WAR ON MIDDLE CLASS OVERVIEW - NATIONAL & LOCAL

            On this, the 27^th day since the Russell County Fiscal Court declared war on the working poor and middle-income citizens of this county, I’ve decided to present an overview of other battles being waged, almost exclusively by Republicans, against Americans who struggle the most to create a decent life for themselves and their families.  But first, I want to make you aware that President Obama, in his Facebook town hall last week, spoke directly to our very own Russell County magistrates:

            “Nothing is easier than solving a problem on the backs of people who are poor, or people who are powerless or don’t have lobbyists or don’t have clout.”

            Okay, he wasn’t speaking exclusively to our magistrates, but he was speaking directly to them, although I’m afraid I don’t have any faith that they were listening.  He was also speaking to a lot of other state and local governments as well as the Republicans in the House who just passed the Paul Ryan budget proposal that cuts Medicare benefits in order to give the wealthiest 2% even more tax breaks.  His ridiculous plan reduces the top tax rate 10% from 35 to 25% and reduces corporate taxes even more.  Although how corporate taxes can get lower than zero, which is what GE paid last year, I have no idea.  His plan does nothing to reduce the deficit; nor does it say anything about controlling health care costs or education.

            Then there is the President’s call to immediately end the $4 billion taxpayer subsidies for the big oil companies.   No way will the Republicans agree to that—no doubt because they get so much money from big oil to fund their campaigns and push their agendas.  It is anticipated that the first quarter profits for Exxon Mobile, Chevron and Conoco Phillips alone will be over $18.2 billion (that’s a “B” folks), a 40% increase over last year.  This, while gas prices are up 53 cents per gallon over the same 3 month time period and still going up.  So, while we are now shelling out nearly $4.00 per gallon to get to & from our barely-above-minimum-wage jobs here in Russell County (although employers here refuse to admit in public that they pay such low wages), and while we are paying our new 1% Occupation tax for the privilege of working those fine jobs (while the employers are NOT paying 1%), we are also paying for $4 BILLION of tax subsidies going to those fat cat oil companies.  Is there any sane human being out there who really believes this is a good thing?  Well, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and the other Republicans must think so—but then again, I said “sane,” didn’t I?

            That’s not really fair, though, because if your real goal is to make sure that President Obama doesn’t get re-elected in 2012 above and beyond any other concern – like say, the welfare of the average American citizen, then it is very sane to do everything in your power to make sure gas prices stay high.  Why?  When asked about Obama’s chances to be re-elected recently, John Boehner said, “…If gas prices are 5-6 dollars per gallon, he certainly won’t win…”  And with the wealthy, big oil and Karl Rove’s Citizens United behind him and other Republicans, they certainly don’t need to be concerned with the middle class.

            Now let’s take a look at what is going on in some other states with Republican governors and legislatures:

• Wisconsin – We already know about the illegal legislation passed by the Republicans and Governor Scott Walker to strip union rights.  In Milwaukee, Walker is starving public schools to pay for his new voucher system which puts private companies in charge of running the schools there.  The achievement testing in those schools show that his voucher program is failing because the students are doing the same or worse than the kids in public schools.  Not one to let details like this stand in his way, Walker now wants to expand this failed program to the entire state.  Oh and that pesky problem of low achievement?  He knows how to solve that too—he will just exempt those voucher schools from any further state achievement testing!  Now, there’s a real problem solver!
• Michigan – The Republican Governor of this state, Rick Snyder, has simply decided that Democracy, itself, is the barrier to solving his state’s problems.  He has expanded the power to simply go into a city or town and throw out all the duly elected officials and substitute his own dictator, which is what has been done in the very poor town of Benton Harbor.  The median income in Benton Harbor is $10,100.  The state appointed dictator/manager has decided to give the public park in Benton Harbor over to a developer to construct a huge golf resort.  The annual membership fee to play golf at this new resort will be $5,000.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that this resort is not being built for the residents of Benton Harbor since it would cost them half their annual earnings to play there.
• Michigan just keeps getting better—Republican State Senator, Bruce Casswell proposed this week in his new budget that the state’s foster children should only be allowed to get their clothing from 2^nd hand stores.  Really.  This is really a true story…
• Maine – Republican Governor Paul LePage is backing a bill in the legislature which would roll back many of the state’s child labor laws by eliminating the maximum number of hours a minor could work on a school day, allowing them to work until 11:00 pm on a school night and increasing the maximum number of hours they could work per week to 24.  And did I mention that they would also pay minors less than the legal minimum wage?  Does anyone remember the original reason for child labor laws in the first place?  That perhaps children should be in school learning instead of working???  You can bet that the children of wealthy folks won’t be spending their formative years working for less than minimum wage instead of getting an education.

