Pat Garofalo’s School Payback Bill is Gambling to Win in 2012

I realize the Farmington Independent probably know what they are doing, but I hate that they edit my letters to the editor.

The following letter was printed in the April 13, 2012 edition of the Farmington Indpendent, however, the edition below is not edited:

Garofalo’s School Payback Bill is Gambling to Win in 2012

Representative Pat Garofalo must love to gamble.  He has used Twitter to tweet about gambling a lot in the past, and even tweeted on January 22, 2012 “…Thank you so much Lord for not allowing me access to sports gambling in Minnesota…” Apparently he can barely control himself when it comes to gambling.

We have evidence of his gambling at the legislature.  He was gambling when he proposed what he called a “payback to schools.” That “payback” is in truth just a balance transfer of debt, a gamble with our state’s financial future.  He is gambling that this little act of so called financial responsibility, in the face of another looming budget crisis, will be just enough whitewash to protect Republicans in the November elections after they borrowed 2 billion dollars from our students and school districts, rather than balance the budget responsibly.  In reality, Garofalo’s “payback” bill is the same as someone with credit card debt using another credit card to transfer balances to stave off the repo man for a few more months.

Garofalo and the Republicans in the Legislature are trying to hold on to the power they have to prevent Democrats from taking back the Legislature and solving the budget problem by eliminating corporate tax loopholes  for large corporate overseas operations and making Minnesota’s millionaires temporarily pay a little more tax.  Garofalo is a gambler.  He is gambling that Minnesotans will forget he took the money from schools in the first place to protect corporate profits and super-rich Minnesotans, and will remember that he proposed a bill to transfer money from one credit card to another – I mean payback the schools.

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By the way, there is a good introductory article on Jim Arlt, Pat’s opponent in 2012 in the Hasting Star-Gazette today.

Pat Garofalo’s “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for an election win today” school payback bill

Pat Garofalo and his fellow fiscally irresponsible Republican legislators got their short-sighted and irresponsible school “payback” bill passed. Please note the extremely sarcastic air-quotes I made when I typed “payback.” Never mind that it drains the already depleted financial reserves. And never mind that Pat Garofalo still hasn’t fixed the problem that caused the Republicans to borrow $2 billion from schools in the first place. Really, what do we need reserves for anyway? Oh yeah! We have a $1 billion budget deficit to deal with next year!

It is sickening that voters actually believe Republicans are fiscally responsible when their only solution for everything is to cut taxes for the richest Minnesotans. That isn’t fiscal responsibility Mr. Garofalo, that’s graft.

Pat Garofalo called DFLers in the House “deadbeat Democrats.” How absurd is that? The DFLers in the House wanted to eliminate tax loopholes that provide the wealthiest Minnesotans with tax breaks they don’t deserve. Tax breaks you and I don’t get! And let’s not forget that those “deadbeat Democrats” were the ones who wanted to solve the school funding problem in the first place by raising income taxes a miniscule amount on people who make over a half-million dollars a year, all to ensure that Pat Garofalo wasn’t going to steal money from our school children.

The Republicans and their Popeye’s Wimpy “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for an election win today” bill is an affront to hard working Minnesotans, and the future of the children and the financial sustainability of our state for their well-being 20 years from now. The only reason Pat Garofalo and the Republicans passed this bill is because they knew that the $2 billion dollars they stole from our school children’s future and our investment in our neighborhood schools, was really going to haunt them, and probably would for sure defeat them during the 2012 November elections.

It is time to end the failed experiment Minnesota voters tried with a Republican legislature in 2010. It is time to defeat the Republican leaders who have ethics problems in how they take an income, how they regard their neighbors, how they treat their family, and definitely in who they hire as staff. In Farmington it is time to end the career of the sarcastic, snobby and name-calling Pat Garofalo, who acts friendly and jokes with Democrats, but who obviously regard most Democrats as worthless as the school children he took money from to protect the Minnesota millionaires who support the Republican Party and the agenda of no compromise.

It is time for a change, and the first thing that needs to go is Pat Garofalo!

Republicans may not care about the shutdown, but people with a conscience do

I predicted this would happen.  I said the shutdown would last a week or so and Republicans would start saying something to the effect that government is obviously not that big of a deal because most people are not feeling the effect.  It is the exact same reason Republicans will be able to take away people’s right to vote with a Voter ID Bill.  Because it does not affect a majority of people. 

The problem is that it is affecting people, and it is affecting them significantly.  It is obviously affecting people who receive benefits from the state to live and work, and it is obviously affecting the people that work to keep our state running and as great as it can be.  But that is a minority of people, and the people living in wealthy suburbs don’t have to deal with them on a daily basis.  Republicans have such contempt for people who can’t take care of themselves, never mind the circumstances.  And Republicans in Lakeville, Prior Lake and Eagan don’t really care about the fishing resort in Northern Minnesota who are losing guests from out of state because people can’t buy fishing licenses. 

