MN-08: Stauber emails broke the law

Pete Stauber is the Republican candidate for the U.S. House in MN-08, which happens to be where I live. From today:

Today, St. Louis County officials finally released controversial emails that Pete Stauber has been hiding from the taxpayers. Jordan Hagert, Campaign Manager for Joe Radinovich, released the following statement: “These emails are clear evidence that Pete Stauber has been openly and knowingly violating the law and county policy to use taxpayer resources to advance his political agenda. Stauber then went on to lie about the fact that he had used county staff and resources for campaign purposes, and he knew it was illegal to do so. It’s part of a broader pattern of misleading the public. He’s been as slippery on his policy positions as he has been untruthful about these emails, and it's clear Stauber can’t be trusted to do the right thing when no one is looking.”

You may be wondering why I’m not calling Stauber a liar, in my own remarks. For me, lying is when someone is consciously aware that she is making a claim that’s not true. Years of careful observation have convinced me that right-wing politicians are so far gone in motivated reasoning and cognitive rigidity that they honestly believe every word of the pitiable nonsense they spout. The best example, these days, is of course Stauber’s big booster “President” Donald "Traitor" Trump. People whose minds “work” like that are certainly not what we should have running things.

But, hey, DFL candidate Joe Radinovich was a wild kid, a long time ago, and that’s what really matters here, right? In fact, the Stauber campaign has been atrociously hypocritical, throughout.

Yeah Pete. Hammer such scofflaw things as traffic tickets. The purity of the "hard workers who obey the law in CD8" is a tremendous thing to run on, when little else favors a Trumpster Congressional wannabe, with Trumpster cohort criminal pleas falling right, left and center; immunity grants included. Millionaires cheating the government, big time crime, and Stauber turning a blind eye to such true CRIME to talk traffic tickets. - Developers are Crabgrass

Just the other week I had occasion to take a drive across the south part of the district. That is, past a lot of corn and soybean fields. We’ll see whether, given the effects of Trump's trade policies, this area is less red than usual.

If Republicans ran Minnesota - environment

This series is based mostly on what Party of Trump state legislators have been trying to do. It is not remotely meant to be anywhere near exhaustive. Just items I’ve chosen to particularly highlight, being brought together for easy reference. I may be adding stuff, from time to time. Part 1, finances and budget, here. Part 3, education, elections, &c., here.

- This article, from Fresh Energy, excellently summarizes a lot of what went down, especially with solar.

- As does this, in a variety of areas, from the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy.

- Xcel energy tried to use plutocratic tools in the lege to pull a bunch of crap, some of which is described in the preceding. This was probably the most noxious:

While Xcel Energy has made notable progress on building new renewable energy sources, they’re still happy to shift ever-mounting nuclear plant costs onto ratepayers. This bill would have created a new, uncapped fee on customers’ bills to pay for those costs –and allowed Xcel to run around the normal Public Utilities Commission (“PUC”) process for approving investments and costs. We put pressure on Xcel and their allies in the legislature from the start: they cancelled a hearing at the last minute, watered down the bill, and ultimately let the measure die. - Environment Minnesota

From the same article:

Companies like Enbridge can build pipelines and replace them without federal intervention –that’s why it’s up to states like Minnesota to act. Right now, the PUC is considering whether to allow Enbridge to expand its Line 3 pipeline, letting millions of gallons of heavy tar sands crude run through indigenous lands, family farms, and public green spaces. Some legislators decided that our evidence-based process isn’t fast enough, though, and tried to pass legislation that would instantly approve Line 3. Thankfully, Governor Mark Dayton vetoed the bill, responding to pressure from Environment Minnesota’s members.

MN House: Ginny Klevorn in 44A

From her website:

Care for our Seniors:

- Promote policies that protect seniors’ ability to live independently in their homes

- Protect the ability to retire with dignity and peace of mind

- Prepare for growing senior population through development and training of qualified in-home care

Here are some examples of what Rep. Sarah Anderson (R-Plymouth) has been up to in the lege:

- Fighting against workplace protections for women;

- Helping out the predatory payday loan industry;

- Promoting right-wing gerrymandering.