These are just a few of the shots being fired at the poor and middle class across the country.  I would have to have this entire paper not just this week but every week to discuss all the efforts being made by Republicans to demolish the middle class.

      However, the middle class are not giving up and rolling over (except for maybe here in Russell County, that is).  After the Republicans in the House passed the Paul Ryan budget they came home to their districts to hold town hall meetings where they are being met with anger and hostility.  They are learning that 80% of Americans don’t want Medicare and Medicaid changed.  They don’t want the wealthiest 2% to get even more tax breaks funded by removing benefits from the elderly and poor.

      In Wisconsin, even though they want everyone to believe that there is just as much backlash against the Democrats who left the state in opposition to the illegal bill they pushed through their legislature, the facts say differently.  As of yesterday, the Democrats’ grass roots efforts to recall some Republicans from office have been successful—they have obtained enough signatures to file recall elections on 5 Republican legislators and expect to file the 6^th one today.  On the other hand, the conservatives targeted Democrat Senator Lena Taylor for recall, but they missed the deadline to file because they needed 13,498 signatures and they only got a few hundred (embarrassingly enough, some of those were only obtained by buying their signatures with booze—true story—caught on audio tape).  Democrat Senators Fred Risser, Spencer Coggs and Mark Miller were also targeted by conservatives, but alas, they also missed the deadline on them as well due to not enough signatures.

      As far as the local war goes here in Russell County, I might be wrong and I hope I am, but I believe that the topic of amending the new unfair Occupational Tax to make it more proportionally shared by the rich is dead unless more of us show up and continue to bring it up at the Fiscal Court meetings.  The next meeting is Monday night, May 9^th at 6:00 p.m.  Are you going to show up?  Or, are we satisfied to surrender to the wealthy and powerful and just call this war against us lost?

(Note:  If you’d like to receive the Russell County Fiscal Court’s notices of meetings—special-called and regular, agendas and minutes please send an email to minutes@rckygov.com requesting to be added to the email list.  I urge ALL concerned citizens to do this and stay informed.)

RUSSELL COUNTY WAR ON MIDDLE CLASS - DAY 13

            As I begin writing this column, it has been 13 days since the Russell County Fiscal Court declared war on middle- and low-income wage earners by passing the new 1% Occupational Tax on everyone making less than $80,000 per year.  Those making more than $80,000 per year are allowed to pay less than 1%-- in fact, the more you make, the less you pay.

            I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed at the lack of turnout of regular wage-earners at last Monday night’s Fiscal Court meeting.  However, the place was packed with local business owners who are terrified that the Fiscal Court might remove the abhorrent cap on their new tax, thereby making it fairer for their employees, but costing them a bit more money.  They do have a legitimate concern and some valid points concerning the corporate net profits tax.  This, to me, should be a totally separate issue and should most certainly be dealt with in a very carefully considered way in order to avoid running off potential industry and jobs in this county.  The last thing this county needs is fewer jobs.

            That does not change my position on the how the current ordinance taxes personal income in a grossly unfair way.  It was said at the meeting by one of the numerous business owners that “no tax is fair”.  Well, that may or may not be true, but this tax is certainly fairer to some than to others; namely, the wealthy.  It saddens me that the room Monday night was virtually empty, except for a handful, of the people in this county that it penalizes the most.  However, I do understand it.  Most of the hardworking wage earners who are being nailed the hardest by this unfair tax work for the people who did show up the other night and would, no doubt, be fearful of repercussions should they show up and speak up against something their employers are so staunchly in favor of.  Sad, but true.

