Did Greenspan just agree with me?

In December 2005 I wrote an articled called "We're in Iraq because you want us there." In it I wrote:

So now we've invaded Iraq and many American's don't understand why. In reality they know perfectly well why but prefer denial. We're there because we're dependent on foreign oil. We're dependent on it because our lifestyles require it. We live further and further from work, enjoy the luxury and autonomy of one-car-one-person, and drive increasingly larger vehicles. Our "right" to live where we want and commute how we want is not without costs beyond $2.25/gallon. As ignorant as pretending the consequences may be it is disingenuous to drive to a No Drilling in ANWR demonstration in anything less than a bus filled with like-minded protesters or display a "No War" lawn sign with the same SUV parked in the driveway you drive 20 miles to work.

Now Alan Greenspan has a new book coming out that has already re-agitated this controversy. The Washington Post reported Greenspan blamed the invasion of Iraq on oil. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates took issue with Greenspan's comments on this past weekends television news programs.

In a Washington Post interview, Greenspan has explained his out-of-context comment in a way that makes me sound like a Washington insider:

His main support for Hussein's ouster, though, was economically motivated. "If Saddam Hussein had been head of Iraq and there was no oil under those sands," Greenspan said, "our response to him would not have been as strong as it was in the first gulf war. And the second gulf war is an extension of the first. My view is that Saddam, looking over his 30-year history, very clearly was giving evidence of moving towards controlling the Straits of Hormuz, where there are 17, 18, 19 million barrels a day" passing through.

Greenspan said disruption of even 3 to 4 million barrels a day could translate into oil prices as high as $120 a barrel -- far above even the recent highs of $80 set last week -- and the loss of anything more would mean "chaos" to the global economy.

Well, since my blog is locally-focused I didn't rush into any "global economy" claims. But I must admit some satisfaction knowing Mr. Greenspan and I have something in common--even if he doesn't call me to discuss national and international issues.

Is there a little Gorbachev in all of us?

"Whoever first said religion and politics shouldn't be discussed among friends laid the first brick in a wall of misunderstanding that's been growing every time the topic is avoided between families, friends, and neighbors..."

This year's Dream Cruise started Friday, August 17 at 5PM. Tiffani made the family "Gagne for Mayor" tee-shirts all four of us wore to the opening ceremonies. We stood as conspicuously close to the stage as we could so everyone taking pictures or looking at it would see us. A little good-natured self promotion never hurt anybody.

That evening Tiffani and I ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings for a Boys' and Girls' Club fund raiser. Craig Covey, the other Ferndale mayoral candidate, sat between Tiffani and I (still wearing our tee-shirts). Later Mayor Bob Porter joined us.

I want everyone to picture this--because it happened. Two candidates for the same position, joined by the current mayor and Tiffani, having drinks together, getting our fingers dirty eating chicken wings, congenially talking politics with each other. Heck, I probably had a piece of black pepper between my teeth, but no one seemed to mind (or let me know).

Craig and I have a lot in common. Not the least of which is our commitment to keep our campaigns' rhetoric positive. Neither of us believes dirty politics, name calling, slandering, or anything else of the sort reflects who we are, what we want our campaigns to be, or does anything positive for Ferndale. We agreed that both of us can control what we say,but we can't control what folks on the edges might say. We also agreed neither of us would take it personally when that might happen.

Councilman Covey said he looks forward to being Ferndale's first openly-gay mayor and I told him I look forward to being Ferndale's first openly-straight mayor. We both laughed, toasted, and went back to eating wings with Tiffani and Mayor Porter.

I'm fairly confident we can all think of other politicians we wish would share a pizza, some pops, discuss the issues, and go home understanding a little more about the other person, agree to disagree on some points, and leave the table as colleagues without hard feelings toward each other, or each others' parties.

Can you imagine Granholm and DeVos eating messy hamburgers dripping mustard on their chins or suit coats? Or Bush and Pelosi making slurping noises over hot and sour soup? How about Ted Kennedy and Newt Gingrich with spaghetti hanging from their mouth?

I can't either. But I encourage all of you to imagine yourselves talking about the upcoming election with your neighbors, family, or people you meet while out-on-the-town. Encourage them to vote. Encourage them to learn about the candidates (especially me). Encourage them to share their thoughts. Listen to what they say and ask questions.

Politics should not be a taboo topic. Whoever first said religion and politics shouldn't be discussed among friends laid the first brick in a wall of misunderstanding that's been growing every time the topic is avoided between families, friends, and neighbors or when someone invokes the "religion and politics" rule to stifle political discussion. When we avoid the topic or leave angry we either imitate the worst behavior of our politicians or encourage it.

Walls keep ideas out as much as they keep others in. Good ideas aren't so fragile they require walls to protect them. Twenty years ago President Reagan challenged, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" In the coming weeks before this year's November 6 election let's tear down our own.

Cross posted at GagneForMayor.com.

Related article: Splitting the baby over politics.

Declining special interest groups' endorsements

After my candidacy for mayor became public record a lot of things started happening. First, there's the official correspondence from the county clerk warning me to be careful about campaign finance laws, advising me of the limits, due-dates, and other lines I'll be careful not to cross.

