Mr. Dahle Goes to St. Paul

The thermometer indicated 5 degrees below zero, January 2, 2008. Al Franken and I were out door knocking in Northfield on the eve of my special election. Al is determined. After he knocks, a few seconds later he opens the door and asks, “Is anyone home?” Any signs of annoyance at being interrupted at dinnertime quickly dissipate when constituents realize Al Franken is standing in the foyer. Smiles exchange handshakes as Al and I remind voters to vote the next day. We turn around and head into the cold night air, ready to surprise the next potential voter followed with a thoughtful reminder of the importance of voting.
Fast forward to June of that year. Al, his wife Frannie, and I are patiently waiting in a room just off the main stage of the Rochester Convention Center. No one says a word as Al and I quietly look over our notes. In a few minutes I will introduce Al Franken before he delivers his endorsement speech at the Minnesota State DFL Convention. A different audience for sure, and quite a contrast between the few folks you meet door to door and the several thousand party faithful anxious to send their candidate into the summer long campaign against Republican Norm Coleman.
His hard work has paid off. Yesterday, the Minnesota Supreme Court declared Al Franken the winner of the November 2008 election. He will be sworn in as our next U.S. Senator, sometime next week. The Minnesota DFL Party released a statement yesterday. Part of the statement reads, “Throughout this long process, Minnesotans have seen what kind of Senator Al Franken will be: determined, patient, thoughtful, and ready to work for our state.” That sums up the Al that I know.
Congratulations, Al, from one freshman Senator to the next.

Most every community in my Senate district will hold community celebrations and parades this summer. It is a great opportunity to meet constituents and sample the hospitality and fare each town has to offer. The people are always warm and inviting and, of course, always having a good time. Earlier this month I walked with the LeSueur County DFL in the Bullhead Days Parade in Waterville and more recently, the Cherry Creek Days Parade in Cleveland, Minnesota. We had great weather both weekends and my kids and I had a great time. I especially enjoyed dining on some tasty bullhead in Waterville. I couldn’t talk my kids into sampling the same, however. They settled for the foot long corn dog. Food always tastes better at a community celebration. Northfield hosted its annual “Taste of Northfield” event this past week. They had a great turnout. Needless to say, I was unable to taste everything offered in Bridge Square on a beautiful Thursday evening. This Sunday I will be walking in the Henderson Sauerkraut Days Parade beginning at noon. Following the parade, I will be spending some time at Bender Park and offering a few words of congratulations to the Parade Grand Marshall, Jeff Bertrang. Jeff, born and raised in Henderson, has been promoted to General in the Minnesota National Guard. Congratulations, Jeff. I look forward to visiting with you.
Of course, there are plenty of other community celebrations to come. Kolacky Days in Montgomery, BBQ Days in Belle Plaine, Defeat of Jesse James Days in Northfield…and a community celebration in Dundas this weekend, just to name a few. Join in the fun. Watch a parade, eat some food, and meet some friends.

Did you know that your financial contribution can qualify for a political refund from the State of Minnesota? But only for a short time. The Governor, as part of his unallotment decision, will be emptying the coffers of the MN Political Refund program. This is unfortunate because it was one way that persons of all income levels could donate to their preferred candidates or political parties. Campaign contributions should not have to rely on Political Action committees or the wealthiest Minnesotans.

This program ends July 1. So time is of the essence. Please consider using the Minnesota Political Contribution Refund program while you can. You can write a check to my campaign committee for up to $50 (or up to $100 if you file a joint tax return with your spouse). Checks must be dated and in the hands of the campaign treasurer by June 30. Within days of receiving your donation, we will provide you with a receipt and a Minnesota Department of Revenue’s Official Contribution Refund Form. Fill out and mail both forms to the department and they will issue you a check for the amount donated up to $50.00, or a $100.00 per couple.

This is a direct dollar-for-dollar refund of your contribution returned to you in the form of a check from the State of Minnesota. Just click on the link on the left that says DONATE. Instructions for a mail-in or credit card donation are clearly outlined. Thanks for supporting my candidacy.

