Flaming Liberal

 May 5, 2004

TO: Mr. Joe Davis, Director of Public Affairs for the Veterans of Foreign Wars

FROM: David C. Bellinger

Dear Mr. Davis,

Mr. Davis, first let me thank you for taking the time to listen to my grievance and to listen to the evidence I played for you in our telephone conversation on May 3, 2004.  The telephone conversations I played for you were recorded on WWL AM 870 radio which is a 50,000 watt clear channel station broadcasting from New Orleans, La., and I strongly and firmly feel the discourse I played for you was responsible for my effective banishment from the Andre Trevigne program on WWL AM 870 radio where, very ironically and very sadly, the mantra of the program is, “Let’s Put the Truth on the Table!”

Mr. Davis, as you heard in the recording I played for you concerning my outrage regarding information from  an article published in the New Orleans Times-Picayune (copy of article pasted below ) titled, “va Services Cutback Riles Some Local Veterans” (http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/washington/index.ssf) I am sure you can attest to the fact that every word, syllable, and letter from the article I quoted on the Andre Trevigne program on WWL radio was accurate, true, and correct in every imaginable detail.

Well, Mr. Davis, as a result of my concern regarding what I felt was a totally unjustified and unwarranted cutback in veterans services on the part of the Bush administration based on the reputable source I have pasted in this e-mail, I was, as you heard in the recording I played for you, rudely shouted at by the host of the program, accused of lying no less than three times by Ms. Trevigne, and Ms. Trevigne twice inferred I was being “paid” to call her program!

And Mr. Davis just for the record, and I am disappointed that I have to even address this absolutely ludicrous and absurd accusation that I am being paid to telephone Ms. trevigne’s program, I am perfectly willing to  sign an affidavit under the penalty of perjury that I have at no time in my entire life have ever been offered or have I ever accepted so much as a penny for ever telephoning a radio talk program and, in addition, I will gladly donate every dollar I am worth to Children’s Hospital of New Orleans if anyone would produce evidence I have ever accepted money for telephoning a radio talk program and I would be willing to fully disclose my full and complete financial history to dismiss this silly and fallacious charge.

Furthermore, to repeat my earlier accusation, I most fervently feel and believe that Ms. Trevigne has quite deliberately and very perniciously refused to accept any of my future telephone calls to her program under my radio moniker, Elwood, from the time she most incorrectly accused me of lying on the veteran’s health care issue, a fact Mr. Davis you know I correctly and accurately related on her radio program because you very generously gave of your time to listen to the conversation, and making the ridiculous charge that I was being paid to call her program on a matter I felt so passionately concerned I could not help expressing my outrage on a radio talk show.

Mr. Davis, I am perfectly willing to agree and admit that WWL radio, for whatever reason, has a right to control their programming; however, I feel equally as strong that under the Constitution of the United States of America I have a constitutionally guaranteed right to “peacefully” speak out, as a form of protest, and communicate to citizens and organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars my utter and absolute disgust that a radio broadcaster has essentially, in my opinion, instead of serving the public interest, which I believe is a FCC mandated regulation, has chosen to pursue and to disseminate a political agenda that is, in my opinion, quite clearly and evidently extremely protective, to the extent of stifling free and responsible speech, of the current administration occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D. C.

and Mr. Davis, you know for an undeniable fact when you were kind enough to listen to the recording I played for you of my conversation with ms Trevigne where I attempted to speak out against the veterans’ cutbacks that at “no” time was I, in any manner, ever rude, discourteous, or impolite or did I ever make any accusations directed at Ms. Trevigne of any kind as Ms. Trevigne most outrageously and impertinently directed at me, I believe, to somehow attempt to impugn my character and what an abominable shame my only “offense” was accurately and correctly speaking out and opposing what I honestly and sincerely felt was a matter of deep distress ; that is, a new policy by the Bush administration which would cause the discontinuance of medical care and treatment for 164,000 United States military veterans.

So as a consequence of my speaking out and opposing what I most sincerely and honestly felt was an affront and an inexcusable outright attack on the medical care and benefits of the men and women who have served and have sacrificed in the United States military for the purpose of upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States of America, Ms. Trevigne, or perhaps the decision was made by the management of WWL radio, my privilege to express a responsible and factual viewpoint by way of using the public airways I feel has been very unfairly, if not maliciously,  revoked because Ms. Trevigne has discontinued accepting my telephone calls to her program under my radio moniker from the time the incident I have related to you occurred and I have been left on hold for as long as two hours which is the length of her program!

So Mr. Davis, if the veterans of foreign wars would do nothing other then to express the same revulsion that I am feeling at this time by giving me the moral support of the Veterans of Foreign Wars regarding, what I feel should be a right given that men and women of the U. S. Armed Forces are currently dying in Iraq for freedom, my privilege to call and express a factual and responsible viewpoint using the public airways, the same airspace men and women of the United States Armed Forces have fought, sacrificed, and died to defend.

