The Denver Post has some harsh words for the DNC following reports Democrats weren’t paying the gas tax.
So, let’s get this straight: While the rest of us poor schlubs have been grimacing as we put $4 a gallon gas into our cars, local organizers of the Democratic National Convention have been pumping tax-free gas into theirs? That’s just wrong. The local committee hosting the DNC ought to pay the same state and federal taxes – which amount to 40 cents a gallon – that the rest of us pay. The disclosure came at a regular Denver City Council meeting Tuesday, and by the end of the day it seemed that everyone involved was quickly backpedaling and promising that local organizers indeed would be paying taxes on gas. Good. But the larger issue, of course, is whether and how taxpayers might find themselves subsidizing the DNC. … We’re also bothered by the fact this deal is based on a $466,125 contract that has yet to be inked. That’s bad business practice. The city needs to get the contract signed before letting people take the goods – in this case, filling up at city pumps.
The local paper also took the Democrats to task for the most shameless spin yet of the election. Democratic Convention organizers actually claimed it needs tax free gas from the state’s reserves for security reasons.
As for the gas situation, we’ve heard it was an effort to give local DNC organizers a secure place to fill up, a concern should they have dignitaries in the car. That sounds like a stretch. If you’re ferrying some Democratic hotshot from the airport to a hotel, wouldn’t you fill up first? It doesn’t seem plausible that you’d take such a guest by the city yards to tank up. A host committee spokesman told the Rocky Mountain News that they used city pumps because it’s safer and the gas isn’t “tainted.” A puzzling explanation indeed.
