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Taxpayers League of Minnesota eUpdate
1. The David Strom Show presented by the Minnesota Free Market Institute.
2. The story that just won’t die – 2007 special session rumors.
3. Dennis Kucinich is my hero. (did I really just write that?)
4. Just in time for Christmas – Governor Scrooge.
1. The David Strom Show presented by the Minnesota Free Market Institute.
Tune in this Saturday to AM 1280 The Patriot from 9 – 11 am when David will be joined by Mike Wigley and Randal O’Toole. Wigley, chairman and founder of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, will regale us with stories about the genesis of the Taxpayers League and how one man can be responsible for so much liberal anguish and hand-wringing. O’Toole, executive director of the American Dream Coalition, will tell us why “smart growth” should be the name for a new product from Miracle Grow and not a way to plan our cities and towns.
Also, be sure to catch Taxpayers League President Phil Krinkie on Channel 5’s Sunday morning news program At Issue.
2. The story that just won’t die – 2007 special session rumors.
“A last-gasp attempt by local leaders to balance their budgets by tapping into the state treasury instead of homeowners' pockets failed to sway Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who ruled out a special session on Wednesday.
“His decision leaves for dead a vetoed tax bill that would have boosted aid to local governments. Mayors and Democrats had pressed for a special session to revive the bill, which the Republican governor rejected in May over an inflation accounting provision.
“Pawlenty outlined his stance to reporters Wednesday after putting it in a letter to 11 mayors on Friday.”
Is anyone else out there just a little bit unnerved that this is still a story? You would think that after a guy (the Governor) says “NO” enough times, Democrats and Mayors (which are about the same thing) would finally take the hint and leave him alone. Maybe I’m wrong, but back at Lincoln Elementary I was taught that when peer pressure starts mounting, if you just keep repeating “NO,” the drug pushers and other assorted adolescent miscreants would eventually back off. Am I to conclude that “Just Say No” was just a 20th century version of “Duck and Cover?” Who knew that teenage drug dealers and local government functionaries had so much in common?
That would have been some useful information to have when I was nine.
3. Dennis Kucinich is my hero.
I can’t figure out if Dennis Kucinich is crazy like a fox or just plain crazy.
Last month, Kucinich’s House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy held a hearing to discuss, “Professional Sports Stadiums: Do They Divert Public Funds From Critical Public Infrastructure?” While I don’t agree with where I think Kucinich was heading when he said, “the Minnesota Twins got public funding approved for a new stadium just the year before the I-35W bridge collapsed”, nonetheless the hearing was good opportunity to again make the case that no economic benefit is derived from spending public money on what amounts to a $500 million “crack” house.
Fast-forward to last Wednesday and the release of a report from the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission that “makes a case that the public benefits outweigh the costs of investing in professional sports facilities” (from the 11/12 edition of the St. Paul Legal Ledger which you can’t read unless you’re a subscriber). Put aside for a moment that fact that the MSFC releasing a report that says stadiums are good for us is like Libya chairing the UN Human Rights Commission and focus instead on what Phil said for a Fox 9 news report last night: “health care, transportaiton, education let’s look at those before we start benefitting just a very select group that own a professional sports team.”
There it is. Public money is for public priorities, not private gain.
4. Just in time for Christmas – Governor Scrooge.
On Wednesday, The New York Sun published a report saying that Governor Elliot Spitzer planned to introduce a new 8.375% sales tax on all Empire State purchases from Amazon.com…just in time for the Christmas shopping season. Yesterday, Spitzer’s budget director, Paul Francis, had to back-peddle: “Governor Spitzer believes that now [ed. meaning anytime he gets caught] is not the right time to be increasing sales [ed. Governmental Revenue Increaser to Nuke Christmas Happiness] taxes on New Yorkers. He has directed [ed. sounds better than “retreated with his tail between his legs”] the Department of Tax and Finance to pull back its interpretation that would require some Internet retailers that do not collect sales tax to do so.”
So, the lesson here boys and girls is that the next time your Governor does something really stupid, flood his office with calls and emails and maybe he’ll come to his senses.
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota's eUpdate is written by Mark Giga
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