Therefore, Mr. Davis, just as you asked me to I have listed below the names and addresses of the top management of the Entercom Corp, the owner of WWL AM 870 radio in New Orleans and would you please consider posting my e-mail and your response or responses to my e-mail on the VFW website.  And would you also please copy me in by e-mail any response or responses you may write regarding my e-mail and my e-mail address is: davidc53@juno.com

Sincerely and respectfully a concerned citizen proud to take a stance for United States veterans,

David C. Bellinger

Chairman and Chief Executive officer of D & B Research

New Orleans, La.

(504) 246-3100 or (504) 246-2857

P. S. I have on tape the conversation I had with Ms. Trevigne which I feel was responsible for my banishment from her program and will most gladly play for any interested party and any interested party is very welcome to telephone me at (504) 246-2863 and you are welcome to telephone 24/7.

Mr. David Field

President and CEO Entercom Corp.

401 City Avenue

Suite 809

Bala Cynwyd, PA  19004

Tel. No. (610) 660 5610

E-mail address: djfield@entercom.com

Mr. Jack Donlevie, Attorney

Entercom, Corp.

401 City Avenue

Suite 809

Bala Cynwyd, PA  19004

Telephone No. 610 660 5638

E-mail address: jack@entercom.com

Ms. Connie Macera

Vice-President and General Manager for Entercom of New Orleans

1450 Poydras Street

Suite 500

New Orleans, La.  70122

Tel No. (504) 593-1897

E-mail address: cmacera@entercom.com

Mr. Phil Hoover

General Manager of WWL AM 870

1450 Poydras Street

Suite 500

New Orleans, La.  70122

Tel No. (504) 593-1875

E-mail address: phoover@entercom.com

Cc: U. S. Senator Tom Daschle, Minority Leader of the U. S. Senate,  U. S. Senator, John Kerry, U. S. Senator John Breaux, U. S. Senator Mary  Landrieu, Us. Representative Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U. S. House of Representatives,  U. S. Representative William Jefferson,  Mr. Michael Powell, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, The American Legion National Headquarters, AFL-CIO National Headquarters, Mr. Howard Stern, The American Family Assn., ABC News 26, Mr. Terry O’Connor, Editor of New Orleans City Business, Mr. Jim Amoss, Editor of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Mr. Bruce Alpert, Newhouse Publishing, Mr. David Walker, Times-Picayune Reporter,  Ms. Rene Peck, Times-Picayune Reporter, Mr. Jerry McLeod, Times-Picayune TV Focus Editor, Ms. Martha Carr, Times-Picayune Reporter, Mr. James gill, times-picayune Reporter, Mr. Kris rose, times-picayune Reporter, Mr. David Cuthbert, Times-Picayune Reporter, Ms. Annette Cisco, Times-Picayune Editorial Editor, Mr. Bruce Nolan, Times-Picayune Reporter, Mr. Michael Tisserand, Editor of Gambit Weekly, Mr. Chris Tidmore, Political Writer for the Louisiana Weekly, Mr. Gene Gaudette, Editor of American Politics.com, ACORN, The ACLU of Louisiana

 “VA SERVICES CUTBACK RILES SOME LOCAL VETERANS”

Demand outstrips money, agency says

 Re: “Elizabeth Rickey, GOP Activist,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, by Danny Monteverd, September 15, 2009

Dear Blogger:

Elizabeth Rickey’s courageous efforts to combat the influence and political rise of David Duke’s practice of hate politics must never be forgotten. Ms. Rickey’s intrepid deeds to discredit the claim by the Nazi uniform wearing, cross burning, white power shouting, Jew hating, Klan Wizard that Duke had disassociated himself from his past of hate included a trip to Chicago, after Duke was elected to the Louisiana State House, to photograph Duke shaking hands with Art Jones, then the vice chairman of the American Nazi Party, at the convention of the ultra-conservative Populist Party.

However, regrettably, and quite amazing, remnants of the era of David Duke remain in the Louisiana Republican Party State Central Committee, where Ms. Rickey once served. The election of one of Duke’s most vehement supporters, a former appointee to the Causeway Commission by the Jefferson Parish Council, and perennial candidate for public office, Keith Rush, to a seat on the Louisiana Republican Party State Central Committee, in June 2007, reversed whatever gains made by the GOP to cut its ties from the Duke legacy. With the help and support of Kenner’s Republican mayor, Ed Muniz, who nominated Rush to fill a vacancy, Rush was elected without opposition by the party’s central committee. Even more regrettable, but not surprising, Rush was re-elected to the Louisiana State Republican Party Central Committee, with a 2-1 majority from a district (82nd District, Sub-district A) in Metairie, Duke’s old stomping ground.