You get the picture. Fanatical and power-crazed. This seat’s overdue to flip.

MN House: Amir Malik in 37B

From his website:

The number one cause of bankruptcy in America is medical expenses. Healthcare needs to be affordable for Minnesotans. While there are great programs like MinnesotaCare, more needs to be done. A healthy workforce is a productive, tax-paying workforce. Healthy children are better able to focus on achieving academically.

As for Rep. Nolan West (R-Blaine):

In fall 2016, after 21 months as a legislative aide, West, then 25, was running for an open seat representing Blaine in the Minnesota House.

That September, City Pages ran a story about West’s years-long history of racist and homophobic social media diatribes. There were posts about the Confederacy (loved it), Abe Lincoln (“worst president”), and “fagballs.”

On the eve of Barack Obama’s 2008 election, he wrote, “IT’S LYNCHING TIME.”

The next day, West was out of a job... but still on the ballot and suddenly regretful for “insensitive material” that didn’t “reflect who I am or what I believe.”

Enough of Blaine’s voters either bought this mea culpa or didn’t know about it. That November, West beat retired school teacher Susan Witt by less than 1 percent. - City Pages

A relevant item of interest is a recent study of the electoral effects of bigoted, anti-Muslim rhetoric and activity, discussed and linked here. I don’t know whether West’s campaign has been doing that, but there’s certainly plenty of it in the Minnesota Party of Trump in general.

MN House: Bill Vikander in 35A

From his website:

I promise to speak up for every citizen in our district and in our state, no matter who they are, where they're from, or where they're going.  We must close the gender wage gap.  We must have an honest conversation about race and how racism still impacts each and every Minnesotan and American.  We must remember our history and embrace immigrants once again--not turn them away out of fear or politics.  We must support a woman's right to make her own reproductive health care decisions.  We must act with urgency, clarity, and purpose to meet the challenge of climate change and preserve Minnesota's natural resources for generations to come.

These are not "progressive" or "conservative" values.  They are human values, born of basic kindness and decency.  They are Minnesota values.  

This is the seat vacated by Abigail Whelan, who left the legislature to walk Christ’s path in other ways. Nothing wrong with that, if you ask me, as long as those who “walk Christ’s path” don’t try to force their own interpretation of that onto the rest of us. Which Whelan certainly did. And the GOP candidate here, John Heinrich, is casting himself as Whelan's worthy successor.

Tough district? Absolutely. But whenever someone talks to me about tough districts, this cycle, I use a five-word rejoinder (actually, four words and a letter): “Sen. Doug Jones (D-Alabama).”

MN House: Hunter Cantrell in 56A

From his website:

 Year after year, Minnesota's state legislature has continued to push through bills in the dead of night that deal with billions of our tax-payer dollars during the final hours of the legislative session. Minnesotans deserve to have the opportunity to give feedback on the policies that affect us. I want to put an end to the practice of passing important bills that no one has had the chance to read by requiring that all state budget targets to be established 14 days before the end of the legislative session, and be made open to public testimony before coming to a vote.

Special interest groups ranging from the pharmaceutical industry to the tobacco companies continue to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to buy influence over our state government. I believe politics is about serving the needs of people in our communities over the needs of the special interest groups. I am committed to reducing the ability of special interest groups to buy power and exert influence over policy-makers at the expense of the people of Minnesota.

Rep. Drew Christensen (R-Savage) got attention when he first ran, and won, in 2014 because he was all of 21 years old at the time. In the lege he’s been a cipher. This is a supremely flippable seat.

MN House: Lori Ann Clark in 21A

From her website:

Investments in public education are especially vital to rural communities who want new families to move to their towns. Our state funding solutions need to be sufficient, steady, and reliable so rural schools can create the educational opportunities our students require to learn and succeed.

To compete in this ever-changing world, Lori Ann supports a strong cradle-to-grave public education system that starts with pre-school readiness and continues with occupational retraining options to keep workers skilled and working. 

We need to support our public education teachers and their rights to organize and collectively bargain.

