Friday, March 21, 2008

Local DFL endorsements: Jim Bakula 19A

Since it's another snowy day here at my Wright County outpost, I'll take some time to talk about local candidates, endorsed recently at the SD 19 convention.

I met Jim and his wife Roxanne over 2 years ago now at a DFL meet-up in Buffalo. It was over discussions over Iraq, health care, and education that I got to know Jim.

In my humble opinion, Bruce Anderson is in for one heck of a fight. Jim's speech at the SD 19 Breakfast of Champions event gave us a glimpse of what to expect from Jim and the Bakula Bunch.

A well organized campaign, combined with strong fundraising and a deep grassroots organizing effort should send Bruce Anderson back into private sector work.

Jim Bakula in 19A.

Jim Bakula was unanimously endorsed as the DFL candidate for 19A in Buffalo on March 15th. Mr. Bakula promises to advocate not for big government or small government but for efficient, smart and effective government. He promises to work to close loopholes, eliminate ineffective subsidies and poorly designed programs. Jim wants to reform taxes so everyone pays their fair share and that includes Minnesota’s top wage earners and corporate Minnesota.

Jim believes we can design a universal affordable health care system in which all people are insured. This would eliminate disqualifiers like “pre-existing conditions “and “non-transportability”.

He is dedicated to changing the way we finance our public schools saying, “we need to provide adequate and consistent funding and eliminate the levy referendum fiascoes, so teachers and superintendents can get back to teaching rather than wasting their time fundraising. Education funding should not be part of your property
taxes. ”

One of the biggest challenges currently facing us is how to stimulate the economy by creating jobs. This will require a multi-faceted approach using a mix of both fiscal and monetary policies. Extraordinary times require extraordinary approaches.

Jim believes labels are for cans. Very few people view every issue or facet of an issue through purely conservative or liberal eyes. He believes in working to discover areas of commonality and using them as beginnings to forge compromises. Jim believes people of good will can construct win-win solutions to our challenges.

Mr. Bakula is honored to earn the DFL endorsement and is anxious to continue his life of public service. He is energized by the influx of young and excited party volunteers who are clamoring for a change in both leadership and policies.

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