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Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tax reform efforts lack a sense of urgency
Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez has been focused on tax reform.

Philadelphia’s budget crisis all but ended the tax-cutting efforts begun in the early 1990s that are credited with revitalizing Center City and many neighborhoods. So a recent task force report urging a revival of reform comes at an opportune time.

 If nothing else, the report provides a stark reminder that — barring renewed cuts — the city will continue to bleed jobs and businesses, even if it somehow slows the long-standing exodus of middle-class residents.
 
Those predictions should serve as the counterpoint to Mayor Nutter’s retrenchment on wage- and business-tax cuts amid the city’s budget crisis. Not only have tax cuts been delayed, but the city’s sales tax was increased by 14 percent. As such, the city’s overall tax burden remains the highest in the country, and holding.
 
The mayor’s panel, chaired by Harold Epps, president of PRWT Inc., offers a multipronged strategy that could help alter an otherwise grim economic future. It calls for a commonsense shift of local taxes away from wage earners and businesses, relying more heavily on property taxes while also cushioning the blow for homeowners.
 
Just as important, the report recommends trimming city spending by 5 percent a year through efficiencies and limiting pension costs. Anyone who thinks that can’t be done hasn’t spent much time examining the Byzantine and patronage-laden operations at City Hall.
 
Together, the reforms could lead to 70,000 more private-sector jobs over 15 years — a roughly 10 percent improvement over current levels.
While worthy, the proposals are similar to a six-year-old report that went nowhere. So turning the reforms into reality will require mayoral leadership.
 
But Nutter accepted the report last week with a lukewarm endorsement. He singled out the recommendation for a tax amnesty program as promising, but that was about it.
 
Before any changes to property taxes, of course, Nutter and City Council need to fix the city’s broken tax-assessment process.
 
That requires scrapping the Board of Revision of Taxes, which is riddled with mismanagement, cronyism, and flawed property assessments, as detailed by The Inquirer this spring. So far, a plan to switch to marketplace-value assessments has problems and is well behind schedule.
 
The Nutter administration has time to formulate a tax-reform plan, but not much. Indeed, just after the tax-reform report was released, City Councilman Bill Green called for the city to aim higher.
 
Green, whose own paperless-government initiative fits the bill for a 5 percent savings measure, rightly questions whether the proposals are aggressive enough to reverse job and resident losses or the city’s growth in the number of residents living in poverty.
 
That said, driving the wage tax down below 3 percent would represent real reform. There are other worthy ideas out there as well, such as the one from Green and his Council colleague, Maria Quiñones Sánchez, to restructure the gross-receipts business tax.
 
But what’s missing is a sense of urgency akin to the 2002 “briefcase brigade” of business leaders at City Hall. With the task force’s proposals in hand, it’s time for Nutter and Council to get serious again about tax reform.
Posted by Inquirer Editorial Board @ 4:00 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Cheaper isn't always better when it's a private jail
The Camden County Freeholder Board, including Jeff Nash (far right), must decide the fate of the county jail. Nash and local community activists watch from a guard tower of the state prison that's also in Camden.

When Bill Ackman speaks, people listen. So, the Pershing Square hedge fund manager got a lot of people’s attention last week when he said he was locking up his money.

More specifically, Ackman has acquired about a 10 percent stake in Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest private operator of prisons and jails.
 
“The biggest risk to Corrections Corp. is that people stop committing crimes, and I think that’s a low-probability event,” said Ackman. He’s looking at the trend of more and more state and local governments deciding that it’s more economical to let a business run their lookups.
 
In a presentation at the Value Investing Congress in New York, Ackman noted that private prisons had gained 49 percent of the incremental growth in America’s prison population in 2007. Every inmate probably represents a dollar sign to him.
 
Camden County is thinking of joining the private-jail crowd. But it must be concerned about more than dollars and cents. Privatized jails have yielded mixed results. In some cases, disastrous outcomes overshadowed savings.
 
