Rep. Tim Walz returns to the House this coming week with guarded
hopes that Democrats will reach a compromise with Republicans over
energy legislation, while less optimistic about a second economic
stimulus package.
Walz, a freshman Democrat from Mankato, also predicted that Congress
will not take up nondefense appropriations bills before the election
and possibly not until next year, meaning local project proposals
seeking federal funding will languish until the next Congress and new
president have taken their oaths of office in January.
He said most of the House's pre-election agenda hinges on energy,
and he wants a final package crafted by the Democrats that is similar
to the bipartisan energy bill he is co-sponsoring with Reps. John
Peterson, a Republican from Pennsylvania, and Neil Abercrombie, a
Democrat from Hawaii. The bill -- the National Conservation,
Environment, and Energy Independence Act -- has attracted 119
co-sponsors, including Minnesota Reps. Michele Bachmann, a Stillwater
Republican, and Rep. John Kline, a Lakeville Republican.. . .
Dick Day grabs the lion's share of earned media in WCCO's report, Republicans Face Off In 1st District Primary. From the sounds of things, Brian Davis should spend some of that money on the primary, since Day is a master at getting the press's attention.
We got a chance to look for signs of the primary yesterday in parts of Nicollet, Brown, and Blue County on the way back from the ruins of Farther and Gay Castle. When we drove
through New Ulm, we saw a few signs for both candidates in the
Day-Davis primary, and they seemed evenly matched. We were most impressed by the signage for both
Skillings and Torgelson in the 21B open seat. Neither faces a primary,
but are hustling for visibility and their work shows.
Congressman Walz and Senator Klobuchar will visit Rochester, Albert Lea, Waseca, Mankato and St. Peter tomorrow to talk about equalizing Medicare payments between states and to visit with veterans at service clubs. Details and full schedule here.
Outspoken Owatonna conservative Marlene Nelson writes to say Walz’s office staff was quick to help, in the Owatonna People's Press. When she encountered a problem with transportation to the V.A., she turned to Walz's congressional office. Go read the outcome at the OPP. This is how congressional constituent services are supposed to work.
Phil Heim of Medford did a little research and praises H.R. 6709 (National Conservation, Environment, and Energy Independence Act) in Energy bill is what we should expect. He concludes:
Without labeling ourselves as Republicans or Democrats but as Citizens,
isn’t this the type of working together we expect from our governmental
leadership? Why not call or write your representative or senator and
express your concerns?
Winona Radio reports that Women in Business will host a meeting featuring congressional and state house candidates:
Four political candidates will be the special guests at next weeks meeting of the Winona Women in Business group.
The event will take place at noon on Thursday, August 21st, at Westfield Golf Club.
First
District Congressman Tim Walz and his Republican challenger Brian Davis
will be on hand. Also attending will be Minnesota State Representative
Gene Pelowski and his Republican challenger, Rhett Zenke.
All four will address current campaign issues.
The deadline for registering for the event was August 11.There will be more forums and debates as the general election nears. One post-primary debate, sponsored by Debate Minnesota, is in the works; readers can probably expect at least as many post-primary debates and forums as Gutknecht and Walz attended in 2006.
The Austin Herald reports Local voter registration up. The local League of Women Voters is facilitating the process:
. . .Members of the Austin Area League of Women Voters offered voter
registration at the Austin Public Library Friday and Saturday in
preparation for the Sept. 9 primary election and the Nov. 4 general
election.
. . .The Austin Area League of Women Voters will also be offering
registration at its primary forum Sept. 3 at 6 p.m. at the city
chambers. The event is open to the public. Registration can also be
made at city hall, which is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5
p.m.
Minnesota's election laws allow same-day registration on election days, but registering in advance will speed an individual's time at the polling place. Those who is wish to be on the roster at their polling place for the September 9 primary need to register by August 19; for the general, it's October 14.
You may register and vote in Minnesota on the next Election Day if you:
will be at least 18-years-old on Election Day
are a citizen of the United States
will have resided in Minnesota for 20 days immediately preceding Election Day
have any felony conviction record discharged, expired, or completed
are not under court-ordered guardianship where a court has revoked your voting rights
have not been ruled legally incompetent by a court of law
Again, one need not be registered before election day in Minnesota to
vote (registration is available at the polls) but you must register.
Doing it in advance saves everybody time on Election Day.
The blogger at Minnesota First started posting because of concerns about FISA. In Here We Go Again he links to an article about a proposal to expand domestic eavesdropping. At Minnesota Central, McPherson Hall takes several looks at drilling as an issue.
Speaking of bowling--there's going to be a one-sided immigration reduction forum in Austin tomorrow night that features a panelist from FAIR. The convergence of bowling news and FAIR news is as good a superficial excuse as ever to post a video of our favorite bowling song.
It’s as much a tradition at county fairs as cheese curds and rides on
the midway, especially in an election year — politicians pressing the
flesh and courting voters.
A wonderful picture of DFL state 26A House candidate and local teacher Kory Kath accompanies the article. Kath talks about the importance of meeting voters, and the paper notes Republican endorsed candidate Owatonna Mayor Ton Kuntz. We do wonder if the GOP booth is ever--shall we say--awkward?:
Kory Kath, DFL-Owatonna, said he enjoys having dialogue with people
even if he disagrees with them on certain issues. Their voices are
important to hear, especially if he ends up representing them at the
Capitol.
“To be able to have that many conversations with that many people and listening to the issues ... is so rewarding,” he said.
His
opponent, Tom Kuntz, R-Owatonna, has been hanging out with state Rep.
Connie Ruth, who is retiring at the end of the year, and state Sen.
Dick Day. With lawn signs already out for both campaigns, Kuntz said
it’s important to make his presence known.
“It’s nice neither one of us has a primary election, so we can focus on the general election,” Kuntz said.
Senator Day has a primary, though. Minnesota Republican party chair Ron Carey made a lot of noise about the banishment of Day for bypassing the endorsement process, but that exile must stop at the Steele County border. Guess local Republican endorsements just aren't that sacred these days. Day is working his home turf:
Meanwhile in the First Congressional District race, Day and Brian Davis
have already made appearances at the fair. Day is challenging Davis in
a Republican primary on Sept. 9 and said plans to make a stop at the
fair every night. Davis stopped at the fair Tuesday and is making a
number of fair appearances throughout the district for the rest of the
week.
The winner will face U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., who
plans to make an appearance at the fair on Saturday, officials from the
Steele County DFL said.
In 2006, Walz and Gutknecht met for a debate on farm policy at the Steele County Fair; it was the first head-to-head forum that featured just the First District contenders.
