Washblog

Deb Eddy on the Republican "Suburban Agenda": Interference in Local Control

This article is by Deb Eddy, former Mayor of Kirkland and former Director of the Suburban Cities Association.  Ms. Eddy is running for State Representative in the 48th Legislative District.

A few weeks ago, the "Suburban Agenda" that some Congressional Republicans are putting together got some press.   I was curious, did a quick search and found an article in Ripon by John McLaughlin of McLaughlin & Associates that lays out the entire agenda.   He notes that Republican Representative Mark Kirk of Illinois is the leader of "just over" 20 Republicans in the House who are working on this agenda.  McLaughlin admits that the numbers for the upcoming election are pretty depressing for Republicans, based primarily on suburban voters' dissatisfaction with the war. Citing a poll of suburban voters that was conducted by his own company  (check this out; very interesting set of questions), he writes:   "But beyond these numbers, and beyond this one issue, the survey reveals one other key thing - mainly, that the GOP can win the suburban vote if it puts forward a plan that makes a difference in people's daily lives."

Thereafter, McLaughlin lays out the agenda that will win those suburban votes.   Many struck me as pandering to our collective insecurities and fears, attempting to change the subject away from things like the ballooning federal deficit, an unpopular war, our balance of trade problems and the truth about our children's economic future.    It also shows a disturbing and continuing trend toward federal preemption of local government.  The so-called Suburban Agenda includes calls for (comments in parentheses are mine):

  • Federal background checks on new teachers to weed out criminals and pedophiles (federal preemption of state and local education systems)
  • Federal requirement for periodic teaching competency testing (federal pre-emption of state and local education systems)
  • Federal requirements that libraries and schools install internet filters to protect children (federal preemption of library and school boards' authority)
  • Federal requirements that school be allowed to check students' lockers without permission of the student "[k]eeping drugs and firearms out of schools" (attempted Congressional preemption of the Constitution. the courts and local school boards  ... and I think school districts already have this authority through judicial interpretation, but I might be wrong about that).
  • Federal law to keep drivers' licenses out of the hands of illegal aliens (preemption of state law, really peculiar way to proceed, in the absence of any effective federal immigration policy).

Now, I know that local government, cities, counties, states and school boards, can sometimes be a little slow to tackle some of these things.  But local government is just that ... local ... and involves your neighbors and co-workers in setting local policy on these issues.  The idea that we'll somehow be safer and these items will be better addressed by a Congress that can't even run its own immigration program or a viable nationwide emergency management program is almost funny.

There are more items in McLaughlin's article (this isn't an exhaustive review), including some that make some good sense, at least at first glance.  But these guys have had control of Congress for six years and haven't done any of these things.  I am, therefore, a bit skeptical that any of these would find their way into law in 2007.

  • Tax credit of $5000 for first time homebuyers
  • Tax credits for small businesses who provide health insurance for their employees (by the way, the Washington State Legislature has already done some of this)
  • Federal requirement that health insurance plans be portable from one job to another
  • Tax-free savings accounts for kids

Congressman Reichert recently introduced a bill to create a "Gang Most Wanted List"   Why didn't he take this opportunity to introduce a bill to make health insurance plans portable from one job to another -- or any of the other good ideas in McLaughlin's article?  I can make a guess:  "Gangs" play into fears for our safety (again, a prominent theme in the Suburban Agenda) and his bill is a feel-good.  

Admittedly, I'm running for the state legislature and not for Congress, so spending time on things like researching the Suburban Agenda takes away time that is probably better spent elsewhere.  But part of what motivated me to run was an uneasy feeling that we are losing our local governments' authority, from the state level on down, to a federal government that is increasingly inept and increasingly interested in taking local control away from us at the state, county and local level.  And, further, a feeling that Washington better be focused on its own economic future, because the feds sure aren't!    

