When Money Flows Perception Is NOT Always Reality…
…Especially in politics.
This news item has been out there now for a couple weeks, but each time I see it the whole crux of it sort of rubs me the wrong way. Take a read:
MINNEAPOLIS – Sen. Amy Klobuchar says Minnesota is getting over $25 million in federal money for conservation projects and hunter education.
A statement from her office says Minnesota will receive $13.7 million for fish habitat restoration, $9.6 million for wildlife restoration and $2 million for hunter education. The funds are coming from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program.
Klobuchar says the money will help protect land, water, and wildlife habitats so the state can enjoy them for generations to come.
The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program works to conserve and manage fish and wildlife and their habitats.
The state is expected to use some of the funds for technical assistance, instructor training, curriculum development and other support for the Minnesota Hunter Recruitment and Retention Program.
Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune (Feb. 20. 2011)
In this carefully crafted news item from our wonderful DFL Senator Klobuchar, it makes things sound as though thanks to her relentless efforts the great sportsmen of Minnesota are getting all this money for programs near and dear to our hearts. Of course, she doesn’t come right out and take credit for it…but the perception in her announcement is she must have had something to do with getting this money earmarked back to her constituents. Agree?
Fact of the matter is you’re expecting me to say she had NOTHING to do with it. Well, that wouldn’t be quite right. You see, Klobuchar and her fellow Democrat counterpart, Senator Al Franken, both indirectly had lots to do with building up this special tax coffer.
Indeed, the money she is talking about is from the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration and Pittman-Robertson Acts and the news release Klobuchar’s office basically re-wrote was this one. All of the numbers are true…but they have been coming back to our state like this for well over a half Century.
What Klobuchar should have taken credit for in her press release is the fact that her political party has helped to build this specific tax coffer to unprecedented levels, and this during a time when our economy has been largely in crisis during recent years. How did they do it? Simple. The Democrats, led by the 2009 “Gun Salesman of the Year,” Obama, helped to spur vigorous sales in firearms out of fear they would press for more strict gun control actions during his Presidency.
Seriously, if Senator Klobuchar wanted to make this announcement why wasn’t she also forthright with her constituents by saying something to the effect—although this money has flowed back to the states from taxes paid on sporting goods for several decades, you can thank my DFL caucus and me for the increased amount generated due to the fact we “scare the shit out of most gun owners” in this country.
Had she made that very truthful public admission…she would have gained at least a modicum of my respect.
©2011 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.
