Vote what I say, not what I do

Source: Wikimedia Commons (John Snape) CC BY-SA 3.0

Republicans face an uphill battle in a state like Minnesota, where words matter more than deeds. As long as the majority of voters like what they hear, that's who gets their vote.

The KSTP/SurveyUSA Poll results announced at the beginning of October revealed an interesting dichotomy among the voters questioned by the survey:

52% of respondents disapprove of the performance of Minnesota's government health insurance exchange, MNSure, which in the wake of scandal and mismanagement has made healthcare less affordable and resulted in less choice for consumers.

66% of respondents disapprove of the new $77 million Senate Legislative Office Building (SLOB), passed by the DFL-controlled legislature in a classic dead-of-night, end-of-session, buried-in-a-tax-bill gambit.

61% of respondents rate Minnesota's roads, highways, and bridges as "Fair" or "Poor," compared to 38% who rate them "Excellent" or "Good." But at least we have trains and bike paths that are useless for commerce or for hauling the fishing boat up to Brainerd.

The survey didn't need to ask whether Minnesotans are satisfied or dissatisfied with the educational achievement gap in the school districts with the highest per-pupil state funding (Minneapolis and Saint Paul).

And now for the bad news for Republicans:

Do you approve or disapprove of the job Mark Dayton is doing as Governor?

53% Approve
37% Disapprove
10% Not Sure

Minnesotans elected a state auditor (twice) without a background in accounting or auditing, a governor who was "unaware" of certain key provisions in major legislation until after he signed them into law, and a United States Senator who votes with his party 97% of the time.

There is a saying, "I hear what you say, but I believe what you do." On Election Day, many Minnesota voters seem to be saying, "Hear no evil," or perhaps they are too enamored with bread and circuses to care.

There was a glimmer of hope for Republican candidate for governor, Jeff Johnson, in a more recent KSTP/SurveyUSA poll. Johnson's support among independent voters has increased, with Gov. Dayton's lead in that demographic now in the single digits. Independents are by definition less ideological than the party faithful, which should favor the more pragmatic, results-oriented candidate. If Republicans can get out the vote, that may be just enough.

An offer we can't refuse

Click image to zoom in

"As government expands, liberty contracts." —Ronald Reagan

Light rail transit is rolling down the tracks to a neighborhood near you. As far as the Metropolitan Council and Gov. Mark Dayton are concerned, taxpayers and those who live in the trains' path have three options:

• Lead
• Follow
• Get out of the way

Three lawsuits against the Central Corridor LRT line illustrate this.

When Minnesota Public Radio complained that light rail trains rumbling down Cedar Street in front of its downtown Saint Paul lobby doors could disrupt its broadcast and recording studios, the Metropolitan Council refused to re-route the tracks. When MPR asked for a spring-steel floating slab system that has proven to reduce noise and vibration from a similar transit route in Basel, Switzerland, Met Council Chairman Peter Bell said, "I think MPR does an excellent job in news and classical music. Engineering light-rail systems is not their area of expertise." MPR's subsequent lawsuit against the Met Council was dismissed. A less-expensive rubber-based floating slab system will be installed, which the experts at the Met Council assure MPR will work just fine.

When the University of Minnesota balked at the prospect of vibration and electromagnetic interference from light rail trains disrupting sensitive laboratories through the heart of its campus, they proposed an alternate route on the northern outskirts of campus. When the Met Council declined to reroute the tracks, the U sued. The University dropped its lawsuit in an agreement with the Met Council that includes mitigation measures that the Met Council assures the U will work just fine.

When the Saint Paul NAACP complained that potential negative effects of the line on residents and businesses have not been adequately analyzed, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman's office commented, "I'm not sure it's inevitable bad things will happen." The NAACP's lawsuit against the Met Council, the Federal Transit Administration, and the federal Department of Transportation is still pending.

Governor Dayton is a big supporter of the proposed Southwest Light Rail Transit route. Just don't confuse him with the facts.

When Gov. Dayton's own Department of Employment and Economic Development rated the proposed Southwest Light Rail Transit last out of twelve metro area projects for grant money (see chart), Gov. Dayton ignored his own agency's scorecard and awarded the proposed Southwest Light Rail Transit a $2 million DEED grant.

The Southwest Transitway Draft Environmental Impact Statement lists "severe" noise impacts "in a number of residential locations...[due to] high anticipated speeds of [sic] or light rail vehicle-mounted audible warning signal (bell) use at some stations and crossings;" vibration; noise and vibration from freight trains re-routed to make way for the light rail; up to hundreds of property acquisitions depending on the final route; and safety and security impacts.

I wouldn't bet against the Southwest LRT getting built due to environmental, noise, vibration, or safety concerns from property owners and residents. Light rail transit in the Twin Cities metro area is an offer from the Met Council we can't — or won't be allowed to — refuse.

Legislators: "It could have been worse"

On Tuesday evening, the Taxpayers League of Minnesota hosted an informal end-of-session meet-and-greet in one of the tony paneled club rooms at the Metropolitan in Golden Valley. (It was as close as I'll ever get to a smoke-filled room, thanks to the Minnesota Clean Air Act.)

The most common thing that people were saying about the legislative session now adjourned sine die was, "It could have been worse." The best thing that people could say about the session was, "It's over." The take-away message from conservative legislators was, "Send us some help!"

Among the notable conservatives working the crowd were former gubernatorial endorsement candidate Sue Jeffers, Hennepin County Commissioner candidate Jeff Johnson, Pioneer Press columnist Craig Westover, fellow True North founders Derek Brigham and Brian Mason, Wright County Republican's Drew Emmer, and of course the lovely Margaret Martin, co-host of the David Strom Show, heard Saturdays from 9:00-11:00 am on AM 1280 The Patriot.

The food and drink at 5:00 pm fooled everyone into staying for a wide-ranging recap of the session from some very hard-working, fiscally-conservative legislators at 6:00 pm. After consuming, as Minnesota Free Market Institute president David Strom put it, "Mike Wigley's wine" and the delish D'Amico hors d'oeuvres, the aloha-shirted chairman of the Taxpayers League Wigley opened the program by introducing League president and former state Rep. Phil Krinkie. Krinkie presented a special award to Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall): the Worst Friend of the Gorillas Award, for opposing state funding of the gorilla exhibit at the Como Park Zoo.

Seifert thanked the Taxpayers League for their work, and explained that sustaining Gov. Tim Pawlenty's (R-MN) vetoes is only possible because the DFL is five votes short of a veto-proof majority in the House. He said end-of-session negotiations with the majority party leaders, notably Sen. Larry Pogemiller (DFL-Minneapolis), were particularly brutal this year.

Several legislators provided a recap of the session in their areas of expertise.

Sen. Geoff Michel (R-Edina) and Sen. David Hann (R-Eden Prairie) represented Minnesota's conservative state senators. Michel reported that 80% of the state budget reserve ("rainy day" fund) was used to balance the biennial budget, in spite of the expected November budget forecast of a $2-$3 billion deficit. Although state law requires a balanced budget, conservatives would prefer cuts in spending to depleting the reserve.

Krinkie presented Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan) with the Best Amendment Award for his amendment that would have renamed the "per diem" payment to legislators as "Walking Around Money." Longtime education reform stalwart and teacher Buesgens described the "one-time" $51 per-student grant to schools that passed this session, which will enable the DFL to claim a Republican funding "cut" if not appropriated next session. Buesgens also made the point that true reform (in the form of vouchers) is the only way to improve how education is delivered in Minnesota, rather than simply throwing more money at the current system.

Assistant Minority Whip and lead Republican on the Health and Human Services Finance Committee Rep. Matt Dean (R-Dellwood), praised the defeat of Education Minnesota's socialized medicine for teachers plan, although thousands more Minnesotans now qualify for state welfare health plans due to a raising of the maximum qualifying income. He also recommended Pat Shortridge's recent article on National Review Online, "Yes we can," on rebuilding the conservative movement in this country.

Rep. Mary Liz Holberg (R-Lakeville) received the Most Likely To Be Run Over By A Light Rail Train Award, because she is always standing in the way of light rail spending (and gas tax increases)!

Rep. Paul Khols (R-Victoria) sounded like the Son of Dr. No (former Rep. Krinkie) when he said that "no" can be a good word when voting against tax increases. He explained that the DFL was promoting twenty-five tax increases this session alone that would have cost taxpayers $10 billion in new taxes. The $6+ billion tax increase in the transportation bill was bad enough!

