In 2000, many Democrats said that Ralph Nader took votes from Al Gore in Florida making it easier for George W. Bush to become president.
In 2010, Tony Sutton, chair of the Republican Party in Minnesota, said that Tom Horner, Independence Party candidate took votes from Tom Emmer, allowing Mark Dayton to become governor of Minnesota.
Maybe both complaints are misdirected.
In either case, have they considered that many of the people who voted for the "minor" candidate might not have even voted if they hadn't had a third choice?
In the 2010 Minnesota governor case, has anyone considered that Mark Dayton might have "taken votes" from Tom Horner? Maybe many voters would have voted for Tom Horner, but they didn't want to "throw their votes away" and allow Tom Emmer to become governor. So, maybe they voted for Mark Dayton because they thought he was a better choice than Tom Emmer.
Unless we interview in depth every single voter, we'll never really know their motivations. It really is presumptuous to assume to know the intent of unknown voters.
Showing posts with label Tom Emmer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Emmer. Show all posts
Friday, December 10, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Vote for Dayton, Emmer, Horner, or nobody; but VOTE!
I left the following comment on a Star Tribune editorial, "This November, the choice is not either/or".
Whatever you do in November, vote one of four ways according to what you believe, not what the polls say. Remember 1998 when the poll rankings were Humphrey, Coleman, and Ventura. The election rankings were Ventura, Coleman, and Humphrey.
Four ways, what fourth way? The fourth way is to not be a stay-away. If you don't like any of the three candidates, vote anyway with a blank ballot. If you leave a blank ballot for governor your vote is counted. If you stay away, your vote is not counted.
If everybody who stayed away in 1980 and many other elections had cast a blank ballot, the winner would have come in second to none-of-the-above. There would not be any trumpeting about a landslide with less than 30 percent of the eligible voters casting a vote for the "winner". When this happens, we are all losers.
Whatever you do in November, vote one of four ways according to what you believe, not what the polls say. Remember 1998 when the poll rankings were Humphrey, Coleman, and Ventura. The election rankings were Ventura, Coleman, and Humphrey.
Four ways, what fourth way? The fourth way is to not be a stay-away. If you don't like any of the three candidates, vote anyway with a blank ballot. If you leave a blank ballot for governor your vote is counted. If you stay away, your vote is not counted.
If everybody who stayed away in 1980 and many other elections had cast a blank ballot, the winner would have come in second to none-of-the-above. There would not be any trumpeting about a landslide with less than 30 percent of the eligible voters casting a vote for the "winner". When this happens, we are all losers.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
A tip for Tom Emmer on wait staff pay
Tom Emmer, Republican candidate for Minnesota Governor, wants the minimum wage lowered for service workers who get lots of tips. See "Emmer: Lower wages for tipped workers", Jackie Crosby, Star Tribune, 2010-07-06. He says that the extra wages are taking money from customers. Is he also calling for CEOs with large bonuses to get a lower base pay? After all, these CEOs are also taking money from customers.
His arguments are also weak on other points.
He uses as an example the Eagle Street Grill in downtown St. Paul where "three servers take home over $100,000 a year, including tips."
Do each of the servers take home $100,000 a year or do three servers take home $100,000 a year among them. In the latter case, $33,000 may be a good income for many servers, but many others would like to get that much. If a server receives lots of tips, doesn't that mean they are providing good service to their customers. If they are providing good service to their customers, aren't many of these repeat customers and probably even buying a lot of food and drink. If the customers are buying a lot, the restaurant owners should be very happy to have highly-paid servers.
How many times have you gone into a restaurant where the server has not asked if you want drinks before dinner, has not asked if you want wine with dinner, and has given you a bill without even asking if you want coffee or dessert? Even if the answer will be no, a good server always asks these questions. The server who does will generate more revenue for the restaurant and will get a bigger tip. Oh, but that is taking money from the customers.
If you want to see more realistic figures, see "Tom Emmer goes after food server wages", Rachel Hutton, City Pages, 2010-07-06. She blows lots of the "facts" that Emmer states out of the water. An even better analysis is "Servers, wait staff unlikely to make $100,000", Annie Baxter, Minnesota Public Radio, 2010-07-06, 2010-07-06.
I could go on and on picking apart the arguments of the likes of Tom Emmer, but I'll end with just two.
One was mentioned in Baxter's argument comparing wait staff during slow times to that of sales persons. Many sales persons still get a base pay for getting out there and trying. Do CEOs get a lower base salary when sales are low?
Remember Circuit City. It laid off its highest paid sales staff and went downhill from there. It was the highest paid sales staff that people went to for answers. If they got good answers, they bought. The lower paid staff didn't always have the answers and so fewer people bought stuff from Circuit City. The high-paid servers are generating a lot of sales for their restaurants. Don't knock them!
Other references:
"Circuit City cost cutting madness", Andrew Weir
"How the Mighty Fall", Jim Collins. It is ironic that he mentioned Circuit City in his previous book, "Good to Great". Is there a lesson for Minnesota here?
His arguments are also weak on other points.
He uses as an example the Eagle Street Grill in downtown St. Paul where "three servers take home over $100,000 a year, including tips."
Do each of the servers take home $100,000 a year or do three servers take home $100,000 a year among them. In the latter case, $33,000 may be a good income for many servers, but many others would like to get that much. If a server receives lots of tips, doesn't that mean they are providing good service to their customers. If they are providing good service to their customers, aren't many of these repeat customers and probably even buying a lot of food and drink. If the customers are buying a lot, the restaurant owners should be very happy to have highly-paid servers.
How many times have you gone into a restaurant where the server has not asked if you want drinks before dinner, has not asked if you want wine with dinner, and has given you a bill without even asking if you want coffee or dessert? Even if the answer will be no, a good server always asks these questions. The server who does will generate more revenue for the restaurant and will get a bigger tip. Oh, but that is taking money from the customers.
If you want to see more realistic figures, see "Tom Emmer goes after food server wages", Rachel Hutton, City Pages, 2010-07-06. She blows lots of the "facts" that Emmer states out of the water. An even better analysis is "Servers, wait staff unlikely to make $100,000", Annie Baxter, Minnesota Public Radio, 2010-07-06, 2010-07-06.
I could go on and on picking apart the arguments of the likes of Tom Emmer, but I'll end with just two.
One was mentioned in Baxter's argument comparing wait staff during slow times to that of sales persons. Many sales persons still get a base pay for getting out there and trying. Do CEOs get a lower base salary when sales are low?
Remember Circuit City. It laid off its highest paid sales staff and went downhill from there. It was the highest paid sales staff that people went to for answers. If they got good answers, they bought. The lower paid staff didn't always have the answers and so fewer people bought stuff from Circuit City. The high-paid servers are generating a lot of sales for their restaurants. Don't knock them!
Other references:
"Circuit City cost cutting madness", Andrew Weir
"How the Mighty Fall", Jim Collins. It is ironic that he mentioned Circuit City in his previous book, "Good to Great". Is there a lesson for Minnesota here?
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