Elsewhere in the paper, Walz supporter Sondra Von Arb writes the editor to say Walz’s ‘Fairness Act’ helps middle class. Despite his declarations of prior political apathy, this anti-Walz LTE writer in Winona may be in the hip pocket of the local Republicans, though we're not certainly it's the same guy.
The New Ulm Journal reports that Class warfare is taking place covertly in Brown County. It's all rock 'n roll to us.
The one-year anniversary of the deadly flooding in Southeastern Minnesota is coming up. The Rushford Tri-County Record has published a schedule of memorial events. Rushford never, ever gave up.
Randy Swaney has been found guilty of the brutal murder of Blue Mounds State Park worker Carrie Nelson in 2001; he was charged with the crime in 2007 while serving a prison term for theft in South Dakota. Nelson, who was only 20 at the time of her death, worked in on Swaney as he was robbing a state park office. Swaney faces a maximum sentence of life in prison; we hope he gets it.
The murderer of Blue Earth's "Jane Doe" will stay in a Texas prison until at least 2011, the Fairmont Sentinel reports. Former Minnesota state trooper Robert Leroy Nelson:
was convicted of first-degree manslaughter of Jane Doe and criminal
sexual conduct with a child in Minnesota in 1989. He had already been
convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child in 1988 in Texas. He
received a life sentence in Texas, and Minnesota sentenced him to 15
years, which would run concurrent with Texas.
This was another brutal murder of a stranger. Nelson raped, murdered, and disposed of the woman's body; her identity is still unknown. Blue Earth resident Deborah Anderson has spent the last five years working to discover the victim's identity. We posted about the case back in January and are grateful that Texas didn't turn Jane Doe's killer loose.
Francesca: Are there any subsidies out there to help this happen? Dan: There’s the federal production tax credit for wind energy that's production based. So if you produce a clean kilowatt hour of electricity you get about a two cent per kilowatt hour tax credit. The problem with that subsidy is that it's more geared to the large C corporations, not to you and me.
The rules of the tax credit are that if you and I want to use it, it would be subject only to passive income and subject to the alternative minimum tax. You get the credit for the energy you sell, but you have to use that against your tax base. And if you can’t use it against your ordinary income, then it really is worthless. IWe want to make it so that Americans can invest in their own energy using these tax credits and not just the big C corporations or the multinationals using these credits. That would really catapult community-based development into a real long-term economic development vehicle. So we're working on Congress to change the rules.
Francesca: Are there bills right now pending in Congress that impact on the ability to go forward with these community-based wind systems?
Dan: Yes. We've been working with our Congressmen Tim Walz and Collin Peterson who have introduced a bill in the House that allows the tax credit to be utilized by average Americans. Hopefully this next session after the election we will be able to get that bill out front and center.
Commenting about a different Walz tax bill, Glen E. Peterson evokes Warren Buffet's observations about rates of taxation in Walz plan fixes unfair taxes.
Jeff at Twin City Liberal crunches the voting data in Tim Walz’s secret to success in CD1. We think the up-and-coming blogger (catch him at Minnesota Campaign Report as well) is on to something:
Nonetheless, the point remains: in a district that leans Republican, Walz relies on voters’ willingness to split tickets. A Congressional candidate without Walz’s charisma and down-to-earth attitude toward policymaking might have trouble in this district.
Take, for instance, GOP endorsed candidate and ideologue Brian Davis (please) and his extremist statements about those nutritional "entitlements" in the Farm Bill. Logo-designer Tild posts about Physicians Against Nutrition. Centrisity eats it up with Dr. Davis, Anti Nutrition. Yep, he'll save the market from the terrors of emergency food relief for Midwest flood victims, WIC programs and other such policy staples.
Senator Coleman must really like Congressman Walz. First, he evoked his name at a campaign stop in Winona (we gather Brian Davis was in the room though he wasn't mentioned in the WDN report Coleman, Franken visit Winona). Now he's put Walz's words in one of his campaign ads according to the Strib's New TV ads: All sniping, no substance? Walz has endorsed Al Franken, so we're thinking that there's something to this observation by a Franken staffer:
Franken spokesman Andy Barr said: "From his too-cozy relationship with special interests to his falling in lockstep with George W. Bush, it's clear why Norm Coleman is desperate to distract from his record."
Walz is helping out Minnesota's other senator with her crusade for fairer Medicare funding. According to this release from the MMA, Klobuchar, Matson to stump for Medicare fairness, Congressman Walz joined the Senator and medical leaders in Rochester and Mankato to talk about Medicare funding formulas:
Klobuchar will [call] attention to the geographic unfairess of Medicare funding. In Miami, Medicare spends about $8,000 per patient per year, whereas Medicare spends about $4,000 per patient per year in Minneapolis. This happens even though the care outcomes in Minnesota are measurably higher.
. . .At a macro-level, if the vision behind this research becomes reality,
America could find itself less dependent on fossil fuels to generate
electricity. At the individual level, it could mean a home heating bill
for the average consumer reduced by two-thirds, said Hal Ottesen, a
professor at the University of Minnesota-Rochester. . .
. . .A bill supported by U.S. Rep. Tim Walz would free up more money for
such research. It would do so by opening up more offshore areas to oil
and gas exploration and using royalties from increased drilling to fund
research like the HESS project.
"We're not talking about leaving fossil fuels tomorrow," Walz said
at a press conference Friday in the shed-like annex where the HESS
project has been conducted. "What we're talking about is making sure we
shrink that dependence on those fossil fuels by coming up with
alternatives.". . .
When the bill's supporters talk about supporting conservation, this is the sort of projects they mean. Conservation isn't simply a matter of carpooling or making sure the house is sealed up for winter, but also seeking better, more efficient ways to use energy. From what we've read about the HESS research, it would help both the consumer and the society.
Brad Biers, campaign manager for fellow Republican challenger Brian
Davis of Rochester, similarly said Walz's bill does not address the top
issues facing middle class constituents, namely high gas and food
prices. (Walz separately joined a bipartisan group in the House behind
an energy bill that would expand oil drilling along the outer
continental shelf, but rules out drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge).
Yep, folks, there are issues other than just those dealing with gas prices. Amazing how that's common knowledge for everybody except Brian Davis, who couldn't even answer a yes-or-no question about the Farm Bill at Farmfest. Maybe Davis and his minions will read the article about Congressman Walz's visit to HESS and be prompted to actually understand the comprehensive energy policy direction proposed in H.R. 6709.
The Mankato Free Press gives a thumbs up to the political forums at Farmfest. The editorial specifically mentions the senate debate, but concludes generally:
Including political debates and other forums at
Farmfest gives those who attend a well-rounded experience and
highlights that agriculture is still a key part of southern Minnesota.
