HIGHLIGHTS

JUMP: EDUCATION | INFRASTRUCTURE | PUBLIC SERVICES | THE REST 

First, the Good News 

1) National: In the face of the gravest threat to federal civil service  employees in over a century (since the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 was passed to protect the civil service),  the Biden-Harris administration is making preparations and taking steps to protect their jobs and their rights in the face of a coordinated campaign by Trump elements and allies to gut the civil service, place their stooges in federal jobs,  and launch a McCarthyite assault on their individual rights. “An organization funded by the conservative Heritage Foundation has compiled an online ‘watch list’ of federal employees it claims cannot be trusted to secure the U.S. border and should be fired, a sign that supporters of Donald Trump’s immigration policies are preparing to help him neutralize the administrative state they believe tried to thwart his first presidency.

The ‘DHS Bureaucrat Watch List’—a website unveiled in the final weeks of a presidential campaign in which immigration is a key issue — names 51 federal policy experts and high-ranking leaders, the majority of whom are career civil servants at the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies. The group identified them largely using public social media comments, prior work experience and campaign finance records. Among the employees’ actions cited by the group are posts celebrating the legalization of same-sex marriage or lauding the contributions and successes of undocumented immigrants, as well as donations as little as $10 to Democratic candidates. One employee union likened the effort to unearth the private views of public employees to Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s 1950s-era campaign to purge federal workers he accused of being communists.” There are, of course, other historical  examples.

2) National/Washington: Writing in The Journal of the San Juan Islands, Mike Vuori, former National Park Superintendent, says public lands are a question of values. But  “has resentment over public lands really quieted? Not from the tenor of the Land Bank opposition. Should they succeed, we need to ponder what becomes of these properties if opened to development in whatever form it may take. Will the prime real estate (which is what it will become) be farmed or short platted for ‘affordable’ housing?

“The national park staff here experienced considerable stress following the 1996 elections, when the Republican Party took control of the House of Representatives under the slogan, “Contract with America,” coined by incoming Speaker Newt Gingrich. An element of the ‘contract’ was a bill (HR-260) to create a ‘Park Closure Commission.’ San Juan Island National Historical Park was on a list that primarily targeted national historical parks and parkways.

“It was a long winter for us. But American citizens from both ends of the political spectrum reacted furiously to the legislation with thousands of letters and telegrams. Coupled with a grassroots campaign by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)and the exhortations of Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, the bill did not stand a chance and lost in a resounding floor vote. ‘We can take down the “For Sale” signs at our parks, as there will not be a commission that will close, privatize, or sell our parks to the highest bidder,’ said Rep. Bill Richardson (D-NM), who led the fight. There was a collective sigh of relief here. We felt reassured that, among all Americans, rare natural and cultural landscapes are sacrosanct and worthy of preservation. Were these feelings premature?”

3) Iowa: Has public support for public schools and freedom of thought tipped the political balance in Iowa? Jennifer Berkshire suggests it may have. “I traveled all over Iowa last month, including to conservative rural areas, speaking to groups in which the 65+ females are overrepresented. I can tell you it isn’t just abortion at play here but a reaction to Iowa’s sharp shift to the right. See: school vouchers & book bans”

4) Think Tanks/National: What do policymakers and stakeholders mean when they talk about “soft infrastructure” or “human infrastructure”? How do we finance that? The Bond Buyer podcast put some meat on this jargony issue with an interesting  interview of two experts who operationalize it.

 “In this episode, our executive editor, Lynne Funk, hosts an insightful discussion with two industry leaders, Beth Coolidge and Megan Kilgore, about how municipal finance can serve to address critical aspects of soft or human infrastructure. (…) They delve into a wide range of topics from affordable housing and workforce development to public health, climate resiliency, and digital access. In this conversation, our guests explore the innovations and financing mechanisms being used to drive social outcomes and improve quality of life, particularly in underserved communities. This episode provides a unique look into the transformative power of municipal bonds when it comes to human-centered projects, especially in light of evolving needs and the uncertainties surrounding economic policy and climate change. So without further ado, let’s dive into this inspiring conversation on the future of public finance and human infrastructure.” ]Audio, about 50 minutes] 

Education

5) National: Education Week lists “5 Ways You Didn’t Know the Election Will Affect K-12 Schools.”

