Rep. Kristi Noem has been sending me and other Democrats, including one friend who now lives and votes in Maryland, glossy fliers warning that Democrat Matt Varilek supports a "national energy tax."
We've covered this: Noem is lying. Varilek is not advocating any cap-and-trade policy to reduce fossil-fuel emissions... although it wouldn't hurt if he did. Cap and trade works as public policy.
But since nobody on the ballot is advocating a Reagan-Bush approved, market-based policy to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, maybe Kristi and Matt and the rest of us would prefer a carbon tax. Since cap-and-trade isn't happening, a carbon tax is the next logical policy to consider. Charging polluters for each ton of carbon they emit would reduce the federal deficit. Alternatively, we could use a carbon tax to reduce income taxes, which would win big public support.
Of course, Rep. Noem prefers to believe that the free market will solve all of our problems without her lifting a policy finger. She has to believe that, because otherwise, she'd have to figure out how to make policy, and she can't do that.
If I'm Varilek I would play the victim here. She continues to push this agenda about Varilek even thougth many reporters have said it's baloney. (Pierre Cap Journal, David Montgomery)
Varilek has continued to be on the attack but he's also being attacked. South Dakota voters like the nice person and Kristi doesn't know how to play that angle. Playing the underdog victim being lied about while still maintaining a strong presence and going after Noem in that regard would do the most to help Varilek.
Matt - Kristi, You are lieing about my record and sending out mailings telling people I support something I don't. You can't even tell people what is in my work that makes you believe I support Cap and Tax.
Kristi - Let's talk about who's not telling the truth here Matt when you are deliberately misleading voters about my attendence record.
Matt - Did you not miss 85% of your indian affairs meetings? While the farm bill was being stalled in Congress over the August reccess didn't you miss 80% of Ag hearings? Tell me what I said that isn't true?
You've scheduled over 30 votes to repeal Obamacare but you can't schedule one vote for a farm bill. Where's your leadership?
Kristi is Madison today to stop at the Dairy Queen for a Blizzard and then go on a couple Chamber of Commerce-type tours. No town hall meeting, though. Sigh.
I so wish SHS was running. By the way Dave when was the last time TJ had a town hall meeting. I'll bet you are really upset with him.
Kristi is dumb, lazy and she lies because she doesn't have a message or a record worth supporting. She is desperate.
Having read that Noem doesn't think climate change is happening when the nearly unanimous scientific evidence screams otherwise, she's appears hopeless. How can you begin to solve a complex crisis if somebody refuses to recognize the obvious? Better yet, if switching to a clean energy economy would make South Dakota a huuuuuuge economic winner, why would any sensible person oppose it?
Being conservative is reflective of Republican voters in South Dakota. But being dumb and being a whole-cloth liar is not reflective of Republicans whom I know. Hopefully Kristi will keep proving she was a poor choice over the hard-working, smart and charismatic Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.
Well, yes, a carbon tax would reduce the deficit, assuming that spending doesn't ramp up to consume the additional revenue, and the economy suffers no harm as a result, driving down other revenue streams. So would any new tax, based on the same assumptions, and after a suitable length of time; and assuming that the government managed their finances responsibly forever after, all would be well.
If one were to tell a severe alcoholic, "Taper off, now; here are the keys to the liquor store; take all you need, but taper off to keep away the shakes and delerium tremens, and once you're sobered up, stay away from the sauce for good," and if that alcoholic were to follow your instructions to the letter, then after a suitable length of time, all would be well.
Hope drills eternal.
Got another tax payer funded letter from Kristi today.
This one is on the oh so critical crisis we face with the school lunch program and reassures us that she is representing in DC.
She tells us she is representing us by writing a letter to the director of the USDA! (I bet it was sternly worded)
I for one am moved by the extraordinary lengths she will go for her constituents! She really earned that Blizzard today!
Varilek ought to closely review the budget for Rep. Noem's office and go after her for spending so much taxpayer money on politically-motivated mailings and other things.
Noem's "polls" are the biggest waste. They are so slanted and poorly designed that any information from them is meaningless.
Noem did send out a press release in 2010 ripping on SHS for abusing the franking priviledge.
http://www.mattforsd.com/2012/06/08/release-noem-breaks-promise-votes-to-spend-taxpayer-dollars-on-campaign-style-mailers/
Kristi is a flat out liar. I'm not sure I believe everything out of Varilek's mouth but Noem is a flat out liar.
"However, now that she is in Washington, her actions tell a different story. Kristi Noem has spent $193,942 on taxpayer paid mass mailings and communication to promote herself, even though she promised to go to Washington to cut spending. Her vote today only emphasizes that she is not serious about reigning in the deficit.
According to a recent report, House Members sent out more than 77 million pieces of unsolicited, glossy campaign-style mail at a cost of $28 million to taxpayers in just nine months last year. Noem’s nearly $200,000 vastly exceed funds spent for the same purpose by Rep. Berg of North Dakota who spent $114,185"
From the above link.
Interesting that no one has yet noticed that Rep. Noem's reported net worth has gone from a negative number to seven digits in two years.
she's certainly better of than she was four years ago....
And she is even better off when her new-found wealth is compared to that of those who voted for her.