DennisMansfield.com

36 years later: McGovern-Biden?

Not sure if you remember my posting that Senator Obama's incredibly poor decision to choose Senator Joe Biden could ultimately come to be seen as the equivalent of Senator George McGovern's equally incredibly poor choice of Senator Thomas Eagleton, as his running mate in 1972. What, no McGovern-Eagleton '72 buttons and signs?

Probably because there are none - at least none that can be found. Eagleton was replaced by Kennedy-esque R. Sargent Shriver, just weeks after the Democrat Convention. By the way...they lost.

So, read the following piece from DC that was circulated all across the US just minutes ago. Gary Bauer's reach is amazing....he's skeptical that it could/would happen. I am not.

Remember, www.Dennismansfield.com was the first blog in America that connected the Palin-TR comparisons.

Den

Bye, Bye Biden?

I’ve been getting a lot of messages lately about the rumor that Obama will drop Biden from the ticket next month and replace him with Hillary in an “October surprise” intended to offset the gains Senator McCain has made with his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate. I am skeptical about Hillary being on the ballot in November.

• It would undermine Obama yet again on the key issue of experience and decisive leadership. We choose presidents to make tough decisions. You can’t vote “present” or change your mind on major decisions, like who should be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office.
• It would severely undermine Obama’s “change” mantra if a Clinton were on the ballot. Hillary is not forward-looking change, but a look to the past. Obama would be running for Bill Clinton’s third term.
• Obama rarely admits he’s wrong or has made a mistake, and I don’t think he is capable of admitting that the selection of Biden – rather than Hillary – was the wrong choice. And what would that ultimately say about his candidacy if he has to admit that he is not strong enough to win without her?
• Hillary comes with a lot of baggage, not the least of which is Bill, who recently said that Hillary wasn’t interested in being Obama’s running mate. I doubt those hard feelings have softened much since Obama so publicly dissed her by not even considering her for vice president.
• It could actually backfire, further energizing conservatives to vote and turning Independents against Obama, many of whom never really liked Hillary. During the primaries, many polls consistently showed that Hillary was very unpopular with Independent voters.
• Lastly, Hillary might not even accept. If Obama gets that desperate, there would still be a good chance he might lose anyway. It would be easier for Hillary to run in four years with the theme “I told you so” if she is not part of the losing ticket this time around.

Of course, with the Clintons, you “never say never,” and Biden is certainly doing his best to make the idea more attractive every day. From calling Obama campaign commercials “terrible” to taking contradictory stands on clean coal, Biden is living up to his reputation for having “foot-in-mouth” disease.

By the way, if John McCain had said, as Joe Biden recently did, that President Roosevelt went on the TV after the market crash in 1929, we’d be getting non-stop stories about the onset of senility and how unfit he is. (Roosevelt wasn’t president in 1929 and the television was still in the experimental stage.)

Idaho's citizens may have a Texas-size prison problem...

(This next week marks the completion of two full years of operation for a business I founded that provides housing and treatment for ex-addicts, who most often are also ex-inmates. My blog posting today is not an official statement by our company. Instead it's just a personal reflection and possible recommendation by me.)

During these last two years the issue of staffed, safe and sober houses came to the forefront of Idahoan's concerns, as it should have. The aftercare treatment of ex-addicts (who, in MANY cases, are ex-inmates) was examined in a series of television/radio news stories and newspaper articles....almost ad nauseum to some folks, I'd bet. Sides were unfortunately chosen by default on an issue that is really ALL of our concern: prisoners being released back into society; afterall over 97% of all prisoners will be returned to society...it's just a matter of when and where. Eventually, this past year some short term mini-solutions were entered into by all sides; long term big-scale solutions, as well as litigation, remain in limbo at this writing.

 

However, Governor Butch Otter's Administration has shown itself to be one of the most forward thinking admins in America on this issue. He and his staff are commited to ensuring that Idahoans DO NOT bear the huge burden of billions of dollars for new prisons. He's to be commended for that. As Director Reinke has stated repeatedly: "We cannot build our way out of this problem." The Director is absolutely right.

Then, we have the Idaho House. The Speaker of the House, Rep Denney, often works side by side with the Governor's administration at pursuing visionary, out-of-the-box, non building-related spending solutions to overcrowding. The Pro-Tem of the Senate, Sen. Geddes, echoes that same concern.

