Michael Steele's very bad week

The RNC says Michael Steele is ordering "substantive changes" to the Republican Party's accounting procedures in the wake of news that it spent nearly $2,000 at a bondage club in Hollywood.
But the damage control may be coming too late — not for Steele, whose job seems safe, but for the RNC itself.
The RNC's latest made-for-Jon Stewart sex-related slip-ups — combined with Steele's previous string of well-publicized gaffes and missteps — are threatening to damage the party's already lagging fundraising efforts. And that could limit the number of races Republicans win in what's otherwise shaping up to be a good year for the GOP.
“Raise more money, talk less,” said longtime GOP lobbyist Ed Rogers, voicing the sentiment of at-their-wits'-end Republican professionals. Steele "is in a fragile situation. He and his organization must be very sure-footed and quiet for the next few months.”
But the RNC suffered another blow Thursday, when POLITICO reported that one of the party's fundraising letters mistakenly directed would-be donors to call a telephone number belonging to a phone-sex operation.
Recognizing the damage they've suffered from the bondage-club story — and the need to mollify fretful donors, activists and operatives — RNC officials are reorganizing the way the party approves expenditures and are bringing in former RNC chief counsel Tom Josefiak to head the process.
Josefiak will work to tighten RNC spending while scrutinizing committee spending practices closely, according to New Jersey Republican Committeeman David Norcross, who spoke with Steele on Thursday afternoon.
Norcross said that Josefiak's mission is to crack down on the kind of accounting practices that allowed a nearly $2,000 expense at Voyeur to show up on the party’s fundraising disclosure form.
"That should have never happened," Norcross said. RNC spokesman Doug Heye confirmed Thursday night that the party was making changes in its "review and approval process" — "per Chairman Steele's direction."
But the most consequential development of the RNC’s unholy mess of a week didn’t involve leather or naughty talk but, rather, the sharply worded comments from one of the most prominent social conservative leaders in the party. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins used his regular newsletter to members to urge them to stop giving money to the national GOP.
"This latest incident is another indication to me the RNC is completely tone-deaf to the values and concerns of a large number of people they are seeking financial support from,” Perkins wrote.
Perkins’s comments won’t suddenly dry up fundraising from the party’s Christian conservative base. But by going public, he offers cover to other Republican leaders and activists to stop giving to the committee.
The RNC’s public relations fiascoes also make the party’s image-conscious politicians want to keep their distance from the committee — which in turn deprives the committee of fundraising draws.
A high-dollar reception slated to coincide with the Southern Republican Leadership Council’s meeting next week in New Orleans, for example, right now does not include any of the party’s biggest names. And the effort to lure contributors by highlighting “invited guests” on the invitation — a time-honored fundraising sleight of hand — blew up when Sarah Palin’s camp told POLITICO that they had twice asked the committee to remove her name.
Palin, probably the biggest fundraising "get" in GOP politics at the moment, “will not take part in any RNC fundraiser in New Orleans,” an aide said.
While many Republicans blame Steele for the party's fundraising struggles, few want to see him tossed out of his job.
I "have heard of no one calling for his removal," said South Carolina national committeewoman Cindy Costa.
Steele would have to be forced out by a two-thirds vote of the national committee, and those members don’t show any appetite for launching a coup against their first African-American chairman at a time when the party desperately needs to increase its appeal among minority voters.
But many prominent Republicans are now starting to worry that, under Steele’s leadership, their prospects to recapture one or both chambers of Congress could be weakened because they simply don’t have the money to give to the two congressional campaign committees and state parties.
"The question is not Michael Steele," Karl Rove said this week in San Francisco. "The question is the management of the building and whether the procedures are in place to spend money on elections — and not to spend money on jets and bondage clubs."
A well-connected member of the RNC who has not been among Steele’s loudest critics was more direct.
“This is madness,” said the committee member. “He just continues to erode any confidence he has on the committee.”
The RNC has $9.4 million in the bank right now, which is less than it had at the same point during the last midterm elections four years ago. Party officials note that they then had a Republican president in the White House, making it considerably easier to raise money. And Heye said that the party has added 556,000 first-time donors since Steele took over the committee.
But plainly, the national party is not going to be able to offer the sort of assistance this year that candidates and other committees may have been counting on. In 2006, for example, the RNC gave the NRCC more than $25 million. The total so far this year: $2 million.
“The crux of the issue ... isn’t necessarily what they are spending money on but how little money they have compared to 2006,” said a top party strategist. The strategist said that the entire budget for this year's Victory programs — which help state parties' get-out-the-vote efforts — is just $10 million.
"They keep saying they are right on their fundraising targets, but that is a little misleading because they’ve lowered their goals to the point of being completely ineffective in a cycle where 40-plus states will have targeted races and Steele is implementing a 50-state strategy where he’s spending at least $35K in every single state,” added the strategist.
Not all Republicans blame Steele for the party's plight.
“Overall he’s done a good job,” said Colorado GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams, a longtime party strategist. “I’m willing to give him benefit of the doubt.”
But asked what advice he’d have for the national chairman, Wadhams said, “Chairman Steele needs to focus on the basics of doing what he needs to do for the RNC.”
And what would those fundamentals be?
“Fundraising, and basically that’s it,” Wadhams said.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
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S.Korea says torpedo might have sunk warship

