Cruz seizes on eminent domain as wedge against Trump in New Hampshire

CNN ^ | Fri January 22, 2016 | Theodore Schleifer

[Isara]

...In the eyes of Ted Cruz, here's another "New York value" embodied by Donald Trump: seizing private people's property to build skyscrapers with his name on it.

As the rivalry blooms between the Republican field's top presidential contenders, Cruz and his allies are eyeing a major opportunity in this rural state to cast Trump as an overly zealous land-grabber, profit-driven elitist and big-government liberal, prioritizing commercial interests like his own over conservative values.

"Trump, with his casinos, he can take the land because it's in his best interest," former Sen. Bob Smith, a Cruz co-chairman, said here. "It's a big deal here, but I don't think it's gotten much publicity -- but I think it will."

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"Donald Trump has said he thinks eminent domain is fantastic, and he supports using government power to seize private people's homes, to give them to giant corporations to say hypothetically build a casino," Cruz said in Wakefield, the first time that Cruz voluntarily brought up Trump's record before an audience.

"Now he's entitled to have that view," Cruz added, "but my view is we have an obligation to protect the rights of Americans, and private property is essential to the rights of Americans."

Trump has been one of eminent domain's strongest supporters, including praising the 2005 Supreme Court Kelo v. New London decision reviled by conservatives for staying that the government's power to repossess property can apply not just for public projects, such as a highway, but for private development as well.

"Eminent domain -- when it comes to jobs, roads, the public good -- I think it's a wonderful thing," Trump said on Fox News in October. "I fully understand the conservative approach, but I don't think it was explained to most conservatives."

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[kingattax]

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