While it may be going too far to say he’s a Grinch bent on stealing Christmas, South Bend mayor Steve Luecke (D) has perhaps chosen the worst time of year to advocate for a tax increase. Because St. Joseph County is facing a budget shortfall of $4 million dollars for the upcoming year and the City of South Bend is also facing shortfalls running into the millions of dollars, Mayor Luecke is urging that the county local option income tax be raised by 150%.
This new tax increase would hit everyone in St. Joseph County, but perhaps its telling that the mayor of South Bend, who is not part of county government, is the point man for this proposal. St. Joseph County isn’t just home to the job hemorrhaging city of South Bend but also to the expanding and growing city of Mishawaka as well as rural areas that are doing just fine. My advice to the County Council would be that they not listen to the tax policies put forth by Mayor Luecke unless they want to turn the entire county into a larger version of South Bend.
Instead of raising taxes to meet the shortfall, the County Council could look into cutting the budget. It is a novel concept and it is one embraced by many private citizens and employers when they have to face leaner economic times, but it is worth a try. Instead of proceeding at the same pace as usual, a careful reassessment of priorities and spending capabilities within the parameters of a revenue stream weakened by the slumping economy would be in order. The Council can either choose to accept economic realities and tighten its belt or it can proceed to demand more money from a struggling tax base.
One group in particular is leading the way in opposing these new tax increases: the St. Joseph County Republican party. Rallying behind its minority of members on the County Council, the party has succeeded in keeping together many of the same people who volunteered for its candidates during the recent election season. I’ve often thought about how much effort is wasted by letting campaign organizations simply disintegrate after an election only to have to build them up all over again when the next election rolls around. Obviously the tempo and pace of activities in a county party slows dramatically once an election is over, but there are a multitude of issues that need attention at the local and state level and mobilizing on these issues can keep a local party organization strong.
If local parties could leverage local issues as teaching and recruiting opportunities, if they could coordinate a public response either overtly as a party or more covertly as simply providing support to local figures leading the way on an issue, they could help make the case for the positions that their candidates will be running on during an election year. Campaigns should be about more than just voter identification and voter mobilization. A good grassroots victory strategy should involve determining who your supporters and likely supporters are and then turning them out to vote. But over the long haul that is a relatively reactionary strategy. To truly expand your base, which is necessary in counties like St. Joseph County, you are going to have to convert the vote to your side.
Making the case for lower taxes when Democrats want to raise them at one of the worst possible times of the year is an excellent way to turn the Republican party and its conservative message into a serious force on the local scene. Voters who have been wondering where the Republican party has been nationally, who were puzzled over some of the more confusing aspects of the presidential campaign, can now see that at the local level there is a party advocating for a serious alternative to the tax increasing policies that have become the hallmark of Democratic leadership at almost every level of government.
A particular example of how to go about defining the debate over local issues can be found in St. Joseph County Councilman Mark Root’s opinion-editorial in the South Bend Tribune regarding the tax debate. In reporting that is clearer than the Tribune’s own reporting, Root laid out the facts and statistics of the current state of the budget and provided an explanation and roadmap for how to solve the problem. If we could see work like this from local and state and federal officials across this country on a much more frequent basis, it would help tremendously when we go to win back the majority at every level in two years and the presidency in four years. You can read the op-ed here.
Inspite of an aggressive fight to oppose the tax increase, it is probably safe to say that the tax hike will go through. The city of South Bend approved of its own tax increase last week and on Monday, December 15th, the county will vote on whether or not it will urge people to leave the county (after all, why overlook the most damaging aspect of this tax increase?). In addition to having a majority on the County Council, advocates of the tax increase have another powerful tool: public employees. Those who hold county office have not been shy about turning the budget debate into a political advantage with their department’s employees.
