By Ron Yezzi, Mankato
Is Tim Walz too liberal for the 1st District, as some Republicans say? As a liberal (that is, a moderate between rightist Republicans and leftist social radicals), I don’t find him embracing especially liberal positions.
For example, he supports an offshore oil drilling compromise that strikes me as a 75-25 Republican-oriented bill. A 50-50 compromise would give Republicans more offshore drilling in exchange for Democrats directing all the royalties toward transition to a new, sustainable energy policy based on conservation, renewables, carbon sequestration, and low-income energy assistance.
But Walz’s bill gives Republicans major drilling expansion and also siphons off most of the royalties (60 percent) as general revenues for the states and federal government. The siphoning serves typical Republican foot-dragging on transition to a new, sustainable energy policy and exhibits typical Republican tax avoidance (similar to Gov. Pawlenty’s attempts to raid the tobacco settlement and Health Care Access Fund for general revenues as a budget balancer).
A 75-25 liberal-oriented bill would include the 50-50 compromise plus, say, a built-in windfall profits tax provision, an increased royalties rate, a required advance down payment of royalties and a price rise to reflect oil’s harmful externalities — such as global warming and pollution-caused health problems.
I strongly support Walz’s reelection. He’s an amazingly gifted person totally dedicated to serving the public interest with openness and fairness. His outstanding first term shows he can work effectively on the nation’s problems and he has the potential to attain national political stature. But if he ever gets derailed, it should not be because voters make the mistake of thinking he’s too liberal for the 1st District.
