Following are highlights of national news coverage that members of Mason’s School of Public Policy received from February 6 to March 7.

Louise Shelley

March 7, Konflikt (Swedish Public Radio)

Professor Louise Shelley discusses, on the Swedish Public Radio international affairs program, corruption and organized crime and its consequences on development, justice, and democracy.

March 6, Politico
End the Nonsense, Make Rove Testify

Mark Rozell

Professor Mark J. Rozell and Mitchel A. Sollenberger write an op-ed about executive privilege and recent controversies. An excerpt follows: “Obama needs to move swiftly to articulate an official policy for the use of executive privilege. This latest controversy reveals that he cannot leave the topic murky and handle these issues in a reactive fashion. Obama should outline reasonable parameters to avoid situations where testimony and documents are withheld because of some vague notion that disclosure will weaken the executive branch. Making executive privilege claims for the sake of defending executive power should no longer be the first response to a congressional request for information.”

March 5, The Situation Room (with Wolf Blitzer, CNN)
Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen?

James Pfiffner

Professor James Pfiffner was interviewed by CNN about White House staffing and appointments. The videotape was part of the program The Situation Room. An excerpt from the transcript follows: “JAMES PFIFFNER, GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: They don't have personnel power. That means that they can't hire and fire people, or tell cabinet secretaries to hire and fire people, and they usually don't have any budget power either. The more you multiply the czars the more complicated that management problem becomes for the White House.” View the video.

March 4, WTOP Radio
Region Insulated from Worst of Unemployment Crisis

Stephen Fuller

“As the nation undergoes the worst unemployment crisis in a generation, people are finding work in the D.C. region thanks in part to health care and the federal government. ‘We're still the best place to weather the storm,’ Stephen Fuller, director for the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., tells WTOP. ‘We’re still adding jobs. Unemployment remains relative, but things aren’t as good as they were a year or two ago.’ …Fuller says the federal contractor jobs are offsetting losses in retail and construction. ‘There is a rebalancing of the economy that is good for us.’ Fuller says this rebalancing will ultimately prompt a need for more housing. He anticipates new housing construction in the region will restart in April, provided developers can get construction loans and buyers mortgages.”

March 3, Politico
Blacks, Whites Hear Obama Differently

Michael Fauntroy

“‘The code words matter, how you dress matters, how you speak matters; it’s all subliminal messaging, and all politicians use it,’ said Michael Fauntroy, an assistant professor of public policy at George Mason University, who specializes in race and American politics. ‘Ronald Reagan used to talk about making America the shining city on a hill, which is about America as divinely inspired, and it has a deep vein in the evangelical conservative movement. It goes on all the time, and there are so many circumstances when only the target people get the message.’ But Fauntroy said the stakes were higher for Obama, who had to ‘deracialize himself.’ ”

March 1, Boston Globe
RNC Chairman Plans Turnaround for Battered Party

“Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee's first African-American chairman, said he believes the historic election of Democrat Deval Patrick, Massachusetts' first black governor, was more of a cultural phenomenon than a triumph of political ideas….But some political analysts doubt whether Steele can recruit minorities, a herculean task in the age of the highly popular Obama. Others question whether electing Steele was the party's nod to white swing voters who supported the first black president—a tacit sign that Republicans have become more inclusive. A black chairman ‘is almost exclusively about white moderates,’ said Michael K. Fauntroy, a political science professor at George Mason University. ‘If you're a moderate white, it's easier to vote with a party that appears to reflect where the country's going.’… ‘I believe the GOP has lost a generation of voters to Barack Obama and the Democrats. Having a black chairman cannot overcome that,’ said George Mason's Fauntroy. Compar[ing] the first black president, a Democrat, and the first black GOP chairman, Fauntroy said, ‘there's no contest.’”

February 25, McClatchy
White House Aides Have Too Much Power, Byrd Says

The longest-serving U.S. senator in history, who's one of the nation's top authorities on congressional power, is challenging President Barack Obama for naming White House policy czars who can operate without the same legislative scrutiny as Cabinet officials…Mark Rozell, a public policy professor at George Mason University and author of a book on executive privilege, said Byrd's concerns are ‘absolutely right. These aren't people who are going through confirmation hearings; they're not heading departments and agencies over which Congress does direct oversight,’ Rozell said. ‘Cabinet secretaries begin to play a lesser role in the system. I think it leads to less accountability in the process. The irony is that the president conveys the message that he's all about openness and accountability and undoing the tendencies of the Bush era, while on the other hand he's concentrating power in the White House in a way that reduces accountability.’ Congress does have the power to push back, by refusing to support Obama's policies or to appropriate his requests for money. But in the current crisis climate, Rozell said, that's unlikely. Obama's far more popular than is Congress, and, especially in times of crisis, people look to the president as the authority figure. ‘I don't see the public giving much cover to Congress to take Obama on like this,’ he said. ‘Congress may be absolutely right constitutionally, but the public may not stand for it anyway. The public may just see Congress as meddling where it doesn't belong.’”

Jeremy Mayer

February 25, PM (Australia Radio)
Barack Obama Reassures a Worried America

Professor Jeremy Mayer was interviewed on Australia’s PM radio show regarding President Barack Obama’s first address to a joint session of Congress during which the president stated that bold and wise action is needed to revive the economy. Read or listen to the interview.

