November 13, 2006

Useful Idiots

The Monday edition of The Tennessean reports that the leftwingers still pushing for a state income tax in Tennessee are claiming last week's election results show that an income tax is not political suicide for legislators who back it:

Tennesseans For Fair Taxation released an analysis on Friday that showed 95.5 percent of incumbents who supported the 2002 proposal for an income tax coupled with a lower sales tax were re-elected on Tuesday.

Would it have killed Tennessean reporter Brad Schrade to do a little reporting and tell readers that most of 21 re-elected income tax-lovin' legislators represent very "safe" districts gerrymandered in favor of the Democrats.

Here is the list of legislators who voted for the income tax in 2002 and were reelected again last week:

Democrats
Rep. Harry Tindell, Knoxville; Rep. Joe Armstrong, Knoxville; Rep. Tommie Brown, Chattanooga; Rep. Charles Curtiss, Sparta; Rep. Stratton Bone, Lebanon; Rep. Rob Briley, Nashville; Rep. Randy Rinks, Savannah; Rep. Mark Maddox, Dresden; Rep. Johnny Shaw, Bolivar; House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, Covington; Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, Ripley; Rep. Joe Towns, Memphis; Rep. Larry Turner, Memphis; Rep. Barbara Cooper, Memphis; Rep. Larry Miller, Memphis; Rep. John DeBerry, Memphis; Rep. Lois DeBerry, Memphis; Rep. Henri Brooks, Memphis; Rep. Mike Kernell, Memphis; Rep. Ulysses Jones, Memphis

Republicans
Rep. Steve McDaniel, Parkers Crossroads

Right off the bat, I'm guessing most of the nine legislators from Memphis live in districts that lean so heavily Democratic that the Tennessee Republican Party never makes an serious effort to contest the seat. Any non-idiotic non-boneheaded analysis of the election results would consider them invalid for the statistical analysis.

Also, some of the 21 re-elected legislators who voted for the state income tax in 2002 have since renounced their vote or now claim to be against. In some less-safe districts their new-found opposition to the income tax - real or political pose - may be what's keeping them in office. A good example: state Rep. Randy Rinks, D-Savannah, who four years ago was helping House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh push the income tax proposal, but whose campaign website this year lists him as being opposed to the income tax.

Democrats, by the way, make up the enduring core of support for a state income tax in Tennessee, though in swing districts and hotly contested races they tend to strike an anti-income tax pose. Doing so didn't help the champion of the state income tax, state Sen. Bob Rochelle, the longtime Democrat senator who quit his re-election race in 2002 only to return this year to try to regain his old seat in the 17th district, a swing district that is winnable for Democrats. Rochelle got shellacked by anti-income tax incumbent Sen. Mae Beavers. The Beavers-Rochelle race was the only legislative race in the state this year that truly was a referendum on the income tax - and, in a swing district, the income tax lost.

Here's just how boneheaded and stupid is the election results "analysis" from Tennesseans for unFair Taxation: State Rep. Henri Brooks won re-election. A few years ago, Brooks made news for her refusal to stand and say the pledge of allegiance at the opening of each day's House session. Which means 100 percent of the anti-pledge of allegiance legislators won re-election last week. Does that mean being opposed to saying the pledge is popular with voters in Tennessee? Using TFT's "analysis" skills, the answer is yes - but you won't see anyone running on a pledge to oppose the pledge.

Memo to Tennesseans For A State Income Tax: An analysis of the winners of all 99 House races across the state shows that well more than half of them are on record as being opposed to the state income tax. It seems that, on average, that's the winning message in Tennessee. And your efforts to spin the election results based on boneheaded analysis and leaving out key facts, while highly reminiscent of your "analysis" on behalf of the income tax, won't fly.