Rep. Tom Hackbarth (R-Cedar) explained how political horse-trading perverted the proposed constitutional amendment to dedicate a one-eighth percent of the existing state sales taxes to preserving hunting and fishing into a three-eighths percent sales tax increase to promote radical environmentalism, the arts, and parks, in addition to the original outdoors programs. He warned that special interest groups will be promoting the constitutional amendment, and that its passage would open the door to millions of dollars of grants to those groups (as the Minnesota State Lottery already does to environmental groups).

Strom concluded the program with a fundraising pitch, reminding the group that legislators and the Taxpayers League cannot do it alone. The big tip jar at the door was filled to the top with tens and twenties, a good sign, and contribution envelopes were also distributed with the League's popular lawn signs and "wanted" poster, and a session scrapbook of editorials and Krinkie op-eds. The evening's co-sponsor, AM 1280 The Patriot, also had a table with information and bumper stickers.

Conservatives need to remind the electorate that higher quality of life does not mean ever-larger government, in fact, the opposite is true. As Margaret Thatcher was quoted during the event, "First you win the argument, then you win the vote." If conservatives fail to win the argument and get like-minded candidates elected to the Minnesota House this fall, the 2008 tax-and-spend session will only be another step in our long march to the "cold Detroit" of even higher taxes and an accelerated taxpayer and business exodus from the Land of 10,000 Taxes.

Iowa burning

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. —attributed to Alexander Tyler (1747-1813)

A month before she became Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson's campaign spokeswoman, Karen Hanretty bravely opined on The Hill's Pundits Blog in opposition to ethanol subsidies, "Perhaps it’s time to put America first and make Iowa go last."

After opposing them while he was a U.S. Senator, candidate Fred Thompson now backs billions in taxpayer subsidies to Archer Daniels Midland and Big Ag to burn our nation's corn supply for fuel — while domestic oil exploration and petroleum refinery construction have been at a virtual standstill for years, conveniently providing the "crisis" that ethanol has been waiting to solve.

Ethanol may be a scam, but like light rail and SCHIP for all, it wins elections — even if it doesn't solve the problems that it purports to solve, even with a blank check from the public treasury. Just ask Governor Tim Pawlenty — or former lieutenant governor candidate Judi "What's E85?" Dutcher.

Ethanol's a no-brainer — for politicians on both sides of the aisle. Tyler would certainly agree.

Conservatives flex their muscle

Tom Scheck at Minnesota Public Radio's Polinaut, and more than a few Democrats I presume, are befuddled at Gov. Tim Pawlenty's signals over the weekend that a gas tax increase may not be such a sure thing after all. In an e-mail to supporters, the governor's political director, Michael Krueger said, "the Governor has made it clear to legislative leaders that he would like to see this gas tax increase as only temporary and offset by an income tax cut."

"So what changed," asks Scheck, "between Pawlenty's statement on August 7th ("The gas tax has never been popular but we have needs that have to be addressed") and today? Did he get too far from his base? Is he poll watching?"

That got me wondering about 100.3 KTLK-FM personality Jason Lewis's August 10 (note the timing) e-mail blast to his Tax Cut Coalition. Perhaps we caught a glimpse of what can happen when conservatives come together to flex their political muscle:

Dear TCC Member:

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to work again...

The aftermath of the I35W bridge collapse seems to only compound a very sad event. The idea that some politicians would use such a tragedy to advance their own agenda is more than unseemly. Unfortunately, raising taxes--and not re-prioritizing state spending--is gaining traction and too few in the political arena are opposing such a transparent notion.

The upcoming special session is now turning into a feeding frenzy with almost every conceivable spending proposal item on the agenda--that is, unless we stop it. A state biennial budget that has had two back-to-back increases of 12.4% and 9.6% respectively doesn't have a spending problem. A $34.5 billion general fund, which has doubled since 1995 and gone up 30% just since 2002 isn't short of taxpayer generosity. What happened to that surplus?

If we are truly committed to roads and bridges then our elected leaders need to revisit our state highway funding formula which short changes the most congested areas; they need to rethink diverting state and federal dollars to billion dollar light rail projects; and members of Congress need to stop the earmarks in transportation bills that have little to do with building and maintaining roads. Period.

