 | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
« Kurita Responds on Kelo Questions | Main | Cornwall: Kelo "a sad day for economic freedom." » June 27, 2005Harold Ford Jr. Calls Kelo Decision "A Positive"Harold Ford Jr., a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Tennessee, has endorsed the Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. New London, allowing local governments to seize provate property and give it to another private owner for purposes of econonmic development and to increase the government's tax revenue. Blogging for Bryant has Ford's quote: "I've always believed individual rights are a big thing..... but, I find value in the court's decision. As long as people are compensated fairly, I can appreciate the decision. Certain areas in our state are crying for development, if this decision helps - it's a positive."Ford, it should be noted, consistently gets very low marks from the League of Private Property Voters. If you care about private property rights, you should not vote for Harold Ford Jr. Ford, by the way, has so far not answered the six questions I posed to all six candidates - both Republicans and Democrats - running for their party's nomination to succeed Sen. Bill Frist in the U.S. Senate from Tennessee. Those questions were posted on this blog last Thursday also emailed to the candidates. Responses have come in from Republicans Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary and Democrat Rosalind Kurita. It's worth noting that Kurita, Ford's rival for the Democratic nomination, has taken a position on Kelo that is much more friendly to private property rights than has Ford. Besides Ford, Republicans Bob Corker and Beth Harwell have not yet responded. MEMO TO THE MEDIA: As a former journalist I know that one thing political reporters look for in covering a campaign is points of difference between the candidates. Well, now you have one - and on a very hot issue. Harold Ford Jr. thinks government ought to be allowed to take property away from poor people and give it to rich people who can redevelop it and pay more taxes. Repubicans Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary and Ford's fellow Democrat, Rosalind Kurita, disagree with him. UPDATE: Here are two audio clips from the show, in Mp3 format. The first clip, which lasts about one minute, features Ford's initial response to Teddy Bart's first question about his view on the Kelo decision. The second clip, which lasts 3:21, features comments from Bart, comments from Democratic strategist Bill Fletcher talking about how the Kelo decision could become "a huge issue" (and a good issue for libertarians and conservatives), followed by more comments from Ford explaining why Kelo is a good thing. Ford's comments show that he really doesn't understand Kelo. Before the Kelo ruling, governments already had the right to use their power of eminent domain to condemn blighted property for redevelopment, and even to involve private-sector companies in that redevelopment, so long as the new development served a public use, generally accepted to be a road, school or public facility of some kind. What Kelo did was to pave the way for govermnent to take private property and give it to someone else solely on the basis that the new owner might redevelop it into something that would generate more tax revenue. Because nearly any property can theoretically be redeveloped into a more valuable property, thus generating more property tax revenue, what Harold Ford Jr. has called a "positive" Supreme Court decision in essence means that the government of Memphis could condemn any privately-owned piece of real estate in the city of Memphis - from blighted inner-city crack houses to the Peabody Hotel - and give it to another owner who would redevelop it into something that would generate more taxes. In practice, Kelo means any local government can now take property from the less well-to-do and give it to the more well-to-do solely to increase the government's tax revenue. Harold Ford Jr., then, favors the gross enlargement of government power to force you to sell your property to it for what the government - not you - deem to be proper compensation, even if you don't want to sell at any price - so that government may give your property to someone else. Here are the audio clips: Clip 1 | Clip 2 Comments
When I heard HFJ's comments on Teddy's show this morning I thought to myself that this is not the kind of thing somebody should be saying if he wants to appeal to people in areas outside of the state's biggest city--an area he already has wrapped up. Bill Fletcher even said as much when he gently reminded the young Congressman that the people of Grundy County see this issue differently. Nope, this sounded like a man running for reelection in Memphis instead of a statewide office. Posted by: Bob K at June 27, 2005 12:46 PMIf Kelo wasn't such a tragedy, there would be plenty of hilarious satire that could be made by "quoting" how various pols and SIG's view it as positive. Examples: - "The Communist Party USA views the Supreme Court's Kelo decision as 'positive,' said a spokesperson today. 'It's just one more step toward the worker's paradise,' said the spokesworker, who had only a number, not a name." - "Americans United Against Religion views the Supreme Court's Kelo decision as 'positive,' said a spokesperson today. 'It's about time the government has gotten the ability to rid communities of this blight,' said spokesman Frederick Nietzsche, referring to Christian churches. 'We can buy them out, burn them down, and turn them into employment training centers." The mind reels at the possibilities... Steve Bill, the City of Memphis is going to use Kelo to take City-maintained public property from the heirs of the men who founded the City to turn it into private skyscrapers! Read here, here and here. Also here. Posted by: mike hollihan at June 27, 2005 9:50 PMI think it's time to call them what they are, especially since Dean ran away from it, Socialist. No more democrats. Posted by: Sandy P at June 27, 2005 11:04 PMHarold Ford Jr., also says he "supports the Second Amendment" but every vote he has made was for more gun control. In a meeting here in Knoxville about 5 years ago, Ford told a group of 2A supporters he would join the NRA. We gave him an application right on the spot I don't think he has joined yet. Like Hillary Clinton, Ford can charm you right out of your shorts, but he couches all his comments in such a way that it is hard to find the truth. I noticed he has a really slick ad on TV at the moment but he is one person we don't need representing Tennesseans in the Senate. Bad enough in the House. Posted by: Bill Noll at June 28, 2005 12:25 AMProblem is, "Comunist Party China" is kicking our economic behinds and gobbling up our national debt because when they set economic policy, they don't have to worry about compensating property owners, let alone eminent domain rights. But hey, the right to sell your house for 1/2 value in a few years is a right worth preserving! Posted by: Jake Hewitt at June 28, 2005 6:28 AMBill..I'm not sure if it was intentional, but in the first clip, it isn't clear if he's talking about Kelo as the question was cut off in the first clip. Also, Ford mentions "blight" several times in his response which leads me to believe that he may be speaking of those specific instances which a prior SCOTUS ruling said was o.k. Kelo said that taking for the sake of additional tax revenue was o.k. For the record, I'm against both kinds. Posted by: Manish at July 26, 2005 9:34 PMManish, Ford's focus on "blight" makes it clear that he supports government property-taking of blighted properties, which was already OKAY before Kelo. Then he calls Kelo a "positive" ruling. What Kelo adds to the scene is that govt can now take property that is NOT blighted, soley to increase tax revenue (or whatever reason the local legislative body deems is a "public purpose," which could be ANYTHING AT ALL. And Ford said THAT was a positive thing. Posted by: Bill Hobbs at July 26, 2005 9:54 PMSomething from West Tennessee. The biggest problem with Ford is that he is controlled by his Father who is successfully trying to spread his family into all levels of government, Memphis City Council, Shelby County Commission, The lobbying fees of Ford, Sr. are horrendous and more pressure is put on clients than Jesse Jackson ever thought of. And the Ford family that has been in office and are promoted for office are of a caliber that the people of Tennessee should be ashamed of. Found a great WWW site at: http://lexus130.tripod.com/fordnomore.html Posted by: Jim Bean at July 13, 2006 6:59 PMPost a comment
Comments Policy: Your comment is subject to deletion if it is off-topic or includes foul language or personal attack. Readers, please email me if you find comments that include egregious violations of this policy. Comments may not post immediately - do not post twice!
|
|||||||||||