Property taxes and college tuition will rise, hospitals and nursing homes will see deeper cuts, and school districts may be forced to borrow to make ends meet after Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty enacts his proposed unallotments. Pawlenty announced his intentions to drastically reduce funding for aid to cities and counties, cut funding for nursing homes, and to shift nearly $1.8 billion in school funding at a press conference this afternoon.
Unallotment is a little used power that was put into law in 1939 that allows the Governor to cut funding for state expenditures. It was originally designed to aid in fixing small, unanticipated budget deficits. The power has been used only six times in 70 years, with Pawlenty using it three of those times. The Governor’s proposed $2.7 billion unallotment is larger than all five of the previous unallotments combined and nearly 10 times more than the largest.
The Governor’s proposed unallotments include:
• $300 million in Local Government Aid and County Program Aid, primarily used for local public safety and essential services
• $1.77 billion K-12 education funding shift that may cause some schools to have to borrow to bridge funding
• $51 million decrease to the renters’ refund program resulting in a tax increase for renters
• $236 million reduction of health care, including eliminating the General Assistance Medical Care program, which provides health care for the sickest and poorest Minnesotans, one and a half months sooner than would have happened as a result of Pawlenty’s line-item veto
• $100 million cut to Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and the University of Minnesota
• $33 million in cuts to most state agency operating budgets
The cuts to aid for cities and counties are particularly troubling. Cutting LGA (Local Government Aid) is likely to lead to increases in property taxes and cuts to local police and fire departments and additional basic services. The State has a budget deficit, but the problem seems to keep getting passed on to local governments. In addition, reductions in funding for hospitals and our higher education institutions will mean additional private and public sector job losses throughout the state. It doesn’t make sense to cut even more jobs when our state is struggling with high unemployment.

This week the primary seat belt law goes into effect. While I supported the bill, I have taken a circuitous road to get there.
I’ve been teaching driver education since 1982. At that time, seat belt use was minimal, at best. For example, when I asked my very first class of 35 students, “How many of you regularly use seat belts?” One or two students raised their hand. I asked the same question of my current class of 50 driver education students and all 50 raised their hands. That’s quite a change.
So how did we get to this level of compliance? Seat belt use was not required 30 years ago. It was a good idea, but not widely practiced. Parents were poor role models for their children at the time and most children were not “securely fastened” in the car. When I was an infant, I was toted around in the back seat swaddled in an egg crate box. The box had a lid with a clown painted on it with cutout eyes, bow tie, and buttons, providing ventilation. When I graduated from the egg box as a toddler, I was allowed to stand up in the front seat, while mom or dad’s well placed arm kept me from hurtling toward the metal dash or windshield. Sunning myself in the rear window dash was fun and exciting…and in hindsight, a really dumb idea.
But things have changed for the better. My four year old will be the first to remind me to buckle up if I fail to click it by the end of the driveway. Around 700,000 Minnesotans don’t buckle up. This group accounts for the 200 unbelted traffic deaths that occur on Minnesota roads each year — representing 55 percent of all traffic deaths. Another 430 unbelted crash victims suffer serious, life-altering injuries annually.
Statistics show that states with primary seat belt laws see a 10% increase in seat belt use after passage. That would bring Minnesota’s seat belt use to about 95 percent, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, more importantly; an additional 40 lives saved each year. During 2004¬–2005, all government payer sources, including Medicaid, were charged $83 million for unbelted motorists’ hospital charges. Unbelted motorist injury charges were 78 percent greater for Medicaid than belted motorists (MN Dept. of Public Safety).
To tell you the truth, I don’t particularly enjoy wearing a seat belt. But I have come quite a ways over the years…in the car, in the classroom, and on the road. And if the Primary seat belt law convinces me while encouraging our neighbors, our students, and our children to buckle up, we can all live with that.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak before the Northfield Rotary Club, providing a brief summary of the just completed legislative session. Representative David Bly also shared in the wrap up. The Northfield Rotary is a great group of local citizens who meet every Thursday for lunch at the Northfield Country Club. I want to extend thanks to Doug Crane for the invitation and Laurie Williams, Rotary President and Rick Estenson, President Elect, for their hospitality and fellowship. The Rotary Club, a nationwide service organization, incorporates the Four-Way Test as part of their philosophy of service. Those four questions:
1. Is it the truth?
2. Is it fair to all concerned?
3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
As part of my presentation, I suggested that politicians and elected officials would do well to consider these four truths in carrying out good government. We should always be truthful in our relations with constituents or fellow legislators. We should be up front and honest as we explain our motives and reasoning behind our votes on issues and policy. People should expect their politicians to be fair and forthcoming in the daily dialogue that guide our decisions.
This past session I was chief author of 32 bills and co-author on an additional 34 pieces of legislation. Many of those bills were signed into law by the Governor. The bills covered a wide range of topics: from energy conservation, transportation, education, commerce and consumer protection, health care, and other topics. Not all legislation can build goodwill or better friendships, but I can honestly say the process, more often than not, can promote a better understanding and consensus among the many stakeholders… even those with divergent opinions. I look forward to working with them again.
I am proud of the many successes I experienced this past session. I would like to think that bills I have authored will indeed be “beneficial to all concerned.” After all, elected officials have an obligation to serve their constituents. Members of community service organizations, such as the Rotary Club, Sertoma, the Lions Club, and others are under no such obligation to serve. But we are all better off because they do. That is the truth.
Bills I have authored this session can be found at:

<a href=”https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/revisor/pages/search_status/status_results.php?body=Senate&search=author&session=0862009&legid=15288&submit_author=GO”>

This week I had the opportunity to serve as a guest speaker at the Memorial Day Service at the American Legion Post in Montgomery. There was tremendous turnout: veterans, Legion members, and of course, local citizens. And the messages heard that day remind us all the true reason for the Monday holiday each spring. There are several things we can do throughout the year to honor and remember our service men and women, those who have served this country so admirably.
First, we must teach others about the sacrifices that have been made on our behalf so that we might continue to enjoy the liberties and freedoms granted in our Constitution. And while that is easier for me, as a 9th grade Civics teacher, I challenge each of you to teach these lessons to your own children, friends, and neighbors. Teach them to understand that, politics aside, the act of committing yourself to your country and being willing to fight for the freedom of others is among the most noble of endeavors.
Volunteer to help those veterans who are still with us, by assisting a family who is grieving the loss of a service member, by visiting those injured in service to the nation to help them build a new life.
Second, each of us must find ways to ensure the legacy of our heroes endures in what has become a “sound-bite” culture. These dedicated men and women are worth more than that. Their history deserves telling and re-telling. Find a way in your life – at work or home, at church or a youth group meeting, wherever – to keep their memories alive. Honor their sacrifices, tell their stories, and cherish their memories.
And finally, continue to gather together on Memorial Day each year to pay homage to each of them. Make Memorial Day an annual reminder of the need to give of yourself in honor of those who have given everything. Treat Memorial Day with reverence and respect …and others will follow your lead.
Thank you, citizens of Montgomery, for allowing me to be a part of your day of remembrance.

A few months ago, just before heading up to the Capitol, I had coffee with a young lady from LeSueur, Minnesota. Her mother, almost 50 years old, had been diagnosed with a rare disease after having been treated for breast cancer. Her mother is now in constant pain. When she takes a shower, the water feels like razor blades slicing every inch of her body. She is most comfortable curled up in a ball on the couch in her living room. The daughter, with tears in her eyes, asked me to support the medical marijuana bill moving through the legislature.
The session now over, people are taking their shots at legislation that I voted for or against. In a letter to the editor today, one constituent proclaimed my yes vote for medical marijuana was wrong (he actually said I support legalizing marijuana, which I absolutely do not). He went on to say that because I am a teacher, my vote for medical marijuana means I am a poor role model for students.
The term “role model” has passed into general use to mean any “person who serves as an example, whose behavior is emulated by others.” In behavioral terms I am proud to say I have never used marijuana or tried marijuana. I can’t even say that I “just inhaled” even though the drug was fairly prevalent in my college dormitory in the late 1970’s. What I am even more proud of is the fact that I teach my students to look at an issue and apply a balanced, comprehensive, straightforward, approach that will lead them to draw their own conclusions. That is what I model.
If my voting patterns in the Minnesota Senate serve as an example to my students, I hope they pay attention to the hundreds of votes I take every session. It may lead them to believe in the importance of caring for all Minnesotans, our pre-school children, our K-12 students, our college students, the poor and the homeless, our workers and their families, our most vulnerable and frail, and perhaps a terminally ill mother …looking for something, anything, to relieve her pain.