            But, be of good cheer all you hard working low- and middle-income wage earners of Russell County!  I have good news!  While waiting for the meeting to start, I found myself engaged in a conversation … well, no… actually that would suggest that 2 or more were actually contributing to a discussion; rather, I was listening to a lecture by the owner of Superior Battery, Randy Hart, who has the solution to all your financial woes, thus enabling you to pay that 1% tax with little or no pain.  Apparently, in addition to running a successful battery company, he also dispenses financial counseling to those who come to him quite often, he says, with trouble making ends meet.  (It is not clear whether his door is open to one and all or if this service is free—perhaps this is his volunteer work and how he gives back to his community.)  At any rate, he disclosed to me that the real problem is that you all are just wasting too much money on things you don’t really need.  So, basically, if you just tighten your belts a bit more and stop wasting so much money, then you wouldn’t worry so much about having to pay an additional ¾% on this dreaded occupational tax.

            One more thing I’m having trouble figuring out is how the people who compile all those statistics for the state are getting things so wrong here in Russell County.  They publish that the median income for Russell County is $22,042.  That works out to approximately $11 per hour.  The weird thing is that so far, every time I have mentioned to any of these employers something about their employees who make 8-12 bucks an hour, they say, “Oh no, we pay substantially more than that…”   I guess those folks who compile those statistics for the state just have it wrong.  The median income for Russell County must be much higher than that.  I bet all those wage earners out there have fabulous healthcare benefits and paid sick days and all the paid holidays, vacations galore and wonderful profit-sharing and retirement plans as well.  In fact, I should really stop worrying about the unfair burden this Occupational Tax places on them because one of the business owners the other night said that he “spoke for” his employees as well when he was defending the cap.  That must be why none of them showed up—they knew their employers would speak for them.

            Really, people, we have nothing to worry about.  Our benevolent employers and the wise sages on our Fiscal Court will look after us, why, we shouldn’t even bother to stay informed or show up for those pesky Fiscal Court meetings.  Let’s just trust that they have our best interests at heart.

            Now, don’t you feel better?    I know I don’t.

WAR ON RUSSELL COUNTY’S MIDDLE CLASS - DAY SIX

            At this writing is has been 6 days since the Russell County Fiscal Court declared war on this county’s middle and lower income earners by passing the new 1% occupational tax ordinance with the cap that allows anyone making over $80,000 per year to pay less than the rest of us.  This war has just begun.  Make no mistake—it is nowhere near over.  This ordinance can, should, and if I and other good folks in this county have anything to do with it, will be amended to make sure we are ALL treated equally and fairly.

            There was a full house at the Special Called Meeting last Thursday night with nearly all but two lone individuals standing in favor of eliminating the cap that favors the wealthy.  I was even optimistic a few times during the meeting that the magistrates were going to do the right thing and eliminate the cap.  Judge Robertson recommended on at least three different occasions that they vote on the ordinance without the cap.  But, unfortunately, the two members of the audience who opposed that option, Mr. Terry Stephens and Mr. Mike Adams, had no intention of allowing that to happen.  Every time Judge Robertson made that recommendation, Mr. Adams would pop up like a jack-in-the-box and bluster about how it would hurt jobs, while assuring us that he was “not defending” his boss, Mr. Stephens (which of course only convinced most of us that that was exactly what he was doing).  If he didn’t pop up (or off), then Mr. Stephens would implore, accuse and threaten the Court; he implored them not to pass the ordinance without a cap, he accused the Court of being arrogant and he threatened that he would not move one of his operations from Casey County to Russell County as he was supposedly planning to do.  It became clear that the issue of providing his tax return was far more of a concern to Mr. Stephens than the issue of paying a large sum of money.  He told the Court more than a few times to “raise the cap—make it $10,000, $50,000, whatever you want...”  He “guaranteed” that other counties in Kentucky did not have occupational taxes that did not exempt or cap businesses.  In fact, he made that “guarantee” several times.  Oddly, the first Occupational Tax Ordinance I checked—Pulaski County’s does not have a cap or exempt anyone or any business… so much for Mr. Stephens’ so-called guarantee.  In addition, at one point Mr. Stephens flat-out told the Court if they passed it without the cap that no corporation would provide their tax return.   “I won’t,” he said.  I shudder to think what would happen to one of us regular Joe’s or Joann’s, if we just flat refused to cooperate with the law.

Ultimately, the magistrates caved in to their intimidation and bullying tactics.  I think the most disappointing moment for me was when Magistrate Popplewell, whom I have always admired for standing up for regular folks, responded with a shrug and a “so-what” attitude when right before the vote he was asked how passing the ordinance with a cap was fair to anyone making less than $80,000.