A writer at the WSJ whines about how the Senate version of the bill, proposed by the bipartisan "Gang of Ten," takes the issue off the table for the Republican campaigns. Um, Kim, take a deep breath: the work in both groups in the senate and the house is aimed at coming up with a solution, as the National Association of Manufacturers recently noted. The Senators and Representatives who are working on this aren't hoping to get the issue off the table. They aim to solve it--regardless of the electoral goals of their parties' leadership.
What's more, her argument that drilling in ANWR has to be on the table must come as a shock for Third District Republican Erik Paulsen, running in a toss-up race. Paulsen, like DFLer Ashwin Madia, opposes drilling in ANWR. Sullivan's column is a textbook example of a writer who has lost the ability to distinguish between campaigns and policy making.
The average person we've talked to isn't impressed by the preservation of talking points for one side or the other. They just want some stability in prices. And as an old political hand (and friend) recently observed, when campaigns whine about proposed legislation being a "sham" or "political," it means they got nothing.
The wind industry is growing; its annual convention is now too big for Minnesota's space, accroding to the Strib article Wind power convention outgrows Minneapolis. They may end up in Orlando or Las Vegas. No telling.
A letter writer to the Mankato Free Press says the Clean water act needs support. She makes a reasonable case, but Congressman Walz opposes the bill because of the concerns farmers and other constituents have brought to him.
The Winona Daily News reports Walz nervous about TRW’s future, jobs. As we noted yesterday, the coming lay-offs at TRW flared in a spat between Senate rivals Al Franken and Norm Coleman. While Walz is working to get TAA funding for the TRW workers whose jobs are heading to Mexico, he's also looking at the larger picture of policies that encourage shipping American job to other countries.
WDN staff writer Mark Sommerhauser writes:
Ann Schaub says her bosses at Winona’s TRW Automotive plant gave her
and other employees a directive earlier this year: Increase your
production, and your jobs should be safe.
So
Schaub and other workers rolled up their sleeves and set records for
production, said Ben Hovell, spokesman for United Auto Workers at the
plant.
The workers’ reward? Pink slips for 66 employees so far,
with another 16 layoffs expected in the coming months, Hovell said.
Schaub is one of the employees now out of work.
“To this company, you’re like a number, a face. And when they need profits higher, you’re a nobody,” Schaub said.
On
Friday, Rep. Tim Walz, DFL-Minn., said he is “nervous” about the
prospect of keeping the remaining jobs at the plant after conversing
with TRW corporate leaders. Walz also said the layoffs — reportedly
part of a shift of TRW manufacturing jobs to Mexico — underscores the
need for changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The extent of TRW layoffs in Southeastern Minnesota:
TRW, a leading global auto-parts maker, has repeatedly declined to
comment on the layoffs. Company officials have spoken with Walz, but
the lawmaker said TRW officials wouldn’t tell him if more layoffs are
planned at the Winona facility, which employs nearly 700.
TRW
also employs nearly 300 workers at facilities in Galesville and
Ettrick, Wis., but eliminated nearly 200 jobs when it closed its
Rushford, Minn., plant in 2006.
The article looks at Walz's concerns about the triumph of free trade over fair trade, then covers those short-term measures he and other federal and state lawmakers are pursuing. Winona's state senator is on the job:
. . .About a week earlier, state Sen. Sharon
Erickson Ropes, DFL-Winona, requested the same aid, which would offer
income assistance payments to workers who pursue retraining after their
unemployment expires.
Ropes said global corporations like TRW
must react to economic conditions, but also must weigh the social and
environmental repercussions of its actions.
“The parent company has an enormous ethical responsibility to its workers to be doing the right thing,” Ropes said.
The union will hold a press conference on Monday about the lay-offs, followed by a town hall meeting, according to a press release we received from the UAW Local #958:
United Autoworkers Union
Local #958 President Ben Hovell will hold a press conference on Monday, August 11, 2008 at 3:30 pm, at the Winona
Education Association office at 1201 Gilmore Avenue in Winona, concerning the recent lay-offs at TRW in
Winona and the out-sourcing of some of the jobs to Mexico. Following the press
conference, the local union will hold a Town Hall meeting hosted by State
Senator Sharon Erickson Ropes. Community leaders will be at the Town Hall
meeting to discuss the impact of the job losses to our community and the
community response. The town hall meeting is open to the public.
Also in attendance will be
Alicia Ranney, Coordinator for the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, to discuss
the impact that Free Trade Agreements are having on our communities.
Representatives from local
government and non-profit organizations have also been invited to discuss both
short-term and long-term aid that may be available to workers and their
families.
That town hall forum should prove interesting. Those who are able and interested should attend. Winona Radio reports TRW layoffs-Federal help.
For all the woe in the papers, it's a beautiful morning out here on the prairie after an early thunderstorm. Just after dawn, we spotted two cottontails playing in our backyard just as a rainbow shimmered in the southwestern sky. Naturally, we thought about a divine promise in an old book, followed immediately by a recollection of this happy song from our younger days.
Two years ago, geography
teacher and congressional challenger Tim Walz said the Bush tax cuts
tilted too heavily to wealthy Americans, proposed returning tax rates
to pre-Bush levels for people making more than $330,000 and wanted to
use the resulting revenue for deficit reduction and middle-class tax
cuts.
Now Congressman Walz, DFL-Mankato, has proposed legislation that would take a step in that direction for the next two years.
The bill would target corporate tax
loopholes, tax advantages for hedge-fund managers and other tax
regulations that benefit wealthier taxpayers. The resulting revenue
would be split between deficit reduction and tax cuts aimed at the
middle class. . . .
As for the Republicans:
Walz’s Republican
opponents haven’t put forth detailed tax plans as part of their
campaigns, but Dr. Brian Davis, R-Rochester, and state Sen. Dick Day,
R-Owatonna, both oppose tax increases of any kind — including increases
aimed at wealthier Americans. . . .
. . .The Republicans also agree that further
large tax cuts such as the ones passed early in President Bush’s first
term need to wait until federal deficits are reined in.
Then at 1:30 p.m. it’s U.S. House members and candidates’ turn to
discuss agriculture. U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and U.S. Rep.
Tim Walz, D-Minn., are slated to appear. Candidates expected to
participate in the discussion include Glen Menze, a Republican
challenging Peterson in the 7th District; Brian Davis and Dick Day,
both Republicans, who are seeking to unseat Walz in the 1st District;
Elwyn Tinklenberg, a Democratic candidate in the 6th District; and
Steve Sarvi, a Democrat seeking the 2nd District seat.
The PiPress asks Candidates' conundrum: Is risk of debating worth the reward? Representatives Kline and Bachmann apparently think not. For those candidates who are attending, this question should be most interesting for Day and Davis. Not only will each will seek to contrast himself with Walz, but each will also have to highlight his strengths for the Republican base.