In an e-mail sent by an administrative assistant in the County Auditor’s office, county employees are instructed that at least two members of the County Council wish to have department heads and employees present for the final vote on the tax increase. Apparently the public opposition, which has been stiff thanks to the organized effort of the St. Joseph County GOP, is getting to the Council members and a little support from those who’s paychecks may depend on the passage of the tax increase is desired.
Here is the text of the e-mail:
We know that it is a busy time of the year, however, it is imperative that we back our local officials when they are making a tough choice to aid the budget process of St. Joseph County. Rafael Morton and Peter Mullen would like to have department heads and employees attend in support of the LOIT Resolution, to be heard at the special meeting is on Monday, December 15, 2008. Time: 5:30 p.m., Co Council Chambers 4th Floor.
Wendie M. House
Administrative Assistant
St. Joseph County Auditor
227 W Jefferson Blvd.
South Bend, IN 46601574-235-9668
Apparently when you’re having trouble winning over the public, you just bringing your government employees to stack the room against those who will be footing the bill for the tax increase.
The outcome of this battle will be interesting because the final fate of the tax increase will not be the end of the story. The end of the story will be known when we see how successful opponents of the tax increase were in rallying the public to create an electoral backlash against individuals like Mayor Luecke and Councilmen like Rafeal Morton (who, although a tax-raising Democrat, is actually a rather nice guy) and Peter Mullen. If the grassroots advocates of lower taxes win the next election, it won’t be because the issue was handed to them, but because they took an issue that came their way and played it hard.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
GOP "boogeyman" used to scare poor voters
Michigan Messenger » Lose your house, lose your vote: "Vote suppression: Not an isolated effort
Carabelli is not the only Republican Party official to suggest the targeting of foreclosed voters. In Ohio, Doug Preisse, director of elections in Franklin County (around the city of Columbus) and the chair of the local GOP, told The Columbus Dispatch that he has not ruled out challenging voters before the election due to foreclosure-related address issues.
Hebert, the voting-rights lawyer, sees a connection between Priesse’s remarks and Carabelli’s plans.
“At a minimum what you are seeing is a fairly comprehensive effort by the Republican Party, a systematic broad-based effort to put up obstacles for people to vote,” he said. “Nobody is contending that these people are not legally registered to vote.
“When you are comprehensively challenging people to vote,” Hebert went on, “your goals are two-fold: One is you are trying to knock people out from casting ballots; the other is to create a slowdown that will discourage others,” who see a long line and realize they can’t afford to stay and wait.
Challenging all voters registered to foreclosed homes could disrupt some polling places, especially in the Detroit metropolitan area. According to the real estate Web site RealtyTrac, one in every 176 households in Wayne County, metropolitan Detroit, received a foreclosure filing during the month of July.
In Macomb County, the figure was one household in every 285, meaning that 1,834 homeowners received the bad news in just one month. The Macomb County foreclosure rate puts it in the top three percent of all U.S. counties in the number of distressed homeowners."
I have seen some biased and ridiculous articles in my time but this is just plain dumb. I am not speaking on behalf of the GOP or any of our state parties here.
It not suppression you moron, it is making sure that only eligible voters get to vote. Every year the Republican Party has reams of documented evidence that illegal ballots are cast from abandoned homes and or vacant lots.
Maybe a better question is why a city run completely by Democrats has such a high foreclosure rate? Maybe someone might want to ask why these, so called, community groups have to turn to incendiary tactics like some bogus story of voter intimidation? ACORN has a comment??? Give me a break, how many ACORN organizers have been charged with voter fraud this year? 5, 10, 20?
How many documented cases of GOP voter suppression are there? The silence is deafening...
But how many times do we have to prove that organizations like ACORN are taking advantage of disadvantaged voters before the press gets a clue?
Also, The Michigan Messenger is not a legitimate "news" source. It is run by the Center for Independent Media which is run by an Obama donor...go figure.
Carabelli is not the only Republican Party official to suggest the targeting of foreclosed voters. In Ohio, Doug Preisse, director of elections in Franklin County (around the city of Columbus) and the chair of the local GOP, told The Columbus Dispatch that he has not ruled out challenging voters before the election due to foreclosure-related address issues.