            Basically, as it stands right now, it is even more unfair than it was before the meeting.  Originally, the cap was only eligible for those who were self-employed or corporations.  County Attorney Shearer informed the Court that previous case law made it illegal to single out certain segments to benefit from a cap—that it had to apply to everyone or no one.  So now anyone making over $80,000 per year can benefit from the cap, whether they are an employee, self-employed or a corporation.

            It became obvious based on Mr. Stephens’ own statements that if the ordinance was passed without the cap that our budget shortfall would be solved almost immediately.  In addition, if they were to amend the ordinance eliminating the cap, it would no longer be necessary to raise the tax to a full 1%, making it possible for us all to pay less.

            Here’s the thing:  The Court promised to study other occupational tax ordinances throughout the state to see how they are doing it.  (Why this hadn’t already been done, is a complete mystery to me—should have been a “no-brainer”.)  They also promised to look at this cap again and perhaps amend it.  I say that we keep the pressure on—that we continue to show up at the Fiscal Court Meetings and continue to make the magistrate’s phones ring.  Let’s make sure they earn the $600.00 per month salary and the $300.00 per month expense allowance.  Let’s make sure their cell phones, provided and paid for by us, are ringing continuously on this subject, so they don’t think we have forgotten or that we have accepted defeat.  They voted not to contribute anything to the health insurance with which we provide them, so let’s make sure we get our money’s worth by giving them headaches, indigestion and high blood pressure from the stress of answering to us until they do the right thing.

            The next Fiscal Court meeting is this Monday evening, April 11^th at 6:00 p.m.  Judge Robertson has instituted a new rule that anyone who wants to speak must sign up on a list.  I understand that is supposed to help keep order, but I see it as a deterrent—an effort to discourage people from speaking up.  I urge EVERYONE to come to the meeting and sign the sheet whether you know you want to speak or not.  How do you know whether or not you will want to speak?  You may hear something that gives you an idea or something you disagree with or you may form an opinion that is important to share.  If you sign the sheet and then don’t want to speak, you don’t have to—no one is going to force you, but if you do, you’ll have the opportunity.

            One more thing about the Fiscal Court meetings—why, for Pete’s sake, are the magistrates seated around a table, some with their backs to us, the public, that they serve?  When I asked Judge Robertson about this, he answered, “That’s the way it has always been done.”  Well, I believe you all know what I think about that answer.  (Hint:  not much.)  First of all, I think it shows absolute disrespect for all of us who take our time to be there.  Second, it makes it difficult to hear what is being said.  And third, I want to be able to look my elected officials in the face and have them look me in the face when they are voting on something that concerns the welfare of this County and those of us living here—and that means everything they vote on.

            My good Readers, my question to you is this:  Are you going to stand by and take this unfair treatment or are you going to stand with me and attend the Fiscal Court meetings?  We CAN affect a different outcome.  Come to the meeting Monday night and sign up to be heard!

WAR ON MIDDLE CLASS COMES TO RUSSELL COUNTY

            For the last two weeks I’ve been writing about the war on the middle class taking place all over the country.  We no longer have to look to places like Indiana, Wisconsin or Ohio to see the battles being waged against low and middle income Americans.  It is taking place right here and right now.  The Russell County Fiscal Court will be voting at a Special Called Meeting at 6:00 pm on March 31^st to raise the Occupational License Tax 300%.  That is a whopping increase.  The current tax rate is .25% and they are proposing to raise it to a full 1%.

            Apparently, this is necessary because our county is in dire straits.  We are facing a budget shortfall of $1.254 million.  (The reason for this shortfall itself is a good subject for a future column.)  According to County Treasurer, Kathy Tupman, this figure doesn’t include many unforeseen expenses like the rise in fuel costs or replacing county equipment when necessary, so it is practically certain that the deficit will be even greater than predicted.  So, those of us who earn a living, no matter how meager it is—and most of us in Russell County do earn meager livings; the most recent data says the median income in Russell County is $22,042 annually—will have to ante up more money for the “privilege” of working in Russell County.

