Showing posts with label Local Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Local Politics. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Back to the Future: Pawlenty's LGA cut

A budget only Marty McFly would be proud of...

That whole "no new taxes" pledge from 2003 still hits small towns throughout Central Minnesota. Even back in 2006, the most popular thing to talk about when we knocked on doors was the sharp increase in property taxes.

Double digit increases were the norm between 03-06. It seemed as though things finally had stabilized a bit.

Now, Governor Pawlenty is proposing a 15% cut to LGA in 2010 and a 31% cut in 2011.

How does this impact us locally?

Annandale loses $70,826 in 2010 and $158,062 in 2011.
Cokato loses $73,735 in 2010 and $164,553 in 2011.
Dassel loses $43,955 in 2010 and $98,094 in 2011.
Hutchinson loses $414,947 in 2010 and $926,037 in 2011. Double whammy with all the job losses at HTI as well...
Litchfield loses $204,042 in 2010 and $455,360 in 2011.

You get the picture.

Arguably, larger cities have an easier time taking these cuts in stride. Small towns like Silver Lake, Howard Lake, Darwin, Grove City, Cosmos, etc, have a more difficult time absorbing blows like this.

Ultimately, they made choices like Wadena's mayor Wayne Wolden.
In Wadena during a recent weekend snowfall, the city waited until Monday morning to plow streets rather than pay overtime. With its proposed LGA cut in 2009, the city is likely to close its parks department, said Mayor Wayne Wolden. In the second year, its $230,000 cut would mean plowing streets after every other major snowstorm, he said.
Pawlenty spoke of priorities during his budget presentation, saying military, Veterans and public safety were the highest priority in his budget.

Despite Pawlenty's intentions, it would at least appear to me that leaving 6 inches of snow in the streets wouldn't be the safest thing to do, but with Pawlenty's "no new taxes" fetish, choices like that need to be made.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Bakula letter: Annandale Advocate

Jim Bakula, DFL endorsed candidate running against Bruce Anderson, has a letter published in the Annandale Advocate.
As I shared the first principle that I based my campaign on (not to take any campaign funds from lobbyists or Political Action Committees) I was astounded by the number of people who made comments like it's easy to pledge that now, but we'll see what you do after you are elected.

Another person compared the legislators in St. Paul to the old beer commercial where one group yells "tastes great" and the other group yells "less filling." Lots of hollering and no problem solving.

As I reflected on these comments I thought of the way the Republican Party publicly rebuked their own party members and stripped them of leadership positions while pledging to withhold endorsements. This was punishment for representing their constituents' wishes by supporting the transportation bill. What has happened to civility and respect for divergent opinions? Obviously power can be abused.

Jim's stance on PAC"s and lobbyist money is noble. Most running for office or being elected to office take money from these groups. While in many cases, this money is not "tainted". However, it oftentimes leads to the elected official being put in a difficult situation. While it happens more often than not on the national level, putting one's contributors before their own constituents is one major reason people feel disenfranchised.

Bakula's old school values, subject matter expertise on education and health care, and a well organized campaign, make him well poised to send Bruce Anderson home after the 2008 elections.

Monday, November 05, 2007

Meeker County DFL chili cook-off

What a fun night!

Hats off to the Meeker County crew, it was a lot of fun chatting with everyone again. My mom's chili got a few first place votes and a few seconds as well, but Merle Larson won again!

I'm not sure Bluewoman enjoyed the fact that I ate too much chili though...

Anyway, it was a great night for fellowship amongst Democrats. Donna Cassutt, Associate Chair of the DFL was there, as was Senator Tarryl Clark.

Jack Nelson Pallmeyer was there. As was Frannie Franken and one of Mike Ciresi's sons. Jim Cohen gave a passionate speech as well, although in talking about Senator Wellstone, botched the number of people that perished in the accident. For the record, Paul died with 7 others, not 4 as identified by Cohen.

Senator Clark's words rang true for Central Minnesota DFLers. St Cloud was in our shoes several years ago. Tarryl had lost a few hard fought elections. The St Cloud area was dominated by right wing leaders.

They organized and took their districts back by going door to door.

That's what we need to do in SD 18.

I heard some rather disturbing Dean Urdahl stories last night, one from a long time DFLer from Grove City. She told me a of a conversation she had with Dean a month or so ago, where Urdahl became rather hostile.

When she questioned him about education and transportation, Urdahl told her that he had done everything everyone had asked of him, and still could not gain their vote.

She talked about the partisan nature of some of Dean's editorials and votes to which Urdahl responded, "You have no idea what I do in St Paul".