This is the seat that Tim Kelly left after well-publicized, adulterous involvement with then-fellow legislator Tara Mack. Rep. Barb Haley (R-Red Wing) has not sought legislative prominence, so far. From what I saw she appears to be somewhat “moderate,” with moderate in quotes because it’s entirely relative to the raving, bigoted insanity of the contemporary Party of Trump. A DFLer like Clark in this seat would be far, far better.

MN House: Alice Mann in 56B

From her website:

An older gentleman recently came to see me in clinic, someone I’ve gotten to know well over the years. As we discussed his medications, he told me that because of the high cost, he had been rationing them, taking them every other day. When it comes to medical care, no one should have to choose between their health and the ability to pay their heating bill.

I believe that everyone should have access to affordable care.

I have experienced what healthcare looks like in developing nations without proper care, and I have experienced what it looks like here in our backyard. I have also been fortunate enough to study at some of the best medical programs in the country. I am not interested in parroting partisan talking points. I am interested in creating policy that can bring real solutions.

Rep. Roz Peterson (R-Lakeville) appears to well know that she’s in a swing district, and has on occasion done, or at least proclaimed, the "centrist" thing. (More here.) But she is absolutely a devoted member of the Party of Traitor Trump, and needs to go.

MN House: Shelly Christensen in 39B

From her website:

By the year 2020 the population of seniors in Minnesota will be just under 1 million. Seniors will be the largest share of population state wide. There will be more seniors in 2035 than there will be school children. Seniors are dependent on affordable healthcare, including common sense prescription pricing. They will require sound transportation systems to improve mobility and more access to home-care. Shelly supports substantial investment to ensure that our seniors have adequate support services. There is a growing need for personal care assistants, adult day care services, medical supplies and equipment and customized living spaces that allow seniors to stay in the home.

This district isn’t that red, and it’s unfortunate that Rep. Kathy Lohmer (R-Stillwater) keeps getting reelected. She got off on the wrong foot, way back in 2012, with "Car-Wrap Gate," among other things, but has since then pursued her religious-right obsessions in the legislature in a more low-key way. Except for being part of the "Muslims are infiltrating our caucuses" thing, which actually seems to be a bigot badge of honor in the MN GOP, right now.

If Republicans ran Minnesota - finances and budget

This series is based mostly on what Party of Trump state legislators have been trying to do. It is not remotely meant to be anywhere near exhaustive. Just items I’ve chosen to particularly highlight, being brought together for easy reference. I may be adding stuff, from time to time. Part 2, environment, here. Part 3, education, elections, &c., here.

- Republican budget proposals in 2018 kind of came and went, but this provides the gist of what their approach was. As always.

While the tax cuts passed by Congress last year mean more money for many earners and businesses, Minnesota stands to pull in nearly $500 million a year in additional revenues. Dayton has proposed redirecting that money largely to individuals and families. That would leave some businesses with a higher tax burden while also repealing GOP-backed tax cuts on tobacco products, wealthy estate owners and businesses that passed the Legislature just last year.

But Republicans in the House (in April 2018) released a rough budget roadmap that calls would put an additional $107 million toward tax breaks, while calling for $7 million in unspecified cuts to state agencies. Republicans who control the Senate have also left the door open to using part of the state's expected surplus to reduce taxes even more. - US News & World Report

This details the deleterious long-term effects of the tax policy Republicans rammed through in 2017.

- The Party of Trump was unfortunately successful in raiding the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. (The article was written before Gov. Dayton, in a position where he pretty much had to give the GOP something, signed off.)

How clever Kurt Daudt and Paul Gazelka are, the Legislature’s head honchos.

Daudt, the Republican House speaker, and Gazelka, the Republican Senate majority leader, waited until the final hours of the recent legislative session to abscond with money from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF). - Dennis Anderson/Star Tribune

A lawsuit has been filed, by some of the state’s environmental organizations, to try to prevent such a vile travesty from reoccurring.

Environmentalists were infuriated this year when Minnesota’s Legislature funneled money from a natural resources trust fund to pay for a $98 million bundle of infrastructure projects — the first known instance of such a maneuver.

