VOLUME 11 / NUMBER 1 / SPRING 2008 TrThe Pew uCharitabs le Trtusts

On the Way: More MPG NET Gain for the Pew Environment Group A Good Year for Election Reform? Public Pensions on the Precipice Notes from the President

investments in cleaner vehicle tech - The Pew Center on the States also nologies. produces its own research and analysis , Helping drive the effort was the as in Promises with a Price , the first re- National Environmental Trust, begun por t of its kind to examine the pension , in 1994 by Pew and other donors. Over health-care and other retirement bene - Open Roads the years, NET built an experienced fits owed by each of the 50 states to staff of public-policy and campaign their employees over the next three professionals who played a central decades. Currently, the obligations role in both U.S. environmental policy far exceed the funds available. Pay - istory shows that the auto - discussions and international treaty ing the impending bill will require a mobile had a slow start. In negotiations. The Pew Environment significant outlay of taxpayer dollars, H1509, Leonardo da Vinci described a Group partnered with NET on many and the states must muster the politi - device that, centuries later, would be public- education campaigns . Now, Pew cal will to make the necessary invest - called a predecessor of the internal has added NET’s expertise and effec - ments. The report presents irrefutable combustion engine, whose incremen - tiveness through a merger that literally data and then describes some of the tal development in the 19th century creates a whole greater than the sum fiscally responsible steps that states made the automobile possible. Then of its parts. “We are poised to enter a can take, with examples from those innovation came fast and furious. new era in Pew’s environmental demonstrating leadership. One aspect of the growing indus try, history,” says the group’s managing however, lost ground: fuel efficiency. director, Josh Reichert, “and we are small note to mark two In 1903, a touring car reached 15 better equipped than ever to produce anniversaries. This issue of miles per gallon. Some 70 years later, enduring results.” Trust marks a full decade of cars averaged only about 13 miles per publication. In the first gallon. tate governments are pulling a Aissue, we said that the new magazine In 1975, in the wake of an oil crisis, heavy load with an expanding would describe “the work, commit - Congress set standards for fleet- wide array of responsibilities. Edu - ment, passion and persistence of our efficiency, known as corporate aver - cation now includes preschool, partners and the people they serve.” age fuel economy or CAFE. The goal Sthe criminal-justice systems must That it has done—in a way that recalls was 18 miles per gallon in 1978 models, control costs without sacrificing public advice to an author from one of our rising to 27.5 by 1985. safety, and policy makers seek to founders, J. Howard Pew, back in 1963 . Since then, the world has changed strengthen government performance. Mr. Pew returned an unsolicited book in many ways. Terrorism has become The states are also facing new issues, manuscript because of the “technical” a threat in virtually every country. The such as global warming. For these presentation of the material: “It must world’s known reserves of petroleum and other concerns, the Pew Center be told,” he counseled the writer, “in are expected to last only several more on the States is an invaluable navigation story form.” Compelling narratives decades at current consumption levels. system, helping states steer a steady and images have been Trust ’s stock in And human-caused greenhouse gas course over often-difficult terrain. It trade, conveying our approach and emis sions—in part due to transporta - conducts trustworthy research, brings solutions to crucial matters of our era. tion—have been confirmed as a factor in together a variety of perspectives and Sixty years ago, The Pew Charitable global warming. Yet the long-outdated advances nonpartisan, pragmatic solu - Trusts was established. The four found - standard of the 1975 law remained in tions for pressing problems. ing philanthropists invested their hopes, place until Dec ember of last year, when Two center initiatives are featured values and an entrepreneurial spirit in a new federal law set the goal of 35 miles in this issue. One is electionline.org, the new institution, and these quali - per gallon by 2020. which Pew established as a neutral ties remain our con stant compass, The Pew Campaign for Fuel Effi - clearinghouse for information about even though the conte mporary world ciency helped Congress reach this election reform after the voting deba - is markedly different from theirs. In destination by providing the public and cle during the 2000 presidential elec - this anniversary year, we rededicate policy makers fact-based maps for the tion. This effort evolved to provide ourselves to their vision and mandate debate. Like all of Pew’s work, the unbiased and accurate information to apply the power of knowledge to campaign’s case was strictly nonparti - and guidance to federal, state and local serve the public interest. san: Increased standards will reduce election officials on trends, important our dependence on oil, enhance security, issues and best practices in conducting Rebecca W. Rimel save consumers money and stimulate elections. President and CEO Trust / Spring 2008 1 Tr us t The Pew Charitable Trusts VOLUME 11 NUMBER 1 SPRING 2008

Fueling Victory 2 During last year’s policy debate on fuel Trust economy, the Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency helped the public’s voice get Published three times a year by more miles to the gallon. The Pew Charitable Trusts © 2008 The Pew Charitable Trusts Deep Green ISSN: 1540-4587 9 The National Environmental Trust merges with the Pew Environment The Board of Group to create an even more effec - The Pew Charitable Trusts tive advocacy organization. Robert H. Campbell Susan W. Catherwood Gloria Twine Chisum Many Happy Returns Aristides W. Georgantas 12 J. Howard Pew II The nonpartisan electionline.org tracks J.N. Pew IV, M.D. problems and changes in the voting Mary Catharine Pew, M.D. process and recommends improvements. R. Anderson Pew Sandy Ford Pew Rebecca W. Rimel Promises, Promises Robert G. Williams 19 Ethel Benson Wister Will the 50 states and the City of Philadelphia be able to meet growing President and CEO costs of pensions and retirement benefits? Rebecca W. Rimel Two studies raise flags.

Managing Director of Communications Deborah L. Hayes Departments The Pew Charitable Trusts serves the public interest by providing information, advanc - Editor NOTES FROM THE PRESIDENT Inside ing policy solutions and supporting civic Marshall A. Ledger front life. Based in Philadelphia, with an office Open roads. cover in Washington, D.C., the Trusts will invest $283 million in fiscal year 2008 to provide Senior Writer organizations and citizens with fact- Sandra Salmans based research and practical solutions LESSONS LEARNED for challenging issues. Editorial Assistants Boreal forest campaign. The Trusts, an independent nonprofit, is Colleen A. Miller 23 the sole beneficiary of seven individual Renee S. Wagoner charitable funds established between 1948 and 1979 by two sons and two daughters of Sun Oil Company founder Joseph N. Pew One Commerce Square PROGRAM INVESTMENTS and his wife, Mary Anderson Pew. 2005 Market Street, Ste. 1700 The official registration and financial Philadelphia, PA 19103-7077 26 information of The Pew Charitable Trusts Phone 215.575.9050 may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1.800.732.0999. On the Internet: BRIEFINGS Registration does not imply endorsement. www.pewtrusts.org Prison population, founding fathers’ writings, what makes a great exhibi - 30 Design/Art Direction tion?, Kohut in The New York Times Lewis & Nobel Design online, English Short-Title Catalogue , making historic house museums relevant and solvent.

Cover art: Hayes Valley Traffic by Rob Cox. Oil on Canvas, 2008, 20 x 16 inches. Detail. 2 Trust / Spring 2008

Hayes Valley Traffic by Rob Cox. Oil on Canvas, 2008, 20 x 16 inches. Trust / Spring 2008 3

The Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency’s successful drive helped raise fuel economy standards for the first time in more than three decades.

By Colin Woodard

hen it comes to petroleum, the United States is in a bind. WThe substance accounts for 40 percent of the nation’s energy supply—and powers 97 percent of its transportation—yet only 3 percent of world reserves are within its borders, and the country is vulnerable to anything that might disturb the flow from elsewhere. Seventy percent of U.S. oil con - sumption goes to the trans portation sector, where it is consumed less efficiently than peer nations: Aver - age automotive fuel economy is 35 percent lower than in the European Union and 48 percent below Japan’s, with menacing effects to both climate and the environment. The United States is a nation that, in President George W. Bush’s words, “is addicted to oil.” But last December, the nation took an important step in treating that addic tion when Congress passed an energy bill, which Bush promptly signed, that raises automobile fuel efficiency standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. The measure, the first congressionally mandated increase in federal fuel economy standards in 32 years, 4 Trust / Spring 2008

is a boon for the economy, security economy: corporate CEOs, retired and the environment. By 2020 it will senior military officers, religious save an estimated 1.1 million barrels leaders and consumer advocates. “We of oil a day, $23 billion in annual con - collectively saw a window of op portu - sumer fuel costs and 190 million metric nity,” says Kevin Curtis, who was then tons of greenhouse gas emissions each at the National Environmental Trust, year, or as much as forty coal plants. which merged into the Pew Environ - “This is a historic move that will ment Group in January. “A targeted decrease our dangerous dependency campaign with investments in various on foreign oil, save consumers who partner organizations could help it are paying too much for a gallon of get across the goal line.” gas, and put us on the road to signifi - cant greenhouse gas savings,” says uel economy standards had Phyllis Cuttino, director of the Pew remained essentially un - Campaign for Fuel Efficiency, a multi- changed since the oil shock million-dollar-investment by the Trusts in 1975. Over resistance from to promote the measure’s passage. Fautomakers, Congress passed a law “Last spring, few would have thought requiring passenger-vehicle efficiency this could have been achieved.” to double to 27.5 miles over ten years. Ford predicted the new standards ndeed, when the campaign got could result in “a product line con - under way in April 2007, it was sisting . . . of all sub-Pinto-sized vehi - conceived as a nearly two-year cles,” while Chrysler warned that project, and even within that time most full-sized sedans and station Iframe, success was far from certain. wagons would be effectively outlawed. A coalition of environmental groups Of course, that’s not what happened. had been working for decades to More efficient cars were made with - increase fuel standards but had been out sacrificing safety, performance or defeated by powerful opponents in large-vehicle types. Pickups, vans the automotive and petroleum indus - and other light trucks, which were UNL tries. The last fuel economy bill to reach held to a lower standard, also saw a a floor vote in the Senate, in 2005, re- near doubling of vehicle mileage by ceived just 28 votes, fewer than half 1985. But gas prices had fallen as the 60 needed to guarantee passage. well, reducing public pressure to But there were also indications that raise standards. Carmakers contin - the policy environment was shifting. ued to innovate but channeled engi - Oil prices were approaching $100 a neering gains into increasing per - barrel, while public opinion increas - formance rather than mileage. ingly favored taking action to con - There were frequent attempts to front global warming. “We had high raise the standards further, but each gas prices, high oil prices, a growing was stymied. In the mid-1980s, the understanding of climate change and Reagan administration actually low - turmoil in the Middle East, Africa and ered standards to 26 mpg for cars South America,” recalls David Fried - and 20 mpg for light trucks, and a man, research director of the Clean 1990 effort to raise standards by 40 Vehicles Program at the Union of percent by 2000 was defeated by a Concerned Scientists, which had been Senate filibuster. Congress prevented working on the issue since the 1990s. the Clinton administration from raising “People were waking up to the cost light-truck standards by passing a of our oil addiction.” rider in 1995 that effectively took As a result, new voices were joining away its authority to do so. With the the chorus calling for improved fuel rise of sport utility vehicles, fleet- Trust / Spring 2008 5

SEVERAL COMPANIES WITH LARGE FLEETS OF VEHICLES TOOK THE LEAD IN RAISING FUEL EFFICIENCY STANDARDS. MORE EFFECTIVE ENGINES MADE GOOD BUSINESS SENSE, THEY CONCLUDED.

wide- average fuel efficiency dropped through the 1990s. The Bush admin - istration raised efficiency to 27.5 for cars and 22.2 for light trucks. In the absence of federal action, progress of a sort was occurring at the state level. Under the Clean Air Act, California, which had enacted pollution-control measures for auto - mobiles as far back as 1960, retained the authority to set stiffer emissions standards, subject to approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Catalytic converters, vapor-blocking gas caps and low-sulfur diesel were fostered by California over the years, EADED FUEL ONLY innovations that influenced federal emissions standards by dint of the state’s status as the country’s largest car market. After 1990, the EPA granted other states the right to adopt Cali - fornia’s standards if they so wished; New York and Massachusetts did so, and others indicated an interest. “It’s been a ratcheting effect: Cali - fornia adopts a more stringent stan - dard, it’s adopted by other states, and then the federal government ends up following it,” notes Jason Mark of the Energy Foundation in San Francisco. “In terms of air pollution, California pulls the country up by its bootstraps.” Until recently, these emissions rules had a negligible effect on fuel economy. “Some emissions technolo - gies improved it and others reduced it, so the overall effect has been negligi - ble,” Mark notes. “But the new stan - dards are different.” 6 Trust / Spring 2008

California’s latest standard, adopted incur some costs to make it happen.” in 2004, aims to dramatically reduce He continues, saying: “These people greenhouse gas emissions, a goal likely who joined the council didn’t do it to be achieved through improved based on their companies’ immediate SURVEYS BY POLLSTERS fuel economy. The standard—which interests. They were really coming WITH DIVERGENT enforces the equivalent of a fleet-wide from a very pure place, from real IDEOLOGIES CAME TO average of 35 miles per gallon by concerns about what they saw ahead 2016—was immediately challenged for their children and grandchildren THE SAME CONCLUSION: by the Bush administration, which and the United States.” LARGE PERCENTAGES argued that carbon dioxide was not a Their report, issued in December OF AMERICANS WANTED pollutant and therefore cannot be 2006, urged the government to reform HIGHER FUEL EFFICIENCY regulated by the EPA or the state. and strengthen fuel efficiency stan - STANDARDS. But the California rules were upheld dards by 4 percent annually, among in a series of court challenges, includ - other measures. “America’s oil de - ing an April 2007 U.S. Supreme Court pend ence threatens the security of decision, removing a major roadblock the nation,” Kelly and Smith wrote in Gas mileage gains to the 13 states that wished to adopt the introductory letter. “The time for RUSSIA will help protect us from them. The Energy Foundation sup - action arrived long ago. We must not oil supply disruptions. KAZAKHSTAN We can’t delay any longer. ported public education and state- wait another moment.”

