The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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May 11, 2008

Our View — Don’t buy GOP’s gas tax smear job

The state Republican Party will seemingly pull out all the stops this election year to initiate a smear campaign against those good government legislators with a conscience, six of whom are members of the Republican Party.

The Republicans, led by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, have vowed an advertising campaign — some of it already started — that touts the nonsense that Democrats, and supposedly their six Republican brethren, have somehow subverted the will of the people and foisted the biggest tax increase ever on poor Minnesotans by raising the gas tax to fix unsafe, pothole-plagued state highways.

Minnesotans probably don’t need editorial writers to tell them this is not the biggest tax increase ever. Such statements always distort the facts.

It’s not the biggest tax increase ever. It’s a $6 billion transportation funding package that goes over 10 years. Some of it isn’t even taxes; almost one-third of it is bonding money. The part that is taxes, mostly gas taxes and license tab fees, will eventually bring in about $450 million a year, less than half of what the governor’s own Department of Transportation says it needs. In fact, by some estimates, the fee increases approved by Gov. Pawlenty a few years ago to balance the state budget, amounted to $550 million a year. So legitimate analysis could describe that as the biggest tax increase ever.

This transportation bill was badly needed and those six Republicans who voted with the Democrat majorities to override Gov. Pawlenty should be considered nothing short of heroes and champions of the taxpayers. They’re finally fixing a problem that has been with us for decades. They finally offered a solution. But now, apparently, these legislators with a conscience will be attacked by the party machine. Already, many of the “wayward” Republicans have paid the price by losing committee leadership positions and have faced other strong arm tactics of the Republican Party.

In fact, the amount of money raised for roads will allow many local projects to finally get going, and will reduce the property tax burden on local taxpayers. This money only gives the city of Mankato, for example, the level of funding it received from state back in 1988, according to City Engineer Ken Saffert.

Saffert notes the money the city’s share of maintaining state roads has gone from 100 percent back in the ’80s to 50 percent at best. Blue Earth County will benefit as well, gaining $639,000 in the first year and a total of $18 million over 10 years.

The Republican campaign, if followed, will be very disappointing, and an exercise in bad faith. The Democrats removed items from the bill that the governor had opposed, and in the end, he still vetoed a reasonable, bipartisan proposal. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce supported the bill, after it was modified to reflect some of the group’s interests on the business side. So far, it doesn’t appear the smear campaign will be aimed at the Chamber of Commerce.

All in all, such a campaign does a disservice to Minnesota taxpayers. After losses in the last election, a Senate Republican leader, Dave Senjem of Rochester, said the party learned it “can’t be against everything.” If the smear campaign on road funding goes forward, it will be hard for voters to tell what the Republicans stand for or what problems they can solve.

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