Tammy's views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy's neighbors, Earl Fisher, Betsy Johnson, Joe Corsiglia, Rita Bernhard, her grand kids, Tony Hyde, Pat Robertson, Debi Corsiglia's dog, or Claudia Eagle's Cats. This Tammy's Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she won't take crap off of anyone.

Here we go again, an elected official trying to make a personal gain from self introduced senate bills, State Senator Betsy Johnson has introduced several bills that would benefit herself and her husband John Helms who is listed as the owner of Trans Western Air. In 2005 Johnson introduced Senate Bill 680, which was supposed to encourage development around rural airports. Johnson did declare a conflict of interest on the floor right before the floor voted on the bill; but that did not disqualify the senator from voting. We all surmise her declaration was definitely a smoke screen to make it appear that the senator is being above board. Frankly in my opinion Senate Bill 680 was introduced by Johnson to further her pocketbook.

The next step Johnson made was to introduce another bill that would fund senate Bill 680. SB 807will once again be dropped into the legislative hopper If the bill makes it through the various committees and passes on the floor Johnson's Senate bill 807 would allow airports with cities with less than 75,000 residents to create a new taxing district with a radius of 10 miles surrounding the airport. The 10 mile radius if enacted could extend to the furthermost boundary of Columbia City, to the East end including Burlington/Rafton in Multnomah County, directly West to Tater Hill Gunners Lake area near Vernonia, Northwest from Scappoose to Salmon Berry Lake affecting everyone in between. Johnson is expecting the people within the 10-mile radius to pay for her grand scheme while her pockets are getting full. Now Johnson will go on the offense, she will talk about how beneficial this new district will be to the people in the area, she will spout that the development will bring jobs to the stagnate economy of the area. Most likely she will fail to explain how much this development will cost initially and in the future, leaving out the financial aspects and the power that her SB 807 has. The people with in the 10-mile radius will be paying an additional tax burden one way or the other for Betsy's airport, all the time increasing the value of the property in and around the airport. Betsy will sit back and smile for the cameras push her agenda, donate $500.00 to the local food bank, as local media coverage snaps photos of her and her huge cardboard check, all to improve her image to the public. She will spout family wage jobs, which are usually about $8.00-$10.00 per hour with very limited benefits, which are the ones our elected officials like to bring into the community. The business's that might come to the area will most likely receive huge tax breaks, like urban renewal or enterprise zone status, no taxes for 7 years, and possibly no taxes for decades. Yes Senator Johnson your wheeling and dealing and your questionable real estate deals and senate bills are nothing more than moves to increase your own personal fortune at the expense of your constituency.

If SB 807 makes it through the various committees hopefully it will fail on the floor.