April 24-27, 2011
Apr 24 17:17 Ken Martin's Bad Weekend Apr 25 00:57 Coffee Party Signing Onto Chairman Ryan's Plan? Apr 25 15:27 AFSCME Corruption and Thuggery Report Apr 26 03:24 Strategically Stupid Apr 27 04:57 Monday's Flyaround
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Ken Martin's Bad Weekend
Earlier this weekend, I wrote about DFL Chairman Ken Martin's tough night debating MNGOP Chairman Tony Sutton. This morning, in watching him debate former legislator Laura Brod, his tough weekend continued.
Chairman Martin had just finished saying that Gov. Dayton had proven time and again that he was willing to reach across the aisle on issue after issue and that it was time for Republicans to do the same.
Rep. Brod jumped on that statement, saying that, before reaching across the aisle and asking for GOP support for his tax increases and his budget proposal, he should first talk to the DFL legislators. Rep. Brod said that there isn't much DFL support for Gov. Dayton's proposals .
Why should Republicans move an inch toward Gov. Dayton's budget, especially considering the fact that the DFL doesn't support Gov. Dayton's budget?
I remember the silence in the House Chamber when Gov. Dayton delivered his state of the state address. There were a few bits of applause but most of his proposals were met with silence.
Remember, too, that the DFL refused to sponsor his budget in the legislature for a long, long time. MNGOP Vice-Chair Michael Brodkorb rightly highlighted, daily, the fact that it was another day that DFL legislators refused to sponsor Dayton's budget.
In this past election, significantly more people voted for GOP legislators and candidates than voted for Mark Dayton. The people have spoken. They voted for candidates that promised not to raise taxes. That message turned a veto-proof DFL majority in the Senate into a minority party. That message turned an 87-47 DFL majority, near veto-proof, into a 72-62 minority.
In one instance, the DFL won by less than 1% of the vote to capture the governorship. On the other hand, Republican candidates in the House and Senate gained a net 41 seats, a 20% turnover in the state legislature. Many longtime DFL incumbents lost, sometimes by significant margins.
Dan Fabian defeated DFL incumbent Dave Olin by a 58-42% margin. Mike LeMuier defeated DFL incumbent Al Doty by a similar margin. Bruce Vogel defeated DFL incumbent and Chairman Al Junhke by a 53-47% margin. Sondra Erickson thumped Gail Kulick-Jackson by a 55-44 margin in their rematch. Linda Runbeck reclaimed Phil Krinkie's old seat, defeating Paul Gardner by a 55-45% margin.
These aren't tiny margins that incumbents got defeated by. By comparison, Gov. Dayton defeated Rep. Emmer by winning 41% of the vote. That's hardly a mandate.
I've highlighted this in other posts but let's understand that support for Sen. Bakk's and Rep. Lenczewski's tax increase bills passed by 35-31 and 68-66 margins respectively in 2009. That's when the DFL held a 46-21 majority in the Senate and 87-47 in the House. Losing 11 votes in the Senate and 19 in the House isn't a sign of strength.
The sooner Gov. Dayton admits that support for his budget is thin and support for his tax increases is almost nonexistent, the sooner he start serious negotiations with the legislature. Until then, he's just wasting the legislature's time and energy.
What's fascinating is that the DFL is now being led by someone who isn't as skilled a debater as his predecessor. Melendez held his own against Chairman Sutton when they met. He would've gotten trounced by Laura Brod because she's a world-class debater and policy wonk.
By comparison, Chairman Martin got trounced by Chairman Sutton and Rep. Brod. The DFL's message isn't appealing and their chairman isn't a skilled debater.
What could possibly go wrong with that?
Posted Sunday, April 24, 2011 5:17 PM
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Coffee Party Signing Onto Chairman Ryan's Plan?
According to this pdf , the Coffee Party is intent on eliminating corporate welfare:
JOIN US IN CALLING FOR TAX REFORM. NO MORE CORPORATE TAX LOOPHOLES.
That's awesome. Part of Paul Ryan's Path to Prosperity Plan is eliminating corporate welfare. Chairman Ryan confirms that in this video:
Here's part of the dialogue between Chairman Ryan and a focus group participant:
FGP: It's too vague and by ignoring the revenue side, I think you're delusional and I don't think you're going to fix it.
RYAN: If we try and tax our way out of this problem, we shut down the economy and economic growth. What we want to do is reform the tax system to make it flatter, fairer, more simple so that we're more internationally competitive. Look, we have big companies today that are making billions of dollars that aren't paying taxes because they got special loopholes in teh tax code so they can legally use to avoid paying taxes. Then we have other companies struggling, making some money and paying alot of taxes. That's not fair so we want to reform this tax code, make our tax code more competitive, so job creators can create jobs and if we do that, you get higher revenue.
Chairman Ryan clearly states that it's his priority to eliminate corporate welfare. What's interesting is that he's proposing to make it fairer with a flatter tax and eliminating loopholes.
