The first debate of the 2012 CD4 election was held at the State Fair Tuesday 8/29. The candidates for US House of Representatives are Tony Hernandez, Betty McCollum, and Steve Carlson.
Tony Hernandez is the endorsed Republican candidate who is the fiscal conservative candidate in the race.
"We need to figure out a way to reform our tax structure, lower our taxes, so that businesses want to come back to America in order to invest,"
Betty McCollum is the long term incumbent, representing the far left constituency of Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi. Betty McCollum is a staunch believer in government involvement and regulation of business. And as she states in the debate,
The fiscal cliff, you know we shouldn't, we shouldn't be in this position we should not be there. We should be having a discussion as President Obama is starting to have with John Behner about putting everything on the table. Tax reform as well as "smart cuts".
Placing the blame on "the Republican Tea Party element" for the issue and the "gridlock". In the debate you will hear "tax reform" translates to tax increases (revenues), and "smart cuts" appear to equate to cuts to the military, and most forms of military advertisement [from other sources here, here, here, here].
Steve Carlson is the returning Independence Party candidate that ran in 2010, as a far distant third, claiming to represent the Tea Party.
As reviewed in MPR's article, this debate centered on those fiscal issues that undoubtedly are primary in everyone's mind. Job's, the economy, debt, and the Stillwater bridge.
Harry Reid has reprised Joe McCarthy's "I have here in my hand.." with the unfounded and un-substatitated claim of "I was told by an extremely credible source that Romney has not paid taxes for ten years ". As the advertisements say, there is no more ruthless collections agency than the IRS. There is no way Mitt Romney could have conceivably not paid the entirety of the taxes due. The IRS would have chased him down with audits and investigations.
He’s refused to release his tax returns, as we know. [Yes he has, all that are required, just not "all" of them to provide opponents with excessive opportunity for slander like Harry Reid] If a person coming before this body wanted to be a cabinet officer, he couldn’t be if he did the same refusal Mitt Romney does about tax returns. So the word’s out that he hasn’t paid any taxes for ten years. Let him prove that he has paid taxes, because he hasn’t. We already know from one partial tax return that he gave us, he has money hidden in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and a Swiss bank account. Not making that up, that’s in the partial year that he gave us. Mitt Romney makes more money in a single day than the average middle-class family makes in two years–or more.
Wait, wait, let me get this straight -- He has money "hidden" in completely legal foreign investments? But Harry "found them" on Mitt Romney's publicly released IRS submitted tax form? Real investigative journalism. That would seem to be the least well kept secret "hiding" of assets ever. What is Harry Reid accusing him of? Hiding money offshore so it doesn't get taxed, when its ON HIS TAX FORM! Mitt Romney's tax forms detail the foreign investments and the applicable foreign taxes and subsequent additional US taxes paid on those investments. Hardly a case of tax evasion, as Harry Reid tries to impugn, more like full disclosure.
Harry Reid said these tall tales (otherwise known as dissembling or lies) from the floor of the Senate. That give him constitutional protection from the possibility of suit for libel. A most despicable way of slandering someone without having to be accountable. If Harry Reid has seen unreleased tax forms of Mitt Romney, he has just admitted to a crime.
When Mitt Romney's father died and he inherited the estate, Mitt gave it all away [heard on Hugh Hewitt's show from author of On The Brink]. More on Mitt Romney's altruism and generosity here and here. He further eschewed and donated salary and other benefits as governor and head of the Olympics. His altruism and dedication is a truer testament to the man than baseless accusations from well known serial dissemblers.
Reid, who also refuses to release his own tax returns, isn’t just a hypocrite and a slanderer. He’s also a political idiot. Until these attacks, Romney was on the defensive over his tax returns. Now Romney can paint his decision to keep them private as a principled stand against unscrupulous opponents. Reid has handed the high ground to Romney in this fight with his scurrilous lies. Reid has all but ruined Obama’s strategy of making Romney look secretive and weird.
