Long Island tax cut backfires on the Tea Party

[guruoo]

Special Report: A Long Island tax cut backfires on the Tea Party



By Edith Honan and Kristina Cooke

MINEOLA, New York | Thu Jan 27, 2011 12:52pm EST

MINEOLA, New York (Reuters) - At his January 2010 inauguration, Tea Party-backed Republican Edward Mangano marched up to the podium, pen in hand. Even before being officially declared Nassau County Executive, he signed a repeal of an unpopular home energy tax.

The move elicited chants of "Eddie, Eddie, Eddie" from supporters assembled in the auditorium of Mangano's alma mater, Bethpage High School, 30 miles east of New York City. "This is very cool and quite an honor," Mangano said as he gave his admirers a thumbs-up.

The fiscal consequences, however, were anything but cool. The repeal set Mangano on an immediate collision course with the state-appointed fiscal overseer, the Nassau County Interim Financial Authority, or NIFA. It culminated in NIFA seizing control of the wealthy New York county's finances on Wednesday.

...

Besides being a cautionary tale, the setback in Nassau County is a black eye for the Tea Party, the grassroots movement built around the core principles of constitutionally limited government, free-market ideology and low taxes. Indeed, a close examination reveals that the affluent area's woes were exacerbated by missteps and miscalculations. Among other things, a Reuters review of dozens of public and private documents showed vague, circular answers to oversight panel queries and basic math errors in budget documents.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70Q5NY20110127

[rfranklin]

1. "Cut taxes, not defense..." So stupid it's unbelievable...

Where's the pony?

[spanone]

6. i wonder how they propose to pay for their defense? it does hurt, the stupidity

[ananda]

2. Good. Nice to see real consequences of tea party nuttiness.

nt

[eleny]

3. Cut the taxes with no plan on how to fill the void - genius

:sarcasm:

But of course, it's all a political plot.
.............. ..............

[elleng]

4. So THAT's what happened!

'My' Nassau County, 'sold' for a bag of tea!

New York State Seizes Finances of Nassau County.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/nyregion/27nassau.html

[Bozita]

9. Have county services like snow removal been affected yet?

Those snowstorms this winter made me wonder,

[elleng]

10. No idea; haven't lived there since college,

in DC area now, where 'wealthy' Montgomery County in bad shape, electricity-wise, at the moment.

[annabanana]

14. No.. It's still about the same. . .n/t

[texshelters]

5. This

is what extremeist without sense or facts will get ya.

"Cut Taxes, not defense"

Reminds one of the "Keep the Government out of my Medicaid" signs.

Peace,
Tex Shelters

[chat_noir]

7. Sarah Palin to speak to Long Island Association next month

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will speak to the Long Island Association on February 17.

Palin has agreed to the high-profile speaking engagement to New York business leaders at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, the group has confirmed, reports the Politico.

Palin will do a one-hour onstage interview in front of a crowd of roughly 1,000 - a rare unscripted event for the former governor.

The LIA identifies itself as the "largest business organization in New York" on its website and has a history of landing big-name guests.

The LIA has not disclosed what it is paying Palin for the appearance, but her reported appearance fee stands at 100,000 dollars per event.

http://www.sify.com/news/sarah-palin-to-speak-to-long-island-association-next-month-news-international-lbwmkcedgjg.html


I'm sure she'll be able to explain it away.

[Wickerman]

8. There are bigger fish to fry in this article

but did Rueters mean that Mangano was elected in 2011 or 2010? Seems they should ahve written 2011. Ok, off to the next mind-numbing bit of trivia! :yoiks:

[elleng]

11. We do a lot of trivia here, but the previous Exec was repug anyhow.

They're so 'fiscal!'

:sarcasm:
:rofl:

[sabbat hunter]

12. actually

he was elected in 2009, sworn in Jan 2010.

[annabanana]

13. I am just SO proud of my County..

Go Nassau!
:mad:

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. LOL! We should be getting lots more stories like this.

Teabags are definitely stupid.

[charlie]

16. Hah

It wasn't just NIFA who saw problems. The steely, cold eyes of the FREE MARKET took a look at Mangano's budget and decided it was clownshoes.

For a tea partying Republicanoid, that's like being rebuked by Jesus. Ouch.

But NIFA were not the only one concerned with the 2011 budget. In November, Moody's Investors Service downgraded the county and put its finances on outlook negative, citing weak liquidity and an over-reliance on nonrecurring revenues. The rating agency singled out the energy tax repeal as problematic.

[katnapped]

17. Coming soon to a town/county near you.... n/t

[NYC Liberal]

18. "ZERO TAXES"??

How does that woman propose to pay for the public sidewalk she's sitting on?

The stupid...

[ProgressiveProfessor]

19. The reality is that the financial mess started well before the recent election

And it was not just the home energy tax