Thompson: communities should keep tax money

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- In Ben Thompson's view, most of the challenges facing New Ulm in coming years would be resolved if the community could keep the revenue that now goes into state and federal coffers.

Thompson is an unabashed proponent of a literal interpretation of the U.S. Constitution from whence flows the authority for local governments to determine their own destiny.

Ben Thompson, 59, is making his second run for the City Council in two years. He ran unsuccessfully for a Ward Councilor position in 2002, and he is now running for Councilor-At-Large in an attempt to unseat Council President Dan Beranek.

Thompson, who has lived in New Ulm nine and a half years, owns Christian Counseling Services and New Ulm Neat-N-Clean in town. He has a master's degree in counseling and psychological services from St. Mary's College in Winona and a bachelor's degree in psychology from Winona State.

"I'm a former police officer and Vietnam-era veteran. I'm currently serving as a director of the Minnesota Parents Television Council, and I'm the past legislative chairman of the Minnesota Juvenile Officers Association," Thompson said.

He believes leadership is one his strong suits.

"Being president means being a leader. Serving in any position on the city council, you should be a leader but particularly in being a president. That means that when you know there's something right you should do that is based on a correct principle, you shouldn't compromise. You should have the courage of your convictions, no matter whether people like it or not," Thompson explained.

"A good example are the strip clubs. We had one that got into Nicollet a couple years ago. Finally, that city council had the courage to pass an ordinance to completely kick them out. What New Ulm chose to do was to compromise. They said you can come in; you just have to stay out in an area that is away from downtown. You can't be in residential areas," Thompson said.

"To me, if you're a leader, what you say is, I know that the majority of the people don't want a strip club in town. We should pass a strict ordinance completely outlawing it. And the Constitution has made it clear in recent cases that local communities have total authority to set their own standards of decency so there is no reason to compromise on that type of an issue."

Another of his strengths, he says, is that he has a good, working knowledge of the U.S. Constitution.

"The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Federal, state and local governments are supposed to base their legislation and their ordinances on the principles of the Constitution, and that's happening less and less and less these days. That includes our own New Ulm City Council so I would bring that knowledge and the courage to make sure, with whatever authority I have, that we follow those principles of the Constitution."

Thompson said he believes the council should be pro-active in dealing with issues.

"That's another thing that leaders do. You don't sit back and wait. You jump in with both feet. What I would do, and I've suggested this several times, when there are important issues, (we need) to rally the community. Take busloads of people up to the State Legislature, for example, and put pressure on them to make changes that need to be made," Thompson said.

"One change, for example, is total local control of taxation and spending. It should be here. The state government should only control what the state government should control and the federal government (the same). Our founding fathers set up so that most government should be at the local level, then state and then federal. It's been exactly flip-flopped, especially since the turn of the 20th Century."

Does that mean that Thompson would rely solely on local monies and property taxes to finance city government?

"Well, if we weren't sending all our money to the state and federal government and had total control of it, we would have access to way more money than we do now. When you run it through all those bureaucrats, you lose on the federal level 75 percent of the money you send to them. On the state level, it's about two-thirds. On the local level, we'd get to keep like 75 percent of it if it's controlled here."

However, Thompson has definite ideas about how much local government should provide for its citizens.

"Local government should provide only public safety and infrastructure such as streets. It has no business being in the business of providing housing," Thompson maintains.

Thompson also is a strong supporter of free enterprise.

"It's ridiculous to say that Wal-Mart can't come into town. They have a right to be here like any other business. They'll be a major boost to our economy, providing jobs and everything. You can't discriminate."