February 22, Investment News
Schapiro Tries to Mend SEC-House Relations

“Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] Chairman Mary Schapiro will be meeting with two senior members of a House subcommittee in an attempt to patch up relations after a disastrous Feb. 4 hearing at which senior SEC officials ducked questions on the Bernard Madoff scandal…. Fireworks erupted at the Feb. 4 hearing after SEC acting general counsel Andy Vollmer cited executive and other privileges in defending SEC officials' decision not to answer questions about how the SEC missed the Madoff fraud. …Executive privilege is an implied power of the presidency, said Mark Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University in Arlington, Va. ‘It may be asserted only by the president, or by certain high-level executive branch officials under the direction of the president,’ he said. At one point during the hearing, Mr. Vollmer said the SEC supported his claim of executive privilege. But ‘the SEC cannot vote as a committee to assert executive privilege or to allow some SEC official to do so,’ Mr. Rozell said. ‘That really is absurd.’”

February 22, Roanoke Times
Perriello Takes Seat at the Table

“It's a new day in 5th District Virginia politics. And that's easily seen on a brisk walk with freshman U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello….The Albemarle County Democrat finds himself in a fairly rare circumstance of taking office and adjusting to life as a congressman as the country's economy recedes closer and closer toward Great Depression proportions….Mark Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University, said this may be the most difficult time he can think of for a newly elected congressman to take office. ‘The issues facing the government are unprecedented, and people are looking for answers from their leaders,’ he said. ‘A newly elected member has the same pressure as any other member of Congress to “do something,” but has less stature. ... It takes a long time for a newcomer to build stature and influence in Congress. Under the circumstances, his constituents might not be very patient.’… ‘Establishing a reputation for independence from his own party will probably help him in his district,’ said Rozell, the George Mason professor. ‘And I think the electoral success previously of Virgil Goode shows that being independent-minded and not fully wedded to the platform of one party works well with voters in the district. If he acts as a party robot for Pelosi and Reid, he loses after one term,’ Rozell said, referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid….Many instances combined to lead to Perriello's success, Rozell said, such as U.S. Sen. Mark Warner's win and the boost in turnout because of the presidential election. ‘He won't have these circumstances to carry him in 2010,’ Rozell said. ‘In fact, I would consider him one of the most vulnerable incumbents of all in 2010.’”

February 19, Examiner (Washington, D.C.)
Mortgage Meltdown

“The Washington area is expected to be slammed by a second wave of foreclosures later this year as a new crop of adjustable-rate mortgages resets to higher rates and homeowners struggle with rising monthly payments. The problem is with ‘Alt-A’ loans, which were popular with banks and mortgage lenders mid-decade after many stopped issuing subprime loans as more homeowners defaulted on their mortgages, according to local analysts. Like other adjustable-rate mortgages, Alt-A loans reset to current rates, which are typically higher, after three to five years. …And many of those mortgages will start coming due toward the end of 2009, according to John McClain, deputy director of George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis. …The region has some of the highest rates of Alt-A mortgages in the nation, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Maryland ranks third with 16.8 such loans per 1,000 owner-occupied houses, a December report found. D.C. homeowners have a 16.7 rate, while Virginia comes in at 12.9. California led the nation with 40.8.That translates to about 57,000 Alt-A loans in Virginia, just more than 51,000 in Maryland and about 7,500 in the District in December 2008, according to the New York Fed. About 6 percent to 8 percent of those loans are expected to reset this year. ‘There are pockets in every jurisdiction … that seem to have concentrations of these dangerous mortgages,’ said Stephen Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason. ‘No area is totally immune to this.’”

February 19, FoxNews
NY Post Cartoon of Dead

Professor Michael Fauntroy discusses the racism involved in a recent New York Post cartoon. Watch the interview.

February 18, Washington Post
New Mortgage Plan to Focus on Lowering Payments

John McClain

“Credit Suisse has estimated that more than 8 million mortgages could fall into foreclosure during the next four years. In the Washington region, the number of properties involved in foreclosure process activities jumped 161 percent last year, to 50,148, according to the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University. Foreclosures have hit a plateau in some markets but could spike again as a second wave of risky loans adjust to higher payments starting in late 2009, said John McClain, deputy director of the center. ‘What Obama does for helping the foreclosure situation is key to preventing that wave from getting here,’ McClain said.”

February 10, USA Today
Alexandria, Va.: Low Unemployment and High Salaries Make the Market Stronger Than Most

“Alexandria, Va., a historic city close to the nation's capital, always has been a desirable place to live. It may be even more attractive now…. Workers can rely on four Metro stations within Alexandria's city limits to ride trains to work, instead [of] having to drive…. Throw in that the metro area has the lowest unemployment rate among the country's top 15 metropolitan areas, and it's no wonder prices (down 5 percent) have not dipped as much as elsewhere, says John McClain, senior fellow at the Center for Regional Analysis, George Mason University.”

February 10, Washington Post
Virginia House Approves Ban on Smoking

“The Virginia House of Delegates approved a plan for a ban on smoking covering most of the state's restaurants and many of its bars Monday, marking a significant political and cultural shift for a state whose history has been intertwined with tobacco for centuries. … Mark Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University, attributes the change among Republicans to the state's recent political and demographic shifts. ‘Many Republicans think it's too risky for them not to vote for it,’ Rozell said. ‘They don't want to be seen as the dinosaurs of Virginia politics anymore.’”

February 6, Roll Call
Taking Executive Privilege to Absurd Levels?

Professor Mark J. Rozell and Mitchel Sollenberger wrote an op-ed discussing President Obama’s need to explain his position on executive privilege and absolute immunity. In the piece they state, “The new president, with plenty of trouble to fill his agenda already, now has to decide whether and how he involves himself in this latest Bush era dust-up, and his decision could have important consequences for his own future exercise of a presidential power that every president since George Washington has relied upon at some point.”