Coffing:County Commissioner, or Pokemon?

Remarkably, there was a mention of Koffing today in the Rapid City Journal. You know, the noxious gas pokemon. Apparently he's leading the state liquor tax effort. Don't know Koffing? According to Wikipedia:

Koffing resembles a purple floating sphere with large pores over its surface that release poisonous gas. It has two eyes, a vacant, blissful expression and a skull and crossbones pattern (a universal symbol for poison) on its front.

Koffing's thin, filmy, slightly transparent body stores a collection of highly toxic gases that swirl in its insides. Koffing concocts its internal gases and increases their toxicity by mixing raw garbage, setting off complex chemical reactions whose rate and products are proportional to the area temperature. If the temperature rises too high, however, there is a chance that the pressure exercised by the gases on Koffing's body will become too great, causing it to expand and finally explode.

All of this leads one to wonder how on earth a pokemon could get elected to the Pennington County Commission. OH! Wait a minute. My bad. It's Coffing, with a "C" not a "K". Now how could I get those two mixed up?

Pennington County Commissioner Delores Coffing announced in today's Rapid City Journal:

Pennington County Commissioner Delores Coffing said Tuesday that 1,000 petitions — paid for by private donations, not county tax money — have been printed and are ready to be circulated for the county's liquor tax initiative.

and

Coffing said revenue is needed to help the county pay the prosecution and incarceration costs associated with crimes committed by people while abusing alcohol.

"The abuse of liquor isn't just the ‘wino' on the street," she said. "The abuse is also the guy who goes out partying, has a good time and then says, ‘Oh, I'm drunk, I'm drunk,' and thought he could drive and hits a lamppost or something."

and

Coffing said those interested in helping circulate petitions can call her at 343-1990 or call the commissioners' office at 394-2171. To get the measure on the ballot, the county needs signatures from 17,000 registered voters by May 5, 2006.

Read the whole thing here. Apparently, it's bad to print the ballots at county expense, but county employees answering the phone for a ballot measure is ok. (or is it?)

This isn't the first time Delores has become embroiled in tax issues. In an article in the Rapid City Journal this past December, she mixed it up with Bill Napoli on his petition to freeze tax assessments:

Coffing said Tuesday she isn't sure what the petition actually says but has seen a brochure on the Internet that she says makes claims that are misleading.

"All the stuff on the Internet is to tell the people what they think they want to hear," Coffing said. "It says (the amendment will) freeze your current property tax at 2003 assessed value, establish the assessed value of any property at the sales price, and ‘no longer will people on fixed incomes be driven from their homes, ranchers and farmers driven from their land.'"

Coffing said no one has been driven from their homes or farmers from their land because of property taxes.

When contacted for comment, Napoli was blunt. "Where the hell has she been the last 10 years? It's happening every day," he said.

and...

Napoli said the truth of what he's talking about is reflected by the actions of former Gov. Bill Janklow in 1994 to reduce property taxes. "Delores, obviously, does not live in the same world we do," Napoli said.

Coffing said her utility bills are higher than her property-tax bill, but because utilities are paid monthly it's not as noticeable as a tax bill that is paid every six months or every year.

Coffing said that the crux of the matter is that nobody likes to pay taxes but that they all want services.

"They think there's some tree out there that grows all this money and the services should automatically be there that they want," she said. "I for one am not one to stop petitions. I do think people need to know what they are signing. From what I've gathered from those who've already signed, they have no idea what it means."

You can read the whole article here.

Delores has been kicking around Rapid City Government for years. On the County Commission she was recently a vote against serving liquor at the restaraunt at Mt. Rushmore, and she was also at the forefront of banning adult businesses in areas of Pennington county where they didn't exist:

Pennington County commissioners say they don't want adult-oriented businesses to extend beyond the Rapid City limits into the unincorporated area of the county.

Currently, no such businesses — video stores and strip-tease bars — exist in unincorporated areas of the county. There are seven such businesses in Rapid City.

"I see no reason for this lewd, lascivious, wiggling and jiggling type of business," Commissioner Delores Coffing said. "I'd like the commission to consider something more restrictive. I don't want to see anything (adult-oriented) open outside the city."

Anyway, lacivious wiggling and jiggling aside, Delores clearly has been set up with a difficult task. She has to get over 16,000 people to agree that the people should consider whether to tax themselves. Then, over the span of just a few months, she has to organize and run an effective statewde media campaign to convince South Dakota voters to tax themselves more.

Compare this to the criticism she was leveling at the STOP2006 group's efforts. That group has gotten about all the signatures they need to put their measure on the ballot. She's just getting started.

Maybe if she was a little nicer to Senator Napoli, he would consider giving her a few tips.