IRAQ IRAN specific research on the benefits of ALGERIA LIBYA SAUDI the California standards and then he Consumer Federation ARABIA

helped fight off automakers’ suits to of America, worried about VENEZUELA NIGERIA block their implementation. prices at the gas pump, KUWAIT UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Meanwhile, ever-higher oil and began calling for Congress ANGOLA gaso line prices were vividly illustrating Tto pass a 50-mpg standard by 2030, the costs of petroleum dependency— arguing that at $3 a gallon, the net MAJOR OIL EXPORTERS

and enlisting powerful new voices to cost to the consumer would be zero. REASON the cause. Seventeen retired senior Evangelical leaders in the Christian military officers and corporate CEOs Environmental Council had already #1 SECURITY

Of the many good reasons to increase gas mileage for new cars and trucks, certainly the first joined the fight under the aegis of the adopted a resolution calling for at is national security. Since mandatory mileage increases for cars were allowed to stall in 1985, America’s dependence on foreign oil has risen from 27 percent of our total consumption to Energy Security Leadership Council; least 65 mpg by 2020 to help head off 60 percent last year. And much of this oil comes from regions that are politically unstable. That’s why some of our most respected military leaders are urging a major improvement in they included Federal Express chair - human suffering in poor nations due U.S. fuel economy now.* It’s time to increase gas mileage man and CEO Frederick W. Smith, to global warming. Even Nissan, an for new cars and trucks. retired Marine Corps General P.X. automaker whose fleet was not partic -

Kelley, David P. Steiner, CEO of Waste ularly fuel-efficient, broke with its com- More reasons at PewFuelEfficiency.org Management Inc., Southwest Airlines petitors to support raising stan dards, executive chairman Herbert D. Kelle - and was instrumental in secur ing the her and retired Admiral Vern Clark, support of senators from states where former chief of naval operations. the Japanese carmaker had plants. “The military leaders saw a situa - “We had the perfect storm of influ - advertising, independent research tion where our military was more and ences,” says Cuttino of the Pew Cam - findings and high-quality polling data. more being put in the posture of paign for Fuel Efficiency. “We were “As the community who had been hav ing to secure the supply of oil not lucky with timing of the external working on this had become more just for the United States but also for issues that came up, and we seized and more successful, there was more the world,” says Robbie Diamond, the opportunity.” and more to do, to the point where it founder of Securing America’s Future The campaign aimed to get Con - was extremely hard for us to keep on Energy, the Washington-based non - gress to pass higher standards through top of it,” says Friedman of the Union profit which convened the council. the advocacy equivalent of a full-court of Concerned Scientists. “To build “Then you had a group of companies press: coordinating a coalition of the necessary coalition, to get the with huge vehicle fleets who wanted interest groups and stakeholders to information out there and to educate to signal that they were willing to take simultaneously build support nationally the public on an issue as large as this the lead on this, even if they had to and in the states, backed by targeted takes a lot of people.” Trust / Spring 2008 7

or the Trusts, it was also a sentatives to support new standards. be good for Detroit, encouraging test of a new, campaign- To that end, the campaign hired two innovation. based approach to affecting leading pollsters—Democrat Mark That’s a conclusion backed up by policy change. As the Cam - Mellman, president of the Mellman research. A July 2007 study by the Fpaign for Fuel Efficiency got under Group, and Republican Bill McInturff University of Michigan’s Transporta - way, the Trusts announced that the of Public Opinion Strategies—to gauge tion Research Institute found that National Environmental Trust, a long - attitudes in 30 congressional districts , higher standards would boost auto- time partner with an experienced including that of Rep. John Dingell makers’ profits and any additional staff of campaign professionals, would (D-Mich.), the auto industry’s costs to consumers would be more be merging with the Pew Environ - fiercest champion. than offset by savings in fuel costs. ment Group (see pages 9-11). The The pollsters found overwhelming “Automakers have been saying consolidated team could direct large support for a 35-mpg standard, even many of the same things since stan - when presented with critics’ argu - dards came in the 1970s, and they ments. The surveys, which spanned made profits after that,” says the study’s nine states, showed three-quarters of author, Walter S. McManus, Ph.D., respondents supported the higher director of the university’s automotive- standards after hearing both sides of analysis division. “All of these mas - the argument. “I was a bit surprised, sive losses they have had in the last as I presumed the results would be three years had nothing to do with closer,” says McInturff. “Even in the fuel economy standards, and in fact core of Michigan, arguments for they would have been better off if they higher standards did strikingly well.” had had a more fuel-efficient fleet.” The Big Three automakers em - McInturff’s polling firm also tested ployed time-tested arguments against potential arguments and advertising With spending at the pump up $80 a month, Americans need fuel economy. Their lobbying group, messages—and those being put forth better gas mileage now. the American Association of Automo - by the auto industry—using focus REASON bile Manufacturers, ran radio ads groups to determine the most effec - suggesting that soccer moms wouldn’t tive content. “Our work said that this #2 SAVINGS be able to buy SUVs, perhaps com - issue should be framed around energy

As the summer driving season begins, gas prices have already reached their highest level promising their family’s safety. Jobs independence and national security,” in history. Families now spend $80 more per month for gas than they did just seven months ago.* That’s a week’s groceries, or two days’ pay at the minimum wage. And it’s another reason why we need to move quickly toward a major improvement in the gas mileage of and profits would be at stake, au to- he says. “I understand the environ - new cars and trucks. We can’t delay any longer. makers and the United Auto Workers mental argument, but there were tons It’s time to increase gas mileage for new cars and trucks. had long suggested, and pickups of research that said: If you want to would become harder to find. build a broader coalition, these were

More reasons at PewFuelEfficiency.org Pollsters were able to demonstrate the arguments that were most com - to lawmakers that the public was not pelling to do that.” buying the claims. “One thing that The campaign ran an advertising was different this time around is we series (examples to the left) in national anticipated the opponent’s arguments,” newspapers and key radio stations. advocacy campaigns like that for fuel says Mellman. “This time, we talked “Security,” an ad in The New York Times economy more quickly and nimbly. to pickup owners and found they began: “Better gas mileage doesn’t “The idea is to bring the campaign wanted even higher fuel standards just save money. It protects America.” management responsibility in-house than others.” “With spending at the pump up to and, where appropriate, make invest - Even in automobile-producing $80 a month, Americans need better ments in all sort of organizations to states, 60 to 70 percent of survey gas mileage now,” stated a Roll Call help you get across the goal line,” participants disagreed that vehicles ad placed shortly before the Senate says Curtis, the group’s director of would become small and unsafe, was to vote on the measure in June campaign operations. “The Campaign that autoworkers would lose their 2007. Through the campaign’s efforts, for Fuel Efficiency was a wonderful dry jobs or that the U.S. economy 85 editorials ran in the three weeks run of what the new entity could do.” would be harmed. Seventy-four prior to the vote, which passed 65-27, Winning would boil down to convinc - percent of those polled in the De - shifting the battle to the House. ing uncommitted senators and repre - troit area said the measures would The campaign—and spiking oil 8 Trust / Spring 2008

prices—kept the pressure on Congress. The first House version of the energy bill, passed in August, did not include fuel economy because of Detroit’s A WAY TO MEASURE opposition, but House Speaker Nancy VICTORY: THE HIGHER Pelosi (D-Calif.) vowed it would be FUEL STANDARDS restored in the final bill to be negoti - AMOUNT TO TAKING ated with the Senate. 28 MILLION CARS As negotiations continued in the OFF THE ROAD. fall, the campaign’s pollsters provid - ed lawmakers with another reason to support the bill: a chance to boost Congress’s 30-percent approval rating. Mellman’s nationwide voter survey showed that respondents from both parties felt Congress had accom - plished little and that passing fuel economy stan dards would be the strongest antidote available to rectify this perception. Of 20 issues, voters regarded fuel efficiency as the sec - ond most important for Congress to tackle, after Social Security. “The Democrats were worried that, from a political point of view, they would end up owning a failed Congress, and they were desperate to avoid that,” Mellman says. “When fuel economy emerged as the most compelling example of something they could do to improve their im - energy bill into law, the EPA an - auto industry the first major sector age, it was a powerful piece of infor - nounced it would not be issuing the of the American economy that will mation.” necessary permission to California— reduce its global warming pollution— When the dust finally settled in the first time the agency had ever by the equivalent of taking 28 million December, the House passed the declined to do so. “We could get 50 cars off the road. There’s nothing energy bill containing the measure percent more reduction in greenhouse underwhelming about that.” by 314-100. gas emissions with the California And it pointed toward the future: “It’s a landmark victory,” says standards,” the Energy Foundation’s “Americans demanded action on Cuttino, whose staff had held daily Jason Mark observes. energy security and global warming, huddles and weekly strategy meetings “We have to keep fighting this fight and Congress responded. This new to coordinate the effort. “We ran this to make sure that people don’t insert fuel efficiency standard shows how like any other very serious national provisions into new bills that under - powerful these issues have become— campaign, keeping up a constant mine what has been accomplished,” and they’re not going away.” stream of information to put pressure adds David Friedman at the Union of on the votes on the Hill.” Concerned Scientists. “But it’s a very For information on the recent history of fuel effi - While a great victory, fuel-economy nice beginning.” ciency, plus links to consumer and auto-industry proponents note that more work lies That is the stance of the Pew Cam - benefits, go to the Web site of Pew’s Campaign for Fuel Efficiency, at www.pewfuelefficiency.org. ahead, both to ensure that the new paign for Fuel Efficiency. In a state - rules are implemented properly and to ment issued in December, the initia - Colin Woodard is an award-winning journalist support California’s efforts to imple - tive pointed out the savings that the and the author of The Republic of Pirates , The ment an even tighter standard. The law will create in barrels of oil and Lobster Coast , and Ocean’s End: Travels Through Endangered Seas . He lives in Portland, Maine, day after President Bush signed the dollars at the pump. “It makes the and has a Web site at www.colinwoodard.com . m o c . t c e r i d s r e h The National Environmental Trust p a r g o t o h merges with the Pew Environment Group. P , r e l l e u

M The two bring complementary policy and s a m o h

T advocacy skills to the work of protecting © the world’s natural heritage. Deep Green By Marshall A. Ledger

n 1994, many Americans felt ron mental policies at the national level. stymied in efforts to protect the After two short-lived names, the natural environment. Clearly, they organization was called the National Iwere supportive. They joined envi - Environmental Trust, and this past ronmental organizations—the 10 January its staff and operations were largest had a combined membership merged into Pew’s Environment of 12 million people—they donated an program. The consolidated team is estimated $3 billion to nonprofit organ - called the Pew Environment Group, iza tions that supported environmental with an annual budget of more than causes, and a Gallup poll found that $70 million and a staff of 80—one of some 66 percent of respondents called the largest environmental advocacy themselves “envi ronmentalists.” forces in the country. At the same time, with some excep - Trust turned to the group’s manag - tions on discrete issues, their passion, ing director, Joshua S. Reichert, to numbers and resources were not describe the thinking behind the translating into an ability to shape merger. national environmental policy in ways that reflected their potential influence. Trust: Did we characterize the situa - This was the context when Pew tion in 1994 accurately? and a small group of philanthropies Reichert: There are two additional established a nonprofit to help assist elements worth noting. Opponents of NET supported the conservation of roadless areas the efforts of the environmental com - environmental causes were improving and other measures to protect the remaining U.S. wild forests. munity to advocate for stronger envi - the effectiveness of their efforts by 10 Trust / Spring 2008

hiring political consultants and so - field organizing, communications and Trust: Did it? phistica ted public relations special - government relations. They helped Reichert: I do believe that, over the ists, employing all of the methods form coalitions of national, regional past decade or more, many environ - used by the burgeoning K Street and state organizations and assisted mental organizations have become firms that had been established in them in the design and implementa - more effective in communicating the 1970s to represent corporate tion of environmental campaigns to their perspective to policy makers, concerns in Washington. They often affect national policy. The point was to the public and the media, and that succeeded in framing issues and the reach the audiences that most needed some of that positive change has corresponding political debate to suit to learn about the issues and to stimu - been influenced by NET’s work. their own interests—remember “jobs late action where it was necessary. If you look at the results of that versus owls”—and in ways that were Many of the leading environmental work over time, there are a number of often neither balanced nor accurate. organizations were staffed with very notable achievements. Among other The environmental community experienced and talented scientists, issues, NET was instrumental in the needed to do a better job at ensuring lawyers and policy specialists, but they successful passage of the nation’s that its message and point of view often lacked the experience in large- strongest drinking-water and food- were fairly heard. Americans craved scale campaign management and quality protection acts, in preventing clarity and balanced information on imple mentation. NET was designed passage of amendments that would the issues, and still do, because they to fill that need. have weakened the Endangered don’t want to stand by and allow the NET helped coordinate campaigns, Species Act, in managing the defense continued destruction and degrada - devise strategic goals and objectives, of the Roadless Rule, in helping to tion of the nation’s forests and wilder - educate the public through targeted strengthen the nation’s principal marine ness areas, our coastal waters and media and create opportunities for fisheries law, the Magnuson-Stevens the life they contain, our water supply citizens to communicate their views Act, and in playing a central role in and the quality of our air, among many more effectively to policy makers. We building support for adoption of the other things. hoped that, if this effort was success - Kyoto Protocol. At the same time, Pew’s environ - ful, it would not only produce signifi - I think it’s safe to say that NET me t mental campaign work in the early cant policy achievements in its own and in many cases exceeded the expec - 1990s, which was primarily aimed at right, but would also stimulate some tations of its creators. protecting critical forest and wilder - constructive changes in the way the ness habitat in the western United U.S. environmental community ap - Trust: How did NET accomplish States, had to be reinvented with pro ached its policy work. that? each campaign. In other words, we, as a foundation at the time, had to e

ask each successive grantee to create r i F r

the infrastructure needed for effec - e d n

tive communications and media work, U h t r

grassroots organizing and legislative a E /

advocacy. We quickly realized that h c s a

doing it repeatedly from scratch was a r B

enormously time-consuming and y r a

inadvisable. It was far more efficient G to build an organization that was © singularly capable of doing this kind of work on a multitude of issues on which we were working.