As noted in the Times-Picayune article referenced above, taking leave of her Ph. D. studies at Tulane University, “Ms. Rickey worked for the election of John Treen when John Treen opposed Duke in a run-off election to serve in the (Louisiana) house 81 District.”At the other end of the deep Mariana Trench low, in the spectrum of “no shame” respectability and gutter decorum, in the 1989 House 81 run-off, “Duke has no notable political figures behind him, but longtime New Orleans area radio talk-show host Keith Rush endorsed him this week.” -- Source: “Flood of Endorsements likely to help Treen, Analysts Predict,” by Barri Marsh, Times-Picayune, 1989. Moreover, a further mega stain on the Louisiana GOP, on the scale of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Rush has been named to the Southern Poverty Hatewatch blog: http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2007/08/02/duke-supporter-elected-to-louisiana-gop-governing-committee/ -- an unimaginable embarrassment, even by Louisiana standards. And when Keith Rush was a talk show host at WTIX (now WIST) the U. S. Secret Service paid a visit to the station to give a warning because Keith Rush was putting out words that "encouraged" violence against William Jefferson Clinton, then the President of the United States!

Keith Rush represents the worst of Louisiana’s history of hate, and Rush can only bring more disgrace to the soiled legacy of Louisiana politics.And when will we read that the Republican Party will disassociate the Party from Keith Rush, and his sordid past? But, thus far, “no” Republican official has denounced Rush serving as a member on the governing body of the Louisiana GOP! Furthermore, David Duke backed Rush’s candidacy for a Jefferson Parish Council seat in 1991, telling supporters in an endorsement letter, “He thinks like we do. He believes in the things we believe in.” –- Source: “BLACK DISTRICT AND A DUKE PROTÉGÉ,” by James Gill, Times-Picayune, April 21, 1991. And from a Keith Rush remedial campaign letter when running for the Jefferson Parish council to known supporters of Duke, which I would say with confidence, assuredly included a generous assortment of skinheads, Klansman, and neo-Nazis, and a myriad of Arian believers as well: "Dear David Backer” – and how is Mrs. "Backer"?

Having Rush serving as a GOP official on the Party’s State Central Committee, in 2009, I cannot imagine a less appropriate testament by the GOP to honor Elizabeth Rickey’s valiant work, and what a shame. As a person who once had the honor of knowing Ms. Elizabeth Rickey, a Republican I sincerely admired and respected, I take her passing with sorrow and deep regret. She was indeed a most decent and accomplished lady. And Ms. Rickey, was the niece of Mr. Branch Rickey, who hired the great Jackie Robinson in 1947, breaking the color barrier of major league baseball.

David C. Bellinger, formerly (due to Katrina) of New Orleans, not wishing to return to a state which would embrace a politician who spoke for and supported the agenda of David Duke, and who is now serving in an elected capacity with the Louisiana GOP.

Atlanta, GA
(404) 762-8779
E-mail: davidc53@juno.com

 Re: David Vitter's prostitute scandal is target of Louisiana Democratic Party video, New Orleans Times-Picayune, By Bruce Alpert, April 28, 2010 -- http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/04/david_vitters_prostitute_scand.html

Dear Blogger:

Quoting Edward Chervenak, a University of New Orleans political scientist, from the referenced article, "Everyone knows Vitter had an affair with a prostitute, so the only thing that could hurt Vitter is some previously unreleased bit of information."

With David Vitter -– enjoying a lock on the Republican nomination, and riding high in the polls against his likely Democratic opponent, Rep. Charlie Melancon, in the November general election, given the current environment, one would be hard pressed to quibble with the words of Prof. Chervenak.

But, here is the dragon fly in the ointment, the previously unreleased information to the general public, that I feel should overturn the Vitter reelection applecart.

After the publisher of Hustler Magazine Larry Flynt discovered that Sen. David Vitter’s telephone number appeared numerous times on a list of calls to the D. C. Madam-—the late Deborah Jeane Palfrey, and after Vitter emerged from a self-imposed exile from the public, a press conference was held by the Senator.

In a statement, in a timbre as bitter as vinegar, at the press conference in Metairie, LA, on July 16 2007 -– with Vitter’s wife standing next to him, Vitter strongly asserted that nothing happened in New Orleans. Clearly Vitter’s remark was a flat-out emphatic denial of having adulterous sexual relations with Wendy Cortez, and Ms. Cortez has submitted to a polygraph examination -- which supported her contention that she exchanged sex for money with David Vitter at her apartment in the New Orleans French Quarter.

