24thState

Good Guy Victory - Swyers Reverses Tax Hike Vote

In a stunning reversal, Monarch Fire District Directors Steve Swyers and Kim Evans voted to undo the tax hike that they were "in favor of before they were against". 

Last week, as reported here, Evans and Swyers raised the tax rate on residential taxpayers by 7% in a 2-1 vote.  Director Robyn Harris forcefully argued against the proposal and voted "no".  Last night, after a parade of speakers berated Evans and Swyers, Swyers, who ran for the position promising fiscal conservatism and a commitment to "no new taxes", motioned to RESCIND the increase that would have brought the District roughly $1,000,000  in additional tax dollars.  Evans, who obtained her seat with the union endorsement and has been a reliable supporter of the union, grudgingly supported the motion after castigating unnamed people for unfair criticism and then lamenting how difficult it would be to operate under the smaller budget.  Swyers, the CPA who proclaimed his fiscal conservatism in campaign mailers just six months ago, and voted with the union just last week to raise taxes, agreed with Evans about how tough this budget will be while voting to undo his own vote.  The union Directors showed that not only did public outcry make them feel pressured to reverse their position, but that they were unhappy to do so.

Norm Baxter, a long-time Chesterfield resident held up campaign mailers he had received only a few months earlier from Swyers promising “No Tax Increases” and then asked why Swyers voted to raise tax rates.  Also challenging the tax hike were State Senator Jane Cunningham, Former Missouri State Representative, Allen Icet, and Larry Hoffman, of Monarch Concerned Taxpayers who asserted that Monarch fire fighters are well compensated and raising taxes to pad wage and benefit packages that average more than $120,000 annually is an affront to the taxpayers. 

Also in attendance, was State Representative Don Gosen, one of the four Republican elected officials who endorsed Swyers' election (including Lieutenant Governor Kinder, State Senator Jim Lembke, and State Representative Cole McNary) as he promised to be non-union  and vote against all tax hikes (promises he clearly is willing to break) leading to speculation that the embarrassed Republicans may be asking Swyers to resign.

Conspicuously absent from the meeting was Neal English the new lobbyist Swyers and Evans hired to replace their former lobbyist which we will discuss in a follow up piece.

Swyers, clearly under a lot of pressure, further distanced himself from the union saying he would not support a raise for the employees. This puts him at odds with his union allies who supported his election. 

Clearly, the civic activism of people willing to engage the process worked.  That tax hike appears to have been rolled back, for now.  We are not sure Monarch voters will have candidate Swyers or elected Swyers at the board meeting next week.  Time will tell.

Initial Thoughts On Prop A Campaign Aftermath

I've got some thoughts and lessons on Prop A for the Tea Party, and for Republicans in general.  We were outraised, outmanned, and eventually outvoted - but Burns did enough work to scare the pants off the pro-Prop A crowd. They raised an additional $300,000 in the last few days to make sure they had funds to make this pass.

But that it did pass shows the urgent need for a political organization of the Tea Party if we plan to make an impact in August and November. While April elections over local tax issues haven't been the bread and butter of the Tea Party, a lot of people who agreed the issue needed to be defeated admitted they didn't vote.  That's a problem, especially with polls showing the Democrats taking a drubbing in November.   Overconfidence that other people will do the work is the surest way to ensure defeat.  Do we think the progressives are just going to sit back and quit?  They're smaller in numbers, but they get a lot of  corporate money and have a built-in organization and paid for manpower in the form of unions and left wing groups.

Burns was outspent 2000 to 1.  So much for the myth of the corporate funded Tea Party.  Still, he didn't do too bad for a young guy without a background in political campaigns.  he sure embarrassed and ticked off Nations.  That debate video will be gold down the road.   Most of the Tea Party folks didn't get involved until the last 10 days, and even then, we weren't fully committed.  I think there was some kind of belief that an invisible groundswell was ready to vote down all taxes, but as we discovered, voters don't magically appear.

Planning the ballot for April, raising 1.5 million, and using aggressive Democratic Get Out The Vote showed how cynical the Prop A supporters were, but this was the culmination of a campaign 20 years in the making - how to build a cash cow and get the county taxpayers to fund it.    

