Observations from the Big Fat Middle

Is waterboarding terrorist suspects part of your imaginary 'big fat middle'? Is supply side economics a part of the 'big fat middle'? I could go on and on, but your 'big fat middle' canard is getting a bit boring.

Scott Brown and Sarah Palin are identical ideology.

Huh?

Absolutely none of what you've posted makes any sense.

Well then there lies the problem. You just made my point.

Ok.

Since we're talking about stuff that doesn't make any sense - how do you feel about what's going on over at the Palace?

I am against government spending money on all levels, Milton Friedman had a wonder way of putting it and I am sure youtube has it. If we Tosans want more than African braiding shops and sammich shops on North Ave as our proof of economic development, we need to offer a tax free zone for manufacturing, Grede Foundry kind of business. Thats right, give them the opportunity to open shop and pay no property taxes for 5 yrs, then gradually charge them.

We don't need to pay our Mayor a dime besides T&E, and we certtainly dont need an economic development officer making 6 figures...all you are going to attract is a burned out/unsuccessful business person looking for a place to drink coffee for a while until another gig comes along

Well written, Gas. You represent the big fat middle quite well.

I also don't understand what TosaTownie wrote.

And, your assessment of what's up with the BFM reads accurately to me! At my house, we've been talking about the wilderness most moderate Republicans have found themselves in for the last decade or so. The party, or entity, that corrals and speaks to people in the BFM will find themselves with a nice power base.

I guess I'm stuck in the middle, too- and getting squeezed. I consider myself a progressive but I'm a registered independent. Neither party seems to give a good gosh darn about working people (or out of work people) trying to pay their bills. Unfortunately, we are at the mercy of a two party system. When one side gets done screwing things up people rush to the other side so THEY can screw it up. I find that I'm no longer voting FOR anything but AGAINST things. Whatta mess...

"I find that I'm no longer voting FOR anything but AGAINST things"

Sounds like you'd be a perfect fit for the US Congress these days ;)

I too, seem to be having an identity crisis of late. I'm progressively minded on social issues, but on others, I find myself decidedly moderate. Where's my damned representation. ;) I think I'm more anti-Republican than I am pro-Democrat. Or anti-GOP at the very least. I suspect other moderate folk are more anti-Democrat and pro-Republican.

I am eager to see what Scott Brown/GOP Jesus has in store.

Whatta mess is right.

I had been thinking about this earlier but forgot to include it in my original post.

With regard to the creation of the entirely new post of Development Czar and thoughts of increasing (substantially) the compensattion of our Mayors where has the Tosa Taxpayers Alliance been?

Not a peep.

Same for Tosans for Responsible Government.

Not a peep.

You'd think those people would be having a fit over this wouldn't you? Or at least throwing a tea party over all of this growth and proposed growth of local government.

Or is their outrage selective for some reason?

"Or is their outrage selective for some reason?"

I think we both know the answer to this Gas. The TTA seems to be nothing more than a dude pissed off about the teachers' union. He may have a legitimate gripe, but he's not doing a good job of shrouding his grumblings under the guise of general tax oversight.

Tom:

As to your point about the Development Czar: by bringing the economic development function into the city and making it responsive to a democratically elected council, the city is saving money and ensuring accountability for public money. It's kind of disingenious to talk about the new position as a pure expansion of government without a mention of the money that is no longer being spent on WEDC--there was a whole report commissioned on just that trade-off.

Linda Nikcevich wants to raise the mayor's salary to $90,000. As for Linda Nikcevich's and Brian Ewerdt's ideas about mayoral pay, maybe no one is talking about it because the notion of raising anyone's pay for any reason in the middle of a terrible recession is so silly that it's not worth getting too concerned about (I hope).

All of that said, you make cogent points on the need to be a bigger tent and find new leadership for the Republican Party, a party which has one good thing going for it: the other party is in power and is not very good at governing.

Governing really isn't a matter of party affiliation. It's a mistake to assume that either party is better at it than the other. The people who are most effective are the ones who can step outside party ideology to find solutions that work. The "other party" is in power because the previous lot, who were Republicans, weren't very good at governing and people noticed.

The Council over at he Palace has the cojones to even broach the subject of expanding government and enrich our mayors in the midst of wrenching recession.

The GOP has been hijacked by the religious right.

And Thomas Paine stops by to comment.

I need some time to absorb all of this.

The Hartford mayoral race
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/82567657.html
has a nice broad slate of candidates and they're only paying eight grand.
I wonder who they would have gotten for 40,000, or 120,000? Any better?
And, at 40+ they'd have to start considering what business they have employing a city administrator.

Thanks for the link.

One of the Hartford mayoral candidates is our former assessor - Kathleen Isleb.

The Hartford mayoral race is further evidence that you don't have to wave a wad of money under somebody's nose to find candidates willing to serve their community.

The more I think about this the more I wonder why anyone is even meddling with something that isn't broken.

Ya gotta wonder sometimes what's going through someone's head...