Dear Neighbor,
Gov. Mark Dayton gave raises to government employees worth more than many Minnesotans even make in a year. It is no wonder why the public thinks its government leaders are out of touch.
The raises Dayton issued are for his staff of commissioners. Most range from $25,000 to $35,000, but at least one is more than $86,000. To clarify: Those dollar figures are not salaries, but raises for people who already are making well into the six figures.
This absurd abuse of taxpayer dollars happened, in part, because back in 2013 Democrats in the House and Senate teamed up with Dayton to change the law, giving the governor the power to offer raises without legislative approval. That was a terrible decision and now taxpayers are paying the price ($800,000 per year for these raises) for it.
I have yet to hear someone say they support these raises. Of course, we want our commissioners to be fairly compensated, but most already were by earning around $120,000 or more before the raises. Family incomes have been flat, or even down, since the Great Recession, yet government workers get enormous increases?
That strikes a chord with people and, to make matters worse, there is a shady element to this whole thing. Dayton apparently approved these raises back on Jan. 5, but it took a full month before the Legislative Coordinating Commission (LCC) was notified of changes. Why did it take so long to come to light?
The good news is a high level of public backlash has brought attention to this issue. Newspaper editorial boards, citizens and even some of Dayton’s fellow Democrats are critical. Proposals are being put together to delay the raises, repeal this new law, etc. That means we can expect this issue to continue festering this session so we can take action to prevent nonsense like this from happening in the future.
Another waste of taxpayer dollars that deserves scrutiny is Dayton’s request to spend $10 million in taxpayer money to purchase two new state airplanes. I am a pilot by trade and find this proposal to be out of line. First of all, the existing planes are just fine. There is no real need to replace them and I would be perfectly comfortable in the cockpit. Secondly, why in the world would we spend that kind of taxpayer money on new planes when we could purchase military surplus models at 10 cents on the dollar?
Again, it is an out-of-touch plan that wastes taxpayer dollars. I will provide an update as things evolve on those fronts.
As for other legislative news, we had an interesting hearing regarding Aquatic Invasive Species. I mentioned in a recent update how a new law is set to take effect this July 1, requiring anyone trailering a boat or water-related equipment such as docks and lifts in Minnesota to take aquatic invasive species training and display a decal on their trail.
This is a bad law for a number of reasons. Resort owners indicated this decal program already is damaging their business. Legislators also questioned the fact the state is requiring online training courses when reports show 63 percent of Greater Minnesota does not have access to broadband Internet. Other citizens have no online access at all.
Again, it is a plan that has “out of touch” written all over it.
Let’s hope common sense starts to prevail at the Capitol so we can spend more time looking forward instead of continually having to clean up after the poor decisions made during one-party rule of the past.
Sincerely,
Mark