To the editor:
Tom Tiffany, reputed “rising star” Republican, supports cutting DNR scientists because their work brings questionable “value to the taxpayer.” Look who’s got a new talking point.
Tiffany championed a law giving G-TAC an extraordinarily sweet deal to avoid MFL property taxes. That was a value — for G-TAC, which saved hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Tom enthusiastically supports WEDA, a failed agency that can’t keep a CEO and “lost” $55 million. That was a value. We could have funded a dozen DNR scientists for a hundred years for that boondoggle.
Selling state buildings on no-bid contracts is sure to be a value for fat-cat donors counting on a big return on investment for last year’s election cycle. And TT’s opposition to taking half a billion Medicaid dollars so the working poor can have health care? Don’t get me started.
Paying tens of millions of dollars for voucher schools where test scores are lower than public schools? Now, there’s a value: for the owners and administrators who live high off the hog on your hard-earned tax dollars while the kids languish.
Turning our vaunted UW System into a glorified technical school, albeit one with world-class sports teams, why that’s the best value of all, especially for politicians who can’t abide an educated citizenry seeking truth, committed to higher ideals, or challenging their highly questionable behavior.
Please pardon the parody: scientists? We don’t need no odiferous scientists! Maybe what we don’t need are odiferous politicians like Tom Tiffany.
Kathleen Marsh,
Townsend
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