BY MIKE CETERA
On Tuesday, the Aurora City Council approved a seemingly uncontroversial (and also non-binding) resolution calling on the federal government to restore budget cuts to Fermilab in Batavia.
These cuts have prompted the lab to announce plans to lay off 10 percent of its workforce -- roughly 200 people -- and put some of its work on mothballs. Seems fair to guess these layoffs could hurt some Aurora residents and the city's economy. Seems fair to guess these layoffs could impact the lab's ability to make scientific advancements.
Aurora Alderman Rick Lawrence is not so sure. He became the first politician that I could find to oppose efforts to pressure the federal government to reverse the cuts.
In opposing the resolution, Lawrence indicated he was uncertain of the basis for the cuts or how it affected the work done at Fermilab.
If this, indeed, is Lawrence's rationale for voting against the resolution, the answers to his questions are fairly easy to find.
From The New York Times:
In the budget proposed by Mr. Bush in February as well as the versions passed later by the Senate and the House, the Office of Science at the Energy Department was slated for a healthy budget increase of more than 18 percent, part of a promise to double financing for research for the physical sciences over the next decade.But to meet bottom-line spending targets demanded by Mr. Bush, Congress rolled back the planned increases for the Energy Department and other science agencies. Fermilab’s budget fell, because the spending bill specifically dictates large cuts to the International Linear Collider and the NOvA projects.
From a letter written by former Fermilab Director Leon Lederman in the The New York Times:
After a string of lean years, the 2008 cuts will result in a major contraction of our country’s basic research ability. The intimate connections among biology, chemistry, technology and fundamental physics make the penalties unpredictable and hurtful in the long term.An example is the impact of the omnibus bill on Fermilab, the sole remaining American lab devoted to high-energy physics. As prospects for major discoveries in energy have rarely been higher, the bill will cancel all programs that can assure the future of the laboratory and our participation in this research.
From NJ.com:
Scientists--and others--have attributed the cuts to earmarks. The American Physical Society, for example, issued a statement indicating that it "notes with some dismay that had Congress applied the same discipline to earmarking as it did last year, the damage to the science and technology enterprise could have been avoided."Directing agencies to finance projects that would probably not receive money otherwise--failing to pass muster by peer review or other merit-based evaluations--takes funds from those that have been proposed and reviewed by the bodies that do the peoples' business, that have been subjected to the scrutiny of Congress and the public during hearings. In contrast, an earmark simply directs funding to the pet projects of individual members of Congress.
In the budget first proposed by President Bush in February, and in later versions approved by the Senate and House as well, the Office of Science at the Energy Department was slated for a healthy budget increase of more than 18 percent, part of a promise to double financing for research for the physical sciences over the next decade--to meet critical national (and world) needs.
That was then; this is now. Those promised increases have given way to earmarked priorities. Since monies for earmarks come from the same pot that all appropriations come from, to the extent that we reduce that pot for pork, we have less money to meet our genuine needs and priorities. Science--and the public--suffer as a result. The impact is both immediate and long-term.
The only person I could find who minimized the impact of the cuts is President Bush's undersecretary of science at the U.S. Department of Energy:
Science: One leading particle physicist has said that Fermilab is in "deep, deep, deep" trouble. Do you agree with that?R.O.: No. ... I think the high-energy physics community needs to help us in determining a set of priorities within reasonable budgetary limits. ... There will be a charge to HEPAP [High Energy Physics Advisory Panel] to and to P5 [Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel] to examine the priorities for high-energy physics [as a field] within different budget outlines. ... It will be up to the community to decide what the priorities are. In terms of Fermilab itself, there is no issue. Fermilab is the high-physics experimental laboratory for the United States. There's never been any move away from that, either by Congress or by us. ... What we need now is for the high-energy physics community to give us its recommendations. We'll make the decisions, but we need their recommendations for different budget projections as to what they would do and what they wouldn't do. ...
In my opinion Aldermen Lawrence has become an embarrasment for the City of Aurora. He seems to speak quickly before doing any basic research. Now of course this isn't always true, he has made an occasional reasonable comment, just not often enough for me. I get the feeling he has a large agenda for getting his name recognized.
It's truly amazing how the both the media and those who proposed this resolution didn't do THEIR research first.
The resolution was offered without any explanation as to what these programs that are being cut and why and WHO cut them. Did the Beacon-News report anywhere it was Democrat-controlled Congress that did these cuts?
