[Speed Gibson,
Thursday May 18, 2006 at 12:33am]
Too dumb to be Governor?
Look at the announced candidates for Governor in 2006: Mike Hatch, Peter Hutchinson, Sue Jeffers, Steve Kelley, Becky Lourey, and incumbent Tim Pawlenty. At first glance, this would seem to be a pretty intelligent group. There is an exception, though.
The "Wal-Mart" bill is headed for the Senate floor, authored by Senator Lourey. From any angle - economics, employment, even health care itself - this bill is a loser, rife with faulty premises, leaps of faith, and unintended consequences. That this bill could get this far is testament to the DFL, but at least consistent with past positions.
I think we can hold any candidate for Governor to a higher standard. As Governor, you make decisions alone, often quickly. There are no committees or groups or votes to hide behind, only advice from the staff you yourself hired.
Becky Lourey has demonstrated here that she will be a poor decision maker. At a minimum, to think this bill is good public policy requires a poor grasp of history and current events, ignoring the woes of socialized medicine throughout the world going back centuries. Anyone who grasps the basics of economics could not in good faith support this bill. She even denies this is a tax, a worse lie than Pawlenty's about his tobacco fee, and no one from either party is buying the latter. In this area at least, she has demonstrated no common sense.
She's honest about her views, something I can't say about certain other candidates, including Mr. Pawlenty. But a good heart can't save us from fuzzy thinking. We don't need another Jesse Ventura.
The "Wal-Mart" bill is headed for the Senate floor, authored by Senator Lourey. From any angle - economics, employment, even health care itself - this bill is a loser, rife with faulty premises, leaps of faith, and unintended consequences. That this bill could get this far is testament to the DFL, but at least consistent with past positions.
I think we can hold any candidate for Governor to a higher standard. As Governor, you make decisions alone, often quickly. There are no committees or groups or votes to hide behind, only advice from the staff you yourself hired.
Becky Lourey has demonstrated here that she will be a poor decision maker. At a minimum, to think this bill is good public policy requires a poor grasp of history and current events, ignoring the woes of socialized medicine throughout the world going back centuries. Anyone who grasps the basics of economics could not in good faith support this bill. She even denies this is a tax, a worse lie than Pawlenty's about his tobacco fee, and no one from either party is buying the latter. In this area at least, she has demonstrated no common sense.
She's honest about her views, something I can't say about certain other candidates, including Mr. Pawlenty. But a good heart can't save us from fuzzy thinking. We don't need another Jesse Ventura.