Vitter’s opening statement taken from a You Tube video of his July 2007 press conference at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxlqiDn2zM8&feature=player_embedded -- “Unfortunately my admission has incurred some longtime political enemies and those hoping to profit from the situation to spread falsehoods too, like those New Orleans stories in recent reports. Those stories are not true.”

“Not true” you say Senator! And oh what a tangled web we weave . . . .

In Vitter’s world of lying paranoid-schizophrenic behavior, given so many dishonest denials, and accusatory remarks, perhaps the below letter of apology -- written, and signed by David Vitter, under the threat of a lawsuit by Vincent Bruno -– a dual office holder in the Republican Party, and delivered at warp speed to Vincent Bruno’s home via courier -- somehow “conveniently” slipped the Senator’s memory.

Vitter’s carefully crafted “signed” letter of apology to Mr. Vincent Bruno, and the authenticity of the letter has been authenticated personally by Mr. Vincent Bruno:

{July 27, 2002

Dear Mr. Bruno:

On Thursday July 25, a caller on a WTIX radio call in show asked me if I would agree to participate in a radio debate with you. I said I would not because you are a “thug and a liar.”

This was an emotional response on my part prompted by numerous ugly rumors which had been repeated about my family and me.

After the incident, I realized that you may believe these rumors and allegations. I cannot say that you know them to be untrue and lied by repeating. Therefore I should have not said that you are a thug and a liar.

With this in mind, and in an abundance of fairness, I hereby retract my statement about you referenced above. Please accept my sincere apology.

By copy of this letter, I would ask Jeff Crouere, the host of the radio show, on which I made my original statement to broadcast my retraction using at least an equal amount of time.

Sincerely,

David Vitter
cc: Mr. Jeff Crouere and Mr. Ed Butler}

Nowhere that I know Vincent Bruno repeated “rumors” regarding Vitter having an affair with a French Quarter prostitute, but actually alleged that Vitter was having such an affair. From a May 31, 2002, column -- “CONGRESSMAN IS ACCUSED OF HAVING AN ALLEGED AFFAIR WITH PROSTITUTE” -- written by Mr. Chris Tidmore of the Louisiana Weekly -- http://www.louisianaweekly.com/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20020603p:

“In what is becoming a high stakes political battle between some of the most prominent members of the Louisiana Republican Party, Bruno has charged that a prostitute, who stated her name to be Wendy Cortez, allegedly confessed to him to having a paid sexual relationship with the Congressman. ”

Additional quote from the Chris Tidmore column:

“Bruno, who supplied documentation of detailed accounts of his meetings with Cortez, along with specific testimony that she provided against the Congressman, claims that he only came forward with the prostitute s name and personal information when pressed as a means to protect his integrity.”

And the column goes on and on with facts and accounts quoted by Mr. Bruno giving causes and reasons to support that Vitter had indeed conducted a philandering liaison with Ms. Cortez.
No doubt, Vincent Bruno was not repeating rumors as Vitter so cleverly wrote, but outright asserted that Vitter was having an affair with Wendy Cortez. And to think and to assume that Vitter was not informed of Bruno’s charges in the May 31 column would be preposterous!
Furthermore, writing an apologetic damage control letter eating crow, with a healthy serving of humble pie -–likely wishing and hoping to avoid a court room appearance testifying under oath, had Vitter not indeed been “intimately” engaged in the horizontal bedroom “boogie-woogie” with Ms. Cortez at her Dauphine and Dumain apartment, is unimaginable if Vitter’s hands were indeed clean!

So for Vitter to engage in even more lies and accusatory chutzpah and hypocrisy -- while addressing the public at the July 2007 press conference, -- professing repentance, and asking forgiveness, has the pungent stench of some stuff floating in a facility about to be flushed and Vitter is as creditable as a holocaust denier.

Trusting a habitual “liar” -– void of morals and decency, an officer of the court -- possessing no respect of the law or for his family -- to represent Louisiana in the Senate would be like trusting the ill-intentioned serpent Aesop brought in from the snow, and Louisiana deserves better -–much much better.

Aeschylus, a Greek dramatist and playwright, said in [500] B.C., "In war, truth is the first casualty.” Unfortunately, David Vitter represents such a casualty of politics. And note that the caller in the phone call to Vitter in the You Tube video, played on MSNBC for Larry Flynt and Wendy Cortez, challenging Vitter to sign an affidavit is the writer of this column.