Hauntingly similar to what Dean told me in Hutchinson.

Is that what we want in an elected official? Arrogance?

Arrogance is not so bad, but when it's multiplied by a sense of entitlement, we have a problem.

Urdahl is a different man serving in the minority party.

I find the title of his new book "Uprising" to be rather fitting.

While Dean will tell you its about the 1862 Dakota Conflict, Democrats in HD 18B are creating an uprising that will sent Dean Urdahl packing in 2008.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

From the Advocate: Demmer, Urdahl, etc

Last week the Annandale Advocate featured an opinion by Randy Demmer, State Representative from Hayfield, and one of the 4 GOPers duking it out for the right to get their rear end handed to them by Congressman Walz, down in the "Fighting First".

Check it out! It's the same story in small papers across Minnesota, but you get the idea.
If you want to see an example of partisanship at its worst, check out the ongoing hearings at the State Capitol regarding the Legislature's Transportation Funding Contingency Group.
Would it be nit-picky of me to point out that Demmer didn't even identify the actual name for the group looking at the Transportation funding?

It's actually the Transportation Contingent Appropriations Group, as correctly identified by Governor Pawlenty's Director of Communications, Brian McClung.

Demmer continues his partisan rant defending Lt Gov and Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau.

Question for you Randy...

If a DFL Governor had appointed their Lt Governor to the head spot at MnDOT, and a bridge collapsed 5-6 years after said appointment, would the House Caucus sit on their hands and say nothing?

Do you really think Marty Seifert would have been silent? BTW, it would have been the first time...

Next...

Dean Urdahl reported on his epic townhall meeting in Hutchinson.
The large and passionate group which attended a town hall meeting in Hutchinson last week examined a number of topics vital to rural Minnesota.

An audience of about 75 area citizens shared thoughts with a panel of speakers at an Oct. 16 forum hosted by Ridgewater College. Rural economic development, agriculture, workforce development, education and nursing homes all were topics on the menu which rallied around job creation.

Flow of information is key as we prepare for the upcoming legislative session and opinions expressed at the recent gathering help to provide a vivid picture of what issues hit home in this area.

Exactly Dean, the flow of information is key. You missed the topic de jour for the night though, regardless of the "topic on the menu" the vast majority of the passionate group over indulged in the topic of taxes.

We'll have to get some of the Youtubes posted for this event and let the readers decide what actually happened in Hutchinson, the rabid nature in which Local 49ers were attacked for their transportation views and the lack of education discussion will be evident.

Lastly, in the print edition, a headline caught my eye.

"Olson to serve up to 40 years"

Unfortunately, it was not Mark Olson...

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Moffat endorsed by the SC Times!

Good news in this mornings SC Times.

The Times endorsed Garner Moffat for his St Cloud City Council, Ward 1 race.
Candidates Garner Moffat and David Masters are compelling, powerful and engaged voices for vibrant neighborhoods and historic preservation. That's clearly what residents of this south side ward need most.

While they take similar stands on most issues, we endorse Moffat because he has more experience in leading city and neighborhood initiatives and provides a broader vision, especially with regard to helping small businesses.


Garner is an experienced and level headed leader who will be a great representative for Ward 1! The SC Times got this one right for sure!

Thursday, October 04, 2007

A response to the Advocate anti-gas tax LTE

Mike Worcester from Cokato writes:
A letter in last week's Advocate takes State Sen. Steve Dille to task for supporting an increase in the state's gas tax. The letter writer (David Anderson, Londsdale) goes to great length to assert that last session's transportation bill included a number of new taxes and/or fees that will further burden the state's drivers.

For example, the writer speaks about a "wheelage tax." One problem though is that this proposal was not directed at all vehicles in the state. This proposal was only to allow certain metro-area counties to assess a fee on vehicles registered in their borders to help fund construction projects. And why, one should wonder, are counties being forced to take this step? Because the state has not done its job in properly funding transportation construction.

The letter writer also uses the phrase "there has not been a gas tax increase recently." Recently? Does almost two decades - 19 years to be precise - qualify as recently? Not, I doubt, in the eyes of most Minnesotans and residents of Senate District 18.

Falling bridges aside, this state is doing a tremendous disservice to its economic competitiveness by continuing to ignore the issue. Asking Minnesota motorists to ante up a small amount more per gallon must be part of an overall transportation solution.


Remember, Dean Urdahl voted for the gas tax before he was called into the Principal's office and told to vote no, sustaining the Governor's veto.

Gotta love politicians who put politics before the people!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Garner Moffat for St Cloud City Council

I'd be negligent in my blogging duties if I did not post something about Garner Moffat, and his St Cloud City Council run.

