Hillary's Just Asking the Super Delegates to do Their Jobs

It's obvious that I've been favoring Barack in the Democratic primary, but I find the calls for Hillary to drop out of the race somewhat puzzling. As I understand it, pro-Obama pundits and pols believe Hillary should withdraw because:

*Even if she wins all the remaining primaries, she will not have enough pledged delegates to win the nomination.
*Even if some compromise is worked out with the Michigan and Florida delegations, she will still trail Obama in the popular vote.
*Her staying in the race will only further tarnish Obama, to the benefit of John McCain, thus costing the Democrats the fall election.

None of those reasons, in my judgment, are enough to warrant withdrawal from the race. Even though Obama has won more states, pledged delegates, and popular votes than Hillary, he is in the same boat she is in: he needs the support of more so-called "Super Delegates" to get the nomination. By staying in the race, Hillary will force those delegates to do their job.

If the super delegates gave the nomination to Clinton at this point, would I find that to be outrageous? Sure, but I might at least respect them for taking a stand.

As I see it, Hillary (at least as of this week) is not willing to give the super delegates an "easy way out." I'm quite sure that in her mind she feels that the fact that she has won most of the big states, and most of the states where only registered Democrats can vote, gives her a legitimate claim to the nomination. She too will find it "outrageous" if and when Obama gets the nomination because the votes of super delegates put him over the top.

This post is in no way a defense of the Clinton candidacy. I have found much of her campaigning over the last few weeks to be pandering of the most repulsive kind. Still, if there are any "bad guys" in all of this, it is the so-called super delegates (or is it super cowards?) like Herb Kohl who for some reason refuse to take a stand.

The super delegates could have the nominee chosen today if they wanted to. Hillary deserves criticism for lots of things, but forcing the super delegates to come out of the shadows is not one of them, at least not for me.

Feingold: Government in Secret

The Senator's opinion piece reveals the Bush Administration's shocking disregard for transparency. Money quote:

No one questions the need for the government to protect information about intelligence sources and methods, troop movements or weapons systems. But there's a big difference between withholding information about military or intelligence operations from the public and withholding the law that governs the executive branch. Keeping the law secret doesn't enhance national security, but it does give the government free rein to operate without oversight or accountability. Even the congressional intelligence committees, which are supposed to oversee the intelligence community, have been denied access to some of these legal opinions.

Understatement of the Year

From an Oshkosh Northwestern editorial called "Time to talk about economic development." The sorry state of economic development in Oshkosh is blamed on lack of local political leadership, underperforming economic development agencies, and this:

"a newspaper supporting the status quo for too long." Ya think????

Paul Geremia has a great line about papers. See if you can catch it.

CM Search: Family Expenses

Over the weekend the common council received an email update from Karl Nollenberger of the PAR Group on the status of the search for a new city manager. We received 52 applications by the April 25 deadline, and Karl says he has interviewed 26 of them and done reference and Google checks on 24. On Thursday, each member of the council will be receiving a booklet containing materials for 13 candidates PAR feels should be considered as finalists.

On May 13th at 3 p.m., the council will meet with Mr. Nollenberger to try and narrow the candidate list down to 5 or 6 people we would like to bring to Oshkosh for interviews on June 6th and 7th. On May 13 we will also decide how to get citizen input on the candidates.

Our city policy, very reasonably, is to reimburse candidates for expenses. However, Mr. Nollenberger says that "it has become more the standard to also pay for candidates' spouses expenses since the decision on whether to accept the city manager position is a family decision." He says that cities differ on that policy.

I don't currently support spousal reimbursement, but am certainly open to arguments as to why it would be a good idea. The fact that "it's a family decision" for the candidate by itself is not a strong enough reason--at least not for me.

Not to sound like a broken record, but I still find it shocking that any community would choose to select its executive level leadership in this manner. In our region Neenah, Appleton, Menasha, and Green Bay elect mayors to serve as the chief executive of the city. The cost of choosing the executive is the cost of the election. We choose to spend thousands of dollars on buy outs, search firms, travel reimbursement costs, legal fees, etc. etc.

