What does the BIAW get for their political investment?
BIAW clearly wants and is getting several things by investing $10 million a year of tax payer money in political campaigns. The most important thing they are getting is the ability to keep their political slush fund going. Less than 20% of all Retro subsidies get kick backed into political campaigns. The rest (many hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars) goes right into the pockets of the con artists running the scam. Yet despite the fact that there is no public benefit to this billion dollar give away, Retro Reform bills have been blocked many times while Retro expansion bills have been allowed to pass.
A likely reason the BIAW invested so much in the 2008 Governor’s race was so that if a Reform bill did manage to pass out of the legislature, they would own the Governor who could veto the bill. And a likely reason they have invested millions getting their own lawyers put on our Supreme Court was so that if the legislature passed a bill and the governor signed it, they could get the Supreme Court to declare the retro reform to be “Unconstitutional.”
A second goal of the BIAW has always been blocking any kind of growth management or environmental protection measure. They are the ultimate example of a lack of social responsibility towards or children, our economy and/or towards future generations.
A third goal has been to block any kind of financial responsibility for negligent building practices. Most States have some kind of Home Owners Warranty to protect home buyers against faulty construction. In our State, thousands of home buyers have lost their life savings after purchasing a new home with serious structural flaws. The fact that we do not have a Homeowners Warranty law is evidence of the power of the BIAW.
But the fact that Retro Reform has not yet passed is greater evidence of the level of power BIAW exerts over our State legislature. What BIAW wants, BIAW gets.
A fourth goal is blocking tax reform. It is no coincidence that we have near the lowest school funding in the nation and also the lowest tax rates for millionaires. Instead, we can thank the BIAW for representing the interests of millionaires very well.
A final goal is expanding tax breaks for millionaires and major corporations. As we noted earlier, in 2000, tax breaks for millionaires totaled $20 billion dollars a year. Currently, in 2009, they total $50 billion dollars a year. That is a $30 billion per year return on investment of only $10 million dollars a year.
In other words, for every dollar BIAW invests in our State legislature, they and their fellow millionaires get back $3,000 just in tax exemptions. It is no wonder that State legislative races have turned into bidding wars with the BIAW usually submitting the highest bid.