For example, at Pennsylvania’s only privately run jail, in Delaware County, seven inmates died in 2005 under the watch of its former operator, Geo Group. After paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle wrongful-death lawsuits, the company eventually terminated its contract. A new firm currently runs that jail.
 
Earlier this month, a long-awaited study of the Camden County jail by a consultant recommended replacing the facility with a privately built and operated jail.
 
Corrections officers are threatening legal action to block the move. The officers fear that their salaries will be drastically cut if they are hired by a private firm, or they will lose their jobs to ill-trained replacements, which raises valid security concerns.
 
Before county freeholders consider turning the jail over to a for-profit company, they must take a close look at other jails that have gone that route.
 
Regardless of its operator, closing the current facility appears to be the best course. The Camden County jail has been plagued with problems since it opened in 1988.
 
Built to house 1,200 prisoners, the jail has been dangerously packed with as many as
2,000 inmates. Given its disrepair and inhumane, unhealthy, and unsafe conditions inside the jail, replacing it should be an easy choice.
 
Other options in the $100,000 consultant report include building a new jail operated by the county outside the city of Camden, or partnering with another county to develop a new regional jail.
 
Before anything happens, there should be extensive discussion. County officials say they plan to take as long as a year to weigh their options. That’s fine. Privatization may seem attractive, but the freeholders need to hear from critics who believe badly run private facilities too often bypass the scrutiny that they need.
Posted by Inquirer Editorial Board @ 2:00 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
There's never a good reason to abuse a child
Police call the abuse death of 10-year-old Charlenni Ferreria (inset) one of the worse cases of abuse they've seen. Neighborhood children light candles and leave stuffed animals outside her home. ( Jason Melcher / Staff Photographer )

Even when we know who, we almost never know why, when the question concerns the abuse of a child.

Why would anyone beat a defenseless child to the point that her injuries are fatal?
 
Why wouldn’t those who knew exactly what was happening to the child do more to protect her?
 
Why couldn’t a system that intervenes when child abuse is alleged keep this child safe?
 
No answer is satisfactory.
 
But there are plenty of questions in the death of 10-year-old Charleeni Ferreira, the little girl who died last week from an infection caused by untreated broken ribs that collapsed her lungs.
 
Charleeni’s death confirmed the suspicions of school nurses who reported as far back as 2006 that she might be an abuse victim. The nurses apparently did what they could.
 
The city Department of Human Services investigated, couldn’t confirm abuse, but as a precaution began visiting her home several times a week for months.
 
In 2007, a second school nurse told DHS that she thought Charleeni was an abuse victim. But a pediatric specialist found no signs of a current problem.
 
DHS closed the case. So, Charleeni’s abusers no longer had to fear that close scrutiny.
 
Evidence suggests she was beaten often. Neighbors noticed a limp, but didn’t know her hip had been broken. A weave covered a gash to her scalp. She complained that her ribs hurt. The reason why became apparent too late.
 
In death, her little body provided disturbing answers.
 
Police arrested her parents. Her father, Domingo Ferreira, 53, was found dead in his jail cell Sunday. He apparently hanged himself. His wife and Charleeni’s stepmother, Margarita Garabito, 43, remains incarcerated, charged with murder.
 
There are two other potential witnesses to what was happening to Charleeni: Garabito’s 16-year-old and 19-year-old sons. Perhaps they are asking why, too.
 
While the rest of us may ponder who among the people we see every day might be abused or an abuser, DHS must do more than just reflect — it must get better.
 
“We will have lots of work to do,” said DHS Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose. She has instituted several reforms since taking that job in 2008, but none can answer the question: Why?
Posted by Inquirer Editorial Page @ 3:00 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Time for a constitutional convention
Gov. Rendell says that he is willing to look into whether the state can help out with agencies' interest and penalty payments, but that it depends on whether the state can afford it.

Harrisburg’s 101-day budget delay was further proof that the legislature is incapable of reforming its unproductive ways.


And it’s all the more reason why the state needs to consider a constitutional convention.
 