  • Making school boards partisan (Florida)
  • Eliminating a key standardized test requirement for high schoolers (Massachusetts)
  • Legalizing sports betting, arguably boosting school funding (Missouri)
  • Enshrining the constitutional right to education (Rhode Island)
  • Rolling back efforts to fight climate change (Washington state)

On the last item, “Earlier this year, the state budgeted roughly $180 million in revenue from the climate policy for electric school buses, school modernization projects, and HVAC repairs in school buildings. If the climate law is repealed, funding for those projects will have to come from another source.” [Sub required]

6) Arizona: A controversial conservative pundit has been tied to Arizona school board campaigns, 12NEWS reports. “A clash on cable news this week that caused outrage has a connection to local school board races in the Valley. Conservative pundit and founder of the 1776 Project Ryan James Girdusky made national headlines this week after taking a jab at a fellow commentator in a CNN roundtable, referencing a recent pager bombing. Girdusky’s work with the 1776 Project is under closer scrutiny as the political action committee has contributed to school board races around the country and here in Arizona.

The 1776 Project spent $58,000 in independent expenditures supporting candidates in the Scottsdale Unified School board election: Gretchen Jacobs, Jeanne Beasley and Drew Hassler.”

7) Arkansas: Writing in the Arkansas Times, Austin Gelder reports that Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) has appointed Gary Arnold, “a career private school educator who’s said his goal is to strengthen Christian schools worldwide,” to the state school board. “It’s a perplexing choice. The state school board oversees only public education, not private and parochial. And Arnold, a board member of the Council for American Private Education, appears to have never worked in public education at all. His career has been spent working in and lobbying on behalf of private and religious schools around the country. Arnold was ‘head of school’ (the fancy private school term for principal) at Little Rock Christian (where the governor sends her kids) from 2007 to 2023. He remains president of the Little Rock Christian Academy Foundation. (…) Arnold’s parochial bona fides go on and on. Arnold is the founder of NextEd, a consulting firm for Christian schools. ‘The name of Jesus needs to grow, and the school is where it starts,’ NextEd’s homepage says. ‘The world needs exceptional Christian schools because it needs well-educated, biblically anchored and morally clear young people grounded in the Truth. And from this reality, NextEd was born.’”

8) Kentucky: John Schaaf, a veteran retired attorney and author of the splendid The Hidden History of Kentucky Political Scandals, forecasts a disaster for public education if Amendment 2 passes and allows an army of rogues and ne’er-do-wells to take over the state’s public education system. “There is a sad history of problems in private schools that often employ unlicensed staff who work in unsupervised settings. In recent months, there have been numerous arrests, indictments, and convictions of private school teachers for sex-related crimes involving students. In voucher systems in other states, most taxpayer money goes to church schools where the public has no oversight, sometimes allowing troubled individuals to have unfettered access to children. At least two examples of breach of religious trust are currently being investigated in Kentucky:

1) A Lexington pastor and youth minister who police say admitted to having sex with a child is facing multiple charges related to sexual abuse. Attorney General Russell Coleman indicted the pastor on numerous felony counts, including rape and sodomy; and

2) The owner and employees of Pilgrim’s Rest School, a private school in Ohio County, were indicted on dozens of counts, including first-degree criminal abuse of a child under 12, fourth-degree assault (child abuse), and first-degree sexual abuse.

Most churches operate honorably. However, these are local examples of the type of child sex abuse cases that have plagued Catholic and other Christian churches for years. It would be a huge mistake to give these churches millions of tax dollars, with no public oversight. Amendment 2 would create dangerous public policy, leading to theft of Kentuckians’ tax money and other criminal activity.”

9) Kentucky: Rachel Roberts, Kentucky House Democratic Caucus Whip, says that two constitutional amendments on the ballot are deeply troubling. “One would change nothing, while the other would potentially change everything about how we educate our children.

