Guest Blogger

The following post was written by a guest blogger, Marcia, who is the head of our local DFL unit.  I was unable to attend the meeting she is going to discuss, so she kindly did a write-up for me to post here.  Thanks Marcia!

I attended a Town Hall Meeting last night in Crosby. Rep. John Ward (DFL) Senator Paul Gazelka (GOP SD 12 ) and Senator John Carlson (GOP SD 4). This was obviously 2:1 and I was proud of Rep. Ward for holding his own and defending the middle class.

The discussion revolved around the state’s budget and the potential shut down. Senator Carlson had some realistic points, but when a couple of Central Lakes College Student Senate students addressed Gazelka I heard him say that they should not ‘depend on government.’ He was not listening to them about how they were struggling to stay in school, needing work study and accumulating escalating school loans. The state used to pay 60% of tuition and now it pays 40%. Does MN value education anymore? The man lacks empathy, despite talking about several of his children being in college.

Mr. Gazelka better not go back to a special session and bring up Voter ID and funding a stadium! That will send me over the edge. It’s bad enough that he voted (and sponsored) putting discrimination on the ballot for 2012.

There was excellent testimony from teachers, nurses and blue collar citizens about the impact of ‘no new taxes’ on them the last 10 years.

If cutting taxes on the top tier was supposed to create more jobs and add stability, what has happened? Corporations are sitting on piles of cash and not hiring. Employees are working harder and some corporations are sending jobs overseas and hiding massive profits in overseas banks.

The GOP stance is that if the top 2% is asked to pay their fare share - they will leave the state. There have been tax cuts in MN the last few years, when times were good – the rich (and the rest of us) got tax cuts, so why when times are tough would we not want to make sure MN remains healthy? One woman said she does not want to compete with Mississippi. We’re MINNESOTA!!!

John Ward noted that Polaris (a MN based company) was closing its North Dakota plant. All the fear about companies moving to North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin that the GOP swears will happen if they are asked to contribute toward good education, good infrastructure and the things MN critically needs.

But the worst comment of the evening was Gazelka saying that welfare people were moving to MN because they can access more benefits and they can use their EBT cards for tobacco and alcohol. John Ward said he would like to offer some ‘facts’ – and that was that ‘welfare’ Gazelka was speaking of was 1% of the budget. 85% of the Health & Human Service budget goes to nursing homes. Now - Remember the GOP was adamantly opposed to “Death Panels.” In Wisconsin, seniors get end of life counseling and they make out Living Wills and Health Care Directives. Wisconsin has cut health care costs because the elderly have chosen not to remain hooked up to tubes and to a machine with no hope for a quality life. This makes sense, to have seniors (or anyone!) make these choices while they are alive and well. This is when health care costs escalate, in the last few months of life.

It gets so tiring listening to the knee-jerk comments of Mr. Gazelka. Upon leaving I was giving thanks for Rep. John Ward and his courage defending the middle class. We know there have to be cuts, but they should not come at the expense of the health and well being of our great state. Cutting people off from Minnesota Care will result in increased Emergency Room costs. That hurts our hospitals. Those if us that have insurance pay more to cover these costs. We do not have an HONEST BUDGET and we have not had one for YEARS.

We need to be looking at the big picture and quit playing the ‘shell game’ budget that Tim Pawlenty subjected us to for his terms in office. Let’s decide what is important to MN and focus on that! I urge everyone to listen to former (GOP) Arne Carlson’s comments on the current state of our state. It is an eye opener. Tim Pawlenty did not budge an inch with a DFL House and Senate. Now the GOP House and Senate majority expects DFL Governor Mark Dayton to cave in to all their requests and budget? Maybe Gov. Dayton should and let the people see the ‘all cuts’ budget and what will happen to Minnesota. It would ensure that the DFL would win in 2012. I just hate to see all the people hurt in the process.