If we are just going to say it's wrong for anyone to lose their job or funding, that could apply to all kinds of situations. Why would the mayor bring forward a resolution without any advanced knowledge to anyone, without anyone from Fermilab to speak on the subject and without any specifics and expect people to make an informed vote?
What surprises me is why 11 people voted for something just because it sounds good without knowing ANYTHING. Maybe those cuts are appropriate considering high-energy physics are moving to Europe. Maybe the cuts were not good, but it seems to me Alderman Lawrence is the ONLY one who actually tried to think this through instead of just the political feel-good tactic by the mayor.
How come the mayor can just bring a resolution for a vote without advanced notice anytime, but when it came to the parental notification resolution, the same administration and city council said there must be research first and time for everyone to consider it?
Double-standards? Hypocrisy?
Mike, once again you never disappoint me.
This resolution was brought in front of us with absolutely no supporting facts. Facilities like Fermi Lab go through these type of budgets all the time. For you to imply that you ,City Council or the Mayor has a clear understanding of the operations or budgets at Fermi Lab I find amazing. I understand that George Bush proposed 372 mil. in his budget for Fermi Lab and that was cut to 320 mil but what does that exactly mean? I remember several years ago when Fermi wanted a Accelerator which ended up going to Texas (now as I understand is closed) we heard how that was devastating to Fermi and their future was unclear. We also heard the same argument when the Military was closing bases in the 90's and the local economies seam to work that out as well. Places like Fermi Lab will survive and will put another grant together in the future.
I take my vote very seriously when I asked the Mayor to give us the facts he stated that this is a knowledge economy and that people with higher degree are making most of the money and it is important to have jobs a Fermi Lab. That does not explain why the cuts should not not have been made nor did anyone explain what would be cut. The only other explanation that we received was from Bill Foster candidate for congress who explained these cuts were as a result of the war in Iraq. Given this Mayor handling of our own local budget I really don't think he is the one who should be figuring out how the Federal Government spends it's money.
I guess though you would be happy if I just voted yes all the time and never asked any questions like some others. It would mean that I am informed and truly understand if I would just vote like everyone else. This was nothing more then a feel good resolution without any facts to support it. Voting the way I did does not say about of my support of Fermi Lab and the research they do but I do not think I was elected to vote for things without knowing the facts. Do I want more jobs at Fermi absolutely if the are productive and money is well spent, I'll be the first to stand up. If the Mayor felt this to be such an important issue maybe he should have been more prepared or given us advance notice that this was coming so we could have done are own research.
Rick Lawrence
Cetera responds:
Rick,
Thanks for your reply. I don't expect you to not ask questions, but I find it hard to believe you walked into the council meeting knowing nothing about the Fermilab cuts.
It's pretty clear to anyone who reads a newspaper -- pick one, any one -- why these cuts were made. Why must you rely on the mayor to give you the facts on this issue?
And aren't all resolutions honoring or advocating something --the parental notification resolution, included -- by definition feel-good resolutions? After all, they have no teeth. It's simply a way to express support for or disappoval of something.
Whether you meant it or not, your no vote implies you don't support Fermilab.
Oh, and you never disappoint me, either.
Mr. Lawrence, thank you for being the only alderman (or reporter) who thinks through these issues.
Even if one read a newspaper like Mr. Cetera thinks everyone does, you wouldn't easily know it was a Democrat-controlled Congress that cut the funding.
Mr. Cetera, your statement implies a bias against Mr. Lawrence, ignorance of these serious issues, how real issues are dealt with in government and I am disappointed in you.
Mike,
You can make a 100 phone calls to anyone you want and I guarantee you will be hard pressed to find anyone that knows much about the cuts at Fermi. I will be the first to admit that I do not study Fermi's operations on a daily basis to understand programs that are needed or not. It was clear to me that the Mayor didn't understand them nor did Bill Foster explain them and he used to work there. He wanted to make this a political statement about George Bush and the war. You have not shown that because Fermi has not received this 52 million dollars in funding that it is a dooms day scenario for the scientific world in the US. Sometimes adversity will spur invention just maybe the scientist at Fermi will come up with something bigger and better for the world. Just maybe this will force them to look in a different direction and find something no one ever expected. That is generally what happens in the private world.
After the City Council meeting I did talk to a person at Fermi who is part of their public relations Dept.and she sent me this e-mail at 11:28 that night.
