Brandon Bochenski: The Anti-Robin Hood
This letter is paid content. Please do not vote for Brandon Bochenski for Grand Forks mayor. Being a good hockey player doesn’t at all mean he’ll be a good mayor, but much more importantly his policies effectively take wealth from poorer folks in Grand Forks and give it to the richer folks in Grand Forks.
The highlight of his policy, which is posted on the Bochenski for Mayor Facebook page, is the lowering of property taxes. Do people who rent pay property taxes? No. Will landlords lower rent if their property taxes are lowered? Absolutely not! If you’re poor you probably rent, and if you’re rich you probably own not only a $300k+ house but also some substantial rental property and maybe a business. So by lowering property taxes flat across the board, he disproportionately lowers the costs to the richest Grand Forks residents while relatively not affecting the costs of the poorest Grand Forks residents. He gives to the rich.
In order to pay for these tax cuts he plans to privatize public wealth and push costs of public social programs onto non-profit organizations. Since public programs are overwhelmingly used by poorer folks, this effectively takes money out of the pockets of the poorest. He takes from the poor.
He takes from the poor and gives to the rich.
If you live some middle or upper-middle class life and you’re saying, “Well he’ll lower my costs so I support him,” consider this. When the poor get poorer, crime will go up, our community will become less beautiful and welcoming, folks will be overall less happy. What happens to one of us, affects all of us.
So what about the other candidates? Mayor Brown has done nothing for the city in 20 years and most recently has failed Grand Forks workers with the LM Wind debacle. In contrast, Robin David has advocated for worker safety during the COVID crisis and demanded workers have a say in how businesses are restarted.
You should be getting an application for a mail-in-ballot soon. Please vote, but not for some poor-hating ex-hockey player or an out-of-touch 20 year incumbent. Will Lovelace, Grand Forks