Mayor Kilpatrick issues new rule: City text messages private

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick issued what appears to be an about-face on the city's technology policy to employees today, which tells staffers that their text messages are private even if the city pays for the electronic devices used to send the messages.

Kilpatrick early in his first term signed off on a directive to his staff that "all electronic communications" sent on city equipment should be considered public. The directive comes amid ongoing criminal proceedings about text messages Kilpatrick sent on his city-issued SkyTel pager that are now the linchpin of prosecutors' claims he perjured himself during a police whistle-blower trial last year and obstructed justice afterward with an $8.4 million settlement.

The new memo reads:

Whether the city does or does not pay for the devices, you will have certain privacy rights in the personal messages that you send and receive," the memo reads, which was signed by Kilpatrick.

It is dated April 15, 2008, but it was distributed to many employees and Detroit City Council members today.

"City policies are always subject to review and update," Kilpatrick spokesman James Canning said in a statement today

The previous five-page public records directive, enacted in 1998 under Mayor Dennis Archer and re-authorized by Kilpatrick early in his first term, cautioned that any communication "is not considered to be personal or private" and that even if the user deletes an item, it is stored.

Steelworkers' union backs Obama for White House

The United Steelworkers Union, a politically powerful U.S. labor group with 600,000 members, endorsed Barack Obama for president on Thursday as the Democratic Party began to rally around the Illinois senator.

The union endorsement came a day after former presidential candidate John Edwards announced his support for Obama. The steelworkers had endorsed Edwards last year.

Obama and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, a New York senator, competed hard for support from the steelworkers union after Edwards dropped out of the race in January.

"We find ourselves once again in agreement with Sen. Edwards, this time with his decision last evening to endorse Sen. Barack Obama," the union said in a statement, promising to work hard for Obama.

Obama has built a big lead over Clinton in the Democratic race for the right to face Republican John McCain in November's presidential election.

Clinton has resisted calls to get out of the race and promised to compete to the June 3 end of voting in the state-by-state nomination battles.

Defeat !

Hillary keeps going

McCain: Most Troops Will Be Home by 2013

Dont know about you but that's way too long.
This war is making the American economy weak.

John Edwards Endorses Barack Obama

At a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Wednesday evening, John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama, who was on the stage with him, to be the Democratic nominee for president.

Sounding a theme of a nation divided into parts by walls, Mr. Edwards said, “The reason I am here tonight is that Democratic voters in America have made their choice and so have I.”

Mr. Edwards then went on to say, “There is one man who knows in his heart that it is time to tear down that wall and make one America, Barack Obama.”

Mr. Obama, who had introduced Mr. Edwards as “one of the great leaders we have in the Democratic Party, ” responded by saying he was grateful to him for coming to Michigan and giving his endorsement.

Mr. Obama also noted how Mr. Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, had emphasized health care as an issue that is of primary concern, then said it would be a major issue in his administration.

The endorsement comes at a time when the appeal of Mr. Obama appears to be lagging among white, blue-collar voters, a group to which Mr. Edwards openly appealed.

Mr. Edwards’s endorsement also brings in tow 19 convention delegates he won in early party selections. He could certainly urge them to give their support to Mr. Obama, though they would not be obligated by party rules to do so.

Mr. Edwards had campaigned for the Democratic nomination for 13 months before dropping out of the race in January. He had been the first major Democrat to declare his candidacy.

Although Mr. Edwards had declined to endorse either of his rivals, there were signs that his political positions were more closely aligned with those of Mr. Obama than Mrs. Clinton. Most of Mr. Edwards’s former staff and advisers, including David E. Bonior, his former national campaign chairman, declared their support for Mr. Obama after Mr. Edwards left the race.

Mr. Edwards sought to make economic and social issues the center of his campaign and called for efforts to combat poverty in the United States. He announced his candidacy in New Orleans some 16 months after Hurricane Katrina struck and, echoed his 2004 bid for the Democratic nomination, by seeking to cast himself as the populist candidate and focusing on economic issues and job creation. He gained early support from a number of labor unions.

Mr. Edwards’s wife, Elizabeth, campaigned actively on his behalf, focusing on access to health care as her primary issue. Mrs. Edwards, who had been diagnosed with cancer during the 2004 campaign, said during this campaign that it had spread but had stopped.

Mr. Edwards alienated some supporters by abandoning his approach in the 2004 campaign in which he refused to criticize his rivals by name. After running unsuccessfully as John Kerry’s vice presidential running mate, Mr. Edwards began positioning himself for a second run at the presidency.

Early election results were disappointing for Mr. Edwards, who could not manage to gain headway against Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton. He came in third in the South Carolina primary, the state in which he was born and which he won during the 2004 presidential primary.

He announced his withdrawal from the race in the same place he began his campaign — against a backdrop of New Orleans houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Edwards did not make an endorsement at that time, but said both candidates had told him they would continue his theme of ending poverty as part of their campaigns.

The endorsement ended months of speculation over Mr. Edwards’s preference in the Democratic nominating contest, during which he mostly stayed silent and close to home in Chapel Hill with his wife, Elizabeth.

But in recent days, Mr. Edwards had made his choice all but obvious, giving a series of television interviews hinting that he was close to endorsing Mr. Obama, who last week he called “clearly the nominee at this point.”

And it was little surprise to close observers of Mr. Edwards on the campaign trail in the past year, when he regularly attacked so-called establishment politicians like Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and teamed with Mr. Obama against her in debates.

