Am I going to say [our strategy is] going to be a success and we're going to win? No. but do we feel that it's the right path to take? Yeah," said Michael Sohn, 31, who has run Shays' last three congressional campaigns.
As the 19-year incumbent struggles to retain his U.S. House of Representatives seat in a rematch with Democratic challenger Dianne Farrell, the major question many political observers are asking is whether Shays will finally bare his teeth and get aggressive.
Many of these observers doubt that he will.
"On election night, if Chris Shays loses I'm not going to be that surprised," Nathan Gonzales, the political editor of the Rothenberg Political Report based in Washington, said in a telephone interview.
"In 2006 Shays biggest liability is the 'R' behind the name. Being a Republican in his congressional district this year is his biggest liability," Gonzales said. "I think this election is going to be about President Bush for voters in the middle. I'm not saying the voters don't care about other issues, but I think that President Bush's shadow is going to be larger on the race than anything else."
Farrell received 48 percent of the vote against Shays two years ago. The former first selectwoman of Westport spent eight years serving the Fairfield County town, earning a reputation for being fiscally responsible
While Shays won the district in 2004, he lost in several key counties.
According to results reported by individual townships on election night and compiled by CNN, Shays lost in traditionally Democratic Bridgeport, his industrial home town, receiving only 9,946 votes to Farrell's 23,760.
Shays won Weston and Wilton in 2004, but lost in Norwalk, Stamford, and Westport. But in all five jurisdictions, the votes were very close.
Gonzales said this year the biggest "question in the race is how willing is Congressman Shays to take the fight to Farrell." He noted that "in the past [Shays] sort of championed himself on running a clean campaign and really staying above the fray."
Gonzales said there are important differences between negative attack ads and less abrasive issue ads that compare the merits of a candidate's stance on a specific issue. Over the years, Shays has stayed away from running either type of ad and, according to Sohn, the campaign will do the same this year.
"Are we going to run a negative campaign the way the Farrell campaign did two years ago? No," Sohn said. "You're not going to see that from Chris - that's not who he is."
Even while avoiding negative ads, Shays said, he has no problem addressing tough national concerns.
"Our country is facing some very difficult issues, and controversy is the enemy of the incumbent," Shays said in a telephone interview. "I can't tell you how willing I am to confront these issue."
In a nationwide poll conducted in March by Quinnipiac University, 37 percent of those responding said they would be less likely to vote for a congressional candidate if the candidate supports Bush, 16 percent said they would be more likely to vote for that candidate and 45 percent said that it would make no difference.
Bush failed to carry Shays' 4 th district in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, getting only 43 percent of the vote in 2000, and 46 percent of the vote in 2004 to John Kerry's 52 percent.
When asked if he thinks the President's low approval ratings will affect his chances for reelection, Shays said, "A president who is popular helps the ticket and a president who is unpopular hurts the ticket - so what do you think the answer is?"
But while most political experts agree with Shays, some say his reputation as a reform-minded candidate could keep him above the fray.
Donald Greenberg, chairman of the politics department at Fairfield University, said he believes "Chris always has an advantage" in the race. He said Shays will retain this advantage as long as things remain stable domestically and abroad.
"Chris is a powerful incumbent, he has a reputation of being moderate, he has a reputation of being independent, he's well liked in the district by independents as well as by Republicans," Greenberg said.
Lately, Shays' moderate views on many social issues such as gay and abortion rights have been overshadowed by his unwavering support for the war in Iraq. Shays planned to visit Iraq in late April for the 12th time to monitor progress there. While still supporting the cause, Shays acknowledged America's errors.
"We see some big mistakes that have made it very difficult," Shays said. "We dug a deep hole, and both Joe [Lieberman] and I realize that." But he added that in the "process of acknowledging what went wrong, what is going right is important."
Farrell takes a much dimmer view of America's policy in Iraq.
"With the war, obviously we're teetering on the brink of civil war," she said. "We have aided and abetted Al Qaeda and terrorists." She called Baghdad "a disaster area" And she expressed skepticism about Shays' multiple trips to Iraq.
"I've literally had people stop me and say, 'Why does he keep going back to Iraq?' " Farrell said. "One has only to look at the news reports to know that things are highly volatile."
Shays said one of his main efforts in the campaign will be to prevent any ambiguity about his congressional record. "Who is my opponent running against?... She's not running against me she's running against George Bush."
