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Taxpayers League of Minnesota eUpdate
1. Taxpayers League Live! with David Strom.
2. So close, yet so far away.
3. The FEC just won’t let them be.
4. “What Should Conservatives Push For This Legislative Session?”
5. Another Minneapolis City Councilman goes to the klink.
1. Taxpayers League Live! with David Strom.
Tune in this Saturday to AM 1280 The Patriot from 9 – 11am when Taxpayers League Live! will treat you to a “Best Of” show and give Minnesota’s political evil doers a one-week respite from the verbal beat down David and Margaret normally deliver. But, as sure as we hadn’t heard the last from this woman, David and Margaret will be back Live! next Saturday, December 30th.
2. Almost there. Just a little bit closer. Keeping coming…
Nope, too far.
No “right-thinking” person has ever looked to the Star Tribune’s editorial pages for sound economic advice. That’s why I was surprised when I started reading one of the Strib’s editorials from Tuesday’s paper. Commenting on the “success” of the JOBZ program, the writer approvingly notes that “nearly two-thirds of the businesses that qualified for tax relief we're not relocations. Rather, they were either expansions of existing rural businesses, or start-up companies.” Oddly, I found myself nodding my head in agreement – particularly because one of the chief criticisms of JOBZ is that instead of leveling the playing field for everyone, JOBZ puts government in the business of picking winners based solely on geography. Also noted was that with some businesses getting tax breaks, previously established companies and homeowners are left picking up the tab for local government services. Then, amazingly, the writer casts aside one of the Left’s most cherished axioms and concedes that “business taxes are regressive in their impact. They are passed along to customers, in higher prices, and workers in lower wages and fewer jobs.” EUREKA! Did the cornerstone of Minnesota’s liberal establishment just say that taxing business is counterproductive? Yes, but…there was still the compulsory bow to Messrs Marx and Engels that would finish the piece . “JOBZ is providing policymakers a case study of what can happen when the business tax burden is lifted. It should have them asking what good might result if the taxes paid by every business were reduced – and [ed. wait for it, wait for it] replaced with a tax that would have the individuals who gain the most from Minnesota’s business climate pay their fair share.”
So close, but as always, another piece of newsprint for the litter box.
3. The continuing fallacy of campaign finance reform.
As I’ve said in this space before, all campaign finance “reform” legislation is an example of politicians deciding we’re too inept to think for ourselves. And despite their best (or worst) intentions, money will always find its way into politics (and rightly so). And though you may not agree with messages from groups like MoveOn.org or Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, as former FEC chairman (and past guest on Taxpayers League Live!) Bradley Smith wrote this week in response to the FECs decision to fine these and other “527s” more than $600,000, “big money did not drown out the voices of average Americans – it allowed them to be heard.” Smith continues, “The elitist cognoscenti in Washington, who support anything they think will take money out of politics, are pleased, huffing only that the fines are too small. The FEC admitted to going easy on the groups, given the ‘uncertainty’ in the law. In my view, there is no uncertainty – the groups did not violate the law.”
Unfortunately, Mr. Smith no longer has any official say in the matter so the First Amendment is again twisted by an unelected panel of fools for their own selfish reasons. Pity.
4. “(Especially Now that DFLers Control Almost Everything).”
“What policies do leaders of Minnesota's most influential conservative organizations think conservatives should seek at the Capitol this year? What policies do leaders of other Minnesota organizations advise conservatives to pursue in St. Paul? Everyone promises to be polite, only occasionally facetious... and never to talk for more than two minutes at a stretch.” Join the Center of the American Experiment on Thursday, January 4 from noon – 1:30pm at the Crown Plaza Saint Paul Riverfront for a Luncheon Forum on Legislative Priorities. For more information or to register, click here and join David Strom and a handful of local politicos for lunch on the 4th.
5. The revolving door between city council and prison just keeps on spinning.
"I'm looking forward to a new, interesting chapter of my life. I get to meet a lot of people I would otherwise not meet." – Former Minneapolis City Councilmember Dean Zimmerman after beingsentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison
I’ve got to think there are better ways of meeting new people than being sent to prison, right? But who knows? Maybe rubbing elbows with some new, interesting people will snap him out of the dope smoking, beer drinking rut he currently finds himself in and put him on the road to being a productive member of society.
Merry Christmas! And be sure to pray for me and the wife - we're flying into Denver tomorrow.
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota's E Update is written by Mark Giga
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