Liberal in the Land of Conservative

I deciding to spend a little time chasing it, hunting it down. In fifteen minutes of browsing, I found that conservatives in Minnesota did indeed show interest in the topic. Take, for instance, blogger and Senate District 15 GOP Secretary Leo Pusateri.

There are other examples in the state. Read about Mr. Pusateri's interest in the controversy and that of other two other conservative Minnesotans below the fold.

Mr. Pusateri  currently blogs at Psycmeister's Ice Palace and Freedom Dogs, as well as cross-posting at True North.

He's brought up questions about Obama's birth certificate a number of times. Here's one such post, from his personal blog in  July 2008begins:

It appears that Obama's alleged birth certificate has been deemed a forgery, calling to question whether Obama was born in the United States, which would be a Constitutional prerequisite for his ability to legally run for President.

In a February post at Freedom Dogs, he wrote:

A cultural and spiritual awakening...is this why the agenda media were willing to overlook and/or gave short shrift to many of the Obama scandals, from his friendships with Tony Rezko, Rev. Wright and William Ayers, to the flak over his birth certificate?

That should give readers a flavor of his take on the matter.

The Senate believes its proportionate and balanced solution is the fairest and most equitable approach. It also positions the state for quicker recovery and stronger growth once the financial storm is weathered. The Senate also takes a fiscally responsible approach. Using a combination of cuts, federal recovery funds and new revenues it brings the state budget into balance for not only the next two years, but also the two years beyond that. This is something our Governor does not plan to do. Instead he pushes much of our present problems into the next two years. Seemingly he is hoping, and that’s all it is, is a hope, that things will get much better, much sooner than most economists believe. If his hope is misplaced Minnesota will be in even worse financial straits.

The Senate plan calls for a 7% proportional cut for each of the budget areas. However, those reductions will be softened by using federal recovery funds in several key areas, including education, health care and the courts. Recently the Senate passed its Early Education through 12th grade finance bill. Federal funds will reduce the cuts in this area to about 3%. Higher education funding cuts will be reduced to about 2%. The bill even provides a slight increase in early childhood education funding. Many studies have indicated early childhood education provides the best return on investment for taxpayer dollars.

While the Senate proposes reduced funding to schools, cities and counties, it also cuts some of the strings that usually come attached to that funding. The idea is to enhance local control and allow local authorities more discretion in how they spend the money. The belief is that less red tape will keep more teachers in the classroom and more police on the street.

We hope this proposal to establish a unified county in Central Minnesota will start the renewed discussion. The discussion should raise a wide variety of thoughts and ideas.

As a start, we offer three questions to be answered by all of us.

1. Will a unified county in Central Minnesota be more efficient and effective for most households?

2. Will a unified county improve our business climate and help create jobs if employers only have to meet one system of standards, procedures, and regulations rather than three?

3. Will a unified county provide more accessible and consistent services for veterans, seniors, and families?

Dan Ochsner was elected to be the HD-15A vice-chair while Barbara Banaian, King’s wife, was elected to be the HD-15B vice-chair. Leo Pusateri is our new secretary. Darlene Thompson was re-elected to a third term as treasurer.

So, is this supposed 250-person "civilian defense team" going to be Obama's "end-around" of the Posse Comitatus Act that will domestically achieve the 'One's' "security objectives" he has in mind?

When it comes to the state’s finances, we are in the first day of the storm. This storm has already gone from rain to sleet and ice to snow. The snow is falling and it’s going to keep coming for days. Sometimes you wait for the snow to stop before we grab our shovels, but we can’t do that. We have a $457 million gap in our present 2008-09 budget. That needs to be fixed quickly, probably before the holidays. Although we have $155 million in reserves, we will have to do $302 million in cuts.

We brainstorm and come up with practical and resourceful solutions. We come together and help each other out. If a neighbor needs help clearing their walk, we get out the shovel. If a car is stuck, we get out and push. We are going to need to do all of that and more. But we know that a day will come when the snow and wind stops and the clouds will clear. We know that, together, we can overcome this. Together, we can build a stronger Minnesota. Together, we can put Minnesota back on a road to prosperity—even if we have to bring road graders in to clear a path first.

A loyal reader to LFR just emailed me about this morning’s meeting of the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce executives group meeting. This friend of LFR told me that Tarryl Clark made this startling announcement:

“I will not raise taxes” in terms of the looming state budget deficit.

This person attended the meeting so it’s firsthand, reliable information.