 

So where's the problem? Why are we shipping inmates to states like Texas? Do we HAVE to do that? (Here's where the Progressive Conservative perspective kicks in...). My call is that a radical solution MUST come from the public opinion among Idahoans. We know that public opinion drives public policy...and we know that many, many Idaho Legislators live and breathe by the the subsequent shock-therapy that accompanies an awakend Idaho electorate.

 

If Idaho citizens want to lead the US in a forward thinking public policy to limit or eliminate overcrowding in prisons, then it is fully within our capabilities to do so.

My prison after-care model is only one attempt at solving this probelm. There may be many others that are, in fact, a better method. If so, then let's get on with it! The key is that no sons or daughters of Idaho should be sent to other states for "warehousing"...and in some cases, death. (See story below by Andrea Jackson).

 

With 1 out of every 100 Americans in jail or prison right now and by some estimates, 1 out of every 30+ adult Idahoans incarcerated,....we all have both a stake in the solution and, most probably, a family member or friend who is/was behind bars.

That's what I've learned in these past two years.

 

So, what's your pleasure, Idaho?

Den

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Families feel loss as out-of-state prison population grows

By Andrea Jackson
Times-News writer

Pam Drashner visited her husband every weekend in prison, until she was turned away one day because he wasn't there. He had been quietly transferred from Boise to a private prison in Sayre, Okla.

She never saw him again.

In July, she went to the Post Office to pick up his ashes, mailed home in a box. He died of a traumatic brain injury in Oklahoma, allegedly assaulted by another inmate.

David Drashner was one of hundreds of male inmates Idaho authorities have sent to private prisons in other states. About 10 percent of Idaho's inmates are now out-of-state.

What does "it" matter? - 50,000 page views later

Get this, on September 2nd of 2006 we launched this blog with the following text:

What is "it"? There have been a lot of "its" in the past and many quotes like "it's the economy stupid" and many others. For this website the "it" for now is an attempt in fusing politics, culture, business, personality, religion, you and me.

No longer will there be a perceived hidden agenda - you'll get the straight scoop right here. There has never been a hidden agenda in my life; I like to lay myself right out there. Along with some friends there is a plan to bring many thoughts and plans to help businesses succeed, to help people reach their true potential and see a fusion of different perspectives become a stronger entity.

You'll see video, documents to download, links to other sites and people that speak into this dream - hang on & hope you like "it"!

Well....it's been 23 months since that first post (and 50,000 pageviews later as well - we hit that today.)


I'm sure that's not a big deal for some folks, but on this blog, it's fun to see us tip the scales at 50,000. ( I think that's more than the total number of election votes I've ever received - tee hee)


We've had a bunch of posts and we'll have a bunch more....

Keep hangin' on...and thanks for joining us, lo these many , many days/weeks/months and now years.

Den

 PS: Let me know which ones may have been "favorites", ok?
I just may sprinkle this month of August with a few "Best Of's"

Why Bill Sali will not lose.

Idahoans have never been attracted by big DC political campaigns. It's just not in our DNA.

Typical national Dem or GOP campaign strategists do their third-party "media buys" for "typical Idahoans" from the East Coast in a milky-white homogeneous fashion of what they think Idaho is about, photoshoping the local-yokle's image onto stock footage (which is usually very beautiful) print and video.

They forget, I suppose, that in the summer, Idahoans have tans...some are even people of color (!)....and year-round, we have brains.

Why do I know they default to canned-campaigns of pain? 'Cause I saw it first hand a bunch of years ago when I had this crazy notion to run for US Congress and third party folks entered the campaign against my opponent. The candidate I ran against was beat up on unmercifully. I knew nothing about the commercials. Butch Otter prevailed and served us well in Congress and now as Governor. Idahoans didn't buy the attacks.

So, now the D's are at it, this time agaisnt Bill Sali. It's not gonna work on this side of the aisle, either.

The DCC has announced it may pour almost $350K into a Beat-Up-Bill media buy. This is ludicrous, even by BeltWay standards. Why?

First, many, many Idahoans love that certain "Helen Chenoweth/Bill Sali" quality in their Congressman. These folks are fighters and Idahoans who vote, completely enjoy that. No offense to Larry Grant but he didn't capture that spirit, even though he was a gentleman and refused the DC "stuff". He lost because he was Larry Grant...and because he had failed to bottle that "Chenoweth/Sali" scent...ultimately 'cause he didn't have it to bottle.

Now, Walt Minnick is running. Those who read this blog know that I respect the daylights out of Walt. He's no lefty-liberal "wacko" (as Limbaugh so disrespectfully puts it)...he's a good man, potentially swimming in some turbulent political white-water.

