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Taxpayers League eUpdate
1. The David Strom Show presented by the Minnesota Free Market Institute.
2. Hey Senator Steve Murphy, can you say "design flaw?"
3. Bridges not bears. The case for state bonds for state roads.
4. A "Gold Star" and an extra cookie before nap time for Rep. Juhnke.
5. Do the Right Thing: Make it Flake
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 King Banaian.
At 9:00 am tune in for King Banaian, an economics professor at St. Cloud State University and blogger at SCSU Scholars.
At 10:00 am tune in for a 2008 Minnesota Legislative session preview.
2. Hey Senator Steve Murphy, can you say "design flaw?"
So much for blaming "no new taxes." The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Tuesday blamed, in part, flaws in the original design of the 35W bridge for its collapse last August. While the report's preliminary findings are just the first step in the NTSBs 12-18 month investigation, some are already trashing the report as political spin. My guess is that until State Senator Steve Murphy and Congressman Jim Oberstar get their hands on a Zapruder-like film of Taxpayers League gnomes clandestinely pounding away on the bridge's gusset plates, neither one is going to be happy that faulty design may be the culprit. But at least we'll get to hear from Sen. Murphy all legislative session long as he turns the 35W bridge collapse/NTSB investigation into a conspiracy theory that would make the "9-11 Truth" nuts blush.
3. Bridges not bears. The case for state bonds for state roads.
Legislators running up the tab on the state's credit card is inevitable. But what makes more sense to you? Bonding for projects that that are clearly of statewide (and even regional) significance like roads and bridges? Or making our children pay for another walking trail in Crap Rock State Park or a ski jump that can be used for all of three months out of the year. That was the focus of a Taxpayers League press conference last Friday and a story in the Star Tribune last Sunday. At the press conference (and in a subsequent opinion piece titled "Cash or Credit?"), Taxpayers League President Phil Krinkie made the case that road and bridge projects are too important to leave out of the bonding bill and the "fluff" that legislators can't wait to buy their re-elections with needs to move to the back of the line.
So when the Governor released his bonding proposal this week, we were glad to see that someone in state government is moving in the right direction. Now let's see how the legislature's "porkers" try and tell us that the Austin Area Success Center and the Duluth Zoo's Polar Bear exhibit are more important than the Highway 61 bridge in Hastings.
4. A "Gold Star" and an extra cookie before nap time for Rep. Juhnke.
Last week, I linked to a KSTP news story about the explosive increase in per diem payments that were made to state legislators in 2007. In Wednesday's West Central Tribune, Rep. Al Juhnke (DFL-Willmar) - and I give him credit for this - tried defending himself without sounding too much like a naïf.
"Juhnke, chairman of an agriculture and veterans affairs committee, said the $18,234 of per diem he took home in addition to a $31,140 legislative salary was the result of his busy committee schedule and other legislative responsibilities.
"'I'm proud to be one of the hardest-working legislators in the state,' he boasted. [ed. Like he's James Brown or something? Unfortunately, Rep. Juhnke - and many liberals - find the only consequence of "working hard" to be the necessity to raise taxes and increase spending.]
"Juhnke said a large share of his per diem after the regular session was the result of his perfect attendance [ed. Gold Star!] on at least six capital investment committee tours. It is important to see proposed projects in person before deciding which deserve funding, he said. [ed. Any chance you toured any of the dozen or so road and bridge projects that should be the focus of the Capital Investment Committee? I'm sure the snow-making machine that Battle Creek State Park wants was a real humdinger of a tour.]
"In 2007, Juhnke said, he also attended commission and board hearings during the legislative interim, spoke at agricultural conferences and attended meetings of the Midwestern Legislative Conference, where he leads an agriculture panel."
And one more thing. What in the world is Sen. Mee Moua (who lives six miles from the Capitol) doing collecting $22,000 in per diem payments? What happened to liberals loving bikes and walking and such?
5. Do the Right Thing: Make it Flake
"With Roger Wicker being named a United States Senator, there is an opening on the Appropriations Committee for the U.S. House of Representatives. The Republicans get to fill the seat. The Republican leadership has a great opportunity to prove that it is serious about earmark reform and a conservative approach to spending. It's time to put some action behind their rhetoric." - Red State: The Road to Recovery Begins with Jeff Flake on Appropriations
"In four terms in Congress, Mr. Flake has never sought a special bridge, courthouse, parking lot, or teapot museum for his district. Republican leaders were so incensed at his role in exposing GOP earmarks in 2006 that they booted him off the Judiciary Committee." - Wall Street Journal: The Anti-Appropriator, 1/8/08.
If you find yourself with some free time this weekend, click over to Make it Flake.com and tell the House Republican Leadership that that time has come to add some fiscal responsibility to the appropriations process for a change.
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota's eUpdate is written by Mark Giga |
