> Quoting Anderson & Turpin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > However, as Ed says above, the county can't change this law. I don't want > > my representatives spending a significant amount of their time lobbying a > > different branch of government. We elect county representatives to mind > > county business, and State and Federal representatives for their respective > > jurisdictions. It wastes time and perverts the will of the electorate to > > work on issues outside one's own branch. > > [BV] > County Officials do spend time lobbying other government entities on behalf of > County residents. It is WHAT they lobby for that determines whether it is in > the interest of the citizens or not.
Mark Anderson here: I beg to disagree. We elect State representatives to conduct State business. If the different jurisdictions are so inextricably mixed up, then maybe we should just elect State representatives and they should appoint local bosses, kind of like they do in much of Europe. But I don't think the issues are that mixed up. The county reps are supposed to run their own areas - I believe this is mostly running social services and public security services as dictated by State law. I try to elect reps for each area based on what they are in charge of. It's hard enough to find some one I agree with just on the appropriate issues of their particular jurisdiction. I don't want that rep going off and pretending to represent me on something for which I never voted him in for. > > Example: Local Government Aid. The state provides this to meet some of the > expenses of County governance thus avoiding a separate County sales tax. Tim > Penny has spoken about eliminating this aid (if he is elected GOV) and > suggesting that Counties add their own tax to eliminate one level of > beauracracy. County officials lobbying the legislature to continue this > funding (or City officials for that matter) are acting on behalf of their > constituency, thus preventing the implementation of a Countywide sales tax and > the administration of such that would increase County costs. > Mark Anderson again: This is a good example of why local government aid from the State is a bad idea. When the MN gives the money to the county, it is the State that the county reps must go to to get more money, not the taxpayers. This destroys accountability. Maybe the county reps would be a little more careful with their money if spending more resulted in their taxpayers paying more. I think that is why LRT went to Hiawatha - there was a bunch of Fed money available for that corridor. If the jurisdiction that received the money actually paid for it, maybe we would have put LRT in a much better place. Instead we've got an expensive rail line that will affect commuting very little. I don't think county sales tax administration would cost much at all - especially if the State handled all the collections, as is done in many States. Please Mr Felien - if you're elected then stick to your knitting and work on the things you've been elected to do. The electorate will worry about State issues when we elect State reps. Mark Anderson Bancroft _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