Constitutional Amendment 1 is politics at its worst. It would bar non-citizens from voting, something they already cannot do here and which even the most conservative estimates say is ‘vanishingly rare’ in our country. State election officials further confirmed that finding earlier this summer, telling a legislative committee that they weren’t aware of any attempts in the Commonwealth. Nonetheless, amendment supporters treat this “calamity” as a constitutional crisis. Their actual goal is more troubling because they hope it will enflame anti-immigrant sentiment while further eroding trust in our elections and endangering those who volunteer as election workers in Kentucky.” (…)

Amendment 2’s supporters “say it isn’t about school vouchers, but you don’t ask voters to suspend seven different sections of our state constitution if you don’t intend to use that newfound power.  Keeping the courts from enforcing these sections when weighing the constitutionality of future education laws would take away a critical guardrail, while Northern Kentucky and other communities would invariably cede further control of our public schools and their funding to Frankfort.”

10) Nebraska: Dirty tricks abound as Republicans try derailing the referendum to save public education. “The law would effectively make paying for private schools a legal alternative to paying taxes to the State of Nebraska. Funds collected through this mechanism would be issued to students as vouchers disguised as “scholarships” that could be used to pay tuition at any approved private or religious school. Another provision of the bill prevents the state from exercising authority over private school operations, including curriculum and methods for accepting or rejecting student applicants. Such practices open the door for publicly-funded segregation, anti-scientific teaching, and religious indoctrination by private institutions. (…) Supporters of the voucher program have done everything they can to avoid a public vote on the issue, which a number of signals suggest is deeply unpopular with the majority of Nebraska voters. After public school supporters gathered the signatures needed for a ballot referendum to repeal the school voucher program, the legislature pulled the trick of repealing the law that created the program and replacing it with a nearly identical new law.”

11) North Carolina: Liz Schlemmer, WUNC’s education reporter, looks back on ten years of unaccountability in North Carolina’s private school voucher system. “North Carolina spent $185 million on private school vouchers last school year, a new annual report sent to the General Assembly shows. This month, the state agency that awards tax-funded scholarships to private school students filed its 10th annual report on the Opportunity Scholarship program.

The report provides less information on the program than in the past, at a time when state funding for vouchers is poised to quadruple over the next decade. Meanwhile, other sources of data on how the money is spent have disappeared. If state lawmakers override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of House Bill 10, which expands funding for the program, North Carolina could spend more than half a billion dollars on private school vouchers this school year alone — and billions more over the next decade.

Republican state lawmakers have until the end of the calendar year to execute a veto override. Lack of Accountability. Few standards are placed on private schools that receive vouchers. Teachers don’t have to be licensed. Background checks are required only for the highest administrator at the school, but not for employees who work directly with children. There is no standard curriculum that must be taught, and no publicly elected school board to oversee the school’s budget.” 

12) Texas: The Texas Tribune reports that no matter how tomorrow’s elections go, “Republicans are all but assured of holding onto their majority in the state House, where they control 86 of 150 seats. But Democrats are hoping to flip just enough House seats to regain a bipartisan majority of members who oppose private school vouchers, or policies that allow public money to be used to pay for private education.”

Infrastructure

13) National: Writing in Inside Climate News, Keerti Gopal says a second Trump presidency could threaten already shrinking freedoms for protest and dissent, for example in Critical Infrastructure and Threats to Anti-Fossil Fuel Advocacy. “Over the past decade, a number of states have passed or amended laws limiting protest freedoms through measures like broadening the definition of domestic terrorism or increasing penalties for civil disobedience or protest at ‘critical infrastructure’ sites like oil and gas projects. Many of those critical infrastructure laws were modeled on proposals from the fossil fuel industry and its allies. The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law has trackedlegislation that restricts rights to peaceful assembly since 2017, during the Trump administration, finding that 45 states have considered anti-protest bills and 21 states have enacted a total of 49 anti-protest bills. Currently, 15 federal and 21 state proposals are pending.” 

14) National: Is it time to bring in the SEC to oversee issuers of public bonds? A battle that may stretch out for years into all three branches of government and would be highly politicized is shaping up. The Bond Buyer’s Caitlin Devitt has the story. “After decades of what investors see as inadequate disclosure from cities, towns and states, it’s time to consider a fundamental change in the $4 trillion municipal bond market: direct federal oversight. That’s the argument from a pair of market veterans who admit it’s a provocative position for a market that is famously distinctive in its power of self-regulation. Issuers and their bond counsel, unsurprisingly, are dead set against the proposal.

