Let's Look At Dave Hunt

This picture was found on the Wiki page for Oregon State Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dave Hunt.

Dave has said some rather stupid things during the course of the session. And led the Democrats to some pretty stupid places. How could a man with no clue about what it's like to operate a small business in Oregon find himself leading a group of people that have no clue about what it's like to run a small business in Oregon?

Well, mebbe it's time to look at his experience after high school. I can't blame Sheldon High for the way he turned out. Sheldon has some good people coming out of that school. So what happened after high school?

Columbia University and a degree in Poli-Sci. I went with my son for his interview night for Columbia, and was relieved that he didn't find anything that appealed to him. I know that "Columbia" is a "name" school. Like Brown, Cornell, etc. Maybe I should have applied to a bigger name school than I did for my Ph.D. But I researched the staff at Boston University and only applied there. I knew what tools I needed to add to my quiver of arrows, and merely adding the cache of a name school didn't seem to have any utility. Remember, those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.

So, with a bachelor's in Poli-Sci, the Oregon boy went to Washington, D.C., where he got hooked up as staff with three members of Congress; Slaughter, Baird and Hooley. Staff for politicians. What are heavens for?

Well, he was able to get hooked-up as the Executive Director of the Columbia River Channel Coalition and the Association of Pacific Ports. Doing a quick AltaVista search reveals that these seem to be basically dummy organizations to move funds through to staff. How much advocacy must be done to alibi for a paycheck? It would be interesting to review Mr. Hunt's time card. It's enough that he's found a sconce to offer his needed advice and to have others pay for that advice.

Speaker Hunt has no interest in what it is that will need to be done in order to survive the next 18 months. It will take us that long to elect a new House. He has never invested a dime into any private enterprise. Never written a single paycheck. Has always had an expense account. Here is his statement explaining his pain yesterday as the Oregon House raised personal and corporate income taxes:

'"Today’s vote was a difficult one for all the members of the House, Democrats and Republicans alike. We face an unprecedented global economic crisis that requires every one of us to come together to solve the problems we face.

'“Today, we asked Oregon’s most profitable corporations and wealthiest Oregonians to be a part of the solution that helps bring Oregon out of this recession and bring greater long-term stability to out state.

“'Through the work of Ways and Means Committee, we have already made significant cuts in both the 07-09 and the 09-11 budgets. But we have done so in a way that protects the core services Oregonians require. Without passage of these two bills today, the cuts we would be forced to make would have severed that core and gone far deeper than we believe our constituents would allow.

“'It is never easy to vote for tax measures. And I applaud those members who were willing to stand up for Oregon; to stand up for our children, seniors, disabled and vulnerable Oregonians who rely on the services we pay for with tax dollars.

“'Now we have a clear path to a balanced budget for 2009-2011. There are still plenty of difficult votes and issues ahead. But with yesterday passage of the expansion of our health care system to cover uninsured children, and today’s passage of these two revenue bills, we can finish our work and know that we are doing right by Oregon.'”

Where to begin? Let's start with the second line, "We face an unprecedented global economic crisis that requires every one of us to come together to solve the problems we face."

Who is this guy? Obama? Head of the U.N.? At some point, I would hope an Oregon politician would stop worrying about fixing the world, and start to work on fixing the state. We are facing unprecedented economic problems here, in Oregon, all of which are due to this state continuing to spend more and more money on things we shouldn't be spending money on.

Did we really need to expand our health care system to cover uninsured children? Did you read the bill? Did you read who is really qualified for this new expense? Just poor kids? Nope.

Does the Speaker read the news? Pick up a magazine? Listen to Republicans? Nope. Otherwise he would have found out that Hawaii had to end its "universal child health care" program. But what can you expect of a guy with no business experience, years of doing the bidding of Congressmen, and then doing that community organizing thing? (Oh, yeah. He went to Columbia. He's smart.)

We--the small business owners in Oregon--have eighteen months before we can repeal the laws that have just been passed. Before that, we need to find and recruit candidates to run against these madmen. And then the case needs to be made: we need to elect candidates that want to work for the State of Oregon. Not to serve as ombudsmen of World Change!™ We need to build and repair roads that help us move products and people to markets. We need an energy policy that results in increases in the base load needed for business and industry. For heating your homes and offices. For charging you new, mandated car. We need a jobs policy that means jobs, not government jobs, but jobs that come from using the richness of our state's natural resources instead of locking up those resources. We have wealth. Democrats simply refuse to let us use those resources. For all their concern about Change!™, they really are nothing more than economic prudes, unwilling to allow others to get their hands dirty to make a buck.

Over the next nine to 18 months, the cascading effects of this current legislature will be felt throughout the state. Tax your health insurance premiums? More people will opt out of health insurance. Tax your business and personal income at higher levels? More people will opt out of Oregon into states with more reasonable tax and investment policies. Destroy GM and Chrysler? More newspapers, radio stations and television stations will find themselves on the brink of existence. Radio and TV will suffer; it seems the newspapers have already positioned themselves for federal bail-out checks. Just like you're gonna love the new GM car, you're gonna really love the new federal newspapers.

Car dealers will suffer. Banks will suffer. Defaults on mortgages are going to increase. Broadway in Seaside will begin to shutter as marginal businesses find themselves with no choice but to close their doors. What happens if one, two or three business at Young's Bay Plaza close? Darkened store fronts mean less traffic. The city fathers in Astoria will attempt to avoid the necessary store closings by spending more money on Visit Astoria campaigns. Did you know that automobile dealerships aren't an approved use within the city's planning guidelines? These guys are seriously anti-business. How else to explain all the real, new investment in the county ending up in Warrenton? Even as opportunities dry up and blow away, Astoria continues to dig deeper and deeper. Change!™ Not in Astoria.

Whose fault is all this? Did you pick up the phone once during this current session to talk to your state rep or state senator? Nope?

Declining business leads to declining values in real estate, which leads to declining tax revenues for local government. Which will lead to higher borrowing, as the community's leaders hope to ride out the wave of financial calamity that's coming. And they'll be encouraged to do so by guys like Speaker Hunt. After all, isn't that what the state's legislature has just done? Rather than cut taxes, reduce borrowing and make the state a better place to invest and grow, didn't Speaker Dave just lead the legislature in the opposite direction?

Yep. Enjoy your day.

UPDATE: The take-away line is "At the time of decapitation, Mike weighed 2½ pounds; when he died 18 months later, he weighed nearly 8." But this post kinda explains your government in a way that hopefully makes sense.