The Man Who Would Be Mayor of New Brighton, in Action

Bob Benke was mayor of New Brighton for a long time. He now wants to be mayor again. It's been a while since he held the chair, but it's worth remembering how he operates, so I thought I'd share this tidbit, from way back in 1988, that caught the attention of the Los Angeles Times:

--Death and taxes are unavoidable. And the New Brighton, Minn., City Council has found a way to combine the two in a new ordinance extending a $75 tax on parades to funeral processions. "It's an unconscionable charge. A funeral procession is not exactly a voluntary event," protested Gary Larson, head of the Minnesota Funeral Directors Assn. He said New Orleans is the only other city in the country with such a tax, and said that probably makes some sense. "Some of those funerals for jazz musicians are incredible parades that do tie up traffic," said Larson. But Larson can't remember the last time a traffic-blocking funeral procession for a jazz figure was held in New Brighton, a Minneapolis suburb of about 20,000 people. Funeral processions, Larson argues, are part of the grieving process and an orderly way of getting people from the church to the cemetery to say final farewells. Mayor Bob Benke doesn't hedge about the motivation for the ordinance, which took effect Jan. 1. The tax is needed to help balance the budget, said Benke.

Hey, we have to pay for all this stuff somehow. So why not stick your hand in the purse of a grieving family? Given inflation, a similar charge now would be $143.63, by the way.