The problem is that the DCC (and the RCC, too) swoop into Iowa, er Ohio, ugh I mean Idaho (yeah that's it) and simply cause unbelievable (and unneeded) tension, disrespect and dishonor. They don't know how our rivers flow...

If Walt Minnick quietly allows/supports this type of national campaign (which I bet he'll be tempted to accept), he is a political dead man. His obituary will already have been written by Idahoans. (If he proves to have that "Chenoweth/Sali" scent, the race could STILL be up for grabs.)

Bill sali will not lose this race, because Idahohans will not let the national guys win.

On this one, I am an expert.

Den

Congressmen SHOULD blog....as if it's even a question?

The Congressional "franking" oversight committee is crazy.

A young, aggressive US Congressman in Texas has been blogging so his constiuents can keep abreast of his ideas...and he can hear their considerations.

How novel....

And the House Chairman of the franking committee worries that the blogging doesn't measure up to the "official communication" that comes out of that office on behalf of every Member of Congress...C'mon.

Those franking pieces by Craig, Simpson, Sali and Crapo are crap...sorry, had to position the sentence that way (tee hee). They really are. I mean, c'mon...do elected officials REALLY want to hear from their constituents via those "surveys", etc? Are you kidding? You think so? Say it to me with a straight face...

Then this guy comes along in Tx and wants honest dialog via blogging and it's a NO-NO.

Hmmm...maybe we should just restrict communication to the telegraph - after all it worked for folks in the past.

Den

Hand Cuffs? How 'bout Idaho French Cuffs?

Huggy Bear repeatedly reminded Starsky and Hutch that "It's another plan perpetrated by THE MAN to keep the brothers down".  But who is THE MAN?

Well, based on what market place economics are proving, we can sure see who HE is NOT.

THE MAN ain't "bidness"...

Read the CrimnalBuilder.com...er CareerBuilder.com/ MSNBC article below and see what I mean.

Along that path, we have started Renaissance Group Services in Idaho- employing the unemployable.

Den

Getting Out of Prison and Into a Job

   

      Federal, local governments offering tax incentives to hire parolees    

       

                         By Eve Tahmincioglu, MSNBC.com careers contributor        

               

       

       

                          

Clayton Smalls has come a long way since he was holding up tellers behind bank counters.

Today he works as a deli man behind the counter of a Fairway Market in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Smalls, 49, who got out of prison in October 2007 after serving 17 months for selling marijuana, has spent most of his life in and out of jail for everything from robbery to drug dealing.

But he's finally ready to change his life, and the job he landed -- thanks to help from America Works, an employment agency that trains and finds jobs for hard-to-place candidates like ex-cons and welfare recipients -- has gone a long way in motivating him.

"I get to work every day an hour early," he says proudly. "The store manager has high hopes for me. He's teaching me how to cut salmon."

"This job is the most important thing in my life," he adds.

There's a growing desire in this country to get ex-offenders jobs as a way to keep them out of jail. The federal government and some municipalities are doing what they can to help parolees get job training and offering employers incentives to hire former prisoners, spurred by skyrocketing incarceration costs and exploding prison populations.

My California Politics - Pat Nolan's imprint on me.

I don't often write on or speak about my years in California politics. It's just a position that I took when I moved to Idaho 18 years ago. Nobody wants to listen to a new kid moving into a neighborhood who says "when I lived back in my old city, I did such and such..." Now is now, then is ...ancient history.

Dennis and Susan Mansfield, of old and ancient Californian days...

However, I came across an article in the NY Times by Samuel Freedman that made me reevaluate my position.

I've pasted the full article below for your reading, but wanted to give a brief preamble to the Times' article. Here now is the confession of a recovering Californian....