South Korea's defence minister said Friday that a torpedo might have sunk a warship near the tense North Korean border but cautioned that the investigation was incomplete.
"A torpedo or a sea mine might have been involved but a torpedo is a more realistic cause than a mine," minister Kim Tae-Young told parliament as divers resumed a search for 46 sailors missing from the 1,200-tonne corvette.
Sailors operating the ship's sonar detection system had not detected any approaching torpedo, Kim said, adding: "Patience is needed until investigation results come out."
A week after the disaster, officials are still groping for answers as to what caused the ship to break in two in the Yellow Sea on the night of March 26.
Earlier in the week Kim had said a North Korean mine -- either drifting or deliberately placed -- may have caused the blast. He did not say Friday why he now thought a torpedo more likely and did not indicate who might have fired one.
The disputed border was the scene of deadly naval clashes between North and South Korea in 1999 and 2002 and of a firefight last November.
The minister told legislators the chances of an explosion inside the warship were slim, although he did not rule them out. Addressing another theory, he said metal fatigue was unlikely in the 21-year-old ship.
Seoul has ordered its military on alert but not cited any evidence the North was involved.
Fifty-eight crewmen were saved soon after the sinking, but no one since then. Officials suspect most of the missing are in the rear section of the hull.
After suspending work for two days because of high waves and strong currents, US and South Korean divers Friday resumed attempts to explore the hull sections.
"It is very hard to say when we will be able to find the missing," military spokesman Lee Ki-Shik told a briefing earlier in the day. "Our rescuers are still trying to get in despite the bad weather, so please be patient."
A fishing boat with nine people on board helping the search went missing Friday night and was feared to have sunk, Yonhap news agency reported.
Police said they lost contact with the vessel after receiving a distress signal from the area where the warship sank, it said.
No one has officially declared the missing sailors to be dead, even though the air in any watertight compartments would likely have been used up.
Rescuers have pumped oxygen into the hull but Kim acknowledged Friday the operation "is not working very well".
Apart from establishing the fate of the missing, authorities are desperate for clues to the cause of the disaster.
Officials have said these may not emerge until the hull sections are lifted from the murky seabed. A private salvage ship is at the scene.
President Lee Myung-Bak appealed Friday for people not to overreact.
"North Korea and the international community are watching. We should look into the case in a calm manner and use it as a chance to elevate national capability," he said.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
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FBI joins search for missing Calif. family

The FBI will be briefed Friday on a San Diego County family that has been missing for almost two months.
Sheriff's Lt. Dennis Brugos said investigators are focusing their search for the McStay family in Mexico, where the FBI has more resources.
Businessman Joseph McStay, his wife, Summer, and their two young sons — Gianni 4, Joseph Jr. 3 — were last heard from Feb. 4.
Investigators said surveillance video may have captured images of the Fallbrook family crossing the border on foot. Their white Isuzu Trooper was found in a nearby parking lot.
Investigators also found e-mails indicating the couple had asked about passport requirements for traveling to Mexico with children shortly before they disappeared.
Relatives said it's uncharacteristic of the McStays to simply pick up and leave the country without telling family members.
Tracy Russell, Summer McStay's sister, said the idea that the family may have planned to go to Mexico has made her even more worried.
"I know I should feel a little bit better, but I don't," Russell said. "My mother is distraught. I don't think my sister would torture my mom like that."
She last spoke to her sister on the phone Feb. 4.
Mike McStay, Joseph's brother, said he set up a Web site to field tips about the family's whereabouts and has forwarded any promising information to investigators.
Neither Joseph nor Summer McStay is fluent in Spanish, relatives said. Summer McStay's passport is expired. Their youngest son's birth certificate, required for re-entry to the United States by minors under 16, is with a grandmother, relatives said.
Detectives have no evidence that the family had financial problems or were facing threats.
The couple left their dogs at home and food rotting in their kitchen.
David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
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Shuttle fleet's home counts down to an uncertain future

They call it Space City, U.S.A.
Drive along Highway 50 into Titusville, just across the Indian River from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, and you’ll pass a Space Shuttle Inn, Shuttle Car Wash, and Space Coast Pawn & Jewelry. One of the town's two high schools is called Astronaut High. There's an elementary school called Apollo.

