Our newsletter
February, 2010
Elected a delegate at your precinct caucus? Remember to join us for the March 6 convention.
Here are the specifics:
Saturday, March 6
10:00 am
Eden Prairie High School Main Commons
17185 Valley View Rd, Eden Prairie
You'll be representing your neighbors as you elect senate district officers, endorse candidates for State Senate and State Representative, vote on resolutions to move to the state convention where they'll be voted on for inclusion in the State DFL Party Platform.
You'll also have an opportunity to hear from a number of candidates for state office.
Interested in becoming an integral part of building a Democratic presence in our district?
Consider serving as an officer in the senate district. Applications are being accepted for DFL Senate District 42 Officers and Directors. Please download and review the instructions and questions to be answered and descriptions of the various positions. Please complete the application and return it to Stefan Peterson by February 19. The Nominations Committee will be interviewing candidates on Saturday, February 27, at the Glenn Lake Community Center from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and Monday evening March 1 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Minnetonka City Hall. All applicants will be contacted to arrange for a specific interview time with the Committee. If you have any questions, please contact the members of the Nominations Committee, Stefan Peterson (952.934.1667), Pat Lind (952.949.2911), Dwight Benson (952.943.2660) or Marge Hoffa (952.935.4203).
Town Hall scheduled
Rep. Jenifer Loon (R, 42B) and Sen. David Hann (42) have scheduled a town hall meeting for residents of our district. They'll be giving a previous of the 2010 legislative session and take questions as time allows.
The meeting is scheduled for Saturday, February 20, from 10:00 to 11:30 am in the Council Chambers at Eden Prairie City Hall, 8080 Mitchell Rd, Eden Prairie.
Know your candidates: Democratic Visions on YouTube
Democratic Visions on YouTube is Minnesota's best one-stop video site for DFL gubernatorial, local congressional and state candidates: Hackett, Meffert, Ruud Bonoff, Benson, Case, Dayton, Entenza, Marty, Rukavina, Theissen. There's lots more including exclusive interviews with Senator Al and Franni Franken. Democratic Visions is a DFL Senate District 42 project with help from DFL Senate Districts 42 and 43.
Spend ten minutes with each of these great candidates right now at —
http://www.youtube.com/user/Democraticvisions
The future belongs to those who show up
The Minnesota State Senate has moved the primary election a month earlier to August 10, 2010. Be prepared! Show up and vote!
Now is the time to get to know candidates. Now is the time to get onboard and support the candidates you believe are the best and have a campaign in place to b able to win the general election in November.
All members of the Minnesota House and Senate, and all state Constitutional Officers (governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state attorney general) are up for election this year. There are no offices that carry over this year to complete a term next year.
We in Senate District 42 have the opportunity to return Rep. Maria Ruud (HD42A) to the Minnesota State House, and to elect a Democrat to the State Senate (Ron Case has announced he's running for this seat). We are still looking at candidates to run for the House District 42B seat held by first-term representative Jenifer Loon. Could that be you?
There will be several DFL contest. Some candidates for governor have said they won't seek the Democratic-Farmer-Labor endorsement, but will run in the general election in November as Democrats. We need the best. We must have a Democrat in the governor's office again.
Currently, DFLers serve as Secretary of State, State Attorney General, State Auditor and a majority of Representatives and Senators in the State Legislature. We benefit greatly by returning these people to office.
The future of our country and, indeed, the quality of our personal futures, depends upon the people we elect to run our government. Don't discount the importance of your involvement now. Make contacts with people in your neighborhood now. Support the candidates of your choice now. Plan to bring friends and neighbors to the polls with you when you vote in the state primary in August 10, 2010.
Norbert Gernes
Chair, DFL Senate District 42
Governor's State of the State Address
This month Gov. Tim Pawlenty gave his final State of the State address. In it, he laid out several proposals. While some are intriguing, and it sounds like the Legislature will take them seriously, it's really important for him to work together with the Legislature to find middle ground. Here are just a few of areas where we're concerned with what was said
Economic Development
The Governor used his address to push the need for job creation and economic development. It is urgent to get Minnesotans back to work. We all know family and friends who've been out of work substantially longer than in previous economic downturns. In fact, there are fewer Minnesotans working today han when the Governor took office in 2003.
