Through Ellen's Eyes

An blog of occassional thoughts, opinions and photographs about politics, life and family. 

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Donald Trump's foreign ties may conflict with U.S. national security interests

Would Donald Trump's decisions as president be based on what is best for America, or on what would keep the cash flowing to him and his family?

This is a problem. 

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Via Washington Post’s Tom Toles.

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Why Do People Dread Retirement?

Alright.  I confess. Today -- after working out at the gym --  I cleaned out drawers that had long been needing at bit of tidying up, put away summer clothes that I won't need until late next spring, and discovered a bundle of my old favorite sweaters. I also identified a half of dozen books to read by perusing the New York Times and Politics and Prose 'best of 2014'  book lists. I can  imagine spending an hour or two in the afternoon reading something pleasurable. (If you have any to suggest do send them along.)

Can't figure out why retirement is something most people dread.

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Today I Made Pho

 Today I made Pho from scratch.  Yes, that is what I did today. And it was a day well spent.

We just returned from a 2+ week trip to Vietnam and Cambodia where we took a cooking lesson that included this amazing beef and noodle soup.  And I had to see if I could do it.  Guinea pigs, in the form of close friends, coming for dinner tomorrow night.

Have I mentioned that our house smells divine?

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Eyes Now Wide Open

This is a must read analysis from TalkingPointsMemo because it illustrates the foolhardiness (stupidity) of pursuing an electoral strategy to change  federal campaign finance laws. (The major assumption in this plan is that you have to elect more Democrats, along with a few Republicans.)

The nut graphs:

A closer look at the numbers shows why the GOP House majority is basically impenetrable until the next redistricting, and maybe beyond. It was never more stark than in 2012, when Democrats received about 500k more votes nationwide than Republicans but still ended up with substantially fewer seats. Some of this is due to an extremely effective gerrymandering effort by Republicans after the 2010 election. But it's not only that. Democrats are also increasingly concentrated in small geographical areas, which greatly amplifies the effect of gerrymandering and is also a significant and growing issue in itself....

Here, TPM has taken a look at three states that are among the most populous in the country and that figure prominently in presidential elections. Democratic House candidates in Pennsylvania and Michigan won more votes overall in 2012 but in each state the party ended up with fewer seats than the GOP. In Ohio, Republicans garnered more votes overall in 2012 and 2014; in each year, their percentage of seats won was vastly higher than their share of the vote.

Republicans did better in all three states in 2014, but the distribution of House seats remained the same. And this pattern, if not always to the same degree, shows itself in numerous states.

It's a good illustration on how virtually unwinnable the current House is for Democrats. As currently constituted, the chamber is relatively immune to big swings in popular opinion and voting support.

Now, of course, all this wouldn't really be a problem if you could really convince sufficient numbers of Republican candidates to endorse campaign finance reform.  But the likelihood of that is somewhere between slim and nil.  Republican's positions on that have hardened over the years.  They are less likely to support systemic reform (indeed, any reform) today than they were in the past.

Admit defeat MayDay.US, EveryVoice, and move onto more productive strategies.

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Speaking of Political Spin

Headlines like this make me cringe: Anti-corruption movement scores major victories at the polls.  The article that follows recounts  anti-corruption measures that passed in Tallahassee, MA District 19, and the city of Genoa, Illinois (still wondering where that is).  The author of the article for Represent.US, quotes the founder of that organization as an authoritative source.

The whole piece is distasteful, touting small bore reforms in friendly small town climates as "major victories."

What is most disturbing, I think, is that spin like this over promise and will surely under deliver for those citizens who voted in favor to clean up their politics. Over hyping the accomplishment appears to be endemic to the reform movement. But this kind of spin runs the risk of losing supporters, rather than gaining them.  And when this strategy has been tried in the past, it ran out of steam as soon as the opposition felt threatened by the proposed reforms and poured in big money to stop it.  Those promoting the reforms couldn't raise enough to stop it and the passage of grassroots initiatives ground to a halt.

And as we have seen from the most recent analyses, big money is back, and more of it is hidden than ever before. And there just isn't enough 'good' money to fight the 'bad'. And voters just don't appear to be persuaded by the argument.

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We're Gonna' Need It

This morning, my husband RIchard says to me, "After last night's election results, we should be thrilled that DC approved the legalization of marijuana."

Yup. That sounds about right. It's got to make the next few years a little easier to take.

And the election results have got to make you wonder whether the folks at MayDay PAC, and EveryVoice had already been smoking something when they bet big on 'corruption of money in politics' as an electoral issue.  Can't wait to see how they try to spin their way out of this one.

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Not sure that Toles got this right. 

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Happy Election Day?

Actually, not so much.

More than any other election year, this one is depressing. 

