No Money Down

Mark Neumann's latest scheme would allow homeowners to spend the money in their 2011 escrow accounts and then make 12 monthly property tax payments the following year. After 2012, homeowners could go back to escrowing their property taxes or continue making monthly payments to municipalities.

Neumann calls it the biggest one-year tax cut in state history, saving homeowners about $4,500 each. The truth is Neumann's plan wouldn't save homeowners a dime. It would simply put off the payments, spreading them out over 12 months. Arguably, it would cost tax payers more as local governments borrow money to cover the funds lost through Neumann's scheme.

Neumann also fails to address the fact that escrow checks are generally made payable to the municipality and the homeowner, making it impossible for the homeowner to just cash the check and use it to stimulate the economy.

But the biggest problem with Neumann's installment plan is that not everyone is responsible enough to set aside the monthly payment and make it themselves. That’s why most banks won't allow homeowners to opt out of escrowing until they have a certain amount of equity in their homes. This is one of the ways lenders manage their risk.

And what happens when homeowners realize that they can't afford to pay their property taxes and make their monthly mortgage payments? The same thing that happened when people were given government backed loans to purchase homes they could never afford on their own: the rest of us will have to pick up the tab.

Not surprisingly, Neumann was all in on that scheme too.

I get a headache just thinking about the added administrative burden on government to collect the monthly payments, and a migraine when I contemplate Neumann’s idea for a new state software program to automate payments.

Maybe Neumann should stop worrying about how the rest of us pay our taxes and focus on paying his own taxes in full and on time.

Barrett the Bi-Partisan?

It's funny how partisan liberals like Barack Obama and Tom Barrett only preach the need for bipartisanship during an election or when they think they're about to lose power. Both motivations seem to be driving Tom Barrett's plan to take control of redistricting away from the legislature and give it to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board whose members he would appoint if elected Governor.

Barrett has no history of bipartisanship. In fact in Congress, Barrett voted with Democrats 92% of the time and earned the label of hard core liberal for his far left positions on taxing, spending, and government run healthcare.

Nor has Barrett ever had an original idea. Barrett introduced his "bipartisan" plan for redistricting the day after several opinion pieces authored by liberals appeared in newspapers calling for the same.

Funny how that happens.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/98142649.html


http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/dave_zweifel/article_a3154061-ac2c-5742-94da-7342995815e5.html


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/08/AR2010070804270.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions

Neumann's Vanishing Credibility

Once regarded as one of the state’s leading conservatives, former Congressman Mark Neumann has diminished himself so completely that even conservative commentators who once encouraged his candidacy for statewide office no longer take anything he says at face value.

To his credit, I suppose, Neumann is unaffected by his critics, persevering through a humiliating defeat for the state Republican Party endorsement, to polls showing him consistently trailing his Republican rival Scott Walker by anywhere from 20-39 points. All of this despite spending seven figures of his own money on radio, TV, internet and direct mail advertising.

A possible explanation for Neumann’s consistently abysmal performance in the polls is the influence of conservative talk radio hosts like Charlie Sykes and Mark Belling. Sykes and Belling along Vicki McKenna, Jay Weber, Jerry Bader and Jeff Wagner have shown Neumann no mercy whenever he takes indefensible positions on issues or cheap shots at his opponent Scott Walker.

So it really comes as no surprise that the sleazy push polling firm Venture Data has been engaged on behalf of the Neumann campaign to determine exactly how much weight primary voters give to what these professional talkers say. Venture Data has strong ties to Neumann’s polling firm, Public Opinion Strategies (POS). In fact, POS helped found Venture Data and has sub-contracted push polling work to the firm in the past.

According to Wisconsin residents who received the polling calls last weekend, Venture Data refused to identify who was paying for the calls even though state law requires it.

Neumann’s campaign made similar push polling calls in April without identifying who was paying for the calls and dozens of complaints against Neumann’s campaign are pending with the Government Accountability Board as a result.

The Government Accountability Board should investigate both sets of phone calls and issue sanctions against the appropriate players right now or expect to be deluged with complaints of even more egregious campaign violations as we draw closer to the September primary and November general elections.

If the polling firms involved in the nefarious activity won’t divulge who’s paying their bills, the GAB should fine them until their eyes fall out.

As for Neumann, the only thing vanishing faster than his credibility is the cash he keeps pouring into his campaign.