But a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and other groups to reverse the spending from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF) may have implications that go far beyond that goal.

Aaron Klemz, an MCEA spokesman, said the legal action also serves as a warning to legislators to stay away from the state’s other constitutionally dedicated funds for the environment. That primarily means money from the voter-approved 2008 Legacy Amendment, which pays for a swath of natural resources projects across Minnesota through a sales tax. - MinnPost

As the article quoted just above notes, Republicans would love to raid Legacy Amendment funds as well. What they’d love most of all, though, is to get rid of the Legacy Amendment entirely, long shot though that is. That the people of Minnesota would have voted to raise their own taxes is regarded as a deeply personal - indeed, all but unbearable - insult to the legacy of Almighty Reagan.

- Sometimes you wonder whether if the GOP was in charge there'd be bonding bills at all. Probably just piddling ones, containing only projects in red districts. It's not as if we're talking about tax cuts for the rich, you know.

MN House: Mindy Kimmel in 16B

Very tough district, but, why not? The past couple of years’ worth of special elections nationwide shows that nothing’s out of reach. From Kimmel's website:

Mindy Kimmel was inspired to run for political office in 2017 after attending the Women's March in St. Paul. After considering, "What can I do next," it became clear that the best way was to pursue a run for office. She seeks common ground solutions for the challenges rural communities face.

Rep. Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska) doesn’t have much to say about the issues, on his website. As he’s a farmer it certainly seems that he should rethink some of his views, given how Traitor Trump is screwing farmers. But it looks like he hasn’t, and likely won’t.

MN House: Renee Cardarelle in 29A

From her website:

In a Democracy all people should feel that they are represented in our government. For women this means that at least 50% of our governing bodies should include women.

However, the Minnesota legislative body is not equally represented. Less than 30% of the Minnesota State Legislators are women.

In the US Legislative body it is even more bleak: Twenty-three women (17D, 6R) serve in the United States Senate in the 115th Congress. Of these 23, four are women of color. 

For people with disabilities it is even more bleak. Although 600,000 individuals with disabilities live in Minnesota or about 11% of the population*, they most certainly do not make up 11% of the Legislature. 

Our founding fathers had a vision for a society that was equal in its operation. Equality is an absolute necessity in a Democracy and one which we must fight for!

What caught my eye about this one is the series of events the Cardarelle campaign is doing. Kind of a different approach, in a tough district.

I’ve never seen much about Rep. Joe McDonald (R-Delano). From his issues page:

We all must work resolutely to defend the high ground of Americas founding principles based on Judean Christian values of Life, Liberty and property.

Tells you about all you need to know, doesn’t it?

MN House: Steve Sandell in 53B

From his website:

Every student should be able to attend a school that is safe, nurturing and stimulating, where he or she can learn the habits of respect, cooperation, and academic success. Our schools are being squeezed by rising costs and increased responsibilities. Equal access to a satisfying and competitive education has become the victim. Our public schools should not have to depend on repeated referendum, fund raisers, or fees and contributions to meet their budgets. That only increases disparities between districts and individual classrooms. In addition, legislators should encourage regular discussions among school boards and their unions to make contract negotiations a more respectful and productive exchange. 

Rep. Kelly Fenton (R-Woodbury) hasn’t been in the legislature for long, but is already Assistant Majority Leader. Presumably that’s because she was previously deputy chair of the MN GOP. The issues section of her website is oh-so-careful, and certainly doesn't brag up the party affiliation with the repugnant buffoon in the White House. Now that I think about it, no MN GOP candidate's website, that I've seen, does do that. This is a highly flippable seat.

MN House: Jonathan Isenor in 21B

From his website:

Compassion programs such as domestic violence advocacy centers, non-profits that connect therapeutic animals to veterans, suicide hotlines, meals on wheels, developmental achievement centers, and services that educate youth on alcohol and substance abuse (to name a few) need support from the state. In our rural communities we take care of each other the best we can but these non-profit organizations are necessary and important to help those in our community who are struggling.

It is the responsibility of those who have a voice to help those who do not.