After the pay-raise scandal in 2005, legislators promised to change their broken system of governing. Then-Speaker Dennis O’Brien (R., Phila.) even appointed a commission to recommend reforms in state government.
 

But the resulting changes were largely window-dressing to temporarily appease the public. The legislature agreed not to vote after 11 p.m., for example, but it dodged more meaningful reforms such as campaign-donor limits.

»  More Time for a constitutional convention

Posted by Inquirer editorial board @ 2:15 AM  Permalink | 2 comments
Monday, October 26, 2009
The Swine Flu Prevention Dinner

 

From soup to nuts, Bill Lobley of River Edge, N.J., has come up with tongue-in-cheek ideas for hosting a dinner party in the midst of a pandemic.

Posted by Dave Boyer @ 5:19 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
Monday, October 26, 2009
Seth Williams is ready to be Philly's DA
Seth Williams (right), Democratic candidate for district attorney, with Mayor Nutter. (Sarah J. Glover / Staff Photographer)

The most important decision facing city voters in this off election year is the race for Philadelphia’s district attorney.

DA Lynne Abraham isn’t on the ballot, having chosen to retire from the post she’s held since 1991. That means new leadership for the office that handles more than 70,000 criminal cases a year with a staff of 300 lawyers.
 
The men seeking the job are Democrat Seth Williams, a former Abraham assistant, and Republican Michael Untermeyer, a former state deputy attorney general. The Inquirer endorses SETH WILLIAMS.
 
A victory for Williams on Nov. 3 might be a foregone conclusion in this Democrat-dominated city. But he’s still the better candidate, and he defeated a field of strong challengers in the spring primary.
 
Williams served 10 years in Abraham’s office, gaining management experience and learning the challenges of combating urban crime. He decided to buck the Democratic Party machine four years ago and came close to defeating Abraham then.
 
Williams and Untermeyer rightly want to focus their efforts on gun violence, but their approaches would differ somewhat. Williams envisions a broader enforcement strategy, including prosecuting illegal gun traffickers. He also vows to lobby Harrisburg for sensible and needed legislation restricting customers to purchasing one gun per month, to combat the problem of “straw” buyers.
 
Untermeyer wants tougher gun laws and a policy of “zero tolerance” on illegal handguns, ruling out plea deals in cases involving firearms. But Williams argues persuasively that prosecutors need plea-bargaining flexibility to win convictions in cases where the evidence might be weak, and without plea deals cases may get thrown out.
 
Williams would establish teams of prosecutors who are more familiar with specific neighborhoods, to encourage witnesses to come forward and to coordinate with police earlier when arrests are made.
 
Untermeyer’s credentials are impressive, including four years as an assistant DA in Philadelphia and 11 years in the attorney general’s office, where he headed up money-laundering probes against drug dealers.
 
Untermeyer favors bail reform, but his claim of the money to be saved doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. (He wore an electronic ankle bracelet for 30 days during the campaign to show how the city could save money by moving nonviolent offenders out of jail.)
 
Williams has a more robust agenda for the district attorney’s office, and more experience facing its challenges. He is the better choice for DA.
Posted by Inquirer Editorial Board @ 3:00 AM  Permalink | 3 comments
Monday, October 26, 2009
Obama's new Sudan policy reflects reality
Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, second left, leaves after attending a social ceremony in Khartoum, Sudan on March 6. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)

President Obama’s new, more conciliatory position on Sudan has some people scratching their heads. But as he is doing with Afghanistan, Obama is showing he won’t be blindly wedded to a policy that may have been overtaken by events.

Obama is taking a general’s advice on this front — retired Maj. Gen. Scott Gration, special envoy to Sudan, who is urging a Teddy Roosevelt approach: Speak softly, but carry a big stick. So, all of Obama’s past shouting about standing up to Sudan President Omar al-Bashir has been reduced to a whisper — for now.
 
Obama recognizes that changes have occurred in Sudan since Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court earlier this year for alleged war crimes, and since 2004 when President George W. Bush called the deadly results of Bashir’s policies in the Darfur region “genocide.”
 