On other topics, In addition to John Nations ending any hopes of a future political career, we learned that socialists like getting bought off by big business, which could just about be the funniest result of the Prop A campaign.  The rabid left wing in St Louis was all over this - and I can guarantee you some of the groups got money.  Too bad they had to steal from the urban poor and the suburban middle class to do it.

And thankfully, those served by current Metro routes aren't going to have be threatened by Charlie Dooley in another game of chicken with the county taxpayer.  And of course, once again, the progressives got to test run their St Louis county GOTV program.  More on that later in the month. 

 Now we get to go through the campaign figures and start naming names.  I'll do more on the aftermath later.

Why Are You Against Prop A?

Had a good time chatting with the St Louis Community College students today.  While the Prop A supporters had a lot of expensive signs, we had only Red Bull.  We did want to thank the Meremac student government and Kristen in particular for inviting us.  The goal is to improve civic participation, and they are doing an excellent job.  We even ended sharing our perspective with the president of the school.  It was a very civil exchange.

Some thoughts from the time there.

1) We're not against public transit.  Despite John Nations' cringe-inducing defense in the St Louis Beacon, opponents of Prop A as " desperately attempting to kill public transportation in St. Louis," we support public transit

I even support Metro.  I just don't think a structural deficit built into the Metro system that can only be filled with county tax dollars after threatened cuts is a good way to run a system.

I would be less concerned with a bus system that fit our region and lost money - as public transit is a community good.  But what have they done?  They built light rail to enrich themselves, cut bus routes to the urban poor, and now want the county to subsidize the politically connected.

Think of it like the housing crisis.  Citizens for Modern Transit got paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to advocate building an expensive house Metro couldn't afford.  Metro took an ARM out to pay for it, but can't make payments, even with the teaser rate. Now the rate is resetting, they lost their job, but they don't want to give up the house, so they go their their neighbors to demand help with the mortgage payments, so they don't get thrown out of the house.  

The video of Tom Shrout saying the station is built, now we have to figure out how to fund it is typical of shoddy management.  Don't build money losing systems and then cry when you run out of money.  Yet that's what they did.

And the result?  No matter what - those without private transportation are hurt. They're hurt when they close bus lines to accommodate light rail to thinly populated suburbs.  They're hurt by $300 a year more in taxes, regardless of whether they ride Metro or not.  And they're hurt when employers can't hire because light rail never brought the jobs it was supposed to.

Revenue is up 40% at Metro, and yet they still run $60,000,000 in the red.  On purpose.

2) The passage or failure of Prop A won't solve the problem.  Both those who ride Metro and those who do not are going to have to rein in county government in the upcoming years.  $500 million in state cuts, a ballooning federal deficit, and 10% permanent unemployment will mean even more tough choices.

What is most important, is that we are informed, and have the right people in place.

3) Best line of the day was a tie.

John Burns went off on a snotty punk wearing a Che t-shirt, asking him why he supported a murderer.

My best line was to a Prop A advocate who said St Louis is a cheap, conservative town, in a cheap conservative state.  I reminded her the meccas of New York and California are dead broke.  Why would we import failed policies from those states into our region?

 Her response was that Wal-mart in Columbia is powered by Chinese child slave labor.  We all looked at each other, laughed, and wondered what she was talking about.

My response: So are wind farms.  She stomped off. 

 

St Louis Argus Comes Out Against Prop A

The Political Fix has a post up stating Lacy Clay is for Prop A.  Doubtless this is timed to make it sound like he's finally made up his mind, but Clay was an endorser all the way.  What's most interesting is the end of the article by Jake Wagman.

Their support comes as some in the African-American community are voicing opposition against the tax increase. An editorial in this week’s St. Louis Argus urged residents to vote no on Prop. A, citing the lack of Metro rail service in north St. Louis County.

“As you ponder whether another half-cent tax on your wallet or purse is worth it, consider the track record of Metro and its failed promises to improve public transportation in north St. Louis County,” the editorial stated. “Where is the money and the promise of improved bus service and light into our community? Late on arrival.”

I can't yet see it online at St Louis Argus, but this editorial echoes what Burns and others have been saying.  The money spent on Metro never seems to serve the community.  It always ends up in the pocket of construction companies and Democratic consultants who build where it's convenient instead of needed.  As this video from Tom Shrout demonstrated in 2006, the new Metrolink stations were built without a source of long-term funding. The 2008 Prop M and 2010 Prop A are pitched as needed to shore up Metro in the light of drastic service cuts, but if Metro had not built unneeded and money-losing stations, it would be a lot easier to fund bus routes to areas in North St Louis and out in St Louis County.

