"We Democrats authorized all kinds of new taxes"

In a political blunder for the ages Democrat State Senator Jim Holperin had a bout of honesty during a couple of email exchanges. Quite unfortunately for tax and spend Democrats like Phil Garthwaite, these emails just fell into the hands of the state media.

According to this Lakeland Times article, a constituent wrote the Democrat in support of increasing the beer tax, something Rep. Garthwaite has long supported. The Democrat Senator responded with the following:

"We Democrats authorized all kinds of new taxes in the recently adopted state budget (cigarette taxes, capital gains taxes, solid waste fees, cell phone tax, boat registration fee, etc. etc.) and took a lot of heat for that," Holperin wrote. "Nobody is eager to be voting for 'another' tax increase ... especially on beer! We're a brewery state, for crumb sakes (which maybe also explains our alcohol culture...)!"

Maybe a liquor tax instead, he contemplated in a message extending over two emails (he had accidentally sent the first in mid-sentence and launched the second email to complete the thought).

"However, the Senate may be in the mood to consider an increase in the liquor ... increase in the liquor tax but even that will be tough sell. I think the choices right now are, ignore the costs, pass the bill and worry about the inconsistency of that later. Or, pass the bill and increase the liquor tax by 50 cents."

In another email, Sen. Holperin described the Democrats' tax and fee increases in a more colorful way, "You know the Governor's got enough little tax and fee hikes in that budget of his to sink a good sized battleship."

Look for these words to becoming to a Republican campaign piece near you soon.

To read others' thoughts on this issue, see this release from Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, or this statement from the Republican Party of Wisconsin.