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 11:28:11 PM
> Subject: Fermilab
>
> Hi Rick,
>
> Here is some information (background only!) on Fermilab and the
> budget cuts. First let me tell you why Fermilab is important. It's a
> difficult thing to explain, since Fermilab's research isn't exactly
> tangible. But I'll do my best.
>
> Fermilab is currently the world's premier particle physics
laboratory.
> For the past few decades, we've been the world leader in particle
> physics research. What happens at Fermilab - we accelerate particles
> to the speed of light and then smash them into one another, creating
> new particles and basically studying what happens when they collide.
> Through these collisions, we can trace back events to see how these
> particles interact with each other and other things. We can learn
> about the particles that make up our universe, which helps us learn
> about where we come from (how was matter formed?).
>
> Later this year, the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at CERN in
> Switzerland will start up. This will supplant us as the world's
> premier particle physics lab. To give you an idea - the Tevatron
> (Fermilab's accelerator) is 4 miles in diameter and the LHC will be
> 16. The Tevatron is scheduled to close in a few years, and when that
> happens, we really have nothing to use as competition. The budget
that
> the president requested would have funded research and development
for
> the next big collider, the International Linear Collider, which is
> envisioned to give us an better understanding of why the universe
> exists. It also would have funded NOvA, a neutrino experiment.
>
> Without these funds, we have to stop research and R&D on a lot of our
> key projects that were going to keep us a viable competitor on the
> global stage. To stay even in the picture scientifically as a
country,
> we need to be able to do cutting-edge research in all fields, not
just
> in physics, but all sciences. (These cuts affected all sciences, see
> fact sheet link below).
>
> Originally, the 2008 budget was supposed to include funds modestly
> higher than the 2007 budget.
> FY 2006 $324M
> FY 2007 $342M
> FY 2008 $372M (President's Request)
>
> The numbers above reflect the budget for Fermilab. Fermilab is funded
> by about 45% of the High Energy Physics budget. The president's
> requested budget for FY08 was $782M. The 2007 budget was $752M. What
> HEP received - $688M.
>
> This is $90 million less, which meant $52M in cuts for Fermilab. (We
> expect to actually get $320M).
>
>
> As far as we can figure, after earmarks and other additions, the
> budget was $22B above the president's budget, and cuts had to be
made.
>
> Fact sheet:
http://www.fnal.gov/pub/today/images08/SC_08_Omnibus_Impacts.pdf
>
> and our director's slides, with all the facts:
> http://www.fnal.gov/pub/today/files/All_Hands_Meeting_122007.ppt
>
> News site about the cuts:
> http://www.fnal.gov/pub/today/FY08budgetimpactonFermilab.html
>
> If the cuts stay this way, we'll have to cut 10% of our work force,
> and all employees will be forced to take 2 unpaid vacation days each
> month.
>
>
>
> Hope this helps!
Cetera said: "I find it hard to believe you walked into the council meeting knowing nothing about the Fermilab cuts."
-I find it hard to believe the mayor would throw out a resolution without giving anyone an opportunity to know about it, without any facts or ANY information to back up the claims or explain what the cuts were for.
Comparing the parental notification to this one is ridiculous and ignorant. Alderman Lawrence, thanks for taking the time to think through these issues. It's obvious neither the mayor nor the Beacon does.
Cetera, since you seem to know-it-all, do you honestly think the other 11 aldermen who voted for the resolution actually knew about the Fermilab cuts and that Congress cut the spending and how much all before seeing any resolution thrown at them by the mayor?
You think Abby Schuler or Scheketa Hart-Burns or Juany Garza even have a clue as to what Fermilab DOES?
My neighbor works for Fermilab and says there's plenty of waste that could be cut, so does that mean he doesn't support Fermilab?
Cetera responds:
Mary, John C.: Thanks for joining the discussion. I don't presume to know it all. I'm sorry if I came across that way. It just struck me as odd there's really nobody locally among the several governmental bodies -- Republican or Democrat -- who isn't demanding Congress reinstate the cuts....except Rick Lawrence.
One question, though. Do you two live or work together since your comments came from the same IP address?
The seemingly first assumption that was made in the resolution presented to the council and in the post on this blog is that all government cuts are inherently bad. Nothing is further from the truth.