Don't blame Prop A opponents for cuts to the poor - blame the politicians and management who created money-losing services that made the cuts necessary.  Funding the Metro light rail as currently built and planning for its expansion is a utopian pipe dream that will fail to serve the needs of those who need transit the most.

Those serving the African American community get this, which is why they oppose Prop A.  Those who need the flow of government dollars to pay their staffs and the unions support Prop A for politics, not people.

Time to call them on it. If Citizens for Modern Transit had no funding plan in 2006, why have they have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars to push for expansion?  Is this about Metro, or lining the pockets of the politically connected? 

Arnold Councilman Delinquent On His Taxes

Death and Taxes.  There is an age-old adage that says those two things are the only things you cannot avoid in life.  Apparently this rule of thumb does not apply to politicians.  We've all heard the stories before of elected officials not paying their taxes.  The most publicized cases are on the Federal level.  Stories like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's inability to figure out TurboTax, or New York Congressman Charlie Rangel's tax evasion scandal, makes us scratch our head.  This problem is not only a problem on the national stage, but on the local political scene as well.  The latest incident involves current Arnold City Councilman, and candidate for Rock Township Ambulance Board, Randy Crisler.

On March 1st of this year, the Missouri Department of Revenue filed a lien against Mr. Crisler and his wife for $662.72 of taxes owed.  The court does not list the years in which Mr. Crisler was delinquent. 

Now let's be honest.  A lot of people have been late paying their taxes at one time or another.  However, it's one thing to be notified that you are delinquent.  It's another to completely ignore the situation, and require the Missouri Department of Revenue to pursue a lien against you to recoup the money.  Especially when you are an elected official.

And especially when you are a certain elected official that proposed to sue the Rock Township Ambulance District for tax money that the City claims it is owed.  Pardon me if I don't find Mr. Crisler's actions a little bit hypocritical.  I mean, it's very clear that the whole time he was trying to persuade the City Council to sue the Ambulance District, he fully knew he was delinquent on his own personal taxes.

Then there is that pesky State Statute 115.342, which states that "any person who files as a candidate for election to a public office shall be disqualified from participation in the election for which the candidate has filed if such person is delinquent in the payment of any state income taxes, personal property taxes, real property taxes..."  Then there is the Candidate's Affidavit of Tax Payments which all candidates for offices, large or small, must file.  You basically swear (under the penalty of perjury) that you do not have any delinquent taxes at the time you file for office. 

At the very least, Mr. Crisler should be disqualified from his upcoming Ambulance Board race.  At the very most, and in my opinion, he should be removed from the Arnold City Council.  For too long, the political process has been smeared by politicians who do not  play by the rules.  Politicians who feel they are above the law and answer to nobody.  This must stop if we are truly going to get back to the Republic our Founders intended.  "We are a nation of laws, ...not men", a wise first President once wrote.  If we cannot trust the people we elect to tell the truth and follow those laws, then what can we trust them to do? 

The Lie That Is The Metro Tax Advertising

I've now heard radio commercials and seen television commercials for the Metro Tax increase we're supposed to vote on in April, and can say with a straight face it's not truthful.

Some of us ride it, All of us need it.

How very clever, but that's not what we're voting on in April.

No matter how the vote goes, we will still have Metro.  People will still ride it to Cardinals games.  Wash U students and Wash U faculty and staff will still get free passes, and those who use Metro to get around currently are still going to have the services.

The increase in funding is to be used for expansion.  Note that nowhere in the advertising do they discuss extending the line.  No one talks about the fact that Metro has been losing money for years, long before the economic crisis hit. Metro is a money-losing operation.  If they wanted the money to shore up the program, they should say so.

But they don't.  They want to take money and expand it, leaving us even further in the red in the future.  It's like being underwater on a house, and then using a line of credit to add a garage.  It's insanity, and the purpose is to shovel more of our money to the people building the lines and those running the campaigns.

Who do you think pays for those commercials?  Who is paying for the phone bank? Why is SEIU MO/KS State Council, the political arm of SEIU, in the Greater St Louis Transit Alliance?

It's because this is about taking more of our money, and giving it to their pals.

If the Vote Yes on Proposition A people won't even bother to tell you the truth about why they want the money, how can we trust them to take care of the money when they get it.  The loss in Metro services that will occur when the stimulus funds runs out is still going to occur.  This tax won't fix it.  It will instead be siphoned off for $150 million a mile expansion.  That means they will have to come back to us in a few years, demanding more.

Educate yourself.

Stimulus Funds Creates New Jobs In Missouri!

I'm sorry I lied to you.  I was hoping that stimulus funds would you be used to create jobs as we were promised, but they aren't. 

Check it out.

Section 12.045. To the Secretary of State

For costs related to the publication of the State’s Official Manual

From Federal Budget Stabilization Fund. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $500,000

The State's Official Manual is the Missouri Blue Book. Here's last year's. 

So let me get this straight.  Stimulus funds, which were to be used for shovel-ready projects that created jobs, that were supposed to go to schools, police, teachers, and saving or creating jobs, now go to funding a document prepared by Robin Carnahan's office with exactly zero stimulative value.

$500,000 in federal money designed to rescue the economy from falling to 8% unemployment, is instead going to print a book that should be paid for in state dollars.  Anyone care to defend that?  Anyone?  

Tucson Tea Party Brings 1000 To City Council

This is what I'm talking about.  From Instapundit, we see that the Tucson Tea Party brought over 1000 people together at the local level to prevent tax increases from their Mayor and City Council.  Do this over and over at the local level, winning smaller successes, and you'll energize people for the bigger battles of healthcare, cap-and-trace, card check, and yes, next year's budget.

Protests with a point.  Congratulations Tucson.  Thank you for showing us the way.

Here in St Louis, using just the people who showed up on April 15th, we could protest 7 local or state issues in a revolving door protest to demonstrate real concern.  For both Republicans and Democrats, the story must be clear.  We're fed up, and we're watching you.

Warren Buffet Isn't A Patriot

According to Joe Biden, paying taxes is patriotic. If that's the case, Warren Buffet and the rest of the liberal billionaires aren't patriots.

Buffet has said it's okay to raise taxes on the rich because he pays less of a percentage in taxes then his secretary.

But that's a choice. Buffett makes his money on Dividends and Capital Gains. He does so because that rate is 15%. He could pay himself a salary of $100,000,000, and allow himself to be taxed at the rate of 35%, but he chooses not to. He could also write a check to the Treasury each year to pay tax on 20, or 30, or 50% of his real income. Againg, he chooses not to.

So can we please dispense with the idea that Buffett is some kind if tax expert? If he pays a lesser percentage than anyone in his office, it's because be has the option of choosing how he will be paid.if you raise the Capital Gains tax to 80%, I can guarantee you he and the other progressive billionaires will start taking a salary.

Which, if you take Joe Biden at his word, means that Warren Buffet is not an American Patriot.

I'm Unduly Burdened In Paying My Taxes

One of the laughable examples of how Robin Carnahan's office has worked against preventing voter fraud is her lawsuit against the Voter ID act. Here for your amusement is some of the reasoning why having a Photo ID requirement  is unconsitutional .

"These thousands of Missourians will be unduly burdened by having to jump through the myriad of governmental bureaucracies and pay the costs to obtain the necessary Photo ID...

This has a direct impact and demonstrates a further undue burden on women who change their name due to marriage.  The expense, time and effort required to obtain the underlying documents to satisfy these three requirements will place a substantial and undue burden on the fundamental right to vote of the properly registered Missouri voters who do not currently possess a valid Photo ID, including the individual respondents in this case." 

Now, each year when I do my taxes, it costs my thousands of dollars and dozens of hours to complete the forms, gather the correct forms, and go over them with my accountant.  Every two years, I have to get new plates for my car, and the burdens and cost of doing so are at least as difficult as getting to vote.  So in that respect, I guess you could say that I'm "unduly burdened" by having to jump through the "myriad of governmental bureaucracies"in my efforts to register my car, pay my property taxes, and accurately account for my income.

I don't see myself filing any court cases complaining about it.  Guess that makes me a sucker for actually playing by the rules.