Michele Bachmann – From Offshore Oil Rigs To Commuters Riding The Rails To Urban Tenements To Glorious Fiscal Stimulation.

On August 1, 2008, then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi adjourned the body without having scheduled a vote on offshore oil drilling, thereby infuriating Republican oil slick fans. To protest, some of the more disgruntled staged a “rant-in,” remaining on the House floor long after adjournment. At one point, they raged on after the lights and the microphones were, as a mild hint, turned off.

Minnesota Congress-dweller Michele Bachmann – presently a GOP presidential without-hopeful – who would gleefully drill for oil in Disneyland, spoke about the controversy with OneNewsNow.com. There, Mrs. Bachmann stressed the high price of gasoline that, she believed, resulted from our hesitance to drill, drill, drill anywhere but her own backyard. Apparently having passed Glenn Beck University’s “Manic Argumentation Seminar,” she launched this string of complicated logic at House Democrats:

“This is their agenda, I know it is hard to believe, it’s hard to fathom — but this [blocking a vote on offshore drilling] is ‘mission accomplished’ for them. They want Americans to take transit and move to the inner cities. They want Americans to move to the urban core, live in tenements, [and] take light rail to their government jobs. That’s their vision for America.” Interview with OneNewsNow, August 6, 2008, also reported at Dump Michele Bachmann. [Ed., emphasis added]

Hers was a well-honed argument, a series of logical inescapables. There we went, from those unrealized offshore drilling contraptions to trudging from tenement basements to dingy trains to spend our days in government offices mishandling official documents and probably munching raw onions. Damn you, Pelosi!  Mrs. B, though, saw those train noses under the tent flaps.

Perhaps her anti-commuter rail stance reassures her 700,000+ hardy Minnesota constituents in congressional district six. According to the Census Bureau, they occupy a bit more than three thousand predominantly non-citified square miles in east central Minnesota, not far north northwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul. Yet, population-wise, around 65% of her constituents occupy the 243 square miles of lyrically named cities like St. Cloud, Big Lake, Elk River, and Anoka, the birthplace of Garrison Keillor, and Mrs. B herself (April 6, 1956). The 6th district’s other 35% live in semi-rural splendor on some 2,400 square miles in smallish townships, for example, Clear Lake, Rush City, and Eden Valley, surely a name to cause Bachmann to smile.

Nonetheless, despite her objections to what she believes is the Democrats’ “vision” of demeaning urbanization by commuter rail, her district is already among the more urban of Minnesota’s eight congressional districts. The 6th CD, in fact, forms the suburban “cap” to the populous Twin Cities districts just to the south. Her district is geographically a woodsy and sublime area with a handful of moderately-sized cities where the majority of 6th district folks live and work. They also venture into the Twin Cities to work and take in a Twins or Vikings game. In short, commuter rail is not a surprising need, yet Mrs. B is on record as having uncovered the Democrats conspiracy – remember, tenements, government jobs, raw onions, and Democratic party perfidy.

Yet, demographics scream. Throughout Minnesota the population continues to grow, primarily in its urban centers. In Mrs. B’s own district, for example, Sherburne County’s population, since 1990, has more than doubled, to 88,000, and St. Cloud has expanded 35% to 65,000. Projections for population growth of the Interstate 94 corridor from Minneapolis northwest to St. Cloud are stunning: expectations run to one million new residents by 2035. With her commitment to keeping the lid on Democratic-inspired urbanization, these levels of urban growth must give Mrs. Bachmann chills.

And this we know of Mrs. Bachmann:

The Northstar Line map, extension to St. Cloud, 27 miles NW, on indefinite hold.

Past As NOlogue. The Congresswoman, now in her third term, on commuter rail issues has been true to her rural principles. During her days in the Minnesota state Senate (2001-2006), she opposed green-lighting the Northstar Commuter Rail Line (NCRL), proposed in 1997 to provide service between Minneapolis and points northwest 70 miles, all the way to St. Cloud. In Minnesota, Bachmann’s Northstar opposition is legendary. She fought appropriations for it repeatedly during her years in the state Senate.