The Governor, as stated in a press conference yesterday, said he would decide to take matters into his own hands and use his line item veto pen and power of unallotment to balance the budget. He says if the legislature can’t do it, he will have to do it himself. There are several things wrong with this scenario, none of which are good for Minnesota.

First of all, Governor Pawlenty says the legislature has not done its job. On the contrary, all of the major budget bills have been placed on his desk earlier than at any time in recent memory. All of the major budget bills, with the exception of the Health and Human Services budget bill (which cut over $500 million), have made deeper cuts than what the Governor had proposed. The Governor’s health care budget bill was debated in the Senate several weeks ago. It received 9 votes.

The Senate and House have developed several plans to come up with a balanced approach to resolving this budget crisis. We have cut budgets, maximized federal stimulus dollars, and introduced a revenue bill which was promptly vetoed by the Governor. The Senate chose not to employ accounting shifts, delay payments, or borrow against future income from tobacco bonds. When the House placed the Governor’s tobacco bond provision on the floor of the House a few weeks ago, it received 2 votes.

What will unallotment mean for Minnesotans? The Governor, last night, has already line item vetoed over $381 million in General Assistance Medical payments to hospitals. The impact of this unallotment? The Queen of Peace Hospital in New Prague will lose $185,000 in GAMC payments in 2011. The Northfield Hospital stands to lose $113, 776. At the top end, the Hennepin County Medical Center will be out $108 million and Regions Hospital in St. Paul will eliminate $46 million from its GAMC program in 2011. Not only do patients suffer, but these cuts mean lost jobs and income for our communities. And all of us will end up paying more to insurance companies or hospitals, as more people end up in emergency rooms for primary care, provided any emergency rooms remain open.

The Governor has also indicated that he will unallot Local Government Aid to our cities and towns in July. Cities are still reeling from the unallotment that took place this past December. Loss of LGA means serious budget cuts to our local services such as police and fire protection, libraries, street maintenance, and other community services. It most certainly means greater property tax increases to make up the difference.

The House and Senate will continue to work with the Governor to find some compromise. He has indicated his willingness to talk to us about shifts, money from the Reserve account, and additional borrowing. The House will have to decide whether an override attempt is in order, the Senate already having override numbers. With a Monday midnight deadline, we will continue to work with the executive branch to wrap this up without having to slash, even further, those budgets that affect communities and our most vulnerable.

The Education Conference committee finally wrapped up the committee report this evening. I serve on that committee and we have been working diligently to come up with a final education omnibus bill to send to the Governor. Many nights, over the last two weeks, we adjourned after 10pm and last night I arrived home at 2:30am. We received our fiscal target this week while trying to wrap up discussion on some of the policy bills that emerged from the House and Senate this session.

The bill leaves education funding flat. That is good news considering much speculation that education would face across the board cuts like every other budget. While schools welcome federal stimulus money, schools can also access capital reserves for one time money and staff development funds for the next two years. The bill also includes language related to charter school oversight and reform, literacy, dollars for math and science teacher academies, the Reading Corps, and integration aid. There are other provisions as well.

Provisions not in this bill include language pertaining to shared services, alternative teacher licensure, and the new Minnesota Miracle. Additional language related to high stakes testing, early learning, and home schools is also absent in the final bill. To some members, these were difficult provisions to leave behind. I am sure there will be continued discussion of these initiatives over the interim and into the next session. All sides, including the Governor, were looking for a bill with more innovation and reform. A lack of money or a lack of agreement by all parties meant some of these provisions were left out of the final bill.

A lot of effort was put into this report. Tomorrow we will debate the bill on the House and Senate floor. Stakeholders from many groups: the Minnesota Dept. of Education, teachers, administrators, school board members, early childhood advocates, family members, and the Governor’s office have provided input to create legislation with a goal of providing the best possible education system in Minnesota. We are not always able to achieve our goals. Last year the education policy bill was vetoed. We hope the Governor signs this one.