Please tell your state Representative and Senator as well as the Governor that you will not support an increase in the gas tax (or any other tax) unless it is completely offset with a reduction in the state's income tax burden for those paying the way. [Emphasis mine. —M.A.] This would have the effect of spending less on non-essential items and devoting more resources to the real infrastructure the politicians say they care about.

It isn't a tax cut (they can't say we're not willing to compromise) but it is the only alternative acceptable to Minnesotans who make the economy go. (And a few letters to the editor might not be a bad idea either.)

Thank you in advance for your support.

Jason Lewis
Host, 4 - 7pm
FM Newstalk 100.3 KTLK

P.S. Don't forget to get your Tax Cut Coalition T-Shirt at the KTLK booth during the Minnesota State Fair.

Bigger subsidy: roads or mass transit?

To hear the Strib tell it, only drivers of single-passenger cars benefit from roads (Editorial: "Bipartisanship helps get transport funds," Saturday, August 18, 2007):

Our fundamental transportation problem, as a nation and as a metropolitan region, is that drivers don't pay anything close to the full cost of driving. Thirty-three percent of road and bridge costs in Minnesota, for example, are borne by general property taxpayers, not by the buyers of gasoline, license tabs or other car-related expenses. Indeed, if all the externalities associated with excessive driving were calculated -- from emergency rooms to air pollution, not to mention more contentious factors, like foreign wars -- the sum would be staggering and would compel us to reconsider our daily travel habits.

They forgot to include "manmade climate change" and lack of universal health care insurance to this list. So much for the "gatekeepers" at the Strib.

The Strib seems to suggest that general property taxpayers don't benefit from good roads, so they are subsidizing those evil automobile drivers. Even if we accept this canard as truth, intellectual honesty would demand that we acknowledge those heavily-taxed general property taxpayers who also drive a car certainly benefit from good roads and bridges. Further, anyone who receives postal mail, who buys anything at a retail store, who eats food at a restaurant or purchased at a farmer's market, takes delivery of an online purchase, receives home delivery of the Star Tribune, checks out a book from the Minneapolis Central Library, rides a Metro Transit bus or school bus, or takes a taxi all benefit from good roads and bridges.

Conversely, none of these groups benefit from light rail trains. Would the Legislature please grant an exemption to these oppressively-taxed groups from propping up economically unsustainable light rail trains, which benefit only a small percentage of the population to the detriment of the roads and bridges that we all depend on?

That giant sucking sound

"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable." —John Kenneth Galbraith

With Governor Pawlenty opening the door to light rail on the I-35W bridge replacement, and a gas tax increase to pay for it, the affair is already teetering between the disastrous and the unpalatable.

To paraphrase Ross Perot, that giant sucking sound you hear is more money being vacuumed from your wallet. From the Taxpayers League of Minnesota:

As [Taxpayers League of Minnesota president] Phil Krinkie said on MPR on Wednesday, what will fastracking Northstar [commuter rail between Saint Cloud and Minneapolis] — which is projected to handle 5000 trips a day — do to relieve congestion on a bridge that carried upwards of 200,000 vehicles a day? And, with subsidies for Northstar projected to run anywhere from $5-$7 per rider (on the low end) to $15-$18 per rider (on the high end), where will future transportation spending be focused? Not where we need it, that’s for sure.

If you really want to talk about transit subsidies here’s another number for you to throw at your neighbor the next time he opines as to where our priorities should be: per Minnesota state statute, Metro Transit must achieve of farebox recovery rate of between 33-34%. So every dollar a bus or train rider puts in the till, $2 is coming out of your pocket. Pretty slick how that works, huh?

Are any of our elected officials planning on standing up for the automobile commuter, freight carriers, and taxpayers against these runaway trains?

Mark Buesgens: not so fast!!

Kudos to Minnesota Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan) for his commentary in the Strib, "Let's be wary of raising taxes during a period of high emotion," in which he cautions against a hastily-called special session of the Legislature to pass a hastily-crafted gas tax bill to pay for replacing the collapsed 35W bridge:

A special session would not be a magic wand that would suddenly cure all the woes of our neglected infrastructure. Raising the gas tax in September would not bring in huge amounts of revenue before the Legislature is set to reconvene in February. Of course, immediate cash is necessary, and the governor has emergency powers to allocate the necessary revenue from any of the numerous reserve funds that the state has socked away for just such incidents.

