Programs! Get your Program Here!
As Joe Soucheray would put it, the "Lodge" will hold its annual convention starting this Thursday, February 4th. To help us think the proper thought and soften us up for DFL tax and spending increases, the Minneapolis Star Tribune published two Editorials today.
The first was another predictable column by Editorial Writer and Columnist Lori Sturdevant. It seems that during a Minnesota Public Radio debate among gubernatorial candidates last week, this "lightning round" yes or no question was posed: "Would you sign a bill raising state taxes?" She didn't like the question.
I rooted for the candidates to reject those instructions. I hoped someone would say that Minnesotans should have learned by now that it's not smart for governors to lock themselves into yes-or-no promises about taxation during campaigns, years before the circumstances of their governorship unfold. I wanted a candidate to acknowledge what recent experience teaches: that campaign tax promises can contribute to governance gridlock. Or to interject that Minnesota is overdue for tax reform.
And she really didn't like the answers.
Most of the DFL and Independence Party candidates tried to squeeze a few caveats and qualifiers into answers that were some version of "yes" or "yes, if." Some clearly itched to say more. Every Republican uttered a simple, unqualified "no."
Which is to say that her liberal friends said yes and the GOP said no. We all know her politics, which include embracing an ever expanding State government, and the tax increases to pay for it. But before she berates those of us who disagree, she should look at what happens when one of us does compromise, agreeing to a tax increase, knowingly incurring the base's wrath. Nothing. Are we thanked? Are we praised? No, all we get is "where's the rest of it?" And that's why even the malleable Governor Pawlenty isn't on board for any more tax increases.
Now, the other Editorial, cleverly disguised as a news article.
A quick scan of the words and phrases used tells you what's in store: fraught with peril, deep cuts, desperate need for jobs, time-honored, spreading the wealth, economy is improving (!), grim, politically unpalatable, watch tuition soar, and polishing his national profile.
Yes, the risk is to Republicans who won't increase taxes and draw the public's ire by reducing services. The Democrats will wear the white hats, trying to preserve all those essential, duplicative, overpriced state servcies. Or so Staff Writer Baird Helgeson would have us believe.
Cross-posted and comments welcome at Speed Gibson.
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