Belief in the efficacy or non-efficacy of funding and cuts are dependent upon whose ox is being gored. Unfortunately, those now in power would rather see to wealth redistribution rather than science.
As to Rick, he should not abate his questions. We need someone to ask questions and it seems that Rick is that person one else seems to be interested enough to want to ask. For you and your newspaper to attack Rick for asking questions and not wanting to vote for something willy nilly just because everyone else does is very short sighted and ridiculous. You would have this city operated by lemmings, which sometimes I think it is.
Why is it that the Beacon does not promote open government? Why is it that the Beacon cannot ask questions? Why is it that Beacon accepts whatever comes out of city hall as the gospel?
What does the Beacon have to gain by government being operated with the lights off, the door closed and under the covers? That is what is implied when you attack someone for asking questions.
Is this a Beacon News blog wherein people are encouraged to speak their minds and let it run or is this a Mike Cetera blog wherein anyone that posts a comment will get a sharp response? That will curely attract writers to this blog.
Mike,
You want to criticize Mr. Lawrence for not looking into the situation regarding the cuts at Fermi Lab. Your colleague, Dan Campana, has precisely the solution for ensuring that issues such as Mr. Lawrence's arise all the more frequently. Eliminate Committee of the Whole meetings, or COWs, as he so affectionately refers to them. In his article he states that "At least two people who heard that (the City Council would meet on Tuesday without a preceding COW) wondered how aldermen will be able to have a council meeting Tuesday because the COW hasn't been seen since before the holidays." These two people happened to both be me and the reason I brought this matter up was because of precisely the questions Mr. Lawrence had at this very meeting.
Had the Committee of the Whole met prior to the City Council, Mr. Lawrence could have raised his questions there, done his research between the two AND received a response which was not rushed from the mayor with supporting documentation if he so chose to assist the aldermen with their decisions rather than demanding a response. Mr. Lawrence is right in not making a decision to support ANY legislation, regardless of whether it is binding or not, without fully being able to research it. However, he would not have been put in that position had the proper procedures (to the best of my limited knowledge) been followed. So thank you Mike. Prior to this blog entry I was undecided as to how I felt about the relevance of Committee of the Whole meetings, but you have pointed out that the City Council has already shown whether or not the debate over issues will be more full and transparent at council meetings due to the absence of the Committee of the Whole. That answer was a resounding no. Rather, fewer questions will be asked and the public will be left in the dark as to the reasons behind the decisions our leaders make.
Another counter point to Mr. Campana's case for the irrelevance of Committee of the Whole is the lawsuits we are facing in regards to the Planned Parenthood clinic. Mr. Campana suggests that the small aldermanic committees, such as the Planning Committee, which meet to pass issues on to the Committee of the Whole, or as Dan wishes, the City Council, adequately probe the issues to get all of the facts that will be needed for the City Council to make a decision. The Planning Commission allowed Gemini to be vague and sidestep their questions. This may well not have happened had the issue gone before the Planning Commission and then before the Committee of the Whole. Can you imagine how many hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars this would have saved us in court costs? Let's be honest. Gemini was not forthright with their intentions as they should have been, but the Planning Committee had a responsibility to thoroughly probe the issue. Gemini was not the first company to be less than forthright with information, nor will they be the last. I recognize that the "Gemini Development" clinic issue was not something that would have gone before the Committee of the Whole, but it does illustrate the thoroughness that the Planning Committee and the others like it lack. A more thorough discussion during the Committee of the Whole needs to be a part of our city's protection against those whose motives my not be in the city's best interest.
One question I have not seen the answer to is: How far in advance was the council informed that the Fermi Lab funding resolution would be presented at the council meeting? Had a Committee of the Whole meeting taken place prior to the council meeting the answer would be at least a week. The Committee of the Whole is essential as a setting for questions to come up in a group that would not have otherwise. Many of these questions require a response that could not be adequately researched or given in a matter of minutes. The Committee of the Whole is a one week buffer period that encourages a fuller deliberation and understanding of the issues at hand. Is this not what we want from our leaders? Informed decisions rather than potentially hasty ones? So Mike, cut Mr. Lawrence some slack on this issue. Does his vote to not support the Fermi Lab funding resolution warrant questioning? Absolutely. He should be called to account for the decisions he makes. However, those who worsened the situation by deciding that the Committee of the Whole was unnecessary prior to this City Council meeting and those who supported that decision should be held accountable for their actions to no lesser degree.