            Here’s the kicker:  The wealthiest among us won’t have to pay as much as the rest of us.  This is not being talked about much.  There is a lot of hullabaloo about the “Sunset Clause” which will cause the Fiscal Court to re-visit this tax increase in two years and that’s just great.  But, it’s a non-issue.  How many of you really believe that in two years they are going to vote in favor of lowering it 300% back to .25%?  If they do then you’d better go buy some ice skates because hell will have just frozen over.  The real issue that no one is talking about is Section 4, The Alternative Tax.  This provision allows self-employed individuals and corporations to pay a flat sum of $800 instead of the 1% that the rest of us will have to pay.  So, let’s say you are a successful attorney here in Russell County and you make $200,000 (or more likely much more), instead of paying 1% or $2,000, you get to pay only $800.  Or, let’s say you are the owner of a very successful company employing many workers at say, $7 or $8 per hour—your company is so successful, largely because you have the “privilege” of  locating it in Russell County, Kentucky where you have access to workers you can exploit by paying them practically slave-wages with no benefits, thereby reaping great profits which allow you to own a private jet and live large—you only have to pay $800, which is probably only one hundredth of one percent.  Of course, no one really knows what percentage a person like that will pay because that very same provision waives the requirement for them to show their tax return revealing what they make.  But make no mistake; the employees of that company will pay their full 1% or $166.40 if you are making $8.00 per hour.

            Once again, the low and middle income earners are being asked to shoulder the largest burden, while the ones who are most able to afford it get the break.  They will tell us that the reason for this provision is to encourage industry to move to Russell County.  That is a crock.  In this economic climate industry is not flocking to Russell County or any other county and is not likely to be doing so in the next two years, so why couldn’t they eliminate this provision and re-visit it in two years?  Additionally, if we are so desperately in need of funds to correct this budget shortfall, then why are we giving anyone a break?—Especially since estimates are that the increase to 1% won’t even cover the entire deficit?  Shouldn’t we, more than ever, require EVERYONE to shoulder the same burden?

            I have spoken to each magistrate, and every one of them made reference to this provision as a “cap”, which it is, even though it is not worded that way in the ordinance.  Oddly, every one of them indicated to me that they are in agreement that this provision is not fair and that all individuals should have to pay the same percentage—that there should be no break for those most fortunate among us.  However, they all seemed somewhat resigned that “this is the way it has always been,” as if some indefinable power, other than themselves, was forcing it to be this way.  My magistrate, Larry Holt, promised me that if he could get at least one other magistrate to stand with him, he would fight to have this provision eliminated.  I informed him that that should be easy since they all agree that it is wrong.  The big question, of course, is whether they are just telling me what I want to hear, or are they telling me the truth?  We’ll soon find out.

            Fellow citizens of Russell County, I urge you not to be silent on this issue!  I don’t want to see my taxes go up any more than the rest of you.  I would rather that this particular tax be abolished altogether.  Unfortunately, it seems apparent that not only is it not going to be abolished; it is going to go up.  I don’t know about you, but it will be a whole lot easier to swallow if I know that everyone is doing their part and paying the same percentage.  Call your magistrate and let him know how you feel and if you aren’t sure who your magistrate is, call them all.  Here are the numbers:

                        Greg Popplewell                     866-1157

                        Brook Cochran                        566-4521

                        Ronald Johnson                      566-1887

                        Jimmy McQueary                    566-1787

                        Larry Holt                               585-2002

            We still have time, folks, but not much.  They will argue that the State is requiring that something be done by April 1, so they can’t change this provision because it will require them to start the process all over again and they don’t have time.  I’m not buying what they are selling.  If that was the case, then they knew about this deadline a long time ago and why did they wait so late that it is now such an emergency?  Maybe just so they could ram something through and use the deadline as an excuse.  Regardless, I have absolutely no doubt that there is an alternative other than doing something, even if it is the wrong thing, just because of some deadline.

            Don’t just call your magistrate—come to the meeting on Thursday, March 31^st at 6:00 pm.  If they tell you, like they did me, that they are against this provision, then hold their feet to the fire, show up and let them know that you are watching and taking note of their actions—words are cheap.  The unfair burden of this tax is not.