Trust: And that was the role of what came to be the National Environmental Trust (NET)? Reichert: Yes. At NET, we brought together a core of highly skilled pro - fes sionals trained in issue advocacy, NET has shown that efficient coal-fired power plants could significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions. Trust / Spring 2008 11

Trust: And what made it desirable for NET? Reichert: Just as it was in our case, I think that the level of trust and comfort, built over many years of collaboration with us, was a signifi - cant factor in NET’s decision. The staff of both organizations not only worked closely together, but shared common goals and had skill sets and professional backgrounds that com - plemented one another. Second, a merger offered the staff of NET the potential of greatly expand - ing the scope and scale of its work, NET asked consumers to “Take a Pass on Chilean Sea Bass.” Image courtesy of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority. its geographical range, resource base and long-term effectiveness. All of Reichert: It built a broad nationwide the scope and impact of our work. this translates into greater potential network of relationships with environ - But we also realized that, to do to make a more significant contribu - ment, public-health, energy and politi - this right, we would have to increase tion to conservation, which, after all cal writers, and this is why you find our personnel across a wide range of is said and done, is what motivates the staff cited frequently in the print areas and bring on staff with profi - us all. media. ciency in communications and media, Its editorial team formed relation - government affairs and field operations. Trust: The timing seems appropriate. ships with more than 125 newspapers There were two ways to build this Reichert: Not only for the staff and essentially constructed a model capacity. Buy it—i.e., hire the people involved. I genuinely believe that for editorial communications—which we needed one by one, which is a we have reached a critical moment is an all-too-often neglected area for laborious and time-consuming process. in our history with the natural world. the nonprofit sector. Or acquire it. Namely, bring inside Pew For years, scientists have been warn - Its government-relations group the organization that we had created ing of the potentially devastating earned a reputation for being highly specifically for the purpose of running impacts of human activity on Earth’s bipartisan and effective and com - and managing campaigns in areas in terrestrial and marine environment prised individuals with long Capitol which we were working. as well as the global atmosphere. Hill experience who had working Given that NET contained the hu - The good news is there is a grow - relationships with policy makers of man infrastructure that we needed, ing sense of urgency that has gripped all ideological hues. that it had effectively served as a the public, and governments through - And its field team developed a campaign arm of Pew for many years, out the world are waking up to the presence in nearly half the states that by design it had worked primarily problems we face. We have a rather and in every major region of the in the areas in which our work was narrow window of time to address country. focused and that we had had a close these problems and a corresponding and extremely productive working opportunity to reverse course and Trust: What made the merger appro - relationship for more than a decade, begin to more sensibly manage our priate for Pew? this became a relatively easy choice. relationship with nature. Quite simply, Reichert: When Pew became a public Quite simply, incorporating NET this merger will make us more effec - charity four years ago, we were freed into the Pew Environment Group tive at doing that. from many of the constraints that apply was far more practical, cost-effective to foundations, including the ability and efficient than re-creating it inter - to operate policy campaigns directly nally. And the Pew board agreed. and to lobby. As a result, a host of As a result, we proposed the idea of new opportunities were created that a merger to the executive staff of The work of the Pew Environment Group can be enabled us to dramatically expand NET and its board, and happily they found at www.pewtrusts.org. our operating capacity and increase agreed. Marshall Ledger is editor of Trust . 12 Trust / Spring 2008 MANY HAPPY

Paste pot and paster ballot, which allowed voters to modify party tickets. Voters glued a strip of paper (called a “paster”) with a can - didate’s name over a paper ballot bearing the name of a rival candidate. It was a way to “split” a ticket.

The County Election by George Caleb Bingham (1852), depicting a Missouri election day, where votes were cast by voice and recorded in public. Courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum, gift of the Bank of America.

All voting apparati in this story except those otherwise attributed are courtesy of the National Museum of American History with photo credit to Hugh Talman. Trust / Spring 2008 13 RETURNS By Pat Loeb

In America, every counts.

But is every vote counted? No one

knows better than electionline.org.

“ otomac Tuesday”—the February 12 primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia—brought the leading Republican candidate closer to nomination and tightened Pthe race on the Democratic side. For Dan Seligson, project manager for publications at electionline.org, it brought home just how committed to impartiality his job has made him. Seligson took the day off to do his civic duty: work - ing the polls in the District of Columbia’s 1st Ward and loading ballot cards into the electronic voting machine set up near the stage of the cavernous elementary school auditorium where 40th Precinct voters cast their ballots. A woman, toddler in tow, approached to cast her vote. “Paper or electronic?” he asked. Like many jurisdic - tions, the District of Columbia offers both kinds of machines. “Electronic, I guess,” she answered, then looked worried. “Is it safe?” she asked Seligson. And there was a pregnant pause.

eligson has researched the question exhaustively. If he were at his regular job, at electionline.org, he could not say definitively that the machines are 100 percent trustworthy. He could say that S many state and local officials not only trust them but also consider them superior for their accessibility, ease, flexibility, speed and accuracy. He would add, however, that the ma - chines have failed—spectacu larly at times—and that advocates,

Crayon ballot markers, 1908. Left: a touch-screen voting machine from a voting-technology project of the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 14 Trust / Spring 2008

voters and some lawmakers want currently managing director of Infor - them replaced or refitted to provide ma tion Initiatives and the Philadelphia a paper audit trail. Program at Pew, was running the Here, though, was a voter about to Venture Fund and, as always, on the cast her ballot, who wanted a simple Wooden ballot box with marbles. The term lookout for developments in the out - ballot is derived from the Italian ballotta , answer, not a policy analysis, so he meaning “little ball” (but this ballot box was side world that Pew might play a role offered the best answer he had, given not used in a U.S. election). in addressing. As he watched the the current state of the field. confusion deepen over the next several He smiled, reassuringly. “It is,” he regularly by state and local election said. “It is.” officials and consulted by journalists Glass globe ballot jar, 1884, typical of the Later, he confided it was difficult looking for the most reliable content. devices used to secure single party tickets. to give that reply. And no wonder. A “It’s an odd little niche,” concedes strict dedication to detailed and unbi - electionline.org director Doug Chapin, ased fact-finding and reporting is “but I love filling it.” what has helped electionline.org achieve an unusual but invaluable t was November 8, 2000, the day status. In the seven years since its after the presidential election. inception, the initiative has become Instead of the normal victories perhaps the most trusted source in and concessions, the country the country for information about the Iwas hearing the phrases hanging chad administration of elections. It is read and butterfly ballot . Donald Kimelman,

MAKE VOTING WORK: THE FIRST PILOT PROJECTS ere’s an ambitious goal: Voting Work and the JEHT Founda - As a result, rolls fail to keep pace improve the nation’s voting tion have joined to fund projects seek - with a mo bile society and are often systems. Why wouldn’t ing new ways to measure the health inaccurate; they are also costly to that win in a landslide? and performance of elections and maintain. HBecause no partisans would favor develop and evaluate pilot projects •Vote centers . The rationale: States reforms that appear to advantage offering innovative approaches to are increasingly grappling with the their opponents. improve the election process. problem of overcrowded, inconve - Fair enough. That’s why Make Voting State and local election administra - niently located and poorly designed Work, an initiative of the Pew Center tors are key to the effort “since they polling places. on the States, approaches its work have the knowledge, experience and Some states are experimenting thoroughly schooled in the center’s opportu nity to act on the nuts and with “vote centers” that replace strategy of moving issues forward bolts of voting,” says Rachel Leon, neighborhood precincts and allow based on nonpartisan, rock-solid data senior manager for fair and participa - voters to cast ballots at large, and information. to ry elections at the JEHT Foundation. concentrated polling places any - “Elections should be a time to cele - The projects fall into five areas: where in their city or county—near brate the strength of our democracy, their work, school, shopping but the 2008 elections find the rules •Voter registration system assessment . center or other destination. of the game in flux,” says Michael The rationale: Eligible citizens should The innovation is in its infancy, Caudell-Feagan, director of Make be able to vote without undue bur - and it raises important questions, Voting Work. “Policies, practices and den, and those ineligible ought to including how to determine where technologies, despite good-faith efforts , be excluded. the centers should be located and are being instituted and discarded Yet registration rolls are created what their impact is on voter turnout without an adequate base of evidence. from piecemeal data collected by and the cost of running elections. As a result, the integrity of our elec - local election officials, state motor- •Audits of elections . The rationale: tions is relentlessly questioned.” vehicle agencies and get-out-the-vot e With the accuracy of voting systems To help fill the knowledge gap, Make campaigns, nonpartisan and partisan. a continuing concern, states seek - Trust / Spring 2008 15

days—and read an analysis predicting voting precinct to voting precinct. that more close elections would make Other funders were seizing the voting-process issues even more issue , putting out multi-point plans crucial in the future—he recognized and becoming de facto advocates for a feeling from his former newsroom their own proposals. A movement career at The Philadelphia Inquirer . was growing for reform. “It was like reporters who know Kimelman saw a clear role for Pew they have a good story,” he says. emerging. “We could make the process “Suddenly, here was [an issue] that better,” he says, “by being a source just landed in front of us.” of timely, reliable information; in other The question was what Pew could words, inform to reform.” contribute. Kimelman discussed the By March, the Pew board approved possibilities with colleagues and a three-year grant for the Election researched the issue. What he found Reform Information Project at the surprised him. It was easy to say the University of Richmond. It quickly system was broken but, in fact, the became known as its Internet site problem seemed more fundamental: name—electionline.org—which was There was no system. There was a rolled out later that year. Chapin, a D.C. highly complex, decentralized collec - lawyer who, curiously, was already A complex color scheme distinguished tion of rules and customs that varied wedded to this kind of work, became the official ballot of the regular Republican ticket in Massachusetts in 1878. not just from state to state but from the director.

ing to ensure the integrity of the Studies show that poor poll- experts from the private sector and electoral process have adopted worker performance affects elec - other specialists and community post-election audit requirements. tions and reduces voter confi - representatives. These groups will Still, the requirements vary dra - dence. More effective and conven - help oversee the implementation of mati cally, and there are no generally ient methods of training, especially individual projects, evaluate and accepted standards for how to verify those using the Internet, hold the refine method ologies, offer a peer an election outcome. promise of better-equipped poll review and dis semination forum, and Projects in this category will test workers and greater voter trust in develop strate gies to ensure that multiple techniques for measuring the system. proven innovations are engrained in the validity and accuracy of vote •Election performance assessment . The the policies and prac tices of the field. counts on various voting systems. rationale: to help election officials, All of the research will be dis - And efforts will be made to broaden policy makers and the public assess seminated through Pew’s Web site the definition of an elec tion audit and the true impact of changes in poli - and directly by the research teams. identify other elements— beyond cies , practices and technologies, To inform Pew and JEHT’s ongoing vote counts—that should be audited, especially through means that can contribution, Make Voting Work such as pre-election preparations be consistently applied to measure will also host a series of major and poll-worker performance. accuracy, convenience, efficiency public forums on these research •Online training for poll workers . The and security. initiatives and other challenges rationale: Volunteer poll workers facing the field of election adminis - are the foot soldiers of democracy, n each of these areas, and others tration; these will take place through - but, as recently documented by in which additional pilot projects out 2008 and 2009. Pew’s electionline.org, their enthu - and case studies will be commis - siasm needs to be joined with proper sioned over the coming months, training—particularly essential as IMake Voting Work is establishing voting systems and rules take on working groups that unite the research For further information, visit the center’s Web site, www.pewcenteronthestates.org, and that of greater complexity. teams with respected election officials, the JEHT Foundation at www.jehtfoundation.org. 16 Trust / Spring 2008

“Identifying someone like Doug was lems in election administration—voter- key,” Kimelman says. “He lives and registration lists, provisional ballots, breathes this issue. He’s enthusiastic optical-scan vs. direct-recording elec - about it. Even more, he can explain it tronic (DRE) machines—and it takes in a way that makes a complex, dry the next step in identifying and rigor - topic interesting to people.” ously evaluating proposed solutions, all while remaining strictly impartial hat kind of person finds and independent. The organization election administration quite specifically does not care about interesting, even before the outcome of any race. the 2000 election? With Pew’s change to a public Voting machine manufactured by the Standard W“I’m an election geek,” Chapin, 44, charity, electionline.org has become Voting Machine Company in the late 1890s. says cheerfully, without a trace of irony, a project within the Pew Center on in electionline.org’s corner of Pew’s the States, which “is emerging as an D.C. office. And why? “I grew up important national think tank on state around here,” he quips, noting that policy issues,” said Peter A. Harkness , Washingtonians are known to find editor and publisher of Governing arcane minutiae fascinating. magazine in the January issue. He was certainly steeped in the finer The center also houses Make Voting points. He formerly served as an Work, which fosters “an election sys tem associate with a law firm’s political- that achieves the highest standards of law group; he provided legal advice accuracy, convenience, efficiency and to corporate clients and specialized security,” as the center’s Web site in campaign finance, lobbying disclo - notes (see sidebar, pages 14-15). This sure, and conflict-of-interest and gift initiative, launched last year, builds laws at all governmental levels. He on electionline.org. also served as minority elections “Election administration has changed counsel for the U.S. Senate Commit - dramatically in the last eight years,” tee on Rules and Administration. says Susan Urahn, managing director Chapin has a round, boyish face, of the Pew Center on the States. “Yet, fringed by longish, moppy hair (his though voting machines may look 8-year-old son told him he needed a different, voters are rightly asking, as haircut after watching him on a TV they have in other times, ‘Is my vote A Votomatic vote recorder, with the interview show), a tendency to speak being counted?’ and ‘Are election out- problematic “butterfly ballot.” in sports metaphors and a weakness comes trustworthy?’ Electionline.org for funny circle graphs by blogger remains the premier source for news Jessica Hagy of “Indexed.” He often and analysis in the field, and it has posts one next to a big bowl of candy developed an unparalleled network of on his desk (both are labeled “Food relationships with state policy mak - for Thought”). A sample Hagy scribble: ers, leaders in the election field and a pie chart purportedly showing recent reporters.” media coverage; a slice of 25 percent Chapin has assembled a staff that is devoted to the presidential campaign; shares his passion—a team all the the rest of the pie, to Britney Spears. more remarkable for its focus, since Electionline.org’s initial role—as a the election-administration process is nonpartisan clearinghouse of informa - so mundane that most people pay it no tion on how, when and where Ameri - attention, yet, as we all know, it stum - cans vote—suited him fine. And he is bled so badly in 2000 that it nearly equally at ease with the way the project caused a national crisis. has developed. On his staff is Sean Greene, who Now, it not only collects information came to electionline.org from the but also researches and analyzes prob - Com mittee for the Study of the Ameri - A Votronic touch-screen vote recorder. Courtesy of the International Foundation for Election Systems. Trust / Spring 2008 17

can Electorate, a project that examines entering, meaning that handicapped voter turnout. Mindy Moretti writes voters had to clear an extra hurdle to the newsletter. She was recently asked exercise their franchise. to leave a Scottsdale, Ariz., polling Seligson’s observations went up place after pointedly asking to see on the Web site, along with reports the bilingual poll worker that she from the other staff members and knew Arizona law required. from print and electronic reporters Then there is Katharine Zambon, in other jurisdictions. Then the high - who may out-wonk Chapin. Five years lights were bundled into the newslet - ago, when she was 20, “Kat” won her ter that goes out weekly to more than Instructional models of voting devices helped first elective office as a committee 2,000 election officials, journalists, acquaint voters with the operational features person in Buffalo, N.Y. She acknowl - policy makers, academics and advo - of the actual machine. This facsimile was last edges that election administration is cates. used in the 1944 presidential election. “the least sexy thing in the world,” The Web site—a daily clearing - but she can’t help but get excited as house of elections news—and the she talks about it: “It’s how people e-newsletter are the tools that keep interact with their government—the electionline.org users current. only interaction you have with your While producing daily and weekly government outside the line at the reports, the staff also work on longer DMV.” briefings and case studies. For instance, And there is Dan Seligson, a red- a report in February, the project’s headed Bostonian, who used to cover 21st major analysis, examines five the Virginia legislature for the Journal states that adopted, then rejected, Newspapers, based in the Washing - electronic voting machines; the future ton, D.C., suburbs. “Part of me wishes of voting in the United States is “mov - I was covering the Red Sox,” he con - ing decisively back to paper,” the report fesses . “Election reform is a narrow - notes. The project has also reported er issue. There is a sameness to the on poll-worker training, vote audit - work. Over time, I’ve embraced the ing and voting progress on the fifth fact that it’s good to know more about an niversary of the Help America one thing than almost anyone else.” Vote Act.

