The Twisted World of Harold W. Andersen

The Omaha World-Herald just would not be the paper that it is without former publisher Harold W. Andersen (1966-1989) and his on-going series of rants in the guise of column-writing. This state owes him a great debt of gratitude for making the OWH's institutional biases so blatantly obvious over the years.

Today, he goes after Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey for, get this, NOT RAISING TAXES!!... specifically, for raising the bulk of money for public works from private donations. Andersen says:

Count me among those - there must be at least a few like-minded Omahans out there - who don't understand why city government can't raise taxes to finance all or a major part of desirable public projects. Must we continue what might be described as government by panhandling, "brother, can you spare a few million" government?

Give me a break. Where do the attacks on Democrats stop? If taxes had been raised one bit, Andersen would be singing an entirely different tune about Fahey's irresponsibility and untrustworthiness with public money. Seems like Fahey's business acumen has simply made him too slippery and too difficult to frame in those old Democratic caricatures.

Good for him. Good for Omaha. Bad for Harold W. Andersen and his vicious, pseudo-folksy partisanship.