Hebert, the voting-rights lawyer, sees a connection between Priesse’s remarks and Carabelli’s plans.
“At a minimum what you are seeing is a fairly comprehensive effort by the Republican Party, a systematic broad-based effort to put up obstacles for people to vote,” he said. “Nobody is contending that these people are not legally registered to vote.
“When you are comprehensively challenging people to vote,” Hebert went on, “your goals are two-fold: One is you are trying to knock people out from casting ballots; the other is to create a slowdown that will discourage others,” who see a long line and realize they can’t afford to stay and wait.
Challenging all voters registered to foreclosed homes could disrupt some polling places, especially in the Detroit metropolitan area. According to the real estate Web site RealtyTrac, one in every 176 households in Wayne County, metropolitan Detroit, received a foreclosure filing during the month of July.
In Macomb County, the figure was one household in every 285, meaning that 1,834 homeowners received the bad news in just one month. The Macomb County foreclosure rate puts it in the top three percent of all U.S. counties in the number of distressed homeowners."
I have seen some biased and ridiculous articles in my time but this is just plain dumb. I am not speaking on behalf of the GOP or any of our state parties here.
It not suppression you moron, it is making sure that only eligible voters get to vote. Every year the Republican Party has reams of documented evidence that illegal ballots are cast from abandoned homes and or vacant lots.
Maybe a better question is why a city run completely by Democrats has such a high foreclosure rate? Maybe someone might want to ask why these, so called, community groups have to turn to incendiary tactics like some bogus story of voter intimidation? ACORN has a comment??? Give me a break, how many ACORN organizers have been charged with voter fraud this year? 5, 10, 20?
How many documented cases of GOP voter suppression are there? The silence is deafening...
But how many times do we have to prove that organizations like ACORN are taking advantage of disadvantaged voters before the press gets a clue?
Also, The Michigan Messenger is not a legitimate "news" source. It is run by the Center for Independent Media which is run by an Obama donor...go figure.
Be afraid of the campaign that does NOT brag about its ground game.
Obama Banks on the Ground Game - TIME: "The Obama campaign has placed an emphasis on expanding the electoral map. They say they will have staff in all 50 states, even if those states are not even remotely in play. In Texas, where McCain leads Obama by 11 percentage points, they already have 15 paid staff, which they insist is an investment for the future. 'We certainly don't think it's a waste of money to be there,' Hildebrand says, 'There's a potential House seat we could pick up there and there's a real shot at winning back the State Senate this fall. With redistricting coming up it's very important as to who controls the legislative body there.'
Obama may believe in investing in a mandate to govern — helping to expand Democrats in Congress and in local and municipal races — but that won't matter a whole lot if he fails to win the presidency. 'This 50-state strategy, I hope it's real,' says Bill Steiner, the RNC's director of strategy. 'But I actually think what it's for is to cover up some of their weakness in targeted states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio. States that Democrats can't afford to lose. This is about quality versus quantity.'
Not surprisingly the Obama campaign takes issue with that assessment. Over Labor Day weekend, while waiting for Obama to finish an event, David Axelrod, the nominee's top strategist, noted their strategy is broader than McCain's, and therefore requires a lot more leg work, but has more potential pay off. 'We're going into November 4 with many different scenarios to get to 270 electoral votes,' he says, squinting at airplanes buzzing overhead, part of Cleveland's annual air show. 'I think their path is very, very narrow, as is their thinking.'"
They sure seem pretty confident. Thats ok. It will make it funnier when they lose.
At the RNC behind a dark curtain you can hear the sinister laugh of Michael Beach. He is hunched over reams of information from many states that says we will be just fine.