An IBM Port-A-Punch and stylus, developed or this group of people, Super lectionline.org’s output is for inventory control in 1959 and adapted for Tuesday was akin to Wood - welcomed and scrutinized, voting by Votomatic in 1962. stock for rock critics. They particularly by state and local ©

D fanned out across the coun - election officials, who have o u

g try: Greene to Chicago, Moretti to never before had this kind of access to

l F E a s

W Phoenix, Zambon to Savannah, Ga., informa tion about what their colleagues . J

o and Seligson to New York City. They elsewhere were doing. n e s

, blogged on the fly about what they saw. “It’s a valuable resource for us,” says U n i

v Seligson navigated his way through Sterling Ivey, spokesman for Florida’s e r s i

t the Giants’ Super Bowl victory parade chief election official. “We find it useful, y o

f to check on the one handicapped- particularly as it relates to what’s going I o w

a accessible voting center in Manhattan. on nationally and in other states. It’s He was asked for photo identification. a good barometer to measure what New York has no voter ID require - we’re doing in Florida.” ment, and imposing one is no simple Electionline.org has also drawn matter (the U.S. Supreme Court is criticism. After it issued the report now deliberating whether Indiana’s Election Reform: What’s Changed, voter ID law is constitutional). But What Hasn’t and Why in 2006, Wanda building security at the Manhattan Warren Berry, a board member of New location required an ID from anyone Yorkers for Verified Voting, wrote an ESSm model 100 precinct-count ballot scanner. 18 Trust / Spring 2008

extended critique. She noted that the the country, as well as the advantages scan paper ballots that can be veri - report “provides valuable information” they offered in comparison to other fied in the event of an electronic about changes in voting machines voting technologies,” Thompson writes failure. and that “the document’s history of in an e-mail. “He was very knowl - •Voter ID laws. election reform gives valuable per - edgeable and, indeed, seemed pretty •Registration lists, the factor Chapin spective on local efforts.” Then she nonpartisan.” believes will drive most problems criticized what she called “its muted Interviews beget further interviews, in the November election. “This is biases” that appear as “ignoring nega - which is good for electionline.org but your admission ticket—the key to tive evidence about DREs, derogatory can be a double-edged sword. Seligson deciding who is or isn’t the elec - misinterpretation of [paper ballots], a recalls his first television interview, on torate,” he says. trivializing perspective on the verified- Fox and Friends in 2004. He knew voting movement and a biased over - the show had a political bent, but he If the election system gets as close all perspective on progress toward was prepared to stick to his usual to perfection as humanly possible, reform.” formula of presenting right-down-the- will electionline.org go the way of To Chapin, the very act of staying middle arguments from all perspec - punch-card ballots? Chapin thinks free from bias can create critics. “It tives in the election-reform debate. that’s unlikely. Though it began be - frequently frustrates people that we His microphone went on, and the cause of one disastrous event, new don’t side with them,” he says. “But host asked the first question: “Hey, issues crop up all the time. “This is we usually get criticism from both Dan, why are Florida voters so stupid?” a long conversation about the way sides of the aisle on every issue we we conduct elections,” he says. “Maybe cover—which tells me we’re doing s a nation, we are now in a consensus emerges on the best way our job.” the second presidential to do it, but even things that appear Electionline.org, however, does cycle since the 2000 mess, to be working well need a lot of work intend to help set the agenda. Chapin and there have been vast behind the scenes—the things voters and his colleagues have recently made Achanges in the way we vote. The don’t see. a big push to reach reporters, expect - changes have not always been improve - “We need to use the same passion ing that a more informed media will ments, but the 2008 primary season for information about elections to look lead to better reporting, which in turn went smoothly into spring. past identifying problems after they will create pressure for meaningful Chapin has identified three major have happened to diagnosing and change. Inaccurate reporting can lead areas of concern to watch this year: preventing them before they occur,” to election-day problems. For example, Chapin points out. “We don’t advocate Seligson recalls, journalistic short - •First and foremost, the machines for any specific solution, but we do cuts in explaining provisional ballots themselves, as states have rico - believe that voters deserve the kind in Ohio in 2006 led dozens of unreg - cheted from the DREs that were of changes to the American election istered people to go to the polls; of supposed to cure hanging chads system that go beyond short-term course, they were turned away. and improve accuracy, to optical- solutions and quick fixes. The only Last year, electionline.org held a way to get there is, quite simply, to series of full-day seminars for groups continue paying attention,” he adds, of 35 to 40 reporters in San Francisco, “and that’s what we intend to do.” Chicago, Atlanta and Washington and published a guide, Covering 2008 . The You can access electionline.org on the Web by effort earned the project an even higher going to www.pewcenteronthestates.org. There, profile. Newsweek recently ran a Q&A you can read Back to Paper and other reports, with Chapin, and Clive Thompson sign up for the project’s online newsletter on election reform and retrieve relevant articles consulted him for his New York Times state by state. Magazine cover story about voting machines in January. Philadelphia-based Pat Loeb has covered election “I talked to Doug Chapin about campaigns as a reporter for WHYY-FM and KYW1060- AM radio and as a foreign correspondent for his analysis of what were the technical National Public Radio. She has also written two and political challenges facing touch- books on the work of the Pew Center for Civic screen voting machines, the history Journalism. She has won awards from the Asso- ciated Press, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting of how they came to be adopted across and the Education Writers Association. Judge Robert Rosenberg examines a potentially questionable ballot in 2000. Courtesy of the Associated Press. J o

Trust / Spring 2008 19 h n S t u a r t / M i r a . C o m Promises Promises By Sandra Salmans 20 Trust / Spring 2008

The Pew Center on the States examines the rising cost of public-sector retirement benefits. typically carry sizable long-term pric e tags. For many states, dramatically scaling back benefits has not been a etirement benefits for public employees, some of which are practical option. employees—principally assumed by some states. pensions and health care— “This represents an enormous s the report explains, demo - may not be fodder for the investment of taxpayer dollars, so graphic trends suggest that Rsix o’clock news. But they are criti - Americans should be concerned the pressure on the states cally important to all taxpayers. about how states are managing this will only get worse. The Every dollar spent on such benefits obligation,” says Susan Urahn, man - Anumber of retirees is increasing every is one dollar less for roads, schools, aging director of the Pew Center on year, and the public sector will face health care and the pantheon of other the States. “Also, for government to an escalating number of retirements needs that put pressure on state be effective and efficient, states need sooner than the private sector be - budgets. States will spend a stagger - to recruit and retain high-quality cause the average public employee is ing $2.73 trillion on pensions, health public employees, and they need to older. In addition, people are living care and other retirement benefits strike the right balance between longer, a trend that will put even for their employees over the next controlling costs and making sure greater demands on both pensions three decades. they’re getting the best workers and retiree health-care benefits. That is the conservative estimate they can.” “Deferring funding is risky since of a report released recently by the “Even for states that are well-funded workers can’t be sure that future Pew Center on the States. The first- right now, we feel this is a critical genera tions will be able or willing to of-its kind, 50-state analysis, Promises cautionary tale,” says Richard Greene, set aside the cash needed to pay with a Price , found that over the next who wrote the report with Katherine retirees, and taxpayers can’t be sure few decades the bill for pensions for Barrett; both are consultants to the what their future tax burden will be state employees will amount to about Pew Center on the States. For one to pay for these benefits,” sums up $2.35 trillion, with an additional $381 thing, the report points out, public Olivia S. Mitchell, Ph.D., executive billion for retiree health care and pension funds have become more director of the Pension Research other post-employment benefits. aggressive in their investments, so Council and director of the Boettner returns are likely to be considerably Center for Pensions and Retirement hile the states on aver - more volatile than they were in the past. Research, both at the Wharton School age had saved enough What’s more, when states’ funding of the University of Pennsylvania, in fiscal 2006 to cover levels are buoyed by good returns where she is a professor. about 85 percent of on their investments, as has been The report’s key findings: Wtheir long-term pension costs—a the case for some time, there’s a reasonable level of funding, accord - powerful temptation to cut back on •Funding is erratic. In the past ing to the report—this average can be fiscally sound contribution levels. Says decade, only about a third of the misleading. About 19 of the states had Greene, “We hope the study will help states have consistently contributed set aside far less, with states such as to keep states focused on the impor - the full amount that their own Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana tance of properly funding these actuaries said was necessary. In and Massachusetts not even reach - obligations year in and year out.” 2006, 20 states contributed less than ing the 75-percent level. In fact, the challenges states face 95 percent of the amount targeted, What’s more, the states as a whole today in meeting their bills are largely and 10 states contributed less than had put aside only 3 percent of the the result of short-sighted decisions 80 percent. funds needed for promised retiree in the past, says Urahn. Some states •The long-term price tag for retiree health care and other non-pension have had a buy-now, pay-later men - health-care and other benefits, such benefits. That means that states will tality about retiree benefits. In hard as dental care and life insurance, need to come up with at least $731 times, generous post-employment was about $381 billion at the end billion within 30 years. benefits became easy substitutes for of fiscal 2006, and about 97 percent In fact, the actual number is likely salary increases because states could of that—a whopping $370 billion— substantially higher, because it does put off paying the bills. In good times, was unfunded. Non-pension liabili - not include all retirement costs for some states believe they can afford ties make up more than half of what teachers and local government to expand benefits—even though these states have not yet funded. Trust / Spring 2008 21

In Philadelphia, a “Quiet Crisis”

•States that do not keep up with isturbing as the national the pension fund in the 1970s and 1980s, payments for either pensions or pensions picture is, it the city’s unfunded liability rose to other post-employment benefits looks even grimmer for $3.9 billion, or nearly half of its $8- are engaged in a massive intergen - the City of Philadelphia. billion future pension obligation—one erational shift of resources, as future DThat is the conclusion of Philadelphia’s of the lowest levels in the country. generations are required to pay for Quiet Crisis: The Rising Cost of Em - The report also compared Philadel - the services delivered by past ones. ployee Benefits by Katherine Barrett phia to nine other cities and found and Richard Greene, the consultants that its funding level was the second While the states have been required who also conducted the 50-state study. lowest; only Pittsburgh was lower. for some time to report their long-term The report, supported by the Five of the other cities achieved a pension liabilities, data on other post- Economy League of Greater Philadel - desirable 85 percent funding level; employment benefits have not been phia and Pew, found that Philadelphia’s three were at 90 percent or more. widely available. Under a new rule of pension and health care costs for city Other key findings: the Governmental Accounting Stan - employees are rising at a much faster dards Board, however, states are rate than the city’s revenue. The •The number of pension recipients required to disclose their liabilities amount of money the city pays to is now higher than the number of for non-pension benefits, and those cover pension obligations and health active workers—33,907 claimants numbers will be released between care benefits for current and retired in 2006 versus 28,701 employees. December 2008 and March 2009. city employees rose to $650 million That gap will increase in the com - But because states had to begin in fiscal 2005—19 percent of the city ing years as more city workers their calculations—some for the first budget—from $403 million in 1998. reach retirement age. time—Pew assembled a team that Unchecked, by 2012 these costs will •The average annual city pension included Barrett and Greene as well rise to 28 percent. ranges from $29,000 for municipal as Lori Grange and Kil Huh, senior The situation “threatens to drain employees to $42,000 for firefighters , officer and project manager, respec - the resources needed to tackle other comparable to that in other cities. tively, for the Pew Center on the problems facing the city,” says Don - However, Philadelphia’s employees States, and others to report on the ald Kimelman, managing director of contribute less of their own money extent of the liabilities and funding in Pew’s Information Initiatives and the into the pension fund than those in all 50 states. Barrett and Greene pro - Philadelphia Program. other cities. duced a related report on Philadel - Moreover, much of that obligation •On a per-capita basis, Philadelphia phia (see box, starting on the right). is unfunded. Partly because the city, pays more for health care benefits “I think a lot of state officials were encouraged by optimistic earnings than nearly any other city in the horrified by what they found,” says assumptions, paid little or nothing into nation, and that amount has in - Barrett. “Actually, we were kind of gratified when we heard that they were alarmed—that seemed like a furthermore, the public sector says he was “astounded” by the public good sign that they were aware of retiree’s median pension in 2005 was sector number. “People should know the magnitude of the issue.” $17,640, compared with $7,692 for about this, they should care about this, the private sector worker. and they should elect legislators who he situation is quite dif fer - A similar gap between the private are willing to address this problem,” ent from that in the private and public sectors was found in retiree he adds. “These have been major sector, where defined health benefits. According to the study, hidden costs, and the fact that this benefit pensions have 82 percent of workers for state and information is being revealed will Tbecome the exception to the rule. local governments with more than have an impact.” Increasingly, companies have aban - 200 employees received retiree health The report found that, while there doned them in favor of 401(k) plans, or benefits of some kind, compared to are no quick and easy solutions, states defined contribution plans, to which 33 percent of workers for large pri - can take steps to reduce their liabili - employees contribute a percentage vate- sector employers. ties. In some cases, states may owe of their pay. The report found that Stephen D’Arcy, Ph.D., professor of so much that they feel compelled to 90 percent of public sector employees finance and the John C. Brogan Faculty restructure benefits to cut costs. In have pensions, compared with 20 Scholar of Risk Management and general, states have more flexibility per cent of private sector employees; Insurance at the University of Illinois, to make changes to retiree health-care 22 Trust / Spring 2008

