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MURPHY HINTS THAT PEOPLE WILL DIE IF WE DON’T RAISE THE GAS TAX
By Michael B. Brodkorb | February 19, 2008
"Minnesotans would pay more for gasoline with the DFL bill, [State Senator Steve] Murphy said, but they will see transportation improvements.
'They're definitely going to notice a difference because their roads are going to get fixed,' said. 'That's the bottom line here, fixing roads and lowering the (vehicle crash) fatality rate.'" Source: Bemidji Pioneer, February 19, 2008
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Topics: Steve Murphy | 25 Comments »
25 Responses to “MURPHY HINTS THAT PEOPLE WILL DIE IF WE DON’T RAISE THE GAS TAX”
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February 19th, 2008 at 11:19 am
He’s shameless. For a guy who has been around as long as him, you’d think he could maybe take some blame for not getting a deal done.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:24 am
This guy is a joke. I’m surpised he hasn’t claime the sun won’t rise or the winter won’t end unless we get a hike in the gas tax either.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Once again we have our local DFL telling us how we need to fix roads and bridges, yet take a close look at the bill and you will find most of the money will never end up in roads or bridges.
The DFL plays this game very well as they did with the transportation amendment. Told everyone how the money would be deadicated to transit and roads, only they made sure not to mention hwo the formula was no more than 60% to roads and bridges and no LESS than 40% to mass transit. Which of course was worded very carefully that way so in the future they can spend 99% on transit and 1% on roads and bridges.
Blame every single transit death on our local DFL!! Whether it is someone killed by a damn train or someone getting killed in traffic, the DFL has done this to us all.
For what it is worth, I came up with a transit idea that actually could work!
Yesterday was such a nice driving day with all the government and school workers no on the roads. 
I say we force EVERY state and federal employee to ride transit and transit only!! If they live within the 94 / 494 / 694 belt, they already have bus lines and the trains to ride. if they live outside that belt, then they must drive to a transit station outside of the loop and ride a bus in. if we forced every single state and federal employee to do this we would eliminate a lot of our traffic issues we have now. I do not care if they have to walk 20 blocks to their offies, since it is SO important that we have all these transit projects, the least we can do is force the government workers to use it. On their own dime as well!! They will save plenty on gas and the fact we already susidise much of the ride anyhow.
This could really work.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:44 am
He’s right we have rural highways that are terrible in this state and have seen very high fatality rates. The longer we go without funding to fix those roads the more people that will die.
I don’t think the families of those who were killed would find this to be shameless or a joke.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:47 am
That’s great Kahuna, I would love it if the Governor and Molnau had to ride the bus each day and find out how shitty how transit system is.
Maybe then the Governor would realize we have to invest some real money to fix things instead of taxing our toddlers to fund today’s roads.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I agree with Jeff. I dont see the problem with his statments.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Kahuna, you seem to know quite a bit about the current transportation bill, so please tell us exactly how much money goes to transit, roads and bridges, etc in the bill? What percentage of the bill goes strictly to transit?
February 19th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Mark since you already believe the transit system is shitty why the hell do you want to give the DFL more money to spend on something they have screwed up to the point of being shitty? My God, do you people ever think before you complain?
February 19th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Does this guy ever shut up?
My God…what a putz.
February 19th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
If you watched the hearings in the Senate Finance Committee hearing, you would have noticed that Senator Murphy was just the figurehead. Senator Scott Dibble, apparently, was the one who put the bill together but had Murphy carry it. When the question period came up, Scott Dibble had to come to the testifier’s table and help Senator Murphy with a lot of the questions and some questions neither could answer or would not answer. There are some bad parts to this bill – joint powers agreement and the non-voter referendum allowed tax increases – excluding transit, there is a lot of dictated powers that should be the DOT responsibility, not the appointed Metro Council responsibility. While the gas tax maybe the better part of the bill, the rest is just bad, bad, bad.
February 19th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
“My God, do you people ever think before you complain?”
Pete get your head out of your ass, the Met Council runs the transit system and they are all appointed by Pawlenty. So actually according to you they are the ones wasting your money.
February 19th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
So then your saying you want them to get more money?
February 19th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
You want to give them more money and you say I have my head up my ass? lol
February 19th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Fear-mongering….taken right out of the GOP playbook. It’s worked for the Bush administration, it might work for Murphy if he can tie it into the war on terror.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Jeff, I do know about this bill and the sham that it is.
I know, how about YOU tell us how much your friends at the DFL will spend to fix roads and bridges.
After all, you and your liberal friends are crying about falling bridges and the need for more roads. 
What we also know from past history is they cannot do so without adding shitloads of transit pork, that is the legacy of the DFL here with roads and bridges.
Mark, I agree all our politicians and government workers SHOULD be forced into transit options. Then they would come to find how mass transit does not work for most in day to day life. I promise you if all lawmakers HAD to rely on transit only, they would quickly change that law so they could be void from that rule. Transit does not work if you have kids and a life outside of the transit routes. In fact, take away the union donation puching for transit projects and the companies who build the systems and not sure the local DFL would be able to afford much.