Tough district, but no legislator in Minnesota is more deserving of getting his political butt kicked than Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa). Ever since getting into the lege he’s been among the worst. Last session his big thing was trying everything he could to screw workers. Currently he’s part of some bogus attack on Ilhan Omar - shocking, that the Draz would be part of the Islamophobe bigot brigade in a desperate, and probably doomed, effort to preserve the MN GOP House majority.

MN House: John Huot in 57B

From his website:

Most importantly, I value workers. As a former union member and labor leader, I know that collective bargaining agreements improve wages, benefits, and working conditions for ALL Minnesotans. The types of jobs Minnesotans will have in the future may require that workers possess new skills. I will champion legislation that assists workers in acquiring the qualities and traits to be successful in our changing economy.

Rep. Anna Wills (R-Rosemount) has never said or done anything to draw headlines, that I could find. But her website actually has a legitimate issues page (most Minnesota GOPers‘ websites don‘t, that I‘ve seen), and based on that she is a fervent right-winger. (What's quoted below, for example, does not accord with the facts.) And this is exactly the sort of district in which Democrats are expected to do well, this cycle.

Minnesota has always been recognized for our world-class quality health care system. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) here in Minnesota, known as MNSure, has shown to be a disaster and threatens to undo our world-class quality. I support repeal of the ACA and MNSure, and I support reforms such as free-market competition, vouchers, and health savings accounts to make health care more affordable and accessible while ensuring that consumers remain in control of their own health care decisions.

MN House: Thomas Trehus in 28B

From his website:

Growing up on my family's 5th generation farm, I know the importance of supporting agriculture. The farm economy is integral to Southeast Minnesota and as a representative of Houston and Fillmore counties I will work tirelessly for family farms and well-paying careers. 

Agriculture is one of the main economic drivers of our region. In order to continue our success we must reverse the trend of fewer and fewer farmers on fewer individual farms. Family farms, like the one I grew up on, are key to the economic viability of our region. Let's make sure land is accessible to young farmers and young families who want to make a decent living, while caring for the land in a way that would make our grandchildren proud. 

Long-serving (serving the rich man, that is) Rep. Greg Davids (R-Preston) chairs the House Tax Committee. He was the primary force behind the 2017 tax bill, passed into law using a gutless and  unconscionable “poison pill” strategy, to potentially disastrous effect. This district is not very red, and is it ever past time for him to go.

MN AG: Where the crap is coming from

Several very important items have appeared recently. For those interested in facts (unfortunately, but predictably, plenty are not, and I'm not just talking about right-wing bigots and professional false equivalence-mongers, either), I'm bringing them together, as a public service.

Of all the lawyers in Minnesota, perhaps save Doug Wardlow himself, I cannot think of anyone more likely to damage the already-fragile credibility of Karen Monahan than (Andrew) Parker... 

Parker is the attorney who hired Doug Wardlow for an associate position at Parker Rosen, his first – and only as far as I know – real private practice job. Parker offered an opinion in the Strib about what a terrific non-partisan fellow Wardlow was in the office.

Doug Wardlow didn’t need to worry about bringing right-wing politics into the office at Parker Rosen; they were already there. Andrew Parker has a radio show on AM1280 the Patriot, sharing the airwaves with, inter alia, Mitch Berg, a well-known right-wing radio host, and formerly the Sons of Liberty (Bradlee Dean & Co.).

Lawyers don’t have a formal Hippocratic Oath, but we are supposed to have a fidelity to the client’s interest first of all. If he really wanted people to believe her, he’d be the last person to offer himself up as her mouthpiece. He is wretchedly conflicted. Andrew Parker’s real client here is Doug Wardlow...

I hope – and suspect – that Parker’s “representation” is free, because that is what it is worth. It is actually worse than worthless; it is affirmatively harmful to Karen Monahan who seems to have been serially used in this entirely lamentable affair by opponents of Keith Ellison. - Left.mn 

Charges against Enbridge protesters dismissed

Good deal, with a hitch.