"We're going to basically not allow our opponent to be defining issues in a way that are totally off base," Shays said. "I'm willing to sink or swim based on the reality of the issue, not based on my opponent's efforts to distort me."
In 2004, Shays responded to Farrell's ad campaign by accusing her of distorting his record. Farrell criticized him for his positions on Iraq and local transportation issues and for what she called his "unwavering support of the president" and his agenda.
To counter her charges Shays filmed a commercial titled "Truth" in which he rejected Farrell's criticisms.
In the ad, which is available for viewing on the candidate's Web site, Shays responded broadly to Farrell's allegations.
"My opponent's negative attacks against me are not true," he said sternly as the camera zoomed in on his face. "I don't believe in negative campaigns. I believe in telling the truth."
Shays, in the recent interview, said he would never call anything in the 2004 race "unfair," but added that he finds many of Farrell's campaign positions "irrelevant."
Farrell, for her part, called the 2004 campaign relatively clean. In fact, she said, the two candidates engaged in "an exemplary debate."
"Chris will complain that we attacked and distorted his record, but Chris just doesn't like to be challenged," Farrell said in an interview in Washington.
In many districts the 2006 elections could largely be a referendum on President Bush and the war in Iraq. Republican incumbents will be portrayed as strong supporters of President George Bush and his agenda. With the president's approval ratings at an all-time low, this strategy could be successful for Democrats.
The nation's political tide is changing and a Democratic wave has been building among the populace, according to some political experts.
To Gonzales, the question is not whether there will be a Democratic wave but "how big it is going to be."
The wave, "doesn't have to be very high for Chris Shays to lose." In fact, he said, Shays "will be in the first crop of Republican incumbents to lose if there is a wave."
Greenberg said of the congressional contest: "I don't think it's up to Diane or Chris. It's mostly up to what happens with Bush."
Shays said he continues to support U.S. efforts in Iraq because he believes that is the right thing to do. "I just know that I do the best job I can do and then I live with the consequences," Shays said. "Obviously, I don't want to lose a race, but I want to do my job."
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Congress’ Approval Ratings for Congress at an All-Time Low
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, April 13 - Lawyers are more trusted in America than members of Congress, according to a Gallup Poll that measures the public's views of honesty and ethics in professions.
When asked how they would rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in different professions, 14 percent rated House members "very high" or "high" while 16 percent put senators in those two categories, according to the annual poll. But 18 percent ranked lawyers' ethical standards very high or high.
Car salesmen were rated high or very high by eight percent, while telemarketers received the lowest rating at seven percent. All poll results were based on telephone interviews in November 2005 with a randomly selected national sample of 1,000 adults, aged 18 and older.
A separate Gallup poll released in March found that voter approval of the way Congress is doing its job rests at 27 percent. The ratings, while not unprecedented for an election year, "are among the worst Gallup has measured in more than a decade," according to Jeffrey M. Jones, author of the report.
Congress' approval ratings have been below 30 percent since last October and have slowly descended from a record-high post 9/11 approval rating of 84 percent, according to the report. The approval rating was at 23 percent in late October 1994, shortly before the Republican landslide that shifted majority control in Congress.
But Brian Darling, the director of Senate relations at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, said he doesn't necessarily perceive a Democratic revolution.
"Many people are comparing this to 1994, when Republicans took over Congress, but I think it is a bit premature to make that kind of assessment from polls this early in the year," Darling said in a telephone interview.
The lowest approval ratings Gallup recorded for Congress were 19 percent in 1979 and 18 percent in 1992, according to the report.
Gallup has conducted this nationwide poll since April 1974 - the year that Watergate came to a head - when 30 percent approved of the way Congress was handling its job.
"The reason why people have such a low opinion of politicians is because over the past few years we've lacked in this country a 'Reaganesque' vision of the future," Darling said.
The poll lists President Bush's approval rating at 37 percent, slightly higher than Congress's, with 29 percent of those surveyed saying they were "satisfied" with the direction the nation is going.
In October 2002, before the last midterm elections, Congress had a 50 percent approval rating, down from a 63 percent peak earlier that year, according to the report.
In general, the lower the ratings are, the worse the incumbent party fares in elections.
Historically, this has been reflected in the average net change in U.S. House seats from one party to the other. In 1974, when approval ratings were below 40 percent, 29 seats in the House shifted parties, according to the report.