The story of this season is the big money -- it's one of PACS, SuperPACs, Dark Money Groups, Bundling, Corporate Contributions, Issue Campaigns and the like. In terms of the money spent, it's probably the election with the highest percentage of unreported money of any since the early 1900's.

The groups working on following the money (including the Sunlight Foundation which I co-founded) have hit a load of media mentions.  (That's generally a sign that the issue has made its mark.)  And while true,  the bigger question is whether the reporting has had any impact on how the voters will pick their candidates today.  It's hard to see that when it comes to voting that the role big money plays is something that people care much about. With nearly $4 billion predicted to be spent in this election cycle you'd expect robust argument, discussion and debate on every issue that faces us -- immigration, gun control, tax policy, or fracking. That did not happen.

I am reminded of some 30 years ago when we first took our oldest daughter to the polls and explained to her why we were there, how and why voting was important and why it was so critical to living in a democracy.  As we were leaving I asked her what we called our country that cherished the one person one vote ideal, and she said "it's a disaster...." stumbling over the word 'democracy',

Out of the mouth of babes.

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Could 18f Work on Meaningful Problems?

When I left working full-time at the Sunlight Foundation (I'm officially in Day One of my retirement) I wasn't sure whether I would write much -- and still am not sure whether how much I will contribute to this blog.  But I find that even as I begin to settle  into this next phase of my life, I want to muse from time to time.

Tonight I ran across this article (from my good friends at Tech President) about the redesign of Recreation.gov, the author suggesting that the design project is a perfect fit for the innovative and creative new in-house government tech team (populated by many former Sunlighters) at 18f, part of the GSA. The goal: to develop a new government portal outdoor trip planning. 

Think. About. That. For. A. Nanosecond.

Why in God's name would the talented people at 18f spend their time to help people -- or travel businesses or nonprofit organizations -- improve their use of government data for travel planning?  I bet that in 10 seconds you could name 10 other important data sets that should be made accessible for third party applications that could, do something really useful such as, improve the health of people working around dangerous chemicals, the cleanliness of our restaurants, the safety of miners, etc.

If 18f spends its time working on issues like this one -- even if they build the coolest app ever -- it will be a total waste. When there are so many problems facing this country, maybe 18f should focus on one or two -- or three of four --  that might create some meaningful change or accountability?

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This Could Be Good for Campaign Finance Reform

Reported today is this tidbit which could have big implications.

A record 63% of the political contributions from employees and corporations in the banking and investment sectors went to Republicans this election cycle, according to data from the Center for Responsive politics. It's the largest dollar figure ($78 million) and percent for the GOP in any midterm election.

It's long been known that the Democrats have increasingly been captive to Wall Street's money, driving the elected ones to the middle of the road on many aspects of public policy, not the least of which is footdragging on campaign finance reform.  As long as the money from Wall Street was fueling their victories to Congress (and the Presidency), the less likely the Democrats were willing to kick it in the ass. More important, they reasoned, to get elected and pursue centrist policies that their Wall Street backers agreed with than to be defeated because of lack of money.

With this bit of news -- and a few losses in this week's elections -- maybe they will change their mind about how they raise money for elections. 

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Seriously, Megan Smith?!

Seriously Megan Smith.  You can't think of any reason why open data  -- such as local water data -- would be a useful thing?  You have the most senior evangelical post in the Administration -- the very place that is supposed to be ground zero for arguing for open data -- and you can't answer this simple question?

What might someone do with water data? Anything from local citizen-science work to statewide planning work to — who knows what someone could think of. I’m trying to think of something.

What am I missing?  More importantly, let's think about what the American people are missing by not having access to data that allows us to hold our government and its officials accountable for clean air, or dirty water, or corrupt politics.

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Hello and Goodbye

Heh. I just realized that I am leaving the Sunlight Foundation -- and indeed my entire professional career  -- on Halloween.  Is there a subliminal message there?  I certainly hope not.

I've loved my work, the people I've worked with at Sunlight, Public Campaign, and Center for Responsive Politics and the other places that have dotted my career path in Washington, DC.  After nearly 50 years  (46 years to be exact)  it's time to take a break and dabble more seriously in my 'missed career' -- photography; my love of travel (first stops: Vietnam and Cambodia), cooking, and the enjoyment of family -- Richard, children (and their spouses) and grandchilden. 

I might, from time to time post thoughts and ideas and maybe a few photos here -- or share those of others --  but I don't want to promise that there will be a new blog post to read on a regular basis.

I'm looking forward to whatever comes next.  And I will be as thankful for that as I have been all the many years that have gone by.

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What I learn I intend to pass on to [my] readers, so you can also get a better idea of how to distinguish journalism from corporate propaganda online.

Andrew Sullivan continues his crusade against “sponsor content” masquerading as journalism (previously: I II III IV). 

Complements with some thoughts on alternatives to ad-supported journalism. 

(via explore-blog)