In October 2016, five activists from the Pacific Northwest traveled to Washington, Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota to shut off oil pipelines. Now recognized as the Valve Turners, the group sent a tremor through the oil and gas industry. Enbridge had to temporarily shut down two lines in Minnesota a result of the protests, and the activists who were responsible faced felony charges in the state. Their big moment in court was this week, and guess what? The judge let them off without a scratch. Three cheers for effective protest techniques!

...They certainly got their point across. The trial itself was shaping up to become a landmark moment. The Valve Turners fought long and hard to get the judge to allow them to use a necessity clause — the argument that the threat posed by the oil coming from the tar sands was so immediate that their actions were not only morally justified, but also necessary.

But a district court judge tossed the case out so quickly the activists weren’t even able to use the necessity clause. That’s kind of a bummer, as it would have given people behind other ongoing climate-related lawsuits an opportunity to see how the legal maneuver worked in court. - Grist 

MN House: Aric Putnam in 14A

From his website:

We have some of the best local schools and the most dedicated teachers in the state. However, our schools succeed even though our legislators have consistently failed them. Despite what our current representatives claim, they treat teachers like enemies and schools like factories. I am an educator. I know our teachers, and I know our schools. They deserve better.

Our schools shape our future. Schools teach us new skills, but they also help us meet new challenges, and they encourage us to engage with people who don’t look like us. Our children are entering a world unlike the one we grew up in, where they will meet a wider variety of people and more frequently change jobs. We need an education that can teach our young people to become versatile citizens.

The legislature funds our schools like we’re a small town, and we aren’t anymore. I will work to fund our schools appropriately and honestly so that our children get the attention they deserve. We need smaller class sizes. We need additional support staff so that our young people receive the guidance that they need. And I will work to energize how we teach citizenship in our public schools by creating a Congress in the School program and helping our kids become better communicators.  We need better schools for a healthier community and a better democracy.

Rep. Tama Theis (R-St. Cloud) votes the way she's supposed to and doesn't make noise.

This is ordinarily a swingy district, though Theis won easily in the electoral atrocity that was 2016. NBC/Marist just released polling of Minnesota with very good numbers for DFLers, including a D+14 generic ballot. Yeah, at first glance the overall results seemed a little generous to me, too. But AKlo really did win by 30 in 2012, and if anything 38% approval for Traitor Trump seems a little high, right now.

No complacency, etc., etc. But numbers like these can actually enthuse people. Because there is nothing sweeter in politics than our side absolutely crushing it on Election Day.

MN House: Robert Bierman in 57A

This is the Apple Valley seat that Erin Maye Quade left to run for lieutenant governor. (I voted for the Erii, in the primary.) From Bierman's website:

Now some say the solution to is to cut taxes and slash regulations. As a small business owner myself, I can tell you, they could not be more wrong.  Businesses only thrive if they're in a thriving community, and tax cuts harm public projects that benefit the whole community, while giving billions to mega-corporations like Walmart and Amazon. The evidence bears this out. 

Matt Lundin played some pro hockey, not in the NHL but just a step or two below. Apparently that’s supposed to be his prime electoral selling point, because as with just about every Party of Trump candidate in Minnesota whose website I’ve seen so far, his issues section is what you might call “minimalist.”

MN House: Marla Vagts in 58B

From her website:

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. For too long, those in power at the Capitol have bowed to the special interests and huge corporations, and not done much to help small businesses and entrepreneurs. More than 90% of all Minnesota businesses are “microbusinesses," firms with fewer than 10 people in the business. Their needs, priorities and issues are very different than those of big business and we must support them to provide a more level playing field.

The incumbent is Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington). I wouldn’t call him Minnesota’s most ridiculous right-wing legislator, nor its stupidest. The competition for those titles is absolutely intense. But he is, in my estimation, the most obnoxious.

I try to maintain a certain detached objectivity when blogging, and I have “flattened emotional affect” in any case. But Ms. Vagts is so obviously cool and righteous, and Rep. Garofalo is so very, very obviously neither of those, that I would take special pleasure in seeing this one flip.

