Posted on 01/23/2016 10:01:45 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
DES MOINES - If nothing else, Donald Trump certainly didn't toe the company line or kowtow to the citizens of Pella, Iowa, while touting his support for eminent domain during his second campaign stop in the Hawkeye State on Saturday.
With only eight days until voting, the Republican Party front-runner continued to back eminent domain before a crowd interspersed with locals from Pella and Oskaloosa as the two cities continue to push to build a regional airport next to Highway 163 using the practice. Twice, Trump called the practice a "positive thing" while talking up the necessity of its use.
"I'm not in love with eminent domain, but eminent domain is a good thing. It's necessary," Trump said, adding later that "eminent domain is something that's a positive thing - not a negative thing. Yeah, sometimes cities will use it in order to do business."
"Let's say a person has a house or a person has a backyard and they're going to build a factory that's going to employ 5,000 people, and sometimes the city will use the power," Trump said. "And by the way, if you don't get that property, they're going to go to another city, and they're going to spend millions of dollars and they're going to build a factory there, they're going to employ 5,000 people - but not in your city. Eminent domain is a positive thing. It's got to be used judiciously."
According to reports, the building of the proposed airport, which has been talked about for over a decade, would seek to use eminent domain to take property from nine separate properties. Despite largely enjoying Trump's remarks, locals in the crowd admitted they were a little surprised Trump used the occasion to support the idea.
"If I had to say yes or no to the airport ... I would say no. It's going to be a huge tax burden on the community. I don't want to see that," said Guy Schwab, a Pella resident. "I don't want to be given the bill for ... private enterprise thinking that they want something. Right now, we've got private businesses that front that airport. I don't want the bill."
Schwab, a 65-year-old impending retiree, argued that the airport isn't a necessity as the two current airports (Pella and Ottumwa) aren't deficient structurally or financially.
In his pitch, Trump also touched on the building of pipelines, specifically mentioning the Keystone XL and Bakken pipelines, which runs from Northwest to Southeast Iowa to deliver crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois.
"Where else is eminent domain used? For pipelines. All of these [GOP 2016 candidates] are in favor of the Keystone pipeline," Trump said. "You couldn't build five feet of the Keystone pipeline without eminent domain. It's going through people's farms, it's going through people's houses."
"Without it, you wouldn't have any highways, you wouldn't have laws," Trump continued. "Did anyone know that that's how you build roads and thats how you build schools and that's how you build other things?"
Bob Owens, a 61-year-old resident of Pella, agreed partly with Trump's points, stating, "yeah, you've got to think about progress, and you've got to think about things that [Trump] was talking about. But when it gets to actual personal and talking about taking away your farm, then it gets to be a little bit of a different deal [who's against the airport.] We have a good airport. We have an airport that's functional. I just personally don't think there's a need for it."
Although the situation is in limbo, the stance of many area residents is clear with signs lining Highway 163 protesting the airport. Other candidates who have come into the area have taken on the issue directly, with Sen. Rand Paul hosting a town hall on the subject in Oskaloosa on Jan. 7.
Trump is currently in a heated battle with Sen. Ted Cruz to win Iowa. According to the latest RealClearPolitics average, Trump leads by 2.5 points over the Texas senator. In the Washington Examiner's presidential power rankings, Cruz is in first place with Trump in second. While Trump is slated to make stops in Iowa on both Sunday and Tuesday, Cruz will be holding events from Monday to Friday, with the two meeting Thursday at the GOP debate in Des Moines.
I misunderstood what DoughtyOne was saying.
The Kelo situation was a complete disaster. I was involved in helping Long Branch, NJ fight off waterfront developers. Those people were brave! (A lot of ED happens around waterfronts - rivers and the ocean.)
Out west, don’t people lose land if not their actual homes?
A few things.
First generally only natural gas pipelines blow up in spectacular ways. Oil, water not so much,
160 acre farm is 1/2 mile by 1/2 mile if square. You are exaggerating a bit.
Eminent domain was changed with the Kelo ruling in 2005. It was changed to something not envisioned by the founding fathers. Trump loves the change. The change was fundamentally wrong and that’s the issue. And he isn’t correct about it.
This site has become dysfunctional. Trump is WAY left of Romney or McCain either one....
The “idiot” is the person who thinks Kelo is what the founding fathers envisioned, conservative and correct just because his guy says so. The link I provided you in the previous post makes that clear. And now that you’re calling names, no excuse for your ignorance. You’re just a blind follower.
I know someone with a 15,000 acre ranch in California. A large oil pipeline company and the owner negotiated a deal to cross a good chunk of his property. He’s happy, their happy and eminent domain was not used.
Dang, should have been “... they’re happy ...”
Usually, hostile takeovers by the government or NGOs occur when government policy is used to deny water rights either for irrigation or livestock consumption.
In the former case, a lost crop or fallow year can literally force someone to sell the farm, and in the Klamath case, organizations like the Nature Conservancy (IIRC) were there to offer a whopping 20 cents on the dollar of the value of that land. That is more typical of the Public/Private partnership land grab. Regulation, limitation, fiscal exhaustion (in court and otherwise), sale of assets to cover expenses.