Garner, a student at St Cloud State, is one of the most gifted students and activists I have ever met.

I met Garner while he was the chair of the Neighborhood University Community Coalition, NUCC. As the Student Body President, I worked with Garner on many of the issues that were important to the residents of area.

Garner was, and still is, a true leader. We walked the streets on numerous occasions, working to settle disputes, or to solve a problem before it became evident.

That's why Garner will make a great City Council member.

He's proactive. He gets out amongst the people and gains a great sense of what the real issues are and works tirelessly to solve them.

The SCSU Chronicle has a good story about him this week as well.

Check it out!

Four years ago, Garner Moffat, an SCSU student, ran for St. Cloud City Council and lost, but this fall, he is running again with more experience and community involvement."

I was 21-years-old when I ran last time," Moffat said. "So, it was a challenge to be able to show that as a young person I was more qualified than the incumbent who'd already been in the office for four years."

Moffat will graduate from SCSU in the spring with a bachelors degree in community development.

While growing up in St. Cloud, Moffat got frustrated watching the evening news.

"It seemed like things didn't make any sense to me, and people were making really bad decisions," he said.

He began following political issues closely. Knowing he couldn't do anything on the federal level, Moffat focused on state and local issues.

At the age of 18, he began attending city council meetings on a weekly bases.

"I saw the same problems at the local level, at least, to a lesser degree," Moffat said. "I realized that there was an opportunity for me to actually get involved and be able to help things out and make a change on the local level."

Moffat originally attended St. Cloud Technical College for computer networking.

He credits his degree change and transfer to SCSU to faculty member Aspasia Rigopoulou-Melcher, associate professor of community studies at SCSU.

Moffat had been attending all of the City Comprehensive Plan meetings when Rigopoulou-Melcher saw his ideas and took an interest in him.

"I was at one of the meetings and had spoken up about separating out the economic differences between downtown and the east side, which was kind of a controversial topic," Moffat said. "I had drawn out maps showing some of the differences and how traffic could be rerouted through the area to benefit the commercial districts and the overall transportation systems in the city. I was talking to an organizer, when she came over to talk to me. Turned out she was a professor here in the community development department."

Rigopoulou-Melcher asked Moffat if he had a degree in community development and where he had gotten it. Moffat informed her that he did not and had no idea what community development was exactly.

"And I said, 'well no, I just do this for fun,'" Moffat said.

Rigopoulou-Melcher had Moffat come visit her at SCSU where she told him more about the program, which he later enrolled in."She probably had the largest influence on my specifics within the Community Development field," Moffat said of Rigopoulou-Melcher.

Moffat has been involved in many different boards and organizations. They include being a founding member and former chair of the St. Cloud Neighborhood Coalition, former chair of the City Charter Commission, former chair of the Neighborhood University Community Council, board member of the St. Cloud Historical and Neighborhood Preservation Association and a member of the South Side Neighborhood Association.

"I've also been studying community development here at State, so I've gotten the formal background and know how to make decisions to guide the planning of a city," Moffat said. "I feel that I have a good base for what is needed for this Ward. I work downtown, which is part of this Ward. I've lived in this Ward my entire life, and I've seen things from a renters perspective and then last year I bought a house, so now I can see things from an owners perspective. I feel I've got a good basis of the different constituencies within the neighborhood."

One of Moffat's most important issues is neighborhood based planning.

He believes that having active neighborhood organizations will help create a sense of belonging and ownership in their neighborhood.

The organizations would also help make some decisions that guide their neighborhood.

Moffat has talked with some students already, but his campaigning will increase on campus in October.

He feels that the student vote is very important, not only for himself, but for the students themselves.

"Last time I ran, only about 4 people voted at Atwood Center," Moffat said. "It's disappointing because students don't take any sense of ownership in this city. They don't think about the fact that they're here nine months out of 12. It has a really big impact on their day-to-day life, like what types of jobs they have, how they get paid, where stop lights are, how many speeding tickets they get, just everything they do in their everyday life. There are decisions behind those and people are making them."

Moffat is running against David Masters for an open seat in Ward 1. The elections are on November 6.

For more information about Moffat and his platform, visit www.garnermoffat.org.

Go Garner!

Dille on the gas tax

Senator Dille has a piece in the Annandale Advocate discussing the difference between Federal and State gas taxes.

I hope Dean Urdahl reads this...at least one of our locally elected representatives gets it!
Many people have communicated with me about supporting a gas tax increase if it is used only for roads. They are concerned that revenue could be diverted to the general fund and used for transit or some non-transportation purpose. This concern about the Minnesota gas tax is not valid.