What I didn't expect were letters I received from special interest groups and political action committees (PACs) asking me to complete a questionnaire to test if I qualify for their endorsement. If sufficiently impressed (or if craftily completed) I may also have received contributions to the campaign. I know this because campaign contributions are public record and I've seen these groups' contributions on other Ferndale candidates' finance statements.

While I was filling out the forms a curious thought came to me--none of these groups can actually vote. While their endorsements might persuade some voters they could just as easily upset others. The only entity that represents all of a voter's interests is the voter. On election day votes are the only endorsements that count.

So for this election I've decided not to seek any special interest group or PAC's endorsement. If I can't raise the money I need from Ferndale businesses and citizens there's little reason to sell a piece of my office to special interests for a mere couple thousand dollars.

I sent four letters last week, one each to The Triangle Pride PAC, Right to Life of Michigan, Sierra Club, and the Michigan Consolidated Association of REALTORS® (MCAR). Each one started with the same paragraph. Here's the one I sent to MCAR:

Thank you for the invitation to respond to MCAR's questionnaire for candidates seeking its endorsement for November 6's election. I've decided not to seek any special interest groups' endorsements to avoid the appearance of impropriety or suggest I may need to return the favor of the endorsement after elected to office. I believe the most important endorsements I will receive are from Ferndale's business owners, its residents, and ultimately its voters.

Following the introduction I included a paragraph-or-two summarizing my position regarding each group's cause, then included a closing paragraph with a thank you for their dedication to the issues most important to them. Here are selected paragraphs from each.

MCAR

Be assured a major part of my platform gives attention to Ferndale's tax base. Both commercial and residential real estate play important roles growing our tax base, lowering our millage rate, and attracting new businesses and residents to our city. This is not only critical when the market is down, but to planning Ferndale's future as a healthy real estate market is an important ingredient to any community's business and residential vitality.

Thank you for your interest in Ferndale politics, your dedication to our business and residential communities, and your understanding.

Sierra

Ferndale already provides curb-side recycling as well as other environment-friendly services and policies. To promote a “greener” city it is my intention as mayor to encourage citizens to do what they can to reduce their carbon emissions, to recognize citizens' accomplishments and reducing their power or water consumption, recycle, and reward those citizens that have gone above-and-beyond to protect the environment.

Thank you for your interest in Ferndale politics, your dedication to the environment, and your understanding.

Triangle Pride PAC

My commitment as mayor is to treat all Ferndale's citizens with respect and insist that all city employees and contractors do likewise. Every visitor to and resident of Ferndale should be treated professionally and courteously no matter what special interest groups they may identify with or may advocate for them.

That promise extends to not leveraging Ferndale's GLBT community or other minorities to score points with outsiders or further my political career or personal agenda.

Thank you for your interest in Ferndale politics, your dedication to civil rights and our community, and your understanding.

Right to Life of Michigan

As important as abortion and choice are to individual Ferndale citizens, municipal government is an inappropriate forum to address these issues. Attempts to do so can only be symbolic, and as such have no impact on state and federal legislation or Supreme Court rulings.

I was adopted by loving parents when I was four-weeks old and appreciate both the gift I received and my mother's choice of adoption. I'm committed not to squander either.

Thank you for your interest in Ferndale politics, your dedication to the unborn, and your understanding.

Sure, I may regret not having multiple Good-Housekeeping®-like Seals of Approval on my website or campaign literature and their contributions in my committee's bank account, but I won't be obligated to or need to excuse my actions as Ferndale's mayor to anyone other than Ferndale voters.

I can live with that.

Campaign kick-off party Wednesday, August 15, 6:30PM

I've sent email notifications and dropped-off invitations to lots of folks, but for everyone that doesn't know I want you to know we're having our campaign kick-off party today at 6:30 at the Geary Park Pavilion in Ferndale.

I'm hoping for a great turn-out. I've prepared a short speech about why I'm running for mayor, which was much more difficult to write than many of the articles I've posted here. Later tonight or tomorrow, I'll post the text of my speech both here and at www.GagneForMayor.com.

See you tonight!

GagneForMayor.com is open for business

It's hard to keep good news from leaking out. As of July 30, I'm an official candidate for Mayor of Ferndale.

I'd originally intended to keep the news quiet until August 15, when we're having an announcement party at Geary Park (6:30-7:30PM), but that plan didn't work for a lot of reasons. First, we'd collected over 100 signatures for my nominating petition last month, so all those people knew. Everyone in my family knew. The other mayoral candidates knew (there was four, but now there are only two), and finally yesterday's Free Press published a brief item about the mayoral race:

FERNDALE: Councilman, activist are in mayor's race

City Councilman Craig Covey, 50, said Monday that he'd been notified over the weekend of the acceptance of his petitions to run for mayor.

Thomas Gagne, a Republican activist, is also running, Covey said.

Gagne could not be reached Monday.

How about that, I'm an activist!

The reporter, Bill Laitner, was correct--I couldn't be reached for comment. He left a message at home Monday afternoon which I didn't hear until it was too late. He and I did talk briefly Tuesday morning and have made plans to talk again.