Politics is a full contact sport, but it shouldn't include libelous gutter snipe attacks of desperation.
I, like many others in the country who want clear, concise and factual information subscribe to the Heritage newsletter. I got this missive in the mail this morning
Obama: Look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.
With this I immediately thought of a friend of mine who had left a corporate job and started a business in his basement. He spent years there, developing the complete product with he and his wife's own genius, inventiveness, and sweat, before moving to an office. The business grew but always had issues with regulations. Whether obscure sales tax implications and penalties, or other even more painful ones. The last four years he has become even more vocal to me about his complaints of government intervention in the form of regulations. His background is not one of a conservative family, in fact very, very, much the opposite, but he has come to a strong limited government viewpoint through his personal experiences.
While I often helped him in the early days with projects, work, and discussion, I never once thought of it as "I built his business"! The arrogance of such a statement, and the blind misunderstanding of how things develop staggers me.
I had planned on sending him the Heritage link, but he beat me to it in this email exchange.
From F: "What the…"
a link to Obama's speech.
From D: I meant to send that to you this morning, but I wanted to see the reaction... I couldn't quite hear it from here (7 miles away?)
From F: No $#!+. You don’t want to be near me after reading something like that. I pray the People have enough sense to kick this President [deleted original word, sorry F. you went a little overboard] out of office in November before the country goes downhill any further. My partner [his wife, hey its a small business] can't spend any time selling because she spends sooo much of it dealing with our governments BS.
There are many who have made negative (some down right hostile) comments to me about the belief that small businesses suffer greatly at the hands of this governments excessive regulations and do and will vote with their feet. But the reality is, my friend has often remarked about the possibility of moving his business out of the country, the state is a growing certainty, even though it is basically a company of he and his wife.
Spending half your small companies resources on governmental compliance and regulations should be considered ridiculously unreasonable in anyone's book. We need to replace any governmental representative who does not actively participate in reducing this burden, and denounce the attitude that the government built an entrepreneurs business because they voted to build roads. That means replacing progressives that stand for ever larger government.
Did you ever have your spouse buy something very expensive that overdrew your account? Then give you the reasoning that "it was such a good deal I just had to buy it"? Well Will Rossbach had such a moment in a City Council workshop recently.
Maplewood Mayor Will Rossbach made an astounding comment as they were discussing the interest rate the city might be able to get for more loans.
"We could probably say however that if we did actually bond now we would get a rate that around what we got before? … And, umm, you know its a little bit like going to Walmart I guess, but uh, the more we would bond for the more we'd save…If we're saving $20,000 a year on $4.3 million, we'd be saving 40 on twice that?"
From watching the video of the comment, I am not sure the city staffer giving the report knew what to do with that comment. The truth is that you save by not spending money you don't have.
Maplewood held the workshop on June 25 to reconsider the bonding bill they had proposed to spend $9.5 million dollars to build new fire (they just closed a couple that probably could have been updated much less expensively) and police facilities. A petition had been submitted to call the bonding to a referendum vote by the citizens. The City had dismissed the petition by disqualifying 70 signatures. The bonding company however subsequently had significant concerns about that, and the petition, so the bonding for this year was put on hold. Since they were essentially blocked on the bonding as proposed (either by the petition, or by other points in the presentation that said they really only had about $1.5 million left of their borrowing cap of $10 million bank qualified rate amount, the 1.7666% rate), they were considering two alternative ways around it.
The story is very similar to that of many other cities, among them the City of Scanton, which demonstrates where poor fiscal management can lead.
"Sad that it came down to this," Pugliese [who has worked for Scranton's Department of Public Works for 26 years] said. "I can't understand how it could get this bad. I could never run my household down this low. Don't know how they could run a city down this low."
Amid a dispute with the City Council [Democrat] about raising funds for their cash-strapped Pennsylvania city, the mayor of Scranton faces a lawsuit from union workers after he cut their pay to minimum wage.