100% of the State gas tax is used for the roads.
Metro area legislators are generally not supportive of this distribution formula. They want more money for mass transit (buses, light rail and commuter rail). Rural legislators on the other hand are usually supportive because the current formula favors greater Minnesota where there are more miles of highway than in metro areas.

Others really have no idea where they stand on Transportation, until they come out of Principal's office!

Urdahl calls his vote to override the Governor's transportation veto "a meaningless vote".

Let's make sure that after 2008, Dean Urdahl never casts a meaningful vote again...

Anti-war op ed in the Annandale paper

H/T to Sue! Thanks!

My hometown paper confuses the heck out of me.

They let Dean Urdahl off the hook on his flawed logic on his transportation flip flop.

They ought to hammer Urdahl putting politics before the people!

But, they have a great op ed on the war.

Chuck Sterling writes about a Support our Troops, End the War rally in St Cloud.

I finally did it.

After more than four years of wanting to take part in an anti-war demonstration, I did a couple of weekends ago in St. Cloud.

I joined a group that demonstrates their opposition to the Iraq War every Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. on the Division Street sidewalk alongside Barnes & Noble.

They welcomed my offer to protest with them, and I spent more than an hour there holding a sign and waving to people in passing cars. It was the first time I've ever taken to the street to declare my opposition to a government policy.

That seems odd for someone who spent four years on a college campus during the early and mid-1960s.

But the only previous demonstration I took part in was actually in support of the Vietnam War. It was 1965 in the early stages of that war, before the peace movement had made much of an impact and a full decade before the killing finally ended.

When I approached the St. Cloud demonstrators, I didn't come prepared with my own sign. They invited me to grab one of theirs, and I sorted through a stack of them before I found one with a message that I thought was especially appropriate.

"Not one more death," it said.

For me, that's the central issue about Iraq - the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and who knows how many Iraqis in a war that isn't and wasn't necessary.

The answer to the debate about what to do now is simple. We should do
whatever it takes to stop the killing, never mind whether that's seen as a
defeat.

What glory can there be in winning an immoral war that should never have been fought? What pride can there be in a victory that has needlessly consumed so many lives? I was amazed at the positive response the demonstrators received from people driving by.

Many honked their horns enthusiastically and others held up their fingers in the V shape that's come to be known as the peace sign. One demonstrator laughed that some people have also flashed the one-fingered peace sign at her.

I'd estimate that half the passersby were on our side. And they weren't radicals. Supporters included young people, soccer moms and dads and gray-haired grandparents.

I took home a sign that declares: "Support the troops. End the war."I do support the troops. They're braver than most of us to put their lives on the line for their country. The fact their government started and refuses to end a pointless war doesn't diminish their courage.

I also visited a replica of the Vietnam wall at the St. Cloud VA Hospital that night, more by coincidence than design.

The memorial displays the names of 58,000 Americans killed in that war, and I wonder whether, more than 30 years later, anyone knows why they had to die.

I support our brave troops by protesting to try to help end a war that otherwise might add them to a list of dead that now approaches 4,000.

I don't want anyone to stand in front of another memorial wall someday and read the neatly carved names of 5,000 or 10,000 or more Americans and wonder why they had to die.

Great work Chuck!

I can tell you that 3 years ago, it was not such a pleasant experience. I had a full coke can thrown out of a moving car at me...it missed by a foot or so...but kept going!

Monday, August 20, 2007

A local LTE on transportation

From the Startribune. I wonder if Dean Urdahl is paying attention? Will his flip flop on transportation cost him anything in 2008?

PRIORITIZING ISN'T ENOUGH

Inflation took a toll

Since the bridge collapse, writers to these pages have been critical of calls to increase the state's gas tax -- which, it bears continuous repeating, has not been increased in almost two decades. Some claim that all we need do is "prioritize" our spending options and all will be well. This suggested course of action, deceptive in its simplicity, is what has us in our current predicament.
We have spent the last 15 years prioritizing our transportation projects precisely because our revenue has not kept up with our ability to pay. While some may disagree, having the courage to ask Minnesota motorists to chip in a little more per gallon must be a part of the overall solution.

MIKE WORCESTER, COKATO, MINN

Friday, August 17, 2007

Avidor on Rep Olson

Great stuff over at Dump Mark Olson!

So, Rep Olson of Big Lake, convicted of misdemeanor assault in July, must pay nearly $400 in fines and court costs, attend a 12-week behavior-oriented workshop and have no contact with his wife, Heidi Olson.

$400 fine for beating his wife?

