Dear Neighbors,
I want to offer hearty congratulations to everyone who ran the Mankato Marathon this past weekend, especially overall winner Jacob Gallagher, a grad student at MSU. I admire the dedication of all who participated. Here is an update from the State Capitol.
Bonding Tours
Last week, the Minnesota House Capital Investment Committee wrapped up a statewide tour of proposed public infrastructure improvements for next year’s bonding bill. Serving on this committee, I’ve learned the value of seeing these proposals first hand and getting the opportunity to ask questions of those in the communities advocating for them. Some of these proposals are for construction and design of new facilities while others are for renovations and deferred maintenance of existing assets. As I’ve mentioned, state agencies and local governments have submitted $3 billion worth of public works requests the final bill next session will likely be able to cover just a fraction of these needs. Because of this, these tours are critical in our deliberative process.
Last week, the committee looked at proposed projects in the metro area, and did so without any expense reimbursements. Members of the committee are simply dedicated to learning about these important projects and finishing our work and I thank Chair Dean Urdahl and DFL Lead Alice Hausman for facilitating this. When session gets underway in February, I hope we can work together to craft a robust, but balanced bonding bill protecting our infrastructure in communities across the state.
Political Ideology
The St. Paul Pioneer Press recently performed a study of over 400 votes taken by members of the Minnesota House of Representatives to estimate how “liberal” or “conservative” each representative is. I was pleased to learn that I fell in the middle third of all 134, and an “ideology estimate” of .675 on a scale of 0 to 1. Since entering the Minnesota House, I’ve been committed to representing the people in the community who sent me to St. Paul, rather than subscribing to partisanship. This study shows that I’ve done exactly that, and have done so while never giving up on the values which are so important to all of us like great schools, affordable health care, protecting workers and fighting for vulnerable Minnesotans.
Meetings in the Community
I continue to be available for meetings around the community. It was good to catch up with Dr. Gregg Marg, professor at MSU and other Inter Faculty Organization leaders, along with Rep. Clark Johnson. I always appreciate spending time with faculty to get their perspective as we collaborate to deliver quality, affordable higher education to our young people.
I’m always available to meet with businesses, civic organizations, and other groups, as well as to meet with constituents one-on-one. As always, please don’t hesitate to call me with comments or questions, or if I can be of assistance.
Sincerely,
Jack Considine
State Representative