AL Voters to Decide Sept. 9 on Governor Riley's $1.2 Billion Tax Increase

Birmingham, AL, News ^ | 07-13-03 | White, David

[Theodore R.]

58 days left until decision on tax package

07/13/03

DAVID WHITE News staff writer

MONTGOMERY -- Alabama voters will decide in 58 days whether to accept or reject Gov. Bob Riley's plan to raise state and local taxes by $1.2 billion a year. The plan also would change how public schools and state government operate, changes Riley says would improve accountability.

Riley says his plan would fill state budget shortfalls that could reach $675 million next year. Not filling that hole could slash state services such as nursing home care for poor people, he warns.

Riley also says his plan could create a world-class education system in Alabama and ease the tax burden on poor people.

"We have an opportunity now to transform Alabama and transcend anything that we've ever done before," Riley said recently.

But opponents say Riley wants too much money too soon.

"We don't need the money if we would start using the money we have wisely and start cutting back," said Roger McConnell of Mobile, a former state Republican Party chairman. He says lawmakers would just waste much of the extra money.

Riley's plan would phase in over several years. By 2009, it would raise combined state and local taxes in Alabama by an estimated 12.8 percent.

Only one of the 20 laws in Riley's plan already has taken effect. It says Alabama must spend as much on salaries for teachers and other public school employees in the coming school year as it did last year.

The law has committed Alabama to spend $140 million next year, whether or not voters approve Riley's proposed taxes, to ensure the employment of about 3,000 people, many of whom otherwise would have lost their jobs.

The other 19 laws in Riley's plan, including all the proposed tax increases, will take effect only if a majority of voters say yes in a statewide referendum Sept. 9. If most voters say no, the 19 laws will be null and void.

[Theodore R.]

I heard on the Limbaugh radio program Friday, with a substitute host, that Governor Riley is equating support for his tax increases with the biblical command that Christians help the less fortunate.

[Theodore R.]

*ping*

[WKB]

You're on a roll now TR

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[tom h]

"Gov. Bob Riley"

Didja notice how not once was Riley identified as a Democrat? If the headline had been about a Republican who was cutting taxes, it would've read, "Gov Bob Riley (R) announced a tax cut plan that puts poor people back on the street..."

Sheesh. The liberal media never ceases to amaze me.

[Catspaw]

Didja notice how not once was Riley identified as a Democrat?

Why would they ID Riley as a Democrat? He's a Republican.

[LS]

Wait, I thought Riley WAS a Republican. Isn't he?

[Catspaw]

The previous governor, Don Siegelman, was a Dem.  Riley is most definitely a Republican.

Alabama GOP calls meeting on Riley plan

Party chairman says he doesn't expect endorsement of $1.2 billion tax and education-reform idea

07/12/03By BILL BARROW
Capital Bureau

 

MONTGOMERY -- The Alabama Republican Party leadership is likely to announce its formal opposition to GOP Gov. Bob Riley's $1.2 billion tax and education-reform plan at a meeting in Birmingham next Saturday, party officers said this week.

"I certainly wouldn't expect an endorsement," said state Republican Chairman Marty Connors, who called the meeting of the 21-member state steering committee, which effectively serves as the party's board of directors.

But he stopped short of promising opposition. "I can't tell you exactly how the committee will vote. I can tell you that the Republican Party has a rich history of lower taxes and less government."

Connors announced earlier this week that he would vote against the plan in a Sept. 9 statewide referendum.

Riley spokesman David Azbell said administration officials are aware of the steering committee meeting, but he declined to comment specifically on what might come out of the gathering. "Until the committee meets, I think it's premature to predict what they're going to do," Azbell said.

Riley, a former three-term congressman with a consistent record of opposing tax hikes, has said his proposal is a last resort to address a budget shortfall he says is $675 million for the next fiscal year, beginning Oct. 1. That amount is more than 10 percent of the state's two primary operating budgets. The additional money, he argues, will allow improvements to Alabama's public schools and colleges.

Opponents have tagged the plan as ill-timed amid a sagging national and regional economy, and they have called on the governor to continue cutting costs and streamlining waste before asking Alabama taxpayers to pay more.

Connors predicted the committee would pass a resolution in which party leaders acknowledge the state's "budget problems" and state their willingness to support some long-term solution.

"Sometimes setting the agenda in Alabama means calling for more revenue," Connors said. "We can't always just be against everything. We have to be for something, and it will be the steering committee's job to draft that language."

But, he added, "This plan isn't the solution."

GOP Vice Chairman Jerry Lathan of Theodore said the meeting is necessary to clarify the party's official position amid widespread internal GOP discord.

"We want people to know this isn't Marty's opinion, this isn't Jerry's opinion," Lathan said. "This is going to be the party's opinion."

Some Republicans have argued that Riley is abandoning conservative principles, while other have called for loyalty to the party's highest-ranking elected official. Many county party committees, including Mobile's, have already adopted resolutions opposing the plan. The Lee County GOP committee released an endorsement of the plan this week, calling itself the party's county organization to take such an action.