While the situation has improved in Darfur, intertribal violence in southern Sudan has killed more than 1,200 people this year. As Gration advises, Sudan’s prognosis won’t improve until its decades-long civil war between its north and south is over.
 
That won’t happen without Bashir carrying out all the terms of a 2005 peace agreement with rebels in the south. Gration says that’s why the United States must work with Bashir, instead of isolating him. Gration told the New York Times, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, you have to go with someone.” That someone is Bashir.
 
The peace agreement has granted a degree of autonomy to the rebels in the south, and calls for a national election next year and a referendum on the south’s possible secession in 2011. Obama will focus on the election goals.
 
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the new Sudan policy includes both rewards for the Bashir government when it does right and punishment when it does wrong. But she wouldn’t specify what actions might be taken in either case.
 
Administration officials also said they wouldn’t deal directly with Bashir, given the war-crime charges. They will instead work with Bashir’s senior advisers. One wonders, though, why the administration is going through that farce if the result is the same? Bashir will direct his advisers.
 
Obama’s new posture has upset some world human-rights groups that for years have tried to bring some relief to the war victims in Darfur. They call it hypocrisy for the United States to parley with the same government that it had accused of genocide.
 
The Washington-based Save Darfur Coalition wasn’t that harsh. It said it “welcomed” Obama’s new policy, but stressed that it won’t work unless he is personally involved in carrying out.
 
“Incentives should not be provided before there is concrete and lasting progress on resolving Sudan’s interlocking crises, opening political space for Sudanese to determine their future, and protecting human rights,” said Coalition president Jerry Fowler.
 
Obama appears to be on the right course in trying to address the overarching political situation in Sudan. But, as the Save Darfur Coalition warns, for the new policy to work Obama must not let Sudan slip from his focus amid concerns — Afghanistan, for example, and Iraq, and Iran.
 
That’s not to mention huge domestic issues such as health-care reform and the recession.
Posted by Inquirer Editorial Board @ 2:00 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Al Schmidt for city controller
Al Schmidt, Republican candidate for city controller.

For more than a century, Philadelphia has been a one-party political town.

The Republicans ran the city in the first half of the 20th century before corruption scandals swept Democrats into power.
 

Despite occasional reform efforts over the last 50 years, the Democratic Party machine has hardly presided over an era of good government.
 

The city was driven to the brink of bankruptcy in the 1980s; its overall tax burden has ballooned to the highest in the nation; and despite Mayor Nutter’s efforts, pay-to-play and patronage still call City Hall home.
 

The city controller’s office can’t fix all of those ills. But that watchdog post would be in a better position to fight business as usual if it weren’t so tied to the same political machinery.
 

»  More Al Schmidt for city controller

Posted by Inquirer editorial board @ 2:00 AM  Permalink | 6 comments
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Our judicial endorsements
Principals in the Temple debate were (from left) candidate Jack Panella, moderator Lynn Marks, candidate Joan Orie Melvin, and Olivia Thorne, president of the League of Women Voters.

In the Nov. 3 election for three statewide appellate courts, Pennsylvania voters need to look beyond party labels — if only as a statement that partisan politics has no place in choosing the best judges.

Indeed, the debate swirling around the race to fill one seat on the state Supreme Court is a condemnation of the process of selecting judges by ballot rather than merit-based appointment.
 

Backers of both the Republican and Democratic candidates have sought votes on the basis that the victor will determine the political balance on the seven-member court, thus playing a role in redrawing legislative districts following the 2010 census.
 

Such a cynical outlook is just what the state’s judiciary does not need right now, given a crisis of confidence over two Luzerne County judges facing charges for jailing juveniles in a kickback scheme.
Stuck with a bad system, the best that voters can do is pick candidates likely to bring legal scholarship, judicial temperament, ethical standards and a good work ethic.
 

»  More Our judicial endorsements

Posted by Inquirer editorial board @ 2:00 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Judge Robreno's tough love
Kevin O'Shea was sentenced to 37 months in prison for his role in looting a charter school.