Shuttle technician Dan Quinn can't go shopping at the local Walmart without running into co-workers from Kennedy, by far the town's largest employer. His kids used to play a game: Guess how many friends Dad's going to see. Five? Six? Quinn would buy the winner a candy bar.

Like Hollywood and the movies, Detroit and its cars, Titusville's fortunes have long been tied to aerospace. Prospering during the Apollo heyday, declining when the program was halted. Expanding with the shuttle program, taking a hit with the disasters of Challenger and Columbia.

Now, as NASA prepares to ground its shuttle fleet permanently, Titusville's 45,000 residents are left to wonder what's next.

The late 1960s and early 1970s were when the Apollo spaceflight program reached its height, putting men on the moon. More than 24,000 people moved to Titusville, eager to work at the new Kennedy Space Center and help the country win the space race.

Quinn's dad, an electrical engineer, was part of the team that built Apollo's lunar module. The family lived in New Mexico at the time, but "my father always brought us out to Kennedy for the open houses and to see the launch area," said Quinn, 56. They watched every blastoff together. It seemed then that the whole nation's — the whole world's — eyes were fixed on the cosmos. That sense of collective awe helped inspire him to follow his father into aerospace, ultimately moving to Titusville to work at Kennedy Space Center more than two decades ago.

But Titusville suffered when Apollo's missions to the moon abruptly ended in 1972. The town's growth, once exponential, ground to a halt. Al Koller, a longtime resident (Titusville High class of 1959) and an electrical engineer for NASA during the Apollo boom, remembers the program shutdown as an abrupt reversal of fortune locally.

"Friends would become enemies because they were laid off and I wasn't," said Koller, who retired from NASA in 1992. "Neighbors on either side of me were in the process of bailing out of their homes because they couldn't afford to remain here after they were laid off. Close to the end, you could buy almost any kind of house for no money down."

And then the space shuttle program rode to the rescue. It wasn't Apollo — Titusville experienced a sharp decline in tourism after that golden era — but it rekindled excitement.

Marcia Gaedke moved to Titusville when she was 2, at the tail end of the Apollo era — too young to remember the city's economic descent. What she remembers is that shuttle launches became "a part of life" when the first orbiter, Columbia, went up on April 12, 1981.
"Growing up in Titusville, I hardly knew anyone who didn’t have some sort of connection to Kennedy Space Center," said Gaedke, now president of the city's Chamber of Commerce. "Everyone had a mom, uncle, cousin who worked there." 

The program brought its share of visitors, too — sometimes in the tens of thousands — vying for the best launch vantage point at places like Space View Park.

But when the space shuttle Challenger exploded while departing from Earth in 1986, and Columbia broke apart upon its return in 2003, the town despaired. After each disaster, the shuttle program experienced years-long hiatuses for the ensuing investigations. The influx of tourists — and the income of the businesses that depended on them — dwindled. 

And the pain wasn't just economic but deeply personal.

"Losing those seven [Columbia] astronauts was like losing my brothers and sisters," said Dan Quinn, who has six siblings, two of them retired aerospace workers. At the time of the 2003 disaster, he'd been working on the shuttles' thermal protection system.

Early the next year, President George W. Bush announced that the aging shuttle fleet would be mothballed in 2010. Taking its place would be a new program, Constellation, to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020 and onward to Mars.

The news may not have spelled the end, but it was still a blow to the town. "To people like me, who have grown up with the shuttle program, its retirement is like losing a family member," Gaedke said.

The hope around Titusville and Kennedy Space Center was that most of the 8,000 NASA shuttle contract workers would simply flow into corresponding positions in the Constellation program. But preliminary projections two years ago found that Kennedy could lose as much as 80 percent of its contract workforce, about 6,400 jobs.

As if that wasn't bad enough, this year Obama revealed a 2011 budget with no money allocated for Constellation, effectively canceling Bush’s plan and instead recommending that the focus be on privatized spaceflight. Though Congress still has to OK the measure, Titusville faces the possibility of another economic upheaval.