REPUBLICAN WAR ON MIDDLE CLASS

CURRENT BATTLEGROUNDS

            Unabashed and unashamed, the Wisconsin Republicans celebrated their illegal victory over the middle class with a huge fundraiser in Washington DC, hosted by the lobbying firm, BGR Group.  So, if Governor Scott Walker is right when he says his policies will benefit “the Badger State’s hard-working taxpayers” then why do they have to travel out of state to raise money?  And, why is it that the major contributor to his 2010 gubernatorial campaign was Koch Industries, which isn’t even based in Wisconsin?  It isn’t a big mystery for any of us who can actually see what is going on not only in Wisconsin, but all over this country as the Republicans wage their war on the middle class.

            In Indiana the Republicans are trying to push forward union stripping measures while thousands have been protesting at the state capital.  Additionally, they are attempting to shift public school resources into private hands.

            In Boise, Idaho union rights for teachers were stripped away last week.  And in Ohio the same thing is happening.

            In Lansing, Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder is putting forth legislation that will redistribute funds with a tax hike of $1.7 billion on seniors, low-income earners and on donations to schools.  And then he is going to take that money plus a little more--$1.8 billion--and give it to businesses in the form of tax breaks—making no impact whatsoever on his state’s budget deficit.  The AARP in Michigan is leading demonstrations there.

            There is an almost identical story in Florida.  Newly elected Republican Governor Rick Scott is planning to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from K-12 education in order to give it away as corporate and property tax breaks--$1.75 billion in education funding cuts and $1.6 billion in tax breaks.  The state deficit will stay as is.

            And that’s not all.  The Republicans are also hammering away at one of the most basic foundations of democracy:  the idea of one person, one vote.  How can that be, you might ask.  Simple—make it harder for people who are likely to vote Democratic to actually vote.  Who are likely Democratic voters?

• Low income voters
• Minority voters
• College students
• First-time voters

In Florida, the previous governor, moderate Republican Charlie Crist in 2007 mandated that convicted felons who completed their sentence and paid their debt to society could have their voting rights restored.  And 150,000 did so.  New Republican Governor Rick Scott, after determining that demographically these voters were more likely to vote Democratic, immediately rescinded that policy and now requires them to wait five years before having their voting rights restored.

      In Wisconsin those very same Republican legislators are trying to pass a bill saying that Wisconsin Student IDs would no longer be sufficient identification to be allowed to vote.

      In New Hampshire, one Republican lawmaker was caught on tape saying, “…the kids coming out of the school and basically doing what I did as a kid.  Voting as a liberal.  And that’s what kids do.  They don’t have life experience and they just vote their feelings.”  So, he introduced legislation that would end their policy of Election Day registration.  And who benefits most from Election Day registration?  College students and first-time voters.

      And lastly (at least for this column), Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry has introduced five bills which he says must be considered on an emergency basis due to the $27 billion dollar deficit in his state.  But isn’t it odd that one of those bills requires the state to spend millions to force pregnant women to get ultrasounds before they can be allowed by Governor Perry to obtain an abortion?  Apparently, that is an emergency fiscal solution to their budget deficit.  Another of the five proposed emergency bills is a restrictive new voter ID law which again targets likely Democratic voters, with two major exceptions:  the elderly and gun owners—oddly enough, two demographics in Texas which overwhelmingly support Republican candidates.  No doubt, on some planet besides Earth, this bill could be construed to help a budget deficit.

      I can’t help but wonder what would happen if the Republicans, the Koch Brothers and the rest of the wealthy and powerful are successful in annihilating the poor and the middle class.  Who would they tax then to help them become even more wealthy and powerful?  I guess they would have to eat each other.

           

PRINCIPLED REPUBLICANS—WHERE ARE THEY?

(Hint:  It’s not Wisconsin)

(Column written 3/9/11)  

          If we didn’t know before (although some of us did), we now know without a doubt what the real agenda of the newly elected Republicans is:  to completely annihilate and completely render extinct the entire middle class.  This effort is clear in Wisconsin where the new Republican Governor Scott Walker is making a complete joke of his office as he insists on eliminating collective bargaining for state workers under the guise of cutting the budget when, in fact, his real objective is to break the unions altogether.  If it were really about the budget, the stalemate would have ended weeks ago when the state workers agreed to his demands to pay more for their health insurance and into their own pensions.  But, as we have clearly seen, that was not his real objective.  If we had any doubts left at all, they were certainly erased when the recording of his conversation with the fake David Koch came to light.  He not only admitted he had thought of planting goons in the midst of the demonstrators to cause trouble, but he also suggested to the fake Mr. Koch that he should spend more of his billions on ad campaigns supporting the Republicans in “swing” districts.