“In a pair of articles posted on University of Chicago Booth School of Business academic journal Promarket, public finance attorney David Dubrow, a partner at ArentFox Schiff, and former director of the Office of State and Local Finance at the U.S. Treasury Kent Hiteshew lay out their case for why it’s time for the Securities and Exchange Commission to step in and directly oversee issuer disclosure or, at the least, expand its anti-fraud powers over underwriters to include specific disclosure requirements.” [Sub required]

15) Montana/National: The nation’s eyes are on Montana, whose voters may decide which party controls the U.S. Senate. In an op-ed in the Ravalli Republic, Sheila Hogan, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party, says Montana Democrats are defending Montana’s way of life. “And in other races up and down the ballot from the races for our state’s two congressional seats to statewide races for attorney general and state superintendent to local and legislative races, Montana Democrats are fighting to preserve the state we love and improve every Montanans’ ability to thrive. We hear every two years about how this election is the most important of our lifetimes. But the fact is that there is a lot on the line in 2024.

“Do we want Montana to be a place where our kids and grandkids can afford to buy a house and raise a family? Where you don’t have to be a millionaire to go hunting, fishing, camping, or hiking on our public lands? Where healthcare is accessible and affordable, and all Montanans can make personal reproductive decisions without a politician in Helena or Washington, DC interfering in our lives? Those are the things Montana Democrats are fighting for. We believe in a future where all of us can prosper, and we can keep our state the greatest state in the greatest country that’s ever existed.”

16) Pennsylvania: American Water has gobbled up Sadsbury Township in Lancaster County, or at least its sewer system. “The $990,000 purchase was approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Sept. 12, 2024. In accordance with the PUC’s approval, Pennsylvania American Water will adopt the rates currently being charged to Sadsbury residents. The PUC regulates the company’s rates and rules and regulations of service; therefore, any future rate changes will require review and approval by the PUC.” 

17) Rhode Island: Writing in Newport Buzz, Christopher Winthrop says  Newport City Councilor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano is standing firm against privatization of Easton’s Beach. “Jeanne-Marie Napolitano, a long-standing and widely respected member of the Newport City Council, made a decisive pledge this week to oppose any moves toward the privatization of Easton’s Beach. Recognized for her dedication to preserving Newport’s public spaces, Napolitano has long championed public access to the city’s iconic coastline. In a statement to her constituents, she reaffirmed her commitment to keeping Easton’s Beach publicly accessible, vowing to “fight to my last breath to stop the privatization of Easton’s Beach.” Napolitano’s statement arrives amid growing local apprehension following the recent emergence of video footage depicting Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong and Councilor Mark Aramli discussing the potential of a 99-year lease that could transfer management of Easton’s Beach to a private entity. For many Newport residents, the beach is more than a scenic shoreline—it is a cultural landmark that embodies Newport’s rich maritime heritage and serves as a gathering place for families, tourists, and residents alike.”

18) Tennessee: Did you know that infrastructure privatization was a major issue in the 1964 presidential race between New Deal Democrat Lyndon Johnson and extremist Arizona Republican Barry Goldwater? “Weeks later, President Lyndon Johnson visited Nashville, welcomed by the largest crowd yet to greet him during the 1964 campaign – 85,000 strong – for a speech at War Memorial Plaza. In direct response to Goldwater, who’d called for privatization, Johnson pledged not to sell the Tennessee Valley Authority, saying the utility is ‘part of the blood and bone of Tennessee and of the greatness of America and it is not for sale.’” [Vivian Jones, “Privatize TVA?: 1964 Presidential Candidates Dive into the Issue,” The Tennessean, November 3, 2024]. “”Sell TVA? I’d sooner sell Arizona.”

Public Services

19) National: How will the elections affect the municipal bond market, which finances public services and infrastructure? It’s very complicated but many are looking at Harris’ Transit Oriented Development (TODs) promises, and Trump’s SALT cap removal promise as the poles of the choice. [Sub required] Some other issues in the mix:

  • How an election sweep or a potential divided government will impact policy
  • Tax treatment of nonprofit higher education
  • T&I Committee could see new leadership
  • The Harris and Trump debate ignored muni bond market economic and tax policies

20) National: Writing in the New York Amsterdam News, Geddes R. Scott, President of AFGE Local 1988 NY/NJ V.A. Council 24, says “As a union representative representing thousands of employees who provide care to tens of thousands of veterans in New York and New Jersey and a licensed practical nurse for more than 30 years, I know all too well how the current anti-union, anti-worker climate directly impacts the care our nation’s veterans receive. For decades, my union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) has been sounding the alarm over several critical issues at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and how these issues impact our veterans.