I've been a local elected and have been engaged for almost 15 years in the ongoing debate about what size of government works best for service delivery - smaller, more de-centralized versus larger, more centralized.  Here in the northwest, where we are all about local control, it's a continuing source of discussion and debate.  But this Suburban Agenda is unsettling, because it illustrates a present intent by incumbent Republican congressmen and women to pursue what I have feared - increasing federal preemption and chipping away at states' rights and local control, as a method of getting re-elected by distracting attention from federal policy failures.  Talk about unhelpful!!

If the Republicans can win on this agenda at the federal level, it means that local control will continue to wane on these issues, and the federal government will continue to duck responsibility for issues that are clearly theirs.   It will illustrate what Representative Kirk and his cohorts in Congress believe is a winning strategy for Republicans - that  tackling local issues (like juvenile justice and gang control) is effective in directing voters' attention away from the issues that Congress is supposed to be handling ... like the federal trade deficit (debt held in foreign hands), foreign policy (Pentagon, not State) and immigration (slug-fest to follow).  McLaughlin's article is persuasive, if you ignore who's responsible for what!!

I wish citizens were more attuned to the implications of all this, but of course, they're busy running their own lives and expect those of us engaged in public policy to look out for them.  So, IMHO, state legislators need to be paying attention.  If this Suburban Agenda gets traction, the Washington State Legislature should be ready to stand up for us and decline federal intervention or preemption when it is not in our best interests.   Yeah, I know this isn't a particularly compelling issue to run on :-)) and sure won't attract much attention (we state candidates tend to focus on education, transportation and the environment almost exclusively, and in 60-second sound bites), but it is important to me, as a full-fledged policy-wonk.  And maybe, just maybe, the Suburban Agenda will be seen for what it is and fail miserably.

By the way, while Congress is fixing our schools and drivers licensing programs with their Suburban Agenda, states are left to fend for themselves in sustaining our economic position in major global markets.  What a topsy-turvy situation, when Congress is talking about local issues (gangs, libraries, teaching credentials and drivers' licenses) and state legislatures are forced to focus on world trade and balance of payments!!

< Board of Pharmacy fails science test | Don't look at us, we didn't do it. We didn't break it and we don't own it!! >
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...I and Eastside DFA endorse Deb Eddy for her run in the 48th LD.  She knows whereof she speaks, and she speaks well.

How ironic that the very folks that like to demand freedom and liberty want to do the very things that led to our American Revolution - namely enact increasingly centralized control of many of the foundations of effective local government.  (And demand that we pay for it as well, while we're still trying the find the money to the traditional repsonsibilities of local government.)

I think they used to call that "taxation without represetation."

by palamedes on Sun Jun 04, 2006 at 11:48:03 AM PST

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One of the things that really stands out for me in this article -- and that tees me off to no end -- is that McLaughlin & Associates, a pollster/ political consultant company, is evidently now setting federal legislative policy.

The much vaunted "swing voter" is, essentially, the suburban voter.  These are the people who are the targets.  They are the people the politicos want to win over because they determine who wins.

It is clear, it is so clear, that fear is setting our national agenda.  And this is not fear of things we should be afraid of -- like climate change and the vulnerability of our ports to attack.  It is fear of losing.  Fear of personal loss of power and influence.  Fear of political partisan loss.  The consultants are running our country.  

How much clearer can it be that McLaughlin & Associates, through this gang of "just over 20 Republicans" in Congress, are pushing this Suburban Agenda.  And that it is not being pushed because it's what the country needs -- but because it's what will win the election for Republicans.

The other major point of this article -- that we are losing local control, community control -- how true.  And how ironic that it is the Republicans, who supposedly want local control -- who are leading us down this path.

by noemie maxwell on Sun Jun 04, 2006 at 11:49:36 AM PST

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  • Be afraid by emmettoconnell, 06/04/2006 12:57:25 PM PST (5.00 / 1)
The Republicans ran for years saying that they were the small government party.  This is where their idealism has failed to materialize in the biggest way.  Democrats should be calling Republicans the party of big government from now until November.  They're the big government party, we're the efficient government party.

by thehim on Sun Jun 04, 2006 at 08:32:18 PM PST

* 6 5.00 1 *


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