creased by 33 percent in the past unfunded liability from 49 percent to Oregon and Washington, offer two years alone—to an average of 5 percent. At the same time, the bond hybrid pension plans that combine $13,030 per person this year, or would enable the city to reduce its elements of both defined benefit nearly 10 percent of the city’s total annual pension costs by taking advan - and defined contribution plans. In budget. That is triple the average tage of current low interest rates. The Alaska and Michigan, certain em - in the region’s private sector and bond plan would also generate $10 plo yees are no longer promised a well above the average for state million a year for the city to move new set benefit when they retire. Instead, and local governments. civil-service-exempt employees into a they make annual contributions to defined-contribution plan. a savings plan, to which the state The report also featured a number Bond issues are “tricky, as you’re government also contributes. of recommendations for ways the city taking on an additional liability,” warns could lower benefit costs. These Alicia H. Munnell, Ph.D., a retirement Although it addresses issues typical ly included: increasing employee contri - specialist at Boston College. well below the radar, Promises with a butions to pension plans; auditing the Still, “if structured properly, it could Price attracted a remarkable amount pension plan; reexamining the city’s dramatically improve the health of of media coverage, from national press Deferred Retirement Option Plan, the pension fund,” says Uri Monson, to reports by local newspapers on which allows employees to accumu - acting executive director of the Penn - the situation in their own states. And late retirement benefits while they sy lvania Intergovernmental Coopera - experts hailed the report as raising continue in their jobs; increasing co- tion Authority, the state agency that the curtain on an area of state budgets pays for health care; and changing monitors city spending. that has too long been kept in the dark. practices to give the city more con - “While there are no quick and easy “It’s nice to have confirmation that trol over health-care spending. solutions,” notes Pew’s Kimelman, there’s a big problem here,” says “there are fiscally responsible steps Alicia H. Munnell, Ph.D., the Peter hortly after the release of the city can take today to ameliorate F. Drucker Professor of Management the report, the new mayor of the problem while remaining fair to Sciences and director of the Center Philadelphia, Michael A. Nutter, municipal workers.” for Retirement Research at Boston proposed floating a $4.5-billion Sandra Salmans College. “The numbers will spur Spension-obligation bond to deal with action, both in funding and assessing the problem. Under the plan being the feasibility of incurring these costs. considered—the largest bond issue For more information, go to www.pewtrusts.org, It will make government entities in city history—proceeds would be and click on Our Work. Under Philadelphia Area, take a serious look at benefits and click on Civic Initiatives in Philadelphia, and scroll used to shrink the pension fund’s down to the report. either fund them or pare back the benefits for new hires.” “As the Pew Center on the States benefits than to pensions. Some join a Medicare Advantage Plan developed this report, it became possibilities: (which augments the original increasingly difficult to avoid the Medicare’s benefits at additional cliché ‘a ticking time bomb,’” says •States are raising the retirement cost), promoting wellness programs Urahn. “Yet that’s precisely what this age and closing loopholes within and other preventive measures, is. And it joins a whole host of other pension systems that allow em - and joining with localities to bundle fiscally explosive issues that the states ployees to inflate the amount they their plans under a single adminis - are confronting, including corrections collect after retirement. trative umbrella. and infrastructure needs. While there •For non-pension benefits, states •At least 13 states, including Ala - are few easy solutions available, it’s are increasing premiums and co- bama, Delaware, Georgia and West clear that just hiding from these bills pays and raising the number of Virginia, have set up irrevocable that are coming due is the least desir - years of employment required for trusts to pay for retiree health able approach.” lifetime or fully subsidized bene - care in the years to come. These fits, among other reforms. As in trusts, which require that all the For the full study and fact sheets for each state, the private sector, they are also money that goes in is used in a go to www.pewtrusts.org . Click on Our Work, experimenting with more efficient predetermined way, protect funds scroll down to State Policy and Performance, and click on Pensions and Retiree Benefits. approaches to managing health care from being raided for other purposes. costs, such as requiring retirees to •At least five states, including Ohio, Sandra Salmans is senior writer at Trust . 23 Lessons Learned Protecting the Boreal ForHeesatd

By Scott Scrivner and Lester Baxter y e l s w O e

n 1899, Governor Theodore n e r I

Roosevelt spoke to the New © York State Assembly about the Ivalue of conservation and the threat of extinction: “When I hear of the destruction of a species, I feel just as if all the works of some great writer have perished.” Shortly thereafter, President Roosevelt acted on the sentiment behind his words, creat - ing federal protection for forests and wilderness throughout the nation. Nearly a century later, Roosevelt’s system of parks and protected areas lives on, and so too does the case for conservation. Aware of the need to protect wilderness and the life that it shelters, in 1992 Pew launched a pro - gram to conserve intact old-growth forests and wilderness ecosystems. By the late 1990s, Pew’s program had gained considerable momentum, and an evaluation found that it had made Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada. important contributions to wilderness protection in its first seven years. international environmental groups, Canadian wilderness protection strategy Building on this early progress, the the resulting wilderness protection was sufficiently mature to be well Environment program (now called campaign had three principal ele - suited for a mid-course evaluation. the Pew Environment Group) contin - ments: (1) a regional aspect made up From 1999 through the end of the ued its efforts in the United States, of ground-level efforts designed to evaluation period in December 2006, but also began to craft a conservation protect specific areas; (2) a national approximately $35.4 million had been strategy for Canada’s great boreal collaborative approach designed to invested in Canadian wilderness con - wilderness. This far-reaching expanse engage the forest industry, First Na - ser vation, with major support from of publicly owned forest and taiga tions (Canada’s aboriginal groups), the William and Flora Hewlett Foun - represented a particularly ripe, yet government and others to build broad dation and the Lenfest Foundation. largely untapped, opportunity. support for protection from within The evaluation had three principal In 1999 Environment staff launched Canada; and (3) an international advo - objectives: (1) understanding the ways a campaign to protect Canada’s boreal cacy strategy designed to promote in which the campaign contributed to forest, ultimately setting the goal of awareness of the need for wilderness new wilderness protection in Canada; protecting 100 million acres of wilder - conservation among consumers and (2) identifying the decisions and ness by 2010. For context, the entire other key constituencies who would external circumstances that helped area overseen by the U.S. National encourage cooperative action to pro - or hindered the campaign’s progress; Park Service currently totals 84 tect Canadian wilderness. and (3) providing recommendations million acres, of which 52 million to improve the likelihood of meeting acres are national parks. Designing an Evaluation, Under - Pew’s long-term 100-million-acre Now involving more than 1,500 standing and Refining a Program conservation goal. scientists from around the world, more The evaluation was conducted by a than 75 major companies, 115 Canadian In 2006, Pew’s Environment and team of senior evaluation and conser - First Nations and many Canadian and Evaluation staff agreed that this vation experts made up of David 24 Trust / Spring 2008 m o c . z n e l h t r a g . w

LaRoche, an independent consultant w w / z

with more than 25 years of experi - n e L h ence in environmental conservation; t r a

David M. Gardiner, formerly the execu - G tive director of the White House Cli - © mate Change Task Force and senior administrator for policy analysis at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and Gary Bryner, Ph.D., pro fessor of political science at Brigham Young University. The team used a range of methods to inform their work, including more than 90 interviews with key stake - holders, case studies of specific wilder - ness-protection efforts, a review of land-protection records and policies, and an assessment of media coverage of the campaign.

Findings and Recommendations The Alberta Wetland. Wetlands like this are great carbon sinks and a strong defense against global warming. The evaluation found that Pew’s strategy had made strong progress landscape, plan and develop park and in other areas unless the campaign toward its goal, and identified the protected-area proposals, raise aware - adapted in targeted, opportunistic ways. campaign as the decisive player in ness in affected communities, and A major recommendation: The protecting approximately 60 million identify promising future protection campaign should carefully apply ap - acres—exceeding the combined area of opportunities. proaches from areas of greatest success, Pennsylvania and New York—through At the national level, the campaign such as the Northwest Territories, as the end of the evaluation period in also worked closely with Canadian and it focuses on promising opportunities December 2006. Indeed, the evalua - international environmental organiza - in other provinces and territories. tion found that the campaign was tions, corporations and First Nations largely on track to meet its protec - to find common ground around the An International Advocacy Effort tion goal for the end of the decade if Canadian boreal forest conservation Created Momentum and May several key recommendations were framework, a visionary plan to protect Have Laid the Groundwork for followed. and sustain this globally important Future Protection ecosystem over time. Successful Regional Efforts Were The national aspect of the campaign The Canadian wilderness protec - Supported by a Strong National emerged as a valuable complement tion campaign also included an inter - Component to the regional efforts by providing national public education effort de - coordination, supporting research and signed to both raise awareness of the The wilderness protection campaign scientific analysis, and raising public boreal as a region in need of protec - relied in part on a series of regional awareness more broadly. It also played tion and build on this recognition to efforts to pursue specific protected- an important role by assisting First generate additional public, industry area proposals that built on earlier Nations in land-use planning efforts and government enthusiasm for wilder - work by conservation groups such as as part of an overall objective to build ness protection. the World Wildlife Fund-Canada and a broad coalition for wilderness pro - The evaluation found that the inter - the Canadian Parks and Wilderness te ction. national advocacy component was a Society. The evaluation saw continued prom - necessary part of the strategy and In partnership with local conservation ise in this combined regional-national provided evidence that this approach groups and aboriginal First Nations, approach, but cautioned against assum - had been essential in securing industry the campaign worked to map the boreal ing that it could be easily replicated agreements to manage approxi mately Trust / Spring 2008 25

116 million acres in accordanc e with Canada- based collaborative approach instituted as a result of this evalua - the Forest Stewardship Council’s as being unnecessarily restrained, tion, wilderness protection in Canada sustainable-forestry standards. while some Canadian advo cates surged in 2007. By year’s end, the Although the evaluation did not viewed the international campaign as program was able to announce that it establish a direct link between this being overly aggressive. reached its 100-million-acre goal well part of the strategy and formal wilder - The evaluation recommended build - in advance of its original timeline (for ness protec tions, it did suggest that ing on existing efforts to: details, see the campaign’s Web site, the broad international campaign built www.interboreal.org). infrastructure and awareness that could •Increase coordination between the In addition to the specific sugges - prove instrumental in bringing about different campaign participants and tions that the evaluation provided, one future wilderness-protection gains. recognize clear and distinct roles for key lesson that emerged for program each. staff was that, in the best cases, the Facing Challenges in Managing of •Develop and integrate a state-of-the- very act of participating in the evalu - a Complex Campaign, Refining a art communications approach into ation process itself can be a valuable Visionary Approach all elements of the campaign, develop source of learning. and consistently project a clear and Steven E. Kallick, a senior officer in As the evaluators themselves compelling message that creates a the Environment program at the time noted, “The campaign is a highly sense of urgency regarding the need the program was designed and now nuanced enterprise cutting across to protect specific tracts of wilderness. director of Pew’s International Boreal four cultures, numerous sub-cul - •Continue to effectively adjust strategy Conservation Campaign, noted: “Dur - tures, linguistic divides, multiple and campaign structure, explore ing the recent evaluation of the Cana - levels of governmental structures additional opportunities to protect dian wilderness program, we discov - and numerous sectoral interests.” Canada’s northern boreal wilderness, ered that the scientific work we sup - Even successful campaigns in - and search for ways to continue to port ed wasn’t on track. The evaluators evitably face challenges. And in this extend the reach and impact of the kept asking us how we knew which case the evaluation identified that at public-education component. areas were the most important ones times the Canadian and international to protect. aspects of the campaign risked being Aftermath “In essence, they were asking us at odds with one another. about the scientific basis underlying For example, some international Thanks in part to strong ongoing our policy recommendations. And we cam paigners viewed the separate programmatic work as well as changes found we couldn’t give good answers to these questions. I realized then that we had to support better science.” By focusing attention on key lessons and opportunities for refinement, this evaluation represents a strong exam - ple of the type of insight that we in Pew’s Evaluation group hope to pro - vide to our colleagues in the program areas. We would be hard-pressed to better describe our goal for institutional learn ing than did Steve, who quite simply and effectively described the ultimate outcome of this project: “Our evaluation helped us to get better at what we do.”

Scott Scrivner is an officer and Lester Baxter is deputy director in Evaluation and Program Analysis at Pew.