Congressman Walz helped launch the Obama field office in Rochester, KAAL reports in Presidential Hopefuls Set Up Local Offices. Video is available. Happy birthday to Senator Obama.
Photo: Former congressman Gil Gutknecht and Tim Walz in the 2006 Farmfest congressional candidate forum in 2006. One of the topics was the value of manure, according to the Mankato Free Press coverage from which we swiped John Cross's great pix. Audiences can expect a drizzle of horse apples from at leastone of Walz's challengers, and protests against foo-foo dust from the other. Good times.
The Buffalo Chip Tossing contest will be on Wednesday. We're cheering for the MFU's lovely Katie Pass to fling it for accuracy if not distance.
The Rochester Post Bulletin notes that Congressman Walz will be on Rochester's Charter Cable Channel 10 tonight, Wednesday and Thursday:
On the Belau Report this week, 1st District Congressman Tim Walz is
interviewed by Jane Belau on issues of energy, agriculture, foreign
policy, veterans affairs, the economy and his proposed "middle class
economic initiative" announced this week. It will air at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on Charter Cable channel 10.
As high gas and food prices continue to take a bite out of
pocketbooks, Congressman Tim Walz unveiled a package of tax-relief
proposals on Monday that he said would bring immediate help to the
beleaguered middle class.
His plan would essentially allow middle class taxpayers to keep more
of the money they earn through an assortment of tax cuts and tax
credits, including a doubling of the standard deduction for taxpayers.
To pay for it, Walz would raise taxes and close loopholes that benefit
hedge-fund managers and highly paid corporate executives, as well as
repeal subsidies for major oil and gas companies.
Walz, a Democrat from Mankato, said his proposals would bring
balance to a tax system that is out of whack even as the middle class
struggles with high food and energy prices. He said his plan cuts taxes
for 61 million taxpayers and lowers the average tax bill by $750 this
year. It also reduces the national debt by an estimated $60 billion.
"The current situation is unfair -- middle income families are being
squeezed while big oil companies that receive tax subsidies are earning
record profits," Walz said. "It is time to change our priorities in
Washington and put regular people first."
Here's the Walz press release from yesterday's announcement:
WALZ UNVEILS MIDDLE CLASS TAX CUT BILL "American families are being squeezed by rising gas prices and a slumping economy; my bill is the fair and right thing to do for the middle class," says Walz
(Rochester, MN) - Today, Congressman Tim Walz unveiled a major new legislative initiative to cut taxes for middle class families during a discussion around the kitchen table of Peter and JoAnne Bandy of Rochester.
Walz was joined at the Bandy residence by Nicole Sanborn and John and Diane Hedlund and their daughter Ava. After hearing details from the families about how they are being squeezed by rising gas prices and the slumping economy, Congressman Walz announced that he has introduced legislation in Congress that would provide a tax cut to more than 60 million middle class taxpayers.
"Middle class Americans are being hit hard by this sluggish economy -the cost of groceries, gas at the pump, home heating oil, health care and education keep going up and up," said Rep. Tim Walz. "I am introducing this tax cut bill to bring immediate help to middle class families in southern Minnesota and across our nation. I'm urging citizens across the country to help me get this bill passed. My proposal takes billions of dollars away from wasteful government programs like taxpayer subsidies to the oil companies and puts it back in the pockets of ordinary folks so they can afford to pay for rising gas prices."
The Walz Middle-Class Tax Fairness Act will cut taxes for 61 million taxpayers and save an average of $750 on their taxes this year if his legislation were enacted. The Walz Middle Class Tax is fiscally responsible and fully paid for by cutting government waste and tax give-aways for big corporations. The Walz legislation would also help pay down nearly $60 billion of the national debt.
"The current situation is unfair - middle income families are being squeezed while big oil companies that receive tax subsidies are earning record profits," said Walz. "It is time to change our priorities in Washington and put regular people first."
Joining Walz today were residents from Rochester and Byron.
Pete and JoAnne Bandy are enjoying their retirement years in northeast Rochester. They are active in their community with various volunteer opportunities and are very involved with children and grandkids. They live a modest lifestyle and are grateful for avoiding catastrophically high health care costs. "Yet," Pete says, "We could be one situation away from sinking into a healthcare cost crisis." Pete and JoAnne would save on their taxes $864 under Walz's proposed legislation.
John and Diane Hedlund moved to a modest home in northwest Rochester three years ago. Their lives are happily consumed by spending time with their daughter Ava and pursuing their careers. "I used to take Ava on daytrips during the summer, to parks and museums, or we'd go up to Ikea to shop," said Diane. "We don't do any of that anymore." Fifteen years after graduation they continue to pay off student loans. Both Diane and John are concerned about how they will afford rising cost of living They purchase more generic brands, don't eat out as often, and watch their gas consumption. The skyrocketing price of gas has limited the ability of the Hedlund's to drive long distances to visit family. One weekend they did plan to visit the grandparents in St. James but were too cash strapped and realized they didn't have enough discretionary cash to pay for the gas. With Walz's tax proposal, the Hedlund's would save $1,283 on their income taxes.
Nicole Sanborn has worked as a legal assistant since 2004. Her major expenses are rent and car payment, however; she is moving from Byron to Dover which will double her driving distance to work each day. "I'm like a lot of other recent college graduates: I don't own a home but I have a monthly car payment and rent an apartment. High gas prices are really painful and stretch my paycheck to a near breaking point. Every dollar I can save is a big deal for me." She will save $832 under Walz's tax proposal.
Photo from left: Diane Hedlund, Congressman Walz, Pete Bandy, JoAnne Bandy, Nicole Sanborn
The Rochester Post Bulletin Political Party blog has noted a press advisory from the Walz congressional office in Walz to announce new middle class initiative (make sure to read the comment we left).
MnMuseTube has posted a video of Walz introducing the Middle Class Tax Fairness Act:
A transcript from the Congressional Record at Thomas [pdf here]:
(Mr. WALZ of Minnesota asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)
Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Madam Speaker, the gentleman on our
side of the aisle who just spoke from Illinois laid out the exact
situation that's happening in our economy. That's why today I'm proud
to introduce the Middle Class Tax Fairness Act, which will allow the
average taxpayer to keep more of their hard-earned dollars.
In this slow economy, it's unfair to put the load of
taxation right on the backs of the middle class. Middle class Americans
are being squeezed by high gas prices, high cost of groceries, high
health care costs, high tuition costs, and their paychecks, as you
heard, are not keeping up with the rising costs. And in fact, the
speaker was right; they're actually $1,000 less than they were 5 years
ago.
Meanwhile, our tax code is full of government waste and unnecessary giveaways to the richest 1 percent.