I have to agree with Mike. Alderman Lawrence whether you meant it or not, your no vote implies you don't support Fermilab. This resolution is only expressing support. Support for our community. Fermi Lab has been in the Fox Valley a long time. If you or anyone else who lives in the Fox Valley does not know of the important and successful research done there it's time you pull your heads out of the ground. Have any of you considered the impact of having 200 more people out out of work? Obviously the people here supporting Aldermen Lawrence don't work at the Fermi Lab. There is never a wrong question. Everyone should ask questions, but to take something as simple as this and trying to make it the Mayors fault for not supplying you with every detail of the cuts is ridiculous. This resolution has been talked about for weeks. This appears nothing more than another of your ridiculous attempts to discredit the Mayor and other Council members. And I quote "I guess though you would be happy if I just voted yes all the time and never asked any questions like some others." Please provide us with your facts about every incident you have witnessed where 'some others' didn't ask any questions. Even better yet tell us who those 'some others' are.
I have read many articles about the budget cuts for Fermi Lab. Sure there might be instances of waste (isn't there in any organization public or private?) but the heart of the matter is this huge reduction in funding for very important work that is outside the mainstream line of view. Mr. Lawrence has implied that he had no information just like everyone else. I think that is unfounded logic. To assume just because one person is ill informed does not lead to the conclusion that the others in the groups are ill informed. Mr. Lawrence should have reasoned with the passage of similar resolutions from surrounding communities that Aurora would follow. I do not know how informed the rest of the council was; however, the implication that those voting were ill informed is without merit.
The role of government is to serve the people. Part of this would be look out for economic viability -- which translates into jobs and business. If there is a significant threat to the job market and business of our city, then I expect the City to act.
Leaders need to lead by example, thus doing the proper reading and become knowledgeable on your own without someone having to give it to you and not assuming others are less knowledgeable than you.
How dare the Beacon Blog question Alderman Lawrence! What impudence!
I'm confused. If we should automatically support a resolution for to reverse the DEMOCRAT CONGRESS cuts at Fermilab, did the resolution criticize the DEMOCRAT CONGRESS and did anyone at that city council meeting reveal to the city council it was the DEMOCRAT CONGRESS that cut the funding?
Fermilab is no longer the #1 high-energy physics lab in the world with the new stuff in Switzerland, so maybe these cuts in ADDITIONAL funding reflect that reality.
To say that someone doesn't just support a resolution out of thin air doesn't support Fermilab is absurd. Those other city council members that voted for this resolution did it just because it sounds good and the mayor wants it, not because they understand anything about what's going on either.
That's the problem, we have a mayor and city council who vote on on things they don't understand. Then, when there's someone who actually tries to ask serious questions and take the matter seriously, we have people like Mike Cetera come along and attack them.
Those other city council members that voted for this resolution did it just because it sounds good and the mayor wants it, not because they understand anything about what's going on either.
How do you know this to be true? Did you ask all the City Council members of not only Aurora but of the neighboring communities as well if it was just because Aurora's mayor wanted them to vote for restoring the funding. Did you ask Senator Durbin, Obama and Rep. Biggert to support Fermi lab too just because Mayor Weisner wanted it so. The fact that there is a Democratic Congress (just barely I might add) does not ensure that the Republican President's budget can be changed.
Get real. You're a Rick Lawrence Crony trying to pump him up for Mayor.
Fact. The White House supported the budget funding.
The DEMOCRATS in control of Congress cut it.
That was not shared by the mayor or with the city council so what is the reason the resolution isn't targeted at the Democrat Congress?
Politics? Feel good resolution?
Alderman Lawrence was correct to ask questions.
Sorry, I can't say that I agree with you. Lawrence is the person who votes No all the time. How can anyone believe that this was nothing more than a publicity stunt to get his name in the paper yet again. Good thing the Beacon buried it. Just because Congress Democrates have a slight majority does not mean all goes smoothly and that the Democrates made this problem. How about all the Republicans and a few stray Democrates did. Regardless, there is opportunity to right what was wrong and everyone else, with the exception of media hungry Lawrence, realizes this. I used to be a Rick Lawrence supporter but now he has shown that he is just serving his own self interests.
What you are saying is that all the other officials in the surrounding communities, including our US representatives and State Representatives are all wrong; and Rick Lawrence is the only one who is right? Sounds quite a bit ridiculous.