Oregonians make a painful choice

Oregon Magazine ^ | February 1, 2003 | Larry Leonard

[WaterDragon]

OMED: On the page where we found this classic liberal editorial, there was a link you could click to "Find a Pediatrician." It is our hope that the doctor's office is in the Oregonian building so that he may daily monitor the health of the children who now staff the floor where are written the paper's editorials. What follows is a point by point rebuttal of a silly editorial titled:

Oregonians make a painful choice

01/29/03

Hundreds of thousands of Oregonians voted to raise their taxes Tuesday -- even during a recession, even with little or no encouragement from political and business leaders -- to protect schools and other public services.

OMED: By far the largest segment of this "yes" vote were people who feed at the public trough. The largest employer in this state is the bloated public sector monster. The Kitzhaber/Kulongoski/Democrat welfare state slops buckets of money into many pens. We are shocked, shocked that those who suck at that teat voted to enlarge it.

This voter support for an income tax increase in Oregon wasn't nearly enough to push Measure 28 over the top -- unofficial counts last night showed the measure failing by about 10 percentage points. But the near-record turnout for a special election and the relatively close vote should alter Salem's budget and tax reform debate.

Yes, this victory for sanity should indeed alter Salem's budget and tax reform debate. The victory margin was a multiple of Kulongoski's winning spread. Clearly, the people of this state have rejected the policies of our new governor within days of his inauguration. The Oregonian, like all of Oregon's mainstream, liberal media elite, believes polls are news, and that every time the Bush approval rate drops below 110% he should admit defeat and thereafter do what Tom Daschle tells him to do. So, the Measure 28 no vote is a clear message that Kulongoski should check with Rush Limbaugh before he does anything, at all....(snip)

For Complete Article Please Click Here.

[kerberos3]

I live in Coos Bay and am very thankful this failed. The state needs to realize that it has to live with the current revenue stream. I guess I am just waiting for the sky to fall as predicted in many of the liberal newspapers.

[rellimpank]

--Oregon legislators should set up a special account for those wishing to donate. Furthermore, raise taxes on all members of those organizations who campaigned and voted for the tax increase--they wanted it-give it to them. Use the money to lower the taxes of those who voted against it--

[IncredibleHulk]

So, the Measure 28 no vote is a clear message that Kulongoski should check with Rush Limbaugh before he does anything, at all

This is too true for all DemonRats. ROFLMAO

[suzyq5558]

just read in the letters to the editor of register guard this morning something that really pissed me off.
a mark stevens writes that the voters in oregon are one selfish lot. heres a quote from : "when oregon voters defeated measure 28 they made a statment to the effect that we do not supportour tax $ being transferred to to those members of our community who are not well off" well excuse me sir but as a over taxed tax payer i myself am now not well off.
then mr.stevens goes on to say that thank g-d 45 % of oregon taxpayers do care about thier fellow citizens. thats rather scary if you think about it. those 45% represent the ones who live off the backs of US!!! the taxpayer!!!!! before much longer those that live at the publics expense are going to out number those of us who work our butts off every day and support these non producers. then all of us are going to be in a big world of pain. iam tired of my property taxes going up and up .gas tax ,tax on the eletricity you use, tax on this tax on that and on and on we go. the folks in this state are thawrted at every turn by city councils and greedy pols and most are like me .FED UP!!! suzyq

[suzyq5558]

excuse the typo's and bad spelling , the thought that ive been insulted by this jerk this morning got my dander up. GRRRRR..............

[WaterDragon]

Ping!

[AuH2ORepublican]

I'm glad you all voted against the tax hike, even though the deck was stacked against you (from what I read, Oregonians could vote for either raising taxes or cutting funding to schools, hospitals and police departments). I hope this is only the first of many victories for conservatives in Oregon.

Now, can someone tell me why no one so far has shown any interest in running for the Senate against Ron Wyden? Wyden's way too liberal for Oregon, and could be taken out if a strong candidate runs (maybe Kevin Mannix?) Same goes for Darlene Hooley and Saddam supporter Peter DeFazio, each of whose congressional districts was carried by Bush over Gore in 2000. Can Oregon give us a new Republican Senator and two new Republican Representatives in 2004?