Seriously? WTF is that all about?

Avidor has the scoop!

Even though marriage started out on a happy note for the couple, it did not take long for things to sour. For Olson, a first-time marriage at 48 years old included being a parent for the first time to five children, one of them with autism.

Coupled with these dynamics, Heidi says Olson’s biblical interpretation of Scripture became a major source of contention in their home and marriage.Heidi maintains Olson’s biblical interpretation of the man being the head of the home meant that Olson has total control of everything in the home, and that her role was to merely support whatever decisions he made.

The biggest conflict, she says, was about parenting issues, discipline in particular. She adds that Olson did not feel she responded quickly enough or hard enough in disciplining her kids.

“My opinions regarding raising children, or how I felt something should be done, were not going to be listened to,” Heidi says. “He had an idea of how it should be done, and he really wanted it to be done that way.”

At first Heidi went along with the way Olson wanted things, but when she saw how harsh things became, she says she wanted to regroup and tell him his ideas of running a family and a marriage were not working for her. He would not concede, though.

“He saw any input I wanted to have on disciplining my own children—my biological children—as being disrespectful to him,” Heidi says.

Olson conducted family life much like politics, Heidi contends. She says the politician, husband and father saw issues as black or white, right or wrong. But politics did not work in a blended family situation, she says in which diplomacy and compromise was needed.

Olson’s harsh disposition was particularly egregious concerning Heidi’s autistic son. When the boy would make a mistake about something, Heidi says Olson would not overlook the error even though it might be petty.

Such was the case when Olson was playing Monopoly with the 13-year-old.“My son with autism had paid the wrong price for a hotel,” Heidi recalls, “and because Mark deals with everything as either right or wrong, he had to correct him on the price of the hotel. It became an issue and I received a call from my son saying ‘Mark just won’t let it go. I don’t know what to do.’”

Heidi instructed her son to stop playing the game and go to his room and read a book, or he could apologize for paying the wrong price and continue playing the game. The boy apologized and continued playing, but apparently Olson would not let it go.

“My son started hitting himself because he became so frustrated with Mark, and he thought Mark was harassing him,” Heidi says. “So he started hitting himself in the head, and hitting at Mark.”Several days passed since the incident, and whenever Heidi tried talking to Olson about how her son needed to be handled, he refused to talk about it.

“These kinds of kids have a quicker breaking point than most other kids,” Heidi explains. “You just don’t harass them about stuff that isn’t a big deal. You learn how to talk to them.”

And Olson remains as a State Representative...

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Annandale Advocate gives Urdahl a free pass

On my way home from work tonight, I stopped by my parents place in Annandale to chat for a bit. Seeing the story on the left column of the Annandale Advocate got me fired up a tad bit.

"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!

Monday, August 06, 2007

Great work at Beyond Sound Bites...

Great work!
And last but not least former Secretary of State, Big Lakes own Mary Kiffmeyer was discovered to have misspent a lot of money and took reimbursements to which she was not entitled. She gave raises to her staff and bypassed the State HR department. So she cost us about $160,000 which will be difficult to recover.
Kiffmeyer did not blame her spouse so one wonders if she is a true Sherburne
County Republican.By the way Kiffmeyer once said that the 5 most dangerous words in the English language are “separation of church and state.”In Sherburne County the most dangerous phrase an elected republican can utter may be “Marry me”

Keep up the good work!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

More on the MinnCan pipeline

It's been a long week at work, I have not had a lot of time to post or respond to what's going on lately...but nothing like going back to another good ole MinnCan / Koch Industries pipeline story.

The SC Times has a story today about an appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals regarding the pipeline being forced down their throats in Greater Minnesota.

Some seem to think that 165 landowners should simply roll over because nearly a thousand did. If you have checked out previous posts here about the pipeline, you will read about extremely coercive tactics used by Koch Industries / MinnCan pipeline folks.

MPIRG attorney John Carney said the landowners' due-process rights were violated because:

» Many landowners never received notification of the pipeline, while others received notice too late to have any meaningful participation in the process.

» The PUC didn't follow a Minnesota Supreme Court decision requiring that new utilities follow existing routes when possible.

» The PUC didn't properly evaluate whether a new crude oil pipeline is needed in Minnesota. Other alternatives weren't considered or were rejected without proper analysis, the landowners contend.

» The environmental review wasn't adequate for a project of such magnitude and impact.

Regardless, nearly 6 months later, the pipeline cutting through the heart of Greater Minnesota still remains an incredibly important issue, especially for our farmers.

We'll continue to follow the story!