MN House: Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn in 48B

From her website:

Minnesota is for everyone, equally. In our community, we look after one another. We should not deny our neighbors access to affordable healthcare, equal pay for equal work, and an environment free from discrimination.

The incumbent is Rep. Jenifer Loon (R-Eden Prairie). She has gained notoriety as probably the foremost proponent of the education deform movement in the legislature. Her website, of course, has misleading and frankly cowardly pablum, like "keeping the best teachers in the classroom" for an anti-union, test-centered agenda, and "right of every parent to choose" for letting the vile, power-crazed greedheads of the deform movement continue to attack public education from every direction. Voters are catching on, and hopefully that will include plenty of them in Eden Prairie.

MN House: Jeff Brand in 19A

This district is southwest of the Metro. The DFL candidate, Jeff Brand, has been on the city council in Saint Peter. From his website:

In order to promote a Healthy Minnesota, I will work hard to do the one thing so many people across the district have asked me to tackle. At your door, healthcare was the topic discussed the most. I believe that this election is a referendum on a "do nothing" Legislature that contributed millions in taxpayer money to insurance companies, but did little to address cost and coverage options across Minnesota. Leadership couldn't even pass an AARP backed plan to tackle elder abuse or pass a "one penny per pill" fee to drug companies to reduce prescriptions and help pay for abuse counseling.

The Republican is Kim Spears. His website has an issues page, and there are sentences there, but most of them are utterly vague and non- (even anti-) specific. Rhetorical questions: Why would a candidate refuse to define his policy goals? Why wouldn't that raise red flags for informed, thinking voters?

Farm Bill expires, and the "new" NAFTA sucks

As of this past Monday.

With the expiration of the 2014 farm bill, major programs such as crop insurance and SNAP, formerly known as the food stamp program, will continue because they are either permanently authorized in other laws or funded by appropriators.

Other programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program, which provides 10- and 15-year contracts to farmers who take environmentally sensitive land out of production, continue to operate but cannot make new agreements or award new grants. The Natural Resources Conservation Service issued guidance on Sept. 21 to state offices that after Sept. 28, they would maintain current agreements but cannot cannot enter into new ones.

Another 39 so-called orphan programs identified by the Congressional Research Service would lose authorization and mandatory funding on Oct. 1. Programs to aid military veteran entering farming, trade promotion and small rural businesses shut down with the farm bill’s expiration. - Roll Call 

Whatever you might be seeing from Big Processing's propagandists, and from corporate "news" media, the vaunted NAFTA "renegotiation" is in fact mostly the same old suckage for farmers everywhere in North America. (Sorry about the color in this blockquote. Easiest way to go is just to click and read.)

The reworked NAFTA agreement entrenches agribusiness control over supply chains, seeks to streamline approval and trade of controversial agricultural biotechnology products, fails to protect consumers’ right to know what’s in their food and where it is produced, and worsens the devastating impacts of climate change. 

IATP and our allies in farming communities in the United States, Canada and Mexico have demanded a different kind of trade deal for decades. We want trade rules that support strong, sustainable and fair food systems and rural economies.

This reworked agreement achieves none of this. - Common Dreams 

MN House: Zack Stephenson in 36A

This is an open seat, in a north metro district that includes Champlin and parts of Coon Rapids. From Stephenson's website:

We need to invest in our infrastructure: roads, bridges, water systems, airports, and mass transit.   Improving infrastructure will help our existing businesses to grow and expand and will create good paying jobs in the construction industries.

In addition to creating new jobs, we can improve our economy by improving the jobs we already have.  Zack supports a guarantee of paid family leave for every Minnesotan who works full time.  No one should lose a job because they have to take care of a new baby or a sick parent.   Zack also supports raising the minimum wage to make sure that every working family does not live in poverty.

The Republican is Bill Maresh, who teaches and coaches wrestling at Champlin Park High School. Nothing wrong with that, at all, and in fact he seems to be counting on the coaching thing to resonate with voters as his #1 qualification for election. His website does have an issues page, but it doesn’t have much content other than extolling “free markets” as the solutions to all our problems. We’ve all had 40+ years now to see about how well that’s worked out.