Conversely, in the three most recent midterm elections in which congressional approval ratings were more than 40 percent - 1986, 1998 and 2002 - the average change was only five seats, according to the report.
Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, a liberal think-tank based in Washington, said in telephone interview that "the public is conflict-adverse and the Congress usually sends out signals of conflict more than consensus.
"The public doesn't accept James Madison's view of American government-that is, there are diverse views and people have to argue about them in office as a way of trying to reconcile differences."
Mann noted that "Mark Twain said a long time ago 'Congress is our only native criminal class.' The public has always had a sort of skeptical view of Congress in general." But "of course they tend to think much more kindly, absent any evidence of the contrary, of their own elected representatives."
A separate Gallup poll from January supports this view, with 68 percent of saying they did not think their own member of Congress was corrupt but 38 percent saying that most members of Congress were corrupt.
Darling said that historically, approval ratings have been so low because "people distrust Washington." He said the American people don't like big government because "they send a very high percentage of their tax dollars to Washington, D.C., and don't see it being spent very well. Therefore they don't have a great love of Congress."
In fact, he said, "they have a healthy distrust of Congress."
Darling, a lawyer, also said, "I'm happy to hear that lawyers are held in higher regard than politicians."
More Money Spent on Pork in 2006 than Ever Before
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, April 5 - Two live pigs who recently abandoned the comfort of their home in Georgia showed up in Washington Wednesday to help publicize the release by Citizens Against Government Waste of its15th annual Congressional Pig Book.
The Pig Book, its sponsors say, details all pork-barrel projects listed in the federal budget. Its publisher, Citizens Against Government Waste, is a private, non-partisan, non-profit organization whose announced goal is to erase waste and mismanagement in the federal government.
The group identified 9,963 projects as pork in the 11 appropriations bill for fiscal year 2006, costing a record $29 billion. While the number of projects is down 29 percent from last year, the cost is up 6.2 percent.
"It is clear that our representatives and senators are shamelessly pursuing their pork once again," Tom Schatz, president of the organization, said during a press conference as the two live pigs - Dudley and Winnie - circled the podium munching butter-flavored corn cakes.
The group also handed out its "Oinkers of 2006" citations aimed at members it has labeled big spenders. Recipients included Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who received "The Cold Shoulder Award" for earmarking $325 million in pork for Alaska, and Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., who was awarded "The Flushing our Money Down the Toilet Award" for earmarking $1 million to the Waterfree Urinal Conservation Initiative.
The organization equates pork projects with so-called earmarks and defines such a project as "a line item in an appropriations bill that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose in circumvention of established budgetary procedures."
In a ranking of all 50 states and Washington, D.C., Connecticut placed 35 th , spending $87,247,000, or $24.85 per capita, according to the report. Last year Connecticut was ranked 38 th . Nationally, pork spending this year amounted to $30.55 per person.
Alaska and Hawaii, the top two recipients of federal pork this year, received $489.87 and $378.29 per person respectively, according to the report.
Rep. Chris Shays, R-4, said "that an earmark is valid if it is requested by a municipality or nonprofit in the Fourth District." He said he will not support an earmark if he cannot "explain its value to constituents in a community meeting."
Shays was responsible for such projects as $1 million for the Norwalk Center/West Avenue Corridor Development and Academy Street Extension, $900,000 for dredging of the Norwalk harbor and $1 million to enhance economic links between Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stanford and encourage job opportunities and housing development in the region, according to the congressman's Web site.
The Pig Book listed 92 specific projects in Connecticut that that the organization considered pork. Items such as $1.3 billion for maintenance of the Bridgeport Harbor, $900,000 for maintenance of the Norwalk Federal Navigation Project and $250,000 for Community Oriented Policing Services in Stamford all made the list.
A majority of the projects the group singled out in Connecticut are earmarked for transportation.
To be considered pork, a project has to meet at least one of seven criteria, the organization said. An item that "serves only a local or special interest" is one of the criteria.
Republican Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., attended the press conference at which the Pig Book was unveiled. The senators said they hope to gain support for legislation that calls for more transparency in earmarking funds.
Both senators called for reform of "a broken system" in which members can earmark money in order to appear as champions of the needs of their home districts.
"Earmarks are the gateway drug to overspending" by the government, Coburn said.
"My constituents deserve better," McCain said.