Friday, June 29, 2007

More local musings

In my notable absence fighting neo-conservative political operatives, this story flew under my radar.

Thank goodness for great minds like Chris Truscott and Dave Mindeman at mnpACT!.

Rep Ron Shimanski takes pride in his first year at the capitol as an obstructionist.

House members held the line against over $5 billion in new, job-killing tax
increases. In cooperation with the governor, who made very clear from the
beginning that there were some initiatives that would be "poison pills" - making
an entire bill unsignable - House members promoted the values that Minnesotans
hold dear.

It's the same rant he sent out in his constituent email as well.

Thankfully, Dave was around to set Shimanski straight.

$5 billion...wow..sounds like a lot. But, a lot of that money was offset by property tax relief. New taxes on the wealthy to give a break to property owners already hit by a slumping housing market. That particular bill had a net increase in taxes of zero.

And one of the poison pills alluded to by Rep. Shimanski is an effort to take inflation into account for state budgeting. Most of you understand inflation... you know... the thing that made the Crosstown Project cost an additional 30% during a 3 year delay in execution. The thing consumers are noticing in the produce aisles. The increases the state takes into account on the revenue side of things but pretends doesn't exist for spending purposes.
In his hometown of Silver Lake, the top issue people talked to me about last year was property taxes. Shimanski failed his constituents and his hometown.

Another issue Shimanski failed to address deals with the Koch Industry / MinnCan pipeline debacle. Shimanski, a small farmer himself, failed to act to protect farmers near Lester Prairie and Plato, as pipeline representatives used coercive tactics in order to obtain permission to run the pipeline through their property.

The SC Times published a story today about the pipeline problems as well.
The owners of about 85 percent of those parcels have signed agreements giving Minnesota Pipe Line an easement across their property in exchange for a payment, company spokeswoman Patty Dunn said.

The owners of the remaining 15 percent haven't signed either because they haven't reached a financial agreement or because of objections to the project. The company filed petitions in 13 counties this week seeking condemnation of the easement tracts, Dunn said.


A blatant assault of property owners rights. Where are the conservatives on this? Tom Emmer? Ron Shimanski? Dean Urdahl? Why are you not protecting the private property rights of Minnesota's farmers?

Monday, June 18, 2007

The hidden racists of St Cloud

Dr Roy Saigo has recently retired at the President at SCSU. I cannot say enough about his time at SCSU, the University took a major step forward under his reign at SCSU.

The SC Times had an excellent editorial yesterday that highlighted some of Dr Saigo's accomplishments.

Unfortunately, the closet racists in the area have littered Story Chat with comments.

AAAL from St. Joe Comment
Posted: 6/17/2007 2:21:30 AM
Siago = endorsment of male queens


Discrimination never rests in St Cloud, 2:30 in the morning and the attacks begin.
count from countyline
Comment Posted: 6/17/2007 10:21:12 AM
I think the " homecoming queen
fiasco" was caused by a typo.
When typing --QUEEN---- on the ballots,
the person typing hit "R" ibstead of "N". ( that would explain it)


Going on three years now and some are still bitching about the Homecoming elections. For the record, Dr Saigo had nothing to do with students across the campus voting and electing a gay Hmong man Homecoming Queen.

Those still bitching about this...

1. Have way too much time on their hands.
2. Probably could not have voted for or against a candidate in that election as they were not students.
3. Give the St Cloud area a black eye for their persistent and covert racism. I say covert because no one knows who AAAL is, whereas you can pretty much figure out who in the hell Blueman is. I'm not covert at all...

Saigo defended students publicaly when the local nutjobs started calling in death threats to the Student Government offices and to the homes of some of those involved. I have not agreed with all of Dr Saigo's decisions and we have had some lengthy discussions about that. However, he is quite simply the most student oriented leader I have met and I have a great amount of respect for him. I have learned a lot from him and wish him the best of luck in his retirement. Perhaps he'll spend some time on a local lake catching a few Walleye...but I bet he heads out to Oregon to catch the big ones!

What people don't know is that people like Dan Severson and Bud Heidgerken called for Dr Saigo to resign after the 2004 Homecoming.

They told us in lobby meetings that they were going to have a hard to advocating money for SCSU in light of the 2004 Homecoming.

Seriously! Rep Severson came and testified at a few Student Government meetings...it was a zoo to say the least!

All this over Homecoming.

The SC Times got it right though. There is a lot to celebrate as Dr Saigo retires. He has left a legacy at SCSU.

A modern collegiate library, the Miller Center.

A state of the art small college multi-purpose stadium, domed in the winter for more activities.

A parking ramp going up, (disagreed adamantly about where it was going).

