Sen. Kiscaden: Legislative Update 11/28/05
11/30/2005
Contents:
1- Coffee and Conversation: Monday, December 5
2- Emergency Preparedness: Do You Have a Personal Plan?
3- Politics and Special Elections
1- Coffee and Conversation, Monday December 5: Come enjoy a cup of java and talk to your neighbors about issues that affect us all. This community issues forum will focus on economic and demographic change in Minnesota.
Tom Gillaspy, State Demographer and Tom Stinson, State Economist aim to give citizens an understanding of the demographic and economic changes that Minnesota is undergoing, some estimates of what this means for the future, and the framework for some of the choices we face. We will listen to their presentation and then have a chance to talk with one another about what it means to us and our community.
When and where: Monday, December 5, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. at Kellogg Middle School Auditorium, 503 17th Street NE, Rochester. The event is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by a partnership of community groups to promote citizen dialogue and engagement.
2- Emergency Preparedness: Do You Have a Personal Plan? Four Senate committees held a joint hearing which I attended on Nov. 16 about Minnesota’s preparedness to deal with emergencies in light of the issues raised by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Minnesotans expect, and deserve, to feel safe in their homes and communities. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was a wake-up call for the entire nation. As legislators, we need to examine and address any gaps that may exist in our state’s ability to respond to a natural disaster or attack.
At the hearing, Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion and Kris Eide, the new Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, described Minnesota’s emergency response structure and plan. The hearing also included a panel of first responders, including a fire chief, police chief, sheriff and Emergency Medical Services director.
While Minnesota is ahead of the curve compared to most other states when it comes to preparedness, we need to maintain and strengthen our communications network and other infrastructure, and build on existing partnerships to prepare for existing and emerging threats. This message came through very clearly at the Senate hearing. It is also clear that since we rely heavily on volunteers for emergency response throughout much of our state, there are special challenges to being prepared.
The lessons learned from the hurricanes are many. There is a strong role for government in preparing and responding to emergencies. However, it takes a great deal of coordination and those who deal with the immediate problems are the local units of government, and local volunteer emergency personnel. The experts also pointed out that there are predictable emergencies such as an impending storm, those that are unpredictable such as a chemical spill, and those that are nearly impossible to predict such as an act of terrorism. It is impossible to be prepared for all risks. And it is important to remind ourselves that every citizen also has a role in helping to manage emergencies. We were reminded that each family should have personal plans for what will need to be done in a hazard emergency.
We were told key elements for making a plan for what you will do in an emergency are:
1-Developing a Family Communications Plan: one person who each family member calls or emails in the case of an emergency so you can keep track of one another.
2-Creating a Plan to Shelter-in-Place in your own home. And also:
3-Creating a plan to get away if that is necessary. Anticipate where you will go, and have several destinations in different directions.
4-Having an emergency kit with duplicates of key documents, medicines, and supplies packed in a small suitcase you can just pick up and take with you.
5-Staying informed, listening for official instructions as they become available.
I must admit that our family had not considered the importance of having such a plan. We do now.
You can get more information about making your family ready at this website: http://www.ready.gov
3- Politics and Special Elections: Recently Secretary of State, Mary Kiffmeyer, called for the state to make an important change in how special elections are scheduled. She noted that there are now so many special elections being scheduled, especially by local units of government, that she believes it is affecting voter turnout negatively and is contrary to democracy’s aim of having a fully engaged citizenry involved in making decisions. Kiffmeyer proposed that the Legislature limit special elections to four dates a year, one a quarter. This idea should get serious consideration by the Legislature.
In political circles it is well known that the date of a special election can affect the election outcome. For that reason, when local units of government must seek approval from the voters for referendums, setting the date for the election becomes an important component of the overall election strategy. And, it is not just local units of government that play the election strategy game. When a legislator resigns during the term of office, the governor must call a special election. Partisan considerations often have a big impact on setting the election date. Just last Wednesday, the St. Cloud Times had an editorial on this subject:
“Our view: Special elections are now between holidays - who’s going to vote? Times Editorial Board
At a time when voters are busy with the winter holidays, to say nothing about being distressed by state government, we take issue with Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s picking of dates for special legislative elections in Central Minnesota.
The governor on Monday announced that voters in Senate District 15 and House District 15B would elect new legislators on Dec. 27. Yes, that’s two days after Christmas, one day after a federal holiday, and during a week in which arguably many Minnesotans are thinking about anything but politics.
It’s a lot like the date Pawlenty picked for the special Senate District 19 election, which was Tuesday. Yes, yesterday, the day before the busiest travel day of the year, and two days before Thanksgiving.
If we didn’t know better, we would think Pawlenty is trying to minimize, not maximize, voter turnout.
Oh, for the record, special elections draw notoriously low voter turnout. And not counting Tuesday’s results, Republicans have won 49 of 68 special legislative elections. # # #
It might interest you to know that the St. Cloud seats have been held for a number of years by a Republican in the Senate and a Democrat in the House. In the last election, the Democrat running came close to defeating the incumbent Republican Senator. Thus, it will be interesting to watch the outcome of those two races and see how much the results are affected by the holiday vote given that over 16,000 St. Cloud University and Technical College students are not likely to be around to vote. There tends to be very low voter turnout for special elections anyway, but the choice of these dates seems intended to decrease voter turnout in Republican’s favor. As noted in the editorial, Republicans are very successful in winning special election races.
It is therefore commendable that the Republican Secretary of State is calling for a change that might affect that success. Hopefully, however all legislators will see that there is strong merit to Secretary Kiffmeyer’s call for the Legislature to set four dates a year when special elections can be held. This would make things clearer for the voters, limit both local and state political maneuvers, and would help assure citizens their right to vote and make decisions.
Last week as I was thinking about this, I got an email from a constituent, who made this very salient point:
“Politics will always be about power. And politics will always be about competition. But if we can return to a competition of ideas rather than a competition of personalities, we may find the space to reclaim and build on the best of Minnesota politics.”
To that I say, Amen!
--Sheila
Senator Sheila Kiscaden District 30
325 Capitol St. Paul, MN 55155
651-296-4848