The Governor called for creation of an Angel Investment Tax Credit to spur private investment in high-technology companies. This is something the Senate has been trying to bring to reality for several sessions now. The Governor has actually vetoed it twice in previous years.
Business Regulation
The Governor called for decreased government regulation of business. This is hard to see as a positive, especially as we're still attempting to recover from the Republican deregulation of the financial market that brought about this downturn. The old joke used to be "trust us, we're the government". After what we've been through, "trust us, we're business" has proven to be substantially more damaging.
Health Care
The Governor's initiatives, such as selling health insurance across state lines, have not shown that they save money. As the Attorney General has shown, it can just as easily lead to substandard policies that don't provide adequate coverage, or the sale of things that aren't insurance at all.
Overall, there was a lot of restatement of the "no new taxes" the Governor has been touting for the past eight years. Hard to understand how, if this is really a successful way of running a state, we're in so much more of a hole that we were eight years ago.
Currently on Democratic Visions:
DFL congressional and gubernatorial candidates on Democratic Visions
DFL Congressional District 3 candidate Jim Meffert and gubernatorial candidate Tom Rukavina talk about their respective hopes for Minnesota on Democratic Visions, the monthly public issues program seen on Comcast Cable Channel 15.
State Representative Rukavina (DFL, Virginia) is one of Minnesota’s longest serving legislators. Meffert is a resident of Edina and the chief executive of a medical association.
Edina City Council member Joni Bennett joins Democratic Vision host Tim O'Brien to talk about Edina community activist Dwaine Lindberg. Lindberg died in early January. An octogenarian, Lindberg had been a founding member of the Bike Edina Task force, a board member of the DFL Education Foundation and organizer of public issue forums.
DEMOCRATIC VISIONS CABLE CAST TIMES
Hopkins, Minnetonka, Edina, Richfield and Eden Prairie Sundays at 9 pm and Wednesdays at 5:30 pm and 9 pm on Sundays on Channel 15
Bloomington on Bloomington BCAT's Channel 16 Tuesdays at 10:30 pm, Wednesdays at 6:30 am
FULL PROGRAMS ON LINE ANYTIME
www.dflsd42.org/
www.dfl43.org/
SELECT SEGMENTS ON LINE ANYTIME
YouTube’s “Democratic Visions Channel.”
About Democratic Visions
Democratic Visions is hosted by Tim O’Brien and is produced by DFL Senate District 42 at the South West Community Television Studio in Eden Prairie by DFL volunteers.
Questions? You can reach Producer/Director Jeff Strate at 952.949.8980.
We need your dollars to elect Democrats
Gov. Pawlenty has discontinued the State's rebate program. Which means, we need your contribution to the party even more than before. Your money will be used to support our candidates, put on precinct caucuses and the senate district convention and help spread the word on issues important to Democrats.
You can send your contribution directly to Sally Burns, Treasurer, at 9749 Mill Creek Dr, Eden Prairie, MN 55347. Or you can contribute online by using the button that will take you to a secure web page on our web site. We also have a new option for a monthly $10 contribution. The senate district will keep track of your contribution, and send you a receipt and form for the Political Contribution Refund as soon as your total reaches $50. Here's a link to the web page where you can make this transaction.
Please help us elect candidates who share our values at all levels of government.
Want to make your voice heard? Not certain how to contact your elected officials?
Here's some links:
| Hennepin County | |
| Randy Johnson, 5th District Commissioner | no direct e-mail, judy.larson@co.hennepin.mn.us |
| Jan Callison, 6th District Commissioner | jan.callison@co.hennepin.mn.us |
| Mike Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney | 612.348.5550 |
| State of Minnesota | |
| Constitutional Officers | Legislative Representatives |
| Rebecca Otto, State Auditor | David Hann, SD42 |
| Tim Pawlenty, Governor | Jenifer Loon, HD42B |
| Mark Ritchie, Secretary of State | Maria Ruud, HD42A |
| Lori Swanson, Attorney General | |
| U.S. Congress | U.S. Senate |
| Erik Paulsen | Al Franken |
| Amy Klobuchar | |
| President of the United States | |
| Barack Obama | |
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