What Could Go Wrong?

Take a governor who rarely sets foot in front of the public, and usually leaves the “dealing with the proles” thing to his press secretary Katie Tinucci and his ex-wife’s consiglieri Carrie Lucking.

Put him in front of a crowd that hasn’t been carefully screened for obedience, with some spectators who are fighting and losing the battle to stay in the state they, for whatever reason, love – and are losing, with taxes and fees and regulations slowing eating first the ability to start a business, and finally the impetus to live here at all.

Let one of them heckle His Excellency.

What could possibly happen?

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

I imagine King George felt this way about his peasants, too, right around 1775 or so.

 

 

Joe Doakes

He’s referring to this bit of video:

The Associated Press, in its capacity as part of the governor’s media Praetorian Guard, wrote:

The room apparently erupted into heckling and interruptions when Dayton was trying to explain his belief that state lawmakers should get a raise in pay.

 

The Minnesota Jobs Coalition, a Republican political committee working to unseat Dayton next year, recorded the meeting and publicized the governor’s comments.

Check out the video – or go to the piece that Joe linked, which has the longer version of the video.  Tell us if “the room erupted”.

It’s preposterous.  The crowd laughs when Governor Messinger Dayton tells them the Legislature is underpaid; a heckler points out that the legislators get a little over $31K a year for a “part-time” job – which it is (40 or more hours a week for about half the year). Dayton insults the audience.

It’ll be interesting to watch what happens with these meetings in the future.  If they happen, look for the first several rows to be pre-filled with adoring fans.  That’s what the legislature tried to do during the gun hearings, and that’s my fearless prediction.

30 thoughts on “What Could Go Wrong?

  1. Yes, he dared go into the largely working class community of Shakopee, most likely thinking that he was safely among his drooling liberat sycophants. Surprise! Surprise! Gov. Dipstick! Some of those people are starting to realize that you are a just another silver spoon commie that is really not for the little guy and your tax the rich mantra, really meant that all of the peasants would see increases of some kind. Your response to their concerns; “Rude” and “Juvenile.” Ironic, since you and the rest of the new Gestapo in our state legislature, are proving to be the most juvenile and rude people in the state!

  2. Now, now – let’s give the governor some credit. He said the crowd reminded him of the middle-schoolers he used to teach in New York. Since that experience was, what – 3 days? – his mind and memory may be better than we thought.

    Or perhaps that student behavior is why he quit so soon. Given this latest sign of terrorist activity I expect he will be closing his office any minute now.

  3. They “work hard” taking and then allocating resources POLITICALLY. It’s idiotic and the simple fact that The West is comprehensively running out of money and opportunity (GDP, unemployment, inequality) proves it.

  4. Does anybody remember when that idiot dumped pennies on Dayton’s 2010 opponent (Tom Emmer)?

    If you’re a Republican, you need a bodyguard if you want to appear at a college. They used to throw oranges at Ann Coulter.

    I wonder how King Mark would react to being Glitter-Bombed.

  5. The question isn’t whether our representatives work hard — I’d be willing to stipulate that they do. The question is whether the work they do is productive and the results of their work actually provide a tangible benefit.

    That’s a debate worth having. Instead, we get “shut up, he explained.”

  6. Mr. D nailed it.

    The Fed, and every level of government, has ruined the concept of everyone exchanging decent money for what they need and want for consumption or investment (future productive exchange).

    What we doing now is not working, and the evidence is the unemployment, the GDP (which is WAY overstated), and everything else. We are doomed.

  7. Governor Jim Beam was probably ready for a snort after that evening. After all, a lack of sycophancy from constituents tends to alter a liberal’s thought patterns.

  8. What comes to mind for me is really not the overall pay level of the legislators, but rather how whether legislator pay is $31k or $131k, the legislator needs to be someone who (a) can take off half the year from their ordinary line of business and (b) afford to live in the cities in addition to maintaining their ordinary home. In short, the system is designed to get legislators with little connection to the ordinary workaday world and therefore way too much time on their hands.

    It explains some things, doesn’t it? I don’t know how to fix the problem, but there’s got to be a better way.

  9. My two teenagers (class project) and I were in attendance.

    We enjoyed the constituent from Prior Lake who asked the governor: ‘how much of my dollar will I be allowed to keep? What’s my fair share?’

    The governor’s response was essentially about tax fairness and the wealthy paying less than others.

    The constituent wasn’t satisfied with the answer. She replied: ‘you’re not answering my question’

    Dayton replied: ‘Minnesotans pay about 12.8 percent in state and local taxes. So you get 87.2 per cent of every dollar’.

    The constituent clearly frustrated at this point, said the governor didn’t understand the question.

    My fifteen-year-old daughter noted the constituent did not have any talking points after Dayton gave her the data she had requested on tax incidence. And furthermore wasn’t so sure that particular constituent realized the governor had indeed answered her question.

  10. Well, Emery, since the federal government is taking about 20 cents on the dollar, too, plus another fifteen cents in the cost of regulation and taxation, it’s arguable the Guv’nor didn’t answer the question after all.

  11. I am glad Emery is content with Governor who thinks at a fifteen-year-old level. That explains a few things about him.

  12. I’d be happy to pay them $31K for no more than 6 months work EVERY OTHER YEAR. If they didn’t get the needed work done in that time I’d want to start penalizing their pay a day for a day until the work was done.