The only contested race in this year’s town board elections comes from Baldwin where Jeff Holm and Quintin Reece are both vying for the supervisor’s seat vacated by Jeff Dotseth.

Jeff Holm

Holm, 27, is a life-long resident of Baldwin Township. He is a member of the Baldwin Park Committee and the Comprehensive Plan Committee. A student at St. Cloud State, Holm will graduate in 2009. He is studying community development and economics.

He said he has entered the race in part because the township is at a critical time period with regards to planning.

“It has to do with where we are in relation to long-term planning and the way this community is going to look in the future,” Holm said. He added that he feels his planning background will bring useful insight to future township decisions.

Holm said the incorporation/annexation debate is the biggest issue facing Baldwin. “I want to be able to look objectively at both sides of the argument so that the community knows what’s at stake.”

He also said what’s at stake could be a lot of money as either path could cost the township if not followed properly.

Holm would also like to see proper support for local businesses. He said the township has always been supportive of the numerous home-based businesses in Baldwin and Holm would like to see options developed to further local business development.

“It would be nice if we had a business district that could sponsor future growth,” he said.

When asked what he thought residents wanted from their supervisors Holm said the citizens want responsible spending from their town board.

He also said residents are concerned about the roads. “They [residents] want to make sure the priorities are kept, such as maintaining the roads,” Holm said.

Holm said if he is elected he will work for the people. “Being on the board is about serving the community and trying to make decisions that benefit the most people,” he said. “I would make myself available to the residents and make sure they are represented on that board.”

State Senate Assistant Majority Leader Tarryl Clark
208 State Capitol, 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155-1606
E-mail: www.senate.mn/senatorclark
Phone: 651-296-6455
March 18, 2008

Budget shortfall highlights need for stable spending and revenue

Given the decline in Minnesota’s economy since 2002, it didn’t come as a surprise that the state’s budget deficit ballooned to $938 million this February.

In making those choices, we should set priorities and pursue strategies that take into account the immediate, along with the long-term effects, of budget decisions. We need to do more than just balance the budget; we need to help make Minnesota stronger and more prosperous.

Minnesota’s constitution requires the state’s budget to be balanced, which means that cuts in a number of areas will be needed to balance the budget before the Legislature adjourns.

The governor offered his proposals for balancing the budget. Some of them make sense, like closing tax loopholes on corporations with shell operations in foreign countries and cracking down on tax cheats. So, too, are administrative cuts in state agencies.

Other cuts are more troubling, like delaying a paltry 2 percent raise for nursing home workers for a year and shifting more higher education costs onto students and parents through higher tuition. In these cases, making cuts seem simple, but we should be aiming for something more difficult—but more profound: structurally lowering the costs of government services.

There’s no doubt about it, health care costs, especially in long-term care, such as nursing homes, are spiraling out of control. With both an aging population and increases in the number of people living with disabilities, projections are that the need for long-term care will triple by 2050.

Simply stated, this is a situation that cannot be managed by cuts here and there, we need to stick to a long-term strategy that addresses how needs of the elderly and disabled are met. That includes incentives for people to acquire long-term care insurance, developing a stronger system of at-home care, and a strong network of services that includes transportation, meals-on-wheels, help maintaining a home and so on.

That may sound like a lot, but it’s far less expensive than the $4,500+ monthly cost for nursing home care. That’s one way to meet the need at lower overall cost.

It won’t be easy to do. Add to that the need to ensure that the people who provide services are trained, qualified and property supervised, and it adds up to a monumental challenge for policymakers and stakeholders.

In higher education, the proposed cuts to public colleges, like SCSU and the university, are just cost shifts to students and parents through higher tuition. With tuition rising an average of 40 percent in Gov. Pawlenty’s first term, it hardly seems fair that students and parents should again bail state government out of a budget crisis.

This proposal is shortsighted. High tuition is a barrier to completing college. For those who do complete their education, soaring debt is a barrier to getting on with life. It hinders the ability to do the things that Americans expect to do as a birthright—purchase a home, start a family and save for retirement.

Making college affordable makes all those things less difficult and builds Minnesota’s ability to attract and keep quality jobs. Making college “harder” through high costs is false economy. It hinders income and purchasing power. It’s a drag on the state’s economy. It makes Minnesota less strong and less prosperous.

To build Minnesota’s strength and prosperity, we need to be doing more to encourage college and training after high school, not less.

This legislative session will end with the state’s budget balanced. But, at the same time, I hope we can work across the partisan divide to pursue those things that reform the way the state operates and builds strength and prosperity for our businesses, our economy and our people.

