Friends,
I’d like to invite you to a Town Hall Meeting I’m co-hosting with State Senator Chris Eaton and State Representative Debra Hilstrom.
Town Hall Meeting
Tuesday, March 3rd, 7:00 PM
Brooklyn Center Community Center, Constitution Room
6301 Shingle Creek Pkwy, Brooklyn Center, MN 55430
Lack of GOP Leadership
In the last two weeks since I wrote you, things have moved a little slow for my taste. By this time we would normally be looking at comprehensive proposals for some of the smaller parts of state government.
I serve on the State Government Finance Committee and so far we’ve done very little. For all their talk of wanting to reform government, make it efficient, or strangle it in a bathtub, I’ve seen almost no action from the GOP on the subject. We’ve mostly sat listening to presentations on departments, listen to the chair beat up on public servants, and nibble on some small bills on gambling and the state lottery. Call me cynical, but I think the “reform” we’re gonna get will be the same old attack on Minnesotans who happen to work for our state.
Transportation
Speaking of how things are moving, the debate over whether or not we should fix our state’s roads is getting more detailed. On Tuesday, Governor Dayton laid out exactly what his package of new funding would build: 330 bridges and 2,200 miles of roads would be built, expanded, replaced, or repaired – all over the state. A critical part of the plan provides road money to cities, who’ve seen local roads take a beating over the last decade or so. Between our worsening winters, and a little known change to state construction guidelines, local roads are deteriorating much faster than predicted.
As expected, GOP party leaders reiterated that their roads proposal – a drop in the bucket, is not about fixing everything. It seems very cynical to run against the Governor because he hasn’t done enough for the roads outside the metro – then turn around and not fix the roads outside the metro. 72% of the projects on the Governor’s list are in greater Minnesota. See the list and maps for yourself:
http://www.mn.gov/governor/images/transportation_county_projects_fact_sheet.pdf
http://www.mn.gov/governor/images/transportation_maps.pdf
Economic Security for the rest of us
Today we unveiled a package of proposals for working families to feel a little less under the pinch. I’ll probably go into further detail later, but the bottom line is: now that Minnesota’s economy is working again, we need to make it work for all of us. Our package is structured around the idea that if you work hard for a living, you should be able to support and spend time with your family.
As always I remain accessible and want to hear from you. Feel free to contact me at 651-296-3751, or rep.michael.nelson@house.mn.
Thank you for giving me the honor of serving you and our community,
Mike