The Northstar Line, however, was finally approved and funded by 2006. With federal funds included, Northstar service began in November 2009, but reached only as far as Big Lake, 27 miles short of St. Cloud, Northstar’s initially planned terminus. In 2009, then in her second House term, Mrs. Bachmann refused to submit earmarks to the 2009 transportation reauthorization bill to extend the line from Big Lake to St. Cloud, and not because she, like all other Tea Partiers, opposed all earmarks. In fact, Mrs. B is well known to support earmarks for transportation/infrastructure projects. In fact, in the 2009 transportation authorization, she did earmark five road and bridge projects for CD 6. As much as she opposes commuter rail, you see, she supports highway construction. Go figure.

All Aboard to St. Cloud!!!

In any event, the next year, in November 2010, the proposed Northstar extension from Big Lake to St. Cloud was put on indefinite hold. Despite the success of the existing Northstar service from Minneapolis to Big Lake, The Northstar Corridor Development Authority Executive Committee (NCDA)explained that

“the worst recession in 70 years, high unemployment rates, shifts in traffic volumes, and gasoline and parking price fluctuations have hampered commuter rail ridership growth on the project’s first phase.”

Bachmann’s resistance to earmarking the extension in the 2009 transportation bill –  unmentioned in NCDA’s announcement for obvious reasons – influenced the Northstar extension shelving. And each of the factors cited by NCDA affected highways – Mrs. B’s preferred “transit system” – as well. Strangely enough Mrs. B, though opposed to rail, supported ancient, impractical, and discredited “people pods,” aka Personal Rapid Transit. Go figure, again. Apparently, an immense distaste for commuter rail and its direct relationship to tenements and government jobs sometimes leads one into odd contradictions.

Year Of  The TIGER.  The year Mrs. B opposed earmarking the Northstar Line extension, the The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) arrived on the scene after a very difficult birth. Mrs. Bachmann was, in true Tea Party spirit, virulently opposed it. ARRA, however, became law in February 2009.

It included nearly $50 billion in transportation stimulus, most notably the TIGER program, as described by DOT:

The TIGER Discretionary Grant Program (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery): was included in the Recovery Act to spur a national competition for innovative, multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional transportation projects that promise significant economic and environmental benefits to an entire metropolitan area, a region or the nation. Projects funded with the $1.5 billion allocated in the Recovery Act include improvements to roads, bridges, rail, ports, transit and intermodal facilities.

Of course, as mentioned, Mrs. B entirely disapproved of any stimulus programs whatever. Recall, she voted “nay” on ARRA, and just about anything with the Democratic party stamp on it. It’s her principles, don’t you know.

As a Tea Party favorite, Bachmann embraces principle like I embrace a gin and tonic on a sultry day. Principles, and the sticking to them, is the Tea Party litmus test, particularly as applied to public spending. So we can understand Bachmann’s legitimate rage over ARRA, and any other stimulus plan. Her position on light rail/commuter rail is also a matter of deeply held agrarian principles: see her quote above about the Democratic party’s “vision” of urban-dwelling-light-railing-sweaty-government-dupes.

You can be federally stimulated and still love Jesus.

O.K., I’m Stimulated. So What? So, naturally, being a registered Tea Party leader – she founded the Congressional Tea Party Caucus – and proudly wearing the anti-stimulus principle like a flag, the Congresslady

promptly submitted multiple entreaties for stimulus money for the 6th district, including DOT-TIGER stimulus money.

Recall that ARRA was signed into law on February 17, 2009, over her impassioned nay vote. On May 4th, 2009, Bachmann told a Minneapolis crowd,

“During the last 100 days we have seen an orgy. It would make any local smorgasbord embarrassed.”

They Made Me Do It. She continued, at every turn, to deride ARRA. Then, in a quiet orgy of her own, Mrs. B stripped off those principles so recently and proudly worn. Suddenly she was wickedly aroused by those nefarious stimulators applied by USDA and DOT. Their giant, dangling grant programs caught her eye and won her heart. So, on September 15, 2009 alone, she sent six requests for TIGER funds to DOT Secretary LaHood, a man known around the executive branch for his large stimulators, in this case, multiple billions of dollars in TIGER grants available under ARRA.

But, let’s give her a break here. Stimulus funds were available. Yes, she spoke and voted against them. True, she believes to this day that fiscal stimulus programs neither help the overall economy, nor do they create jobs. For the moment, let’s assume all her beliefs to be true. The damn money was just sitting there, it was available!