But some experts offer a more moderate view when it comes to earmarking and so-called pork barrel spending.
Former Rep. Bill Frenzel (R-Minn., 1971-91) and a current member of the economic studies program at the Brookings Institution, a liberal think tank based in Washington, said in a telephone interview, "I think that pork sort of lies in the eye of the beholder."
But while acknowledging the positive aspects of earmarks, Frenzel was critical of the lack of transparency and oversight in the appropriations process.
"Just because it's for a good purpose doesn't mean it's a good expenditure of the public money," he said.
Shays-Meehan Lawsuit Deals Blow to ’04 Soft Money Spending
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, March 30 - Reps. Christopher Shays, R-4, and Marty Meehan, D-Mass., scored a legal victory Wednesday against so-called 527 organizations-tax-exempt, unregulated issue-advocacy groups-when a federal district court judge ruled that current Federal Election Commission practices do "not reflect reasoned decision making."
The 527 groups, organized under section 527 of the U.S. tax code, spent large sums during the 2004 election. They are unregulated by the election commission because their expenditures, in the commission's view, do not directly advocate the election or defeat of any particular candidate.
The 527 groups focus mainly on issue advocacy and voter mobilization. One of the groups, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, aroused controversy in 2004 when it challenged John Kerry's record in Vietnam.
Labeling the court's decision "a great ruling," Shays said in an interview that the "bottom line with 527s was that "we won in the court today and we think we would win in the appeals court and the Supreme Court, if the Supreme Court ever heard it."
The Shays-Meehan lawsuit, filed in September 2004, directly challenged the commission's regulatory stance and sought to implement a concrete policy on 527s. The suit was consolidated with the Bush-Cheney '04 Committee lawsuit.
The suit mainly questioned the Commission's 2004 decision not to issue rules requiring 527 groups to register as federal political committees, arguing that the money they spend influences nationwide campaigns.
The commission said it prefers to operate on a case-by-case basis rather than issue a blanket rule covering 527 groups. But in the lawsuit, Shays and Meehan asserted that the commission acted arbitrarily and contrary to the law when it failed to adopt such a rule during the 2004 presidential campaigns.
The commission "can take years to complete an administrative action, and penalties, if they come at all, come long after the money has been spent and the election decided," the court stated in its decision.
In his ruling, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, sent the case back to the commission, ordering it either to "articulate its reasoning for its decision to proceed by case-by-case adjudication or to promulgate a rule if necessary."
A commission spokesperson said of the ruling, "We've received it, we're reviewing it and we'll take appropriate action."
The commission's central argument was that it was not required to issue a guideline forcing 527 groups to register as political committees. It said it could diligently enforce clean practices on a case-by-case basis.
But Judge Sullivan disagreed.
"Judging from the FEC's track record in the 2004 election, case-by-case adjudication appears to have been a total failure," he said.
"Cases arising from the 2004 campaign have languished on the commission's enforcement docket for as long as 23 months, with no end in sight, even as the 2006 campaign has begun," Sullivan said. "This merely demonstrates the patent inadequacy of the case-by-case approach."
Fred Wertheimer, one of the lawyers for Shays and Meehan and the president of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization, said in a statement he was "very pleased with Judge Sullivan's opinion." Wertheimer said he would like to see the commission recognize "it has no choice now but to issue new rules to regulate 527 groups."
In February 2005, Shays and Meehan joined with Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Russell Feingold, D-Wis., Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in an attempt to close what a press release termed "the 527 loophole."
Their bill would bring 527 groups "working for the election or defeat of a federal candidate under the same set of rules by which every other political committee has to abide," by implementing three new rules, according to a Shays press release from February 2005.
It would require 527 groups to register with the commission as political committees. It would set a formula for allocating spending by 527 groups between regulated federal accounts and unregulated non-federal accounts. And it would cap annual contributions to non-federal, or "soft-money" accounts at $25,000 per donor.
Shays said the bill would be on the House floor Wednesday and that an amendment will be offered to allow increased coordination between 527 groups and candidates' committees. Shays said while he is not advocating the amendment, he is "comfortable with it."
Many Problems Still Plague Department of Homeland Security
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, March 28 - Numerous organizational problems still plague the four-year-old Department of Homeland Security, expert witnesses concluded Tuesday during a House subcommittee hearing.