Today, I am introducing legislation that will restore balance
to our tax code and do something unusual: help reduce the national
debt. My bill will be a jump-start to this slumping economy. It will
double the standard deduction for the next 2 years, providing an annual
savings of $750 to 61 million Americans. It will expand access to the
child tax credit and provide relief on property tax.
My legislation allows the middle class to keep their income
and does so in a fiscally responsible manner, by fully being paid for.
Madam Speaker, it is easy to offer a tax cut. It's harder to pay for it. Join me.
The text of the bill has not yet been posted, but other information can be found by plugging "H.R.6595" into the bill search engine at Thomas. Use the search by bill number option.
A review of public records compiled by outside campaign operatives and
independently confirmed by Politico suggests that there will be more of
the same before voters go the polls in November:
• Minnesota Republican Brian Davis, who is challenging
freshman Democratic Rep. Timothy J. Walz, paid tax penalties on his house in
Rochester, Minn., every year from 2003 to 2007 — a combined total of $1,237.05
in fines, fees and interest — according to Olmsted County property records.
This hasn't been on anybody's radar in Minnesota, but we suspect it will be now, especially since the NRCCMDE had scolded El Tinklenberg over his two late payments, which were years apart in 1999 and 2005. Davis looks a bit more habitual in his behavior.
What is it about paperwork and Brian Davis? His stint as Olmsted County PRM treasurer is discussed in
Olmsted County RPM: Just who was that treasurer who quit in 2007?; he lost or destroyed paperwork for over $13,000 in contributions. His drivers license was also suspended for failure to pay a ticket, according to Blueman, who first picked up the tip from an anonoblog.
And that doesn't even include the many horse apples Davis has lobbed about energy policy, his brief career as an engineer....
Second Update 7/24: Davis tells MPR that he didn't pay his property tax bills on time because "it's something that comes in the mail":
"It's something that has come in the mail, and between my wife and I
it's taken a while to pay it," said Davis. "It's not been a problem of
us having the funds to pay it. It's just been a problem of us paying it
late. I don't know how many times we've paid them late."
Since he has no financial worries, why not pay the bill on time? An oversight once or twice, as was the case with Congresswoman Bachmann and El Tinklenberg, her challenger, is understandable, but paying late year in, year out looks to be a habit, not an oversight. [end update].
Update: According to Polinaut, the DCCC had fired back when when news of Tinklenberg's tardiness hit the Minnesota blogosphere in May:
The DCCC issued this news release:
Bachmanns Who Live in Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones
Bachmann fined for paying property taxes late in 2003
National and State Republicans attacked Elywn Tinklenberg for paying
his property taxes late without doing their homework. In 2003, Michele
Bachmann paid her property taxes late and was fined $156.72.
"While spending so much time trying to defend President Bush's
failed agenda, Republicans neglected to do their homework on their own
candidate's poor tax filing record," said Carrie James, regional press
secretary at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "Instead
of paying her property taxes on time, Michele Bachmann is too busy
following around President Bush and introducing the Light Bulb Freedom
of Choice Act.”
Frankly, the dueling property tax penalties in the Sixth haven't come to much. Michele was late once; El was late twice. The exact number of times Davis was late (and if late payment was the problem) isn't clear from the Politico article. Since property taxes are due twice a year, the minimum number of times Davis paid penalties has to be five, and the maximum, ten. The tax records for Olmsted County aren't freely available online; a LandShark account costs $300 for set-up and the monthly fee.
It is surprising that the Republicans played offense on this one in May. But then, just as he's not mayor of Minneapolis, Brian isn't a DFLer running in Minnesota's Sixth.
And since there's a primary in the First, the dirt could have come from either side of the aisle.
Standing just off U.S. Highway 14 right-of-way in Maplewood Park
Thursday, First District Congressman Tim Walz announced the Highway 14
expansion would be getting $766,000 in federal money to help move the
project along.
"I'm here today to talk about the Department of
Transportation grant funding that is going to provide about $766,000
for two major sections of this road, the one from North Mankato to New
Ulm, and the section we're standing on here, $451,000 that will provide
the ability to move the utilities in preparation for the four-lane
expansion," Walz said.
In lauding the work that the Highway 14
Partnership and its president, North Mankato Mayor Gary Zellmer, had
done in getting this grant funding, Walz also commended the ground work
supplied by New Ulm Mayor Joel Albrecht who wasn't in attendance for
the day's event.
Minnesota Central wonders Will John Kline respond to fuel prices and the DOD budget? Good question. The Rochester Democrat posts Tim Walz's press release urging President Bush to jawbone oil companies. We're going to have to bone up on the historical example, President Kennedy "jawboning" U.S. steel companies.
I didn’t realize it had grown as big as it has,” said Hojberg [of Clark's Grove]. Hojberg
said he was interested by the number of politicians campaigning, which
included current Owatonna Mayor Tom Kuntz, Owatonna High School teacher
Kory Kath, state Rep. Patti Fritz, state Sen. Dick Day and U.S. Rep.
Tim Walz. All the candidates were walking the route with their
supporters Friday afternoon.
At the Post Bulletin, a letter writer objects to Walz's vote to patch the AMT in a revenue-neutral way; a rousing war ensues in the paper's always lively comment section. We seem to really be getting to Southern Minnesota's Most Beloved Conservative Blogger, Othelmo da Silva, in the comments at the paper's Political Party blog.
And so we offer this musical tribute, in the hope that it will sooth his anxiety. Now we are off to the lake for a little wholesome fun:
Update: Alas, poor Othelmo. Rather than receiving this classic performance in the spirit in which it was offered, he instead fisks our "About" page, claiming that we edited it on July 3 to add our residence. Too bad that he doesn't understand Google cache, which preserves earlier versions of a post. We've captured the screen shot from the last cache of the page, dated June 30. Click on the thumbnail to see the earlier version of the page. The editing only concerned where I blog, not where I live.
What could possibly possess this poor soul that he grasps at such readily discredited straws in an attempt to redeem his own "fail"? He drips venom, then bites his own posterior. [end update]
Minnesota’s congressional delegation will cross the political aisle to
secure funding for bridge inspection and repairs, U.S. Sen. Norm
Coleman said at a press conference with city and transportation
officials Saturday morning at Levee Park. . . .
. . .Democratic Reps. Tim Walz and Jim Oberstar, chairman of the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, made similar statements
last week. Oberstar wants to introduce a $2 billion bridge-funding
package, and Walz said he’ll work to change federal guidelines to
reimburse Winona for shuttle expenses.
MnDOT will likely
expedite a previous plan to replace the Interstate Bridge, originally
scheduled for replacement in 2017, Coleman said.. . .
