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How States Are Redistributing The Wealth

How States Are Redistributing The Wealth

In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama was lambasted for supposedly endorsing policies of wealth redistribution. The right feared that under an Obama presidency, Washington would use federal power to take money from some Americans and give it to others. Yet, only a few years later, the most explicit examples of such redistribution are happening in the states, and often at the urging of Republicans.

The most illustrative example began in 2012, when Kansas’ Republican Gov. Sam Brownback signed a landmark bill that delivered big tax cuts to high-income earners and businesses. Less than two years after that tax cut, the state’s income tax revenues plummeted by a quarter-billion dollars — and now Brownback is pushing to use money for public employees’ pensions to instead cover the state’s ensuing budget shortfalls.

Brownback’s proposal: Slash the state’s required pension contribution by $40 million to balance the state budget, even though Kansas already has one of the worst-funded pension systems in the nation.

Brownback defended his proposal to take money from middle-class state workers and use it to effectively finance his tax cuts for the wealthy. He told the Wichita Eagle: “It’s kind of, uh, well where are you going to go for the funds? And I don’t like it, but it’s kind of what’s your other option if you don’t hit K-12 and higher ed with allotments?”

Brownback is not alone. He joins fellow Republican Gov. Chris Christie in coupling large tax breaks with cuts to actuarially required pension payments. In New Jersey, Christie slashed required pension payments while signing legislation expanding tax credits to corporations, and doling out a record amount of taxpayer subsidies to businesses. Many of those subsidies have flowed to firms whose executives have made campaign contributions to Republican political organizations. Earlier this month, New Jersey pension trustees filed a lawsuit against Christie for not making legally required contributions to the state’s pension system.

Both Brownback and Christie promoted their tax cuts as instruments to boost economic growth. Yet, a recent review of federal data by the Kansas City Star found Kansas “trails most other states when it comes to job growth.” Likewise, an investigative series by Gannett newspapers recently found “New Jersey’s job growth rate [is] the second worst in the nation. … New Jersey’s middle class has lost billions in income through layoffs, salary cuts and wage freezes [and] more than 100,000 job seekers have been unemployed for months on end.”

Illinois followed a somewhat similar path. For years, lawmakers did not make the full actuarially required pension payments, causing severe funding shortages in the state’s pension system. While lawmakers said there was little money to meet pension obligations, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn signed a corporate tax cut in 2011 that is projected to cost the state more than $370 million a year in lost revenue. Two years after signing that bill, as pension funding gaps swelled, Quinn signed legislation slashing public employees’ retirement benefits. An Illinois judge last month ruled that the legislation violated the state’s constitution, though the ruling is being appealed.

The obvious question raised by these episodes is: Where is the outrage? To date, these attempts to use workers’ money to finance massive giveaways to the rich have generated little media coverage or political opposition — and certainly less than the full-fledged frenzy that took place when Obama made his “spread the wealth” comment a few years ago.

The tepid response to this kind of wealth transfer suggests that for all the angry rhetoric about redistribution you might hear on talk radio, cable TV and in the halls of Congress, the political and media class is perfectly fine with redistribution — as long as the cash flows from the 99 percent to the 1 percent, and not the other way around.

David Sirota is a senior writer at the International Business Times and the bestselling author of the books Hostile Takeover, The Uprising, and Back to Our Future. Email him at ds@davidsirota.com, follow him on Twitter @davidsirota or visit his website at www.davidsirota.com.

Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Both Parties Have Candidates On ‘Endangered Governors’ List

Both Parties Have Candidates On ‘Endangered Governors’ List

By Thomas Fitzgerald, The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania’s Tom Corbett has been described as “endangered” so often in the past couple of years, it could be mistaken for his first name.

Long saddled with low approval ratings in statewide opinion polls, the Republican governor trails by double digits in his fight for a second term.

For all his troubles, it turns out that Corbett has plenty of company in misery this year: 11 governors of both parties are in tight re-election races, and analysts foresee the roughest ride for incumbent chief executives since at least 1994, when six lost their jobs.

The modern record was 1962, when voters jettisoned 13 incumbents.

Republicans such as Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Snyder of Michigan and Florida’s Rick Scott are threatened. Endangered Democrats include Pat Quinn of Illinois, John Hickenlooper of Colorado and Connecticut’s Dannel Malloy.

A combination of local political turmoil, self-inflicted wounds and a restive mood among voters is likely at the root of the gubernatorial job insecurity, analysts say.

“There’s something of a revolt in these states against the status quo,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the political forecasters at the University of Virginia. “One theory is that people are mad — if you look at the national polls, they don’t like the way the country is going — and this is being expressed at the state level against the executive who’s closest to home and on the ballot.”