• My first few years in politics were spent helping conservatives in LA county, notably David Dreier, of Covina, who was elected to US Congress. He lost in '78 and won in '80, becoming one of President Reagan's key Congressman (and an intial and influential supporter of Pres. Bush The First). He's served ever since. I continue to admire him greatly.
• I was on the initial team in LA County helping Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann with Proposition 13.
• In 1980, at 24 years of age, I ran for US Congress in CA's 36th CD, losing to a Religious Right candidate (how funny!)
• In '82 I ran Bob Henly for State Assembly and through that experience, I met the GOP Assembly Minority Leader, Pat Nolan.
• In '82 I became the Chief of Staff for newly-elected Assemblywoman Doris Allen. It was in that position that I came face to face with Pat Nolan's group of elected tough guys who called themselves "The Cavemen" - because they did what they wanted to do by sheer power. Doris Allen was one of their "investments". She later was recalled from office as a political party traitor.
• Nolan's Cavemen ethically travelled right next to "the line" and I did not like it. Because of my new-found faith in Christ, I initiated an investigation of them by CA's Fair Political Practices Commission, ultimately being fired from my Assembly staff position - because I was not a team player. That investigation went nowhere.
• Pat Nolan, however, later went to Federal Prison on other charges...and I moved to Idaho.
• After he served his time, Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship reached out to him; a change had occurred in Pat's life while in prison. This is how Pat told the NY Times: “I went into prison believing in God, and I came out knowing him,” he said. “I understood how much he loved us, even in a dark place.”
• I heard of his change. About 9 years ago, Pat Nolan and I were reconnected at a public policy meeting in Colorado Springs. We hugged as only two brothers who had not seen each other for years could hug. It was quite amazing.
• Today, all these years later, Pat Nolan provides an excellent example for me of the need to reach across idealogies and bringing people together.

I hope you enjoy reading this NY Times piece on Pat Nolan and Mark Early, former Attorney General of Virginia. Here's a sneak preview of Mr. Earley's transformation: "In those moments of recognition, Mr. Earley began a startling transformation from a tough-on-crime crusader to an advocate for prison reform and a prominent critic of the very type of drug laws he had formerly promoted".

I can relate,

Den

I read the news today...oh boy....

The Beatles may have had it right when they wrote of the local daily events of their English news, so many years ago. It's always so "local"....

I read the news today oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh...*

As you know, the song goes on to tell the tale of someone who lost hope and killed himself, sitting in his car. The very "normalcy" of people in each age who give up on life - who give up on hope for themselves and for others is more than "rather sad" as written by Lennon/McCartney.

As the transitional housing issue continues to cause ripples and waves, the greater question is begged: How is our state going to deal with it's unbeliveable incarceration "reality-statistics"? 1 out of every 34 or so Idahoans is in jail or prison. Think of that! More than just cursing the current solutions, why not enter into the constructive debate? What is good public policy on this issue?

Can we really afford to "build ourselves out of this" with new prisons?

(Silence)

Go online and see some bloggers comments, many anonymous critics and not a few people who seem to love "almost-hating" people (hmmm...like who? tee hee). All have opinions - which is good. The tenor often has the blade's edge, though. Often the opinions have no constructive alternative(s).

They really seem to be BLAHgers.

Instead of just complaining, other thoughtful folks in neighborhood associations are moving ahead with constructive dialog on the subject. This Thursday night at 7:00 At Whitney Baptist Church there's going to be discussion with people  - all of whom are neighrbors of Boise. I'll be there. Hope you can attend, too.

Den

* Here's the rest of the "local stories" from the Liverpool of 50+ years ago.

There's got to be a morning after...

Yesterday's news about the transitional housing bill (HB 465) being signed into law has left even a number of reporters scratching their heads, wondering "what just happened?".

Through interviews and discussions many reporters can't belive that Idaho lawmakers have positioned the state (through its public policy) for potential civil rights violations of Federal Law.

I don't know how to respond to their "ahhaas" on what has just transpired. All I can and will do is to point out that artificial barriers of yesteryear such as "red-ining" who got to live in certain sections of a city and who were invited NOT to live in those sections DO NOT measure up to the kindness and welcomeness of Idaho and the other 50 States.

There is a reason why Federal Law supercedes state law....and a reason why when we as Christians "appeal to Caesar", then to Caesar we must go....

Den

Understanding the "sickness" of addiction, Federal-style

The US Congress and Senate have voted on two separate pieces of federal legislation. Many in DC see clearly that addiction is a medical problem and in need of a solution other than on-going incarceration without successful aftercare.

Check it out:

1. The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Second Chance Act of 2007 on Tuesday, March 11^th, 2008.  The bill is sponsored by a broad, bi-partisan coalition and supported by the faith community as a way to reduce recidivism and increase public safety. The landmark bill authorizes $362 million to improve the way our prisons prepare inmates to reenter society. The legislation was previously passed by the House by an overwhelming bi-partisan vote of 347-62. 
2. In a major victory for addiction treatment and recovery advocates, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would mandate that insurers cover addiction and mental illness on par with other illnesses.
   
   "We've waited 12 long years for this historic day," said Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), co-chair of the Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus with Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.). "I am grateful that the House has taken this important step to end the discrimination against people who need treatment for mental illness and chemical addiction."