Congressman Walz is looking for ideas about how to curb wasteful spending. We found this June 12 press release via Nexis-Lexis:
Over
the next few weeks, I will be developing legislation to eliminate
wasteful spending and unnecessary tax breaks for corporations, in order
to use the savings for other important national priorities.
Since
I came to Congress last year, I have worked to take bring common-sense
ideas from southern Minnesota to Washington and put them into action.
From my Farm Bill amendments to help young farmers get their start in
agriculture, to my Wind Energy Promotion Act that will provide clean,
renewable energy, some of my top priorities in Congress began with an
idea someone in southern Minnesota shared with me in a grocery store or
over a cup of coffee.
So, I need your help in
identifying examples of unnecessary, duplicative, or wasteful
government spending that can be eliminated from the federal budget.
This is critically important as I work to restore fiscal responsibility
to Washington. Please click here to share your thoughts with me.
The Mankato Free Press's editorial board writes Congress not serious about budget. The paper, long an advocate for fiscal prudent, notes the Concord Coalition's recent praises for Congress when it actually passed a budget resolution on time.
Unfortunately, the Senate will not agree to the House's pay-as-you-go, or PAYGO, rules for spending and instead continues to figuratively throw the costs on the national charge card. The editors write:
The U.S. Senate seems to be the best example so far
that sound fiscal policy is not good politics. The Senate continues to
reject the pay as you go rules the House has adopted. Those rules call
for offsetting new spending by reducing other spending or increasing
taxes to make new policies revenue neutral so as not to increase the
federal deficit . . . .
. . .Minnesota’s
representatives have a record that is somewhat short of stellar in
fiscal discipline. Republican Sen. Norm Coleman has continually
rejected the paygo idea. He continues to believe the economy will grow
to make up the deficit.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar has endorsed paygo
rules, as has Congressman Tim Walz. Rep. John Kline, the Republican who
represents Le Sueur County, voted against the major paygo rules in the
House, though he voted for a Republican plan that applied the paygo
rules to discretionary spending and not the typical mandatory spending.
We'll have more here in a bit, but now we must go get some gardening in before the latest monsoon hits.
While we were out live-blogging the second annual Economic Summit (Mankato Free Press coverage here), the Star Tribune published Windfall for Pipestone, a long business article about Suzlon Rotor, an Indian company that manufactures wind turbines:
As Corey Juhl rounded the corner past Buffalo Ridge, a grove of
windmills bloomed from a cornfield and cartwheeled against the sky.
They're the Juhl family's wind turbines -- machines that jump-started
Pipestone's wind movement and brought Suzlon Rotor Corp. to town from
India.
Much has changed since locals first heard the name Suzlon four years ago.
Down the road at the new Suzlon plant last week, hundreds of workers
hopped off buses and got to work, cutting silky fiberglass cloth that
would soon be resin-treated, heated and molded into gleaming
141-foot-long turbine blades, capable of producing 2.1 megawatts of
energy from wind.
Open just 19 months, Suzlon's first U.S. plant has taken off like a
gale-force wind. Employment has swelled from 275 to 500. Production
jumped from one blade a day to nearly three as businesses and farmers
search for alternatives to coal power. Suzlon is now the fifth-largest
turbine maker in the world, with about 8 percent of the U.S. market. . . .
. . .Minnesota is now the third- largest wind energy producer in the
country, with more than 1,300 MW installed. The state has mandated
Xcel, Great River and other power companies to produce 25 to 30 percent
of their power from renewable sources by 2025. It's been a nice boost
to wind-turbine and component makers such as General Electric, Gamesa,
Vesta and LM Glass Fiber in Grand Forks, N.D.
In Pipestone, orders are pouring in from John Deere, farms across
the Midwest and a growing number of companies looking to get in on the
wind-power market. Suzlon just won its first Great River Energy co-op
member. It installed 2.1-megawatt turbines for Nobles Cooperative
Electric and Federated Rural Association in March. . . .
The article also looks at some of the growing pains the company and town have experienced: worker shortages, housing shortages, and a since-fixed design problem that caused rotor blades to crack. Whatever the downside, Suzlon's booming business is a net gain for Southwestern Minnesota.
Nonetheless, there's another crack threatening the wind industry: the expiration of the production tax credit, which encourages investment in renewable energy projects.
Oil and gas prices are at record levels. The environmental damage from using fossil fuels is a known fact.
The need to move more quickly to greatly expand alternative energy sources is obvious to all Americans.
Except some in Congress and the White House.
The Senate and President Bush continue to
block extension of the renewable energy tax incentives. The tax
credits, which will expire later this year, provide incentives for
solar, wind, biomass and other clean energy development.
The House last week passed a bill that would provide $18 billion to extend the credits for years to come.
Senate Republicans, for the past year, have
blocked several attempts to extend the incentives in major energy bills
and the Farm Bill. The president has also threatened to veto
legislation.
Some of Senate Republicans’ opposition has been in how the credits are paid for.
The latest House version compromises by not
requiring the rollback of tax breaks for major oil and gas companies to
fund the renewable credits. Instead, funding would come from a change
in policy on deferred compensation for some offshore companies and
delayed implementation of new tax rules for multinational companies
operating outside of the United States.
It’s time for the Senate and the White
House to get on board. Delays have already reduced the investments in
clean energy projects and further delays will set back the progress
that has been made in the emerging renewables industry.
That would be a blow to a country that is
eager to support technologies and development that would help lead to
more energy independence and a cleaner environment.
We remind readers that while the Senate Republicans and White House are holding up passage of this legislation, Brian Davis's pals at the NRCC have held it up for ridicule. As we posted several months ago:
So
while Pelosi and the Democrat majority pander to their fat-cat
environmentalist patrons by debating the efficiency standard of a light
bulb, offering tax credits for wind farms (none of which are to be
built in Ted Kennedy's backyard, of course) and pushing for increased
reliance on corn-based ethanol (maybe we can grow all the corn in ANWR)
precious little has been done to increase the supply of oil in America.
Yet, the Democrats are trying to "fool" you into believing they're
offering viable options. . .
Hanretty's spleen
seems particularly out-of-touch with the First, where farmers and other
rural dwellers are racing to put up wind turbines on their land while
arguing for keeping and expanding that tax credit. There's a lot of
economic interest in ethanol as well, though no absolute allegiance to
corn-brewed ethanol, since several of Walz's earmarks
go toward researching cellulosic feedstocks for ethanol. And, funny,
but a lot of people in the First are concerned with environmentalism,
though many might use the word conservation, and they're not fat cats.
The American Wind Energy Association's graphic accompanying this post shows how new wind projects virtually disappear when the production tax credit isn't renewed. Now why would we want to still the bustling industry in Pipestone, and why would voters in one of the top wind energy producing congressional districts in the country want to vote for a candidate who simply doesn't get it?
