Highlights from the Nellie Tayloe Ross Banquet
-
Mar 6, 2006 Posted by Bill Luckett
Just a quick note to say that our Nellie Tayloe Ross Banquet on Saturday at the Hitching Post was fabulous.
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack gave a wonderful keynote address, talking mainly about the importance of community. "The current policies of our national government are undermining our sense of community," Vilsack said. He pointed out how our nation is at war, yet we aren't making any sacrifices. In fact, the richest people in our country are paying less in taxes now than they were before 9/11. "Americans know this is not right," Vilsack said. Our nation needs leadership with integrity. We should be the safest place on earth. We need a healthy, self-reliant economy, and we should feel no fear of sharing, to increase our sense of community. Those were among Gov. Vilsack's comments. His speech got rave reviews from many of the people who heard it.
His biggest line of applause came when he said Congress should not take another pay raise until our representatives there balance the budget. It's strange how the Republican Party has always billed itself as the party of fiscal responsibility, yet President Bush and the Republican Congress have taken us to record deficits, and this only a few years after Bill Clinton balanced the budget. My guess is that it won't be long before people start to realize that the Democratic Party is now the party of fiscal responsibility, while the Republican Party becomes exposed as the party that gives politically popular but fiscally irresponsible tax cuts - which benefit mainly the richest of our citizens - and otherwise ignores its duty to prudently manage our public finances.
Gov. Freudenthal pointed out that Democrats in Wyoming don't get elected without Republican support, and he encouraged Democratic candidates to talk to voters about our values, and specifically how we care about people. We have had a pretty good legislative session - so far - and that's because members of our party have worked with members of the majority party to make good things happen in this state. We need to continue to work across party lines to improve the lives of Wyoming's people, and when we do that, good things will happen.
Several other people spoke at the dinner, and among their comments, one stood out to me. Rep. Marty Martin, D-Rock Springs, the House minority caucus chairman, was one of many speakers who made the point that, "It doesn't matter who gets the credit." The bottom line is that we are working to make Wyoming people's lives better. As long as we can make that happen, it doesn't matter who gets to claim victory for it. At the end of the day, our legislators and our governor are working to improve our lives, and no matter how that happens, the main thing is that it does happen.
One last note: Rep. Ann Robinson, D-Casper, was universally lauded for her tireless work on getting the food sales tax removed. This is not yet on our law books, but it looks like it has a good chance of making it, and no matter who says what, this has been Rep. Robinson's baby for a very long time. Yes, Gov. Freudenthal has helped, and yes, may Republican legislators have helped, but everyone knows who led the good fight against all odds, and pretty much everyone who spoke Saturday throughout the day - at the dinner and during the central committee meeting earlier Saturday - tipped their hat to Ann Robinson for her stellar work to keep the food tax issue alive, and, hopefully, onto our law books come July 1.