"We don't have enough money. That's what it comes down to," Doherty [Democrat, Mayor] told Quijano. After paying city workers, Doherty said Scranton only had $5,000 left and very few options.
But the mayor isn't necessarily a hero. A source in the Scranton city council who spoke on condition of anonymity said the big problem was that the mayor and the city council had agreed to borrow to cover the shortfall but a couple of consultants warned banks not to lend to the city until its recovery plan was approved.
The city council balked because it included a 78% tax hike on businesses [this and loans are part of the Mayor's plan], some of which are already leaving for friendlier climes.
And all from poor budgeting and debt policies.
Full video available from the archives at: Maplewood City Council Manager Workshop June 25, 2012
On Tim Kinley's Speechless Show, he played the video where at the 2012 Democrat DFL State Convention the discussed vote fraud possibilities of a proposed amendment to their party constitution, and voted essentially for the "Voter ID" concept in their caucus presidential balloting.
A woman called in and spoke about her House District endorsing convention where she alleges the following:
Woman: The local DFL convention that was held at North High I myself was participating there. And when we were voting for endorsement for the new open seat for state representative in 43 Phil Trippler as a matter of fact , Chuck Wiger, and John Nephew were looking at everybody's ballots. Ok.
Tim: Why would they look at the ballots? What, Why were they ..
Woman: When we were voting you had to vote to vote for your candidate of of choice and on the back sign your name. If you did not sign your name it did not count. So right there the DFL was demanding voter id at their conventions, see.
Tim: You had to sign your name to the back of the ballot?
Woman: Yes you had to sign your name or it would not be counted. And Phil Trippler, I folded mine up so tiny you know and he sat there behind me and opened my ballot to see who I was voting for. And then I was harassed and bullied to change my vote. Now that's wrong.
Tim: Wow yes it is!
Woman: And the all know they did it.
If this alleged action occurred, that would be a tremendous incursion into open voting. It would go far beyond the Voter ID amendment to changing the secret ballot into an identified ballot, much like what card check for union voting would do.
We need voint integrity, we need Voter ID, and at its heart the DFL knows it!
Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is a very vocal critic of the Voter ID Amendment. He spoke strongly against it during the legislative process and is apparently campaigning around the state against the amendment. Yet in the ACLU/LWV/Common Cause Minnesota Supreme Court lawsuit he is named as the defendant. Attorney General Lori Swanson, who would also be "defending" the amendment, is also against the amendment. This could end up being the least well defended case in history.
In his speech Mark Ritchie stated
This is going into the Constitution, it cannot be fixed, it cannot be tweaked, it cannot be corrected, its forever.
Not the words of someone likely to put his entire, or possibly any, effort into supporting legislation that a huge majority, 80%, of Minnesotans want.
Minnesota Majority, a conservative group that’s backing the photo ID amendment, issued a statement predicting the petition will fail. The group’s president, Jeff Davis, noted that it names as defendant Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a vocal opponent of photo ID. He questioned whether Ritchie, a Democrat, would properly defend the case and said his group or pro-amendment legislators would likely seek to intervene.
We need to have our legislators step up and vigorously defend their work!
Keith Ellison was one of the speakers Saturday morning at the Jun2, 2102 DFl Minnesota State Convention. He spoke of his view of Voter ID. Labeling it an "ugly stain". He also spoke of what he called a "Republican austerity program", apparently blaming it for the latest job numbers.
Ken Martin introduced Keith Ellison:
It is now my pleasure to introduce a true progressive. Keith Ellison is passionate about helping Minnesota communities work together toward solutions to the problems they face. He is working toward a nation of opportunity and fairness where everybody counts and everybody matters. Keith believes in creating a stronger America, which means building a stronger economic future for working Minnesotans. He is working for an America where all men are created equal regardless of their race, gender or who they love. He is committed to creating an electoral system free of corrupting the taint of big money .. corporate money, where politicians are beholding to their constituents, not their corporate contributors. Keith's vision of America is one that all who value equality and fairness should share. The chair of the congressional progressive caucus, and a champion for all, please join me in welcoming the Congressman from the 5th Congressional District, Congressman Keith Ellison.