We have not had much of that here in this State, but in others it is a growing problem.
One notable attempt here was an attempt by environmental groups here in the '80s to create a 'wilderness area' from homestead go-back land (homesteads which failed and the land went back to the Government). The proposal was presented as a series of parcels in random order, but when those were drawn on a map, comprised a strip of land which would have ended access to a significant area of ranching, farming, and oil production. The only other way in would have been to ford the Little Missouri River, which might be okay for an occasional crossing, but would not have provided sustainable access.
The proposal was stopped by a coalition of farmers, stockmen, and oilfield people, along with other property owners.
On occasion we feel the push of big money from elsewhere with astroturf campaigns for or against something, and thankfully (so far) North Dakotans have been able to spot and stop most of that.
I see you’re in North Dakota. How cool is that?! I hope to visit some day.
Interesting post. This is what I love about America - true diversity. You are in your wonderful part of the world, I’m in mine and yet we’re both in the greatest country in the world. All I really know about the west is from westerns, the book Shane and the Little House series.
To: re_tail20 Gee, our Owners in government are sure getting pushy. First, they confiscated all our real estate while we weren't looking (property taxes = The King's Rent on "your" house). Now, apparently, all our communications are belong to the government, too. 26 posted on 09/25/2014 4:22:27 PM PDT by kiryandil (making the jests that some FReepers aren't allowed to...)
Oh, I was "in love with Trump" in September of 2014 - before he was even running for political office?
I've pounded the King's Rent drum on Free Republic for more than a few years.
You certainly get upset when I call it what it is, jwalsh. Hitting a little too close to home? :)
Look - you're free to pretend that you "own" your house and land.
I'm under no illusions - the true owners send me dunning notices twice a year.
Yeah, that would make me cross, too.
I guess I misunderstood "eminent reclaim" in your post #133. I think you were responding to my "80% and here's the keys" post.
The “eminent reclaim” was a joke, a bad joke apparently, about your “here’s the keys” line. My kids don’t think much of my jokes either...
I thought it was perhaps a "funny".
I've been out and about.
The trumpsters don’t want to hear bad news about their messiah
Hope and change revisited.
It is a pace that varies from appearing somnolent to frenzied, depending on when you were here. If you feel so inclined, to learn more about the history of this end of the State I'd recommend reading Catlin's comments on the Mandan tribe, Lewis and Clark's journals (especially near the Confluence of the Missouri and the Yellowstone Rivers), and doing a web search on Fort Union (fur company fort), American Fur Company, Hudson's Bay Company, and Fort Buford.
The Great Northern Railway factors in, and the Chippewa (Turtle Mountain Band), Metis, Mandan, Arikara, Hidatsa, and various tribes of the Sioux Nation all have a part.
The book Bad Land (by Jonathan Raban) details many of the trials and tribulations of the homestead era and beyond in Eastern Montana, and the blessings and problems there are much the same as they are here over that period in history.
That will take you beyond Little House and give some insight into life on the High Plains.
On the lighter side, check out the poetry (and song) of DW Groethe, who is both cowboy and poet from Bainville, MT.
Actually, entities often try negotiation BEFORE eminent domain proceedings begin. It is during that time that entities will agree to pay a multiple of what a property is notionally worth.
But once the jurisdiction invokes eminent domain whether for its own uses, or that of another entity, whether public or private, the jurisdiction will agree to pay as little as possible, often barely market value.
As the article cites, with regard to pipelines and railroads, jurisdictions are specifically empowered to use eminent domain, if nescessary, for common carriers.
A pipeline is a common carrier. A limousine parking lot is not.
As usual, trump is wrong.
More of the same. But I’m going to mostly disengage today... I’ve really got to get back to work...
Eminent domain was not given in the Constitution for local “economic development”. Trump arguing that if you don’t use it someone else will, is merely an argument that says no, I’m not going to work to keep its use restricted to “public USE”, I’m not going to work to make it impossible for crony-capitalists to go shopping for the best give backs from local politicians or they’ll take their business elsewhere. Trump, as definitely no Conservative, is not a believer in rules being applied equally, he’s just a believer in “the big deal”. That big time crony-capitalism of Trump’s is why he as President will help the Democrats sink the GOP brand. The whole party will be tainted with his big deals and the crony capitalists who will benefit from them. People who say Trump is no Conservative are not wrong.
Well...
All this was about Kelo and Keystone was brought into it.
Keystone is not a natural gas pipeline.
You said Kelo was “conservative” and Trump was right in supporting it. That’s the entire point of this thread. Yet you evade that simple truth. A position you have failed to defend.
As far as math challenged, I made no math error. It is true I am ignorant of the recommended setbacks to a natural gas pipeline of x size under y pressure in z soil. You are welcome to correct me/fill in the gaps if you have factual knowledge of those details.
You have no idea who I am or my math capabilities but you jump to conclusions based on zero evidence. You lash out emotionally calling people names instead of addressing the actual issue at hand.
Those are the facts.
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