Posted on 02/16/2016 2:51:21 PM PST by Theo
WOW! If People Don't Understand Eminent Domain Abuse, They Will Now
Ted Cruz Goes Bare-Knuckled Against Donald Trump on Eminent Domain Abuse -- "A Pattern of Sleaze Stretching Back Decades"
They say the political gloves are about to come off in South Carolina, whose primary on February 20 and which is crucial to building momentum for the upcoming Super Tuesday or "SEC Primary" states on March 1.
"They" are correct, as one of the most brutal ads of the political campaign, thus far, has just been released by the Ted Cruz presidential campaign, an ad that CNN reports will be a "six-figure ad buy," running on TV in South Carolina next week.
The scathing campaign ad hits Donald Trump hard in the area of cronyism, buying favoritism from politicians, and for abusing the constitutional principle of eminent domain for private gain.
Moreover, the ad powerfully and directly explains eminent domain by using the example of Vera Coking, an elderly woman whose house Trump wanted to destroy, using the power of big government, so that the bombastic billionaire could build a limousine parking lot for one of his casinos.
Trump's abuse of eminent domain wasn't eminent domain at all, the ad contends, nor was it used for "public" use, as is required in the U.S. Constitution, but instead was an attempt to line Trump's own pockets.
"Vera Coking's home was all she had left but it stood in Donald Trump's way and the limousine parking lot he wanted for his casino," the narrator in the Ted Cruz-approved ad says. "To him, she was a nobody."
The ad shows an exchange between free market advocate John Stossel and Trump discussing the situation during an interview at the time:
JOHN STOSSEL: "You're bullying these people out because..."
DONALD TRUMP: "Excuse me. This is a government case. This not Donald Trump."
STOSSEL: "Yes it's Donald Trump. It's you and your cronies in government working together."
"I offered her a lot of money out of this -- my heart," Trump then told Stossel in the ad.
"Heart? He doesn't have no heart, that man." ~ Vera Coking in describing Donald Trump
"Trump bankrolled politicians to steamroll the little guy -- a pattern of sleaze stretching back decades," the ad contends. "Trump uses power for personal gain. Imagine the damage he could as president."
Donald Trump is correct in that eminent domain is in the Constitution, and is authorized for "public use," like highways, public buildings, national defense readiness, etc. That our Founding Fathers had "casinos" in mind is absurd and he knows it.
The ad is especially difficult to refute considering Trump's well-known statements, bragging that he has bought off politicians for personal favors.
This is my LAST attempt to explain something so simply to you as you either can’t or refuse to understand. It this not possible to run a pipeline from Canada to Texas without using private lands whether you are Kochs or not. View a map. You obviously think there is land that belongs to no one from Canada to Texas and no amount of talking can convince you that there is no way to do so. It is pointless to talk to you any further.
Of course it’s not possible. Nobody said that it did.
But you are totally missing the point. YOU DON’T NEED EMINENT DOMAIN TO ACQUIRE THOSE LANDS. What you need is to route the pipeline through land you can acquire or to which you can acquire a right of way. That costs money, but it can be done. It has been done, without eminent domain being used.
I said last time to repeat how foolish you are. Get a map and negotiate all those sales and stop stalking me with an idea as silly as what you just stated.
So silly that it’s actually been done.
This is my last request to you to no longer stalk me with your stupid ideas.
As I said, if it’s been done, which it has, then it can be done again.
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