The Government Reform Committee's National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, questioned experts about a report published by Richard L. Skinner, the department's inspector general.
"Homeland security will never be about certainties. It will be about probabilities, about risks and about choices," Shays said, addressing the panel with a prepared statement.
Skinner's report, filed in November following a request by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, found that two main offices within the department--Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection-had consistently failed to coordinate their efforts and share sensitive immigration and border information.
"Shortfalls in operational coordination and information sharing fostered an environment of uncertainty and mistrust" between the two offices, Skinner said at the hearing.
The hearing came as debate over immigration reforms intensifies around the country and in the Capitol. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection are mainly responsible for keeping watch on the nation's borders.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the primary investigative branch in the Department of Homeland Security, was previously a part of the Department of Justice, but was moved in an effort to consolidate previously dispersed security functions.
The inspector general's report made 14 recommendations to improve coordination between the agencies, but, according to Skinner, the effects have yet to be studied.
The recommendations mainly seek to increase communication between individual departments and agencies.
"If [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] needs anything, it's stability for a period of time and leadership," said Richard M. Stana, director of homeland security and justice issues in the Government Accountability Office. He said this could improve existing coordination problems within the agency.
"It's very hard to break them out of their hole to do other things," Stana said. "They have a long way to go."
The witnesses further acknowledged several "territorial disputes" between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI. They said this is another reason for decreased productivity within Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"There is also a degree of frustration," Stana said. "Why invest so much of our time and resources into a terrorist investigation when in the long run it's going to be turned over to the FBI?"
Shays expressed disappointment with how long it has taken to synchronize operations within the department.
"I'm wrestling with why it has to take a long time to begin to break out of this legacy," Shays said, referring to specific objectives and initiatives, such as drug trafficking and document fraud, that are still being pursued by the agency despite its more recent and main objective of investigating leads that pertain to national security.
According to Shays, "only a small percentage of investigative resources are focused on national security cases."
A companion report published by the Government Accountability Office in December confirms Shays statement, stating that less than 13 percent of "investigative resources were used for investigations considered to have a link to national security."
The panel agreed that such distractions hinder the organization's ability to deal with issues directly pertaining to the country's security, but they said many problems could be worked out over the next few years.
"I think the best thing we can do right now is let the agency mature," Stana said. "Let it stabilize; it's got new leadership, and hopefully it will be strong leadership."
He said this could take up to seven years.
Agreeing with Stana, but taking a dimmer view of the agency's progress, Skinner said, "I think we're nowhere near where we should be."
Report Says Connecticut is Middle of the Pack in State-Funded Preschooling
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, March 23-Connecticut spent less per preschool student last year than it did three yeas earlier even as it increased the number of 4-year-olds enrolled in public pre-kindergarten classes by almost 42 percent, according to a report published Thursday by the National Institute for Early Education Research.
According to the report, Connecticut provided $6,662 per child enrolled in preschool spending in the 2004-2005 school year. But that per-student total was down from the $7,456 spent in 2001-2002 in after-inflation dollars.
Nationally, the report found that even as state-financed programs increased enrollment by more than 100,000 among 4-year-olds from 2001-2005, state spending per child decreased in 11 states, as it did in Connecticut.
The state spent $48,619,536 on pre-kindergarten education in 2004-2005, not including fees and subsidies collected at the local level, the institute reported.
These numbers do not include pre-school students enrolled in private schools or in the federally financed Head Start program.
The institute is a nonpartisan research based organization operating out of Rutgers University.
"The State of Preschool," an annual yearbook which has been published in each of the past three years, aims to rank all 50 states on access to, resources for and quality of state preschool initiatives.
During a press conference Thursday, W. Steven Barnett, director of the institute, said "preschool is an investment that pays off educationally and economically."
Although state spending per public school pupil had declined overall, he said, state spending on preschool students grew 7.5 percent nationally over the past three years.
"Meaningful progress can be made for a few hundred million dollars," Barnett said. "If we wanted to serve all 4-year-olds in quality programs, well that would require expanding state spending several times over what it is currently."
He added, "Even that's a vanishingly small percentage of our national income."
In 2004-05, Connecticut enrolled 15 percent of the 4-year-old population and 2 percent of the 3-year-old population in a state-financed preschool program, according to the report.
For 4-year-olds, this is up from 9 percent in 2001-2002, but for 3-year-olds, it is down from 3 percent.
