24thState

Post-Dispatch Says No Bad Tax Credits

Maybe this is one of those changes in the editorial policy the PD announced last January, but a welcome editorial yesterday talks about the difference between effective tax credit policies and giveaways to lobbyists.

And the tax credit discussed is the Low Income Housing Credit.  Normally, if you ask a conservative what the PD would say about a Low Income Housing Credit, they would tell you the PD said "more money, please."  In this case, the conservative would be wrong.

Then the bill hit the Senate floor and became a Christmas tree loaded with tax goodies for a happy crowd of interest groups. Amendments added tax credits for movie producers, venture capital investors, alternative fuel pumps, buyers of ethanol and hybrid vehicles, contributors to Civil War sites, sellers of beef cattle and a host of others. The probable price tag has jumped to more than $97 million annually by the year 2010.

Some of these tax breaks are good. But clearly a tax credit bill shouldn't turn lawmakers into Santa Claus for every interest group with a lobbyist.

That's an encouraging sign. I think the PD is on the right track with their editorial policy change, and if they keep it up, conservatives may eventually start signing back up for the paper.  Maybe.

 

Fun Times With Bureaucrats

Two fairy tale stories of interest: 

The first one reads like the beginning of a moral tale read to scare future legislators.

Once upon a time, a bureaucrat didn't answer the questions posed to him by the state legislature...yada, yada, yada...his salary was cut in half, and the taxpayers lived happily ever after.

The second is a cautionary tale that reads like something you would hear from a drunk explaining why he had to drink the bottle because vodka goes bad. It deals with eminent domain, which is the government's way of saying that you own your land, until we say you don't own it anymore.

Clayton ( a rich area of town) and the Blight Fight:

Centene wants to build a new headquarters, but needs to get rid of some property owners to do so.

Is it wrong of me to wish that Supreme Court Justice David Souter's House was taken by eminent domain to make way for a hotel?  Would that have been irony, tragedy, justice or farce?

Post-Dispatch Discusses Editorial Policy

You have to give them credit.  The Post-Dispatch is opening up and telling their readers what their plans are, what they focus on, and how they plan to serve the community.

In late January, we announced several changes in our Opinion section, which you may have noticed. These included a revised lineup of syndicated columnists, the addition of 12 local oped contributors and R.J .Matson's weekly online cartoon caption contest, "Punchline."

Since then, we have added a new local conservative voice, that of journalist and author Colleen Carroll Campbell, to our roster of regular columnists. Colleen's first column was published last week and will appear every Thursday on the oped page.

Maureen Dowd is back, which for the life of me I can't understand - are there that many MODO fans?  The article goes on to explain what editorials will focus on, and gives the bios of the editorialists.  That's a big win for transparency, and positive step forward for the Post-Dispatch.

Now if they would just add links.

Court Overturns Conviction of MU Police Officer

My little brother was telling me about a terrible throat-slashing murder that happened on the MU campus back in 2004.  Rumors on the campus at the time were that the victim was targeted by a police officer who wa rumored to be a dirty cop.  The students knew that Rios, the cop, spent time around Jesse Valencia, the murder victim, and figured Jesse was being silenced.  The student population at the time knew to tread very carefully, but I found it a bizarre story, especially considering the little amount of publicity it got in St Louis.

The true story came out later, as it turns out the murder was purported to be a secret homosexual affair between a married police officer with a new baby and an openly gay student that ended in violence.

The Columbia Tribube was covering the case, and an extended list of stories is here.

Why do I bring it up?  Why, the conviction was overturned by an appeals court.  This doesn't mean the police officer, Steven Rios, is innocent.  This seems to be a procedural issue where hearsay was admitted and may have influenced the jury.  Rios will remain in custody while a higher court looks at the case, and if it fails, the Columbia prosecutors have promised to retry the case.

New Republican Party ToolBar

Got an e-mail last week on the Republican Party Toolbar that was sent over from the state party.  I did download it, but once it was up, I have to say that I quickly dumped it.

Missouri Politics has a story on it, and also on the weekly newsletter.

It is a good idea, but the execution really leaves something to be desired.  It's clunky, ugly, and has very little practical use.  First, the design.

1) Font's too big.  And I don't need another search bar. 
2) The buttons don't help me.  Presumably, if you're partisan enough to add a party toolbar to your browser, you already want to volunteer, and you sure don't need to be reminded to Contribute.  I mean seriously - who is going to put up a toolbar and then magically think, hey, this keeps telling me to contribute - maybe I'll put more money in!  Very poor planning.
3) The Elected Representatives button is cool, but it only lists Republicans.  While it may seem like a good idea to only list Republicans, presumably the technically literate party members would benefit from knowing what the Democrats were doing - having a toolbar that only points to Republican sites is a social media mistake.
4) No mashup or meet-up qualities.  The tool originally promised to keep me updated on news, but all it does is give me access to news, which I could have done with a bookmark. 

