Hold Off the New Year's Celebration
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
National Debt Reaches $10,554,113,905,232.03 I'm going to digress a moment from my investigation into big labor's influence on elections. Certainly, I want to wish all of you a Happy New Year. Unfortunately, there is a bit of a problem.
Our federal government passed the $10.5 trillion mark in national debt burden during 2008. That is a whopping 13.88% increase over last year, and an astonishing 84.4% increase since President Bush took the oath of office in 2001. I admire President Bush and am thankful that he provided leadership after the 2001 terrorist attacks. I have, however, disagreed with our nation's inability to control spending.
The nation's debt burden has now become a moral issue as it will enslave future generations to higher taxes and obligations it can not possibly meet.
Iowa is not is good shape, either. David Vaudt, our state auditor, had this to say on Iowa Press last week, "If you take a look at the budget they'll be developing when they come in January for 2010 they're going to be looking at, at least probably a $600 million shortfall and that is on about a $6.5 billion budget. So, we're looking at close to 10% that we're going to be short to try and balance our spending."
Elected leaders, I beg you to keep spending under control. One would think we would have learned our lesson by now.
Cool Link of the Day
Track the national debt.
Big Labor's Influence on Iowa Elections: Example 1
Monday, December 29, 2008
The Iowa State Education Association (ISEA) PAC injected nearly $340,000 into Iowa Legislative Races during the 2008 cycle. Last session, the Iowa Legislature passed House File 2645 expanding the collective bargaining rights of public employees. Governor Culver vetoed the legislation because "It is not in the best interests of the taxpayers of Iowa to let this legislation become law. It is vaguely written with the potential for far reaching, unintended consequences that could obligate the citizens of Iowa to substantial new public expenditures."
So that's it. The legislature passed the bill, and the governor vetoed it. End of story, right? Wrong.
The ISEA is bound and determined to see this legislation become law, and they put serious money behind it last fall. On its last disclosure report, the ISEA PAC spent the following in direct contributions: Citizens for Gronstal (Senate Majority Leader): $100,000 Murphy for State Representative (Speaker of the House): $64,500 McCarthy for State Representative (House Majority Leader): $64,500 Kibbie for Senate (President of the Senate): $37,750 Iowa Democratic Party: $72,000 Dubuque County Democrats: $1,000
At the beginning of the reporting period, the ISEA had nearly $300,000 in the coffers. At the end of the period, it had only $5,000.
The ISEA went all out on this election. They will expect payback. Gear up, folks. This will be a battle.
Cool Link of the Day
Don't take my word for it. Check out the ISEA's disclosure report for yourself.
The Labor $$ Influence on Elections
Sunday, December 28, 2008
It is no secret that both the 2006 and 2008 election cycles were tough on Republicans. One of the biggest problems of solid democrat control will be the push by big labor to change laws- both at the state level and at the national level.
Big labor spent $400 million across the nation during the last election cycle. Yes- $400 million. Expect big paybacks. In Iowa, look for an expansion of collective bargaining rights and something called 'fair share.' In Washington, look for something called 'Card Check' legislation.
Card Check legislation would allow union organizers to use fear and intimidation in new organization efforts. It would do away with the secret ballot and would put thousands of small businesses across the county at risk. Is now really the time to pass anti-business legislation?
This is an issue I am very worried about. In the upcoming days, I will highlight specific concerns of these proposed changes to current labor law.
Cool Link of the Day
Read what the US Chamber has to say about Card Check legislation.
Welcome
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Okay, it's time for me to start a blog. All of the cool kids have one, and rather than merely being anonymous, I'll even put my name behind it. This site is kind of a mix between a personal web site and a blog. You will soon find that it's hard enough for me to keep one site up to date- imagine if I tried to do two. It would never happen. Therefore, I don't expect to make the buzz of political sites nor do I expect to receive massive volumes of traffic. The RSS Feed stuff has me confused as well, so my chance of getting linked to is rather slim. Rather, I'm just doing it for me. You, however, have the benefit of reading it.
And no...there is no comment section. There never will be. It's my site, remember? If you would like to respond, you can e-mail me. It won't be posted, but I'll probably reply.
I will do my best to post regularly. Keep reading!
Cool Link of the Day
Iowa GOP Chair Speculation