It’s not every day that a Republican runs on tax increases, especially tax increases to fund more boondogles. After all, conservative voters — who tend to make up the bulk of the Republican base — are rightly suspicious of higher taxes and boondogles. But there is one advantage to the tax-raising Republican: it can earn you the endorsement of the local newspaper, as is the case with Sunday’s endorsement of Bob Leonard by the Fort Worth Star Telegram for the special election to be held Nov 6.
Here’s what the proud left-of-center newspaper’s editorial board said about their candidate: “The issue that Leonard wants to talk about is transportation… Leonard supports the passage of a bill that would give municipalities the option of increasing the local sales tax, with revenues directed to mass transit.”
Yes, he wants to raise taxes. (By the way, the Empower Texans PAC has endorsed Craig Goldman in this race. You can learn more about Mr. Goldman at his website.)
Apparently Mr. Leonard and the editorial board missed the fact that the Legislature said “no†to such a proposal during the recent Session, and that the lead cheerleader of that measure isn’t seeking re-election to avoid a confrontation on his tax-raising ways. (Mr. Leonard served in the Legislature until 20 years ago, and has been working as a lobbyist since then.)
They apparently have missed the mounds of data showing the absolute ineffectiveness of “mass transit†to do anything but transit a whole mess of taxpayer money into boondoggles. Mass transit funding has made congestion worse in Dallas-Fort Worth, because it takes money away from what works cheaply and effectively – road construction.
On that topic, my friends at Reason Foundation and their board member, Drew Carey (yes, the comedian) have a really great video piece on Reason.tv about transportation funding.
