Another Year of Bonding and Spending! It's time for Accountability

In response to this year's disappointing $1.5 billion dollar debt and spending bill that passed in the last hours of the 2018 session when our State has nearly a $50 billion dollar budget: The List: Hundreds of Millions of Pork in the $1.5 Billion 2018 Final Spending Bill only 7 Republicans Voted No

More spending, more spending, more spending! Another year of bonding and spending! Another year of expanding government programs and demanding more education spending! When will someone be willing to starting yelling, ENOUGH SPENDING and DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY OF WHAT IS BEING SPENT?

When will the citizens of Minnesota wake up to the fact we once again have taxation without representation (the Republican legislators have left the conservative movement). Didn't we as a country already have this fight? When will the citizens of Minnesota start to question why government is taking over all aspects of our lives and demanding we pay for our own destruction. This destruction has to stop before we become a country with no rights as citizens. And why is Comrade Governor Dayton telling us HIS priorities are the only ones that must be acted on? Did we elect a dictator or a narcissist who wants to be a dictator?

You would think all citizens of Minnesota were heirs to a department store fortune and are able to keep their money in another state to stop the stealing (via taxation) of their hard earned monies. Many citizens of Minnesota made a choice to leave and reside in a state with a taxing system lower than Minnesota's. If enough leave, who pays the government bills? Will the legislators just keep raising the tax rate to compensate? That worked so well in Venezuela, Cuba and the USSR. By the way, where is the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics? I guess socialism/communism didn't work so well.

Anyone have any money left after Legislators day, April 15th?

Steve Ellenwood
Woodbury

Common Sense Solution to Prevent Voter Fraud Makes it Through the Senate

This article is written by Susan Richardson of Woodbury about the Senate elections omnibus bill SenateFile514   (Senator  Kiffmeyer from Big Lake). The house version is not as far along as of the writing of this post, it is  HouseFile729  (Representative Fenton from Woodbury). Both bills will have to match before going to the Governor to be signed. 

See also the article by MN voter's Alliance Executive Director Andy Cilek in the Pioneer Press: 
http://www.twincities.com/2017/04/28/andy-cilek-provisional-ballots-will-improve-election-integrity-in-minnesota/

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Minnesota elections must be conducted with rigorous safety measures in place so Minnesotans can have confidence in the integrity of our election system.  The Senate elections omnibus bill is a major step forward in the right direction.

Voters are shocked and surprised when they learn the current election system provides no authority for blocking a known ineligible person from casting a ballot if the ineligible person swears they are allowed to vote. Even if election officials know with certainty that the person is a felon or non-citizen, the state is powerless to stop an ineligible person from casting an irretrievable ballot.

If a judge convicts me of a felony in July and removes my right to vote, I can enter a polling place in November and vote even if the record indicates “challenged-felony.” All I have to do is swear I’m eligible.

The Senate omnibus bill contains corrections to this and other critical flaws in election law. Provisional ballots allow the setting aside of a ballot inside a confidential envelope of a suspected ineligible person until voter eligibility can be verified. Unfortunately, Republican House members refused to hear this important proposed improvement to election law in the House.

Forty-seven states have provisional ballots and they are effective at ensuring the right to vote for every eligible person while enabling the state to protect election results from those whose votes must not be counted.

I am disappointed in the House Republican leadership’s failure to support these long overdue, effective and common sense improvements in our election laws. It’s time for Republicans in the House to stand united with Republicans in the Senate and support provisional ballots.
-Susan Richardson
Board of Directors MN Voters Alliance and Board of Directors South Washington Citizens for Progress