Well, We Needed More Taxes Anyway, Didn’t We?
By Mitch Berg
It looks like the stadium is a done deal. The fat lady is warming up in the locker room.
And people – Republicans, mostly, although there are exceptions – are angry about it. Some are angry enough to start a Facebook group to yak about un-endorsing Legislators (Republicans, naturally, mostly) who voted for the stadium.
Now, setting up Facebook pages is easy and cheap. Primarying legislators is work, and expensive. Keep it all in context.
But there is a valid point, there; Republicans ran on a “fiscal responsibility” platform – and then caved in to a billionaire seeking Wilfare.
There is a valid response; the team tapped exploited this state’s boundless reserves of sentiment for our team. And they exploited the key fact about Mark Dayton; he was elected by the stupid, and Dayton and his people know how to make the stupid turn out. Daily during the stadium debate yahoos in purple staggered about the halls of the capitol and wrote beer-stained letters and misspelled but irate emails demanding that the stadium pony up for their recreation, their “tradition” (of losing), “their” team. And that adds up to votes. Stupid, entitled, spoiled-rotten votes? Yep. And they count just as much as the votes of smart, or at least ethical, people.
And the bitch of it is this; a legislator can have voted right on every single issue – the budget, taxes, deregulation – but if they’re threatened with losing office to a worthless DFL challenger who puts on a purple cap and bellows on cue, what the hell good is any of it?
Republicans who voted for the stadium owe the voter an explanation. There are a few I’m willing to accept; if a conservative with a 75+ rating from the Taxpayers League is in a district where he or she is up by less than five in a district full of pinheads who dress up like vikings, I’ll buy it.
More either this noon or tomorrow, depending on how much I like putting the numbers together.
May 10th, 2012 at 6:56 am
Pretty much my sentiments exactly, Mitch!
The predominant Vikings blogs had their rabid useful idiots railing against Zellers and the GOP and “pointing out” that the DemocRATs were leading the charge and were the heroes in this fiasco! I think that I mentioned this last week; the members that were elected on fiscal responsibility were intentionally put into a Catch 22 by the Dims. They kicked the can down the road for years, avoiding the issue. They lucked out on this, because the GOP controls both houses, if the Vikings had left, they would have pointed their fingers and during their campaigns would have been crowing that the GOP let the Vikings get away. Unfortunately, too many of those useful idiots will still believe that during the next election cycle.
May 10th, 2012 at 7:26 am
So the bottom line is that the State GOP is still a mess? Why the suggestion of a free pass for someone in a tight race; if indeed ethics are involved?
May 10th, 2012 at 9:16 am
We have open seats for both the House and Senate races and both of our endorsed candidates (who are unlikely to have any meaningful primary challenges) are on record as opposing Wilfare.
May 10th, 2012 at 9:22 am
It’s not a free pass. It’s accepting the reality that a Republican that agrees with you on every vote but one, albeit a large one, is better than a DFLer that will vote against you every time but one.
May 10th, 2012 at 9:52 am
It’s been said that some GOP legislators that voted yes should be allowed to explain themselves, indeed there is at least one Rep., Sean Nienow, whose “yes” vote is the result of a failed but honorable parlementary tactic.
That being said, some heads must roll; Senator Julie Rosen’s most notably. Not only did Rosen professionally service Zygi Wilf, she tossed in a pile of cash for St. Paul AND an internet sales tax to get more moonbat votes. She argued against the state withholding naming rights and anything else Zygi oposed…she didn’t spill a drop.
I learned that because of re-districting Rosen had been tossed into Senator Al DeKruif’s district. DeKruif had said he would step aside to let Rosen avoid a primary fight. I spoke with Al’s legislative aide yesterday, and he’s re-thinking that position…and he needs to be encouraged to do so.
Senjem needs to step down if not out and Zellers has bungled his position just about as badly as coud ever be done…he should pay a price for that.
And can someone please tell Brodkorp to shut the fuck up already? Thankyouverymuch.
May 10th, 2012 at 10:22 am
Oh, and one more thing. Although I honor and respect John Kreisel, I think his decision to step down is a good idea. He really made an ass of himself during the vikings debates.
Wish him and his family a long and happy life…in the private sector.
May 10th, 2012 at 11:17 am
“Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore,
Riding through the land,
Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore
Without a merry band,
He steals from the poor
And gives to the rich,
Stupid bitch”
May 10th, 2012 at 11:24 am
I am, or was, a long time Republican. Straight ticket voter, one of about a dozen 18 year olds who voted for Nixon. No more, after a last vote for Romney/Against Obama in November (the rest of the ballot untouched) I’m retiring. No more of this farce. I’ve spent 40 years thinking the Republicans actually stood for something. The NFL Commissioner flies into town, says “We want a billion dollar stadium so we can make more money, much faster” and the Republicans say, “do you want it in 10s or 20s.” This posting is more effort than I should be making because it doesn’t mean a damn thing does it? They could have put it on the November ballot, been off the hook, and the people would have voted it down 70-30. People don’t want to be extorted, to made fools of. The vast majority don’t paint their faces, they stay sober on Sundays, they want their hard earned taxes spent wisely. I’m rambling because I am completely disillusioned. The republicans have mad me sicker today than anything the DFL has ever done.
May 10th, 2012 at 1:54 pm
Swiftee: Makes me wonder if Zygi made any campaign contributions to Rosen’s last campaign…
Ross: It is amazing how quickly some supposed “conservatives” who rolled into office on a wave of anti-leftist rage, succumbed to the power and were assimilated into “politics as usual” in St Paul. There are so few “screw you, I’m doing what’s right even if it costs me my next election” types. Dave Thompson and Sarah Anderson (HD43A) are the only two that spring to mind right now.
May 10th, 2012 at 2:25 pm
Ross, read my earlier post and that of J. Ewing. This was a Catch 22. The worst thing was all of the pork that should have been cut out of that damned bonding bill. Minnesota Nice has no place in our state’s politics, but unfortunately, there are too many Republicans that won’t ruffle feathers.
May 10th, 2012 at 7:04 pm
Wow, such “outrage” over the “peoples” stadium!!! Pay no attention to the other billions and billions and billions of taxpayer money spent on crack hos… bike paths…
Dumby up folks and channel your “outrage” to ALL the choo-choo train spending for crying out loud!!!
Why do the “fiscal responsible” always FAIL at cutting spending? FAIL! The budget ALWAYS goes up. It NEVER goes down. Thanks MNGOP.
…
“wrote beer-stained letters”
“The vast majority don’t paint their faces, they stay sober on Sundays”
Nice! Spoken like true teatotalers! Now go join MADD.
May 11th, 2012 at 9:34 am
The NFL Commissioner flies into town, says “We want a billion dollar stadium so we can make more money, much faster” and the Republicans say, “do you want it in 10s or 20s.”
This was an outstanding post, Ross. And K-Rod … we can and will multitask.