June 04, 2003
Anti-Tax Activist Says West County 'Dominated By Liberal Women Leaders'
Technically, the headline isn't the real lead of this article in today's Oregonian on the split between east and west in the recent county income tax vote:
The final vote tabulation from the county elections office shows a majority of voters in almost all the precincts west of 82nd Avenue voted for the three-year, 1.25 percent tax. It passed with 58 percent of the vote countywide.
The pro-tax campaign did manage to win six precincts east of 82nd Avenue, the county's traditional tax dividing line. But a large majority of voters in the rest of mid- and east Multnomah County voted no.
Overall, voters west of 82nd Avenue voted 66 percent yes, while voters to the east came in at 42 percent yes -- a spread of 24 percentage points.
But in the course of criticisizing how "out of sync" east county is from west county, local anti-tax activist Don McIntyre (yes, him again) for some reason decides that it somehow relevantly advances the debate by conjuring up the image of dominant women, which I suppose is meant to frighten people.
I'm going to get slammed for saying this, but it's the sort of remark McIntyre's end of the political spectrum utilizes all the time as a kind of code language -- although when pressed upon it, they almost always say it was an offhand comment that isn't reflective of anything deeper. But what they mean is this: If you're not a conservative, and you're not a man, you're "out of sync" with real people.
Those "real people" are, of course, the ones who either agree with the real agenda of dismantling social services, or the ones who merely fall for the "anti-tax" ploy without realizing that what they're signing up for is economic suicide and the death of the social contract.
As for at least one of those dominating liberal women:
County Chairwoman Diane Linn, whose board referred the tax to the ballot, said support for the tax in the eastern part of the county will grow as residents see services provided that aren't in other parts of the state.
The tax will bolster east county's six school districts, sheriff's patrols and the Rockwood clinic, among other services, Linn said.
East county's taxpayers "are going to gain a great value from their investment," Linn said. "We have an opportunity now to prove to them that government can and will be accountable to voters."
At any rate, the article has McIntyre saber-rattling about Gresham seceding from the county.
If it spared the rest of us from having to suffer through McIntyre's stealth (and sometimes not to stealth) campaign to dismantle public education and other social services in the guise of "tax reform" I can't say that I'd be too terribly disappointed.
Comments (4)
Rick Paschall on 17 Mar 2004
Has anyone even gotten a around to getting a petition going concerning the recall of this new tax? It does not even have a equal to all bases of collection and i am sure it crosses some kind of a constitutional boundry.
The One True b!X on 17 Mar 2004
Tax activist Don McIntire is spearheading a petition to repeal this tax.
Cathy D. on 22 Mar 2004
I feel that if this Multnomah county tax is an income tax, all employees working in Multnomah county should be taxed, not just people residing in the county. After all, people who live in Washington are forced to pay Oregon income tax. Also, I would like to know where I might obtain access to the recall or tax repeal petition.
Cathy D. on 22 Mar 2004
I feel that if this Multnomah county tax is an income tax, all employees working in Multnomah county should be taxed, not just people residing in the county. After all, people who live in Washington are forced to pay Oregon income tax. Also, I would like to know where I might obtain access to the recall or tax repeal petition.