Connecticut ranked 16 th in the nation in the percentage of 4-year-olds in such programs and 11 th in the percentage of 3-year-olds,
The report also gave Connecticut a five on a scale of one to ten for quality standards, marking it down for instructor credentials, among other standards. The state requires teachers to have either a bachelor's degree or a child development associate credential, but the report says Connecticut does not meet the benchmark of all preschool teachers having a bachelor's degree.
Connecticut did meet the institute's benchmarks for class size and staff-to-child ratio, according to the report.
During the press conference, experts from both the institute and the Pew Charitable Trusts, which helped pay for the report, emphasized the need for long-term foresight in state preschool investments.
"The ones that think long-term had the highest rates returned," said Robert H. Dugger, managing director of Tudor Investment Corp., an assets management fund, who spoke during the press conference.
Dugger said an estimated state investment of $18,000 for preschool education could potentially yield gains worth $150,000 after the child's education ends and he or she enters the workforce.
Oklahoma ranked first on access for 4-year-olds, and New Mexico ranked last among the 38 states with preschool programs. Arkansas ranked first on the report's quality standards checklist.
Eleven states, including New Hampshire and Rhode Island, did not offer any preschool programs during the 2004-2005 school year.
Members of Congress Go Home
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, March 21 - Rep. Christopher Shays is getting to know his constituents in the fourth district this week, as Congress continues to remain out of session for an extended St. Patrick's Day "district work period."
This is the first year members have given themselves an entire week off for the holiday.
In fact, if they continue to follow the current schedule, members will spend a total of 97 days in Washington this year - the smallest number in 60 years.
Howard L. Reiter, head of the University of Connecticut's political science department, said he wasn't terribly concerned about how little time members spend in Washington.
"I don't think it's quite as bad as it looks, but clearly it makes it hard to get things done," Reiter said in a telephone interview. "I don't think they're just really going off and lying in a hammock."
Reiter also said the fewer days in Washington does not necessarily affect the quality of legislation. He said "the proof is in the pudding."
"I don't think we can argue consistently that the quality of legislation has gone up or down," Reiter said. "I don't know whether the quality of legislation is worse in one period."
According to the House schedule for 2006, there are 71 days on which votes may be scheduled and an additional 26 days where no votes will take place before 6:30 p.m. Moreover, the schedule includes two weeks off in April, one week off in May, another week off in July and the entire month off in August. The Senate has a similar schedule.
The House did not convene until Jan. 31 this year and then took a week off in February for President's Day.
By last Friday, the second session of the 109 th Congress had logged a total of 19 days.
In the 2004 election year, the second session of the 108 th Congress, which lasted from Jan. 3 until Dec. 7, the House recorded 110 days in session, according to the Library of Congress.
The 108 th Congress spent 243 days in session in 2003-04, and the 109 th is currently on pace to set a similar number.
The number of days in session for the House has declined over the years. Members were in session 323 days during the 95 th Congress in 1977-78. During the 1970s, Congress averaged about 320 days over a two-year session, according to the Office of the House Clerk.
It has been projected that the average number of days in session per two-year Congress for the first six years of the Bush presidency (2001-07) will be below 250.
Brian Darling, director of Senate relations at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization in Washington, said he was not worried about this decrease.
"The fact that they have less legislative days does not mean that they are not working hard," Darling said in a telephone interview. He acknowledged there are "less days to legislate, and that has been a trend over the past few years."
In fact, Darling said increased time in the district is a positive trend because it results in increased constituent contact. This, he said, helps to keep members in touch with their electorate.
"The fact that they're spending more time in the district is a good thing," Darling said.
Rep. Shays will be taking advantage of his district time by meeting with several high school classes in Greenwich and Wilton. The Republican congressman also will speak at the Merchant Marine Academy in Long Island.
Members of Congress typically work in the Capitol three days a week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, spending the long weekends in their districts.
For most employees in the public service field, though, this is not the norm.
Peter Alatsas, owner of the Ambrosia Bar & Grill in Norwalk, said he is puzzled by the amount of time Congress takes off.
"I don't know how they manage to do that, but I know what it is in my business," Alatsas, who works from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days week, said in a telephone interview. "I just can't take a freakin' day off - I can't afford to."
The last time Alatsas took off from work was when he went to visit his dying mother in Greece. Even this, though, was "by force, not by choice."