NC Primary: Barack's Badgers v. Clinton's Consiglieres

Turns out that Barack Obama's organization in North Carolina is headed up by Craig Schirmer, a UW-Madison graduate who also served as state director of Obama's Wisconsin primary campaign. MSNBC gave Schirmer much credit for the get-out-the-vote campaign that gave Obama a resounding victory in South Carolina.

Obama's NC Communications Director is Dan Leistikow, Jim Doyle's former press secretary and communications director. A more complete list of Barack's North Carolina operation can be found here.

North Carolina was originally thought to be a cakewalk for Obama, but now Hillary Clinton thinks she has the Wright stuff to narrow her opponent's margin of victory or even score an upset. The Los Angeles Times today does a profile on Clinton's NC State Director Averell "Ace" Smith, a hard-nosed PR guru known for employing brutal "opposition research" tactics. In the L.A. Times piece, a Democratic strategist compares political operatives in general and Smith specifically to fictional mafia thugs:

"Some people are Fredos; at game time they disappear. There are Sonnys, who yell and scream. . . . The most effective ones are the Michael Corleones. Very quiet, they know under which rib to insert the knife. . . . Ace is a Michael Corleone."

A more complete list of Hillary's North Carolina consiglieres can be found here.

The primary election is on Tuesday. Can Barack's Badgers beat the Clinton Family headed by Consigliere Ace? My prediction: Badgers 54, Clinton Family 46.

In Memory of The PICAN Man: Robert L. “Doc” Snyder (1928-2008)

Below is the May Media Rant for The Scene. Doc Snyder was a great human being. He was very much a mentor for me and I miss him very much. Here's the rant:

In Memory of The PICAN Man: Robert L. “Doc” Snyder (1928-2008)

Media Rants

By Tony Palmeri

from the May, 2008 edition of The Scene

In April the Fox Valley lost a media giant. Robert L. “Doc” Snyder, founder of the UW Oshkosh Radio-TV-Film program, passed away after suffering a stroke following surgery. He is survived by Irene, his wife of 55 years, 4 adult children and their families, two sisters, and thousands of former students and fans of his long running “Doc’s Jazz City” radio program.

The UW Oshkosh Department of Communication hired me in 1989, and Doc immediately became an unofficial mentor. I loved his cool radio voice and classy demeanor, and stood in awe of his wonderful rapport with students. Doc encouraged me to get active as a producer and host of campus radio and television public affairs programs while offering me invaluable advice on how to communicate with an audience. He was a great department leader and colleague. Current Radio-TV-Film program coordinator Doug Heil says it best:

“Bob consistently and universally treated everyone the exact same way. Whether he was interacting with students or colleagues, it was impossible to determine whom he liked and whom he didn’t like. There were no perks or pork or privileges for special pets, nor was there any silent treatment or back of hand for people he didn’t care for. This is a leadership attribute — I am now convinced — that helps establish a more positive, stable, and productive work environment. I will never possess this grace to the extent that Bob did, but it is a quality I seek to emulate, and I think of him often as I struggle to attain his admirable impartiality.”

Doc retired in 1993 but continued to mentor faculty and staff, engage students, and host his radio show. His 2001 induction into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame represented official recognition of Doc’s grand accomplishments as a media educator and practitioner.

Tributes and statements in memory of Doc have rightly given prominence to his legendary love of jazz. Aldous Huxley claimed that “after silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” Doc was fond of the idea of jazz as “expressing the inexpressible,” an idea he exposed listening audiences to for more than 40 years. On April 13th the historic Grand Opera House in Oshkosh hosted a jazz tribute concert for Doc featuring the Valley’s top jazz talents including Janet Planet, John Harmon, Marty Robinson, Tom Theabo, Mary Catterton, Tom Washatka, Janet Macklin and Donna Ruzicka. On that memorable evening the music made it possible to express the love and admiration for the departed that grief sometimes makes inexpressible. A more fitting tribute was not possible.

