Dean Browning sent me this message last night: "I am proud to announce that I officially filed my nominating petitions today with almost 400 signatures to run for re-election as County Commissioner. I am humbled by the strong support I received from both members of the Lehigh County Republican Committee and Republicans at-large throughout the county who appreciate my fiscal conservative record of cutting spending, reducing the size of government and leading the fight against public employee union bosses before it became politically popular to do so."Somebody better check to see how many dogs signed.
15 comments:
Dean is a formidable candidate.
Wayne Woodman, Scott Ott and the Tea-Party have their work cut out for them. Dean will hope folks forget and Wayne will hope people remember what votes gave Lehigh County residents a 16% tax increase in the middle of a painful recession!
This heavy weight primary bout will be another Tyson vs. Holyfield event. I predict Browning wins by a TKO and Woodman loses an ear!
How can a Republican in the year of our Lord 2011 AD, have voted for a 16% tax increase and win in a primary?
Really???
There were 3 Commissioners who voted for a tax increase last year. Browning wasn't one of them. Check the record.
Anon 12:18 said:
"Dean will hope folks forget and Wayne will hope people remember what votes gave Lehigh County residents a 16% tax increase in the middle of a painful recession!"
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I'm not sure when the county real estate tax bills come out, but if it's before the primary that might make people investigate the votes that gave them the tax hike.
It might also make voters wonder about Dean's "fiscal conservative record of cutting spending" and "reducing the size of government".
Anonymous 6:54 said...
"There were 3 Commissioners who voted for a tax increase last year. Browning wasn't one of them. Check the record"
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Is this the game that Browning and his supporters will be playing?
Don't worry, I'm sure the case will be made as to who could have done something about the tax hike but chose to vote with the Democrats (keeping the 16% hike intact).
And if you believe all that, I have a bridge in NJ that I can sell you at a very good price!! LOL
Anon 7:27 said...
"And if you believe all that, I have a bridge in NJ that I can sell you at a very good price!! LOL"
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Anon -
Browning described the 16% tax hike as necessary and fiscally responsible. This blog and some of those commenting described his action as "a profile in courage".
Now it seems that some of Browning's supporters are going to try to claim that because Browning didn't vote for the tax hike, he had nothing to do with giving it to the taxpayers.
You can't have it both ways. People are sick of those types of games and it's the reason that so many people are disgusted with politicians.
If Browning is going to try to mislead the voters and have it both ways, he has become just another politician who needs to be shown the door.
Raising taxes is easy. That's why it's done all the time. Taxes routinely go up, up, up. It takes far more courage to balance a budget without raising taxes.
Here it is in a nutshell:
Dean "16%" Browning.
Period.
Goodbye.
Browning will be the top vote getter. Then the defeat of Woodman's girlfriend. Are they really married? Then Woodman is easily replaced as Lehigh County Chairman. Ott will be defeated and perhaps ScrappleFace nut will be gone forever! Ready to work for Browning!!!!!
Anon 12:59
There will be plenty of work in the campaign but none that will involve personal attacks on our County Chair or on any of the candidates. Wayne and Lisa are happily married and any insinuation otherwise is wrong. Personal issues are private concerns and will not be part of any campaign I conduct.
You owe them both an apology for your statement.
Dean Browning
"Taxes routinely go up, up, up."
Expenditure increases are largely driven by two root causes: inflation and program expansion (either new programs or increasing the scope of existing programs).
Revenue increases can come through three means:
1. Increasing the tax rate
2. Increasing the number of items subject to the tax (for the county, which relies on property taxes, this means new construction)3. Allowing inflation to be reflected in the value of the items subject to the tax
The third happens naturally with income and sales taxes (through inflationary increases in wages and prices of goods) but can only happen for property taxes if there is a regular program of reassessment that does not rebalance the tax rates. Normally, a reassessment is revenue neutral: the total property value goes up and the millage rate is adjusted downward to keep total revenues the same. (Of course, some individual property owners will pay more and some will pay less in any reassessment.)
As we've seen over the last decade or so, new construction brings higher costs: more roads to build, maintain, and plow; more wear and tear on roads and bridges; additional demand for county services, etc.
Even if the county can freeze its existing programs (no new programs and no expansion of existing programs), it will still need to find revenue increases to compensate for the effects of inflation. The only alternative is to cut programs. It's really easy to stand on the sidelines and shout slogans like, "The county should live within its means." It's much harder to find expenses that can be cut while preserving essential services. (We can and should debate which county services are essential, but please remember that every dollar spent has an advocate and most of us have limited visibility of the value and impact of each of those dollars.)
In my opinion, Dean Browning has done an excellent job of finding and cutting those expenses and avoiding costly new programs. I will gladly vote for him in the coming Primary elections.
Alan:
Please share with us the details of the excellent job Mr. Browning has done "finding and cutting expenses and avoiding costly new programs".
Anon 12:59, At the time you posted this remark, I was actually meeting Mr. Woodman for lunch. Despite my recent criticism, he was willing to sit down and talk to me, and actually explained a few things to me. I have also met Wayne's wife at two Comm'r meetings. Like Dean, I detest personal attacks, especially when they are anonymous.
Alan:
Let me try again.
Please share with us the details of the excellent job Mr. Browning has done "finding and cutting expenses and avoiding costly new programs".
The fact that you have no response says a lot!
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