Federal District Court Judge Eduardo C. Robreno sent the right message in sentencing the former head of a Northeast charter school to more than three years in prison.


Robreno correctly pointed out that Kevin M. O’Shea “did not break into the school in the middle of the night and steal the money. He did so in the daylight.”
 

O’Shea’s 37-month sentence is a needed warning shot to state education officials, the Philadelphia School District, and other charter-school operators. Robreno called for increased oversight of the taxpayer-funded charters so “this type of criminal activity is not allowed to be repeated.”
 

High-profile cases like this one are meant to serve as a deterrence to others, in addition to punishing the wrongdoers. That’s in part why the judge gave O’Shea the maximum sentence.
 

»  More Judge Robreno's tough love

Posted by Inquirer editorial board @ 2:15 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About The Inquirer Editorial Board
Harold Jackson, a winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, grew up in Birmingham, Ala., during the civil rights movement. He graduated from Baker University in Baldwin, Kan., in 1975, with a degree in journalism/political science. He has also worked at the Birmingham Post-Herald, United Press International, the Birmingham News, and the Baltimore Sun. He was at The Inquirer in the mid-1980s, returned in 1999, and became editorial page editor in 2007.

Paul Davies is the deputy editor of the Editorial Page. His newspaper career has spanned more than 20 years and includes stints at The Wall Street Journal and the Philadelphia Daily News. He graduated from the University of Delaware and received a masters in journalism from Columbia University, where he was also a Knight-Bagehot Fellow. He was born in Philadelphia and still lives in the city.

Tony Auth began drawing while bedridden for a year and a half at the age of five. He graduated from UCLA in 1965 and worked for six years as a medical illustrator while doing three cartoons a week for various college newspapers. Tony has been happily ensconced as The Inquirer’s editorial cartoonist since 1971. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976, and has won numerous other awards, including five Overseas Press Club Awards, the Sigma Delta Chi award for distinguished service in Journalism, and the Herblock and Thomas Nast Prizes. Tony is married to Eliza Drake Auth, a painter of realistic landscapes and portraits.

Trudy Rubin is the foreign affairs columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and a member of The Inquirer’s editorial board. Her column appears twice weekly in The Inquirer and runs regularly in many other newspapers around the United States. She is the author of Willful Blindness: The Bush Administration and Iraq.

Kevin Ferris is an assistant editor on the Editorial Board who oversees the Sunday Currents section and writes a weekly column on a wide range of issues. In his 15 years on the board, he’s handled letters to the editor and the Community Voices pages and has been Commentary Page editor. He started with The Inquirer in 1986, and his assignments have ranged from the copy and news desks to the Chester County bureau and the national/foreign desk.

As an editorial writer for The Inquirer for the past two decades, Russell Cooke has written on a wide range of topics covering government, legal, civic and social issues. Before joining the Editorial Board, he was a reporter in the Inquirer’s City Hall bureau.

Editorial writer Dave Boyer joined The Inquirer in 2002. He writes about politics, government, the economy, sports and many other subjects, but draws the line at writing about "Jon & Kate Plus Eight." He has won journalism awards and insists bribery was not involved. A native of Allentown, Boyer graduated from Penn State. He and his wife reside in Center City, where they enjoy strolling and paying the wage tax.

Melanie Burney joined the editorial board in January 2008 after covering education at the Inquirer for eight years. She previously worked at the Associated Press in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. She is a graduate of Glassboro State College, now Rowan University, and a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Josh Gohlke has been The Inquirer’s op-ed editor since last year, editing the daily commentary page and writing occasional editorials. He came to the Inquirer after eight years at The Record of Bergen County, N.J., first as a reporter covering local and state politics and government and ultimately as the deputy editorial page editor. He also worked as a reporter for several smaller papers in New Jersey and California. Josh was born and raised in Los Angeles and graduated from Stanford University. He lives in Philadelphia.

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