And for more, as Chester A. RILEY would say, “revolting developments,” regarding Sen. David Vitter, I invite you to check out a previous post: http://righthandthief.blogspot.com/2009/10/open-letter-to-blogosphere-from-david-c_07.html

David C. Bellinger
(404) 762-8779
E-mail: davidc53@juno.com
Atlanta, GA

---

1. Study plan to bring people back to New Orleans to live with a program that would give tax incentives, such as a rebate on sales tax collected, to businesses to hire Orleans Parish residents and fund the program by the sale or lease of the airport and the entire funds from the sale or lease of the airport, by law, must be deposited in an investment account and only the revenue from the investment would be spent on city programs and I expect the new revenue source would make possible the reduction of the sales and property tax and the elimination of the personal property tax . And for more details of the proposal of rebating taxes as an incentive for businesses to hire Orleans Parish residents please see my interview in the Chris Tidmore column at the Louisiana Weekly website at: http://www.louisianaweekly.com/cgi-bin/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20050110f and the unedited column is pasted below.

[Note on recent development regarding Louis Armstrong Airport: Mayor Nagin has floated the possibility of relocating the Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans East which would create an ecological disaster to valued wetlands and relocating the airport outside the city limits of New Orleans would be ludicrous!

My position is to encourage the state to seek a federal grant to build a regional airport between New Orleans and Baton Rouge; thus freeing the city to sell the Louis Armstrong Airport and invest the funds in a "legally," by city charter, protected endowment for city programs and services and have rapid rail transit connecting the regional airport to New Orleans and Baton Rouge.]

2. Request the American Bar Association and the Louisiana Society of CPA’s appoint a committee to choose a city Inspector General, who will serve totally independent of the mayor and city council, and the Inspector General will have full authority to inspect and audit every city office, department, and city contract and the Inspector General will have a budget and a staff financed by a non veto proof, no cut budget and be required to report any unethical activity to the news media and any possible illegality to the appropriate law enforcement authorities such as the district attorney’s office and the U. S. Attorney and encourage the Orleans Parish School Board to do the same and the Inspector General will be required to make a semi-annual report to the people regarding the financial efficacy of city spending.

3. Recognize one of the police organizations to be the exclusive bargaining agent for police officers and, in good faith, negotiate with such police organization a union contract to give our police officers the rights and the dignity they so rightfully deserve and encourage city workers to unionize.

4. Will support and work for an amendment to the Louisiana constitution that will set the minimum wage in Orleans Parish one dollar above the federal minimum wage. And for more information regarding the positive aspects of increasing the minimum wage please read Associated Press article pasted below - Study: "Wage Laws Reduce Poverty."

5. Build a center to honor and preserve the great artistry of New Orleans' rhythm and blues artists.

6. Study for additional routes for street cars.

7. Support a Study to protect port related jobs in the city considering new terminal at the mouth of the river would impact port related employment in New Orleans and work to make the port of New Orleans the national center for cruise ships.

8. Have public financing of elections with all private and business donations to politicians made illegal.

9. Have a person who will serve as a liaison with Washington to assure New Orleans receives all federal funds the city is entitled to receive and encourage school board to do the same.

10. Ban pit bulldogs and assault weapons.

11. Require all persons possessing hand guns to be licensed and all hand guns to be registered with the New Orleans Police Department.

12. Strict enforcement of noise ordinances and other quality of life issues.

13. Work on making New Orleans a clean city.

14. Develop Monte Carlo/French Riviera luxury resort in New Orleans East on Lake Pontchartrain with a topless beach and revenue dedicated to pay raises for city workers and to reduce water rates since water rates will soon dramatically increase due to federal mandates.

15. Fully cooperate with the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation to restore the lake to a viable recreational facility.

16. Propose advertising tax on commercials broadcast on radio stations which broadcast New Orleans Saints games at game time and revenue be dedicated to renovating the Louisiana Super Dome or to build a new stadium in order to keep the NFL franchise in New Orleans and as a note, at this time, there is no tax of any kind on advertising in Louisiana.

17. Propose a program which will help train and hire disabled citizens to work in city government and encourage the Orleans Parish School Board to do the same and businesses as well and establish a Department of Disabled Services which would assist disabled citizens to obtain services and coordinate a program of volunteer citizens to meet the needs of the disabled.

18. Promote and coordinate a program working with civic groups and churches to help the 20,000 homeless persons in New Orleans to receive medical help, including mental health treatment and treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, and access to job training services and housing.

19. Fund recreational services that will be supervised such as the New Orleans Recreation Department so young people will have spaces to engage in recreational activities in areas protected from criminal activity and where there will be “zero” tolerance for criminal activity such as drug dealing.

20. Pledge to freeze all pay and benefits, and without retroactive pay upon settlement, for the mayor and the city council members and all persons who serve at the pleasure of the mayor and city council until resolution is reached to pay the firefighters their legally entitled pay and pledge to make an earnest attempt for the city to recompense Firefighters to receive their rightfully due back wages.

21. Pledge to have an administration dedicated to equal opportunity and equality for all citizens of all colors, creeds, and national origins.

