Taking a look ahead to the State Fair – which, along with being one of Minnesota’s great family traditions, is also the beginning of the political home stretch in this state – Tom from Saint Paul writes about a pitfall you might not be aware of:

Thought you would enjoy those donuts at the State Fair?  Think again!  You may really be setting yourself up for a bad case of indigestion about 4 months later when those DFLers you just supported start raising your taxes.

There is a mini-donut stand someplace in the vicinity of the grandstand at the Minnesota State Fair.  It is run by the Tenth Ward & Rural Ramsey DFL Donut Booth.

The contributions to various political units from this DFL money maker were:
2007 – $40,000
2006 – $45,000
2005 – $49,700

On the upside – they’re dropping. 

I think they could stand  to drop a lot more, obviously.

There is nothing to indicate this is a DFL runned/sponsored/supporting stand or that your “contribution” is going to support DFL candidates.  Many people buy donuts here thinking they are just getting donuts.  What they are really getting is the heartburn of money being used to support DFL candidates.  This money is going to districts that are beating Republicans by close margins.  It is also going to districts that turn around and donate their money to tightly fought districts.   

Ironically, the DFLers call the income on the donuts “contributions”.   People unwittingly buying those donuts might use another term to describe the DFLers income.

Mini-donuts are pretty much all trans-fat anyway, right?

Anyway – if you gotta have the mini-donuts (I never eat ’em; they take away precious room needed for the International Market’s luscious Vietnamese egg rolls and Cynthia’s Italian Sausage), steer clear of the grandstand.

I’ll be back to remind you later…