A proposal by a Minnesota Legislator is on its face not a Minneapolis Issue. Except when it proves the point of some out-state politicians when they say Minneapolis Legislatures are a bunch of out to lunch radicals. This is a "Minneapolis Issue". Such low esteem for our legislative contingent is the basis for anti-Minneapolis bias at the Legislature. This low-esteem causes very real "Issue" for Minneapolis. I certainly wish we could show them this perception is incorrect for most "City" democrats, but it is hard with such representation. I trust and hope my own Democrat Legislators are a little bit wiser than this, they certainly have been in the past.
Don sez:
I really have to disagree with this, Jim. I feel that the Minneapolis delegation to the Legislature has been one of extremely high quality for a long time. At the Senate, where I work, we have Senators Higgins, Pogemiller, Orfield, Berglin, Sabo and Ranum. All are highly respected there and very effective. We recently had Senators Spear and Flynn who were also highly effective and respected, and this year Reps. Dibble and Skoglund will be coming over to the Senate to continue this tradition. We also have many effective House members from Minneapolis, too many to mention. The "anti-Minneapolis" bias at the Legislature comes from the Republicans who unfortunately control the House. They want to cut income taxes for their rich contributors in Edina, Minnetonka and so on, and don't want to support the more progressive, DFL-oriented policies of Minneapolis. They don't want to fund the Minneapolis schools at adequate levels. If they use a bill that a Minneapolis legislator introduces as an excuse for these fundamental policies, that's just a smoke-screen. If we're lucky, a few more DFLers will be elected to the House, and we'll have a DFL majority.
Don Jorovsky
25 years in Minneapolis, now about two miles north
