Tim Mahoney, Minnesota District 67A

Why We Must Step up our Efforts for 2010

[caption id="attachment_111" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Tim Pawlenty's Idea of "Leadership.""][/caption]

Governor Tim Pawlenty blames the Legislature and the Senate for not giving into his demands for the 2009 session to balance the budget in a way that benefits Minnesota. Instead, he refused to negotiate and held onto a foolhardy “No New Taxes Pledge,” saving his negotiation skills for a flurry of vetoes after the end of the session. By threatening to “Unallot” spending for needed medical and social services in Minnesota, he sent a signal to the citizens of our state that he is more interested in pleasing his potential campaign donors for his presumed presidential/vice presidential campaign in 2012.

While Pawlenty looks to the future, he uses the tools of the past: Cut, slash and burn and borrow. The 2009 portion of the Legislative Session has ended, with a budget we were forced to pass at the last minute before adjournment. Our leadership in the House and Senate had invited the governor many times to forge a compromise between our differences. It could have been something all Minnesotans could have lived with, even if not entirely happy with it.

The purpose of our bills, agreed on by both the Senate and the House, was to address taxation disparities which favor the rich over the working class and the poor, while continuing as many of the state’s needs for health care, local government assistance and education. Yes, even in our budget deal there were more cuts than we wanted. Yet we faced them and worked to minimize their effects on you, our constituents.

Pawlenty turned a deaf ear to the desires and wants of the people of Minnesota to invest wisely in our future and pulled out his red pen to write “Veto! Veto! Veto!” and to move the state its from its progressive leadership to the status of such business and education “powerhouse” states as Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

In 2010, we don’t know if The Man With The Red Pen will be running again to be our governor, or if he will be foregoing this race to follow his true ambition for national office. It doesn’t matter. We need to pour our efforts into electing a governor from the DFL. The people of Minnesota have elected a divided leadership between the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch; but in the hopes that we could together find solutions to our mounting problems. Instead they see that the governor had no such intentions.

We have many exciting candidates for the DFL choice to run for governor. I have endorsed Matt Entenza, but whoever we as the DFL place on the ticket Minnesota will win by electing a serious governor who cares about our state and our economic recovery. In 2010,, this is the race that matters (as well as my own, of course.)

We Need to Do More

Memorial Day for most of us is a long weekend and a day away from work. It is a day of sales for those who work in car dealerships and furniture stores, trying to meet the month’s quota with a final blitz of discounts and cash back offers.

It’s an extra day at the cabin, spending time with your buddies and family trying to find the perfect spot on a Monday morning where the walleyes and crappies are biting.

It’s also a day to think about war and why we fight and why we never seem to achieve peaceful, diplomatic long-term solutions to the problems that lead to the massive violence that takes our young men and women away from us. Our defenders volunteer for various reasons, but all of them end up supporting our freedoms and rights whether directly or indirectly. They support the concept of democracy, but they also prevent foreign invaders from taking our shores.

We have vets that may not have died overseas, but bring the war back with them and can never shake it. Memorial Day is a day we should pause and reflect and thank those who have faced enemy fire and taken a hit from us. We should remember those who died in battle and at home, suffering the long-term effects of war.

I feel awkward saying “Happy Memorial Day” because it is not a happy occasion. Families are missing their fathers, mother, brothers, sisters, friends and children. It is a time to reflect on what we have as a nation, and to honor them. It is also a time to remember that we need to show our support and honor to those they leave behind. Thank a vet on Memorial Day, and thank a family.

There is No Need to Worry, Right?

Tim Pawlenty has just decided that he can do alone with a few broad strokes of his pen and behind closed doors, what they legislature has been working on since January. The Legislature and the Senate have been holding open door meetings for you so that you can have your input into the budget. And we have appreciated your input.

Unfortunately, we were faced with the reality in Minnesota of what will happen with draconian cuts in essential services and investments. Tim Pawlenty is apparently more interested in moving into Barack Obama’s current quarters at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, or at the least into Blair House, in 2013. So, rather than face our reality, he is doing what he sees is going to lead him more towards Washington. He is following the lead of the New National Party of No, with the big buck fund-raising power of the conservative wing of the Republican Party.

The videos I have been putting up over the last few days are the best way that I know how to illustrate what is happening at the close of the legislature.

Please call the numbers and tell Tim Pawlenty that he needs to be more responsible to Minnesota’s future than he does his own.

Real World Issues

Minnesotans testify that the Governor’s proposed cuts would hurt the health of our hospitals, health care worker and the lives of millions of Minnesotans who depend on quality care.

Slash And Burn

Governor Pawlenty is going to slash and burn the future of Minnesota with his plan to use line item veto to balance the budget. Call the governor and tell them that his hard line on revenue (so that he can raise righ-wing campaign funds for his 2012 presidential campaign,) are taking Minnesota backwards.

Mahoney, a long-time pipefitter, said a grace period that would last until Aug. 1, 2010, is needed to address the state high court’s ruling in the City of Morris v. Sax that local ordinances can’t supersede the State Building Code.

“What we have right now is confusion,” Mahoney said.