And there are exceptions to acting in concert with one’s principles, even those anti-stimulus principles as deeply held as Mrs. B’s. For example, would a Christian Scientist refuse life-saving medication? Well, yes. Would a Quaker risk jail to protest her conscription into the army? Again, yes. But would a district attorney misrepresent or manufacture evidence before a grand jury to indict an innocent man just to improve his reputation? Well, yes, but lawyers will do anything. All of this is beside the point anyway. Bachmann’s love affair with bawdy stimulus funds protruding from Uncle Sam’s pocket is about politics. We’re talking political convictions, political principles. So let’s just forget I brought it up.

Answering charges of hypocrisy from her critics on all sides in October 2010, Mrs. B explained away her apparently unprincipled seeking of ARRA grants for the 6th district:

“It is my obligation as a member of Congress to ensure stimulus dollars are spent on the most worthy projects. . . I did just that when I supported applications for the TIGER grant program.”

“I voted against the stimulus and I was very public against the stimulus. After the stimulus was passed and the money was there, why should my constituents or anyone else be disadvantaged?”

Indeed.

Worthy Is A Movable Feast. And if Mrs. B sold out at all, at least she did so only for “the most worthy projects.” Didn’t she?

Below is an example of what Mrs. B considered among the “most worthy projects” in her district. Check out her letter to DOT Secretary Ray LaHood requesting grant funds for a certain Northstar Commuter Rail Line.

And here’s the official summary of  The Northstar Phase II Project – Extension of Northstar Commuter Rail to the St. Cloud Area.:

To construct Northstar Phase II, a 30 mile extension of Northstar commuter rail from the current terminus in Big Lake to the St. Cloud area with an intermediate station in Becker, MN. The Northstar Project will provide a safe and efficient transportation option, promote job creation and retention, improve mobility in the corridor, reduce reliance on foreign oil and connect St. Cloud and Minneapolis.

“Irony is just honesty with the volume cranked up.” George Saunders. You’ll recall that the “Northstar Phase II Project” is the very same extension to St. Cloud that Mrs. B so vehemently opposed, on principle, as a wasteful and impractical substitute for her more preferred highway projects and people pods. In fact, you’ll remember, as a state senator Mrs. B also opposed the original Northstar Line in its entirety, based on the same principles. Here’s how she felt then, as a state senator nearly a decade ago:

“[Mrs. B] believes a successful transportation policy must put an end to the diversion of scarce funds to impractical and expensive rail transit programs [ Ed., i.e. the proposed Northstar Commuter Line] that will have no direct benefit for area residents and will cost millions of dollars in the future for operating subsidies. She has called for dedicating 100 percent of the sales tax on vehicles to road construction.” [Ed., italics added]

She won a partial victory. Her intransigence was among the major reasons the line was originally (1) delayed and (2) shortened to Big Lake, rather than reaching to St. Cloud, 27 miles to the northwest. Ironically, with her 2009 letter, above, to LaHood, there she was – the decade long 24/7 opponent of the Northstar Line – suddenly doing a 180 degree turn.

Another irony: in the letter, she’s now cheerleading the extension of Northstar to St. Cloud, the extension whose very necessity was caused in large part by her opposition to the original 1997 proposal to run the line to St. Cloud. And in yet another irony, the delay she and others caused to the funding of the original Northstar Line, in effect, increased the cost of the project, and thus necessitated the shortening of the line to its present terminus in Big Lake! Yes, you’re correct – thus requiring the extension she now favors. . . Full circle.

In any event, there is yet another of Mrs. B’s deeply held anti-commuter rail “principles” rather casually, and tellingly, jettisoned. For a decade she called Northstar Commuter Line proposals of any kind wasteful, unreliable, impractical, and ineffective. The extension to St. Cloud, to her, was laughable. Now, she’s swallowed her principles, first, on the value of stimulus money:

Here’s a portion of the official summary of the Northstar II project submitted to TIGER. “The Northstar Project will provide a safe and efficient transportation option, promote job creation and retention, improve mobility in the corridor, reduce reliance on foreign oil and connect St. Cloud and Minneapolis.”

But who cares? She stuck to her principles.

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