The Strib reported that Sen. Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope), Sen. Rod Skoe (DFL-Clearbrook), and U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN 4) are all questioning the "frenzied rush to replace the bridge [McCollum's words]." Of course, no one is questioning the frenzied rush to raise taxes.

Like a good homeowner's insurance policy, the federal government will fund the replacement of the bridge with an equivalent bridge, with up-to-date safety, durability, and traffic standards. The Dems want to add light rail, and need more time to come up with funding, conduct environmental studies, and engineer a new bridge that would support light rail. So they're using fear to put the brakes on getting metro area drivers off the post-collapse detours.

Considering the circumstances, I have no doubt that the new 35W bridge is going to be the safest, longest lasting bridge built since the Interstate system was created. Frenzied rush, indeed.

Not so fast, Mr. Oberstar

From "Oberstar's gas tax may hit some political potholes," by Kevin Diaz, Star Tribune, August 11, 2007:

Republican Sen. Norm Coleman suggested that the nation's infrastructure is not a question of money, but of making it a priority. "I'm not yet prepared to accept a gas tax increase as the solution," he said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, suggested other remedies first. "We should look at closing lucrative loopholes for the big oil companies and rolling back the Bush tax cuts for people making over $336,000 per year before adding another burden on the middle class," she said.

Sen. Klobuchar would penalize productivity, reducing tax revenue by driving the rich harder toward tax shelters, and drive up oil prices by discouraging investment in domestic oil production, but at least she understands that a federal gas tax increase would be burdensome and unnecessary.

(Minnesotans currently pay 20 cents per gallon to the state, and export 18.4 cents per gallon to Washington, D.C. — 38.4 cents per gallon total in state and federal taxes. According to Jason Lewis, oil company profits average around 8 cents per gallon. Is big oil more "lucrative" for the oil companies, or for the government?)

Meanwhile, back in Minnesota, we also need to reexamine our spending priorities. No special session or gas tax increase needed. A gas tax would not raise a large amount of cash immediately, anyway. Emergency funding now on the way from the feds, tapping the state's rainy day funds, and shifting money out of lower priorities, would help meet the urgent need to get the 35W bridge back online as safely and quickly as possible.

New priorities, not gas tax increase, needed to rebuild bridge

To paraphrase Governor Pawlenty (until recently), Minnesota does not have a revenue problem, Minnesota has a prioritization problem. Here are a few examples of misplaced priorities (yes I know the Twins stadium is a Hennepin County tax, but you-know-who made it possible):



KSTP's recent poll showed that 57 percent of those surveyed oppose an increase to the Minnesota state gas tax, while only 38 percent would support an increase. (See Captain's Quarters for much more.)

In today's press conference, even President Bush opposed a federal gas tax increase, shining a light on how Congress doles out the money: with a combination of pork-barrel projects and no-strings grants to the states (Source: CBS News):

The way it seems to have worked is that each member on that (Transportation) committee gets to set his or her own priorities first," Bush said. "That's not the right way to prioritize the people's money. Before we raise taxes, which could affect economic growth, I would strongly urge the Congress to examine how they set priorities."

Governor Pawlenty, we don't have a revenue problem. Sign an increase to the gas tax, which at least is constitutionally dedicated to roads, only if it is paid for by cutting other programs or an offsetting income tax cut.

Governor Tim Pawlenty: (651) 296-3391

UPDATE: Jason Lewis and the blogosphere are railing, so to speak, against the possibility of a state or federal gas tax increase. So where are the governor and the Republican Party of Minnesota??

I-35W bridge collapse shows how emergency preparedness pays

Thank God for the many first responders to the I-35W bridge collapse, who were on scene immediately and through the night last night, from U of M student bystanders and neighbors to public safety, medical, Red Cross, media, and even corporate support from US Internet, Target, Caribou Coffee, and many others. We found out just how extensive emergency preparedness training has been in the Twin Cities since 9/11 by how effective the response was.

The public, not just professionals and government, must be ready to respond to disasters. Hennepin County is offering emergency preparedness training to the public this fall, train-the-trainer training designed to be repeated in community organizations. I'll be attending as an Emergency Preparedness merit badge counselor to my son's Boy Scout troop. For further information, contact Andrea Petersen, Hennepin County Public Health - Emergency Preparedness, phone 612-348-4463.