            That little tidbit is causing Governor Walker an even bigger headache because he is now up on ethics violation charges due to that conversation.  You see, it is illegal for a politician to solicit independent expenditures from a donor because once a politician asks for it; it is no longer “independent”.  Aside from that, it is also illegal to solicit campaign contributions from your state-owned office.  Purportedly, he was in the Governor’s office at the time of the call.  Oops!

            Apparently, the Republicans in Wisconsin (like most Republicans everywhere) are not all that concerned about the law—only union busting, tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations, and, of course, morality policing.  And the latter, in my opinion, is only to hoodwink millions of God-fearing Middle Americans into buying what they are selling, not for any real concern for morals.  But, I digress…back to Wisconsin Republicans…in another of their desperate measures to get the 14 Democratic Senators to come back to Madison, they exercised an option that the Wisconsin Constitution clearly prohibits—thus, my point about their lack of concern for the law.  They declared the 14 absent senators in “Contempt of the Senate” and ordered Wisconsin state troopers to arrest them on sight.  The Wisconsin Constitution gives state lawmakers an “exemption from arrest and civil process … except treason, felony and breach of the peace…”  As much as King Walk…I mean, Governor Walker would like to believe that defying him is tantamount to treason, I don’t believe that would really hold up in court.  Not yet, anyway.  But, if Republicans and the Koch Brothers continue to have their way, it might in the not-too-distant future.

            In the midst of this all-out war, there was a bright spot to be found.  I discovered that, indeed, there are some principled conservatives to be found in the great state of Wyoming.  Wyoming—arguably the most Republican of all 50 states due to the fact that their state legislature consists of 76 Republicans and only 14 Democrats—recently defeated an intrusive “big government” anti-abortion measure and followed that up by defeating an anti-gay marriage bill which would have virtually nullified any “marriage other than that of a male and a female person.”  It is interesting to note that Big Government Republicans brought these two measures to the floor in spite of the fact that the official slogan for the state of Wyoming is “The Equality State.”

            Republican State Senator Cale Case (who is also an economist and a Ph.D.) said this while arguing against the passage of the measure and making reference to the Wyoming Constitution:

            “You, right now, have to vote on this in light of Article 1, Section 3, that says ‘Since equality in the enjoyment of natural and civil rights is only made sure through political equality, the laws of this state affecting the political rights and privileges of its citizens shall be without distinction of race, color, sex or any circumstance or condition whatsoever.’  It doesn’t say ‘except for a marriage or civil union from another state.’  Doesn’t say that.”

            Republican State Senator Phil Nicholas, also referencing the state’s constitution said, “Let me just read you two things that are just compelling—‘Article 1, Section 7:  Absolute, arbitrary power over the lives, liberty and property of free men exists nowhere in a republic, not even the largest majority.’  These people are our neighbors, they’re our friends, they’re our brothers, sisters.  And to suggest that they don’t have the rights, at least to access the courts…”

            One of the four Democrats in the state senate, Chris Rothfuss, said “Now I know this group believes in small government and I know this group believes in individual rights and freedom, but I’m not seeing that on this issue.  I’m not seeing that sense and that will because what I’m seeing here is the heavy hand of government once again saying ‘this minority group is not equal.’  Our role as legislators is not to legislate morality; it is not to bring our religion into politics.  Mr. President, our role is to have a good system of education, fix the roads, that’s why people send us here.  This is not our authority, Mr. President, and I don’t think we belong here.  I urge the body to vote against House Bill 74 and I can assure you every “no” vote on HB 74 is gonna feel good.”

            So, in Wyoming we have witnessed Republicans not only claim they are for “small government” but stand upon their principles and take action proving they are for “small government.”  Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans could learn a few things from their Wyoming counterparts…that is, if they weren’t so darn sure that they already know everything.