Keith Ellison:
Thank you Ken. Hey everybody. How you doing DFL. How is the DFL today. Thats good. Cause we got to be all fired up and ready to go. We have a big challenge in front of us right now. And when I think of the challenge that we have. it is a challenge, its simply a challenge between those of us who embrace community and those who say that you are on your own. Those of us who believe that our government has a responsibility to make the rules fair, promote equality, and protect us. And those who believe that you know is all about giving as much money as you can to wealthy and taking as much as you can from the poor. We gotta be in the middle of a divide and we've gotta stand there and call for the American Dream for everyone in this state and in this country. We've gotta stand for the American Dream. Now one element of the American Dream, one element of the American Dream is the right to vote. The right to vote. You know when this country was founded, it was not enough, it was not enough to be a white male to vote. You had to be Protestant and you had to own property. But then there was a revolution. And the Jacksonian revolution came, and then being a white male was good enough to vote. But then we had the civil war, and we defeated the Confederacy, and we said that men could vote. And then women said, wait a minute, what about us, and women won the right to vote in 1920. And then, and then we had some trouble again with the right to vote and so the civil right movement , fought and fought and fought for the right to vote and we got rid of the poll tax, we passed the 1965 voting rights act. And then, young people, young people, give a hand for young people .. young people said look if your gonna send me off to Viet Nam and tell me that I can carry a gun and get shot, but I can't vote, that's bogus. And the 18 year olds won the right to vote. And so if you look at, if you look at America, our great country, we have seen an expanding an expanding right to vote we have been increasing the right for people to participate and to chose their government. And so today this voter id bill is a ugly stain on our trajectory on our right to vote. Expanding the franchise for everyone. So I'm holding in my hand a pledge to vote no. Does, hold it up, if you got one hold it up, hold it up, if you got one get it up, come on now I don't see it. Put it up in the air. If you got one I want ask you to sign it. I signed mine already, it says Keith Ellison. I put my email in there, I put my zip code, and I put my telephone number, and I said I will pledge to vote no. Will you pledge to vote no with me to this ugly Constitutional amendment? Now let me tell you in other states, in other states where they have passed these ugly amendments, ugly things have happened. An 86 year old world war II veteran, somebody who went to defeat Hitler was denied the right to vote in Ohio just a few months ago. Eleven Nuns in Indiana were told that they didn't have Government issued identification card so they told that they could not vote. Thats wrong. Eight six year old Dorothy Cooper of Tennessee. In that state who couldn't vote because of her race, could not vote. But in 1965 she got the right to vote and voted in every election since, was told that she could not vote because she did not have a government issued ID. You know what? This is anti-Minnesota. Its wrong and we've got to fight for the right to vote in Minnesota all the time, every time.