Lathan has joined Connors in announcing his intentions to vote "no" in September.

He said members of the steering committee have spent recent weeks contacting other state party members, including county chairmen and members of the 300-person-plus state executive committee, asking them their opinions on the plan.

Lathan said he did not expect the state party to play any role in the campaign against Riley's plan, other than perhaps to share some mailing lists and information with "friendly groups." He said, though, that any such action "is not my call. That will be a decision of the committee."

"The party is strictly involved in electoral politics when it comes to organizing and raising money," he said. "To my knowledge, we have never gotten involved in a ballot initiative in that way."

He cited the 1999 referendum on Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman's lottery proposal. "The party was opposed to that, and very public in that opposition," Lathan said. "But we did not raise money or anything of the sort."

Democratic Party Chairman Redding Pitt endorsed the governor's tax plan earlier this week during a public appearance in Birmingham. But he and other leading Democrats have said their party would likely not take an official position.

[Kuksool]

What is it with GOP Governors? Once they assume political power, they become lovers of tax-hikes. The irony in this, is that Bob Riley had a solid conservative voting as a Congresscritter.

[Theodore R.]

Well, Tom, Bob Riley is the Republican who narrowly wrested the AL governorship from Democrat Don Singelmann (Sp.) in November 2002.

In the tax campaign, it may well be that the Singelmann supporters will be voting for the Riley tax plan, and the Riley voters from 2002 will be voting AGAINST.

The governor is alienating his base, much like Don Sundquist did in TN and now Mike Leavitt in UT.

[winner3000]

(...other have called for loyalty to the party's highest-ranking elected official.)

Not if those officials betray some of the most important conservative principles. At that point, what's the point of being Republican?

This situation is yet another example of why we should limit the powers of the government. The ex-Congressman has according to the article a history of opposing tax increases. However, once he became the governor he saw how easy it is to do a lot of good with other people's money. I'm sure he doesn't think of himself as a tax and spend liberal, but as a do-gooder. Unfortunately it seems that George Bush has the same disease.

[Kuksool]

{The governor is alienating his base, much like Don Sundquist did in TN and now Mike Leavitt in UT.}

Don't forget Kenny Guin (NV), Mike Foster (LA), Sonny Perdue (GA), Judy Martz (MT), Bob Traft (OH), and list of GOP Governors goes on and on.....

[Catspaw]

I've paid attention to this issue because we'll be retiring somewhere along the Gulf Coast. We had considered Alabama, somewhere along the Intercoastal, and *thought* we'd be moving to a place with a conservative governor. After THIS, we've decided to live in JebLand. There's no way we'd move to Alabama now.

[boycott]

I voted for Bob Riley. Never again!!!

[tom h]

[cut to scene wiping egg off of face]

Thanks boys for setting me straight ... does anyone know how to make a symbol for a red face?

:<|

[Theodore R.]

So do you intend to go into the 2006 Republican primary and vote for an anti-Riley candidate if such a candidate surfaces? Or will you be voting Democrat? Why do you think Riley changed his minds on the high level of taxation? He now seems to be taking the views of columnist George F. Will regarding taxes: taxes are good for Americans because they want so many programs, therefore, they should pay for them.

[Theodore R.]

Yea, excellent point, so tell us again the advantage of having all these Republican elected officials? Sometimes we really need to be reminded, don't we? Oh, yea, it's to get people confirmed: like John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, and David Souter on the court. And I almost forgot nominee-in-waiting Alberto Gonzales. the joke is that "Alberto Gonzales" is the Spanish translation of "David Souter."

Also, tell us about Taft's perfidy in OH. What would the great-grandfather think? The orginal William Howard Taft never could explain very well where he stood.

[Theodore R.]

and the list of GOP governors goes on and on:

EXCEPT in OK, TN, WY, NM, MI, PA, IL, MO, KA. And what state is next on this list?

Apparently the governors who have been genuinely trying to enact reform are Tim Pawlenty in MN and Bill Owens in CO. Bob Ehrlich of MD is doing well otherwise but is pro-abortion.

[Kuksool]

{tell us again the advantage of having all these Republican elected officials?}

Good question. Perhaps a Bushbot will have a good answer.

{EXCEPT in OK, TN, WY, NM, MI, PA, IL, KS}

The states you listed above had GOP Governors, from 1994-2002, who went on spending sprees. Now these states have Democratic Governors.

Tim Pawlenty (MN), Bill Owens (CO), Bob Ehrlich (MD), Jeb Bush (FL), Mark Sanford (SC), and Rick Perry (TX) make up the GOP All-Star Team.

[Theodore R.]

AL Republicans have a real problem here with Governor Riley. He looks like a one-termer at this early stage.
Do you think they will take the tax increases as necesasry for the "children" and the "needy"?

And what about the senators? How many are likely to oppose an Alberto Gonzales Supreme Court nomination? I wonder if even ONE would. Then who will be surprised when Justice Gonzales lines up with Souter on 95 percent of votes once safely on the court?