"After collapse, roads become a priority," is the title of the piece that gave our State Representative, Dean Urdahl, a free pass.
These quotes burned as I read them.
"I thought history would show that Dean and I were right (about transportation funding). But I didn't want or think something like this would happen to prove our point," Dille said.
In May, both Dille in the Senate and Urdahl in the House voted in favor of a large transportation bill that was vetoed by Pawlenty.
The article fails to point out the Urdahl flip flop on the Transportation Bill.
To be clear, the size of the recent Transportation Bill really had no impact on the 35W bridge collapse.
However, Urdahl did embrace the "No New Taxes" pledges that underfunded our cities and counties local government aid, E-12 education, higher education, health and human services, and transportation.
District 18B Rep. Dean Urdahl and State Sen. Steve Dille, both republicans who pushed hard for transportation funding last spring as part of a large bill that included raising the state's gas tax, said action may come quickly, and late last week the governor's office said a special session could be called.
Really? Did Urdahl push hard for transportation funding? Of the 211 bills authored in the House Transportation Finance Committee, Urdahl failed to author even a single piece of legislation on transportation concerns in Greater Minnesota.
Recall the postings made after Rep Urdahl flip flopped on the Transportation Bill in May. Urdahl had serious concerns about the Governor's transportation budget proposal, as it did not include needed monies in Meeker and Wright Counties.
Urdahl waited 155 days to express this disappointment to the Governor, and once called onto the carpet by the Governor, folded like a $3 chair.
If Urdahl were so concerned about the state of Transportation issues in Greater Minnesota, he would have supported the legislation that would have provided:
$270 million more for our states trunk highway system
$162 million more for County State Aid for roads like County Road 6 from Howard Lake to Annandale
$35 million more for Municipal State Aid, for roads like Wright County 125 near Cokato
So while the Annandale Advocate wants to give Rep Urdahl a free pass on the transportation funding, progressives throughout Wright and Meeker Counties will continue to work to expose the politics of Dean Urdahl, "politics before people".
Dean Urdahl needs to go!
2 comments:
Urdahl was one of 24 Republicans and 2 Democrats who voted for Rep. Mark Olson's PRT amendment in April 2006.
So did Phil Krinkie who is now the Taxpayers League President.
Those 24 Republicans need to explain why they voted for Dean Zimmermann's bogus $600 Million plan:

On 18 May I sent this email to Rep. Urdahl, encouraging him to stand up and vote to overturn the governor's veto of the transportation bill.
Rep. Urdahl could have stood up for transportation needs, but instead he chose to give preference for his governor and his party.
Of course, a veto would not likely have saved the bridge, or the people that perished on it; but it could have distinguished some elected officials as standing for doing the right thing instead of standing on the side of party loyalty.
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18 May 2007
Dear Rep. Urdahl:
Please help Minnesota's transportation advance into the Twenty-First Century without making our grandchildren pay for it.
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