Some of the governors have added to their own troubles with controversial or polarizing decisions, but the economy is the underlying common denominator in many contests, said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

“Michigan and Illinois, for instance, are not recovering as fast as some states in the country,” Duffy said. “I would say that’s a big part of Corbett’s problem as well.”

Corbett inherited a weak state economy when he took office in 2011. Early term cutbacks in education spending and the fallout from the child sex-abuse scandal that engulfed Pennsylvania State University’s football program also weakened his popularity. And the tight-lipped Corbett, a career prosecutor, has never really mastered the communications aspect of his job. In that regard, at least, his garrulous predecessor, Democrat Ed Rendell, was a tough act to follow.

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn in Illinois is staggering after tax hikes and spending cuts, including to education, enacted during his term. The state has had fiscal problems even after Quinn canceled some public-union contracts to try to save money.

In deep-red Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback, a conservative Republican, is in deep trouble after doubling down on an aggressive series of tax cuts, which have not produced promised economic or state revenue growth, and he has had to slash state services. (The Kansas GOP is also deeply divided between moderate and conservative factions).

Though the split is less pronounced, there are echoes of that phenomenon in Pennsylvania. Corbett has been unable to get most of his agenda, including liquor privatization and pension reform, through a GOP- controlled legislature; he secured passage of a transportation-spending package only after a prolonged fight.

Democratic Gov. Malloy of Connecticut won by a few thousand votes in 2010 and is locked in a re-match with Republican Tom Foley. Malloy raised taxes and cut public-union benefits, which alienated a key part of the Democratic base. Foley is being attacked for his record as a private-equity investor.

“In 2010, a lot of open (gubernatorial) seats switched parties, and those are the people who are up for reelection now,” said John Weingart, director of Rutgers University’s Center on the American Governor. “Some of them won races they probably wouldn’t have won if they’d run two years earlier or later, in a presidential year — and they may be vulnerable as a result.”

Since 1948, incumbent governors who have sought re-election have been successful 72 percent of the time, according to analysis by Rutgers’ center, part of the Eagleton Institute of Politics.

That sounds high, but it pales in comparison to job security in the U.S. House. Despite record low opinions of Congress as an institution, the overwhelming majority of representatives running for re-election win — 93 percent, on average, since 1954.

The parties have been able to draw House districts to their advantage, reducing their competitiveness in elections.

U.S. senators, like governors, have to run statewide, and they’ve enjoyed an average of 85 percent re-election rate since 1964.

“It’s tough economic times, and that can hurt incumbent governors in the same way it does presidents,” Rutgers’ Weingart said. “You don’t have as much good news to deliver, building projects, preserving parkland, expanding education programs — there’s less money to do that.”

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Midterm Roundup: An Attack Ad From Beyond The Grave

Midterm Roundup: An Attack Ad From Beyond The Grave

Here are some interesting stories on the midterm campaigns that you may have missed on Wednesday, September 24:

• Illinois governor Pat Quinn’s campaign is calling foul on an ad from his Republican opponent Bruce Rauner. The ad uses archival footage of late Chicago mayor Harold Washington to attack Quinn, in a clear effort to turn black voters away from the embattled Democratic incumbent.

• A new USA Today/Suffolk University poll finds Democratic senator Mark Pryor leading Republican Rep. Tom Cotton in Arkansas’ Senate race, 45 to 43 percent. Notably, the poll suggests that Obamacare is helping Pryor: 50 percent of voters who consider health care to be their top issue back the incumbent, while just 39 percent support Cotton. Other recent polls have shown Cotton gaining momentum, and he leads by 2.4 percent in the Real Clear Politics poll average.

• According to a new 11Alive poll, both of Georgia’s marquee races are tightening. The poll, conducted by Survey USA, finds Republican Senate candidate David Perdue leading Democrat Michelle Nunn by just one point, 46 to 45 percent. In the gubernatorial race, Democrat Jason Carter leads incumbent Republican Nathan Deal, 45 to 44 percent. The poll average has Deal up by less than 1 percent and Perdue up 3.4 percent.

• Florida’s gubernatorial race looks like a tossup. The latest poll, from Quinnipiac University, finds Republican incumbent Rick Scott leading Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, 44 to 42 percent; 8 percent support Libertarian Adrian Wyllie, and 17 percent say that they could still change their minds. The candidates are deadlocked at 42.6 percent in the poll average.

• And No Labels, the bipartisan political group that pledged “to move America from the old politics of point scoring toward a new politics of problem solving,” still isn’t getting much done. Its latest strategy? Endorsing both partisan candidates in Iowa’s Senate race.

