A “taxpayer watchdog” group calling itself Common Sense for Oregon has started buying ads on Portland radio ridiculing “free soda for prisoners” in its attempt to give the newly majority-Democrat Oregon legislature a black eye at a time when the legislature is trying to close a $4 billion budget gap.

With unemployment in the state at a post-Great Depression high, and drastic cuts imminent to programs to help the uninsured, the homeless, the jobless, and the hungry, Common Sense for Oregon is pointedly not supporting a repeal of the $10 corporate minimum tax or a proposed 2% income tax increase on the top 5% of earners in the state.

And last night’s top teevee news story was neither unemployment nor budget cuts, but Common Sense for Oregon’s “discovery” of the soda scandal in the state’s current budget:

“During this budget cycle, the Department of Corrections will spend $773,000 for free soda pop for prisoners,” the man in the ad says.

The voice behind the ad and the group’s executive director is Ross Day, who said Common Sense for Oregon is an issue advocacy group.
…
He said the $773,000 that was used to pay for prisoners’ sodas during the two-year budget term could have been used to pay for three fulltime state troopers instead.

“You have to ask yourself, what’s more important for the citizens of Oregon, making sure prisoners — a rapist or murderer — has a Coke and a smile, or another trooper out patrolling the roads?” Day asked.

Ross Day is a well-known anti-tax nut around here, and of course never mentions that the current budget was drawn up by an Oregon legislature controlled by Republicans. He has only started to cry about it now that Dems are in control.

But beyond that, this moron can’t understand basic economics, much less the small perks that are provided to prisoners as a means of control. Give the inmates little niceties like soda and they may remain docile enough not to attack the guards or start a riot, especially at a time of significant prison overcrowding. What’s a docile prison population worth to you, Ross? That $773,000 probably saved the state an equal amount in workmen’s comp claims from injured guards, and lawsuits from inmates assaulted by their fellow prisoners.

And besides:

A spokeswoman with the Department of Corrections said the soda budget figure is correct but she said the way it’s presented is misleading since the DOC served 30 million meals to prisoners over two years, which breaks down to less than 3 cents per soda.

A small price to pay for a little peace. I know if anyone tried to take away my twice-a-day cokes, I’d be on the barricades.

But back to basic economics. This is what Day sees as the primary problem with Oregon’s budget:

Day said it’s a big issue that the state general fund is up by 37 percent over the last three budget cycles, but the average income in Oregon is only up by 18 percent and state leaders are still asking for more money.

YOU BLITHERING IDIOT. When the economy goes south, people need more services, not less. Oregon currently has among the highest unemployment rates in the nation, at more than 12%. $60 million in unemployment benefits are going out of the state’s coffers each week.

Without government spending, Oregon (and all of the jobs left in it) would grind to a halt – and it may still, given the draconian budget cuts that are on the way.

What will become of the private companies providing the soda to Oregon’s prisons, Ross Day? If it was a private prison, would soda be okay?

This is just more spicy mustard, Kenyan birth certificate distraction bullshit.

Come up with some real answers for closing the state’s budget gap without closing schools, cutting healthcare, or mothballing homeless shelter beds, and I’ll be glad to listen to your silly anti-soda screed.

Otherwise, STFU and let the legislature do the hard work of solving the real problems you refuse to even acknowledge.