"This is a seven-days-a-week corporation. I don't take no days off," he said.
Despite his own demanding schedule, Alatsas said he is not particularly distraught over Congress' work schedule.
"If they can get away with it, that's fine. I can't do that in my business, so I don't know how it works out on their end," he said.
Members of Congress will return to Washington on March 27, with no votes scheduled for the day. All votes will be postponed until after 6:30 p.m. the following day, according to the House schedule published by Majority Whip Roy Blunt.
Congress' next break will come on April 10, when members will take two weeks off for their Spring District Work Period.
Shays, Farrell Duke It Out With Their Pocketbooks
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, March 2 - As he gears up for what many expect to be one of the nation's most competitive congressional races, Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, has raised more than twice as much money as Democratic challenger Diane Farrell has raised.
As of Dec. 31, 2005, Shays, who was first elected to the House in a special election in 1987, had contributions of more than $1.3 million, according to financial disclosure reports filed by the candidate with the Federal Election Commission. Farrell raised $585,482 through the same date.
Despite the cash advantage, Shays is " one of the top ten most vulnerable Republican incumbents in the country," according to Stuart Rothenberg, author of The Rothenberg Political Report, a nonpartisan analysis of American politics and elections.
Shays, who in 2004 won the race against Farrell by a margin of 14,160 votes, reported a year-end total of $892,552 cash on hand, while Farrell reported having $452,208. Cash on hand is the total available for expenditure by a candidate.
Fundraising has yet to pick up at this point, with the Connecticut primary not until Aug. 8, but Shays lags far behind some colleagues who reported raising more than $1 million in campaign funds last year.
"I think Chris Shays doesn't like some of the things about being a politician," Rothenberg said in a telephone interview. "He doesn't like to attack; I suspect he doesn't like the griminess of politics, but he's doing what he has to do."
Unlike many long-term incumbents, Shays received the majority of his money - $771,824 - from within the state, collecting less than 3 percent of his campaign money from New York and less than 1 percent from Washington, D.C., according to a Feb. 13report compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, non-profit research group that tracks money in politics.
Both candidates raised the majority of their campaign money from individual donors, not political action committees. According to Rothenberg, Shays received considerably less PAC money than his fellow colleagues in the Connecticut delegation.
"His number is way down, and he must not like to do PAC fundraising or must not do most of it. He's really into looking like a reformer and squeaky clean, and he may have put limits on his PAC fundraising," Rothenberg said.
Shays was one of the principal sponsors of the 2002 law that overhauled campaign finance rules.
Michael Sohn, Shays' campaign manager, said fundraising efforts this cycle have consistently outpaced previous campaigns.
"He will continue to raise what he needs to in order to get his message out and correct misinformation about his record," Sohn said.
Shays raised more than $916,000,or 69 percent of his total, from individual donors, while Farrell raised $498,168, or 85 percent of his total, according to filings with the election commission.
Among the individual donors who contributed to Shays' campaign were several of Connecticut's state representatives. Rep. Lile Gibbons, for example, contributed $3,200, Rep. John Hetherington gave $700 and Rep. David Hopper contributed $250.
Individual donors are allowed to contribute up to $2,100 for a primary race and the same maximum for the general election.
Although Shays doesn't rely on PAC money to the extent many of his colleagues do, corporate PACs donated $400,564 to Shays as of Dec. 31. Finance and insurance interests topped the list, contributing more than $76,000 to his campaign through their PACs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Shays is a member of the Financial Services Committee and its Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee.
Purdue Pharma, a pharmaceutical company based in Stamford, is the top PAC contributor to Shays thus far, offering up more than $23,000 to the campaign, according to the center. It also contributed $5,200 to Farrell's campaign.
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., contributed $10,000 to Shays' campaign through his Leadership PAC, Keep Our Majority.
Shays' campaign also received funds from PACs associated with tobacco companies such as Altria Group, the parent of Philip Morris, and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co.
Sohn said it makes sense that a significant portion of Shays' funds come from the financial and real estate industries. About one-third of the jobs in the district are in these industry. "Bottom Line, that's where people in the fourth district work," Sohn said.
In 2002, when Shays' beat Farrell with 52 percent of the vote, his campaign spent $2,255,210 to Farrell's $1,542,410, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In that year, Farrell received the majority of her funds from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and EMILY's List, a national political action committee whose main goal is to elect pro-abortion rights female Democrats.
