05/11/2011 - Mille Lacs Messenger: Nonstop campaigning at the capitol, by Niel Ritchie.
Nonstop campaigning at the capitol
By Niel Ritchie
Months into this legislative session, with only days remaining before its close, Republican lawmakers have yet to submit a full budget outlining their spending priorities for the next two years and erasing the massive deficit left by the Pawlenty administration.
But that doesn’t mean they’ve sat idly in St. Paul.
Since January Republicans have introduced bills to undercut gun control, limit abortion rights and establish English as the state’s official language.
They’ve also redrawn Minnesota’s electoral map to boost the future chances of GOP candidates, and passed ballot measures for 2012 banning same-sex marriage and requiring state-issued IDs in order to vote.
Serving up red meat to the political base may play well during elections, but all Minnesotans need the opportunity now to stay in their homes and earn a paycheck.
The latest Job Vacancy Survey from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development shows that Greater Minnesota has 91,000 job seekers competing for 13,000 unfilled jobs, or job seekers outnumber openings 7-to-1. When considering only full-time jobs, the ratio jumps to 14-to-1. Things aren’t any better in the Twin Cities metro, where 104,000 unemployed workers are competing for 21,000 unfilled jobs, one-third of which are part time.
Recent reports on nationwide housing values also show that Minnesota homeowners already are under water yet sinking still. Nearly half of all homeowners in the Twin Cities metro (46 percent) owe more than their properties are now worth, as values continue to drop at a rate faster than the rest of the nation. Over the last two months alone, values fell by a total of 17 percent compared to last year.
Electioneering is expected to end once all the ballots are counted. Minnesota’s current crop of Republicans seems to have forgotten that in their nonstop political campaign this legislative session.
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