The Other Side is Reading this Blog - So Let's Address Social Issues Raised by an Oak Grove Republican This Week

I was surprised - alarmed - nah, more amused - that this blog was noticed by the Anoka County Republican Wizard of Oz - Henry Hamilton, the wealthy, anti-union, curmudgeonly purveyor of Republican truths and gossip at both The Minnesota Watchdog and the Anoka County Watchdog websites.   http://www.anokacountywatchdog.com/email/2014/08.22.14_update.htm

You've got to visit his Anoka County page - I love the barking bulldog you have to click on to enter.  Classic Watchdog.  And of course, if you access the link above, you'll find that Mr. Hamilton took exception to my views on Andover Representative Peggy Scott and Andover Council candidates James Goodrich and Val Holthus - I like Holthus, he doesn't.  I don't like Goodrich.  He does. 

Like Mike Jensen of Anoka, who reviewed my own history in a recent Letter to the Editor, Henry goes into detail about me, too.  Seemingly, it's only preferable to be rich entrepreneurs and businessmen, or the people working for people like Henry Hamilton, in Henry's world.  Not so, hardworking public employees like Teachers and Social Workers and Child Support Officers and Snow Plow Drivers and Revenue Office Agents and Mental Health Professionals and Planners and Financial Workers and Librarians - especially those who made it a point to be activists in their unions working to get better wages, benefits and contract provisions that help employees perform their work in safe, secure environments.  He raises up and stresses that Val Holthus and I belong to Education Minnesota and AFSCME, respectively, as if our union membership makes us somehow criminals for fighting on behalf of our fellow employees.  As if those who work in public jobs should only settle for wage crumbs with no protection from being terminated every time as new party takes office and wants to dispense political favors to friends and family - you know, like the good old days in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Well, I'm proud to have been a member of both teacher associations and AFSCME throughout the 35+ years I've been part of the middle class workforce, Mr. Hamilton.  I've been proud to be a part of the public employee payroll.  I didn't set out to be rich.  I set out to help people - first as a teacher and later working in the public assistance system in Minnesota.  There are far more people in this world who need our help, Henry Hamilton, than the One-Percenters like you, and I'm just one of many who chose to work in service to others - and expect to be paid our worth, to be safe at work, and to be protected from willful employers.


Gene Hodel, a Republican from SD 31 in Oak Grove, pushed my buttons this week.  In a Letter to the Editor in the ABS Newspapers, Hodel wrote: 

"Our Creator set the foundation of moral behavior. The Democratic party represented by their current platform and their history are on the wrong side of most moral issues. The social conservative side, represented by the Republican party is not without its flaws, but on most of these moral issues the Republican platform is correct.
 
Of course, it if you think it is a woman’s on demand “right”, to kill the human being inside of her, then you would vote for the Democrats.  If you think that an active gay life style does not accelerate sexual diseases, bad influence on the youth and broken lives, then you would vote for the Democrats. If you think that gay marriage is the same as a marriage between a man and a woman for rising children and supporting each other, then you would vote for the Democrats. If you want your fellow human beings messed up on marijuana coming at you down the highway, vote for the Democrats."
http://abcnewspapers.com/2014/08/20/letters-to-the-editor-for-aug-22-2014/


Now, as a Democrat living in the area, as the DFL Chair of Senate District 35, as a pretty good, upstanding citizen, and as a fellow raised in the United Methodist Church, I took exception to Mr. Hodel's characterizations of what is and isn't moral.

So, I've penned a new Letter to the Editor (below), which I hope gets printed as a response to Mr. Hodel.

This election should be a referendum on Governor Dayton and the DFL.  But social issues still rear their ugly head. Gene Hodel wrote, “On most of these moral issues the Republican platform is correct,” in an August 22^nd Letter.  Of which moral issues did he say Republicans are right and Democrats are wrong:  terminating pregnancies, blaming sexual disease on gay lifestyles, gay marriage and marijuana use?

 

Life would be much simpler for voters if his old canard that Democrats are undeserving amoral libertines, while Republicans are God-fearing model citizens was true.  Alas, it isn’t.  As Chair for District 35 DFLers, it’s been my pleasure to “politic” with a lot of your friends and neighbors, who are bright, community-spirited Christians – and Democrats.  Republicans don’t own the concept of “morality” in this community, any more than they own “bigotry”, “intolerance” or “patriotism.” 

 

Is it moral for Christian Republicans like Gene to continue their determined disregard of the Roe v. Wade decision, which provided a legal basis for “life” does not begin at conception, that a child does not legally exist until birthed, and that there are limitations to how far into a pregnancy abortion is legal? 

 

Is it moral for Christian Republicans like Gene to rely on their interpretations of the laws and customs of 2000-year old Biblical societies to determine 21^st century morality?   Who decided that being gay or different is immoral?

 

Is it moral to reject the common decency and fairness of providing legal equality through same sex marriage?  Is it moral to go sticking one’s nose into what goes on in other persons’ bedrooms?

 

On marijuana, it’s hardly a moral issue; one will find many Democrats, myself included, who have reservations about legalizing it, even for medical purposes, and similarly, one will find many libertarian Republicans who fully support less-restrictive laws on marijuana.

 

I haven’t even started on the moral issues of fighting poverty, the rich getting richer, equal justice for minorities, or easy access to assault weapons.  No party has a monopoly on morality, Mr. Hodel.  Oh, and about that referendum – my side should win!

 

New Letter to the Editor - Why I Oppose Peggy Scott for 35B

I'm sending this new Letter to the Editor to the ABC Newspapers for publication in August, as an edited version (there is a 350-word limit) of the pro-Perske and pro-Perovich letter appeared in the July 9 issue of the Anoka Union Herald.  This is a response to the flyer we received from Peggy Scott in the mail on Saturday.  I take exception to it - in my opinion, it is shaded with false statements and innuendo.