Future PhD programs on campus.

Greater counseling services in a central location.

I could go on and on...

Dr Saigo is a good man and both himself and his wife Barb will be missed by the community, despite what the racists post at Story Chat.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Around the District

A smattering of stories across the District!

Spin on the Transportation veto continues. Dille and Urdahl report in the Annandale Advocate.
"We've got to do something to fund transportation," Urdahl said of the
bonding bill that was vetoed by the governor and then nearly overturned in the
House."We're $1.7 billion behind where we need to be. We've got to find a way to
fund this," Urdahl said. Local units of government are the big losers. "We need
to find ways to get money to counties, cities and townships."

Both Urdahl and Dille voted for the transportation bill, which had strong
support in the House and Senate. Urdahl didn't vote to override Pawlenty's veto.
"It needed 90 votes and it only got 83."There's a better way to address the
problem than a meaningless override vote," Urdahl said.


The override vote was not a meaningless vote. Real leaders show courage in situations such as this. Some, even work across party lines to do what is best for their constituents.

Urdahl tried to explain his vote in a previous op ed piece in the Annandale paper as well.
My recent vote to support the transportation conference committee report was
cast to make a point to the governor.
Talk about a meaningless vote.

Property taxes will continue to increase due to failures of Republican House Caucus obstructionists, as noted in the West Central Tribune yesterday.

Senator Dille had his op ed piece supporting the Transportation Bill in the Annandale Advocate, Dassel Cokato Enterprise Dispatch, and the McLeod County Chronicle.

He lays out the argument to support the bill the Governor vetoed, and does a great job in doing do I might add.
Experts estimate we need an extra $1.8 billion per year for 10 years to catch up on our transportation needs. The bill provided 44 percent of this amount or $800 million per year on average for 10 years. Although less than what is needed, the bill was a step in the right direction. The so-called "lights on" transportation bill that later was passed and signed by the governor provided no new money.

The bill included a 5-cent gas tax increase which would help fund county, city and township roads and bridges. This helps prevent local property tax increases.

The bill increased transportation revenue in a way that would have made Minnesota potentially eligible for hundreds of millions of additional federal matching dollars (20 percent state dollars matches 80 percent federal dollars). Without the increase, this money goes to other states. Minnesota already ranks almost dead last (49th) in the amount of federal money it gets back for all purposes.

The bill was also actively supported by county and city leaders from my district, including Meeker, McLeod and Wright counties, and the cities of Glencoe, Hutchinson, Silver Lake, Watkins and others.

Go to the papers to see the full context of the op ed.

The Stewart mayor stepped down at the most recent City Council meeting.

A firearm incident near Dassel. Probably the reason I heard a helicopter when I came home last Friday night.

The Enterprise Dispatch had a great opinion piece by Bill Ward, Dassel Lakeside Home Administrator.

"What the heck just happened here?" Those in long term care made a great case to the Minnesota Legislature for a 7% increase. The legislature passed a 1.87% increase and mandated that the money go towards new costs.

Providers will continue to be shorted $35 a day, a 22% shortage.

So while property taxes will go up...again, roads are in a continued degraded condition in Greater Minnesota, the disparity between rural and urban school funding widens, and our seniors are being short changed, at least we fell out of the Top 10 in taxation!

We're going to feel the price of this "wonderful" accomplishment.


Thursday, June 14, 2007

Greater Minnesota Transportation woes continue

Several local media outlets are covering the spin post legislative session, with the majority of spin coming from Republicans justifying their failure to support strong transportation legislation.

Dean Urdahl is at the forefront of the spin, offering excuse after excuse in the Annandale Advocate.

I'll comment more later on the Urdahl flop and his Bachmann like attempts at changing his story with regards to the Transportation veto.

The West Central Tribune had a story today that really caught my eye and raised my dander a bit.

Recall that both the Transportation Bill and Tax Bill got vetoed. These bills would have provided much needed property tax relief and transportation funding in Greater Minnesota.

The Willmar paper paints a disturbing picture regarding the impact of these veto's in Greater Minnesota.
If Kandiyohi County is going to complete just the minimum maintenance on its
roads during the next five years, property taxes will need to increase 8 percent
each of those years.

Minimum maintenance! It gets better!
Never mind reconstructing roads that are too narrow, don’t have shoulders or can’t bear the weight of farm and commercial trucks. Most of those roads have been taken off the county’s five-year reconstruction plan. At best, they’ll get an overlay to buy time until more money is available.

Raise your hand if you have ever travelled down one of these narrow county or township roads.

It can literally be a precarious jaunt.

