Recent editorials from Georgia newspapers:
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Aug. 23
The Savannah Morning News on the Clinton Foundation:
Hillary Clinton has steadfastly maintained that she kept the shady Clinton Foundation at arm’s length during her tenure as secretary of state to avoid conflicts of interest. Republican Donald Trump has routinely scoffed at her explanation, saying Mrs. Clinton fostered a “pay to play” system, calling it a “scam” in which the Clintons traded access to the State Department in return for generous donations to her family’s charitable foundation.
It turns out that Mr. Trump, who is frequently criticized for shooting his mouth off, was on the mark in this case.
Emails released Monday provide new examples of a Clinton Foundation official seeking access to the State Department on behalf of donors at a time when Mrs. Clinton led the department.
The emails - obtained through a lawsuit by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch - are damaging to Mrs. Clinton’s increasingly fragile credibility. The emails reveal a pattern that the Clinton Foundation’s fundraising habits created a conflict of interest for Clinton during her work as the nation’s top diplomat.
For example, the Crown Prince of Bahrain was forced to go through the foundation to see Mrs. Clinton, after pledging $32 million to the Clinton global initiative. At this point, there is no evidence that the crown prince received anything substantial for his $32 million contribution, other than getting a photo-op with the secretary of state so he could amaze his more impressionable friends.
The emails released by Judicial Watch showed exchanges in which a former Hillary Clinton top aide, Huma Abedin, provided influential Clinton Foundation donors special, expedited access to the secretary of state.
In many instances, the preferential treatment provided to donors was at the specific request of Clinton Foundation executive Douglas Band, a close ally of former President Clinton.
For example, Crown Prince Salman of Bahrain was rebuffed when he requested a meeting with Secretary of State Clinton - something to which he was entitled since Bahrain has been a steadfast U.S. ally in the Middle East. Then he was forced to go through the Clinton Foundation to get an appointment. Ms. Abedin advised Band that when she went through “normal channels” at State, Mrs. Clinton declined to meet. After Mr. Band intervened, the meeting was set up within only 48 hours. Surprise, surprise. It seemed Mr. Band described the prince in an email as a “good friend of ours.” No, make that a great and generous friend. According to the Clinton Foundation website, in 2005, Salman committed to establishing the Crown Prince’s International Scholarship Program (CPISP) for the Clinton Global Initiative. And by 2010, it had contributed $32 million to CGI. The Kingdom of Bahrain reportedly gave between $50,000 and $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation. And Bahrain Petroleum also gave an additional $25,000 to $50,000.
With friends like that, the Clinton Foundation is always in the money.
This appears nothing more than an old-fashioned shakedown - or, as Mr. Trump puts it, “pay to play” if you want attention from the Clintons. This email trail is hugely troubling to the Clinton campaign and raises more serious doubts about the Democrat’s honesty. If Mrs. Clinton was willing to hang a “For Sale” sign on her office at the State Department, what’s to stop her from doing the same thing at the White House?
American voters have a right to know, except Mrs. Clinton isn’t talking, as she continues to duck reporters in a press conference setting. It has been nearly 258 days since Ms. Clinton has had a press conference, which is beyond ridiculous for someone who might be elected president in only 80 or so days. It’s true that Mrs. Clinton doesn’t perform well in such unscripted sessions. But if she wants to be the next president, she must show the ability to think on her feet and respond to hard questions, not softball inquiries lobbed by friendly talk-show hosts like Jimmy Kimmel on Monday.
The Clinton Foundation deserves credit for some of the humanitarian work it has done. But its shakedown of rich donors is reprehensible. Mrs. Clinton’s use of her public office to pry checks from donors is unethical and may help explain why Mrs. Clinton wants to keep her many emails hidden from public view. For instance, who else besides this obscure but rich crown prince gave money in return for special favors from the Clinton State Department?
Mr. Trump called Mrs. Clinton’s role with the foundation “a disgusting situation. The whole thing is a scam.”
This time, he seems to be hitting close to the truth.
Online:
https://savannahnow.com/
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Aug. 24
The Newnan Times-Herald on welfare work requirement:
News spread rapidly when we reported that starting Jan. 1 local food stamp recipients here and in 20 other counties will have to work for their food, quite literally, and we applaud the new development as far as it goes.
As staff writer Sarah Fay Campbell reported, able-bodied recipients without children to watch at home will have to either get a job, prove they have applied for jobs, take job training or do volunteer work if they want to still get the grocery voucher.
There are an estimated 745 people in Coweta that this would apply to, collectively getting about $1.1 million per year in benefits or $130 per month on average.
Before someone whines about how heartless this requirement is, consider that it only kicks in when the local unemployment rate falls below the national average for the prior two years. That means there are likely to be some jobs for them.
A job is the best social program. It brings more than simply a paycheck. It brings dignity and self-worth.
The cruel irony is that government giveaways actually rob recipients of the ambition to improve their station in live by becoming a crutch that allows them to just get by.
