Bring out the pitchforks

On Tom Hauser's At Issue program yesterday, Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat made a statement that had me laughing out loud. In a discussion about the possibility of a referendum on the stadium tax, Opat was asked something like "Don't you think it's likely that the voters wouldn't approve this tax if they had the opportunity to vote on it?" Opat replied, "They probably wouldn't approve our level of social spending either if we took it to a referendum." (Note to Mike: There's a nugget of common-sense wisdom here that perhaps is escaping your deep intellectual thinking) He went on to talk about their responsibility to the public interest.

Let me get this straight: You're acting in our interest, yet you're afraid to formally ask us what we think. This is just code for "I know better than you what's good for you", and yet another reason why we need to throw this bum out.