[AuntB]

Take some of that anger out on Lynn Hannon, senator from Ashland...in charge of the senate now.

I see no one is cutting Kitzhauber's social engineering plan to have social services visit every new born 4 times in their homes. They just put on 100 plus employees....this after laying off 100 plus state patrolmen.

[CTY40]

This sounds quite a bit like the editorials beginning here in my home state of Kentucky. The state government is facing cutting the budget in the face of declining revenues; the governor gave a speech last night in which at one point he broke down when talking of having to "cut the heart out" of Kentucky state government.
The problem, of course, was that we had a huge rainy day fund that the state spent and then some. In attempting to scare everyone into agreeing that new taxes are necessary, several hundred state prisoners were recently released early from state prisons. Naturally, several of them have been re-arrested, one of them for rape. The governor's response to this was to say that this was a warning of what would happen if we didn't raise taxes.
The state's two major newspapers, full of liberals like the ones in the media in Oregon, have taken up the call that only a huge tax hike (heaven forbid we cut spending) are the answer. Gee, what a surprise.

[KnutCase]

The Oregon State Income Tax Form should have two boxes to check:


( ) I voted YES on Measure 28
( ) I voted NO on Measure 28

If you checked the YES box, add 10% to Tax Owed.
If you checked the NO box, pay tax as indicated.
If you checked the YES box, but will receive a refund, deduct 10% from the refund.
If you checked the NO box, but will receive a refund, you will receive full refund.

Thank you for living in Oregon.

[suzyq5558]

Yes aunt B im angry at all those RINO'S up in Salem, I feel as though the state was really trying to blackmail the voters, i bet there will be no cutback anywhere EXCEPT where it will affect us who voted NO to the tax hike. they will try to pay us back. it makes me ill.
look at how that police chief in portland turned those prisoners loose on the 29th.all that was a F--K you to us voters.... disgusting. heres the link to letters to the editor of the guard read the one voters are mad as hell this sums up my feelings to a tee. http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/02/06/ed.letters.0206.html selfishness is disheartning is the one that made me very angry. suzyq

[BfloGuy]

Kudos to the Oregonians.

First you held off the absurd health care program and now you've voted down the income tax increase.

Given the changes in your demographics, your years may be numbered; but, so far, you're doing just fine.

[KnutCase]

It has been an uphill battle. As a 42-year resident, I have seen this beautiful state slide downhill politically and financially. We did not have problems until the influx of Californians buried us beginning in the mid-sixties. I have been hanging on hoping for a reversal because I do not want to move. This was paradise until the outer world discovered what had been hidden for so long....it's very sad.

[Salvation]

**I live in Coos Bay and am very thankful this failed.**

Ditto for Salem.

[WaterDragon]

Maybe even especially for us Salemites. Right now it's mostly a state employee town. We need a more diversified employment basis.

[dixiechick2000]

It is because of editorials like this, plus the Oregonians pro-28 campaign, that I don't read the rag anymore. During the 3 to 4 weeks prior to the election, I was amazed at the blatant bias towards 28, so I quit!

[Eala]

well excuse me sir but as a over taxed tax payer i myself am now not well off.

Sounds like Oregon needs a tax-me-more bill like the one just filed in Washington.

[Lizavetta]

It never ceases to amaze me that, when faced with hand-wringing bureaucrats and politicians who are crying for more money because cuts must be made, services must be curtailed, yada yada.....that the conclusion is ALWAYS, "We must take more from the taxpayers" and the taxpayers themselves say "We must give more". Why doesn't anyone ever posit the question, Could it be that the government withholds the revenue it gets, to keep the "services" forever underfunded and desperate? In this way the impression of underfunded schools, police, etc. is forever etched in everyone's mind, especially when you see the falling-apart buildings, read the stories of lack of textbooks, lack of bulletproof vests, etc.

Why is the public never willing to investigate the crap out of government, instead of instantly and inevitably going back to the taxpayer?

[WaterDragon]

Why is the public never willing to investigate the crap out of government, instead of instantly and inevitably going back to the taxpayer

I've often wondered the same thing. Why aren't we demanding accountability? We know there is so much waste -- and outright theft! This is a great puzzle to me.