Failure & Bacon

(This column was written 2/19/11)

            Since the Republicans claimed victory in last November’s elections by campaigning on jobs, jobs and more jobs and also on cutting the deficit, last week I devoted this entire column to what they had so far achieved on these matters under the leadership of John Boehner and Eric Cantor.  It made for a very short column; non-existent, in fact, other than my introduction.  The fact that they have done nothing on these two issues does not mean that they have stopped talking about them.  They have continuously told us that jobs are their number one concern—up until this week, that is.  This week, Speaker John Boehner called a press conference to tell us

“Over the last two years since President Obama has taken office the Federal Government has added 200,000 new federal jobs and if some of those jobs are lost in this, SO BE IT.”

So now we know how he really feels about jobs.  Aside from his callous attitude, let me also point out that he is flat out lying about the 200,000 new federal jobs.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whose job it is to actually keep track of things like this, in January, 2009 there were approximately 2,792,000 federal employees.  In January, 2011 the number had increased by 58,000 to 2,850,000 federal employees—a far cry from Boehner’s made-up figure of 200,000.  And, by the way, in case anyone cares, proportional to the population, the size of the Federal Government is at a 50-year low right now.

            In the six weeks or so since the Republicans took over the house and under Speaker Boehner’s and Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s leadership it has been nothing but a litany of failures.  On the very first day there was the “Reading of the Constitution Failure” when parts of it were left out because pages got stuck together and other parts were left out just because.

In that same first week there was the “Swearing in Failure” when two Republicans (veteran incumbent, Pete Sessions and freshman, Mike Fitzpatrick) missed the swearing in ceremony and instead attended a fundraiser and stood in front of a television set and raised their hands to take the Oath of Office.  They later voted on two issues on the House floor—a major Constitutional no-no.

            Then there was the promise they made to cite Constitutional Authority for every bill they introduce.  They immediately broke that rule on the first three things they did.  I’m calling this one the “Constitutional Authority Failure.”

            Next is the “Cut-Go Failure.”  This refers to their promise to cut spending for every bill that adds to the deficit.  The very first thing they did was exempted from this new rule.

            They promised to post a list of members who attend every committee hearing on-line, so we could know if our Congressmen & women were actually showing up for their work.  Sad to say, they discarded that idea as soon as they convened too.  This is the “Committee Attendance Failure.”

            The “Jobs-Jobs-Jobs Failure” was already covered in last week’s column and the first paragraph of this one.  Instead of jobs, they have introduced (count ‘em) THREE sweeping anti-choice bills that would allow Big Brother to sit in with women when they go to their doctor.

I can’t help but question the competency of the leadership of Speaker Boehner and Eric Cantor when apparently there was no cohesiveness in their party after the State of the Union Address when they had dueling responses—each claiming to be the “official Republican response.”  But, that’s not the biggest reason to question their competency.  I guess “Basic Legislating Failure” is what I would call it when they lose 3 votes that they brought to the floor in one 24-hour period.  How does that happen????

            The “$100 Billion Budget Cut Failure” happened practically the day after the elections when they started walking back their promise to cut the budget by $100 billion in their first year.  They settled on $30 billion and then last week they held an emergency meeting and upped it to $61 billion—still a bit shy of their campaign promise.

            But speaking of fiscal responsibility, which John Boehner and his pal, Eric Cantor oh so loves to do; is anybody else curious about those extra engines for the F35 Joint Strike Fighter jet?  In case you aren’t aware, this is the plan to have an extra, back-up engine for this new jet that the Pentagon does not want or need.  According to Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, “We consider it an unnecessary and extravagant expense…American taxpayers are spending $28 million per month for an excess and unjustified program that is slated for termination.”

            Undersecretary of Defense, Robert Hale said when asked about Secretary Gates’ comments, “What he said is that he will look at all options to terminate the program and remains strongly opposed to the extra engine.”

            Oddly enough, Speaker Boehner and Eric Cantor want to keep the extra engine program to the tune of $450 million, no matter that the military doesn’t want it or need it.  Do you suppose it could have anything to do with the fact that part of the spare engine is being built right outside Boehner’s district in Ohio?  Or, that the other company involved in making the spare engine is Rolls Royce, who just built a giant plant in Eric Cantor’s district in Virginia and is slated to build part of the engine?

            Can you spell PORK?  Hey wait a minute!  Aren’t these the guys who are always yelling about PORK?  They hate PORK! … Don’t they?  Aren’t they the fiscally responsible ones in Washington?  That’s what they are always telling us.

            Oink.