Please visit our campaign's website, www.GagneForMayor.com, and send me comments and suggestions for its improvement.

Like any political campaign, we need money for postage, printing literature, voter lists, lawn signs, bumper stickers, renting pavilions, and finally pizza and pop while we watch November 6ths election returns. To that end, I am grateful for any contributions you may be willing to make. Checks and credit cards are both accepted and all the information can be found our donations page.

And of course, keep visiting this and the campaign website for progress reports and information about the candidate, me.

Blaming others... again

I just finished reading nine letters to the Free Press editors scatter-shooting blame for the collapse of the I35W bridge in Minnesota. After reading them I was reminded of a saying, "Those that say what they think should be careful to first think." The same can probably be said of writing letters to the editor (or blogs for that matter).

A writer from Farmington Hills complains elected officials are too busy bringing pork back to their districts to attend the mundane task of maintaining roads and bridges. The writer conveniently ignores how too many Americans believe their representatives are in Washington for the purpose of bringing home as much bacon as possible, rather than addressing themselves to the job of acting and voting in the country's best interest and not just their district's.

A man from Lansing blames a right-wing philosophy advocating tax cuts and smaller government, then exploits the tragedy of the bridge's collapse to complain the rich aren't paying enough taxes. He's certain if only the top 10% of income earners would pay more than 65% of our country's taxes all our roads and bridges would be made safe. Besides being blatantly partisan it is also non sequitor because it matters little from where the money comes--it matters where it goes. But why should anything like a bridge collapse require we start thinking logically now?

Southgate blames the federal government and points to Hurricane Katrina as proof. The feds knew the levees weren't up to the challenge just as they knew the bridge would collapse last Wednesday, killing at least 5 people. Apparently, all the residents living below sea-level, their mayors and state representatives have no responsibility to think or act for themselves and must wait for instructions from Washington. It may make you wonder why people bother with local government at all.

A Wayne State University professor of engineering blames it on--engineers! Actually, I'm not certain what his point is because he's one of the guys teaching. The bridge was constructed in 1967, when America was arguably at one of its engineering peaks. As far as anyone knows its design wasn't out-sourced to China. And if he thinks we should graduate more scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians (STEM) he should protest secondary and college curricula long on political correctness and short on academics.

Finally, after a letter from Lake Orion placed the blame squarely on Minnesota's Scrooge-ish Republican governor and legislators for twice rejecting a tax increase, Royal Oak's Kevin Lucas writes:

The bridge collapse in Minnesota was tragic, and adding even more to the tragedy are the media and politicians claiming it happened because Gov. Tim Pawlenty didn't raise taxes on gas to fix the roads.

Pawlenty vetoed the tax because the state had a $2.1-billion surplus. The state is instead building new stadiums for the Twins and the Vikings, building bear exhibits at zoos, light-rail systems, fixing a theater, building a Viking ship, and subsidizing ethanol producers to the tune of some $950.5 million. I don't know which party controls their Legislature, but somehow all this was more important than fixing the roads.

All the states, including Michigan, scream about the roads and infrastructure. But the states decide what gets fixed and what does not. So look at your state budget and tell the governor and the legislators what you want your taxes to go for.

Put another way, Mr. Lucas said government is run by the people that show up; the people that show up to vote and the people that show up to be voted for. Remember that. You'll be hearing it again in a few days.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox scores points from both sides of his mouth

If you think the presidential campaign started early, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has already started campaigning for governor in 2010. He hopes democrats will reward him in three years for chastising President Bush for commuting Scooter's sentence for lying to federal investigators and a grand jury.

In a Detroit Free Press op-ed, Bush wrong to commute Libby's sentence, Mike Cox wrote that Bush has damaged the criminal justice system by letting a convicted lier escape jail time.

Cox knows as well as anyone that justice was served. No crime was committed regarding the release of Plame's identity (justice served: innocent) and Scooter was found guilty of lying to investigators and the grand jury (justice served: guilty).

The only thing that wasn't served was jail time, which is the president's constitutionally-guaranteed prerogative. It is not unlike the freedom prosecutors enjoy to prosecute whichever crimes they wish and make the deals they feel they must to get the convictions they want. It's called prosecutorial prerogative.

Surely, anyone that watches NBC's Law & Order or has spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express knows that.

In this instance, Cox's hypocrisy may go mostly unnoticed. Some Republicans will complain he's Bush-bashing for political gain, but will likely vote for him anyway. Some Democrats (there are more of those in Michigan than there are Republicans) will believe he's being honest and exercising his independence from Michigan's Republican machinery, and may even consider voting for him.

And who could blame Cox for distancing himself from the state Republican leadership? After recruiting billionaire Dick DeVos that machinery suffocated all other Republican candidates until they promised not to run or dropped out of the race. They then squandered the opportunity to beat a beauty queen presiding over one of our state's worst economies.

Cox isn't an idiot. He's a bright man, and I suspect his op-ed was more about politics than the risks of perjury. But some who can't detect his duplicity might be more disposed to vote for him as Michigan's governor with this superficial op-ed on-record than if it weren't.

I guess we'll have to wait three years to find out.