Fade to red (ink).
Mr. Mullen-Schultz's biography fails to mention that he is a protégé of former Rochester School Board Chair and current DFL Minnesota House District 29B candidate Kim "The Tax Lady" Norton. Apparently he is also too modest to brag about his credentials as a Rochester Post-Bulletin columnist as well as a reliable DFL mouthpiece. Mere oversights, I'm sure.
You will remember that Ms. Norton and most (*) of her cohorts, including Senate District 30 DFL candidate Ann Lynch, voted to increase property taxes the week before Christmas 2005. Ho ho ho.
(*) School board member Fred Daly was the lone noble dissenting vote.
Do not be fooled by Mr. Mullen-Schultz's rhetorical sleights of hand. The following come from his campaign website and are accompanied by color commentary.
"... there are no silver bullets that will both suddenly improve our schools and lower our taxes."So, when if it comes down to a choice, what will Mr. Mullen-Schultz's be? We know that, to liberals, "improving" our schools means raising property taxes and dumping even more money in said schools. As a liberal himself, I rather doubt that Mr. Mullen-Schultz will even consider lowering property taxes. It's not in the liberal nature to let working people keep their own money. Seniors on fixed incomes and small business owners be damned.
"I believe we should take a hard look at introducing Chinese and Arabic languages. To facilitate this, we must carefully examine the need for other language offerings, such as German and French, to decide what level of funding they deserve."Mr. Mullen-Schultz would probably find it jingoistic, but what about teaching our children how to write and speak the English language properly? Walk around any public school cafeteria or just stand in the hallway and you will realize that if kids are murdering their native tongue so callously, imagine what they will do to Chinese, Arabic, German and French.
"It is important to have varied voices on the board so that a multitude of thoughts and opinions are heard."
With the exception of Fred Daly's thoughts and opinions, of course. A genuine appreciation for a diversity of thoughts and opinions is not exactly a liberal forte.
"I will work to cultivate such an atmosphere, with the goal of creating the best possible school district with a minimum of public funding. "
A "minimum" of public funding.
Sure.
Somehow I doubt that the school district's taxpayers share Mr. Mullen-Schultz's definition of "minimum public funding."
Liberal democrats have adopted the language of fiscal responsibility with pathological fervor. They will not vote in a fiscally responsible way, but darn it if they haven't mastered the rhetoric.
The truth is that the Olmsted County DFL now sees the Rochester School Board as a primary stepping stone to showcase and eventually propel liberal candidates to higher office. The aforementioned Norton and Lynch, are prime examples.
Do not be fooled. The DFL is grooming Gary Mullen-Schultz for higher office. Warn your friends against voting for Mr. Mullen-Schultz or any other liberal wolf in pseudo-fiscally conservative sheep's clothing.
Also, if you live in either House Distric 29B or Senate District 30, remind your friends and neighbors of that cold and dark night the week before Christmas when Norton and Lynch raised our property taxes. Urge voters not to reward their fiscal misdeed by electing them to higher office. Besides, if they raised your taxes here at home, what would keep them from doing so again in St. Paul?