22. As mayor will submit to regular and random drug testing.

23. Pledge to be answerable and accessible to the people and pledge the citizens of New Orleans an administration where honesty, integrity, and hard work will be "Priority One."

24. Support amending the city charter and the state constitution to ban government confiscation of private property for private economic development.

25. Pledge to protect the French Quarter’s residential integrity.




David C. Bellinger can be contacted at davidc53@juno.com or telephoned 24/7 (504) 246-3100.

David C. Bellinger served with no compensation as a union shop steward for the Office and Professional Employees Int’l Union (AFL-CIO) and his education includes fifty-nine hours of credit as an accounting major at the University of New Orleans and has worked in accounting and credit/collections for three steamship companies in New Orleans and grew up in the French Quarter and has attended Catholic and public schools in New Orleans and has attended school, lived, and worked no where other than New Orleans and is a registered Democrat.

[Unedited copy of above referred to column in point one of my platform]


New Business Through Tax Rebates

At the Christmas Season, the Malls are packed. The people of New Orleans go forth of their holiday spending sprees--most often in Metairie.

Cheaper land and operating costs have long propelled business to the suburbs--and not just retail.

For two generations a mass exodus of corporations have left for less expensive pastures in the suburbs, and now in many cases other states.

The poor and predominantly Black population of New Orleans proper does not have the flexibility to leave as easily--either through connections to home or economic wherewithal. To this problem, few politicians have offered a solution, yet in an interview with the Louisiana Weekly, progressive activist David Bellinger presented a concept that few on the left or right have proposed, one that has piqued the interest of the New Orleans current Mayor and his predecessor.

"As a resident of New Orleans who has never lived or worked in another city other than New Orleans," Bellinger told the Weekly, "I have, for many years, been distressed by witnessing the almost constant and seemingly ongoing and never ending flow of the tax base of New Orleans relocating outside the city. Worsening the outward migration problem, to no one’s surprise who resides in the New Orleans area, many persons who are non-residents work jobs and operate businesses in the city while paying bare minimal taxes to pay for the services they benefit from while working in New Orleans, such as police, fire protection, sewerage, drainage, street maintenance, transportation, libraries, parks and other recreational facilities like the lakefront, and other services too numerous to mention. And this point has been confirmed in the past by several economic studies.

"As an example," he continued, "of how New Orleans is subsidizing the surrounding parishes, it is my clear understanding if a resident of Metairie would drive into New Orleans and take the scenic Canal Street street car ride to work in downtown the taxpayers of New Orleans receive a substantial bill to pay the cost of that non-resident quite literally receiving a partial 'free ride' to downtown to work and would again receive a subsidized Canal Street car ride to take a paycheck back to Metairie where that person would likely pay a property tax on a residence in some form and shop and pay sales taxes and other fees in Jefferson Parish."

Bellinger joked, "This is like paying someone for the cost of the bullets to shoot you or paying Dracula to suck your blood!"

He maintains that as a clear and undeniable result of the shrinking tax base and the city being responsible for maintaining city services, finances are being ever stretched and the quality of life for its residents is being debilitated big time, for example, a high murder rate."

As a solution to the financing problems, some have suggested some form of commuter tax. But, Bellinger is quick to add, "A tax increase of any significance would, in my opinion, only exacerbate the city’s financial difficulties by causing more people to decide not to reside in New Orleans and more residents to think of relocating, but those residents who relocate will most likely continue to work in the city and contribute very modestly to the cost of the city services they utilize. And the same can generally be said if additional taxes were to be assessed on businesses."

The solution, he reasoned, incentives should exist for businesses to hire Orleans Parish residents and attract new residents.

"Quite clearly I believe the City of New Orleans has already reached, if not surpassed, the point of diminishing returns.

Therefore any additional tax increases may actually cause a reduction of revenue for the city so any tax increases would, in my opinion, be counter productive."

Some progressives have argued that an earnings tax assessed to resident and non-resident workers would no doubt more evenly distribute the tax burden to those using city services and also shift the responsibility of paying taxes to a group more likely to have the financial ability to pay. However, since the earnings tax has been ruled unconstitutional by the Louisiana Supreme Court, Bellinger called such solutions "a pipe dream".

"To amend the state constitution (necessary to implement an earnings tax) would require a two-thirds vote of the state legislature and would also have to be approved by a majority of the voters -- so forget about it. And trying to dress up the earnings tax with any other name, like a commuter tax, would be a wasted effort and toll fees would create a traffic nightmare."

"Having exhausted all conventional methods," he concluded, " of raising revenues for the City of New Orleans to improve the quality of life for its citizens and for city services necessary to keep pace with cities New Orleans competes with, I thought thinking outside the box would be required to once and forever solve the city’s never ending fiscal short falls. And by George I think I have done that."

