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Speaking of ethanol plant proposals being considered up at the Capitol (you thought it was the only one didn't ya?).
SURPRISE, there's another one worthy of examination. There is a proposal currently before the Minnesota legislature to eliminate the disclosure requirement for ethanol plant owners.
Sponsored in the House by Representative Gregory Davids of Preston (Yes, that Gregory Davids),
House File No. 1766 would allow those millions of dollars in subsidies to be paid to ethanol producing plants without taxpayers ever knowing who the real beneficiaries are or how deserving of the money they might be.
So, along the lines that subsidy-sucking polluters have to give up some rights when lining their pockets with millions of dollars of taxpayer money, yanno, I offer the following Top Reasons Why Ethanol Plant Owners Deserve Publicity, not Privacy.
4. If this bill passes, we'd lose that collective sense of satisfaction that comes from knowing the exact place on the Forbes list of wealthiest Americans occupied by the ethanol plant owning recipients of millions of dollars of ethanol production subsidies designed to help struggling farmers.
**(GSE major investor Dr. Glen Nelson's family is listed on the Forbes list as 167th most wealthy in the country, but continues to profit from the ethanol production subsidy despite the fact that the plant is moving away from using corn as its source, using instead some version of garbage sugar water. (Take that, Minnesota Corn Growers! Good luck getting farmers on a bus to the Capitol to support GSE next time!). Oh did I mention that this expired Pop and Alcohol is consider a HAZARDOUS WASTE?)
3. The state GOP needs to know what industries to help as thanks for that $20,000 donation from Bruce Hendry (largest single GOP donation in the state last year!).
**(According to the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board records, Bruce Hendry, the other major owner of GSE, was the Minnesota GOP's highest single donor in 2003, topping the charts with a $20,000 contribution.)
2. If this bill passes, it will be all that much harder to track Mayor Kelly's vacation schedule.
**(St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly is currently before the Minnesota Court of Appeals defending his trip on Dr. Nelson's private plane to a hockey game, a trip that took place just days before the City of St. Paul and GSE were to square off in court over GSE's emissions.)
1. People who have such colorful conversational style as to tell their critics that they're going to "hire junkyard-dog-killing attorneys to rip their eyes out and pee in their brains" are people you probably want to make sure to invite to your next barbeque.
**(Representative Greg Davids (closely affiliated with the Preston ethanol plant and sponsor of the bill) is currently facing censure in the House because of directing that very comment to residents of Preston as they fought against an expansion of the industrial complex at their local ethanol plant to include a tire-burning facility.)
As I said.... RUN FOR COVER THE LEGISLATURE IS IN SESSION, NO MAN, WOMAN, OR CHILD IS SAFE!!
-- Sincerely, John Birrenbach [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Six years on the council has trained me to feign interest for long periods of time"
Chris Coleman Jan 21, 2004
W 7th Neighborhood, St Paul MN
Political & Business Consulting http://www.birrenbach.com/
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