The extent of North America’s boreal forest. Program Investments

IMPROVING PUBLIC Old-Growth Forests and POLICY Wilderness Protection

PEW ENVIRONMENT GROUP Campaign for America’s Wilderness Conservation of Living Marine Durango, CO, $5,250,000, 18 mos. Resources For general operating support. Contact: John Gilroy 585.249.0978 Marine Fish Conservation Network www.leaveitwild.org Washington, DC, $350,000, 1 yr. To advocate for an end to domestic The Pew Charitable Trusts for the overfishing through effective Heritage Forest Campaign implementation of the new Magnu - Philadelphia, PA, up to $1,750,000, son- Stevens Act and advance key 1 yr. ecosystem-based fisheries manage - To continue to generate public and ment recommendations of the Pew policy-maker support for roadless- Oceans Commission through pub - area forest preservation in at least lic education, policy analysis and two dozen states, including an strategic communications. intensified focus in the politically Contact: Bruce J. Stedman challenging terrain of Idaho, 202.543.5509 Scientists can use diatoms, a type of microscopic algae (above), to analyze Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, www.conservefish.org conditions in any environment that contains water, including soil, and assess where many of these pristine the water quality or even evidence of climate change. Pew Conservation forests are located. The Pew Charitable Trusts for Fellow Felicia Coleman, Ph.D., of Florida State University, has helped in the Contact: Jane Danowitz Ending Overfishing in New discovery of new marine species of diatoms. 202.552.2132 England www.pewtrusts.org Philadelphia, PA, up to $4,181,800, expected to grow in coming The Pew Charitable Trusts for 3 yrs. decades. While the farming of Stopping Illegal Fishing in the Trout Unlimited National Office To ensure that the New England shellfish and aquatic plants can European Union Arlington, VA, $750,000, 1 yr. Fishery Management Council and be benign and even beneficial, Philadelphia, PA, up to $1,700,000, For the Theodore Roosevelt the National Marine Fisheries Serv - marine finfish aquaculture poses 1 yr. Conservation Partnership to ice implement the new Magnuson- significant risks to marine To secure rigorous and transparent continue public-education and out - Stevens Act conservation mandates resources and ecosystems. controls against illegal, unreported reach efforts to protect national to establish science-based catch U.S. Government regulation and unregulated fishing from the forest roadless areas and modernize limits that end overfishing. alone is insufficient to mitigate European Union, thereby establish - hardrock mining policy, and also Contact: Steve Ganey the serious impact of marine ing high standards for subsequent to secure federal administrative 503.230.0901 finfish aquaculture on the health action by international fisheries action that will prevent leasing www.pewtrusts.org of the oceans and marine life, management institutions. and drilling where it overlaps since most aquaculture products Contact: J. Charles Fox with significant fish and wildlife The Pew Charitable Trusts for consumed in the United States 202.552.2140 resources. Ending Overfishing in the are imported from other countries www.pewtrusts.org Contact: George Cooper Southeastern United States with varying environmental laws. 703.522.0200 Philadelphia, PA, up to $3,000,000, The Marine Finfish Aquaculture University of Miami www.trcp.org 3 yrs. Standards project is designed to Coral Gables, FL, $3,000,000, 3 yrs. To ensure that the South Atlantic respond to this problem by To support the Pew Institute for HEALTH AND HUMAN and Gulf of Mexico Fishery creating a set of science-based, Ocean Science. SERVICES POLICY Management Councils and the precautionary “gold standards” Contact: Ellen Pikitch, Ph.D. National Marine Fisheries Service that emphasize marine environ - 212.756.0042 National Program implement the new Magnuson- mental protection. It also pro - www.pewoceanscience.org Stevens Act mandates to establish motes adoption of these criteria The Pew Charitable Trusts for the science-based catch limits that end by the industry through outreach Global Warming and Climate Food Safety Initiative overfishing. and participation in a series of Change Philadelphia, PA, up to $6,000,000, Contact: Lee Crockett standard-setting workshops. 3 yrs. 202.552.2065 National Religious Partnership for To ensure that foods consumed in www.pewtrusts.org The Pew Charitable Trusts for the the Environment the United States are free from Oregon Marine Heritage Campaign Amherst, MA, $450,000, 2 yrs. illness-producing pathogens. The Pew Charitable Trusts for Philadelphia, PA, up to $1,848,000, For the Interfaith Climate Campaign Contact: H. Cheryl Rusten Marine Finfish Aquaculture 2 yrs. to broaden support for action to 215.575.4853 Standards To support a campaign that will address climate change by engaging www.pewtrusts.org Philadelphia, PA, up to $850,000, seek to establish a system of people of faith across the spectrum 2 yrs. marine protected areas in Oregon of American life. Known microbial pathogens— To develop science-based, state waters, including some no- Contact: Paul Gorman such as E. coli, salmonella, precautionary standards for the take marine reserves as well as 413.253.1515 campylobacter and shigella—an - conduct of sustainable marine area restrictions on both bottom www.nrpe.org nually account for 5,000 deaths finfish aquaculture. trawling and forage fish fisheries, in the United States, according Contact: Chris Mann 202.552.2035 to protect biodiversity, vulnerable The Partnership Project, Inc. to the Centers for Disease www.pewtrusts.org habitats and the marine food web. Washington, DC, $200,000, 1 yr. Control and Prevention. They Contact: Steve Ganey To provide support for public edu - also give rise to more than Aquaculture accounts for 40 per - 503.230.0901 cation on climate policy. 76,000,000 illnesses and 325,000 cent of global seafood consump - www.pewtrusts.org Contact: Julie Waterman hospitalizations every year and tion, and that percentage is only 202.429.2647 www.saveourenvironment.org Trust / Spring 2008 27

y Contact: Edward H. O’Neil, Ph.D. approaches to critical issues facing b n e o h n r

r 415.476.9486 states. c t o u r i t c t l a e a u

l http://futurehealth.ucsf.edu/ Contact: Susan K. Urahn e z c i s E i r r e pewscholar.html 215.575.4755 e o g l R h A o t l c f

f www.pewcenteronthestates.org a l r o o a u t t t h i l

n Local Program t g u e i o c i d b

m Campaign Finance Reform r t , , r g y e a A e b

l OMG Center for Collaborative / p r t i o e E n o

D Learning Campaign Legal Center, Inc. c P U i . r r S e . e E Philadelphia, PA, $2,000,000, 2 yrs. Washington, DC, $1,500,000, 2 yrs. p h U y o / p c b

e To continue to provide capacity- For general operating support. o s t c i o o s t i v r r o r building support to health and Contact: Trevor Potter c i h h e M P C S social service organizations in the 202.736.2200 Philadelphia region. www.campaignlegalcenter.org Contact: Gertrude J. Spilka 215.732.2200 x232 Democracy 21 Education Fund www.omgcenter.org Washington, DC, $600,000, 2 yrs. To ensure that the Bipartisan Pennsylvania Health Law Project Campaign Reform Act is effectively Philadelphia, PA, $300,000, 2 yrs. implemented and identify additional For general operating support. reforms that would strengthen E. Coli, with the oblong shapes of the bacteria magnified 10,000 times. Contact: Michael J. Campbell campaign finance laws by the moni - 215.625.3874 toring of policy development, deploy - www.phlp.org ment of a legal team, coordination can cause serious, permanent The Pew Charitable Trusts for with the reform community and physical damage. In addition to Kids Are Waiting Other Projects public education. the human suffering, every out - Philadelphia, PA, up to $3,000,000, Contact: Fred Wertheimer break costs the economy 2 yrs. United Way of Southeast 202.429.2008 thousands to millions of dollars In support of Pew’s foster care Delaware County www.democracy21.org in lost productivity and medical ini tiative. Chester, PA, $75,000, 1 yr. costs. Contact: Hope Cooper In support of the 2007 annual Early Education One way to approach this 215.575.2143 campaign. problem is by improving the www.kidsarewaiting.org Contact: Louis C. Mahlman Action Against Crime and Violence oversight role of the U.S. Food 610.874.8646 x103 Education Fund (Fight Crime: and Drug Administration. The Biomedical Research and www.uwdelco.org Invest in Kids) Food Safety Initiative seeks Training Washington, DC, $3,000,000, 3 yrs. reform in the FDA through a United Way of Southeastern To expand and intensify its work new, proactive system that (a) Regents of the University of Penn sylvania at the state and federal levels to ad - identifies, up front, the level of California, San Francisco Philadelphia, PA, $1,040,000, 1 yr. vance universal pre- kindergarten risk associated with different San Francisco, CA, $2,466,000, 2 yrs. For the 2007 Annual Campaign to for 3- and 4-year-olds. foods; (b) mandates processes For continued funding of the assist local agencies in improving Contact: David S. Kass to reduce that risk; and then (c) administration of the Pew Scholars the quality of preschool child care 202.776.0027 x119 allocates inspection and testing in the Biomedical Sciences and and education and for support of www.fightcrime.org resources according to need. the Pew Latin American Fellows the Jewish Federation of Greater The effort focuses on domestic programs. Philadelphia. Council of Chief State School produce, imported foods and re - Contact: Susan Forman Officers porting of food-borne illnesses. 215.665.2568 Washington, DC, $300,000, 18 mos. www.uwsepa.org For the Early Childhood Accountability project to assist The Wistar Institute of Anatomy states in evaluating and improving and Biology the effectiveness of their pre- Philadelphia, PA, $1,000,000, 3 yrs. kindergarten programs. To recruit three new biomedical Contact: Thomas Schultz investigators and equip their 202.312.6432 laboratories. www.ccsso.org Contact: Russel E. Kaufman, M.D. 215.898.3926 The Institute for Educational www.wistar.upenn.edu Leadership, Inc. Washington, DC, $5,500,000, 1 yr. PEW CENTER ON THE STATES For Pre-K Now to support state public-education and advocacy The Pew Charitable Trusts for the campaigns as well as inform national Pew Center on the States debates on the benefits of and need Philadelphia, PA, up to $4,220,000, for high-quality pre-kindergarten 1 yr. for all. In support of the Pew Center on Contact: Libby Doggett the States’ efforts to identify and 202.862.9865 advance effective public policy www.preknow.org “The Child Who Travels on a Plane with her Papa and her Cat” by Ana Borgstede, a participant in a holistic preschool program conducted by visual artist Jacqueline Unanue in Philadelphia. 28 Trust / Spring 2008 y

r SUPPORTING Heritage Philadelphia Program, o t s i CIVIC LIFE $729,000, 1 yr. H Contact: Paula Marincola n a c

i 267.350.4930

r PHILADELPHIA PROGRAM * e www.heritagephila.org m A

f Culture o

m Pew Fellowships in the Arts, u

e $1,425,000, 1 yr. s Philadelphia Center for Arts u

M and Heritage Contact: Melissa Franklin l

a 267.350.4920 n o i t The University of the Arts www.pewarts.org a N / Philadelphia, PA, $879,000, 1 yr. n a Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative,

m Philadelphia Center for Arts and l a

T Heritage $1,660,000, 1 yr. h

g Contact: Melissa Franklin Contact: Paula Marincola u

H 267.350.4920 267.350.4930 www.pcah.us www.philexin.org Since 2005 the Philadelphia Philadelphia Music Project, Center for Arts and Heritage $1,704,000, 1 yr. has housed Pew’s six Artistic Contact: Matthew Levy Initiatives and the Philadelphia 267.350.4960 Touch-screen voting in Maryland in 2004. Cultural Management Initiative. www.philadelphiamusicproject.org While the accomplishments of any one of the individual initiatives Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, Make Voting Work Historical Interests are impressive, the volume and $1,688,000, 1 yr. extent of their collective contribu - Contact: Fran Kumin 267.350.4940 The Pew Charitable Trusts for Bryn Mawr College tion to individual artists and www.philadelphiatheatreinitiative.org Make Voting Work Bryn Mawr, PA, $1,300,000, 2 yrs. arts organizations become all Philadelphia, PA, up to $7,780,000, To support the renovation of the more clear when viewed as Cultural Data Project 2 yrs. Marjorie Goodhart Hall and there - a whole. In the past year alone, To identify a clear set of actionable by increase opportunities for the initiatives funded almost 700 The Pew Charitable Trusts for the policies, practices and technologies students to participate in the arts. visual arts exhibitions and music, Cultural Data Project that will optimize the accuracy, Contact: Kimberly E. Cassidy, dance and theater performances Philadelphia, PA, up to $700,000, convenience, efficiency and Ph.D. 610.526.5000 in the Philade lphia region. 3 yrs. security of U.S. elections. www.brynmawr.edu In the coming year, the center To establish a revolving fund to Contact: Michael Caudell-Feagan will continue to leverage its support marketing and cultivation 202.552.2142 Other Projects shared resources through a costs associated with new states www.pewcenteronthestates.org new information management and partners launching the Philadelphia Academies, Inc. database and a comprehensive National Cultural Data Project. Make Voting Work collects the Philadelphia, PA, $375,000, 2 yrs. communications strategy that Contact: Barbara Lippman data needed to prioritize problem s To connect public school youth to highlights the excellent work of 215.575.4872 in elections and publicly ranks careers and increase collaboration the initiatives and the artists www.pewtrusts.org how well states are performing with the School District of Phila- and organizations they support. in making voting convenient delphia, nonprofit organizations and Other Projects without compromising accuracy. the business community. Artistic Initiatives It is also stimulating and road- Contact: Lisa J. Nutter The Philadelphia Orchestra testing pilot projects for effective 215.546.6300 x127 Dance Advance, $1,486,000, 1 yr. Association election systems in jurisdictions www.academiesinc.org Contact: William Bissell Philadelphia, PA, $500,000, 2 yrs. that can serve as m odels for 267.350.4970 To renovate key historical architec - others across the nation. INFORMING THE www.danceadvance.org tural features and improve public In this stage of the initiative, PUBLIC amenities of the Academy of Music. Make Voting Work is conducting Contact: Lawrence J. Fitzgee research in key areas of election INFORMATION PROJECTS 215.790.5881 administration (see pages 14- *All of Pew’s work in Philadelphia is www.philorch.org 15) and disseminating the Teachers College Columbia now united in a single department, findings in ways that are highly University the Philadelphia Program. The prior i- Civic Initiatives relevant to policy deliberations. New York, NY, $50,000, 1 yr. ties reflect longstanding Pew concerns The aim is to have practical ap pli - In support of the creation of a for the region: (1) investments in David Library of the American cations for election administrators free, online digital archive of inter - arts and culture organizations and Revolution which are also easily understood views with influential Americans artists; (2) grants that support the Washington Crossing, PA, by the public and media. The conducted by Richard Heffner health and social needs of children $75,000, 2 yrs. project is also expanding the over 50 years of his weekly public and families, vulnerable adults and To enable the David Library of the number of private-sector partners television program The Open the elderly; and (3) other civic American Revolution to conserve, lending their expertise, and it is Mind . investments that make Philadelphia digitize and properly store its Sol develop ing a series of state report Contact: Richard D. Heffner a better place for both residents and Feinstone Collection. cards to set the agenda for the 212.224.1368 visitors and inform discussion on Contact: Meg McSweeney field and promote reform. www.tc.columbia.edu important issues facing the city. 215.493.6776 www.dlar.org Trust / Spring 2008 29

