The Fight For Our State Has Just Begun

Posted July 18, 2011

Late last week, Governor Dayton and Republican legislative leaders struck a “framework” budget deal that would close a $1.4 billion budget gap and end the longest government shutdown in state history. Unfortunately for Minnesota, progressive new revenue was not part of this deal.

The 2011 budget fight illustrates the extremes to which Republicans have gone to hurt Minnesotans. The GOP has put a set of impossible choices in front of the Governor, refusing to compromise because multi-millionaires are more important to them than everyone else — even their own constituents.

Throughout negotiations, which shut our government down for two painful weeks, hurting tens of thousands, Republican legislators have refused to put the economic security of 99%+ of Minnesotans ahead of protecting the richest 7,700 individuals. The GOP plan creates an even bigger problem for 2013, closing the $1.4 billion gap by increasing Minnesota’s debt load and fiscal instability with K-12 school payment shifts and borrowing against the state’s tobacco revenue stream.

Both will have to be repaid with future dollars adding further to our state’s economic distress.

The GOP has consistently championed government that works for Minnesota’s richest individuals and corporations. Their proposed deal forces the poorest Minnesotans to sacrifice even further while the wealthiest remain untouched.… Continue reading »

Terry VanDerPol, Minnesota Needs A Fair Economy Where The Richest Pay Their Fair Share!

Posted June 9, 2011

My name is Terry VanDerPol. I farm in the western part of the state in the Minnesota River Valley outside of Granite Falls. I raise cattle and I’m a member of Land Stewardship Project.

I am here to say that we can have a society that provides healthcare for all, quality education for all, healthy land, clean water, nutritious food for all. We can have profitable family farms and robust rural communities and cities. But we’ll never get there if the corporations, the HMOs and the rich don’t pay their fair share.

Family farmers are less likely to have health insurance coverage than most Minnesotans and when they can get it, they pay a lot more for it. Why? Because HMOs care a hell of a lot more about profits than they do about people. They are holding a half of a billion dollars in excess reserves that we need to claw back into the state treasury. It’s our money. The money is there; let’s use it for care!

I come from a part of the state that remembers the robber barons of the 19th and 20th centuries, the banks, railroads, grain traders and oil companies who picked the winners and losers and amassed huge personal fortunes on the backs of Minnesotans.… Continue reading »