Is Dave Thompson a Senator Representing District 36 or a GOP Employee?

The mnpACT! blog posted an article today asking whether our state Senator, Dave Thompson of Lakeville, is an employee of the GOP, or a representative for our district.

Link to the mnpACT! article by Dave Mindeman:
Is Sen. Dave Thompson a MN GOP Employee or a Rep for Dist. 36?

Link to the MPR article by Tom Scheck and Catharine Richert that inspired Dave Mindeman’s article:
Chairman’s spending decisions on insiders helped lead to GOP debt

 

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Recap of the DFL Senate District 36 Executive Committee Meeting July 14, 2011

13 local DFLers met at B&B Pizza in Farmington on the evening of July 14.  The meeting itself centered on participation, strategy, and upcoming events, however the social time before the meeting included good pizza from B&B Pizza and great conversation about the Government Shutdown, national and statewide Democratic Party strategy and tactics and opinions on how to increase the size of the middle class.

Part of the official business included a discussion about the Pan-O-Prog parade.  Including the high $300 entrance fee imposed on politicians and political parties, the long wait to start, an extremely slow parade, and the fair officials at the end of the race who were a little rude to the walkers when they tried to get a bottle of water the event itself offers to parade participants.

Overall, the Pan-O-Prog parade was a successful event for us.  The 33 volunteers who marched in the parade were well received, including a couple of ovations.  We carried signs for Senators Amy Klobuchar and  Al Franken, Governor Mark Dayton, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, Attorney General Lori Swanson and State Auditor Rebecca Otto.  What a great list.  Every statewide elected official in Minnesota is a DFLer!  And with the recently released fundraising numbers that shows Sen. Klobuchar raised over $1.1 million in the 2nd quarter and Sen. Klobuchar’s only announced opponent, Dan Severson raised only $3,700, I don’t see that changing for 2012.

We also began finalizing plans for the Dakota County Fair in Farmington.  The DFL will occupy the same booth at the Dakota County Fair that it has occupied for years.  The Fair opens at 4:00 pm on Monday, August 8, and runs through Sunday, August 14.  Senate District 36 is staffing the booth on the opening day evening from 4:00 pm until 10:00 pm, and the closing day Sunday from 10:00 am until 7:00 pm when the fair closes.  If you are interested in volunteering to hand out DFL logo balloons at the fair on either of those days, please send an email to Steve Quist, DFLSD36@gmail.com.

Last year, SD36A candidate Colin Lee organized a fun fundraising picnic for his campaign.  This year, the DFL is going to make it an annual event.  On August 19, from 5:30 pm until 8:00 pm, the SD36 DFL is hosting “A Progressive Picnic in the Park” at Antlers Park on the east side of Lake Marion in Lakeville.  Besides the traditional picnic food like hot dogs, potato salad and chips, we are organizing a silent auction that so far includes signed books, a vintage political pin collection, a hand knit baby blanket and a large collection of Beanie Babies.  It will be fun and friendly, so stop by.

The next meeting in Senate District 36 will be on August 4, however a location has not been identified yet.  At that meeting, we will be holding elections for two executive positions in our organization, an Affirmative Action officer, and two alternate members to the State DFL Party Central Committee.  If any of those activities interest you, contact Steve Quist, DFLSD36@gmail.com.  Keep up to date by joining our email list, or joining the “DFL SD36” group on Facebook.

How does this make Minnesota Better?

With just a couple weeks left in the legislative session, we are still waiting for the Republican majority to create a job in Minnesota.  Not only have they not created a job, they are still about a billion dollars short of balancing the budget.  So are Republicans working hard to create jobs and solve the budget crisis?  No, they are launching attacks on women, on equality, on common sense, and on workers.

DFL Chair Ken Martin recently said “it’s left many of us around the state asking, how does this make Minnesota better? It doesn’t.”

Last week, Republicans advanced a series of bills that would change Minnesota’s Prevailing Wage Act and slash the wages paid to construction workers and trade workers around the state.

We’ve seen attacks on workers all over the country over the past couple of decades, most recently the attacks on workers across the border in Wisconsin that has been in the news, and will stay in the news with the recount elections in the works to remove Republican legislators because of their attacks on middle class workers.

Not only would this legislation like this be devastating for Minnesotans working hard to provide for themselves and their families, but it would be an even bigger drain our economy.  Our economy is built on middle class worker spending and legislation like this could lead to stagnation of middle-class wages and dramatic increases in economic inequality. 

For decades Republicans have used divisive social issues to pit neighbor against neighbor and distract us from their favor-the-rich philosophy. 

Ken Martin said it best: “As the only Party with Labor in our name, we need to continue to stand up against the GOP attack on workers and hold the Republicans accountable for their actions. Because the policies they are fighting for are simply un-Minnesotan. And the people of our state deserve better.”

The next meeting of the local DFL in Senate District 36 is June 7, 6:30 pm, at Farmington Public Library.

Recap of Republican Sen. Dave Thompson’s first town hall meeting

Attendance was low at the first local town hall meeting organized by Senate District 36 state Senator Dave Thompson.  Less than ten people showed up at Farmington High School for the meeting, including the Senator, his legislative aide and local journalist Derrick Williams.  Among the remaining attendees was Farmington School Board Vice Chair, and active Republican Party member Brian Treakle, leaving just a handful of unaffiliated constituents.