Transit does not work beyond the inner city and we should have stayed with bus lines, never the over the top expense that is light rail.
In Maple Grove we have had to suspend all bus lines after 6 pm due to the amount of hoodlems we were getting from the inner city.
Cannot tell you how much joy the bus lines have brought cities like Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, Eden Prairie and many other cities the bus lines have now reached out to. 
February 19th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
From time to time Tom drives from Delano to Wayzata and takes the bus to the capitol. He loves it. And there’s always room on his bus. What’s your point about legislators or people with kids using transit?
I think you should be able to have as much transit as you want, as long of course as it is completely self-funding.
Does transit operate in the red or the black?
February 19th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
drew:
I think the point was since yesterday was a government holiday where government offices were closed traffic was dramatically better because government workers weren’t on the road. The person was suggesting they ride mass transit every day to work to keep the roads uncongested every day.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
February 19th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Bingo.
Only of course if our government employee;s were FORCED to use the transit, you would find a law passed very quickly and quietly that would void them from such a rule.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Save lives, until the new cafe standards kick in and we’re all driving 65 in go-carts wrapped in tin foil.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:52 am
If I remember correctly, the legislature was going on Monday, so apparently all government employees did not get the day off.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:12 am
So Kahuna again, please tell me what the division is between transit and roads and bridges in the bill? Talk is cheap buddy and if you say this bill is mostly transit, please break it down and show all of us, because that’s not what I see when I look at it.
As for Petey, the reason our transit system does not compare to other metro regions of our size is our lack of investment. Years back bus rates were raised and routes were cut and then the Met Council was surprised that less people rode the bus… Since then gas has shot through the roof and people are now riding transit at a much higher rate.
Many, many more people would use transit, if it was available in their area and convenient. If your commute takes you 30 minutes in your car, but 2 hours on the bus, then of course most people (unless they can’t afford a car) are going to drive. If you expand number of routes and buses and overall LRT, those times will drop and it will be much more attractive to people.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Mark, I believe you are a lair sir.
Show me the money for roads and bridges asswipe. 
And then show me the percentage of the gax tax that enbds up in the metro area versus what the rural areas get. 
We recive approximately 25% of those funds in the metro area even though most of the money is generated here in the metro.
You are very obvious about your love of transit. You seem to think someone else however should foot the actual price of transit.
Gee, if you offer me a free ride to and from work, I guess I may have to look at it too. Only that is not the actual cost of the ride. If the transit system cannot support itself, then the market is telling you that is not what people want.
You have to fund part of the cost through tax dollars or you would get no one to ride the damn busses or trains. So your answer is MORE money, what a surprise!!
My guess is you are of the ilk that believe we spend enough on tranist and let the roads fall apart then more people will want transit. 
Which is of course what you and your kind are all about.
Mark, since you are such a pro-transit guy, show me the numbers of traffic reduction from the trains and busses.
What we see are lanes of traffic full, while busses and trains run half empty.
Meanwhile you are fine with bridges falling down, fine with major traffic issues since we have not build new roads like we should, and just fine with the HUGE waste of money in our mass transit system that is a total failure! Only a few bus lines could actually support themselves.
The mass transit boondogle is a joke here. It has not helped with any of our traffic issues. All it has become is a political football for the left to use and buy transit union votes.
Let me guess Mark, bus or train driver?
My guess is you make your living off taxpayers in one way or another. You do realize if you do, you add nothing to the states bottom line. Meaning you may pay income taxes but that was already tax money from someone else’s paycheck. How does it feel to be such a free loader? 
February 20th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Mark, Getting a little testy aren’t you? Petey? Do you always get this way when you are losing an arguement? The reason they raised fairs and reduced service was because nobody was wanting to ride the bus. It is very simple, people don’t like to have to rely on a system that can be dangerous to ride on. They will drive because it is safer.
February 20th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Some people drive just because they WANT to or LIKE to.
You could tell me the bus will pick me up when I am ready and drive me straight to my destination without stops and I would still reject it! I do not care to sit with anyone in the morning as I like some private time away from kids and other distractions.
I also do not care much for sharing a ride home with any hoodlems deciding they want to go for a ride out to the suburbs and see what kind of trouble they can find.
The people I do know who ride the bus to work absolutly HATE it! However parking and traffic to downtown are so bad that they have little choice.
that is exactly what the DFL here wants for the rest of us. They figure if they let a few bridges fall down, never build any roads, pass fuel grade laws to ensure gas pricices are sky high, and then add additional taxes to those we already have to try and force the rest of us into their mass transit ideas. Fucking commies.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Mark please see Michaels latest on this. Completely spell out who get what for money that you felt you needed. As I said it would show very little going to roads and bridges and most of it for mass transit projects.
Sometimes I feel bad about being right all the time.