Though it is fitting and proper that we recognize Doc’s long-standing commitment to jazz programming, his media legacy is much bigger than that. To generations of media students, Doc preached an ethic of broadcasting as fundamentally a public interest activity. You would never know it by observing and listening to the rot that passes for most commercial television and radio these days, but “operating in the public interest” is supposed to be the operational standard for Federal Communication Commission broadcast licensees.

In 2006 I had the good fortune to do a radio interview with Doc in celebration of the 40th anniversary of WRST-FM, and he told me this:

“Commercial radio has lost a lot of what it used to be, including the legal commitment to the public interest, convenience, and necessity. One time on an exam a student used the acronym PICAN and I’ve never forgotten it. That means a lot to me and I’ve tried to instill that in our people and I wish the commercial broadcasting industry, both radio and television--and now to a degree cable--would keep that it mind.”

The public interest standard was most clearly defended in a 1937 law review article by then FCC Vice-Chairman Irvin Stewart:

“’Public interest’ is more than a phrase to which an applicant for broadcast facilities must give lip service. It is a constant reminder that the station licensee has the temporary use free of all charge of an invaluable facility which belongs to all the people. The American people control the frequencies which are the sine non-qua of broadcasting; they have made a temporary and condition loan of those frequencies to the present licensees of broadcast stations. The condition is that the operation of these stations will be in the public interest.” (quoted in Robert W. McChesney's Telecommunications, Mass Media & Democracy. Oxford UP, 1993: p. 247)

I spoke with Doc Snyder many times about the breakdown of the public interest standard in commercial broadcasting. His style over the years was never to lament that breakdown, but rather to demand high public interest standards from himself along with staff and students associated with WRST radio and other campus media. To the end he remained convinced that college media could and should provide a model of how to meet the PICAN standard.

Doc Snyder was a loving husband and father, gifted teacher and media practitioner, and legendary jazz enthusiast. These qualities will never be forgotten. But as a media professional, he will be remembered as the PICAN Man, the man who never stopped preaching the responsibility of media to operate in the public interest.

Preaching PICAN is a profound Doc legacy. And that’s no jazz.

We Need A Policy For Awarding Keys To The City

A citizen called me earlier this week to ask if I had heard that Mark Har, the location scout instrumental in getting the film "Public Enemies" shot partially in Oshkosh, had been presented with a proclamation and a "Key to the City" from Mayor Frank Tower at a party on Monday evening. I have received confirmation from the Mayor that the event and awarding of the proclamation/key did in fact take place.

The city's municipal codes do give the Mayor the power to "issue all proclamations," though I have to believe that issuing them has rarely been done at events not publicly noticed. In fact it seems somewhat bizarre to issue a proclamation outside the public eye, since the entire purpose of issuing a proclamation in the first place is to give public acclaim to someone or something. The Mayor says the event was a "surprise going away gathering" and that he and acting City Manager John Fitzpatrick thought the recognition was appropriate given "the behind-the-scenes work Mark had been involved with and the fact that the advance folks (who do the bulk of the work on a project like this) usually don't receive the recognition they deserve."

I do not know if the press was invited to the event or if any elected officials other than Frank Tower attended.

I'm sure Mark Har is a great guy, but maybe it's time to take a closer look at the method of issuing keys to the city and the manner of awarding them. It appears as if Oshkosh mayors are empowered to award city keys to anyone, though that power exists nowhere in the municipal codes. The mayor and EAA award a key to the city at the annual air show; in 2006 a key was given to an individual who received fake college "degrees" from a diploma mill. The Northwestern refused to print that information.

I believe that keys to the city, even though they are purely symbolic and do not mean much in the big picture, should be issued rarely and reserved for people who have made some extraordinary contribution to the community, state, nation, or world. I'm not sure that bringing a movie to Oshkosh--excellent as that was--would meet the "extraordinary contribution" criteria. And whatever criteria are used to award keys, I certainly don't think we ought to allow them to be distributed at semi-public or private functions.

What do you think?

Miller's Bay Pier Construction Starts Today (4/30)

And at least one group of city residents is very pleased (click image):