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Greetings, everyone. I wanted you to know about some of the news here in St. Paul.
Governor Walz and the Emergency Powers
In America, we are supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. However, Governor Walz’s leadership has turned Minnesota into the land of the controlled and the home of the afraid.
Governor Tim Walz announced last week that he is opening more of Minnesota. This long overdue step comes from a Governor who has been woefully out of touch with the people and the constitution. Governor Walz acts like we should be grateful that he shut down our economy and ruined our livelihoods. He wants the people of Minnesota to thank him for giving us an ounce more of freedom.
To the Governor, I say that freedom is not his to give or take arbitrarily. Freedom is our God-given right. Governor Walz should have never shut down our state. Instead, he should have worked cooperatively with the Minnesota Legislature to implement necessary measures to address the pandemic.
The dictates of Governor Walz have yielded hardship and destruction in our state. Businesses have been crushed and families have endured significant suffering. Additionally, Governor Walz’s decision to prevent in-person learning for children is nothing more than educational theft.
The Governor needs to relinquish his dictatorial emergency powers and fully open Minnesota. Other states have already fully opened, and Minnesota must join those states or we will be left behind in the recovery from this pandemic.
Stopping Government Spending
On Wednesday, some Republicans in the Minnesota House of Representatives made a motion to bring forward a bill that would spend $35 million on local governments and public safety. The people who brought forward this motion claimed that the $35 million bill was necessary to ensure public safety throughout the course of the Derek Chauvin trial.
However, those who brought forward this bill failed to realize that Minnesota state government and Minnesota’s local governments are awash in federal money. The $1.9 trillion spending bill passed by Democrats in our federal government sent billions of dollars to our state. Moreover, the metro area of Minnesota received roughly $800 million. This money will be used for many things, but police protection and public safety are a part of the new spending.
Because of the massive amount of money coming to Minnesota, we should not be spending an additional $35 million. The $35 million is clearly not necessary, and I do not want to throw away taxpayer money on something that is already funded. We need to use taxpayer funds responsibly.
Furthermore, we know that money spent on public safety is only as good as the public safety decisions made by elected leaders. This $35 million for local governments would have gone to cities like Minneapolis who care more about parks than public safety. We should not be rewarding cities that refuse to make the necessary decisions to protect people. Millions of dollars must not be used to continually enable bad policy. The failed leadership of Minneapolis needs to change course for the good of the people they serve.
For these reasons, I voted against the motion to bring forward this $35 million bill, and the motion did not get enough votes to pass in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
To see my full remarks on this subject, please see the video below.
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