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Rudy Takala's Columns

Charlie Rangel Sues John Boehner

Authored forPolicyMic.
 
On Monday afternoon, United
States Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) announced he was suing six members of the House for allegedly mishandling Ethics Committee proceedings that led to his censure. The decision means that more tax dollars will need to be spent on building and promoting Rangel’s legacy.
 
In December 2010, a Democratically-controlled House voted to censure Rep. Charles Rangel on 11 counts of financial wrongdoing. Among the charges were that he had concealed hundreds of thousands of dollars in income, filed misleading financial disclosure reports with the IRS, improperly

Republicans Bungle Gay Marriage

Authored for  RenewAmerica.
 
The Republican National Committee on Friday unanimously reaffirmed its support for traditional marriage. It seemed to contradict the party’s “Growth & Opportunity” report that just last month  declared, “We need to campaign among… gay Americans and demonstrate we care about them, too.” The party’s ongoing failure to adopt a consistent position has hurt it and the conservative movement at large.
 
Republican leaders seem panicked trying to figure out which position would be the most electorally feasible.

GOP's "Growth" Report Flawed

Authored for RenewAmerica.
 
The Republican Party’s recently-released “Growth & Opportunity” report seems to indicate that party leaders are having a hard time grasping their electoral failings, particularly among young and minority voters.The Growth & Opportunity Project was chaired by former Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer (52) and consisted of four additional long-time party members: Sally Bradshaw  (47),  Henry Barbour  (48),  Glenn McCall  (

Keystone XL: Parallels to the Alaska Pipeline

Co-authored for the  Heritage Foundation.
 
As the U.S. commemorates the 40th anniversary of passage of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline Authorization Act of 1973, it is worth remembering the challenges the project overcame and how they mirror the challenges facing the Keystone XL Pipeline today.
 
An 800-mile engineering marvel, the Alaska Pipeline was completed in two years and two months—but only after Congress acted to end interminable delays forced on the builders long after they completed the required environmental impact statements.

SKILLS Act Would Cut Duplication and Waste in Job Training Programs

Co-authored for the Heritage Foundation.
 
The federal government spends billions each year on job training programs. However, these programs are ineffective and waste billions on duplicative administrative expenses.
 
A 2011 Government Accountability Office (GAO)  investigation found:
 
For fiscal year 2009, we identified 47 employment and training programs administered across nine agencies. Together, these programs spent approximately $18 billion on employment and training services in fiscal year 2009.

Minimum Wage Benefits Suburban Teenagers, Not Single Parents

Co-authored for the Heritage Foundation.
 
President Obama argued in his State of the Union address that “no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty.” That is a noble goal, but it has little to do with the minimum wage rate.
 
Only 2.9 percent of U.S. employees work for the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Very few of those fit the stereotype the President painted. Less than a quarter of minimum wage workers live at or below the poverty line, while two-thirds come from families above 150 percent of the poverty line.

Hard to Justify Across-the-Board Federal Pay Raises

Co-authored for the Heritage Foundation.
 
The House just voted on a proposal to extend President Obama’s (misnamed) “federal pay freeze” for another year. While Congress has better ways of reducing excessive federal compensation, this approach beats handing out an across-the-board raise.
 
Americans should not have to take a vow of poverty to work in government, but neither should government workers be paid more than they’re worth. The federal government should pay its employees about what they would make in comparable private-sector jobs.

U.S. Beating China in Race for Clean Skies

Co-authored for the Heritage Foundation.
 
cloud of photochemical smog  from China drifted into Japan this week. The story highlights the fact that air pollution in China is getting worse—despite lamentations that the “world is passing us by” in clean energy.
 
That quote came from Steven Chu, President Obama’s then-Secretary of Energy, in 2009. Chu tendered his resignation last Friday in a letter suggesting that those who disagreed with him were living in the “Stone Age.”

Union Head Convicted, Showing Need for Union Transparency

Co-authored for the Heritage Foundation.
 
Last week, the government convicted Tyrone Freeman, president of SEIU Local 6434 in Los Angeles, of 14 counts of illegally diverting union dues into his own pockets.
 
His conviction illustrates the need for union financial transparency. However, the Obama Administration has steadily rolled back union transparency requirements.
 
Freeman’s former local was made up of homecare workers making an average of $9 per hour. From their dues, Freeman paid himself 

MN Republican Proposes State Tax Increase

State Sen. Carla Nelson (R-Rochester) recently proposed  two tobacco-related tax increases in the Minnesota Senate. One would increase the price of “little cigars.” Under her proposal, Nelson says that they would be taxed an additional $4 per pack, bringing their cost to around $6. The second proposal would increase the cost of cigarettes by $1.29 per pack.
 
The cigarette tax proposal is an annual one for Sen. Nelson. She pushed the same legislation during the 2012 legislative session, when Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate.
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