"Since New Orleans is rich in jobs compared to the surrounding parishes and no study needs to be conducted to prove that point because one needs only to look at any traffic artery in the morning and any traffic artery in the evening and the trend is abundantly clear. People by the thousands, and many thousands at that, come into the city in the morning to work and leave in the evening.

"Therefore I have devised a revolutionary idea of using an incentive approach to reverse the flow of our citizens and attract people back to the city to reside and “pay” taxes; thusly expanding the tax base which would in turn increase city revenues from such existing taxes as real and personal property taxes and sales taxes and other fees."

"My suggestion would be the City of New Orleans grant businesses a financial incentive to hire Orleans Parish residents and this proposal could be implemented by rebating a percentage of taxes collected or paid to the city by businesses."

Bellinger does not make such a free market solution without thought.

The former Union Shop Steward is a noted progressive activist.

He is familiar to listeners of talk radio as "The Flaming Liberal" and is a frequent critic of both the Bush Administration and conservatives in general.

Nevertheless, Bellinger maintains that liberals, such as he, must recognize the direct financial benefits that the tax rebates would offer to the city--and many of its poorest citizens.

"For example," he explained, "if Wal-Mart would certify a percentage, say eighty percent of their workers are Orleans Parish residents, a payment derived from a formula determined by a study or by a commission of the sales tax Wal-Mart collected and remitted to the City of New Orleans and the Orleans Parish School Board would be rebated to Wal-Mart as an incentive for employing city residents. And the greater the percentage of Orleans Parish residents certified by the rule of law, with very harsh and severe legal consequences for any fraudulent certifications, the rebate is increased."

Under Bellinger's plan, there is no mandate that any business so screens its hires, "And let me emphasize to the point of taking excessive pain to be absolutely sure this point is very clearly understood. Under my proposal no business by any law of any kind would be legally required to hire or not hire Orleans Parish residents, but merely given a financial incentive to voluntarily employ residents of New Orleans; hence no residency requirement of any kind to work anywhere in any job of any kind anywhere in Orleans Parish. Any business of any kind would be totally free to hire as many employees as they would so choose which are non-resident Orleans Parish residents without violating any law, rule, or regulation of any sort whatsoever."

By creating financial incentives for businesses to hire residents of Orleans Parish, Bellinger reasoned many persons will find it necessary to live or relocate back to New Orleans and, by so doing, the outflow of residents will reverse and taxes paid to the city will increase. He knows his proposal is not a panacea, but he contended, it is a good start.

"Certainly the proposition of implementing the financial incentives which will be necessary to bring people back to the city to live and work would require more future study, but by rebating tax money to businesses would not only encourage businesses to employ Orleans Parish residents, but have an additional compounding effect by giving businesses in Orleans Parish a competitive advantage to competing businesses in surrounding parishes and in effect increase retail sales which will increase sales tax revenue which in turn and in part will be rebated to those very same businesses as an incentive for hiring Orleans residents."

The economic sample Bellinger related, in theory, creates an economic engine as the financial incentives would become more entrenched over time, more and more workers would become Orleans Parish residents and a more viable tax base would be revised and invigorated.

A similar approach could be applied to the real property taxes of businesses that do not deal in the retail trade such as professional services and manufacturers. And this can likely be accomplished by non retail businesses being given a voucher based on the number of Orleans Parish resident employees by the city which the owner of the business property could credit to the property tax bill.

"When job applicants realize there prospect of being hired for a job." Bellinger concluded, "they would like to have would be greater by residing in Orleans Parish it is reasonable to believe a person would consider either moving back to New Orleans or not moving at all out of New Orleans and the outward migration of our citizens would not only be stopped, but reversed!

To sum up my proposition -- businesses will be more competitive since businesses will receive a rebate (and the more competitive New Orleans’ businesses are the greater their receipts will be and more sales taxes paid to the city and to the School Board), the tax base will be increased since residents would have preferences in hiring, and because of the added people residing in the city the city would quite simply derive additional revenues from an expanding tax base via city taxes now in existence...Thereby businesses are winners, Orleans Parish residents are winners, and the city is a winner by deriving a better tax base which will in turn produce more revenue."

Bellinger recognized that transition costs in the short term to present a challenge.

"However I am aware a fly is in the ointment similar to the gap created by privatizing Social Security which is a period of transition would be needed before the program could be enacted. To overcome this problem, I would suggest creating a temporary tax, and I emphasize the word 'temporary' to the tenth degree; that is, the life of the tax’s limited life would be written in stone.

And one tax that could be a temporary tax would be a tax on retail businesses based upon a percentage of their sales."