Throughout his second bid for the Democratic nomination, Mr. Edwards clashed repeatedly with Mrs. Clinton, criticizing her for accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists, a practice that he fiercely opposed.

And much of his campaign pitch centered on the notion that Washington politicians have become corrupted by the influence of lobbyists for drug companies, oil companies and other corporate interests.

“You can’t just trade corporate Republicans for corporate Democrats,” he told audiences frequently, an attack aimed at Mrs. Clinton.

But aides to Mr. Edwards said despite his personal admiration and respect for Mr. Obama, he was concerned about Mr. Obama’s experience and readiness for the job.

And he had another consideration: how to position himself for a job in the next president’s administration. As Mr. Edwards saw it, aides said, Mrs. Clinton seemed to be more likely than Mr. Obama to win the nomination.

Hillary Clinton may need Barack Obama's help with her campaign debt

She owes $21 million, more than half of which she borrowed from herself. Historically, winners have helped their rivals repay their debts.
An unwelcome legacy of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's faltering campaign for president is a $21-million debt, half from her own pockets, and some political insiders think she may have to turn to her political nemesis to help resolve it.

"The ultimate winner often helps the penultimate winner repay debt," said Chris Lehane, a former Clinton White House aide, who is not part of Sen. Clinton's campaign. "I'm not aware of anyone having those conversations. But historically, candidates have helped others deal with their debt."

Her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, told reporters in Oregon recently that he intended to have "a broad-ranging discussion with Sen. Clinton about how I could make her feel good about the process and have her on the team." He has said he doubts Clinton is remaining in the race because of any financial incentive.

But Obama is the unquestioned fundraising leader of the 2008 campaign, having raised more than $240 million. At the end of March, he had $51 million in the bank. He cannot transfer money to Clinton, but he could request that his contributors donate to her to help pay her debts. Some Obama donors said they would consider helping.

"As much as I dislike how Hillary Clinton has run this campaign, I think it would be worth it to heal the wound," said Los Angeles Democratic activist Richard Jacobs, an Obama backer. "If he says it is a good idea, I think a lot of people would feel the same way."
A major Obama fundraiser, who was not authorized to speak and requested anonymity, said: "First she has to drop out. . . . There are some people who would rather give to a Republican than to Hillary Clinton. But not me. I'm a team player."

Obama and Clinton aides say there has been no talk of a deal. "She expects to be the nominee, and so it is premature and inappropriate to even discuss it," Clinton strategist Howard Wolfson said.

Still, there is precedent for winners to help losers. Clinton's donors helped former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack pay off his presidential campaign debt. Sen. John McCain's supporters helped Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) pay his debt, though it was in the tens of thousands, not tens of millions.

Clinton has two types of debt -- personal and what she owes to vendors. Her debt to vendors stood at $10.3 million at the end of March, including $4.5 million to the firm co-founded by Mark Penn, formerly her top strategist. She borrowed $11.4 million from herself.

Clinton is not without resources. Anticipating she would be the nominee, Clinton amassed $22 million for the general election. That money cannot be used directly for her primary debt. But she could ask donors to redirect those contributions to another campaign -- for example, an account for 2012 when she would face reelection to the Senate.

Clinton then could transfer the debt to her vendors to that account and use money formerly designated for the presidential race to pay them.

Former Federal Election Commission Chairman Robert D. Lenhard said that although Clinton could engage in such a two-step to pay off her debt, he would recommend a more straightforward path: simply keep her presidential account open and raise money into it from her perch in the Senate.

"She will be in the Senate for a long time and could raise money and pay down the debt," Lenhard said. "When campaigns end with a lot of debt, fundraising goes on, and there is some renegotiating with vendors."

A major Clinton fundraiser, speaking anonymously, raised another possibility. Clinton could return checks to her general election donors and ask that they write new checks to Obama. Such a gesture would make it easier for Obama to ask his donors to help Clinton.

"There wouldn't be a dollar-for-dollar exchange," the Clinton fundraiser said. "But it would make it easier for Obama to ask his donors to help Clinton."

Clinton's debt would be less of a problem if Obama were to pick Clinton as his running mate. Although few pundits think he would choose Clinton, she would not arrive to the ticket empty-handed. She could use the $22 million in general election money to help fund an Obama-Clinton ticket in the fall campaign, election law experts say.

Under federal law, Clinton must act by the end of the primary season if she is to recover the $11.4 million she lent her campaign. Once Democrats select their nominee at the August convention, Clinton would be limited to repaying herself $250,000, according to a provision of the law co-sponsored by McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

Before the 2002 campaign finance overhaul, federal candidates who won office could hold fundraisers to retire their personal debt. That created the unseemly situation in which politicians could directly benefit from donors' largess.

"There was a desire not to have elected officials raise money from lobbyists and others that goes directly into their pocket," said Fred Wertheimer of the Washington nonprofit group Democracy 21, which advocates for campaign finance regulation.

Wealthy candidates commonly loan themselves money, knowing they won't see it again. An aide to failed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Tuesday that Romney did not expect to collect any of the $44.3 million he lent his campaign.

"Candidates putting personal money into a campaign is like Vegas money," said Lehane, the former Clinton White House aide. "It is nice if you get it back. But you take it out of the bank expecting not to ever see it again in return for getting an opportunity to try to play a winning hand."