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10/21/2010
My tax dollars are paying for that roof
Jeremy Shown wrote my piece for me today – about the latest ridiculous distraction to the Ribble-Kagen race. (Well, Jeremy didn’t write it for me on purpose as he does a few times each month – this piece is directly from his blog, “Rhymes with Clowns.”) You wouldn’t know it by all the garbage and outright lies being tossed out there by the Dems, but serious issues face this country. Reid Ribble is a man of character and principle, a fiscal and social conservative, running this race so his grandsons – and my grandsons and yours – will have a chance at a bright future in America. Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
The latest dust-up in the race for Wisconsin's 8th Congressional District revolves around the fact that Reid Ribble's family roofing business performed work for the Kaukauna school district that was paid for by money from the stimulus package. Apparently, Steve Kagen and the Democratic campaign machine see this as a problem since candidate Ribble has been critical of the stimulus.
The reporting on the issue has revolved around time-lines and whether the figures for the amount received are accurate. If you want to read the details for yourself, check out Politicfact Wisconsin, but this misses the point.
If you are a businessman in the business of providing roofing services to institutions like school districts and your local school district needs a roof, wouldn't it make sense for you to put in a bid on that work regardless of how the school district pays for it? Personally, I think the school taxes where I live are too high but if I was in the roofing business, and my school district needed a roof, I wouldn't refuse to bid just because they are using my tax dollars to pay for the roof.
Once Steve Kagen voted for the stimulus and it became law, who would be served by a qualified local contracting firm not bidding on work funded by the stimulus? Not the people of WI-8, not the citizens of Kaukauna, and certainly not the employees of the Ribble family roofing business.
If you think taxes are too high or the stimulus was a bad idea what do you think the best way to respond is? By having your company avoid doing work it is qualified for or by getting involved in the political process to affect change where it really matters? In this case Reid Ribble chose the latter, and he didn't just write a check, make some phone calls, or write a blog post. He got involved in the biggest way possible, as a candidate. And if you don't think that represents a major commitment, just turn on the television for five minutes and count the attack ads.
This entire issue is a ridiculous distraction from the fact that our current congressman, Steve Kagen, voted for the stimulus bill and it hasn't produced the results promised. The future is uncertain and solutions from Kagen and the Democrats in Washington are in short supply. What's going on at Ribble Roofing won't impact the lives of most voters in WI-8, but the makeup of the next Congress will.
Jeremy Shown blogs at Rhymes with Clown and frequently hits on politics and economics in Wisconsin and the U.S.
COMMENTS
Same thing I posted at Jeremy's site.
Spin, spin, spin.
Honesty is always the best policy. Most people learn as kids that using a lie to cover your mistakes always blows up in your face. Reid should have just maned up and explained that he is in the roofing buissness and a roof needed to be repaired. It's buissness.
Then again...it would have made him look like a hypocrite for saying no jobs had been produced by stimulus when he got one. It's funny though...the person who claims the stimulus did not produce any jobs got one....how do you think all those folks who got laid off because he stimulus didn't do anything for them feel knowing the Ribble Group pocketed a $133,000 check??
In my view...better a hypocrite than a liar.
Leaders lead by example. Leaders possess the core values of integrity, honesty and moral courage. I won't lower my standards for anyone....Let the bashing of Dale begin.
Dale (Thu Oct 21 07:49:41 2010)
Dale: BASH!
That's all.
Andrew Ellis (Thu Oct 21 08:12:29 2010)
Well, I did read the Politifact report cited. And, despite Ribble's statement to the contrary he did control the company and lobby for the company to obtain the roofing contract in question which was awarded while Ribble was still in control. The only part of Kagen's ad that is in question is the actual amount of the award. It was less than the $300,000 claimed. The overall fact is however that the bailouts and stimulus kept this economy from disintegrating. We can see the results today as growth has slowed as stimulus related jobs have been completed. If we do not get more stimulus we will spiral down. Money is being hoarded today or used to pay down debt, neither of which puts money in the hands of those who will spend it. Ribble did take advantage of stimulus funding and is denying it because he wants to get elected.Should he have gotten the job? Sure, but he should be smart enough or honest enough to know that the job wouldn't have existed if it weren't for the stimulus.
dave allen (Thu Oct 21 08:13:05 2010)
Nice try Jo kinda like putting lipstick on a pig. Quote George W. Bush.
billie (Thu Oct 21 08:16:05 2010)
Billie...awesome, can I borrow that?
Dale (Thu Oct 21 08:25:12 2010)
Dale has it right: "Spin, Spin, Spin."
As the Kagen campaign gets closer to losing, the straws get closer to grabbing. In the last 10 days of the sinking of SS Kagen watch for even more bizzare and nauseating advertising.
Give some thought to this - Should Ribble have asked before bidding if the job was paid for with government money? The answer would have been yes, whether paid for out of stimulus funding or not! Perhaps he should be asking people with whom he contracts if they are Democrats!
In hindsight the only way Ribble could have avoided being the target of this senseless and asinine ad is to be senseless and asinine himself.
Dale had it right - he should have just said, "Hey, I put on roofs. I don't do background checks on my customers. I'll leave the anal exams up to my opponent, Dr. Kagen."
Duke (Thu Oct 21 08:37:36 2010)
You know pigeon holing these people into a republican or democratic birdhouse is really what is wrong here. To think that because a person is a democrat they are bad or good and the other way around is the problem. It makes everyone take sides and assume who everyone is and what they stand for, when in fact they are probably very different than all assume. These ads are I bet not even close to what the people running for office want but it has become our culture. If you visit the state capitol and tour the gathereing area for the dems and rep. you understand how divided they are. They come out of seperate chambers sit on opposite sides of the room and return to their private chambers after sessions. They should have assigned seating like in grade school and be forced to return to each others chambers not scheme on their own in their own worlds. It has become a rediculous display of how to not play in the sandbox, and it continues to get worse as we believe we are right and everyone else who does not believe like us is wrong. Force them to work together, force them to come up with solutions together and let the accountability lie on the body at large and not try to blame sides which is as we can see now a no win for anybody. Continue down the path of he said she said and nothing will get accomplished for the good of everybody, but alot of money will be spent to our detriment. I am now leaning towards whoever is in is out come election time. Doesn't matter to me which SIDE they are on.
Mike (Thu Oct 21 08:58:38 2010)
Mike, you are spot on. But look at what the "people" expect. We don't want "career politicians" "we want you here in the district instead of in Washington". In the days before jet travel it was darn hard for a politician to get back to the district/state. They had to get along with each other and much of what they did was out of sight. They became friends with each other and were able to respect each other enough to compromise. We have only ourselves to blame, our addiction to 24/7"news" and TV ads forces our elected officials to react to us instead of representing us. The current crop of new entrants, particularly the Teapartiers will accelerate the spiral down.
dave allen (Thu Oct 21 11:25:46 2010)
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