About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 2018)
4D Sunday, November 18, 2018 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com VIEWPOINT Sinema will fit right in at the US Senate Republicans recently chose Mitch McConnell to continue on as Senate Majority Leader. Meanwhile, Arizona voters elected Democrat Kyrsten Sinema to the U.S. Senate. No word yet on whether Sinema plans to break from her party and support McConnell in all legislative matters because she sees him as her “boss.” It’s worth mentioning given that not so long ago, Sinema pulled a stunt like that back home. If such extreme bipar tisan cooperation sounds crazy, then you’ve never covered Arizona politics. I was in the sandbox in the 1990s, when I wrote for the Arizona Repub lic. There, I covered the infancy of the modern immigration debate. And I still check in periodically — through friends, family, and sources — on the bizarre happenings in the Grand Canyon State. One of the stranger things happened nearly seven years ago when a group called Citizens for a Better Arizona launched an effort to recall Republican law maker Russell Pearce. He RUBEN NAVARRETTE ruben@rubennavarrette.com was the author of SB 1070, the state’s racist immigra tion law, and he was also the powerful president of the Arizona state senate. Pearce lost his recall election in November 2011. Soon thereafter, accord ing to the Phoenix New Times, at a meeting of the local chapter of Progres sive Democrats of America, Sinema — who was then an Arizona state senator — was asked by Latina activ ist Lilia Alvarez why she hadn’t supported the effort to recall Pearce. According to Alvarez, and several others in the room, Sinema gave what has to be one of the most ridiculous answers in the history of Arizona politics. Something like: “Rus sell Pearce is my boss, and that’s why I couldn’t get involved.” According to the Huff ing- ton Post at the time, Sinema spokesman Rodd McLeod insisted that the Democrat did support the recall — just privately. He also claimed that her “boss” comment was taken out of context, and that she was merely trying to explain to the activists how the Senate worked. Sinema said much the same thing, doubling down on the claim that Pearce was the “boss” of the senate. Thus, Sinema wasn’t really being complicit in Pearce’s racist agenda. She was just being condescend ing as she tried to explain the workings of govern ment to the great unwashed because — according to multiple sources — she always considers herself the smartest person in the room. Oh, that’s much better. As Senate president, Pearce did indeed set the agenda, and he did decide the fate of bills. But the idea that a Republican senate president is the “boss” of a Democratic senator is absurd. In fact, it’s just as outra geous as when Sinema told the NBC affiliate in Phoenix FORD ■ Continued from 1D “Ford is shrinking, based on sheer sales,” said Jon Gabrielsen, an indepen dent market economist who advises automakers and suppliers. “Over the last 10 years, all of Ford’s business outside the U.S. and Canada has steadily declined to the point that all that will ever be sufficiently profit able is in the U.S.-Canada. Indeed, many regions are hemorrhaging. “And in these two coun tries, Ford profits are driven entirely by pickup trucks, SUVs and vans. Its exiting cars could result in the loss of sales of 10 to 20 percent.” That may help explain why Ford is having wide- ranging talks with Volkswa gen. Executives from each have indicated that collabo ration could save the com panies billions of dollars in research and development costs and help each in the development of driverless and electric vehicles. VW and Ford are work ing with BMW and Daimler to develop a rapid electric- vehicle charging network across Europe. Emissions standards continue to increase worldwide, with the major markets of China and California driving sig nificant growth. “In Europe, Ford has lost $973 million in the last five years — indicating that, no matter what they have tried, they failed to turn it around despite being at the peak of the cycle. Things will get far worse in the next downturn,” said Gabrielsen, who gets his data from Ford’s SEC filings. “In South America, Ford has lost $3.9 billion in the last five years.” Bob Shanks, Ford chief financial officer, reported big losses in Europe, Asia and South America. He told financial analysts after quar terly meetings this year: “Clearly our European business requires a major redesign. “Moving forward, we’re focused on getting our China business back on track. “We’re only going to allo cate capital to new invest ment opportunities going forward that generate the appropriate returns on capi tal. In the process, we will either move the low-per forming parts of the business through fitness... or we will dispose of them.” But industry analysts have asked why change is taking so long. In the past decade, Ford has lagged in Mexico while Europe is “unsalvage- able” and South America is a “dumpster fire,” Gabrielsen said. As for China, he said, “it’s ‘do or die time’; that must be fixed because it’s a horrible tragedy to forfeit that market.” In October, Shanks and Hackett told investors that Ford must be fundamentally redesigned. They promised to announce details as things unfold. “Around the globe, the company is moving with a sense of urgency to rede sign and restructure the business to capitalize on our strengths, while selec tively and smartly ‘disposi tion’ where we cannot make appropriate returns,” Ford spokesman Brad Carroll said. “To do this well, with a grounding in the future, takes time, but we are com mitted to making the right decisions for the long-term health of the company.” From 2013 to 2017, vehicle sales in North America gen erated $42.6 billion in profits with the help of pickup sales led by the Ford F-Series, while its Ford Financial arm earned $9.6 billion. “The risk to Ford of its total reliance on just North America for all its past and future profits, is that the North American market is highly mature and satu rated with vehicles, while the regions in which Ford is unsuccessful, and losing both market share and money, are the growth markets of the future,” said