Obama may believe in investing in a mandate to govern — helping to expand Democrats in Congress and in local and municipal races — but that won't matter a whole lot if he fails to win the presidency. 'This 50-state strategy, I hope it's real,' says Bill Steiner, the RNC's director of strategy. 'But I actually think what it's for is to cover up some of their weakness in targeted states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio. States that Democrats can't afford to lose. This is about quality versus quantity.'
Not surprisingly the Obama campaign takes issue with that assessment. Over Labor Day weekend, while waiting for Obama to finish an event, David Axelrod, the nominee's top strategist, noted their strategy is broader than McCain's, and therefore requires a lot more leg work, but has more potential pay off. 'We're going into November 4 with many different scenarios to get to 270 electoral votes,' he says, squinting at airplanes buzzing overhead, part of Cleveland's annual air show. 'I think their path is very, very narrow, as is their thinking.'"
They sure seem pretty confident. Thats ok. It will make it funnier when they lose.
At the RNC behind a dark curtain you can hear the sinister laugh of Michael Beach. He is hunched over reams of information from many states that says we will be just fine.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Dungeons & Dragons and Pop-up Campers
I am not “normal” for a lot of reasons. One of my many quirks is people watching. I just can’t help it. When I see people I wonder about their voting and consumer habits. This is going to be a long post so bear with me.
A couple of weekends ago my family went camping in one of the many great state parks scattered across Indiana and Michigan. I could not help but noticing a couple of things…
A couple of weekends ago my family went camping in one of the many great state parks scattered across Indiana and Michigan. I could not help but noticing a couple of things…
Where are the tents? Everyone (but us of course) seems to have pop-up campers, pull behinds and 5th wheels. Does anyone even worry when it rains anymore?
Smoking. Holy cow, I know it is illegal in so many places that smokers feel like freedom fighters in the jungle. I would estimate at least half or more of the adults I observed were smokers.
NASCAR fans. I would say you were more likely to see a flag with a race car number on it than the stars and stripes attached to most of the campers.
Tattoos everywhere. Don’t want to make any stereo-types but I am just calling it as I see it.
Family activity abounds. There has been many a column, op-ed and whiny diatribe about the lack of real talking and family interaction seen in the press. Not at the campsite, fireside talks, throwing the football, fishing were all very common.
Yesterday I was in Indianapolis and was fascinated to see all the attendees to the GenCon event going on this week. What is GenCon you ask? Well, obviously, you don’t play Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, Magic the Gathering or any of the many other popular fantasy games. So what did I see? Basically, as I said earlier, stereo-types exist for a reason
18-30 obese males. Not everyone was overweight but most of these guys have slain many dragons but not seen a gym.
Disposable income. If you are going to spend that much money on computer gaming equipment, miniature Orcs and comic books you are doing more than working part time at Best Buy.
Body odor. Ok, I know this may seem mean but if you walk around those tables you can not help but notice more than few guys who could use some of that Axe body spray (hint, hint, great target audience for the folks selling that stuff). Let’s face it, if you are spending 36 hours in front of your X Box 360 you are not going to have time to shower.
Swords, leather armor, chain mail, fart joke t-shirts, kilts. This is a group of folks who are clearly not afraid to express themselves in what they wear.
What the heck is ESPN? I seriously doubt anyone in there has any idea the Olympics is on or that football season is around the corner.
Highly intelligent. Eavesdropping on some conversations and watching some of the games you can not help but realize that these guys are smart. Encyclopedic knowledge of Chaos Space Marines and World War II German armored vehicles may not look good on a resume but stupid people could not master that much info.
So why would a political campaign care about these groups? Because voter participation and partisan ID is very low amongst both groups. We spend thousands of dollars trying to corner folks at home or get them to admit their party preference on the phone with mediocre results.
Maybe we should stop trying to find them and just go meet them where they gather? Maybe we should spend less time in door-to-door canvass and more time working the booth at the arts and crafts festival or home improvement show? Maybe we should stop treating events more like real campaign opportunities and less like troublesome interruptions to “real” campaign work.
I am just sayin’…you should think about it.
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