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e-update 11-23-09

on 23 November 2009.

1. Ironworld Left to Rust

2. The Great Train Robbery

3. Vikings Threaten to Extort Taxpayers

4. Where the Candidates Stand

5. Last Chance for Stimulus Cash!

 

1. Ironworld Left to Rust

Despite millions of dollars in taxpayer funding, Ironworld, a museum dedicated to the Iron Range , went dark last week. The Chisholm facility saw on average a mere 42 visitors per day and relied heavily on tax dollars to survive.

“Thankfully after three decades of enormous taxpayer subsidies this monument to government waste has finally closed,” said Phil Krinkie, President of the Taxpayers League.

To read more click here.

 

2. The Great Train Robbery

Now that all of the hoopla, celebration and hype over the opening of the Northstar Commuter Rail line have subsided, it’s time to examine the facts.
 
Yes, the fact about the total cost to construct the line to date and the project’s real operating subsidies. That’s right, the information that in all the back-slapping and publicity the media didn’t bother to report.

After all, let’s remember who paid 100 percent of the construction costs of this wonderful choo-choo train – the taxpayers. There was no private-public partnership, no charitable contributions, just the good old taxpayer on the hook for the whole thing.

 
To read more click here.

 

3. Vikings Threaten to Extort Taxpayers

Despite a deep recession and record state budget shortfalls, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf took to the airwaves and newspapers last week to once again make a pitch for a taxpayer-funded football stadium. 

When the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission announced it was working on an agreement to extend the Vikings lease at the Metrodome, Wilf’s response was nothing short of defiant and angry as he continues to demand over $700 million in taxpayer subsidies. 

Wilf has made no secret of the fact that the team will look elsewhere if the stadium is not on the way to being built by the time the lease expires.  In true form of a playground bully, he says he’ll take his ball and play elsewhere.
 

To read more click here.

 

4. Where the Candidates Stand

In an effort to inform voters on key issues facing taxpayers, the Taxpayers League has surveyed gubernatorial candidates and published their responses to two major issues regarding state finances – a 2010 bonding bill and a constitutional amendment to limit expenditures.

The 2010 session will have to tackle the question whether the state can afford a bonding bill when it faces a billion-dollar deficit.  And just as contentious is Governor Pawlenty’s proposed constitutional amendment to limit expenditures in the next biennium to no more than the revenue received in the last biennium. 

Where do gubernatorial candidates stand on these issues?  Click here to find out.

 

5. Last Chance for Stimulus Cash!

This is your last chance to claim your stimulus cash from the Stimulus Spending Contest! The November 30 deadline is quickly approaching so send us the most outrageous, ridiculous or down right egregious way you have seen stimulus money being spent today!
 
Emailthe Taxpayers League the most outrageous way in which the U.S. Federal Government is spending stimulus money by November 30 and win!
 

1st Place - $100
2nd Place - $50
3rd Place - $20

If your story is a winner, you will receive a stuffed pig to accompany your cash winnings. Don't delay send your entry today!

 

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