Now look they got me on a timer so I gotta hurry up. But I want to tell you that we have got to have a working pro-job majority in the US Congress. So I need you, thats right a pro-job majority , how 'bout that. You all don't know, now let me just tell ya, we just saw the job numbers in May were not that hot, only about 69,000 jobs created. Did you know that the government cut 13,000 votes under the Republican austerity program? We gotta reject this austerity program and we got have more people that are for jobs, pro-jobs who understand that a Police Officer a Firefighter, a Nurse, a person who check… makes sure our water is clean, those government public workers are just as good, just as valuable, and just as important as anybody else. So what.. we need your help, we need your help to elect Mike Obermueller in the 2nd District, who's gonna take out John Kline. Any body from the 2nd district around here? All right now. We need your help to elect Brian Barnes in the 3rd district. Any body from the 3rd District? Third District over there you guys. We need your help to elect Jim Graves to take out Michele Bachmann in the 6th District. And we need your help to elect Rick Nolan to take out Chip Cravaack in the 8th. We need a pro-job majority, we need a pro-job majority. We need a pro-job majority in Congress, and we need a pro-job majority in the Minnesota House where I was proud to serve with my good friend Paul Thissen over there. So look everybody I'm about to sit down, but I want you to know, that this election, this election does turn on your participation. You are the leaders, you are the vanguard, you are the one's in your neighborhood who everybody knows. We need you to stand for expanding the vote to defeating voter id, and I'd be very happy if you would join me in supporting ranked choice voting which I think is something very good as well. We need to be there for the LGBT community and we need to be there for civil and human rights for all people. Because let me tell you it is true the slogan of my campaign is everybody counts, everybody matters. Say it with me everybody counts, everybody matters, everybody counts, everybody matters. And that is not only an outcome, thats not only standing for civil rights for all, thats not only standing up for working men and women and the right to collectively bargain, thats not only standing up for the environment. It is also engaging people in their own, in their own better life. That going out and reaching out to everybody to let them participate in making this life a better life. It is not just an outcome it is also a process, so you guys get out there and you get everybody to those polls because we gotta to win this thing and we gotta win big. Come on Minnesota let's do it. Thank you very much.
The first interesting feature is that Keith Ellison, who accused Sarah Palin of "over blown rhetoric", would choose to use the rhetoric of "take out" their opponents. Sadly Keith Ellison merely takes advantage of normal figures of speech, used in every day descriptions, for negative political purposes while using essentially equivalent phrases himself. There is nothing wrong in his use of this phrase, only the comical irony of his having condemned others.
So what about the fear mongering over Voter iD? How did his examples stack up? Well not so well...
Paul Carroll, an 86-year-old World War II veteran who has lived in the same Ohio town for four decades, was denied a chance to vote in the state’s primary contests today after a poll worker denied his form of identification, a recently-acquired photo ID from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The poll worker rejected the ID because it did not contain an address, as required by Ohio law. A local Veterans Affairs employee told the Plain Dealer that the decision not to include the address was likely made at the federal level, and because VA IDs are accepted at any location, “the actual address of a veteran isn’t as critical to us.” Carroll was offered a provisional ballot, but the type was too small for him to read and “I was kind of perturbed by then,” he said.
The 12 Nuns in Indiana were told by Sister Julie McGuire, they could not vote in the 2008 Democratic Primary, due to outdated passports.
They had been told they would need the photo id's, but had chosen not to and came to the precinct anyway. "However the convent will make a "very concerted effort" to get proper identification for the nuns in time for the general election."
As for Dorothy Cooper, she went to get her free Voter ID with her birth certificate, which was not her current name. She did not have her marriage license showing her current name. She was only denied getting a voter id card at that time.
"Her lack of a valid marriage license is likely due to the fact that she’s outlived two husbands. Under the Tennessee law, Cooper will still be able to vote via absentee ballot, which does not require photo ID. But standing outside her normal voting precinct, Cooper told the Times Free Press she will miss going there to vote."
So as for actually denying anyone the right to vote, this is simply more of the Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt that is being spread about the Voter ID issue. The people got their problems corrected for the general election, and Dorothy Cooper never was denied voting, just the free id at that time.
Rep. Keith Ellison's idea of fairness is clearly equality of outcome, not opportunity. He is promoting that "Government" creates jobs. Unfortunately for his argument, government really can only foster the creating of an environment where private enterprise can flourish and create jobs. With out that, the government created jobs cannot be created, because there is simply no one and no money to pay for them. Printing money does not create an economy, only those "evil" corporations, small businesses, and farms can do that. Strangle them with excessive punitive regulations from the EPA, and other agencies and you are creating the antithesis of a "pro-jobs" environment.
That Keith Ellison is out of step with the majority of Americans is evident by contrast from a Gallup Poll
The 64% of Americans who say big government will be the biggest threat to the country is just one percentage point shy of the record high, while the 26% who say big business is down from the 32% recorded during the recession.
