Buckle up folks

11/17/2005

The following is an exerpt from today’s Bemidji Paper. I would encourage you all to read the entire article and think about the upcoming year:

“The House needs two more members from northern Minnesota on the majority side of the aisle,” Sviggum said.

He lumped Moe and Sailer with their caucus leader, Minority Leader Matt Entenza, DFL-St. Paul, as “three peas in a pod and that is not Bemidji. … We exchanged the two Dougs (Fuller and Lindgren) for two liberal, leftist extremists, and that’s not Bemidji.”

He described Entenza and Twin Cities liberals as “pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-gay marriage, big spending, big taxing,” adding that “Sailer and Moe, with a smile on their face, vote with them 90 percent of the time. You give your vote away to the liberals in Minneapolis and St. Paul.”

Sviggum said if he told Bemidjians that the urban liberals from the Twin Cities were running Bemidji, “Paul Bunyan would be blushing, and Babe the Blue Ox would turn pink. And that’s what’s taking place.”

Bemidji needs a more true representation of the principles and values of Bemidji, the Republican leader said. Balance needs to be brought to St. Paul, away from extreme leftist positions.

Here is the entire article........OMG:

-----------------------

Sviggum speaks to Beltrami Country RepublicansThursday, November 17, 2005
By Brad Swenson
Staff Writer,

House Speaker Steve Sviggum, in launching the race this week to recapture two local seats Republicans lost in 2004 to “liberal, leftist extremists.”

Sviggum was the keynote speaker Tuesday night at a Beltrami County Republican fund-raiser at Bemidji State University’s David Park House, where about 35 people heard stump speeches from six candidates for various offices.

Among them, former Rep. Doug Lindgren, R-Bagley, said he would try to recapture the seat he lost in 2004 to Brita Sailer, DFL-Park Rapids. And Bemidji’s Ridgewood Baptist Church Rev. David Myers announced his campaign against Rep. Frank Moe, DFL-Bemidji.

Also, Sen. Carrie Ruud, R-Breezy Point, signaled a re-election campaign in 2006 by asking to return her to St. Paul for a shot at capturing the majority in the Senate from the Democrats.

“We are so close,” she said. “The way the (Republicans) take the majority is for me to keep this seat, and … the DFL does not like me representing Bemidji.

Sviggum, R-Kenyon, has his eyes set on recapturing the House 2B seat, where Sailer beat Lindgren, and House 4A, where Moe beat three-term incumbent Rep. Doug Fuller, R-Bemidji, who isn’t seeking a rematch in 2006.

“The House needs two more members from northern Minnesota on the majority side of the aisle,” Sviggum said.

He lumped Moe and Sailer with their caucus leader, Minority Leader Matt Entenza, DFL-St. Paul, as “three peas in a pod and that is not Bemidji. … We exchanged the two Dougs (Fuller and Lindgren) for two liberal, leftist extremists, and that’s not Bemidji.”

He described Entenza and Twin Cities liberals as “pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-gay marriage, big spending, big taxing,” adding that “Sailer and Moe, with a smile on their face, vote with them 90 percent of the time. You give your vote away to the liberals in Minneapolis and St. Paul.”

Sviggum said if he told Bemidjians that the urban liberals from the Twin Cities were running Bemidji, “Paul Bunyan would be blushing, and Babe the Blue Ox would turn pink. And that’s what’s taking place.”

Bemidji needs a more true representation of the principles and values of Bemidji, the Republican leader said. Balance needs to be brought to St. Paul, away from extreme leftist positions.

He asked local Republicans if they remembered what they learned in kindergarten and Sunday school: “Share what you have, play fair, clean up your own mess, put things back where you find them, don’t take things that aren’t yours, treat people the way you want to be treated … it’s a pretty good philosophy of life and it’s a pretty good Republican philosophy.”

It means balance both in life and in government, he said.

“You cannot and you should not govern from the extreme, radical left,” Sviggum said, adding that it should also apply to the extreme radical right. “There’s got to be some room for compromise and cooperation. The radical left have forgotten hard work, individual responsibility, risk, reward, the market, the American dream, the American experiment.

“They’ve forgotten it, they’re whacko, they’re left and they’re gone,” Sviggum said. “You can’t govern from there.”