Representative Tim Walz does and expresses that support not only in Congress but also in the district. Witness last February's summit on renewable energy in Windom. We met Dan Juhl and his sons, featured in the Strib article, at that meeting. These summits are incredible (and free) opportunities to meet and learn from some of the best and most able minds in Southern Minnesota.
Photo: Swiped from the Juhls' web site.
And now, a musical treat, Son Volt singing its lovely alt country tune, "Windfall." We dedicated it to Matthew Wohlman and the rest of Walz's talented staff for bringing people together at the summits and other meetings.
It's not often we agree with Thomas Friedman, but today's column addresses the boneheadedness of the barriers to a sound energy policy with remarkable clarity. In Dumb as We Wanna Be, the New York Times columnist writes:
It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy
policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy
of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away.
Hillary Clinton has decided to line up with John McCain in pushing to
suspend the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon, for
this summer’s travel season. This is not an energy policy. This is
money laundering: we borrow money from China and ship it to Saudi
Arabia and take a little cut for ourselves as it goes through our gas
tanks. What a way to build our country.
What alternative does Friedman suggest? Sanity.
What we get instead:
Few Americans know it, but for almost a year now, Congress has been
bickering over whether and how to renew the investment tax credit to
stimulate investment in solar energy and the production tax credit to
encourage investment in wind energy. The bickering has been so
poisonous that when Congress passed the 2007 energy bill last December,
it failed to extend any stimulus for wind and solar energy production.
Oil and gas kept all their credits, but those for wind and solar have
been left to expire this December. I am not making this up. At a time
when we should be throwing everything into clean power innovation, we
are squabbling over pennies.
These credits are critical because
they ensure that if oil prices slip back down again — which often
happens — investments in wind and solar would still be profitable.
That’s how you launch a new energy technology and help it achieve
scale, so it can compete without subsidies.
The Democrats wanted
the wind and solar credits to be paid for by taking away tax credits
from the oil industry. President Bush said he would veto that. Neither
side would back down, and Mr. Bush — showing not one iota of leadership
— refused to get all the adults together in a room and work out a
compromise. Stalemate. Meanwhile, Germany has a 20-year solar incentive
program; Japan 12 years. Ours, at best, run two years.
And this in a state that's the nation's third largest wind energy producer.
Friedman continues:
“It’s a disaster,” says Michael Polsky, founder of Invenergy, one of
the biggest wind-power developers in America. “Wind is a very
capital-intensive industry, and financial institutions are not ready to
take ‘Congressional risk.’ They say if you don’t get the [production
tax credit] we will not lend you the money to buy more turbines and
build projects.”
Once more, we post the graph illustrating what the absence of the production tax credit means. In human terms, it means those students training at Minnesota West may not keep their jobs, regardless of the beauty of the vision their camera captured one morning as the fog lifted off the prairie.
The tradition Minnesotan expression for this sort of stupidity is "Oh, fer dumb." A native of Minnesota, Friedman translates "Oh, fer dumb" into standard policy English:
The McCain-Clinton proposal is a reminder to me that the biggest energy
crisis we have in our country today is the energy to be serious — the
energy to do big things in a sustained, focused and intelligent way. We
are in the midst of a national political brownout.
Southern Minnesota's most beloved conservative blogger, Paleocon Strikes, touts the National Taxpayers Union's low rating for Tim Walz in a post yesterday. He borrows the group's self description (emphasis in original):
The non-partisan National Taxpayers Union (NTU) recently released its ratings for the 2007 session of Congress. The NTU rates all votes that affect taxes, spending, debt, and regulatory burdens on consumers and taxpayers.
We did a little reading about the group in order to discover why it might be so near to Mr. Paleocon's heart. Indeed, what we discovered in our ramblings across the tubes illustrated why this was a match made on the extreme right side of conservative heaven.
Here's some information about the group. We found this info about a past leader interesting:
Grover Norquist was NTU’s Executive Director before being tapped by the Reagan White House to head Americans for Tax Reform.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) was established in 1973 by Paul M. Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation. It is a membership organisation of state legislators across the U.S. that drafts "model legislation" that is then often drafted into law.
ALEC is a conservative organisation that pushes legislation that favours big business and rollbacks environmental regulations. ALEC says that its membership exceeds 2,400 state legislators from both political parties, which is over 30 percent of all state lawmakers in America.
In 2002, two environmental groups, Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council, described ALEC as "corrosive, secretive and highly influential" and a "tax-exempt screen for major U.S. corporations and trade associations that use it to influence legislative activities at the state level."
Parde worked in private industry--sort of--in between the stints at ALEC and the NTU, as a partner in Phoenix Strategies:
Phoenix Strategies www.phoenixstrategies.us 1425 K St. NW Suite 350 Washington, DC 20005 202.587.4799 [email protected] Phoenix Strategies"..was established as a consultancy, our team includes seasoned and professional senior level members of the Bush administration with strong experience in Federal as well as state and local intergovernmental affairs and corporate relations. " The Hill reported on December 20, 2005: A new lobbying firm, Phoenix Strategies LLC, has formed on K Street to specialize in business development, lobbying and consulting. The partners of the firm are James M. Kelly, former special assistant to the president and deputy director for intergovernmental affairs at the White House; Ken Meyer, former deputy assistant secretary for intergovernmental and interagency affairs with the U.S. Department of Education; and Duane Parde, former executive director of the nationwide state-legislator group the American Legislative Exchange Council. They have represented industry areas in education, manufacturing, technology, pharmaceuticals, energy and associations.
We're taken by the ideological conservatism of these groups, as opposed to a sense of fiscal conservatism. Indeed, the Scaife, Roe, Bradley, and other right-wing foundations might want to check out groups more carefully in the future.
After all, the Better Business Bureau's Charity Report says that the group doesn't meet five of its standards for accountability. The Charity Navigator, too, ranks it at one star.
That's some union of right wing ideologues, and they don't like Tim Walz. We are shocked, shocked, that movement conservatives would rate Congressman Walz so low.
Budgets passed recently by the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives indicate in part a willingness to increase much needed funding to veterans programs and pay for that, in part, by allowing some tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans to expire.
The U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate recently passed budgets that boost funding for veterans’ health care and other veterans’ needs at amounts higher than the Bush Administration’s proposal. The Bush budget boosts total VA funding by about 1.6 percent, or $1.7 billion.
The House bill adds about $600 million to the Bush proposal, which would bolster overall spending to about 2.6 percent. The Senate adds $3 billion, making the overall spending increase about 5 percent.
Many veterans groups have favored the congressional proposals saying the number of veterans entering the VA health system from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan warrants the extra funding.
