Great Idea by Gov. Blanco

Greetings Friends,

As you all know, I love taxes. When the Governor of New Jersey was in a standoff with the legislature over raising the sales tax there, I suggested that he wasn't asking for enough of an increase. Now, here in my home state, Gov. Kathleen Blanco has proposed to place a toll on Interstates in the Southern part of the state.

Now, anyone familiar with South Louisiana, in particular my current home of Baton Rouge, knows quite well that the interstate is really the lifeline of the area. The city is spread out across a large area, so getting from one place of interest to another can be impossible without use of these major roadways.

Governor Blanco however apparently is aiming too low. She was seeking a 1.00 toll on cars and 2.50 on trucks. And get this, you could pay only half of that if you paid ahead of time. What kind of quality tax is that? I'm ready to do my part, Governor, step up and call on the rest of the state to do theirs. I say we should all pay 5.00 for each ride on the interstate.

In honor of this great proposal, I stood today along I-10 with a collection basket asking drivers during rush-hour traffic to pay 1.00 to use our magnificent road system. I'm considering spreading this effort out to surface streets and shopping malls. If you want to use our public roadways, you should be prepared to pay. From the looks of drivers on the interstate, they loved my work today. I can't tell you the last time I had so many people wave to me. Some apparently even thought my idea was #1.

Now when I got home from my work today, I was shocked to see on the news that Governor Blanco had folded to pressure from Republican "Hurricane-victim-first" Senator David Vitter. Yesterday Vitter began crying that this plan would hurt those trying to evacuate during hurricanes, and that it would also hurt business and trucking interests. Boo hoo Senator Vitter, I think after 8/29 people should be willing to pay to get out of the path of the hurricane. As a matter of fact, I propose that we double the toll during hurricane evacuations. What an opportunity!

So Governor Blanco, man up and tell Senator Vitter that you don't care what he thinks. Help us all by charging us more to live. It's the least we can do for the service that you've provided this state.

-Franklin Willington