Like the big government advocate GOP I also oppose Kitzhaber's attempt to raise taxes to pay for schools - but my reasons are different. Why didn't he, like the GOP, just present a budget which cut spending on "public safety" and prisons and raised money for education spending and then present us with taxes to actually pay for the GOP big government? The commitment to good public schools preceded the hysterical rush to imprison more lower income people, most of whom are criminals due to drug criminalization, high profits in drug trafficking, and police propensity to target low income [usually minority] people for enforcement. Instead of going after the kicker money, he should have gone after the federal mandated [by media designated "smaller government" advocates like the Smith brothers] drug confiscation proceeds - otherwise known as profit sharing with criminals and theft from honest low income people unable to afford attorneys for recovery. Other states have done this.
Oh, I forgot: the GOP [and "new" Democrats like Kitzhaber who signed the marijuana recriminalization measure passed in Salem] NEVER raise taxes to actually pay for their big government agendas. They just steal money from the more popular liberal spending programs like schools, parks, and roads. And the lapdog media just pretends that this not part of the problem posed by big government; after all, it doesn't affect their big advertisers - with police targetting poorer areas for enforcement.
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