In fact, Congress and the president in the most recent fiscal year boosted VA funding by an “emergency” $3.7 billion appropriation midway through the budget year after seeing tremendous increases in health care costs for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. That figure is close to the increase being proposed by Bush.
The funding is aimed at not only taking care of the increase in VA patients, but also aimed at reducing, for example, the time it takes for the VA to process a disability claim. In 2007, it took 183 days to process a claim. That figure dropped to 169 days in 2008 and the current budget aims to bring that down to 145 days. That’s still a long time to wait for veterans who may have no other way to earn money when they are disabled.
The Bush budget also cuts medical research by 10 percent for the VA and major construction projects budget is cut by 50 percent. Both are restored to some extent in the House and Senate budgets.
The House budget, to its credit, is operating on its paygo rules that require spending offsets for new spending by letting the Bush tax cuts of 2001 expire for those earning upwards of $300,000. That supports some of the increases in domestic programs such as Veterans administration.
The national office of the Veterans of Foreign Wars says the Bush budget is a good start but “demands” Congress up the funding for construction projects and medical research. The research funding would go toward what VFW national president George Lisicki calls the “signature wounds of war.” That research would help the VA better treat traumatic brain injuries, post traumatic stress disorder, prosthetics and improve treatments for burns and blind rehabilitation.
The VFW also opposes Bush Administration plans to create annual enrollment fees of $250 to $750 for non-service connected disabled veterans. It would also increase co-pays for medicine from $8 to $15 per 30-day supply.
The cost of the Bush tax cuts are significant when compared to the VA budget needs. One tenth of the revenue from removing just tax breaks to hedge fund managers would fund the increase in the VA that Congress is proposing.
We wrote Thursday about how in terms of Wind power: we're #3--and #2! (and how to keep those turbines spinning). That post included the need to extend the wind energy production tax credit. As the graphic on that post and this indicates, eliminating the production tax credit for wind takes the breeze right out of the industry's blades.
There's another tax issue that would help Southern Minnesota capture more of the revenue stream from the wind. KAAL-TV news reported last night on the Economic Power of Wind Energy:
Minnesota has set a goal to produce 25% green energy by the year 2025.
But who's putting up the wind farms to make that goal?
The Prairie Star Wind Farm is 15 miles southeast of Austin. Brian Lammers works for Horizon Wind Energy, which is the company that built the turbines.
In one year, 62 turbines will generate a lot of electricity.
“[That’s] enough power for about 30,000 average U.S. homes,” says Lammers.
Lammers is from Minnesota and says most of the dozen employees here are from Minnesota or neighboring states. Energia de Portugal or EDP, which is a Portugal-based utility, owns Horizon.
According to Minnesota Congressman Tim Walz's office, foreign companies own most of the wind turbines in the U.S. The current tax code gives credits for large companies, but not for small individual investors.
Mark Willers is one of 350 people who've invested millions into 11 turbines in the southwest corner of Minnesota. He says his group is the exception, and that's bad.
"If you have wind available and the tax credits are not useable by people here in the midwest, then you are forced to sell those wind rights or the energy from that wind off to another entity,” he says.
Entities like the Portuguese company that owns Prairie Star. But Lammers says regardless of whom owns the turbines, communities here benefit from tax revenue, jobs and rent paid to landowners.
Plus, Lammers says wind energy projects are just too expensive for local investors to get involved with.
Willers says more projects could work if the tax code were changed.
Lammers says ownership doesn't take away the net benefits of using more clean energy. Walz is pushing legislation that would change the tax code and allow for individual investors to receive a wind production tax credit. It’s a move that would make investing in wind turbines more economically feasible.
High Energy, LLC announce Wind Farm High Energy, LLC, and Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, announced on Friday, March 14, that they have signed a letter of intent to acquire a 150 Megawatt portion of the High Country wind project. The High Country Wind Entergy Park, located in Dodge and Olmsted Counties, Minnesota, is planned to included a total of over 300 megawatts. . . .
We could go on, but you get the picture. The area papers report on new wind energy developments. The industry is a source of pride and optimism for farmers and business people, who have come to their congressman asking for the current tax credit to be preservation and for revision of the tax code so that they, too, can directly reap the economic opportuinty of investing in the wind industry
So while Pelosi and the Democrat majority pander to their fat-cat environmentalist patrons by debating the efficiency standard of a light bulb, offering tax credits for wind farms (none of which are to be built in Ted Kennedy's backyard, of course) and pushing for increased reliance on corn-based ethanol (maybe we can grow all the corn in ANWR) precious little has been done to increase the supply of oil in America. Yet, the Democrats are trying to "fool" you into believing they're offering viable options. . .
Hanretty's spleen seems particularly out-of-touch with the First, where farmers and other rural dwellers are racing to put up wind turbines on their land while arguing for keeping and expanding that tax credit. There's a lot of economic interest in ethanol as well, though no absolute allegiance to corn-brewed ethanol, since several of Walz's earmarks go toward researchong cellulostic feedstocks for ethanol. And, funny, but a lot of people in the First are concerned with environmentalism, though many might use the word conservation, and they're not fat cats.
So who is Hanretty, this fount of wisdom about energy policy? According to CBS News/Politico:
The National Republican Congressional Committee has hired longtime Republican operative Karen Hanretty as the new communication director, according to a GOP source familiar with the committee’s decision.
Hanretty succeeds Jessica Boulanger, who resigned last month to join Prism Public Affairs, a bipartisan consulting firm.
Hanretty most recently served as deputy communications director on Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign. She has been a fixture on the punditry circuit, regularly appearing as a Republican analyst on Fox News and other cable news networks.
She has also served as communications director for the California Republican Party and as the press secretary for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s gubernatorial bid in the 2003 recall election.
. . .former candidate for U.S. President and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. . .
Can the NRCC fool Southern Minnesotans into thinking that arguments of distraction about Ted Kennedy's battle against a sea-based wind energy project are superior to economic development in their own communities? We'll not weigh in here on the merits or lack of a much different energy project in a distant state and community, other than to note in passing that both objections to and support of the Massachusetts project come from people across the political spectrum. Even the Alliance against the Cape Wind project supports land-based wind projects that are properly cited and enjoy community support.
Objections to wind projects in Southern Minnesota do exist, but they're fairly rare. In a recent instance in Mower County, the local planning commission and wind energy company worked to ask questions about the project, according to the Austin Daily Herald.
We think linking attacks on all wind energy--and the production tax credit--to the Cape Wind controversy is pure Tom Cole foolishness for Southern Minnesota. But at least Hanretty wasn't carrying on about Fred Thompson or family values this time. And while we're considering the source of the snark about the wind energy production tax credit, here's a video clip of Hanretty's defense of Scooter Libby:
Photo: The Nobles Coop wind turbine, from the Fulda Free Press