Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Why Trump's right at home when private land seizures loom

There was a missed opportunity at the Foxconn ground-breaking.
Not Trump's first eminent domain rodeo

Understandably, because reporters and GOP operatives alike know Trump has no self-referencing sense of humor - - (Google Trump, Seth Myers, Barack Obama).  

But someone perhaps on the cusp of retirement should have asked Trump as he and Walker and Ryan and Co. gazed at nicely-maintained farmland and homes available for seizure through eminent domain if he was having a Coking flashback.

No, not that coking. 

Vera Coking.

Who was a strong-willed, law-abiding homeowner who refused to sell her New Jersey home to Trump so he could tear it down for limo parking at his now-defunct New Jersey casino.

And fought in court the deployment of eminent domain on his behalf by the government so he could have her private property.

For the record, Ted Cruz remembered Vera Coking.

Also for the record: she won her case, though Trump and his businesses succeeded in other government-sponsored grabs of private property for his use.

A nice summary of how his eminence has employed eminent domain is here.

Three more things for you to read on the subject.

1. This update on local efforts to prevent eminent domain seizures of perfectly fine agricultural land and well-maintained homes enabled by a blight designation - - noted here in 2017 - - laid down by the Village of Mount Pleasant.

2. A conservative law and policy outfit's concern over the Mount Pleasant matter, here, suggesting that Goliath hasn't won yet and David may have more friends than he knows.

3. My year-long Foxconn archive, here, to which I will add today's installment.

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