Yeah, the Republicans are saying people don’t really care that the government is shutdown, but I’m saying even though it isn’t affecting me right now, I care.  And if Republicans cannot agree to cuts in government and tax increases on 7,700 people that make over one million dollars (that is $1,000,000.00, a one with six zeros after it) a year, then I say to hell with them.  What’s the point of trying to compromise?  Let’s just go back to the pioneer days of dirt roads and side arms.

This is hurting the state, it is hurting the economy, and it is hurting Minnesotans, even if you sit in your air conditioned family room watching cable news and eating the caviar you so richly deserve because you have proven you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps.  Thanks for working towards making Minnesota suck as a place to live.  Thanks for working to ruin everything that makes Minnesota better than every state around us.

A low tax on the rich does not make a state great.  Low government spending does not make a state great.  Highly educated people that come from great public schools and top notch universities make a state great.  Beautiful parks and clean lakes that draw visitors from around the country, and allow those of us to live here to enjoy weekend recreation make a state great.  The best healthcare and the ability to stay active and healthy make a state great.  Diversity in people, jobs and activities, cities and farms, open spaces and community gathering spots make a state great.  And the absence of extremist politics makes a state great.  How are the Republicans going to get any of that by spending less and making a few people richer?  People invested in making this state what it is.  Are we going to throw it away because a minority of people who are politically active and currently in power think the rest of us are worthless?

Seriously, let me know if you want to throw it all away…

Garofalo is not stealing taxpayer money, BUT THOMPSON AND HOLBERG ARE!

I came across a list of Minnesota legislators who refused their July 1 salary payments.  I was not surprised to see 36B Representative Pat Garofalo on the list.  He came out right from the beginning and said it would not be right to accept a paycheck during a government shutdown.

But what surprised me was that pro-shrink the government representative from 36A Mary Liz Holberg and outspoken Tea Partyish District 36 state Senator Dave Thompson were not on the list.  I just assumed that they would be a couple of legislators who were really willing to prove just how fiscally responsible they are to Minnesota taxpayers.

Dave Thompson and Mary Liz Holberg supporting Tom Emmer

Rep. Mary Liz Holberg is in a unique situation.  She can win elections by doing very little campaigning and by spending a small amount of money.  She has name recognition in the area.  She was a past local beauty queen and has served so many terms in the state House now that it is habitual for people to vote for her.  She can take her pay without it being much of a negative if she continues to run.

Sen. Dave Thompson is another story.  Sure he has the name recognition from his years as an extremist Republican radio show host on KSTP1500, and gets a lot of recognition because he is a great speaker, so he is always out front.  But he probably needs to get that taxpayer’s check.  I’m sure his degree to become a lawyer was expensive and he’s got to think about retirement because in “Dave Thompson’s perfect world” social security and Medicare will not exist.  Plus, he’s got two kids who need college paid for soon and grants are going away and tuition is going up thank to him and his Republican buddies.  Oh, and he has that big shiny maroon Mercedes-Benz that needs gas and car washes.  Yep, he needs that money.  Anyway, he has to deal with liberals, so it is not only need, it is deserved money from the taxpayers even if other state workers who are not as important as him don’t deserve paychecks.

Link to the list of legislators not taking pay: http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2011/07/minnesota_house_legislators_not_accepting_salary.php

 

 

 

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You Can’t Spell (blank) Without GOP

My state representative, Rep. Pat Garofalo was so clever posting the following message on Twitter a couple times:

I really did think it was clever.  I don’t know if he thought of it, but it was clever.  I think it was Thom Hartmann I heard once say you can’t spell Oligopoly without GOP.  That one is pretty good too.  We could come up with several of these on each side, and I love games, so I decided to come up with a few.  I even created the Twitter hashtag #cantspellwithoutGOP to get everybody (crickets) involved.

Follow me on Twitter @MNDem

Here are a few I came up with:

You can’t spell POLITICIZING without GOP
You can’t spell IMPOVERISHING without GOP
You can’t spell PROPAGANDA without GOP
You can’t spell EXPORTING JOBS without GOP
You can’t spell GOLDBRICKING without GOP

Oh, I like this one for Sen. Gretchen Hoffman and Michael Brodkorb
You can’t spell UNAPOLOGETIC without GOP

You can’t spell POLLUTING without GOP
You can’t spell ATROPHYING without GOP
You can’t spell POSING without GOP
You can’t spell GOUGING without GOP
You can’t spell OPPRESSING without GOP
You can’t spell DISEMPOWERING without GOP
You can’t spell POLARIZING without GOP
You can’t spell FINGER POINTING without GOP
You can’t spell MEGACORPORATION without GOP

How about this one, is it in really bad taste or just bad taste?  For Rep. Mark Buesgens:
You can’t spell BARHOPPING without GOP

You can’t spell POISONING without GOP
You can’t spell SPOILAGE without GOP

We can go national too.  For Sen. David Vitter of LA:
You can’t spell PROPOSITIONING without GOP

For former Gov. Schwarzenegger of CA:
You can’t spell GROPE without GOP

You can’t spell DISPROPORTIONING without GOP
You can’t spell MISREPORTING without GOP

If you have your own, head over to the Twitter hash tag #cantspellwithoutGOP and add one in, or leave a comment here.