In 35A, the StarTrib Endorses Whelan - Here's My Response on Why Peter Perovich Should be Elected Next Tuesday

Sadly, the Star Tribune endorsed Abigail Whelan for the open 35A House seat this year.  Peter Perovich deserves that endorsement, and he should be elected next Tuesday to represent Anoka and Ramsey in St. Paul.

Here's a link to the editorial:  http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/280713082.html

And what they wrote in endorsing Whelan for the seat:

District 35A: Whelan

 

Republican Abigail Whelan is only 26, but her poise and commitment to public service belie her years. A vote for Whelan means betting on the come, but we think that’s a bet Anoka voters should make in the race to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Jim Abeler.

 

Whelan works as a home health care worker today, but she’s a former state Senate staffer and holds a master’s degree from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She proves her passion for public policy as she discusses possible remedies to the transportation funding shortage confronting Minnesota. Like most Republicans, she opposes more light-rail transit and a gas tax increase. But she supports better bus transit and is open to increasing other sources of transportation funding, including toll roads.

 

A proud product of the Anoka-Hennepin School District, Whelan believes that the district’s best practices should be emulated as schools strive to close the chronic achievement gap between white and nonwhite students. She’s an advocate for local control, going so far as to reject the state’s requirement for all-day kindergarten as an intrusion in local decisionmaking. We’d say that goes too far. But she also believes that MNsure, the state’s health insurance purchasing exchange, is too independent and that it should become a state agency for the sake of tighter legislative control. That suggests a capacity for nuanced judgment, one we hope will grow over time.

 

Whelan’s rookie status stands in contrast to her more-seasoned opponent, DFLer Peter Perovich, 52, a personal banker at U.S. Bank and former mortgage broker who is making his third try for a north-suburban legislative seat. Perovich comes by his interest in education and transit naturally. He’s the son of former Anoka Mayor Elliott Perovich, who also served as chair of the Regional Transit Board in the 1980s and was a high school principal.

 

Perovich is eager to spend more on education. Whelan focuses on best practices to improve results. That difference should matter to frugal north-suburban voters.

 

 

 

My Comments Posted to the Editorial Comment Section:

 

Disclosure up front... after 16 years of Jim Abeler's Republican representation of Anoka, I have been working hard this campaign to elect Peter Perovich, the DFL candidate for this open 35A seat in Ramsey and Anoka.  The Star Tribune editorial board, which I hardly find particularly pro-DFL, nor progressive on the key issues of the day, should be greatly faulted for putting their weight on young Abigail Whelan's shoulders.

This is a young woman who has never owned a home or paid property taxes, works part-time while living at home, started her campaign on a platform of Christian Right values that greatly echoed Michelle Bachmann for the extremism she sought to bring to office, and as the campaign developed, has wrapped herself in Jim Abeler's mantle, despite the fact that her wing of the SD 35 Republican Party has tried to eject Abeler multiple times in the past. 

Peter Perovich has the maturity and gravitas needed to represent the Anoka area in the House.  He's a relatively moderate Democrat - he and I have different takes on many issues - but I respect how he puts his community and his family values up front when arriving at his choices.  For example, for much of the summer, he made Sundays a family day, as, with four kids, two still at Ramsey Elementary, he made "Dad" time despite working full-time at the bank and campaigning, as well.  That's the type of guy I want in St. Paul - one with his priorities in the right place. 

I don't want toll roads in the north suburbs - Peter advocates improving Highway 10 to freeway status beyond Anoka City limits.  Facing nearly hour-long commutes from Ramsey, I think our voters continue to demand good rail transit options to both downtowns. 

DFLers are proud of getting the all-day Kindergarten choice enacted - I'm shocked the Star Tribune editorial board is pleased with Abigail Whelan's opposition to this badly-needed reform for early childhood development. 

The editorial board spent too much time talking to Jim Abeler about this race, apparently, because despite whatever pretences Abeler's built up as a "health insurance expert" through the years, this 26-year old young lady, who worked at St. Paul under Sens. Petersen and Jungbauer - two of the most obstructionist, deep-red conservatives of the past decade, has hardly developed any expertise on health issues.  Her "nuanced" answer on MNSure as a state agency, probably scripted for her by Abeler, who appeared to have helped script her answers in all three debates/forums she took part in this fall, is both silly and contrived - especially coming from the Party noted for its efforts to "chop down state government" - why would they create a new state agency for state health care programs, when DHS has been doing its damndest to get it right, after the Republican legislature of 2011-2013, left them little time to put in place a whole new system that should have gotten 3-4 years of testing to get it implemented right. 

Peter Perovich's greatest possible contribution as a legislator will be his efforts to protect our rivers, lakes, ponds and streams, as he has taken a statewide leadership on behalf of bass fisherman and has formed serious plans on protecting our waters from harmful run-offs and usage issues.  I don't know what one issue Abigail Whelan can be a difference-maker about in St. Paul, but I know Peter Perovich will be a legislator who leaves a lasting legacy for our Millennials in the decades to come!