This wasn't the only time he responded to a FGP this way. Here's the other time he advocated eliminating corporate welfare:
FGP II: I really appreciate you being honest in saying what you said but the problem is when the American people aren't told how you're going to do it, there's no clarity there, there's confusion. And if they're confused about how you're going to do it...
RYAN: I'm happy to go into any level of detail he wants...
FGP II: and when you hear politicians talk about what they want to do, I want to hear "This is what we are going to do, a step-by-step plan we have in place so we're clear on what our objective is vs. overall, this is what we want to accomplish.
RYAN: How much time do I have?
LUNTZ: Our whole show isn't devoted to this. We've only...
RYAN: I could spend the next 45 minutes walking you through this, a point-by-point budget plan...
LUNTZ: Believe me, he could spend the next 45 days...
RYAN: One area of spending cuts that we are going to go after is corporate welfare. The federal government spends alot of money picking winners and losers in the marketplace, whether it's Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whether it's big agricultural subsidies, whether it's this energy pork picking winners and losers in the marketplace, we're trying to cut out of the federal spending...
Watch the video starting at about the 4:00 mark. Pay particularly close attention to the tone in Chairman Ryan's voice. It's totally serious.
One thing that's apparent is that liberals believe the biased liberal media's mischaracterizations of conservatives. While some country club Republicans love Wall Street, the truth is that TEA Party conservatives see tons of corruption on Wall Street and their infrastructure.
Wall Street isn't as much about pioneering as much as they're about working the good old boys network, working the political channels to get special accomodations and playing politics to the Nth degree.
TEA Party conservatives, which Paul Ryan certainly qualifies as, are the party of small businesses, job creation, innovation and profitability through hard work and long hours.
BTW, this last group are the people that President Obama and Gov. Dayton want to his with high tax increases. These are the people who, if you trusted President Obama and Gov. Dayton, which I don't, aren't paying their fair share and who are having their millions handed to them.
That's pure BS.
Chairman Ryan is serious about eliminating corporate welfare, just like his famous predecessor John Kasich. They both want lower marginal tax rates and fewer deductions. In short, they're against corporate welfare and progressive taxation.
It's time that old-fashioned liberals admitted that there's alot of things in Chairman Ryan's plan that they can support. It's time that they started doing real research into the problems facing this nation. Most importantly, it's time that they understood that their antiquated policies don't fit into the 21st century.
Corporate welfare is just another name for government-subsidized corruption. It doesn't help create small businesses. It doesn't create jobs. The only thing it does is create more work for accountants and lobbyists.
Frankly, I don't see the importance in that.
Posted Monday, April 25, 2011 12:57 AM
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Strategically Stupid
If there's anything that conservatives would rejoice over in this budget fight, it's if Paul Ryan was made the face of straightening the fiscal mess we're in. If proof was needed that there is a God in Heaven, this article confirms it for me:
Eager to start campaigning for re-election next year, President Barack Obama isn't waiting for the Republican Party to nominate a rival. He's running against Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
Obama professes to like Ryan, the 41-year-old chairman of the House Budget Committee. But in increasingly personal and pointed terms, Obama is attacking Ryan as the face of a Republican Party that he says would use the government's debt crisis to turn America in a radical new direction.
He's doing it for two key reasons. Obama wants to shift the public focus away from own contribution to the nation's skyrocketing debt, which hurt Democrats in the 2010 congressional elections, and onto the Republican Party's proposed solutions. And he wants to frame the election as a choice between two very different visions of America: The Republican one he calls a dark place for the poor and middle class, and the other his own view of a friendly, more utopian place.
First, a speech isn't a budget blueprint. The budget that President Obama submitted in February implicitly said that the status quo was their preferred spending plan. Nothing could've been more diametrically opposed to where the majority of this nation is right now.
This administration thinks he'll be able to pull off this con job. I'm betting that the vast majority of independent voters will reject the notion that Chairman Ryan's budget is radical. I'd bet the proverbial ranch that they'll reject the notion that President Obama's reckless spending will lead to ruin.
Here's another critical mistake President Obama is making:
Obama, his top advisers and fellow Democrats believe that Ryan handed them a gift when he proposed a budget plan that would cut taxes by $2 trillion over 10 years and also cut federal spending by $6.2 trillion, cuts which include possibly wrenching changes in the popular Medicare program.
If Democrats think that Chairman Ryan's plan is viewed in a negative light, they should watch the focus group reaction to Chairman Ryan's explanation for his Path to Prosperity plan. Just follow this link to watch Chairman Ryan's explanation of his Path to Prosperity plan to Frank Luntz's focus group.
Everyone in the group thought he was honest. Almost everyone wanted to hear more about his plans, especially about eliminating corporate welfare and reforming the tax code.
Considering this focus group's reaction to Chairman Ryan, I'll just say that President Obama better raise $2,000,000,000 for his re-elect campaign cuz he'll need to tell alot of whoppers to dent Chairman Ryan's credibility.