Screenshot: Bruce Rauner/YouTube

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Poll Roundup: Is McConnell Pulling Away From Grimes?

Poll Roundup: Is McConnell Pulling Away From Grimes?

As the 2014 midterm elections draw closer, pollsters across the country will begin releasing masses of data and their predictions of who will control the House of Representatives, the Senate, and statehouses across the country. We’ll put those predictions in focus and provide a brief summary of key polls. Here’s our roundup from the week of August 10:

Kentucky

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appears to be slowly pulling ahead of his Democratic challenger, Alison Lundergan Grimes. The latest poll from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling finds that 44 percent of voters support McConnell, while 40 percent would vote for Grimes, 7 percent back Libertarian candidate David Patterson, and 9 percent are still undecided.

In PPP’s April survey, Grimes led McConnell 45 to 44. But since then, he’s managed to shore up support within his Republican base. When his primary opponent Matt Bevin was still in the race, McConnell only had a 49-point advantage among Republicans. Today, he has a 67-point advantage (78 percent of Republican voters back McConnell, while just 11 percent side with Grimes). When support for Patterson is taken into account, McConnell has a 63-point lead among fellow Republicans.

McConnell’s managed to improve his favorability rating, while Grimes’ numbers are stagnant. Grimes is also hurt by President Barack Obama’s unpopularity in the state. The survey finds that only 32 percent of voters approve of the job he’s doing, and that 38 percent of the voters who disapprove of McConnell also see Obama unfavorably. But 20 percent of those voters are still planning to vote for the Republican incumbent.

The Real Clear Politics poll average has McConnell ahead by 3 percent.

Wisconsin

In what the latest Rasmussen Reports survey calls the “nation’s closest-watched governor’s race,” Republican governor Scott Walker leads Democratic challenger Mary Burke by only 48 to 47 percent. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4 percent, so the candidates are essentially tied.

The general election campaign officially started this week after Burke won her Democratic primary. She’s the first female nominee for Wisconsin governor from the two main political parties.

Both candidates are planning to center their campaigns around jobs. Burke has repeatedly highlighted the fact that Wisconsin ranks last among Midwestern states in job creation, and that Walker hasn’t created the 250,000 jobs he promised he would. Walker has emphasized the 100,300 jobs he has created, and says that Wisconsin is better off than it was before he took office.

Sean Sullivan notes in The Washington Post that Walker should not be “underestimated,” because he’s already raised far more money than Burke. He also points out that “no other potential 2016 hopeful has as much riding on the midterm election as Walker,” because if he can’t win this election, he won’t stand a chance of pursuing the White House.

The Real Clear Politicspoll average has Walker ahead by only 0.8 percent.

Kansas

Republican governor Sam Brownback is trailing Democratic challenger Paul Davis in a Rasmussen Reports survey released on Tuesday. The poll finds that Davis has 51 percent support, 41 percent would vote for Brownback, 3 percent support some other candidate, and 5 percent are still undecided. The poll has a +/- 4 percent margin of error.

Brownback’s biggest hurdle is the fact that his state budget is “bleeding revenue” due to his staggering income tax cuts. By 2016, the state will be $238 million in debt. The survey finds that 49 percent of voters think that the budget situation is worse today than it was a year ago, 36 percent said it’s the same, and only 12 percent said it was better. Respondents trust Davis more when it comes to spending; 43 percent trust Davis, 36 percent trust Brownback, and 21 percent weren’t sure.

But many voters still don’t know who Davis is — 19 percent said they had never heard of him and 10 percent weren’t sure what they thought about him.

The Real Clear Politicspoll average has Davis ahead by 2 points.

Illinois

A new Sun-Times/We Ask America poll shows Democratic governor Pat Quinn well behind Republican challenger Bruce Rauner, 51 to 38 percent, with 11 percent undecided. The survey has a +/- 3.1 percent margin of error.

Only 21 percent view the incumbent Quinn as a reformer, while 47 percent see Rauner in that mold. Additonally, Quinn is currently under fire for his $54.5 million Neighborhood Recovery Initiative, which is now under federal investigation due to corruption and mismanagement.

But We Ask America’s chief operating officer Gregg Durham predicts that the race will get much closer as November approaches.

“While Mr. Rauner continues to enjoy a 13-point lead, this race will certainly tighten dramatically barring any unforeseen events. An incumbent governor in a state with the sizable problems Illinois has often suffers in early polls with those who would have a tendency to back his party but may be disappointed with his performance,” he said. “However, those same voters usually ‘come home’ on election day. Keep that in mind.”

The Real Clear Politicspoll average has Rauner ahead by 7 points.

Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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