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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.
Scott Elliott is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He writes about education, city and suburban issues, politics, business, workforce and consumer issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > July > 16
Friday, July 16, 2010
Paul Leonard: Animal rights agreement a fine start, but only that
This column was written by Paul R. Leonard, past chairman of the board of directors for the Animal Legal Defense Fund. The former Dayton mayor and lieutenant governor teaches political science and animal law at Wright State University.
It’s amazing what a tough re-election campaign can accomplish.
Take Ohio’s governor’s race. Ted Strickland was a newly-elected Democratic governor in 2006 with sky-high poll ratings. Those days are gone. Now, he’s struggling to keep his head above water.
Recently, Strickland reached an agreement with the Humane Society of the United States intended to improve the lives and status of animals. The governor promised to promote legislation that gets tough on cock fighting and puppy mills. He also committed to backing rules requiring humane crates for farm animals.
These changes are long overdue in a state with a national reputation for disgracefully weak laws on the protection of animal life.
When he was in Congress, Strickland was never a favorite of animal welfare organizations. His move toward reasonable, humane protection for farm animals would never have happened had it not been for the threat by the Humane Society to take its views directly to voters.
Last year, the governor was out-front on an ill-advised ballot issue that was a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Ohioans passed the issue, which created a new board charged with overseeing humane treatment of farm animals.
But the foxes will be in charge of regulating the hen houses. Ohio voters were fooled by the politicians in that campaign, and animals in Ohio were the losers.
So, the Humane Society decided to take action this year with the threat of an initiative that would trump last year’s vote. The governor got on board.
Give the devil his due. Better late than never.
The new agreement is a step forward, albeit a small step. It will require some legislative action (good luck with those Neanderthals) and continued commitment from the next governor, whether Strickland or John Kasich is elected.
Even with full implementation of the new agreement, Ohio has a long way to go if we are to be recognized as progressive on animal welfare issues.
Here are 10 suggestions for Strickland and Kasich to consider as they hit the campaign trail looking for the support of animal-rights advocates:
• Support legislation requiring cross-reporting to appropriate agencies of animal violence and family domestic violence. Those who abuse animals often graduate to abusing family members; and those who abuse family members will often abuse the family pet.
• Support regulation and licensing of professional breeders who often over-breed female animals. Over-breeding is animal cruelty.
• Support enactment of a law that exists today only in North Carolina that allows private animal-advocacy groups to bring a criminal prosecution against animal abusers and obtain custody of abused or neglected animals. In many counties and cities, police and prosecutors cannot “be bothered” with animal abuse cases.
• Support elevating the status of animals. Under the law, animals are not recognized as “living things.” They are classified as inanimate property with no more rights than a television set or a couch. The law should recognize that there is a difference between inanimate and animate property, with tougher penalties applied to those who abuse or neglect animate property.
• Require state and local bar associations to create an Animal Law Committee and offer continuing legal education for lawyers, judges and prosecutors who, for the most part, are uneducated about animal law.
• Make animal abuse a felony, with mandatory jail time.
• Outlaw animal auctions. They supply sick and weak animals to pet stores.
• Outlaw the sale of animals by retail pet stores. Pets should be sold by regulated breeders, rescue organizations and shelters operating on a not-for-profit basis. They care. The pet business is a $45-billion-dollar-a-year juggernaut. The industry can afford to get out of the business of selling pets.
• Raise the license fee for dogs to cover all necessary government regulation of the pet industry. Most dog owners would gladly support this if they could be sure that the fees would go toward animal welfare.
• Enact a law that prohibits the ownership, possession, or possession for sale of exotic and wild animals.
These are 10 reasonable suggestions. Ohio’s animal sensitive-community is a growing bloc of voters who are beginning to understand politics — and the difference that can be made, especially in an election year.
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Martin Gottlieb: Holbrooke’s old mojo not there so far
“Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke. I don’t even want to open it.” — Gen. Stanley McChrystal, quoted in that famous Rolling Stone article
Watching Richard Holbrooke these days, one is reminded of John McEnroe — and not because of the temper, though some similarity reportedly arises there.
When McEnroe retired from tennis, he decided he wanted to be a rock star. He put together a band and he worked hard on writing, as well as performing. Things didn’t go as badly as you might imagine.
But eventually — the story goes — his wife told him, look, this just doesn’t happen: nobody gets to be the No. 1 tennis player in the world and a rock star.
Holbrooke is known in Dayton — and around the world — as the driving force behind the 1995 peace accords that ended the Bosnian war after talks at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. His imagination conceived of the talks, his drive made them happen, and his negotiating skills made them work.
So, despite a reputation in some quarters for abrasiveness and ego, he became a rock star. He made the short list for secretary of state.
And when Barack Obama decided that putting Hillary Clinton in that role would solve more problems for him than picking Holbrooke, Obama nevertheless came up with an extraordinary role for Holbrooke: the “president’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
That region was the most troublesome of the world’s trouble spots. A simple ambassadorial appointment would not be in keeping with Holbrooke’s stature, and he was the rare person who be able to make an undefined role work in a big way.
But the McChrystal quote above symbolizes how things are going. That kind of friction between big players is likely to be at its most intense when they are not going well. American casualties are up. The Afghanistan government is corrupt and ineffective. The Taliban thrive.
As a result, political problems are arising back home, putting pressure on everybody. For Obama’s political enemies — who typically don’t like going after generals — Holbrooke is a likely target. He has the role that springs from the president’s head.
What the heck is a “special representative”? And who is Holbrooke to be irritating the top general?
The administration, Holbrooke and journalists have no difficulty explaining what Holbrooke does. He shuttles between Afghanistan and Pakistan, working on the problems between those two countries, most specifically along the treacherous border where terrorists are ensconced.
He goes to Europe and to Arab countries trying to stimulate and buttress support for Afghanistan and the American-driven effort there. He works on the civilian side of the war effort, trying to make agriculture pay off in a way that stabilizes the country, rather than adding to its problems.
Fine. But the job description was rock star. Miracle worker.
Speculation arises at intervals about Holbrooke resigning or even being removed. Such talk has been fostered by his reported conflicts with Hamid Karzai, head of the Afghan government.
The possibility still exists, though, that at another stage of this story he will be able to bring his negotiating skills and experiences to bear in a way that achieves some sort of resolution.
Timing is crucial, after all. His success in Dayton happened — he knows — not simply because one man got really determined. It happened because one man recognized an opportunity. Things had come together in a certain way, after years of war. Holbrooke thought all sides might be made to see that further war was fruitless and that peace was now in their interest.
He never claimed that he could bring peace anyplace at any time.
He is not one to give up easily, though. If he does come home, that won’t be a good sign.
And yet, one man probably does not get to bring peace to both Bosnia and Afghanistan.
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