It's a positive thing that the State Party is trying to reach out and use new tools.  Republicans do lag behind Democrats in mobilizing social media, but can we just stop a minute and take a look at the effect of all these tools?

What is the purpose of the toolbar?  How does it help Republicans win election?  How does it inform, educate, or drive people to action?  It doesn't do any of those things, so for me, it goes in the trash bin.  I truly wish that both political parties would learn that the typical election practices of simple, powerful messages broadcast on television and in direct mail truly don't work.

This is why I don't give money to state or national parties.  They don't know how to spend it wisely.

Democratic Primary Presidential Debate

I didn't see it, as I prefer to spend my time drying paint rather than watch politicians give press conferences labeled as debates, but fortunately, other people did.

Missouri Politics take from the left.
TigerHaw's take from the right.

In the meantime, Glenn Reynolds asks if the candidates "jet-pooled" their way to the debate, or at least took commercial flights to limit their carbon consumption. 

All I Want To Do Is Not Go To The Sheryl Crow Concert

Sheryl Crow is coming to town, invited by the Cardinal Glennon foundation to help raise money for sick kids.  Raymond Burke, the Roman Catholic archbishop, says he can't be a part of that, because Sheryl appeared in a stem cell commercial in the last election, and he feels she doesn't reflect the values of the Church.

Sigh.  I see where he's coming from - and yes, it's a media circus, but I wonder if at some point in my life, if I could get away from celebrities and their causes.  There's a long list of comedians, actors, and singers I can no longer stand, not because of their politicial views, but because of the high annoyance factor of listening to them prattle on.

Ameren May Start Disconnecting

If you've been following the politics behind the Ameren rate increases in Southern Illinois, you know that the ability to provide electricity should truly never be left in the hands of politicians.

Electricity was "deregulated" 9 years ago in Illinois, with the promise of a rate freeze, the decoupling of power generators and power distributors, and the convenient idea that keeping rates lows would keep voters happy until another set of politicians had to deal with the problem.

Well, the rate freeze is over, or at least it's scheduled to be over, and Illinois politicians are up in arms because their constituents found out that cheap electricity was not a basic fundamental right, but the result of a company providing a service to make a profit.

I was in California when their power woes made daily headlines, and though the Golden State made a lot of hay about Enron (one wonders what would have happened if Enron hadn't been a convenient scapegoat, the fact was that politicians negotiating prices for power is always a bad idea.

Republicans and Web 2.Doh?

A recent story from Robert Cox in the Washington Examiner discusses the role of Web 2.0 in the online political world.  His thesis is that Republicans are falling behind in the Web 2.0  world, and that this represents a serious problem in the future elections.

The essence of his argument is two fold - Democrats have built a large online donor base through Obama and Clinton, and raised $10 million from donors who can give more money. Republicans have done very little. 

In the first quarter of this year, Democratic candidates raised almost $80 million, far ahead of the Republican candidates, who combined raised just over $50 million. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., raised $6.9 million over the Internet from 50,000 individuals, most of whom gave in small amounts. That means they can be tapped again during the campaign. More than 8,000 individuals signed up as volunteers through the Obama Web site.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., raised $4.2 million over the Internet. The Republican candidates did not break out online contributions separately but all of this suggests the gap will only grow wider over the course of the 2008 election cycle.

The second argument is that the search engine Google and Wikipedia will combine to drive Republican messages out from casual searches done for political reasons.

It's an interesting argument - highly flawed in his conclusions, but funny enough, the title is actually correct.  Lemme explain.

It's Not Your Money Until I Give It Back To You

Surplus money in the State Budget is not a surplus, but a deficit of investment in people.

It would be comical if it weren't true.  Senator Victor Callahan, a Democrat, wanted to give surplus funds back to the Missouri taxpayers.

Says a Democrat:

Sen. Wes Shoemyer, a Clarence Democrat, said the the money should be used to improve access to health care by spending more money on Medicaid. “This money is not a surplus,” Shoemyer said. “It’s a deficit of investment in our people.”

Says a Republican:

Sen. Chuck Gross, the St. Charles Republican who heads the Appropriations Committee, said budget-writers thought it wise to keep $200 million in the bank as a cushion against a drop in revenue.

It reminds me of when my siblings and I were younger, and we would eat all the junk food in the house, because what if there was no more?  That's how politicians are.  If they give you back money, what if no more comes in for them?  Does anyone think they would have a problem  raising taxes to make more?

A politician that isn't paying you off with your own money is a worthless politician.  de Tocqueville was so right about that. 

For those keeping score at home, the proposals, one to give back $100 million and the other to give back $200 million, were defeated 28-5.  Senator Victor Callahan (did I mentioned he was a Democrat?) made the proposals.