  13. No, Emery, you and your daughters all missed the point. The constituent was correct: Dayton did not answer the question. He can’t.

    The question was “What’s my fair share?” Dayton’s response was “You get 87.2 percent.” Yes, today. But is that amount fair, too high or too low? How much will I get after your tax hikes go into effect and will that new amount be fair? What makes 87.2 percent fair but 97 percent unfair?

    How do we measure “fair”? It plainly doesn’t mean “equal” because you want progressive taxation. And it plainly doesn’t mean “proportional” because you exempt some while capping others. So what IS my fair share?

    It comes down to this: every Democrat blathers about “fair” but they can’t define it. All they can tell you is you must pay more. The constituent grasps what you don’t . . . “fair” doesn’t mean what you pay now, “fair” means whatever government decides it means, and that means “fair” can never stop them from taking more from you to give to me.

    The correct answer is: whatever crumbs we leave you — that’s your fair share. Dayton didn’t say that; therefore, he didn’t answer the question. Please let your daughters know so they can update their homework.

  14. “Please let your daughters know so they can update their homework.”

    And so that they will better prepared for the real world when it smacks them with the huge tax bill that the Dimwits have racked up for them!

  15. It’s actually “daughter”Joe, as in singular. Her and my sixteen year old son are both at the top of their class as well as captains on their chosen sports teams. They have achieved more without the benefit of a mother (who passed way) than most children with two parents have ever attempted.

  16. Sorry to hear about your wife Emery.

    I bet she never would have allowed you to insert that straw and suck out half their brains if she’d have been around; admittance to the drooling moonbat society be damned.

  17. I would rather speak with the organ grinder than the monkey but as long as I have you swiftee.

    What in the world happened to your (now shuttered) blog: Pair O`Dice?

  18. Emery paraphrased:

    “My kids are super special and my wife died”

    Nice evasion Emery! Plucks at the old heart-strings.

    Care to address what Joe Doakes had to say?

  19. Flat taxes and means-tested benefits are much more efficient than ‘progressive’ taxes and universal benefits for several reasons, one of them being the increased incentive to avoid high income and wealth tax rates for the wealthy. But progressive politicians like progressive taxes because it makes them seem so progressive, even when progressive is just plain stupid. If fighting the class war is what got you elected, you can hardly tax everybody the same once you’re in office.

  20. @jimf
    Yes, Dayton answered her question. I found it laughable when the constituent was unable to engage the governor with a direct follow-up. I suspect she thought her’s was the perfect “gotcha” (hat-tip to Sara Palin) question. She wasn’t prepared for an answer that involved math. The locals around us said as much too.

  21. “The locals around us said as much too.”

    The Magic Moonbat Marching Band and Glee Club (Shakopee chapter) was in attendance!

  22. Emery, if I asked you “How far away is the moon?” and you replied “Potato chips,” it might be said that you had ‘answered’ my question. But your answer doesn’t respond to the essence of the question.

    Similarly, you reported that the constituent asked “What’s my fair share?” to which the Governor replied “tax the rich.” His answer is non-responsive.

    Perhaps you can explain it more clearly than the Governor. What formula is used to determine my fair share of the tax burden for Minnesota government?

  23. It occurs to me that both the constituent and I may share the same problem when talking to Emery and the Governor: we haven’t explained our terms so they don’t know what we’re asking for.

    Suppose there is a pie on the table and eight people standing around it. Emery, you’re tasked with cutting the pie. Before you cut, I ask “What’s my fair share?”

    The answer might be “one-eighth, because there are eight of us.” Or it might be “one sixteenth, because you need to diet, you fatso.” Or it might be “none, you didn’t chip in when we bought it.” Those explanations tell me what percentage of the pie I will receive AND the justification for that percentage. In addition, they tell me what percentage I’m likely to expect from the NEXT pie because now I know the fairness-in-pie-dividing-formula and can plan accordingly.

    Governor Dayton’s answer gave the percentage but NOT the formula. So out of this pie, right here, she got 87.2%. Yes, that’s what she got; but was that her fair share? Maybe she should have gotten 92% but the pie was sliced wrongly? How can we tell if we don’t know the formula?

    So tell us, Emery: what’s the formula to determine my fair share of the tax burden for Minnesota government?

  24. Emery:

    Who, Joe? That’s not a troll. He’s exactly right.

    The woman in the audience might have phrased her question more artfully – perhaps you’ve heard, some people get anxious speaking in front of crowds. But the Governor’s question was an “answer” that evaded the question.

  25. Emery, I don’t intend to attack you, personally and to the extent I did, I apologize. From your other writings, I believe you are an intelligent and sincere man. But maybe also a little too willing to trust what people in positions of authority say. You don’t need to become as skeptical as Terry or as cynical as I, but perhaps listen more closely to what is said, and not said?

    I’m challenging you to think about the word “fair” because the difference between “my share” and “my fair share” is as large as the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

    The Governor told the woman what her share was. But he didn’t tell her that was her fair share, nor how he determined what her fair share was. And that’s the most important part of governing.

  26. Emery, I *did* intend to mock you for a dolt and wouldn’t change a word for a peek through the straw that ventilates your skull.

    Jus’ sayin’

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