Gabrielsen, a 40-year industry consultant. “In the U.S., there are already 1.19 cars or light trucks for every licensed driver in the country, and 1.9 vehicles per household. That means that if every licensed driver in the country were driving a vehicle at this moment, 19 per cent of the total vehicles in the country would still be parked doing nothing. What are the odds that U.S. consum ers are going to want more than that per driver and per household? Indeed, vehicles per household have actually dropped from a peak of 2.1 in 2009, back to 1.9 in 2017. A further indication that the prospects for further growth are maxed out.” Meanwhile, China would have to increase the number of vehicles in the country by nearly a billion just to reach the level of maturity and sat uration of the United States. ‘Around the globe, the company is moving with a sense of urgency to redesign and restructure the business to capitalize on our strengths Brad Carroll Ford spokesman HARRIGAN ■ Continued from 3D tests and provide some latitude to moderate members, as Pelosi did with the red-state Democrats who rode Obama’s coattails to Washington in 2008. A “big tent” may not excite liberals who want to see significant change, but that approach is often necessary for a congres sional party seeking majority status. Thus, Nancy Pelosi’s experience and savvy make her the right choice for speaker in 2018, and such a pick would not preclude the possibility of fresh Democratic leader ship in the future. As Pelosi herself has indicated, she can navigate the troublesome waters of divided government now, while the party grooms a new class of leaders. As of this writing, those members who expressed a willingness to vote against Pelosi as speaker have not backed an actual challenger. The 2020 elections have the potential to deliver Democrats unified government and the opportunity to enact a more progressive agenda, but the party does not yet live in such a world. Matthew T. Harrigan is Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Santa Clara University. Readers may write him at SCU, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053. HASKINS ■ Continued from 3D renewable-energy man dates in a ridiculous attempt to control the weather and battle climate change. Pelosi has mocked and ridiculed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, ignorantly refer ring to the thousands of dol lars in extra cash delivered by the tax reform package to millions of American families as “crumbs.” And she’s called for rais ing taxes on job creators to fund her numerous propos als to expand the size and power of government — a strategy that would stunt economic growth and increase unemployment. Pelosi’s policies have failed over and over again, which is why House Demo crats took one of the biggest political beatings in U.S. history during the 2010 elec tions, when Democrats, in a single year, went from enjoying a 79-seat advan tage to being stuck with a 49-seat deficit. Pelosi’s policies offer Americans absolutely noth ing they haven’t already seen and rejected before: more regulations, higher taxes, less freedom, and fewer health care options. It’s time for something better. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Richmond, Justin Haskins is Executive Editor and Research Fellow at The Heartland Institute. Readers may write him at Heartland, 3939 North Wilke Road, Arlington Heights, IL 60004 that she supported the idea of Pearce running for Con gress because, she said, “I love Russell. We get along very well.” Only in Arizona. I’ve heard that Sinema condescension directly. A few years ago, when she was in the House of Repre sentatives, I interviewed her and asked about her hardline stance on immigra tion enforcement. In Congress, Sinema co sponsored a bill calling for regular border threat analy sis of terrorism, smuggling and human trafficking. She supported Kate’s Law, which sprang out of the hysteria over so-called sanc tuary cities and would have expanded prison sentences for illegal immigrants who re-enter the country after being deported. She voted for the SAFE Act, which made it more difficult for refugees to enter the United States. And she broke with other Democrats in opposing efforts to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At one point, in response to a question she didn’t like, she called me combative — and then ended the inter view. As various activists in Phoenix have told me, she hates being challenged and doesn’t take criticism well. She illustrates perfectly the great mirage of the Ari zona immigration debate. Supposedly white Demo crats stick their necks out every day to defend Latino constituents against anti immigration nativists. Yeah, not so much. Sinema also doesn’t stick to her campaign promises. In July, while trying to win over conservatives, she told Politico that she wouldn’t support Chuck Schumer for Senate Minority Leader. This week, when Schumer was re-elected by acclama tion, no one objected — including the Senator-elect from Arizona. We’d better get used to such maneuvers. Sinema looks out for Sinema. She’ll say what you want to hear, and then do what is best for her. In other words, when this one is sworn in and takes her seat in the Senate, she’ll fit right in. Ruben Navarrette writes for the Washington Post Writers Group. SUNDAY CARTOON GALLERY USA BENSON I Washington Post Writers Group JOEL PETT I Tribune News Service DANA SUMMERS I Tribune News Service Today’s TV news shows ■ ABC’s “This Week” — Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; Reps.-elect Deb Haaland, D-N.M., Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., Donna Shalala, D-Fla., Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Lauren Underwood, D-lll. ■ NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. ■ CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Sens. Joni Ernst, R-lowa, and Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.; Reps.- elect Haaland, Houlahan, Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, and Joe Neguse, D-Colo. ■ CNN’s “State of the Union” — Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.; Haaland, Houlahan, Crenshaw. ■ “Fox News Sunday” — President Donald Trump. Associated Press
