Emmer Caught Crunching Numbers on Laptop

From the Strib:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer has tried to beat back criticism for not releasing a full budget plan by attacking his rivals for not running their budget numbers through the Minnesota Department of Revenue the way he did.

The problem is, Revenue Department officials said they never officially reviewed the plan.

At a Monday news conference where he released $626 million in proposed business tax cuts and incentives, Emmer told reporters, "I went to the Department of Revenue and I said, 'Please run these numbers and tell me what they are going to be.'"

At a debate Tuesday, he stepped up the pressure on rivals to do the same: "Will you guys agree -- just commit today -- that you'll take your plan, just like we took ours, take it to the people that have the computer-modeling capabilities and show everybody?"

But Emmer's proposal never got vetted by number-crunching computers, according to the Revenue Department.

My comment:

Emmer is simply a buffoon and this is becoming more and more obvious.

There is no excuse for him not having put a serious proposal on the table by now so that all can make a judgment about whether his proposed cuts - what are they? - will solve our problems. This is unconscionable.

He has also played fast and loose with the truth, his claim of having had his budget vetted by the Minnesota Department of Revenue being just the latest example. He has weaseled on many other important issues.

Maybe the GOP should get another candidate or we should all start thinking about whether the Dayton or the Horner option is better.

Emmer is dangerous and an obvious loser. We can't afford to take another chance after the TeaPaw fiasco.