"It’s like déjà vu," an echo of President Nixon axing the Apollo mission, Koller said. "We have a lot of frightened people here, not ready to end their careers. They don't know what in the world they are going to do."

Yes, Koller said, it's true that Titusville isn't as dependent on aerospace as it was in the '70s — the shuttle workforce is half the size of Apollo's, and the city is about twice as big now — but thousands still depend on the space industry. “I’d say the situation is actually worse now," he said, "because the economy is flat. ’72 and ’73 wasn’t that great either, but it wasn’t like this. People could at least go and find a new job."

The town's contraction has already begun. Since Bush's announcement of the shuttles' retirement, enrollment at Astronaut High School — built in 1962 to accommodate the Apollo boom — is down more than a third, Principal Terry Humphrey said.

"There’s lots of people with long faces here," he said. "A lot of the folks who knew the end [of the shuttle program] was coming left. And the students that remain are concerned that their parents won’t have paying jobs soon."  The city's other high school is also on the decline, and five of the city's six elementary schools are now eligible for federal assistance because they have such large low-income populations.

"About 25 percent of the students have direct ties to the space center, but when you add those who are tied indirectly — the people who support the space program, the construction workers, local businesses, food providers, et cetera — the number goes up a whole lot," Humphrey said. "We’re all somehow connected to the space center; it’s what drives our economy."

It's also central to the town’s pride. What kind of future is in store for Space City, U.S.A., with the shuttle program shutting down and nothing to fill its vacuum? Will it be a commercial center for spaceflight? And if aerospace does become a largely private endeavor, will companies want to move operations elsewhere?

The space industry is "so much a part of our heritage and history," said Gaedke, the Chamber of Commerce president. She hasn't given up. "Hopefully we’ll fight tooth and nail for it to stay in Titusville."

Quinn is trying to stay positive too. "I'm hoping we’ll have another program to go to. If not, well, you know, we'll just cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, my whole team’s just focused on flying out the last few missions, proving our abilities to get men safely into space."

Koller, who has lived most of his life in Titusville and is now an advisor to aerospace students at community colleges, has the next generation in mind. He tells them to be flexible about their career ambitions and to remember that their skills are transferrable: "For instance, if you can be a good aerospace technician, you can be a skilled medical technician."

But like Quinn, the NASA retiree is a second-generation "rocket rat" — his dad was an aerospace worker, too — and space is in his blood. He can't imagine leaving this home, a place from which so many people have blasted off for the great unknown.

"I found my little piece of heaven."

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

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FAA: Pilots allowed to take antidepressants on job

Some pilots taking medication for mild or moderate depression will be able to fly as soon as next week under a new government rule aimed partly at getting those taking antidepressants to disclose the treatment.
The new policy, which takes effect Monday, reverses a ban on flying for pilots taking medications like Prozac. Federal Aviation Administration officials said the old rule was based on outdated versions of antidepressants that could cause drowsiness and other side effects.
The medications have been updated and do not pose that risk with everyone, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt told reporters Friday. But there was a side effect to the policy that has now been abrogated, Babbitt said. That rule had resulted in pilots taking those medications to keep their depression and treatment a secret, under the threat of losing their certification to fly.
"Our concern is that they haven't necessarily been candid," Babbitt said.
"We need to change the culture and remove the stigma associated with depression," Babbitt said. "Pilots should be able to get the medical treatment they need so they can safely perform their duties."
Under the new policy, pilots who take one of four antidepressants — Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa or Lexapro or their generic equivalents — will be allowed to fly if they have been successfully treated by those medications for a year without side effects that could pose a safety hazard in the cockpit. The antidepressants are classified as SSRIs, which help regulate mood.
In addition, the FAA will grant a sort of amnesty for pilots who have kept their treatment for depression a secret. The agency will not take civil enforcement action against pilots who, within six months, disclose their diagnoses of depression and treatment.
FAA officials said they changed the policy in part to encourage disclosure, but also because their own research by a team of psychiatrists over the past two years showed that the antidepressants have advanced to the point where side effects don't affect everyone and often subside in time. The risk of safety hazard, therefore, has subsided, the agency concluded.
Several labor unions representing aircraft owners, pilots and crews had urged the government to lift the ban. The Army, the Civil Aviation Authority of Australia and Transport Canada already allow some pilots to fly who are using antidepressant medications.
A team of psychiatrists and aviation medical examiners will help the agency monitor pilots under the new policy under a program established 40 years ago to assess and treat pilots suffering from alcohol and drug abuse issues, the FAA said.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

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