To the Editor –

 

In her July campaign flyer disguised to appear like an official “2014 Legislative Report” to the voters of District 35B, Peggy Scott shares common Republican half-truths and lies.   Minnesota DFLers are proud of their 2013-2014 accomplishments, so what is the real record Scott is shading?

 

Peggy Scott falsely accuses paying for Obamacare will ‘drain’ $207.96 Million from our schools the next three years.  In reality, DFLers balanced the budget and repaid the $2.8 Billion which Scott and the Republicans “borrowed” from our schools when they were in charge.  DFLers provided funding for all-day kindergarten and hot school lunches.  They increased funding for early childhood family education and froze public college tuition for two years.  We can have Obamacare and smart school funding, too.

 

Peggy Scott finds it easy to criticize Obamacare, even while voting to prevent it from succeeding.  But health care changes have been very successful in Minnesota.  Over 180,000 Minnesotans are now covered by health plans, as our uninsured rate is down to 4.9%.  Over 50,000 seniors are saving hundreds for prescription drugs.  Over 35,000 young adults can remain on their parents’ insurance.  Over one million of us receive preventive health coverage with no additional co-pays.

 

Peggy Scott’s Republicans opposed the first increase in the minimum wage in a generation.  Over 300,000 state workers will receive a higher minimum wage of $9.50 in 2016.  Low-paid health workers will benefit greatly.  Low-paid child care workers who receive government funding seek higher rates and benefits through the opportunity to unionize.  Peggy Scott opposes giving this particular group the right to even vote on unionization – a right all workers should have.  Under the DFL leadership, over 100,000 jobs have been added, and unemployment is at a seven-year low.  Forbes Magazine rates Minnesota the 3^rd best state in which to make a living.  The DFL ensured equal pay for equal work would strengthen women’s economic security in the years ahead.

 

My candidate in 35B is Coon Rapids small-businessman Samuel Beard.  Vote to keep the successful DFL stewardship of Minnesota in place for the next two years.

In my new role as Chair of the SD 35 DFL (Andover, Anoka, Ramsey, part of Coon Rapids), I have been busy with conventions, meetings, fundraisers, candidate searching, and writing letters to the editor.  Here's a piece I've written for the ABC Newspapers, particularly the Anoka Union-Herald, that I hope runs later this month...

To the Editor –

As we move into the community parade and county fair season, many of you will begin meeting the candidates for office this fall.  In our Anoka area, I hope you take notice of two endorsed DFL candidates:  Joe Perske for Congress and Peter Perovich for State Representative, District 35A.

We were blessed in this area, in my younger days, by some really good representation – Jim Oberstar and Bill Luther in the US House, and in St. Paul by Republicans like Chuck, John and Charlie Weaver and Democrats like Gene Merriam, Darby Nelson and Leo Foley.  These were thoughtful, prudent leaders, who were elected to govern, to make government better, and to find solutions with their fellow legislators – on both sides of the aisle – to fix problems, take care of our environment, and care for the citizenry, within the State’s fiscal means.  We’ve seen this type of approach to government from Republican Jim Abeler for many years, and from our neighboring Democrats Jerry Newton and John Hoffman.

This is not the way Republicans Mark Kennedy and Michele Bachmann represented us in Congress the past dozen years.  It is not the way that Republicans Tom Emmer or Rhonda Sivarajah plan to represent us in Washington if elected this fall.  It is not the way that Republicans Abigail Whelan or Justin Boals plan to represent us in St. Paul if elected this fall.

My party has endorsed two thoughtful, prudent leaders to represent the Anoka/Ramsey area in Washington and St. Paul next year.  Elect Joe Perske to Congress this fall, whether he faces Emmer or Sivarajah.  Joe Perske has been the non-partisan, but bi-partisan Mayor of Sartell, and before that was a City Council member.  A long time Phy Ed teacher, coach and competitive marathoner, Joe has led his teacher’s union, has been a leader in his church, and has been a community leader in the St. Cloud-Sartell area.  This outdoorsman is a warm, genuine, thoughtful man, who is a fixer – a problem-solver.  Sartell faced economic ruin when its paper mill burned a few years ago.  Mayor Perske and his Council worked to keep Sartell economically viable, and today, as a “bedroom suburb” of St. Cloud – similar in many ways to Ramsey and Andover and Coon Rapids- Sartell is booming and growing quickly.  This is a man who will represent the traditional, conservative values he grew up with, but who has demonstrated purposefulness in using government to better his community, not to tear down the fabric of government.

Elect Peter Perovich to the State House for District 35A (Anoka and Ramsey), whether he faces Whelan or Boals.  Peter Perovich grew up here, the son of a District 11 High School Principal and Mayor of Anoka.  His family’s roots are in making our schools work better.  His own vocational interests lie in protecting the outdoor quality of life that we have grown to love – and depend on economically – over the past half century.  This is a Democrat in keeping with a Merriam or a Nelson or a Foley – moderates who find a positive way for government to work on behalf of all of us – not just the few.  Peter Perovich will not bring a hidden agenda, designed to eliminate the government, to St. Paul.  He will not use the State Capitol as a forum to advocate one’s own religious beliefs.  He will not use the State Capitol as a forum to take away your Constitutional rights – whether that’s your right to vote, your right to marry, your right to bear arms, your right to free speech, or your right to privacy.  He will not use the State Capitol to leverage the state budget against your schools, against programs to fix our infrastructure, or against the evolving health care system in order to score points for a social agenda or their anti-government, libertarian friends.

Joe Perske and Peter Perovich – these are good people who will make great representatives for our area!

 

Wes Volkenant

Chair, Senate District 35 DFL