It isn’t uncommon for such a low turnout at a meeting like this in a place like Senate District 36.  This is a safe Republican district with a low voter activist level on either side.  Republicans in the area feel safe and Democrats feel secluded.  However, it is surprising that Sen. Thompson didn’t organize a couple more local supporters to attend, at least for photos.  I’m sure that will change in the future.

Despite being as he described it, a “small “L” libertarian, which I can only assume means he believes not in the Libertarian Party, but the political philosophy that seeks to eliminate all but the most basic laws protecting people from being physically harmed and having their property stolen, Sen. Thompson contradicted himself on couple of “small ‘L’ libertarian” points.

While he stated he was against the Department of Education and the smoking ban (libertarian speak for shrink government bureaucracy and let people choose to make their own bad decisions,) he also stated he is against letting people make their own choice as to who they marry, and against the public being allowed to make their own bad decision to gamble here in Minnesota.  (I’m sure Gamblin’ Pat Garofalo (House 36B-R) and him don’t see eye-to-eye on that.)

He talked about the negative social impact of gambling being important, while hypocritically ignoring the social impact the smoking ban has in protecting the health of the majority of people (including children) who don’t smoke. 

Can you believe the hypocrisy in that simple idea that gambling has a negative social impact on our community while ignoring that smoking does too?  Or worse yet, the hypocrisy that he is concerned at all about any negative social impact when he is more concerned about keeping the wealthiest Minnesotans at their current income level than the social impact cutting medical, employment and basic aide items from the budget would have on children, low income families, single mothers and people with disabilities and their families. 

It might lead one to believe that a negative social impact isn’t the important aspect of his concern at all.  The contradictions are evident in his actions in the Senate.  So what’s the deal with the hypocrisy?  Ego?  Bigger political plans?  Warped sense of humor?  What?

Senator Dave Thompson is up for reelection in 2012, along with the entire Minnesota legislature. 

In 2012, let’s correct the mistakes we made in 2010.

House Republicans release redistricting maps without public input and gerrymandered to protect own legislators

House Republicans released their plan for redistricting this week.  However, chances are with a Republican legislature negotiating with a DFL Governor, these plans will not be the final plan.  Likely, redistricting boundaries will be drawn by a judicial panel, as they have been drawn during stalemates the last several redistricting periods.

Some experts are criticizing the Republican plan because it was devised without public input and was released at the last minute preventing the public from thoroughly examining the plan before its hearing.  The other criticism is that House Republicans were briefed on the plan, while Democrats were not.

 

The map above is the area that is now Senate District 36.  The way the boundaries are cut for what would become Senate District 54, all three current Senate District 36 legislators, are set safely in a district without adding current legislative member opposition should they all choose to run for reelection.

While seats are safe from added competition in this area, the map changes throughout the state create 10 potential current House legislators who would match up against 10 other current House legislators.  Only one of those 20 seats pits a sitting Republican against another sitting Republican.  On the Senate side, all three changes that would cause an election that pits a current Senator against another current Senator are DFLer vs. DFLer.

It seems based on that information that not only should the Republicans be criticized for the secretive map drawing, but also for developing maps that protect current Republican legislators over creating logical boundaries.

Lakeville Republican state Senator Dave Thompson to hold Town Hall Meeting at Farmington High School on April 30 at 10:30 am

Lakeville Republican state Senator, lawyer and occasional right-wing radio talk show host Dave Thompson will be holding a Town Hall Meeting at Farmington High School on April 30, 2011, from 10:30 am to noon.

Senator Thompson, a self-proclaimed advocate of individual rights and community rights, is the author of a bill to force the state to restrict locally governed school districts from increasing pay for their teachers and professionals.  He called it “empowering districts,” but it seemed more to be a swipe at teachers, contracts and unions, as well as a veiled attempt to mitigate the expected huge increase in property taxes if the Republican budget plans actually become law.

Additionally, Senator Thompson authored a bill to prevent school district employees and staff from spending time or money, or even using community owned buildings to advocate for their own school district’s interests.

And one more item that squashes his individual freedoms claim, Senator Dave Thompson is the Senate “author” of the MCCL bill SF103 (HF201), the first step in eliminating a Minnesota woman’s right to choose how she manages her own body.  The bill would essentially overturn a settled Minnesota law regarding abortion that keeps a woman’s right to make her own individual medical decisions regarding pregnancy, legal, safe and included in medical coverage.  In an overtly political maneuver to avoid controversy, Republicans added the bill to a hearing schedule at the last minute to prevent an organized opposition hearing.

Lakeville and Farmington are strong Republican territories with very vocal Republican supporters.  The Second Congressional District Republicans do a great job of planning and getting their supporters to events like this to ensure supporters are near microphones and little or no opposition protest makes much traction.  That means this town hall meeting may be more of a rah-rah you’re doing a great job Republican rally, but Republican rally or not, it is important for Democratic supporters to attend this meeting to at least be observers of one of the state’s leading Republicans.  There is no need to heckle or insult Republicans, including Mr. Thompson, but Democrats from Lakeville, Farmington and Democrats from the small communities to the east of Farmington who are represented by Senator Thompson need to practice opposition, and be present at events like this.

Farmington High School is located in Farmington, about a half a mile north of Dakota County 50 (212th St) on Flagstaff Avenue.  The address is 20655 Flagstaff Ave, Farmington MN 55024.  Contact Farmington resident and Senate District 36 DFL Chair Steve Quist for information on Farmington High School accessibility or for details on the location by emailing dlfsd36@gmail.com.