The Morning Flap: April 16, 2012

U.S. GSA Administration Regional Commissioner Jeffrey Neely

These are my links for April 13th through April 16th:

• Photos Show Embattled GSA Official Enjoying Wine and Soak in Spa Tub at M Hotel During “Pre-Conference” Meeting – The government official on the frontlines of the scandal involving a wasteful government conference, U.S. General Services Administration regional commissioner Jeffrey Neely, will invoke his 5th amendment right against self-incrimination, his lawyer Preston Burton tells ABC News. He won’t comment on the $822,751 conference, many of the expenditures for which the GSA Inspector General called “excessive” and “wasteful.” He won’t comment on the bizarre awards ceremony, or the commemorative coins, the mind-reader/motivational speaker.

  Mr. Neely bares a bit more in a photo collection on his wife’s Google+ page. There visitors can see photos of Neely staying in a luxurious suite at the M Resort Spa & Casino in November 2009, during one of the eight scouting and off-site pre-conference meetings to prepare for the October 2010 conference.

• Daily Kos :: News Community Action – RT @FixAaron: PPP poll shows Walker up 5 on Barrett, up 7 on Falk and better fav/unfav than both of them. #WIGOV #tcot
• DNC Chief Called on to Release Tax Returns – Democratic National Committee chief Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been called on to release her personal income tax returns. The request was made by her congressional opponent, Republican Karen Harrington of Florida.

  “This week millions of taxpaying Americans will fulfill their requirement of filing their tax returns by paying any and all taxes due to the federal government,” Harrington’s campaign writes. “Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been asking Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney to release his 2011 tax return even after Governor Romney released his 2010 tax return.”

  “Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz’s request of Governor Romney to release his tax returns screams of hypocrisy, because to the best of our knowledge, Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz has never released a single tax return of her own. As a member of Congress, she is required to release a yearly ‘financial disclosure,’ this yearly disclosure is not a tax return.

  “While asking for Governor Romney to release his past tax returns, and In keeping with the spirit of President Obama’s call for ‘full transparency,’ we ask Congressman Wasserman Schultz to release her own tax returns.”

  There are no records of Wasserman Schultz having ever released her personal income tax returns, though, as the Harrington campaign states, members of Congress are required to disclose assets, holdings, and various other financial information.

• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: April 16, 2012 – The Morning Drill: April 16, 2012
• Wisconisin Property Taxes Go Down for the First Time in 12 Years Statewide – Today Governor Walker announced that statewide property taxes for the typical homeowner have gone down for the first time in 12 years. The tax bill for the median value home is $39 per homeowner lower than originally estimated by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau when the 2011-2013 budget was passed.

  “Our reforms have reversed a decade of property tax increases from previous administrations,” said Governor Walker. “For the first time in over ten years, the average property taxpayer will have more money in his or her pocket than the year before.”

  Since 1998, property taxes paid by homeowners have risen 43 percent. This year property taxes paid by the typical homeowner went down .4 percent. Without the Governor’s reforms the average homeowner would have paid an additional $700 over the biennium.

• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Day By Day April 16, 2012 – Obama Tag Team – Day By Day April 16, 2012 – Obama Tag Team
• Boston Marathon: April 16, 2012 | Universal Sports | Year-Round Coverage of Olympic Sports & Athletes – Watching the Boston Marathon here:
• Less Than Half of Americans Consider Tax Bill Too High – Huh? RT @gallupnews Less Than Half of Americans Consider Tax Bill Too High…
• Romney Specifies Deductions He’d Cut – Mitt Romney, speaking at a private fundraising event on Sunday, offered the first details of deductions he would eliminate or limit in order to offset the income tax cut he has proposed for all taxpayers.

  Mr. Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, said he would eliminate or limit for high-earners the mortgage interest deduction for second homes, and likely would do the same for the state income tax deduction and state property tax deduction.

  He also said he would look to the Department of Education and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for budget cuts.

• Gingrich’s Billionaire Backer Turns Sights to House – Sheldon Adelson, a wealthy casino owner who has spent millions to boost the presidential campaign of Newt Gingrich, has donated $5 million with his wife to a super PAC for House Republican candidates, according to campaign filings released Sunday.

  The Adelsons made their donations in February to the Congressional Leadership Fund, which was formed last year to be “focused solely and exclusively” on maintaining the GOP majority in the House.

  The super PAC has the backing of the top GOP brass in the House. Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy were each among the 60 GOP lawmakers who attended the super PAC’s inaugural event last fall.

• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-04-16 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-04-16
• Untitled (http://getglue.com/Fullosseousflap/stickers/amc/the_killing_ogi_jun?s=ts&ref=Fullosseousflap) – I unlocked the The Killing: Ogi Jun sticker on @GetGlue!
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Day By Day April 15, 2012 – The Why Stage – Day By Day April 15, 2012 – The Why Stage
• Untitled (http://getglue.com/tv_shows/nba_on_abc?s=tch&ref=Fullosseousflap) – Lakers vs. Mavericks at Staples @GetGlue #NBAOnABC
• (404) http://t.co/ibjc – RT @Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw leads the @Dodgers vs the Padres on Jackie Robinson Day at 1:10 p.m. PT at Dodger Stadium: …
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Muhammed Cartoons Watch: Four Muslims Plead Not Guilty to Terrorist Attack on Jyllands-Posten Newspaper – Muhammed Cartoons Watch: Four Muslims Plead Not Guilty to Terrorist Attack on Jyllands-Posten Newspaper
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-04-15 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-04-15
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Democrats MOCK Linda Parks “Rocky Road” Television Ad – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Democrats MOCK Linda Parks “Rocky Road” Television Ad
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Democrats MOCK Linda Parks “Rocky Road” Television Ad – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Democrats MOCK Linda Parks “Rocky Road” Television Ad
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Democrats MOCK Linda Parks “Rocky Road” Television Ad – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Democrats MOCK Linda Parks “Rocky Road” Television Ad
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Democrats MOCK Linda Parks “Rocky Road” Television Ad – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Democrats MOCK Linda Parks “Rocky Road” Television Ad
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Democrats MOCK Linda Parks “Rocky Road” Television Ad – RE: No, Strickland will finish number one and will do some perfunctory campaigning in the process. Republican women a…
• Rio Hondo College president announces he will retire in June – Rio Hondo College President Ted Martinez announced Friday he will retire June 30.

  Martinez has worked 41 years as a community college educator, including the last five as president of Rio Hondo.

  “It is now time for a new generation of leadership to take Rio Hondo College into the next 50 years, which will surely be as outstanding as the milestone year the college will be celebrating,” Martinez said. “I am truly proud of our collective accomplishments these past five years.”

  Martinez said he is proud of the progress the college has made during his five years, including the near-completion of the $245 million facilities construction program, receipt of full accreditation from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and restoration of the Rio Hondo College Police Academy program.

  However in the last year, he’s had issues with faculty members.

  In December, he filed an internal grievance against three professors whom he said have been critical of him to the point of creating a work environment so hostile as to cause him to suffer a mild stroke.

  Martinez experienced his stroke in February 2011 and was “out for a time,” college spokeswoman Susan Herney said in December.

  His doctors cleared him to resume his regular schedule, she said.

• Janet Napolitano Signed ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law for Arizona in 2006 – Amid Democrat attempts to use the Trayvon Martin shooting as a means to push for the repeal of Stand Your Ground laws, it’s been interesting to note how many Democrats have a past that includes support for them.

  For example, on April 2 ,I had a post on Big Government that highlighted how former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, used her Current TV show to lambaste Stand Your Ground laws, and to blame Republicans for the existence of such laws in the first place. However, as I showed, the dirty little secret is that Granholm signed Michigan’s Stand Your Ground bill into law in 2006.

  Now it’s been discovered that an even more prominent Democrat, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, signed Arizona’s Stand Your Ground bill into law while governor of that state in 2006. And it’s important to note that Napolitano didn’t sign the bill half-halfheartedly, rather, she even countered anti-gunners’ opposition in the signing.

• Hollywood Entertainment Breaking News – Deadline.com/hollywood – Dodgers Sale To Magic Johnson Group Wins Bankruptcy Court OK –
• Dodgers Sale To Magic Johnson Group Wins Bankruptcy Court OK – Deadline.com – Dodgers Sale To Magic Johnson Group Wins Bankruptcy Court OK –
• Dodgers Sale To Magic Johnson Group Wins Bankruptcy Court OK – Deadline.com – RT @NikkiFinke: Dodgers Sale To Magic Johnson Group Wins Bankruptcy Court OK
• USC Athletics’ photo “The sun is shining… The USC…” on WhoSay – RT @USC_Athletics: The sun is shining… The USC legends are in the Coliseum… It’s Game Day!
• Gregory Flap @ Glendale Galleria – foursquare – Waiting to get my eyes examined at Teagle Optometry. (@ Glendale Galleria w/ 4 others)
• Untitled (http://twitter.com/RaDragon/status/191239410782715904/photo/1) – Nice job Raciel! RT @RaDragon We won the costume contest! Radical! #SheRunsLA
• Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner – foursquare – Finished 10 miles and with Tara, Alice and Nancy (@ Ronnie’s Diner w/ 2 others)
• Untitled (http://getglue.com/topics/p/running?s=tch&ref=Fullosseousflap) – Off to Los Angeles Running in Santa Monica @GetGlue #Running
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-04-14 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-04-14
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Democrats MOCK Linda Parks “Rocky Road” Television Ad – CA-26: Democrats MOCK Linda Parks “Rocky Road” Television Ad
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » The Afternoon Flap: April 13, 2012 – The Afternoon Flap: April 13, 2012