Saturday, September 06, 2003

Campaign Fun

Driving in Tulsa today I noticed a lot of the blue and yellow "Vote Yes" signs had the word "NO" glued over them. Probably the work of a juvenile that doesn't realize tampering with the signs is a misdemeanor. Not many people realize that it is also illegal for citizens to remove signs - from public right-of-ways. It's been a couple of years though since I heard of anyone being prosecuted on this law however.

Both the NO and the YES sides of the Vision 2025 campaign accuse each other of removing the others' signs and doing other nasty things to each other. There's probably a bit of truth to it but I've worked in enough campaigns to know how impossible it is to control one's "own people". Overly exuberant partisans get carried away and start running over the opposition signs or making harassing calls to their campaign headquarters. That's life in a campaign. It's interesting but not the conspiracy some like to believe.

I did go to one of the recent TV debates on Vision 2025. It was pretty interesting. Mayor LaFortune and Michael Bates both did well in presenting their cases. The producers asked the audience not to applaud until the end of the debate but I noticed the NO supporters had a particularly hard time restraining themselves and listening to the directions. At Batesline Michael gives his take on some of these events.

At the event I went to I noticed Todd Huston, Gary Richardson and Doug Dodd sitting in the back sniggering in each others' ears throughout the debate. This was before they lost the Huston lawsuit against the vote.

Friday, September 05, 2003

Governor Henry to Israel

According to sources in the Jewish Federation of Oklahoma Governor Henry will be slipping out of the state on Sunday for an all-expenses paid (by Israel and the Federation) 8-day trip to Israel. They do this for every governor. It's a perfect opportunity for Israel to sell their story to American political leaders like Henry. You can bet Governor Henry won't be hearing the "Palestinian viewpoint" while in Israel.

As Cam Edwards points out at his interesting blog, Henry has been on three vacations in three months - far beyond what any state employee can get. What Cam forgets to mention is that Henry seems to be on vacation even when he's not. Has anyone seen him?
So How Much is Boeing Worth?

Some, such as Bitweever, have questioned whether communities should be providing incentives to giant corporations such as Boeing to set up operations in their community. It's a good question. The question comes up because Tulsa is trying to attract Boeing with a sales tax bond issue called Vision 2025. The answer is that providing such incentives is a worldwide fact of economic life and if a community or country refuses to face this fact pragmatically that community will not get that investment. To not face that fact is as futile as refusing to recognize gravity.

Should we provide incentives (tax breaks, subsidies) for every company? It depends on what they bring to the economic table. It depends on numbers and types of jobs they bring and how much ripple effect they have on the community's economic health. Yes, we must pick and choose on the basis of the benefits they bring. Boeing is a no-brainer. Here's why:

Economic clusters form around behemoths like Boeing and AA. You can't take the subsidy, divide it by how many people work at Boeing, and get anything meaningful as a result (although nay-sayers try). The spinoffs from a Boeing investment in Tulsa would ripple far beyond just the jobs at Boeing. Thousands of small businesses in Tulsa would get business from Boeing - everyone from printers to aircraft parts subcontractors. It doesn't stop there. The printers and the subcontractors spend their increased income on dining out, buying computers, etc etc. Companies like Boeing, CITGO, AA etc create a vortex of economic development that reaches deep into all of our lives. Are they worth attracting, even with calculated incentives? Yes.

That, is economic reality.

Thursday, September 04, 2003

Gary Richardson and Todd Huston Lose Case to Stop Vision 2025

Sunday, August 31, 2003

Judge Roy Moore, which version of the Ten Commandments?

Many of the Christians who are calling for Judge Roy Moore's monument of the Ten Commandments to be placed in our public buildings are asking our nation to annoint the great code as the basis of our judicial system. But who's version would they like for us to annoint?