Washington, D.C. Martin Luther In support of two conferences for King Jr. National Memorial nonprofit, governmental and religious Project Foundation, Inc. leaders, and scholars, to review Washington, DC, $1,000,000, 1 yr. current efforts to advance religious Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Nation - freedom internationally and discuss al Memorial future strategies. Contact: Kerry-Ann T. Powell Contact: Julie L. Sulc 215.575.4855 202.737.5420 www.pewtrusts.org www.buildthedream.org Other Projects This project supports the build - ing of a memorial dedicated to WGBH Educational Foundation the life and many legacies of Dr. Boston, MA, $2,000,000, 2 yrs. Martin Luther King Jr. on the In support of “God in America.” National Mall in Washington, D.C. Contact: Michael Sullivan The four-acre memorial, to be 617.300.2000 x5384 built on the banks of the Tidal www.wgbh.org Basin, is envisioned as a quiet and contemplative space that The six-hour public television will complement the site’s sloped series “God in America” will ex - “The Academy of Music” by Alfred Bendiner from his book Bendiner’s topography. It will feature stone amine the religious history of Philadelphia (1964). Courtesy of the Architectural Archives, University and water elements along with the United States as it has played of Pennsylvania. excerpts from Dr. King’s writings out in the life of the nation. and speeches selected to highlight The documentary will encompass themes closely associated with more than 500 years of religion The David Library of the Amer - Friends Center Corporation him: democracy, justice, hope in America, beginning with the ican Revolution in Bucks County, Philadelphia, PA, $250,000, 1 yr. and peace. first voyage of Christopher Pennsylvania, devotes itself to In support of environmentally The site will include a visitor Columbus and closing with the the study of American history sus tainable renovations to the center designed to educate and 2008 election campaign. It will from the French and Indian Philadelphia-based Friends Center, inspire Americans as well as inter - cover both familiar territory, War to the beginning of the home to the Philadelphia Yearly national visitors. Here, they will such as Thomas Jefferson’s republic. Meeting, the Central Philadelphia learn about Dr. King’s commit- letter to the Danbury Baptists Its Sol Feinstone manuscript Monthly Meeting and the American ment to social justice, his role as in which he used the now-famous collection, housed at the Ameri - Friends Service Committee. a civil rights leader and his use phrase “wall of separation” can Philosophical Society, Contact: Patricia McBee of non violent tactics to achieve between church and state, and contains 2,500 documents, 215.241.7000 equality for African Americans. lesser known terrain, such as including hundreds of letters www.friendscentercorp.org the role new immigrants have written by George Washington, RELIGION played in shaping the religious John Adams, Alexander Hamilton NATIONAL CIVIC INITIATIVES landscape of America. and Thomas Jefferson, plus Religion and Public Life Overall, the series will illuminate British, French and German The Library of Congress both the richness and diversity military commanders. Together, Washington, DC, $1,000,000, 1 yr. The Pew Charitable Trusts for of religious belief in the United these materials tell the rich To support the creation of a new International Religious Freedom States and show how religion story of America’s struggle to visitor experience at the Library Philadelphia, PA, up to $331,000, has shaped the course of the establish itself as an independent of Congress’s Jefferson Building 18 mos. nation. and enduring nation. that would better display priceless The collection is in critical need historic artifacts and use digital of immediate conservation. technology to connect tourists and This project to preserve and student groups with the library’s properly store the documents vast online collections. from the founding era will ensure Contact: Jo Ann Jenkins that they are accessible to the 202.707.0351 American public. In addition, www.loc.gov the proposed digitization of 500 documents in the collection will The Pew Charitable Trusts for the further increase the public’s Papers of the Founding Fathers access to the papers. Project Philadelphia, PA, up to $189,000, 1 yr. Delaware Valley Earth Force In support of an effort to bring Wyncote, PA, $150,000, 3 yrs. greater accountability and To support the Delaware Valley increased federal funding to the Estuary Initiative, a program that Founding Fathers Project and to combines environmental and civic support the digitization of the education as well as service learn - founding fathers’ papers. (See ing to help young people gain the page 31.) knowledge, skills and attitudes Contact: Susan A. Magill needed to become active citizens 202.552.2129 in their communities. www.pewtrusts.org Contact: Janet Starwood 215.884.9888 www.earthforce.org

Illustration by R. Gregory Christie for the book Rock of Ages: A Tribute to the Black Church (2002) by Tonya Bolden. Courtesy of R. Gregory Christie. 30 Trust / Spring 2008 Briefings

For the first time in history, more with about half of released inmates measures and other sentencing laws, than one in every 100 adults in Amer - returning to jail or prison within three imposing longer prison stays on ica are in jail or prison—a fact that years. And while violent criminals inmates. significantly impacts state budgets and other serious offenders account As a result, states’ corrections costs without delivering a clear return on for some of the growth, many inmates have risen substantially. Twenty years public safety. are low-level offenders or people who ago, the states collectively spent $10.6 According to a report released in have violated the terms of their proba - billion of their general funds—their February by the Pew Center on the tio n or parole. primary source of discretionary dol - States’ Public Safety Performance “For all the money spent on cor - lars—on corrections. Last year, they Project , 2,319,258 adults were held in rections today, there hasn’t been a spent more than $44 billion in general American prisons or jails, or one in clear and convincing return for public funds, a 315 percent jump, plus some every 99.1 men and women, at the start safety,” says Adam Gelb, the project’s $5 billion more from other sources. of 2008. During 2007, the prison popu - director. “More and more states are Coupled with tightening state la tion rose by more than 25,000 in - budgets, the greater prison expendi - mates. Thirty-six states and the Federal tures may force states to make tough s i b

Bureau of Prisons saw their prison r choices about where to spend their o C / populations increase in 2007. Ten r money. For example, Pew found that e b o

states experienced inmate population C over the same 20-year period, inflation- . growth of 5 percent or larger; Ken - E adjusted general-fund spending on n a l

tucky had the largest, with 12 percent. A corrections rose 127 percent while A close examination of the most higher education expenditures rose recent U.S. Department of Justice just 21 percent. data (2006) found that while one in “States are paying a high cost for 30 men between the ages of 20 and corrections—one that may not be 34 is behind bars, the figure is one in buying them as much in public safety nine for black males in that age group. as it should. And spending on prisons Men are still roughly 13 times more may be crowding out investments in likely than women to be incarcerated, other valuable programs that could but the female population is expand - enhance a state’s economic competi - ing at a far brisker pace. For black tiveness,” says Susan Urahn, manag - women in their middle to late 30s, the ing director of the Pew Center on the incarceration rate also has hit the States. “There are other choices. Some one- in-100 mark. In addition, one in state policy makers are experiment - every 53 adults in their 20s is behind ing with a range of community punish - bars; the rate for those over 55 is one ments that are as effective as incar - in 837. ceration in protecting public safety In addition to detailing state and beginning to rethink their reliance and allow states to put the brakes on regional prison growth rates, Pew’s on prisons for lower-level offenders prison growth.” report, One in 100: Behind Bars in and finding strategies that are tough According to the report, some states America 2008 , identifies how correc - on crime without being so tough on ar e holding lower-risk offenders ac - tions spending compares to other state taxpayers.” coun table in less-costly settings and investments, why it has increased, The report points out the necessity using intermediate sanctions for and what some states are doing to of locking up violent and repeat offend - parolees and probationers who violate limit growth in both prison popula - ers, but notes that prison growth and conditions of their release. These tions and costs while maintaining higher incarceration rates do not reflect include a mix of community-based public safety. either a parallel increase in crime or programs such as day reporting cen - As prison populations expand, costs a corresponding surge in the nation’s ters, treatment facilities, electronic to states are rising. Last year alone, population at large. Instead, more monitoring systems and community states spent more than $49 billion on people are behind bars principally service—tactics recently adopted in corrections, up from $11 billion 20 because of a wave of policy choices Kansas and Texas. Another common years before. Yet the national recidi - that are sending more lawbreakers intervention, used in Kansas and vism rate remains virtually unchanged, to prison and, through “three-strikes” Nevada, involves making small reduc - Trust / Spring 2008 31

tions in prison terms for inmates who It has taken a while, but his words and institutions, and for more infor - complete substance-abuse treatment are being heeded. ma tion on Pew’s work to preserve and other programs designed to cut More than 50 years ago, Congress U.S. historic treasures, visit the Web their risk of recidivism. approved the Founding Fathers site www.pewtrusts.org. The Pew center was assisted in Papers Project to oversee the publi - collecting state prison counts by the cat ion of definitive editions of six What makes a great art exhibition? Association of State Correctional founders’ writings, along with the The question might seem to invite a Administrators and the JFA Institute. historical notes and edits that would subjective response, but, for the The report also relies on data published make the meaning and context of these Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, by the U.S. Department of Justice’s documents clear to modern audiences. it must be answered directly. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Na - Since 1981, Pew has supported this This project annually gathers panels tional Association of State Budget work, contributing more than $7.5 of arts professionals to fund exhibi - Officers and the U.S. Census Bureau. million to the project as well as to tions “of high artistic merit”—a criteri - To view the entire report, including specific universities overseeing indi - on that calls for more than an “I know state-by-state data and methodology, vi dual editing efforts. what I like” reaction. visit www.pewcenteronthestates.org. But progress has been slow. While At stake are awards of up to $250,000 Alexan der Hamilton’s papers have for exhibi tion implementation and up been completed in 26 volumes, George © p

r Washington’s papers will not be com - i v a t e plet e until 2023 (54 volumes have been c o l l

e published, with 35 to go). Jefferson’s c t i o end date is 2025 (34 pub lished and n / B r

i some 40 to go). Benjamin Franklin’s is d g e

m 2016 (38 done, 9 to go); James Madi - a n son’s , 2030 (30 done, at least 16 to go); A r t

G and John Adams’s , 2050 (30 pub - a l l e

r lished, 29 to go). y And although the intent has always been to make the papers widely avail - able to the public, the cost to do so has become increasingly prohibitive. A single Hamilton volume costs $180, and the complete set $2,600, for example— out of the reach of most public libraries and institutions of higher learning. His day is coming: Jefferson in a painting afte r Stuart Gilbert and published by Nathaniel Currier. Indeed, a recent poll of 200 major public libraries found that just 12 had more than one founding-father volume. Thomas Jefferson, who loved read - In February, the U.S. Senate Judici - ing history, made a good bit of it ary Committee held hearings on the to $25,000 for exhibition planning, so, himself—as did our nations’ other founding fathers project to explore to the applicants, there’s nothing founding fathers. These men kept ways to hasten the scholarly work and theoretical, abstract or academic meticu lous records of their thoughts its public dissemination. Pew president about the question at all. and deeds—believing that their ac - and CEO Rebecca W. Rimel, invited This year marks the 10th anniver - counts would help later genera tions to testify, called for an accelerated sary of the project’s first sponsored understand and better appreciate the publication schedule, wider public exhibitions, and after a decade of early struggles for freedom. access to the papers through digital funding innovative presentations, you’d “It is the duty of every good citi - technology and greater congres sional think that the initiative knows all the zen,” said Jefferson, “to use all of the oversight of this important federal possible answers to the question. opportunities which occur to him for initiative. Noneth eless, the initiative asked it preserving documents relating to the For details on the editing projects out loud to experts in curatorial work history of our country.” taking place at various universities (who also have experience as gallery 32 Trust / Spring 2008

or museum directors, art historians their thinking and practice. What Makes or critics). They replied in 13 essays a Great Exhibition? is the result. assembled as the book Questions of The book is being used in classes— Practice: What Makes a Great for instance, at Arcadia University and Exhibition? the University of Pennsylvania, New Most museum-goers expect to have York University and the Pratt Insti - pleasurable experiences and learn tute, the University of Chicago and something from exhibitions, and while the California College of the Arts. And many curators would agree that these it has gone into a second printing. are desirable outcomes, they state th e Through the initiative’s Web site, purpose differently. Exhibitions are www.philexin.org, you can access the the point “where artists, their work, University of Chicago Press, the book’s the arts institutions and many differ - U.S. distributor, to order a copy. The ent publics intersect,” notes Paula Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative is Marincola, the initiative’s director, in a program of the Philadelphia Center her introduction to the essays. for Arts and Heritage, funded by Pew Have the visual arts entered a new and administered by the University “period”? Innovative exhibitions will of the Arts. tell you and explain the direction it is taking (like the “Armory Show” of Pollsters and those who follow the modern art in New York City in 1913). the artist’s work and the curatorial results of their surveys have been long What is the relation of art to our world? premise? Must a great show always accustomed to—and often astonished Creative exhibitions lay it right out be a watershed production? Does by—the timeliness and relevance of there (like the Documenta shows, held great work guarantee a great show? the Pew Research Center’s public- every five years in Kassel, Germany). Can an exhibition “overflowing with opinion research. They offer new interpretations of the bad works” be anything but bad? How But Andrew Kohut , the center’s works and may even reposition the do curators plan shows for viewers of president, has brought even more discussions of the visual arts. varying degrees of interest, tolerance immediacy to the analysis of a truly Clearly, there is no standard tem - and art knowledge? tumultuous series of campaign pri - plate for creating an exhibition. Cura - And further: Given the inexhaustible tors bring their own experiences and range and types of exhibitions, can they concepts to a new project, thus assur - be compared one to another? The ing great variations in the results. alternative spaces which were created Budget, space, lenders and the institu - yesterday to display contemporary art tion’s mission add other variables. (such as coffee houses, supermarkets, According to Marincola, What Makes a book stores, abandoned warehouses, Great Exhibition? makes sense of factory buildings)—are they relevant individual approaches because it today? The art world, like much else, “clarifies and reflects on the struc - is globalized; what can and should be tures, methods and conditions of said of the nature of international group exhibition practice.” shows? The anthology comes with a card— Finally, exhibitions are presented a bookmark—that contains questions for only a specific period of time and which Marincola compiled “to give then are gone. Can they be made less the reader a more comprehensive transient through catalogues and, sense of the underlying conceptual increasingly, Web sites? The Philadel - structure of the book,” she says. “Some phia Exhibitions Initiative has its own of them were actually posed to the response to this question, since it also writers, some are addressed to curato - provides resources for its shows to rial practice in a more general way.” produce lasting documents of what A sampling: What is the relation - happened. It is only fair to do the same Catalogues supported by the initiative help pre - ship between artist and curator, or for curators—to establish a record of serve the memory, and significance, of exhibitions . Trust / Spring 2008 33