The truth is that Democrats in the past succeeded in creating boogey men out of bombthrowers like Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay. Paul Ryan is poised beyond those gentlemen's wildest dreams. He's exceptionally measured. He's already mopped the floor with President Obama's backside at the Health Care Summit and with his response to President Obama's lackluster SOTU speech this past February.
The notion that you'll win by villainizing Paul Ryan is plain stupid. Think about this: a focus group of approximately 30 people, equally split between McCain and Obama supporters, couldn't get enough straight talk from Chairman Ryan.
That's the guy you're going to villainize, President Obama? God bless you for that Christmas gift come WAY EARLY.
Obama wants to raise income and other taxes on incomes above $200,000. He also wants to raise Social Security taxes on income above $106,800. Ryan proposes to slash top income tax rates on high incomes from 35 percent to 25 percent, but also would eliminate some unspecified deductions and loopholes.
Paul Ryan's plans for cutting corporate welfare have a proven track record of success, starting with the TEFRA deal worked out between President Reagan and Dan Rostenkowski.
Meanwhile, people have already registered their disagreements with President Obama's stimulus boondoggle and his health care nightmare. That's what the 2010 elections were about. They didn't go well for Democrats, with Democrats losing an historic 63 seats in the House, 19 legislative chambers flipping and with the Democrats losing a total of 680 state legislative seats nationwide.
In one sense, this strategy makes sense. President Obama certainly can't run on his accomplishments. Besides his health care and stimulus boondoggles, we can't forget his bailouts, which led to his historic deficits.
Still, it's safe to say that President Obama is hardly the right messenger to criticize people about their radical plans. That's akin to Chernobyl officials lecturing France on their nuclear energy programs.
Posted Tuesday, April 26, 2011 3:24 AM
Comment 1 by M Hanson at 26-Apr-11 02:09 PM
I like this Ryan guy. I think the defense budget can shrink a great deal just like Rummy and Gates have been trying to do. Like to see cuts in the Ag budget as well. Tough for the GOP to cut the budgets of large supporters.
AFSCME Corruption and Thuggery Report
AFSCME is a corrupt organization. There isn't much doubt after the president of their Michigan chapter said that they'd use their people as a weapon to shut down the state of Michigan . There isn't any doubt after considering the fact that it was AFSCME thugs that told Dawn Bobo that they'd boycott her business if she didn't put their sign supporting them in their fight against Gov. Scott Walker.
Further evidence of their corruption is this poster:
The lies in this poster make it clear that AFSCME isn't interested in the truth. These aren't verifiable numbers. They're numbers made up to spread fear amongst Minnesotans so they can win a budget battle and continue raising taxes.
The thought that Republican reforms will kill 30,000 jobs this biennium isn't a realistic number, though I definitely like the thought of trimming 5,000 state government jobs through retirement.
Anyone that thinks state government isn't big or powerful enough isn't a conservative. They're likely a Gov. Dayton supporter.
What AFSCME definitely isn't telling Minnesota is that it's projected that 6% of Minnesota's government workforce is retiring each of the next 3 years. I suspect that a significant number of these jobs 'lost' are retirements.
AFSCME is a corrupt organization. They've proven that repeatedly. There's no reason to trust these scare tactic figures. And make no mistake about this: this flyer is all about scaring people into supporting them and the alphabet soup of other government unions.
The other figure that isn't trustworthy is the one about the GOP budget raising taxes more than Gov. Dayton's budget. Gov. Dayton's budget calls for raising taxes by $2,000,000,000. This weekend, Ken Martin told Almanac that the GOP budget would raise property taxes by $1,400,000,000. Which lie will they stick with?
I spoke with several area legislators at the flyaround this afternoon. They told me that mayors have approached them that've said 'They don't speak for me. I'm not planning on raising taxes.'
The myth that needs exploding is that LGA increases will prevent property tax increases. Rep. Kiffmeyer said at the flyaround that testimony given in the House Taxes Committee from Gov. Dayton's staff is that raising LGA won't guarantee that property taxes won't still increase.
AFSCME's numbers are mythical or outright lies. Either way, they shouldn't be trusted.
Posted Monday, April 25, 2011 3:27 PM
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Monday's Flyaround
Yesterday, I attended the GOP flyaround at St. Cloud Regional Airport. First, it was a well-attended event, with approximately 35 people attending.
One thing that stunned me was Mary Kiffmeyer's statement that, in testimony before the House Taxes Committee, two people from the Dayton administration said that they couldn't guarantee that property taxes wouldn't go up if LGA is increased. Other legislators said that they've had small town mayors approach them, telling them that big city mayors don't speak for them.
Another thing that's apparent is that the DFL message of an all-cuts budget is having some effect, especially with the media. In a post-press conference interview, House Majority Leader Matt Dean told St. Cloud Times reporter that Alina had told them that they could "save the state $1.6 billion" under their plan.
Posted Wednesday, April 27, 2011 4:57 AM
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