Needless to say, County Commissioners across Greater Minnesota are not pleased with their Republican legislators.

We also recall no need to account for inflation in the budget process as well...
Inflation and the high cost of asphalt is part of the reason for need to budget $2 million each year, Danielson said. The lack of new state transportation funding means that if county roads are going to be kept in shape, local taxpayers will have to pay more.

While I was disappointed at how the session ended, the reality of what obstructionists like Dean Urdahl have caused are starting to come to light. If it's bad in Kandiyohi County, it's going to be bad in Wright and Meeker Counties as well.

I wonder what people like Wally Strand and Amy Wilde think of the mess Urdahl helped create. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for those conversations!

2008 cannot come soon enough. Holding Dean Urdahl and others accountable is my top priority.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Breaking around the District

Soldiers from Litchfield and surrounding communities are deploying to Iraq...again. Governor Pawlenty will most likely make his way out into the flyover areas to wish our troops the best.

I bet Urdahl keeps him off of County Road 22, too many potholes for the Governor. He'll stick to Highway 12.

Glencoe is losing some jobs. 25 jobs are expected to leave. It also follows job reductions at Starkey Labs and Bosch-Telex Communications.

The biggest economic hit will be felt in Hutchinson though. Hutchinson Technology is laying off 500 workers, 225 in the Hutchinson facility.

If you travel through small town Greater Minnesota, stop to check out the abundance of vacancy's in Howard Lake, Dassel, Cokato, Glencoe, Stewart, and Brownton.

Our rural economies are slowly but surely dying...and some seem to think our elected leaders are doing a great job in St Paul.

Although Mr. Glennie tends to write from a conservative side, I do enjoy his writings, his opinion and do side with him from time to time.

I do not on this instance.
Freshman House member Ron Shimanski, R-Silver Lake, did exactly what was
expected of a minority member of the Minnesota House of Representatives - he
voted party line and stood behind Gov. Tim Pawlenty, also a Republican, as the
governor vetoed bill after bill placed on his desk.

Shimanski made no bones about it. He was there to support the governor to
ensure that the large DFL majorities in both the House and Senate could not
override those vetoes without support of some Republican legislators. He was not
going to be one of them.


Wow. Shimanski joined the ranks of his tag team Rep in SD 18 and put politics before the people. Shimanski's duty, as an elected leader, was to support his constituents first, his party and Governor second. Clearly he has put his party and his political future before the people.

A LTE in the Dassel Cokato Enterprise Dispatch also caught my eye this week.

His commentary centered around the debate of the "separation of church and state". While the retired pastor commented on the passing of Jerry Falwell he also makes a very distinct point, as a retired Lutheran pastor.
The pulpit should be for proclaiming the Word of God. Never should a minister
use the pulpit to support a political candidate or party.

Concise and well said!

Speaking of religion and politics, Congresswoman Bachmann had a LTE in the Annandale Advocate as well.
We can continue our steadfast support for the men and women whose lives are in
danger as well as those who have returned home after long tours abroad -
soldiers who fought to keep us safe today as well as in years past - by keeping
the promises we've made to them: by providing them with the benefits to which
they are entitled in the years following service - all priorities of Congress
this year.

Perhaps Katherine Kersten and Congresswoman Bachmann should get on the same sheet of music!

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Urdahl puts politics before the people

Rep Dean Urdahl voted for the Omnibus Transportation Bill before he voted against it.

Constitutionally, the proceeds from the gas tax go directly into our states roads.

The net proceeds of the taxes shall be apportioned: 62 percent to the trunk highway fund; 29 percent to the county state-aid highway fund; nine percent to the municipal state-aid street fund.

That's billions of dollars that could have gone to roads that run across SD 18, like Highway's 55, 24, 22 and 15. Anyone who has driven these roads knows the disrepair many of these major roads have fallen in.

Take a ride down County Road 5 between Annandale and Cokato. You'll see the same problems.

Yesterday I spent more than 4 hours in Twin Cities traffic. An hour and a half from Maple Lake to St Michael!

Urdahl claims to understand that transportation is a significant issue for HD 18B. If that is truly the case, he would not play politics with transportation funding.

He voted for the bill on May 14th because it was a good bill. It would raise taxes, but it would benefit the whole greater than the individual sacrifice, a sign of good legislation.

It was only after a meeting with Governor Pawlenty, and surely some stern discussions with Minority Leader Seifert, that Urdahl folded.

Governor Pawlenty did not elect Dean Urdahl.

Marty Seifert did not elect Dean Urdahl.

The people of HD 18B elected Dean Urdahl and must hold him accountable for putting politics before the people.