Friday, November 12, 2010

Ron Johnson, Earmarks, Specifics And Semantics- - Waukesha?

Republican/Tea Party Senator-Elect Ron Johnson says he will support a two-year ban on earmarks.

OK.  We'll see how that works out.

I'll be interested in whether that extends to the $100 million, anti-earmarks-Jim Sensenbrenner-blessed- federal package that Waukesha officials have sought to help build their potential Lake Michigan diversion infrastructure, or to Scott Walker's efforts to get the feds through legislative alchemy to turn high-speed rail money into highway-building dollars.

Furthermore, earmarks are easy to spot.

Tax changes, somewhat less so.

Will Johnson vote against tax breaks that will help businesses, like his own, or for the general benefit of the WMC, which has already won state exemption for manufacturing and computer equipment, but which would like federal tax relief, too?

One person's earmark is another person's tax-code tinkering, I think.

No comments: