- Unprecedented heavy-handed tactics used by Republican Speaker of the Iowa House to advance a gas tax increases opposed by the grassroots and Republican platforms
- Methodology now eclipses any merits and bill should be opposed on that basis alone
About an hour ago we received an important alert from Iowans for Tax Relief (ITR). The content is set forth below in its entirety in order to engender political discussion. ITR explains developments in the Iowa legislature yesterday and today that whether you support, or oppose as we do, a gas tax increase, indicate an astounding display of willfulness by Speaker Kraig Paulsen.
You can further the ITR alert by transmitting this link to their website to your contacts. Easy to use contact information for Iowa state legislators is provided in the ITR links and, as always, are available through links on our page bar above.
In addition to the information below, just two days ago ITR posted this informative article Six Essential Steps Before We Consider Raising the Gas Tax . Our comments on the Speaker’s actions follow the ITR alert.
As distributed by ITR — February 20, 2015
Special interests demanding higher Iowa gas taxes used shocking tactics this week to get the 10 cents gas tax increase moved to the floors of the Iowa House and Senate
Senate Majority Leader Gronstal had said he would not allow floor debate unless a majority of both parties in both Houses support a gas tax increase. However, yesterday he allowed the Senate Ways and Means Committee to pass the gas tax increase by 8-6 vote, with YES votes from 7 Democrats and only one Republican — hardly a majority of both parties. Four Republicans and two Democrats voted NO.
House action was even more strange and scary. Yesterday morning Speaker Paulsen suddenly removed two Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee who were against a gas tax increase and replaced them with two YES votes. Speaker Paulsen, himself, replaced one of the removed members. The two votes Speaker Paulsen switched allowed the bill to pass out of committee on a slim 13-12 vote. Six Republicans and six Democrats voted No.
The Speaker probably has the power to change committee members. But yesterday that power was wrongly used to force a bill out of committee by removing committee members who were NO votes and replacing them with YES votes. We cannot recall a time when a committee member was removed on the day of a vote and replaced by the Speaker. Some Legislators believe these day-of-vote removals were an abuse of power and make all Legislators more vulnerable to pressure and threats.
As members of Iowans for Tax Relief, we often ask you to contact your Legislators to help us protect taxpayers. If Legislative leaders can change committee members at any time, they take your voice away.
How can we prevent this abuse of power in the future? How can you show Legislators you are unhappy with these heavy-handed tactics? Tell them: Defeat the gas tax increase. Vote it down, decisively. That will send a strong message and show that our Legislators are determined to protect their independence.
You need to contact your State Senator and Representative quickly to stop the 10-cents gas tax increase. Legislative leaders plan to fast-track this bill for approval this Tuesday, February 24. Calls and e-mails must be done before then, if you want to affect the outcome of this 45% increase in the gas tax.
Contact info
Senate Switchboard – 515-281-3371
House Switchboard – 515-281-3221
Lookup your Legislator’s Email Address – Here
Talk directly with your Legislator by attending a weekly forum:
Republican Legislator Forums – House Senate
Democratic Legislator Forums – House Senate
Copyright © 2015 Iowans for Tax Relief, All rights reserved.
Regardless of the Democrat enthusiasm for such a tax increasing bill, the heavy-handed tactics Speaker Paulsen has used to further something opposed in principle by Republican grass roots is hurtful to Republican interests and Republican legislators claims to oppose gas tax increases. Unless they repudiate Paulsen, they look like charlatans. Paulsen has also substantially damaged the credence to complain about Senate Majority Leader Gronstal’s heavy-handed tactics. Now, “they all do it.”
On one level some might applaud decisiveness, we see so little of it in Republican leadership. But decisiveness is not supposed to be to further something contra to Republican platforms (tax increases) and as ITR points out, a regressive tax to boot. The usual Republican leadership’s combination of somnolence and catatonic fear suffices to move tax and spend agendas forward.
Paulsen’s defenders suggest that his tactics were merely an effort to get a measure to the floor to be voted on – so people can know where their legislators stand. Riiiight. Of course if that is the case then Paulsen has no logical resistance to advancing all bills out of committee. Why is this measure so critical when the very reasonable measures called for by ITR have not been vetted?
If the measure is sufficiently popular on the floor of the House, as should be required of any tax increase measure, ( a super majority in support, which is also a Republican platform principle), then parliamentary procedures could be engaged to bring such a measure to the floor.
Paulsen’s actions look even more egregious because he is also corporate counsel for CRST a Cedar Rapids based trucking firm that is part of trucking consortiums supporting the gas tax increases. For them the law of concentrated gain and diffuse pain pertains. As ITR’ s memo points out, special interests are driving this legislation at the expense of the poor, and middle classes.
Tax increases call for procedural committee processes and the tax payer protections of super majority support. Paulsen has damaged the party and called into question its principles.
R Mall
They better hurry up and ram this through because you can literally watch the gas prices go up. Time to primary and get rid of all these Benedict Arnold Republicans.