Beware Of Stuff On A Shingle Like S.O.S.

By KEITH BLACKLEDGE
October 12, 2006
Nebraska State Paper

[NOTE: Nebraska is fighting an initiative just like CI-97, with the same name and bankrolled by the same Howie Rich of New York City who is bankrolling "SOS" in Montana and elsewhere.]

Beward Of Stuff On a Shingle Like S.O.S.

Although we disagree on a lot of things, I was giving Mike Groene credit for a smart marketing idea in choosing a name for the “Stop Over Spending” petition campaign.

Then I found out the same clever name was being used for similar campaigns in other states, campaigns backed by the same people who pumped big money into the Nebraska petition drive.

S.O.S., some readers may remember, is the Morse Code distress signal. It was meant in this case to suggest there is an easy solution for citizen distress about government spending and taxes.

On the other hand, some of us who have eaten in military mess halls will remember S.O.S. also was shorthand for “Stuff on a Shingle.”

Stop Over Spending is “stuff.” It gives us Initiative 423 on the November ballot and it is a recipe that will prove even more disappointing than the despised mess-hall stuff on a shingle – mystery meat in greasy gravy over toast.

S.O.S. was the name supporters gave to a similar petition campaign in Montana. The Stop Over Spending initiative there was invalidated by a district court which concluded that signature-gathering activities were fraudulent. The decision is being appealed.

In Nebraska, the petitions have passed a legal challenge and 423 will be on the ballot. Almost all the money for the Nebraska campaign came from “America At Its Best,” headquartered in an attorney’s office in Kalispell, Montana. That organization is funded by “Americans for Limited Government,” which is headed by New York real estate magnate Howard “Howie” Rich.

If you have trouble following that, you are not alone. It’s confusing, and perhaps it is intended to be.

Groups associated with Rich have poured nearly $7 million dollars into initiatives in 12 states this year. We are one in that dozen.

There is nothing wrong with having money. There is nothing wrong with living in New York City. There is something wrong when what is billed as a local, grass-roots petition campaign is instead the creation of outside forces that will never have to live with the results.

Doesn’t being manipulated by strange groups with strange names backed by folks who try to remain in the background make you uneasy? It does me. I know the idea of limiting state government spending appeals to many folks. The catch is that the people who promote a “lid” as the solution will walk away after it’s done and leave the details to others.

Think of the general who orders an assault on a strongly-held enemy position, then retires to headquarters to plan grand strategy while a rookie second lieutenant is left to figure out how to organize the assault.

Nebraskans, not Howie Rich, will live with the consequences of Initiative 423. The details will be worked out by the same Legislature (with some new faces, of course) that put this year’s budget together, and the ones before that. The average taxpayer, who has plenty of other things on his or her mind, may not remember what happened in past periods of pinched state budgets.

Guess who gets hit first? The University of Nebraska will reduce spending for programs at its North Platte and Scottsbluff stations, as it did the last time state budgets were tight.

Some will vote for 423 because they think university presidents get paid too much. The pay scale for the top jobs won’t change, but the course offerings will shrink and tuition will rise.

Some people think 423 is a way to work off their irritation with the occasional weird things that take place in the Legislature. Wrong reason, wrong result. The faces may change, but the process stays the same. In legislatures everywhere, the process produces some good decisions, some bad ones.

Many taxpayers think a blow against one tax is a blow against all. Not so. The easiest way for state government to reduce state spending is to send less of its sales and income tax revenue to cities, counties and school districts. That means more pressure on property taxes. That doesn’t worry Howie Rich and his wealthy New York friends, but it will be a serious disappointment to many Nebraska home owners.

Whatever we put into the state constitution will be with us for a long time. The people who are promoting 423 won’t be around to work out the details, and won’t care. They will be off playing word games in other states and telling as little as they can about where the money comes from.

A little caution by voters on November 7 could save us from a steady diet of “stuff” that won’t taste nearly as good as the cooks try to make it sound.