Jobs in renewable energy

A useful element in rebuilding Minnesota’s economy

Minnesota’s economy isn’t doing too well these days. Our state lost 23,000 jobs in the last half of 2007, and it appears that the state’s budget deficit will likely increase from the gloomy forecast issued by the Minnesota Department of Finance last November.

There’s no magic bullet that will reverse this trend, it will take a combination of a lot of efforts to raise Minnesota’s economy to the kind of strength we enjoyed in the last quarter of the 20th century.

But one of those is relatively new and fascinating – financial opportunity and the development of jobs in the renewable-energy industry.

According to an analysis by the Blue-Green Alliance and the Renewable Energy Policy Project, Minnesota could develop about 18,400 new “green” jobs in manufacturing, construction, management, maintenance and financing of wind, biomass, geothermal and solar power projects. According to the analysis, Stearns County’s share of this growth could be around 1,200 jobs.

- Heighten public awareness about the job-creating potential of solutions to global warming;
- Use existing economic development tools to expand investment in clean energy and green chemistry;
- Accelerate green building, energy efficient retrofits, and related spin-off industries;
- Create more investments in green jobs, including those related to fuel-efficient vehicles; and
- Reform trade agreements so they include binding labor rights and environmental standards.

The analysis points out that Minnesota already has 450 firms that “are currently active in the industrial sectors that could provide the component parts” to reduce emissions by 15 percent worldwide.

Here in Minnesota, we’re ahead of much of the country when it comes to developing the kind of energy standard that can create these new jobs. Last year’s approval of a standard that will require utility companies to have 25 percent of their energy mix come from renewable sources by 2020 was a triumph of bipartisanship.

The Legislature also ordered the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to develop a strategy to maximize the economic benefit to citizens from the renewable-energy standard. Since then, DEED has produced promotional materials and traveled to trade shows to educate potential manufacturers and investors in renewable energy.

Greater energy independence, more jobs, a cleaner environment and bipartisan support—it’s hard to argue with benefits like that. Maybe renewable energy won’t solve all of our state’s economic troubles, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

In order to keep Minnesotans healthy and provide the best quality of health care, our health care system must:

(1) Ensure all Minnesotans receive high quality health care, regardless of their income;

(2) Not restrict, delay, or deny care or reduce the quality of care to hold down costs, but instead reduce costs through prevention, efficiency, and reduction of bureaucracy;

(3) Cover all necessary care, including all coverage currently required by law, complete mental health services, chemical dependency treatment, prescription drugs, medical equipment and supplies, dental care, long term care, and home care services;

(4) Allow patients to choose their own providers;

(5) Be funded through premiums and other payments based on the person's ability to pay, so as not to deny full access to all Minnesotans;

(6) Focus on preventative care and early intervention to improve the health of all Minnesotans and reduce costs from untreated illnesses and diseases;

(7) Ensure and adequate number of qualified health care professionals and facilities to guarantee availability of, and timely access to quality care throughout the state;

(8) Continue Minnesota's leadership in medical education, training, research, and technology; and

(9) Provide adequate and timely payments to providers.

Senators to hold Community Listening Session in St. Cloud on Affordable Health Care for all Minnesotans

Senator Tarryl Clark along with Senator John Marty, chair of the Minnesota Senate Health and Housing Committee, will hold a community listening session on affordable health care on Monday, Jan. 7th, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at the Whitney Senior Center in St. Cloud.

Senator Tarryl Clark encouraged Sen. Marty to come to St. Cloud as part of his effort to obtain public input on health care.

“I continue to hear repeatedly from Central Minnesotans about problems with the high cost of health care. It is not only seniors struggling about whether to take care of their medical needs or pay for food or housing. It is also many employers struggling to provide affordable health care coverage to their employees and working parents trying to pay increasingly higher costs for themselves and their children."

"In addition to those who do not have coverage, I hear a lot from people who have coverage, but are being hit with high deductibles and co-payments, hassles with pre-approval for medical procedures, denial of coverage, and a whole host of billing and bureaucratic nightmares,” said Clark. “Medical providers face similar issues dealing with HMOs, insurers and other third-party payer requirements.”

“We invite business owners, community members and families with and without health insurance to talk about the impact that health care costs and lack of access to affordable health care is having on their lives,” said Senator Marty.

“Minnesotans want a health care system that doesn’t threaten the financial security of their families. Working together we can create a strong, prosperous, and united Minnesota,” Clark said.

People interested in testifying may contact Senator Tarryl Clark’s office at 651-296-6455 or simply show up at the hearing.