LovelandPolitics.com Blog

Memory can fade at 75 years of age but we don’t believe Councilman Daryle Klassen’s recent assault on city taxpayers in contradiction to his campaign rhetoric was due to any memory loss.

Four of the five agenda items he submitted for the city council’s annual retreat (scheduled for Jan. 15 & 16) involve either raising taxes on Loveland residents or muzzling their voices. Read the story

His first goal for 2010, taxing internet purchases on residents in Loveland also received support from newly elected Councilman Hugh McKean at first who has already earned the reputation of appearing to enjoy the sound of his own voice. Unable to make a coherent statement either for or against the proposal but unwilling to be silent, McKean announced he was in favor but also half against the internet sales tax idea during a December council meeting.

Only Councilman Kent Solt stated he was not in favor of the new tax proposal during the meeting.

Klassen’s agenda items eerily reflects the McWhinneycrat agenda for a stripmall developing retailer driven Loveland government and mimick the anti-resident rhetoric emanating from Loveland’s coin operated Chamber of Commerce. This is the same Chamber of Commerce that claims to be privately funded while operating out of a building erected from taxpayer subsidies and whose manicured lawns are maintained by Loveland taxpayers under the farce the chamber grounds are a “public park.”

Here are four of Klassen’s five contributions for Loveland in 2010;

1. Create a sales tax on internet purchases by any resident of Loveland
2. Restrict public comments at study sessions while allowing only special interests to speak
3. Shift property tax burdens from commercial to residential property owners
4. Direct staff to ignore “complainers” when they feel the issue was already decided (does that need council direction?)

Klassen, a self-described “conservative Republican,” has not proposed any budget cuts, tax cuts for residents, relaxing any regulation on business or greater access or transparency for citizens to the governmental process. In a nutshell, Klassen’s retreat agenda is the antithesis of everything he campaigned on and demonstrates a genuine mistrust not for government but instead his constituents.

Klassen’s December 12, 2009 email to his colleagues is the “let them eat cake” revelation of just how out of touch some local Republicans can become after being elected.

We believe the current McWhinneycrat candidate for Ward 1, Donna Rice (aka Donna McCrea), represents the same dishonest bait and switch back room political tactics of riding on a Republican label while only representing a narrow special interest. These insincere candidates terribly degrade the public’s trust in their elected officials and contribute to the apathy that allows them to get away with such brazen acts of voter betrayal.

What is your opinion?