By George Spangler
In the two weeks remaining before election day, we must reflect upon whether or not we got our money’s worth with our current elected state officials. In SE Minnesota, we spent about $85,000 in salary and travel expenses for our State Representative and Senator to attend less than 150 days of legislative sessions. What has been our return on investment? Three major items needed attention in the 2016 session, the Tax Bill, Transportation, and Bonding; we got none of the above!
The tax bill that emerged favored “big tobacco” companies; will our tobacco products now be cheaper, and is this important to all Minnesotans? Further examination by the Governor revealed a $100 million “error,” preventing its enactment (an “or” was written in place of an “and” in one section). Was this really an error, just sloppy language (serious enough since District 28B is represented by Greg Davids, Chairman of the Senate Tax Committee), or, was this simply another example of the obstructive and irrational action of our elected officials who also pretend not to see the evidence of global climate change? Now it is up to the Governor to convene a special session to do what our legislators were paid to do the last time they met.
Let us also look at the bonding bill, defeated by a single vote of Senate Republicans, for examples of what we continue to lose because of the intransigence of our legislators. A special category of expenditures in bonding bill requests is identified as “asset preservation.” This means exactly what it says, a recognition that an ounce of prevention (maintenance) is worth a pound of cure (re-building). In these cases, we have already paid for items that earlier legislators and their constituents thought to be in the best interests of the citizens of Minnesota. The proposed bonding bill included $120 million of asset preservation requests across 14 sections of government. About $90 million of this would have gone to higher education, including our State University system. Another $15 million would have supported human services, veterans and military affairs, corrections and essential administrative services. Was it simply too much to ask for the minimum of asset preservation in a reduced bonding bill?
These few examples are only a small part of the legitimate cost of providing essential government services in Minnesota. There is no free lunch. If we need to borrow money to preserve the assets we already own, interest rates are now at bargain basement prices.
Adding insult to injury, the ballot we will see in November will be asking us to further diminish the impact of OUR VOTE by approving proposals to make county recorders and auditors appointees rather than elected officials. We will also be asked to approve the assignment of legislative salaries to an appointed commission rather than elected legislators, an act that would further remove our elected representatives from their RESPONSIBILITY to act on our behalf. This is exactly how Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is shirking responsibility for the lead poisoning of 50,000 inhabitants of Flint, Mich., during “his watch” over the well-being of Michigan citizens.
This nonsense has gone on long enough. On November 8, vote Pieper for Senate and Trehus for the Minnesota State House.