The Post Bulletin reported on how the Rochester sales tax fueled a raucous representatives' floor debate. Now the editorial board weighs in on two Southeastern Republicans' performance.
In Sales tax isn't an 'us-vs.-them' issue. The editors first observe that tax committee chair Greg Davids has been boldly anti-Rochester since returned to the legislature in 2008:
We're not surprised by his willingness to "go to the mattresses" on this or any other Rochester-related issue. Davids has been on an anti-Rochester rant since he rejoined the House, and he clearly is enjoying this opportunity to flex his political muscle. We'd go so far as to say that threatening to kill the sales tax in its entirety was both spiteful and vindictive.
But their real spleen is reserved for the representative closer to home who was the chief sponsor of the bill extending the sales tax (a move that Rochester residents will also have to approve at the polls):
But we're even more disappointed with Rep. Duane Quam. As a Republican from Byron who represents a lot of Rochester residents, he showed no backbone on Monday when he voted against a proposal that would have restored the very bill he authored. In explaining this vote, he claimed that some items had been added to the city's proposal in a less-than-forthright matter.
That begs the question: Did Quam read the sales tax bill before he introduced it? His backing away from it now leaves us to choose from three unflattering conclusions: He didn't know what the sales tax proposal contained; he introduced the bill as a courtesy to the city but had no real intention of supporting it; or, he simply caved in to pressure from Davids and the rest of the GOP leadership.
Read the rest in the PB.
The Post Bulletin doesn't bring up another fascinating element of Davids' behavior, but one of Bluestem's readers did in a comment he left here. For all his opposition to the sales tax in Rochester, he didn't hesitate to approve a deal for Target Field that allowed sales tax revenues to help pay for the stadium--without allowing citizens of Hennepin County to vote on the tax:
Yes, indeedie.
Photos: Greg Davids (above); Duane Quam (below).
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