Bush’s 2007 Budget Could Force Connecticut to Cut Programs
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 - In the next five years, Connecticut could lose more than $401 million in federal aid if Congress fully adopts President Bush's fiscal year 2007 budget proposal, according to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The report, which examines proposed cuts to 16 federal aid programs over the next five years, found that nearly half of the overall reductions in domestic discretionary funding proposed by the President for 2007 would come from such programs, including Community Development Block Grants public school aid.
The bulk of the cuts will occur after 2007 and grow deeper each year, reducing Connecticut's supply of federal money, according to the report, which was published last week. This would place the burden of the cost for such programs onto the state. If Connecticut decides against a tax hike, the report estimates, many aid programs could be significantly reduced.
For the last 25 years, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which calls itself nonpartisan, has done research on how national and state fiscal policies affect low-income people.
The center's report estimates that over the next five years, more than $151 million could be cut from educational grants to Connecticut for programs such as education for the disadvantaged, special education and school improvement programs.
Cuts to education would hurt not only Connecticut's children, but also the economic future of the state, said Ellen Scalettar, senior policy fellow for Connecticut Voices for Children, a children's advocacy group.
"The cuts are continuing to grow while our population is continuing to grow, so we're moving in the wrong direction" Scalettar said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
Commenting in a press release when the proposed budget was made public in early February, Joshua B. Bolten, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said, "When President Bush gave me guidance on what the 2007 budget should look like, he directed me to focus on national priorities and tighten our belt elsewhere."
As the Bush Administration adheres to this plan, the center estimates that Connecticut could lose $9.3 million in Community Development Block Grants in 2007. By 2011 the program could lose $61 million.
Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, disagrees with cuts in the program, saying in a statement he would prefer to see the grants augmented.
"While we need to rein in our spending, the President's proposed budget puts too much of the burden on our urban areas," Shays said. "As Congress reviews his proposal, I will look for wasteful spending as well as areas that funding should be increased."
Earlier this year, in a letter to Bush, Shays and 28 other members of Congress urged full funding for the community development grant program in the 2007 budget proposal.
A report titled Major Savings and Reforms, published earlier this month by the Office of Management and Budget, said that the administration is reducing funding for the community development programs because of what the report cites as ineffectiveness and "lack of a clear purpose." Moreover, the office concludes, the program fails to "produce transparent information on results."
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn, said in a statement that he does not agree with many of the President's proposed cuts.
"Shortchanging vital investments in housing initiatives, community development, public safety and medical care means that Connecticut families will have to face cutbacks in the availability of decent housing in safe neighborhoods, as well as reductions in quality health care," Lieberman said.
Another program that would face major cutbacks is Community Oriented Policing Services - a law enforcement program that, among other things, provides technology grants to state and local law enforcement for equipment to assist with crime fighting. Under the current budget proposal, these technology grants would be completely eliminated.
The Office of Management and Budget report, again citing ineffectiveness as the main reason for elimination, said "the program has not been able to demonstrate its impact on crime."
Norwalk Police Chief Harry Rilling said he is disappointed by the proposed cuts and disagrees with the office's conclusions.
He said in a telephone interview, "You cannot evaluate or estimate the things that you prevented."
Rilling wondered aloud, "What would that increase [in crime] have been if they had not given these grants to police departments?"
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that Connecticut could face a $32.3 million cut over the next five years to the Public Housing Capital Fund, and $40.1 million over five years to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program. Both programs aim to support Connecticut's neediest citizens.
During a press conference to unveil the report, Robert Greenstein, the center's executive director, said that the government has been shifting program costs to the states for the past several years through reductions in grants.
"The federal government doesn't have clean hands here," Greenstein said.
But the Office of Management and Budget disagrees with the center's study.
Scott Milburn, a spokesman for the budget office, said in a statement that the center "is a liberal think tank that opposes every effort to control domestic spending. It has made these same false predictions in the past that it knows have been proven wrong."
Milburn said that two years ago the center predicted the President's budget would require deep reductions in programs for veterans, low-income mothers and children and special education. According to Milburn, the President's subsequent budgets have instead increased spending for all of these programs.
"The country can meet the goal of cutting the deficit in half and still invest in key programs for vulnerable Americans, and our recent budget history supports this," Milburn said in the statement.