“Simply put: VA is underfunded, understaffed, and, unprotected. AFGE members are committed to fulfilling the mission of the VA: to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan. Unfortunately, we are routinely met with anti-worker, anti-union attacks from Congress, the White House, and proponents of privatization, like the authors of Project 2025. For years special interest groups have been trying to dismantle the VA so they can profit off the backs of our nation’s heroes. These special interest groups supported the 2018 VA Mission Act, the law that opened the floodgates for privatization by moving VA to a vouchering system, scaling back hiring and creating a commission to identify which VA facilities should be closed, to in turn force veterans to rely on expensive, private health care.”

“Now, veterans tell us time and time again; they want to receive their health care at the VA, which is the largest integrated healthcare system in the nation. Recently, two independent, nationwide patient surveys found that once again, VA health care outperformed non-VA health care. If veterans want to receive care at the VA and the data shows that veterans receive more quality care and a lower cost at the VA, why is there such a push to privatize? Because corporate billionaires, the Heritage Foundation, Donald Trump and other elected officials care more about money than veterans. Profit over people. (…) Privatization and outsourcing not only diminishes services to our veterans and pits workers against each other, but are an attack on veterans’ jobs, as 1 out of 3 VA employees are veterans themselves.”

21) Colorado: Gov. Jared Polis (D) promises austerity—and privatization. “The governor told reporters Friday this is a year for “tightening the belts.” His proposal includes $638 million in “balancing proposals,” such as extending the implementation of the new school finance formula, eliminating certain boards and commissions, and most notably, allowing Pinnacol Assurance — the state’s workers compensation insurer of last resort — to go private (…) The spin-off of Pinnacol is expected to provide $100 million per year for five years, money the governor said will go toward the Public Employees Retirement Association. But the proposal is likely controversial — previous efforts to allow Pinnacol to go private have generated pushback from Democrats, businesses, and employees covered by PERA, depending on how the spin-off is structured.”

22) National: Waste Management, the trash privatization behemoth ($85 billion market cap) is gobbling up Stericycle, the medical waste company on Chemical Road in Baltimore. Waste Dive reports that the $7 billion merger has passed DOJ and FTC review. “A securities filing disclosed that the company voluntarily withdrew its application for review and refiled in early August. The 30-day waiting period for antitrust action has now expired. The companies also disclosed they’ve received antitrust clearance from regulators in Portugal and the U.K., but are waiting for clearance in Canada and Spain. The transaction is targeted to close ‘as early as’ Q4.” The deal has now cleared Canadian regulators.

All the Rest

23) National: What is Trump’s actual record on working people’s interests? ProPublica dug in on the facts as opposed to the bluster, “Trump, despite his clear ties to its authors, has said that Project 2025 doesn’t represent him. Still, his views on working-class and poor people can be found in specific actions that he tried to take when, as president, he had the power to make public policy. ProPublica reviewed Trump’s proposed budgets from 2018 to 2021, as well as regulations that he attempted to enact or revise via his cabinet agencies, including the departments of Labor, Housing and Urban Development, and Health and Human Services, and also quasi-independent agencies like the National Labor Relations Board and the Social Security Administration. We found that while Trump was in the White House, he advanced an agenda across his administration that was designed to cut health care, food and housing programs and labor protections for poor and working-class Americans

“Amid a presidential race that has at times focused on forgotten, high-poverty communities — with Vance repeatedly touting his Appalachian-adjacent roots — it is surprising that journalists haven’t applied more scrutiny to Trump’s first-term budgets and proposals on these issues, said Greenstein, the poverty policy expert Would Trump, given a second term, continue the Biden administration’s efforts to make sure that the IRS isn’t disproportionately auditing the taxes of poor people? Would he defend Biden’s reforms to welfare, aimed at making sure that states actually use welfare money to help lower-income families? Trump hasn’t faced many of these questions on the campaign trail or in debates or interviews, as the candidates and reporters covering them tend to focus more on the middle class.”

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