Like a bad penny (well, half penny), it keeps turning up…

Tomorrow the Madison County Commission may revote on the proposed half cent sales tax increase.

The Huntsville Times is uses it’s full force to encourage passage of the tax increase.  The headline on the front page of the Sunday Times read, “What can half a cent do?”  I take umbrage with the intent of the headline and its supporting content, which sought to only show what the increased revenue could do for the schools.  As a counter argument one might ask, “What can a half cent do in the pocket of the person who earned it?”  The Times completely ignores the deleterious effect of the removal of that money from the budgets of cash strapped citizens.  (Note: their accompanying story did not appear on AL.com)  Their editorial board backed the tax hike in a piece written by John Ehringer.  Although we ultimately draw different conclusions, Ehringer at least uses a reasoned approach in his work - as he typically does.

According to the article by Challen Stephens, the three Republicans on the Commission (Faye Dyer, Mo Brooks, and Dale Strong) all intend to vote against the tax increase.  Three of the four Democrats (Roger Jones, Bob Harrison, and Mike Gillespie) intend to vote for the increase.  Gillespie only votes in the event of a tie.  The fourth Democrat, Jerry Craig, is leaning toward voting no, but is undecided.

Craig, who is my Commissioner, was quoted as saying, “Calls won’t make any difference.  I’m going to do what I think is best.”  He also said that he didn’t care for the many signs people have been displaying in their yards that say “No new tax, or no new term.”

I’ve been a vocal opponent of this tax increase since it was first proposed and I have called Craig’s office numerous times.  He told me before the first vote that he intended to vote for the increase, but that he would change his vote if he felt that any of the boards of education in Madison County were caving in to political pressure.  Despite disagreeing with him I respected his candor on the matter.  That first vote failed 4-2 with Jones and Craig voting yes.

Afterward the Madison County School Board, which has never been accused of steady, rational decision making, changed the location of a proposed high school.  The newly proposed location just happened to be favorable to Strong.  I called Craig to talk about the situation and he pledged that he was going to change his vote as a result.  Strong at first leaned toward changing his vote, but has since decided against that.  I don’t think he wanted to be the odd man out at the next GOP gathering.

Later, the Huntsville School Board started changing their long term plans in order to give Harrison just what he wanted: an International Baccalaureate school in his district.  Huntsville School Board member Jennie Robinson called Harrison’s tactics extortion - a term commonly used when describing the mafia.  I called Craig’s office again and he reiterated that he would vote against the tax increase if came up for a vote again.

Tomorrow we may get to find out if Craig will keep his word.  I’ll abide by politicians who disagree with me as long as they have the courage of their convictions to at least admit their position.  I’ll try to convince you that I’m right and I may ultimately vote against you, but I will at least respect you and treat you with due respect.  However, I abhor being lied to.

I’m sure the Madison County School Board is furiously trying to put together a (legal) bribe package for Craig in order to entice him.  I can only hope that he adheres to the ideals he preached about earlier.  Does he truly dislike commissioners exerting control over the boards of education, or does he just dislike it when others are pulling the strings?

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This entry was posted by Brian on Sunday, June 10th, 2007 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Madison County, News & Opinion, Taxes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.