mar ies and caucuses. Since January, caucuses. In terms of numbers, he books, pamphlets, newspapers, seri - he has been writing a column for the noted, the day amounted to “a national als, advertisements, broadside bal - online New York Times , in which he election,” and he went on to identify lads, election handbills and various applies his decades of expertise in the emerging voting patterns: “Race, ephemera. statistics assessment to the evolving class, gender, age and party identifi - The ESTC begins in 1473 (when election campaign. cation continued to be the most impor - letterpress printing began in the British Talk about moving targets: His tant factor in determining a voter’s Isles) and ends in 1800. It lists items column on January 31 appeared after support.” printed in any language in Great Britain six states had chosen delegates. “So The commentators weighed in again. and North America and items printed far,” he noted, “the 2008 primaries and Nathan seemed to have mellowed: in English anywhere else in the world. caucuses have been anything but “I think that there is considerable It contains more than 460,000 entries predi ctable—comebacks, fallbacks, validity to the analysis in the article,” from the British Library and some not to mention surprised pollsters. he said, while going on to critique 2,000 other libraries and is updated But a closer look reveals some com - some of Kohut’s details. daily. mon themes that have emerged, Bee, however, took up the cudgel: Compilation began in the 1970s, despite a still-forming consensus “You guys are just looking for a way with the goal of covering 1701 through about nominees. to divide the electorate. Another stupid 1800 (E in ESTC then stood for “Eigh - “First, this election matters to voters, reporting that is not worthy of pay - teenth Century”). That initiative (with particularly to Democrats and young ing attention to.” a machine-readable text) was com - people.” He went on to describe how Steve advised giving the column a pleted in the early 1980s; Pew lent race, gender and age factored into second look: “If you re-read this opin - support in that decade. voters’ decisions, as did their status ion piece, one can only conclude that As any good archivist knows, how - as independents or their feelings on there is so much conflicting data that ever, one good thing leads to another. some issues, such as the economy there are no distinct trends. Polls The database was extended back in and immigration. and pundits have been so wrong so time, and it incorporated hardbound Of course, his conclusions quickly often so far that they are not worth short-title catalogues of years prior became common knowledge. Even paying attention to in this race.” to 1701. And access followed the more quickly, it was fodder for online In the January 10 print version of march of technology. The ESTC was readers; sometimes well more than 100 The New York Times , in fact, Kohut put on CD-ROMs in the late 1990s of them replied to a column. “Sound addressed the issue of the off-base and then on the Internet. It was avail - analysis (despite a few minor flaws) predictions of the Democratic race in able through paid subscription until and very carefully worded as well to New Hampshire: Pollsters have, and two years ago, when access was summarize accurately a mass of data,” always had, difficulty in reaching granted to all. The database can be said Bob about the January 31 entry. poorer and less well-educated voters. found at http://estc.bl.uk. Meanwhile, Nathan dissented: As the campaign becomes ever- With free Web access, says Henry L. “The author of this post is obviously more nuanced, you can follow Kohut’s Snyder, Ph.D., “the ESTC not only not a young voter. We honestly don’t analyses and commentary at http:// realizes the vision projected for it by think in terms of race and gender like campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com or its creators but far exceeds it.” your generation did and still does. at http://people-press.org, the center’s Snyder, now an emeritus professor “We’re sick of a two-party system, site. of history at the University of California and, believe it or not, we look at what at Riverside, directed the North Ameri - a candidate stands for more than their 2006 might be remembered for a can part of the project from its start. demographics. A lot of us pity those number of things, but for a certain Last November, he received a National of you who put so much emphasis on band of scholars and bibliophiles, it Humanities Medal for his role in race and gender. It’s sad to see.” marks an important year of access— preserving the written word in this Of course, it was the survey re - when the English Short-Title and other endeavors. He is credited spondents, at least in the more re - Catalogue was made available free with changing how scholarship is done. spon sible polls, who were dictating on the Web. “When I started, I spent most of the direction of the results. Most people would consider the my time looking for this stuff,” he told A week later, Kohut was comment - ESTC an esoteric venture, but within a southern California newspaper of ing on the results of Super Tuesday, its circle it is a major achievement. It the material in the ESTC . “Now, I when 24 states held primaries or is a bibliography of printed material: spend my time reading it.” 34 Trust / Spring 2008 V i r g i n i a

HAT TO O ITH HESE LD OUSES D

W D W T O H e p a r t m e n

ount Vernon, the House of Seven t M o f H

Gables, Hearst Castle: We have read i s t o r

about these historic houses, and maybe i c R

even visited them. Most likely, we have e s o u

also been to one of the other historic r c e houses in America—there may be as s many as 15,000, more than four for every county in the country. Some thrive, but many are barely solvent, scarcely surviving in upkeep or relevance. The following articles describe how some redefined their role in the community—and thus stayed true to their mission and purpose. Carter’s Grove Plantation, put to good re-use.

A MODEL FOR HISTORIC run by nonprofit organ iza tions purely Although some historic houses, like HOUSE MUSEUMS as museums face uncer tain futures. Mount Vernon or Monticello, have By Marian Godfrey These monuments need to be “repur - achieved revered status, the signifi - and Barbara Silberman posed” to be revitalized. cance of most is far more modest. They are the mansions, plantations, When Carter’s Grove Plantation, an The time has come to think outside cottages and vacation retreats of our 18th-century Virginia mansion that the house-tour box and consider new earliest settlers, lovingly protected had been owned by the Colonial paradigms to preserve historic build - by local people who care about our Williamsburg Foundation for almost ings. Colonial Williamsburg, which in nation’s rich past. 40 years, was acquired by an Internet 2003 had closed Carter’s Grove to And they are worth saving. Preserva - entrepreneur, the sale might have the public because it was no longer tion is important—vital, in fact—if we been interpreted as just another financially sustainable, reassessed as a nation are to retain authentic takeover by dot-com money. the plantation’s needs in a way that exam ples of history, culture and place. In fact, however, the change of should serve as a model for other Preservationists are realizing that ownership was exemplary of a succes s- historic house museums across the these historic structures can be used ful new strategy within the preserva - nation. for other purposes while maintaining tion movement: the return of some The process was a holistic one that their significance and structure and, historic house museums to productive sorted out the best uses for the build - in most cases, some public access. private use as a way to ensure the ings and the grounds and applied an In Philadelphia, the Living Legacy buildings’ long-term viability. innovative and responsible approach Alternative Stewardship Project , Historic houses and buildings like to preservation. Its buyer, Halsey funded by The Pew Charita ble Trusts Carter’s Grove are a vital part of Minor, who founded an Internet and the William Penn Foundation, is America’s communities. They are the publishing company, purchased the helping foster the idea of alternative tangible reminders of our history. mansion and 400-acre property for uses such as office space, art centers The problem is that, now, many of $15.3 million, intending to use the and nature sites, keeping long-term their caretakers are struggling to site as a residence and a center for a preservation the priority. attract visitors, maintain the proper - thoroughbred-horse breeding program . In her book New Solutions for House ties and make ends meet. He also agreed to a conservation Museums , preservation consultant Until now, historic buildings have easement that will prohibit commer - Donna Ann Harris documents how a been preserved strictly for the build - cial and residential development and dozen sites in the United States and ings’ sake. But that has led to a trou - preserve the mansion and archaeo - Canada were converted into commu - bling surplus of sites that are under - logical sites on the property. Colonial nity-centered spaces like art galleries, used and hopelessly disconnected Williamsburg, in turn, will use the bed-and-breakfasts and conference from their communities. proceeds of the sale for its education - buildings, used and appreciated by With modern competition from al programs, including expansion of the public daily. amusement parks, aquariums and the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts As more communities recognize interactive diversions, historic houses Museum. the perilous future facing their historic Trust / Spring 2008 35

house museums, more are joining man, a specialist in historic sites and country,” he says. These small gems the conversation of conversion, hoping museums, first uttered the controver - tell the often-overlooked story of do - to discover innovative ways to improve sial statement— “there are too many mestic history. They are the child hood the interpretation, accessibility and historic house muse ums”—at a homes of politicians. The stately houses community involvement of their national conference of the American of industrial magnates. The mansions, significant buildings. Association for State and Local History. plantations, cottages and vacation “The notion bordered on radical at retreats of people who made a mark. This piece is slightly condensed from its appearance the time,” Silberman says, “because Each l ovingly protected by people who on the opinion page of The (Norfolk, Va.) Virginian- Pilot & The Ledger-Star in January. Marian Godfrey people tend to think responsible preser - truly care—but, more often, sorely is managing director of the Culture program at vation is synonymous with creating disconnected from the beating heart Pew. Barbara Silberman is a principal at Heritage house museums. But the painful truth of the community. Partners Consulting and consultant to the Living Legacy Alternative Stewardship Project. is that historic homes used strictly as Since America’s bicentennial, there’s museums in towns and cities across been an explosion of historic house HOUSES, HISTORIES America are in peril.” museums. A few are nationally signifi - AND THE FUTURE cant. But, Vaughan notes, “most are By Tanya Barrientos Struggling with unrelenting mainte - local in interest and aren’t going to nance costs, dwindling funds, saggin g survive by attracting tourists from On the second floor of historic Mill visitor attendance and an aging cadre across the country.” Grove estate, the first American home of staff and volunteers, they are facing Which means they may not sur - of the naturalist and painter John James an uncertain future. And experts have vive at all. Audubon, which is set in bucolic east - come to believe that changing the way ern Pennsylvania, two pre-teens are they are used in the future may be The problem is national in scope. But paying little attention to history. the only way to protect their pasts. in historic centers such as Philadel - They’ve already peered into the small “Americans love to save old build - phia, it’s particularly acute—prompt - room across the hall—Audubon’s ings,” says James Vaughan, the Na - ing the Living Legacy Alternative bedc hamber—to see the period furni - tional Trust for Historic Preservation’s Stewardship Project , sponsored by ture, the artist’s sketches and the vice president for stewardship of the William Penn Foundation and taxidermy bird specimens perched on historic sites. “But a lot of them are Pew. In 2000, Pew’s Heritage Philadel - shelves and dangling from the ceiling not nationally significant enough to phia Program discovered more than by string. Now they’re coloring at a draw the sort of attendance to make 300 historic house museums in the large table in another room that makes them financially sustainable.” Philadelphia region alone. Fewer than no attempt whatsoever at being histori - Of course, Vaughan and other 10 percent of those have endowments cally accurate. And director Jean preser vation professionals believe of any size, and more than 80 percent Bochnowski couldn’t be happier. saving historical architecture from are facing preservation and mainte - “This is exactly how we want the the wrecking ball is critical. nance costs of about $1 million each, house to be used,” Bochnowski says. “They are tangible reminders of the while their operating budgets average In fact, if everything goes according past traditions and culture of our only $100,000. to plan, the interior of this historic If nothing changes within the next p i h

house museum will be transformed s decade, the research suggests, dozens r e n into a well-equipped arts center, with t will be left with no caretakers, no r a Audubon’s famous paint ings on dis - P money and no plans for rescue. a n a play next door at a state-of- the-art l Change is already happening else - O e museum inside the renovated barn. h where, with varying results. T “We live in a different world these The sale of Carter’s Grove Plantation days,” Bochnowski says. “People are by the Colonial Williamsburg Foun - used to interacting with their environ - dation [see preceding opinion piece] ment, and leading visitors on a look- actually won support from preserva - but-don’t-touch house tour simply tion organizations as respected as doesn’t work anymore.” the National Trust for Historic Preser - That’s been clear to many preser - va tion and APVA Preservation Vir - vation experts for some time now—a t ginia—mainly because Williamsburg least since 1999, when Barbara Silber - vowed to sell only to a private buyer

The Olana Partnership successfully intensi - fied the presentation of Frederic Church’s art and its significance at Olana, his home. 36 Trust / Spring 2008

who would preserve the estate and of consid ering new uses and ultimately controlled museum, tying the art into not use it for residential or commer - were reinvigorated by the change. a larger story of nature conservancy. cial development. Owned by Philadelphia’s suburban “We have a sense that this plan In 2000, the boyhood home of Montgomery County government and would make John happy,” she says. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in managed by the National Audubon Alexandria, Va., was sold to a local Society, Mill Grove (see photos, right) A handful of other historic house couple as a private residence. But in is an 18th-century, fieldstone farm - museums have already made suc - New York’s historic Hudson River house perched on a leafy bluff over - cessful transitions to new uses. The Valley, a 19th-century country estate looking the Perkiomen Creek. The 1800 House, owned and operated by called Montgomery Place has been 175-acre estate includes the main the Nantucket Historical Association, closed down indefinitely until the house, a barn and five miles of walk - is one. Shuttered since 1997, it was group maintaining it can figure out ing trails. But the house’s interior has reopened in 2005 as a “lifelong-learn - what to do: Transform it into a bed- not been historically accurate for at ing” center, where 18th- and 19th- and-breakfast? a community center? least 40 years, and the cost of metic - century crafts such as furniture-making, a wedding venue? ulously restoring the 1765 structure embroi dery and scrimshaw are taught. These are the questions coming would be astronomical. Sometimes a resurrection doesn’t up in conversations across the nation. As part of the project, Bochnowski require an extreme makeover, just a Proponents call such ideas “alter - and board members spent some five correction in vision. native stewardship.” They say that months visiting other historical house “I like to point to Olana as an exam - embracing the possibility of estab - museums, learning the administra - ple of a house museum that beat the lishing management partnerships, tive details of alternative stewardship odds,” says Sara Johns Griffen, presi - leasing the property or even selling and weighing their options. dent of the Olana Partnership, the to a private entity is necessary in a “The tours convinced us we didn’t nonprofit arm of the Olana State world where house museums are want to be a museum anymore, where Historical Society in Hudson, N.Y., forced to compete with theme parks people just walk in and stand pas - which owns and operates the historic and all sorts of high-tech leisure- time sively,” Bochnowski says. “We agreed home of Frederic E. Church, the activities. Over the long term, the that, given John Audubon’s role as a 19th-century landscape painter who thinking goes, historic buildings are conservationist, the interior of the was instrumental in the Hudson better served if they can serve the house wasn’t as important as the River School art movement. public. In fact, being creative is the exterior. Especially since there’s some - Instead of revamping the elaborate responsible thing to do. thing about how Mill Grove sits in Persian-style mansion into a hotel or But do the organizations have the this environment that touches people, community center, Griffen says, the leadership and knowledge to take there’s a majesty about it.” board agreed to expand the house’s action? One part of the historic Mill Grove interpretation. “We decided to use home that visitors insist on seeing, she Olana to tell the story of Frederic While some museum boards, trustees says, is the re-creation of Audubon’s Church and the wider story of Amer - and other stakeholders may clearly bedroom. After that, their attention ican painting.” Now, Griffen says, the see what is not working, the prospect wanes. house sponsors visiting art exhibitions of maneuvering a dramatic change “So we decided we’d keep the bed - and educational programs while still can be daunting. room as it is and turn the rest of the functioning primarily as a historical “People are emotionally attached house into an art center,” she says. museum. to these houses,” says preservation “We want it to be a vibrant place with “The first obligation of responsible consultant Donna Ann Harris. “If art classes, visiting exhibitions, an stewardship is to protect the site,” she some body has worked at the site for artist in residence. We think it speaks says. “And if you can do that while 30 years, the thought of changing to Audubon’s legacy. Learning about giving it a wider public purpose, why everything might feel like the rug is nature through art.” not?” being pulled out from under them.” Plans call for the original Audubon To help offset that fear, Mill Grove drawings and paintings owned by the Tanya Barrientos, a 2001 Pew Fellow in the Arts, director Bochnowski and the site’s center, and currently displayed inside was a freelancer when she wrote this piece for board of trustees volunteered to par- the house, to be permanently moved Pew. A former columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer, she is now a development writer at the ticipate in the Living Legacy project. next door to a three-story barn that National Constitution Center. They took part in the complex process will be remodeled into a climate- Trust / Spring 2008 37

The John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove has found a contemporary way to speak to the naturalist’s legacy.

From the top: As it stands now. As seen by Thomas Birch, c. 1830. As experienced today by children making corn-husk dolls during one of the historic house’s many special events.

Photos courtesy of the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove. Voting should be convenient and accurate. Electionline.org is watching, reporting and proposing reforms.

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