Tuesday, April 26, 2011

OPINION - On Republicans, From the South

"GOP leadership: 'Robin Hood in reverse'" (Letter) by William Hambaugh, Knoxville News Sentinel 4/25/2011

Here's how some of the newly elected Republicans are saying they are balancing the budget.

Wisconsin state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald and his brother Jeff, speaker of the state Assembly, just had their father Stephen appointed to head the state patrol with no experience at that level. He lost a run for sheriff by 2 to 1. He got a huge pay raise over the previous head.

Also in Wisconsin, state Sen. Randy Hopper hired his girlfriend for a state job at $12,000 higher than the previous state employee.

Gov. Scott Walker said the state is "broke," therefore he had to take away rights of state employees to bargain. He gave the wealthy and businesses that contributed to his campaign $140 million in tax breaks, adding to the deficit.

Ohio: $10 million tax break for petroleum companies and between $200 and $833 million tax break for wealthy making the deficit bigger.

New Jersey: $200 million tax break for wealthy adding to deficit.

Michigan: $1.8 billion tax cut for wealthy.

Florida: $1.5 billion tax cut for wealthy.

South Carolina: Cutting Medicaid.

Arizona: Cutting benefits for poor.

Georgia: Raising taxes on groceries. Ending a tax break for blind people.

These politicians are not deficit hawks. They are giving away their state treasuries to their crony millionaires. It is Robin Hood in reverse.

Slight reformat for consistency

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