"We are a very fiscally moderate caucus."

MARGARET ANDERSON-KELLIHER, NOV. 9, 2006

Those seven words from then soon-to-be House Speaker Margaret Anderson-Kelliher came two days after Election Day 2006. Echoing the professed sentiments of more than two dozen newly elected rural and suburban Democrats, Kelliher's statement no doubt felt reassuring to the Minnesotans who took Minnesota Democrats at their word when they claimed, throughout the 2006 election season, to carry the mantle of fiscal responsibility and balanced priorities.

Minnesotans wanted change; Democrats wanted their votes. On Nov. 9, 2006, each seemed to have gotten what it wanted.

But here we are on April Fools' Day 2008, and clearly the joke is on us. Starting today, hard-working Minnesotans trying to get through tough times will pay the first in a series of tax increases imposed by Minnesota Democrats who tossed aside their pledges of moderation and common-sense priorities like Election Day's smelly laundry.

First they'll pay at the gas pump; soon they'll pay at the cash register. When it comes time to buy a new car, they'll pay higher taxes again, all courtesy of those "fiscally moderate" Democrats.

Drivers aren't the only ones who will pay the price of electing the bait-and-switch Democrats of 2006. Just ask the senior citizens or the property taxpayers who watched a $2.2 billion surplus disappear in the blink of an eye. They were left holding the short straw after Democrats "got the job done" in 2007 without lifting a finger to help two of government's core responsibilities. Never mind that rural nursing homes are on the brink of financial ruin and that near-record numbers of schools are asking property taxpayers for more money, the Democrats finished the session on time!

As is evident today in our higher taxes and neglected needs, Minnesota Democrats are not fiscally moderate and they do not share the priorities of most Minnesotans. They are adept at hiding their tax-and-spend agenda behind an unpopular president, but even that curtain is about to be pulled away. When it is, they will do their best to hide or pin the blame on someone else. It won't work now that they have commanding majorities in both houses of the Legislature. Minnesotans may have been fooled in 2006, but they won't be fooled again.