I just received a 2014 Legislative Survey from my State Representative JoAnn Ward. While I respect Representative Ward, this survey is nothing more than a Democratic Party excercise in smug self promotion.
Survey question 1, "In 2013, Minnesota employers added over 45,000 jobs and our state's unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 percent. Do you think Minnesota's economy is heading in the right direction?" Yes
Based on evidence beyond the spoon fed Democratic statistics, I checked Yes. Like the statistics they presented, any proclamation that survey respondents credit the Democrats with this economic improvement would be incomplete and inaccurate.
Survey question 2. "Thanks to an honestly balanced state budget and a productive year from businesses and workers, Minnesota generated a $1.23 billion surplus. What are your top priorities for putting those funds to use?
1 Increase Minnesota's budget reserves
3 Conform state tax code to federal tax code
5 Make additional investments in education
4 Provide tax incentives for small businesses
2 Improve Minnesota's transportation system and expand access to mass transit"
I found this question so out of touch with reality that I edited it for accuracy. Here is what the question looks like now: Thanks to an
As for my rankings:
1 Increase Minnesota's budget reserves: While some believe our current budget reserves are adequate, the fact is that the current reserves dictated by statute have not been enough to cover a rainy day, let alone the torrential downpour of budget problems caused by partisan paralysis for more than a decade. For that reason, I believe that we need to strengthen our state's budget reserves.
2 Improve Minnesota's transportation system and expand access to mass transit: I do support improving Minnesota's transportation system and I support expanding mass transit. While I stand with Representative Ward in support of the Gateway Corridor, I do not support the question's assumption that if you don't support transit, then you don't support improving transportation. I have met many Minnesotan's who believe that we need to improve Minnesota's transportation system by expanding our existing highway system. While I disagree with them, for those Minnesotan's this question is a huge disservice. For the Democratic Party, this is just another policy statement with a question mark at the end of it.
3 Conform state tax code to federal tax code: My wife does our taxes and she insisted that this be ranked high.
4 Provide tax incentives for small businesses: I support government aid to small businesses. I support low interest loans and even grants in the correct situations. I will not support more tax loopholes or tax breaks for businesses until our business tax code is simplified and the loopholes are patched. Businesses are taxed at such a high rate in Minnesota because so much of the assessed tax passes through the loopholes and back into the businesses coffers. Business taxes need to be high enough to cover the cost of services, low enough to encourage business growth and fair for every business owner regardless of the size.
5 Make additional investments in education: As number 3 exposed, my wife and I completed this survey together. My wife is a life long Democrat. My wife and I unanimously agreed to put education at number 5. We aren't anti-education. We are pro-results. We want to see what the schools do with the additional hundreds of millions of dollars the Democrats have thrown at school districts before we advocate for another massive spending increase. If Minnesota's education system shows a positive return for the taxpayer's investment, we will both advocate for additional funding. If the school districts fail to spend the public's money in a fair and responsible manner, we will not support throwing more good money after bad results. We all know that we need more than money to fix education. We need to work on the rest of the solution now.
Survey question 3. "State lawmakers made historic investments in education last year, including all-day kindergarten, preschool scholarships, and a tuition freeze for college students. In addition, the "school shift" was repaid in full (LATE!). What is your top priority for education going forward?
1 Expand access to early childhood education programs
X Reduce class sizes in K-12 schools
X Reduce tuition for college students
X Strengthen anti-bullying policies and ensure safe school climate for all students and staff
Early childhood education has proven results for the students and their communities. We fully support early childhood education.
Reducing class sizes is a battle cry that rings hollow now. For decades, reduced class sizes, has been the promise of most school funding referendums, bonds and budget decisions. Decades later, it seems our investments have been for nothing. As class sizes shrank in the past, many parents were told that there were not enough students to keep that school open. Schools closed and class sizes rose. The message, like your shampoo, seems to be to work the taxpayers into a lather, rinse the legislators of any responsibility and then repeat.
Reducing tuition for college students sounds good, but there is more to this question than just a simple tuition reduction. I have entertained supporting public funding for post secondary education. On the other hand, I do not support state funding of post-secondary sports. We need to examine the entire funding picture before we spend state money to augment the income of universities or their millionaire coaches.
Bullying is a terrible thing for any kid to have to live through. I know. I did. Because I did, I know that bullies respond better to the expectations of teachers, principals, peers and staff than they will to a statute passed by some legislators in Saint Paul. Handling bullying should be a priority for every member of the school community. The behavior of young kids is rarely legislated with success.
Survey question 4. _________________________________________________________________
There was no question 4. The legislature paid to ask me to support their policy position on 3 questions, and only one real issue, education. Yep, that sounds like par for the Democratic course.
Now, these three questions were not enough to surpass the Republican survey from 8 years earlier. What really made this survey stand out was the absolute idiocy of it's construction. The 3 questions took a mere 17% of the 2 sided page. A full 50% of the "survey" was dedicated to promoting the Representative and legislative accomplishments during the last session (property tax refund). The rest of the page was for mailing to the voter and returning to the legislator. Here is where the next audacity comes in.
What is more, the text was laid out so that when the page is folded for return to the legislator's office, your answers are showing on the exposed fold of the page. You take only 17% of the page for the survey, and you can't format the page to protect the privacy of my answers? Well not MY answers, I posted mine in a blog. But many people are going to think twice, or thrice, before returning the survey with their answers showing on one fold and their return address on the other.
Please help end smug political self promotion by electing strong third party candidates who are more interested in finding out what you think and less likely to dictate what you should think in the form of a survey.
