STATEMENT OF DFL CHAIR BRIAN MELENDEZ REGARDING GOP AGENDA

02/08/2006

ST. PAUL (2/07/06) - “Speaker Sviggum whined today about critics who talk about the state’s problems.  Somebody sure needs to talk about them, because the Republican leadership isn’t doing anything about fixing them. Maybe the speaker is complaining about the disenfranchised Minnesotans who, after seven years of Republican control of the State House, have seen no improvement in the areas of paying for quality public education, lowering health care costs and building a transportation system that works.

“What the state has received from House leadership is a $1 billion increase in fees, a government shutdown and mistrust of the political process.

“What the Republicans unleashed today is basically their campaign strategy: to divide Minnesotans over wedge issues, while paying only lip service to the real business of governing Minnesota. The House Republicans are providing legislative cover for Governor Pawlenty’s politics of exclusion by highlighting the issues of gay marriage and immigration.  You can campaign on those issues, but you can’t govern on them—as Tim Pawently and the Republican Party have proven.

“The politics of exclusion are the politics of defeat.  Minnesota can do better than the continuous empty promises of House Republicans and the governor.”