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State Representative Carolyn Laine
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4331
For more information contact: Joan Nichols 651-29X-XXXX
Column/LTE
Special Session Delivers Despite Governor's Flip Flopping
Dear Editor:
In special session last week, I joined other legislators to unanimously pass a disaster relief package focused on flood-ravaged southeastern Minnesota. Help is now available for businesses and homeowners to rebuild their severely devastated towns and to pay for road and bridge repairs, as well as replace drinking water systems.
After weeks of encouraging the governor to call a special session to deal with the 35W bridge collapse and then the SE Minnesota flooding, what made him finally do it? On the Saturday before the session was called, the conservative newspaper in Rushford, the area hit the hardest, led with the headline, “Pawlenty’s Katrina." That Monday the governor called the legislative leadership to agree to an immediate special session just on the flooding.
What happened to the governor’s expressed commitment to fix our severely under funded transportation infrastructure after the bridge collapse? Well, he flip-flopped. The “no new taxes” mantra came roaring back up from those who do not believe in investing in Minnesota, not even in basic safety, and he changed his tune.
The truth, of which the governor is very aware, is that MnDOT does not have the money it needs, and the federal dollars will be insufficient. The $53 million mentioned for the bridge in the special session bill merely authorizes the use of the federal dollars released so far.
I am tired of the governor fiddling the tune of those who promote strangling Minnesota’s economy with their mistaken ideas. I am tired of him putting his own national self-promotion over the interests of his own state. I encourage us all to choose to make investments in the good life in Minnesota, our Minnesota.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Laine
State Representative, 50A
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