January 04, 2003
Pamphlets Are Out, Vote 'Yes' On 28
In case anyone has mysteriously forgotten, there's a special election rapidly approaching on January 28 to decide the fate of the coincidentally-named Measure No. 28, a tax-increase measure which will affect education, public safety, social services, and health care. At the moment, the single over-arching concern is funding for Oregon's public schools.
As always, the voters' pamphlet is out. It would seem that what little money the measure's supporters have on hand to push for passage went into buying space in the pamphlet -- a full 22 pages of arguments in favor (compared to only four by the measure's opponents).
Normally I intend to refrain from linking to other weblogs (as time passes various weblog communities tend to become a little too insular and self-referential), but in special circumstances I will bend the rules.
In this case, to point you to Ben Cannon (whose weblog unfortunately seems to possess neither obvious permalinks nor archives, so I had to do some digging to figure out the permalink to this item) who helpfully summarizes some data from a study (warning: PDF file) of Measure No. 28 compiled by the City Club of Portland. Cannon illustrates how reports on the cost of the proposed tax increase to the average Oregon taxpayer have been overblown.
One other important item: This coming Tuesday (that's January 7) is the deadline to register to vote for this special election if you are not already registered.
Register. Vote. And have the wherewithal, unlike the State Legislature, to put some cold, hard cash behind your support for public education.
Comments (2)
The One True b!X on 06 Jan 2003
Ben Cannon has updated his comments on Measure 28 and the City Club report. Click through to see what's changed and what hasn't.
What remains the same is the need to support the Measure come January 28.
Scott Hall on 29 Jan 2003
Don’t feel bad, yours was a valiant effort in a noble cause. The sad part is you were lied to in order to enlist your efforts in their (gov’t) cause (ie, keep their money and spend yours/ours). There is no shortage of “money,” only a shortage of your money for them to spend. They have so much money [liquid assets, investments, and even “cash”], that they don’t even really need our tax dollars to fund the operation of gov’t and provide essential services.
Don’t believe me, read for yourself the government’s own admissions of their vast resources and assets. The only question left is, “Why do they insist on shaking down Joe Citizen for more and more money to fund essential services when they don’t need to?” I really don’t care about the various conspiracy theories as to why the gov’t uses scare tactics (“we’ll have to cut schools, police, medical, etc”) to extort ever larger portions of our already meager wages to do a job that they already have more than enough resources to do. I am only concerned that we have been lied to, had our wealth stolen and hidden from us, and then had essential services cut or ended based on these lies and deceptions! I’ve had enough, have you?
To view the truth of the matter, go to the following links and research what a CAFR is. Then let your valiant efforts be for a real noble cause! Demand accountability for what is essentially our (we the people) vast assets and resources. But don’t be too hard on every gov’t employee, after all some of them are kept in the dark and lied to also. Pity them, educate them, and then see if they come on board as true patriots or if they show their true colors as scoundrels. But first educate yourself!
http://www.cafrman.com/
http://hometown.aol.com/cafr1/CAFR.html
http://iresist.com/ice/cafr-c.html
http://www.fourwinds10.com/news/gov/12-02/12-08-02-report-on-CAFR.html
http://www.buildfreedom.com/cevi/cevi_1.htm