In Louisiana, temporary taxes have a way of becoming permanent. To prevent this, Bellinger proposed, "When a “temporary” source of revenue has been created such revenue would be collected and deposited in an escrow account drawing interest and only, by force of the “law,” be rebated to employers when the incentive program is initiated and the funds generated by the temporary tax, by force of the “law,” will not be allowed to be allocated or spent for any other purpose. Therefore the temporary tax would be merely an advance of future rebates to employers and excluding the temporary tax I have proposed no person or business has been taxed a single dime, not even the guy behind the tree."

Bellinger recognized that a tax proposal could kill his plan, so he took a suggestion out of Mayor Nagin's proverbial playbook. "Another option to finance the transition would be to sell the Louis Armstrong Airport with the money from the sale being dedicated to financing the incentive program and by selling the airport the city would experience no loss of revenue since the airport, by law, is non-profit.

What I have proposed is a bold idea and would need study and find tuning, but my proposal could be a viable system of job creation and a revenue basis that would propel New Orleans into a position of financial viability and provide its citizens with a quality of life by having available the crucial funds to provide the services needed to maintain a quality lifestyle."

And should the surrounding parishes object, Bellinger offered a stark choice, "I would challenge their objection by asking the surrounding parishes to immediately support a constitutional amendment to create a New Orleans earnings tax or a metropolitan earnings tax and if that compromise is not acceptable then the surrounding parishes would have undoubtedly stated they are comfortable with the status quo and that is reprehensibly objectionable."

David Bellinger has begun to lobby Administration officials on his proposal. Both current Mayor Nagin and former Mayor Morial are said to have considered the idea attractive.

The progressive activist has pledged that if city officials do not wish to discuss the reform, he is willing to organize an effort to put the proposal before the people on a ballot initiative.

He can be contacted by email at 404-963-5388


STUDY: “WAGE LAWS REDUCE POVERTY”

March 14, 2002

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 12:51 p.m. ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Home health care worker Claudia Arevalo says her life changed for the better in 2000, when San Francisco enacted its living wage law.

In 1998 she earned $6 an hour, rented out a room in her apartment and worked 300-hour months that included night shifts as a janitor. Now Arevalo, 37, works a regular schedule.

I have more time for my family, for myself. I have a better life,'' she said Wednesday. It's the living wage that made the changes come.''

A national study published Thursday by a private nonprofit, nonpartisan research group found many others also benefited.

The study, conducted by the San Francisco-based Public Policy Institute of California, said cities like San Francisco that boost minimum wages above the federal floor are reducing poverty rates for the working poor, even as they increase unemployment.

More than 60 U.S. cities, counties or public agencies have adopted a living wage policy since 1994, despite critics who argue paying more than the federal $5.15-per-hour minimum leads to layoffs while benefitting only a fortunate few who keep their jobs.

Still, the new study may encourage living wage advocates -- not least because its author is a noted minimum wage critic.

Living wages actually reduce poverty,'' said author David Neumark, an economics professor at Michigan State University. If someone's getting up on a soapbox saying these are a disaster, they may believe it, but there's really no evidence.''

Living-wage ordinances often are not as radical as they sound. None of them applies to all workers in a city -- most cover only city employees or private companies with significant government contracts. And Neumark said the average pay raise equals around 3.5 percent, though it may be significantly higher for some workers.

Yet the movement has been growing.

California has at least 10 living wage cities, according to the study, including Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose. Baltimore passed the first living wage law, with Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Milwaukee, Omaha, Neb., and San Antonio among the large cities that followed.

Urban poverty rates fell from 1996 through 2000, the span Neumark studied using Census Bureau data. But the living wage accelerated the drop in those cities, he said.

Neumark concluded that cities where the living wage is 50 percent higher than the federal or state minimum see poverty drop 1.8 percentage points.

There are losers, too. According to Neumark's projections, the 10 percent of workers who earn the least in these cities would experience a 7 percent increase in unemployment.

On balance, however, it looks like the winners win more than the losers lose,'' Neumark said.

San Francisco's living wage of $10 an hour is about 50 percent higher than the state's $6.75-an-hour floor. Over a 2,000 hour work year, that could mean a $6,500 raise to $20,000 -- and the difference between official poverty and a lifestyle less desperate.

The government says a family of two adults and one child needs $15,020 a year to stay out of poverty, though that is low for a high-cost region such as the San Francisco Bay area.

Critics counter that there are better ways, such as the earned income tax credit, to help the poor.

Workers who hover around the poverty line can lose valuable federal benefits if they earn just a few thousand dollars more, according to Richard Toikka of the Washington-based Employment Policies Institute.

It's not the best way to go,'' Toikka said. The workers that are harmed are the ones that have the most serious skill deficits.''

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On the Net:

Public Policy Institute of California: http://www.ppic.org

Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now living wage site: http://www.livingwagecampaign.org

Employment Policies Institute: http://www.epionline.org

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

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