He called the DFL strategy “cynical,” as the DFL Senate stymied budget efforts by confronting Republicans in 2004 and 2005 because they didn’t face an election.

The Bemidji area missed $33 million in bonding projects in 2004 because the Senate didn’t pass a bonding bill, while House Republicans faced re-election that fall, he said. And this year, DFLers forced a special session and government shutdown just to embarrass GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty, he said.

“From the beginning, it was going to be a special session,” Sviggum said. “Their strategy was to embarrass the governor, to someway reduce the popularity that he had.”

In the upcoming session, the cornerstones of Republican philosophy have to be faith, family, freedom and work. He labeled debate on a constitutional amendment ballot question that gay marriages be banned in Minnesota as “very, very important.”

That also appears to be one of the key campaign issues for Myers, who hopes to unseat Moe next year.

“Frank Moe has done a good job representing his constituents,” Myers said. “But he’s dangerous if we leave him there.”

Important to Myers is the Marriage and Family Act, “which defines marriage as one man and one woman. If you send me to St. Paul, I will work very hard … to try to bring that before the voters.”

Moe will not support the act because state law already bars it, Myers said. “He’s not going to come out and say that he’s for gay rights, because Frank is a middle-of-the-road kind of guy. But I’m not a middle-of-the-road kind of guy … it was the law of the land in Massachusetts

it’s the law of the land until the Legislature decides it’s not.”

It needs to be part of the State Constitution where lawmakers can’t tamper with it, he said.

“We need to try to stop abortion wherever we can,” he added. “I will work hard to try to stem the tide. Whenever I get the opportunity to push it back, I’ll do that.”

Myers has never run for public office, but said he’s worked on several campaigns. He retired four years ago from the U.S. Navy, where he had a 22-year career as a diver.

Lindgren said he enjoyed his only two-year term in the Legislature, and wants to return. His family runs a Bagley service station while he teaches auto mechanics at Northwest Technical College.

“I’ve got to do it,” he said. “Once you get this in your blood, you can’t get it out. … I loved my two years being a representative, and I’m going to do it again.”

Ruud plans to seek a second, four-year term. Now in the Senate minority, she said she felt hamstrung and that the GOP needs to wrest control of the chamber.

“It was very clear from Day 1 that we were headed toward shutdown,” she said of the past session. “There was never an agenda to get anything done.”

Even the night of the shutdown, an agreement was close, but Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, adjourned the body, she said. “When you hear the governor shut down the state of Minnesota, it’s not true. Sen. Dean Johnson shut down the state of Minnesota.

“Those of us who believe in government and believe we are there to do what’s best for the state of Minnesota, really couldn’t believe that politics could be more important than policy and the good of the state,” Ruud said.

It’s difficult for a minority member to get bills passed, Ruud said, adding that many bills she wanted passed had to be put through DFL authors in order to pass.

“I passed 70 percent of the bills I introduced last year, but the sad thing is most of them don’t have my name on them anymore because I’m in the minority,” she said.

“It’s not all about who gets credit, but I would love for my bills to have my name on them, and the only way we’re going to do that is for the (Republicans) to take the majority,” Ruud said.

She urged those at the fund-raiser for their help, especially in letting her know of events to attend locally, and alluded that she has been snubbed from some events.

“If you seen an event, like yesterday’s (Monday’s), that I should be invited to, or that I should attend, I need you to tell me,” she said. “It’s obvious I’m not going to find out about those events.”

Let her know because she’ll be there, Ruud said. “I’ve been in Bemidji three, four times a week

I’ve been here, I’ve represented this city. … I think I’ve proven to you I can work hard.”

Ruud referred to a meeting Monday between a delegation of Russian local government officials and with Moe, Sailer and Sen. Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook, at which the visitors learned about state government and politics.

Kath Molitor, Beltrami County Republican Chairwoman, said that Ruud was not invited, even though she was in Bemidji on Monday.

“We need our senator in Bemidji, not someone else’s senator,” Molitor said. “Why wasn’t Carrie invited to talk politics with the Russians? This has got to stop.”

Sviggum said that he and Pawlenty plan to spend a day in Bemidji doing a variety of activities on Jan. 6.