Wednesday, 16 January 2008

Throwing Rocks at a Hornet's Nest

Beshear's administration decided to flex its muscles today by canceling a project in Senate President David Williams home county.

The Beshear administration has canceled a controversial $11 million expansion of a road project in the home county of Senate President David Williams.

The expansion had been authorized by a “change order” approved during the final days of former Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s administration.

But Gov. Steve Beshear’s state highway engineer, O. Gilbert Newman, directed in a memo today that the work authorized by the change order “not be done.”

I must say that this move is gutsy. I am just trying to figure out what they were hoping to gain? Are they trying to scare David Williams into falling into step with their agenda? Are they trying to fire a shot across his bow to tell them they are in charge? Is it a return to the old days where retribution against Republicans was common?

Personally, I think it is a combination of the three. Beshear believes it is the good old days and he can rule with impunity and will punish those who get out of step. The funny thing is I think Williams is going to teach him a lesson in humility before the end of the session.

I imagine at some point Beshear is going to want to pass some important piece of legislation and it is going to die in the Senate. At that point he will learn that sticking your thumb in the eye of the opposition leader is a bad idea.

I wonder if this is what Beshear meant when he spent all of that time at his inauguration talking about "bipartisanship". What better way to show bipartisanship than to cancel a project in the home of the opposition's leader? This administration has become a joke much faster than I could have predicted.

Posted by brians at 11:41 PM in Kentucky Politics

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We Need Another Tax?

Yesterday, the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission released a study that calls for a 40 cent increase in the gas tax to help fund our "decaying infrastructure"

A special commission is urging the government to raise federal gasoline taxes by as much as 40 cents per gallon over five years as part of a sweeping overhaul designed to ease traffic congestion and repair the nation's decaying bridges and roads.

Last year's Minneapolis bridge collapse killed 13 and spotlighted the nation's decaying infrastructure.

The two-year study being released Tuesday by the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, the first to recommend broad changes after the devastating bridge collapse in Minnesota last August, warns that urgent action is needed to avoid future disasters.

The commission is using the tragedy in Minnesota as a spring board to raise taxes. They want us to believe that the bridge's failure was due to inadequate funding necessary to preserve our road systems. The only way we can avoid such a disaster in the future is to increase the amount we spend on road maintenance. The 40 cent gas tax would be a necessary sacrifice to improve our roads.

On the surface, the proposal sounds reasonable. A gas tax is a tax on people who are using the road system. Why not have those who use the road system pay for its maintenance?

First off, the bridge collapse they reference was not a failure of maintenance. Instead it was a design flaw in the construction.

Federal investigators have identified a design flaw as the cause of last year's Interstate 35W Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people, a congressional official said Tuesday.

Personally, I find it despicable that they would misrepresent the tragedy in Minnesota to promote a tax increase. Such lies lead me to disbelieve the veracity of the report. But let's assume our infrastructure is crumbling. The need for the tax increase is unnecessary.

If the nation's infrastructure is in as bad of shape as the report claims, then we have a responsibility to fund the rebuilding of our infrastructure. A gas tax is not the answer. It seems to me there is a much easier way to raise the revenue. We could end congressional ear marks (personal slush funds for members of congress) and use the money saved to "revitalize" our road system.

If our needs are so great, I am sure our representatives would be more than happy to give up their slush funds to pay for such a worthy cause. They should be called upon to sacrifice before the rest of us tax payers.

Posted by brians at 3:21 AM in National Politics

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