Few people would ever aspire to live on government assistance because it is demeaning and a piddling amount, but it is addicting. Few people are eager to become addicted to anything, but they do anyway because once they try it, they have trouble breaking free.
The argument for welfare programs comes from compassion for those who are too young, too old or too infirm to work. No one wants to deny the truly needy. The snag has always been how to define who is needy and how to make allowances for those who care for the needy, such as an able-bodied mother who can’t afford childcare.
This new work requirement has loads of sensible exceptions to address caregivers, the young, the old and the disabled.
There is a three-month limit on benefits over a three-year period that is part of the federal welfare-reform law enacted in 1996 during Newt Gingrich’s tenure as U.S. House speaker. President Bill Clinton signed it into law, and it contributed to a rise in employment and a stronger national economy. Ironically, his wife is unlikely to support that philosophy today if she becomes president.
The benefit limit is a smart restriction. Every parent in the animal kingdom recognizes the need to empty the nest at some point to prevent dependency, and it’s just as necessary when the government is playing the role of parent.
“Research shows being dependent on welfare for five years or more can ingrain habits and lifestyles that make it very difficult to achieve self-sufficiency,” write Logan Pike and John Nothdurft for the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.
As constructive as the new work requirements are, there are still a couple of reforms that the Georgia General Assembly failed to act on, despite the recommendations of Pike and Nothdurft and of a special committee of the House of Representatives assigned to study welfare fraud. The chairman of the committee, state Rep. David Clark, sponsored bills for both recommendations.
One would have made it a crime to assist another person in a bogus food stamp application, either to qualify illegally in the first place or to get a bigger benefit than allowed. That proposal passed the state House 140-26 with the support of all Coweta representatives, but it stalled in a state Senate committee and never came up for a vote there.
The other would have improved reporting requirements on the state for who is getting food stamps. It would have also created sanctions for failing to actually work, unless exempted.
The second proposal also would have had the state hire a firm to do the type of instant income and asset validation that businesses routinely do on customers. No one is supposed to get food stamps who has more than $2,000 in assets and income below the federal poverty level, but most recipients get into the program when they qualify for other government assistance that has looser financial requirements.
This verification process so common in business failed to get a vote in either the House or Senate despite the recommendation of the fraud study committee.
The Foundation for Government Accountability estimates that between five percent and 25 percent welfare spending by states has been found to be wasted or fraudulent.
“Georgia’s dreadful welfare system is perhaps one of the worst in the nation, but the legislature has an opportunity to reform the failing program and provide significant, lasting changes that will improve the lives of thousands of Georgia’s citizens,” Pike and Nothdurft write.
The work requirement is a step in the right direction, but the other provisions outlined in Clark’s bills shows what the next steps should be. Let’s hope the legislature acts more decisively when it reconvenes in January.
Online:
https://times-herald.com/
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Aug. 20
The Brunswick News on the Glynn County School System:
In late July, the Georgia Department of Education told the Glynn County School System the state was closing the Coastal Academy facility.
Glynn school leaders had just 20 days to transfer about 70 students with severe emotional and behavioral disorders to another building. Fortunately, Glynn school leaders had a viable option and are now housing the young people at the Risley Annex on Albany Street.
The move happened because the U.S. Justice Department told the state education department and the administrators of the GNETS program that Coastal Academy and eight other similar schools statewide no longer met appropriate building standards.
But that’s old news. Now the Justice Department intends to sue the state of Georgia over a different issue with the program. It says the state violates the civil rights of the students in the program. A federal official said the agency objects to the state’s position that it plans to “continue to fund, operate, and administer a separate, segregated and unequal statewide service system for students in need of mental health and therapeutic educational services.”
GNETS - the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support - has 24 programs that are administered through the state. County school systems provide facilities, nurses, cops and other services.
Leslie Lipson, a Georgia Advocacy Office attorney told The Brunswick News that GNETS has done little to adequately serve its students, that “they’ve been warehoused, put away and shut away.” The students should attend traditional schools, the Justice Department said.
However, that contention appears to be far too harsh in Glynn County. Sure, the old Coastal Academy facility may not have been up to par. However, the staff and administration have worked hard to meet the needs of their students.
Inclusion is a complex issue for school systems. These students with severe issues can be disruptive in traditional school settings.
Yet the Justice Department’s stance is also valid. These youngsters and teenagers may later face the risk of being even more segregated from society when they reach adulthood. If they attend other schools within Glynn County, their teachers and specialized personnel may have more opportunities to help them alleviate some of their emotional and behavioral issues. Such new settings could also provide the students with socialization skills they might not encounter as much in a separate facility.
Such an approach could take years. Still, the Glynn County School Board and top administrators should explore the long-term possibilities to further accommodate these students.
It may be prudent considering it seems the Department of Justice is intent on making the state close down the GNETS program, which would mean the local system would have no choice but to adjust.
Online:
https://www.thebrunswicknews.com/
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