{"id":4527,"date":"2009-04-07T06:30:44","date_gmt":"2009-04-07T11:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=4527"},"modified":"2009-04-07T06:30:44","modified_gmt":"2009-04-07T11:30:44","slug":"no-need-to-keep-peasants-informed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=4527","title":{"rendered":"No Need To Keep Peasants Informed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0DFLers that control the Minnesota Legislature want to\u00a0gut <\/em>local government accountability, and they want\u00a0it gutted right now<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael Brodkorb, writing in his capacity as Communications Director for the Senate GOP Caucus, sends the following news release (emphasis added):<\/p>\n

STATEMENT FROM SENATE MINORITY LEADER<\/span> ON MINNESOTA SENATE<\/span> VOTING TO REMOVE \u00a0REQUIREMENT OF \u201cTRUTH IN TAXATION\u201d HEARINGS; SENATE GOP AMENDMENT TO CONTINUE \u201cTRUTH IN TAXATION\u201d HEARINGS DEFEATED<\/p>\n

(St. Paul) \u2013 In response to preliminary action today by the Minnesota
\nSenate<\/span> to remove the requirement of a separate \u201cTruth in Taxation\u201d
\nhearing for local units of government<\/strong>, Senate Minority Leader David
\nSenjem<\/span> (R-Rochester) released the following statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a former city council member<\/span>, I will attest that \u2018Truth in
\nTaxation\u201d hearings provide an invaluable opportunity for a specific
\nmeeting dedicated to discussing the budget and to hearing directly from
\ncitizens regarding the tax policy<\/span> of local governments<\/span>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ending \u2018Truth in Taxation\u2019 hearings at a time in history when we
\nneed more citizens involved with their government and paying more
\nattention to tax policy in Minnesota<\/span> is simply wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Senator Senjem offered an amendment to SF 3 to continue the practice of
\n\u201cTruth in Taxation\u201d hearings, but the amendment was defeated 23 (19
\nRs, 4 Ds) to 40 (40 Ds).<\/strong>\u00a0 Please see an attached copy of the roll call
\nvote.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why would they do this?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Simple.\u00a0 Much of the DFL’s agenda, especially in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, is enacted at the local level.\u00a0 That’s one of the reasons that the DFL cried so long and hard about the cuts to Local Government Aid six years ago; it curbed the redistribution of wealth from the parts of the state that work to the parts that have suffered under generations of debilitating DFL hegemony.<\/p>\n

If the peasants can’t see how the local units are spending the money they get, they can’t get upset. If they can’t get upset, then there’s no reason to upset the DFL’s applecart.<\/p>\n

The good news?\u00a0 The GOP held the line, and picked up four DFL defectors (more below).\u00a0 It wasn’t nearly enough; that’s one of the reasons the MNGOP needs to get its act together and make the Legislature an actual contest again.<\/p>\n

Joining Sen. Senjem in voting for “continue the hearings” amendment;\u00a0 Senators Anderson (!), Day, Dille, Doll, Fischbach, Frederickson, Gerlach, Gimse, Hann, Ingebrigtson, Johnson, Jungbauer, Koch, Koering, Kommer, Lynch, Michel, Ortman, Robling, Rosen, Vandeveer and Wiger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rest voted for the amendment.<\/p>\n

Your government in action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0DFLers that control the Minnesota Legislature want to\u00a0gut local government accountability, and they want\u00a0it gutted right now.\u00a0 Michael Brodkorb, writing in his capacity as Communications Director for the Senate GOP Caucus, sends the following news release (emphasis added): STATEMENT FROM SENATE MINORITY LEADER ON MINNESOTA SENATE VOTING TO REMOVE \u00a0REQUIREMENT OF \u201cTRUTH IN TAXATION\u201d HEARINGS; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-minnesota-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}