Everyday I hear conservative and liberal political advocates discuss the economy. The liberals continue to start most sentences with, “most economists believe”, or “most economists will tell you”….but what is not being told is that these economists are Keynesians who believe that government is primary in running the economy. Of course, if you believe in their economic model you will believe their false premises, thus we have many false pundits on TV. What the conservatives have not said yet is that false economic models are being pursued and we need real economists and not “economists with a political agenda”. Keynesians are correct that massive spending does some good in the short term. Keynesians will not admit that continued exercise of this premise leads to far greater economic damage than good. Its like drinking a vodka….short term you feel good, keep it up and you inevitably will have a hang over. That’s what $13 trillion in debt will do.

If I was on TV, I would admit that you can strap a trillion dollars on to the back of a pig and let it loose on the interstate highway system in the United States and it will help the economy. The feeding frenzy will not last long. Then I’d ask every person how smart that would be. Well, that is what Obama has done. I believe America deserves smarter leadership and we need to distinguish between sound economic theory that works and “political economists” quacking in the media. After all, we have “political environmentalists” who spread false ideology, so why not recognize the former?

The national media calls the Republicans the “party of no”. The only thing that label means is that Republicans have proudly said “No” to bad Keynesian economic ideas that do not work. The false economic ideas being sold on the news every day by “political economists”.

The liberals are trying to say: “we tried that (Capitalism) under Bush so let’s try something else (Socialism)”. This vague message reminds us of their last one: “vote for hope and change”. What America needs to know is that they have it backwards…the world has tried socialism over and over for decades and it continues to fail every time it is tried. That is called history. The entire world is now turning to capitalism and fee markets (including Red China) and most of Europe has elected conservative governments, yet here in America, we are the only ones going down the old road. We are being put out of business by the entire globe as Obama and the Keynesian socialists try to convince us that we are pursuing a new direction. They are now pushing a second stimulus package. They continue to drink poisonous Kool Aid. No one can tell them because ideologues cannot be convinced of anything. The only solution is to defeat them.

Happy Labor Day, America! We need jobs and we need an election.

To my dismay, of the twelve votes rated on tax and budget issues, Senator Rummel had a dismal rating of 25%. This means that 75% of the time she voted in favor of government expansion at the expense of taxpayers. Unfortunately, her lifetime score is even worse as she has voted in the interest of the taxpayer only 20% of the time! Senator Rummel has a consistent record of voting for increased government spending and borrowing, especially for her special interest groups like government unions. Unable and unwilling to set priorities like the average citizen does, she is simply out of touch with reality.

With the economy stalled, it’s obvious that excessive spending and borrowing will not promote economic prosperity. It will only increase the burden on future generations, making the American Dream out of reach for our children. It is clear that Senator Rummel does not know how or does not care to represent the reasonable interests of her taxpaying constituents. Therefore, I am voting for someone with a business background and a fresh perspective who understands how to manage to a budget and the Constitutional limits of government: Roger Chamberlain.

The donut hole is a gap in coverage for most Medicare plans where currently after you and your plan have spent $2,700 for covered drugs, you then have to pay all costs out pocket up to $6,154 when the Medicare plan D will kick in again.

Now in 2010 $250 rebate checks are mailed to people that hit the donut hole threshold amount. In 2011 drugs needed within the donut hole gap will be discounted at 50%. By 2020 the donut hole is scheduled to be closed in phases for Medicare part D enrollees.

Also discussed in the hour Con. McCollum was at the SummerHouse was

• Changes in Medicare Advantage plans
• Medicare Geographic Disparities
• Health Care Implementation Timeline
• Other changes with the new Health care plan

Available on Con. McCollum’s website is a guide explaining

• What the health care reform legislation does for you.

Congresswoman Betty McCollum and her staff can be reached at 202-225-6631 or 651-224-9191. McCollum’s website is http://mccollum.house.gov where more methods of contact are available.

The SummerHouse of Shoreview by Presbyterian Homes is a community of Senior Apartments located on North Victoria Street across from the Shoreview library.

On our local level, we are fortunate to have Senator Sandy Rummel representing us and the rest of Minnesota on environmental issues. She works with others to propose new ideas and as a result achieves agreement and bi-partisan support.

One good example of her leadership is her work as chair of the Clean Water Legacy subcommittee. She authored the Clean Water Bill which, among other things, ensures that all 81 watersheds in the state will see improved water quality within 10 years.

Guiding this bill toward passage meant working with a variety of interest groups including the League of Minnesota Cities, Association of Minnesota Counties, the Chamber of Commerce, multiple conservation groups, as well as recreational interests like the hunters and anglers. In the end, common agreement was achieved that bridged partisan differences. Her leadership on this bill earned Senator Rummel recognition as a “Legislator of Distinction” by the League of Minnesota Cities. She is a leader with a long view and a practical approach.

There are too many candidates who seem to advocate policy based upon what sounds good in a short TV commercial or to attract attention in an extreme partisan position. We should support thoughtful candidates such as Sandy Rummel.

• Shoreview Post (SP) – What is your primary motivation for running?
  • Josh Wing (JW) – To be the next generation of leader within our community to keep Shoreview a great place to live and work.

• SP – What are your goals if you become a council member?
  • JW – Help make Shoreview the place more people want to live, work and play.
  • Address housing challenges – we currently have aging housing stock and not enough of diverse housing options to meeting the needs of all of our residents.
  • Find creative solutions to continue to help Shoreview’s great businesses and work to find new businesses that want to call Shoreview home.

• SP – Are there any recent votes or decisions by the city council that you disagree with?
  • JW - There have been a few decisions the current council has made that I didn’t agree with.  I didn’t agree with issuing of new bonds for the maintenance facility, including the approval of $250K in consulting fees and most recently the city approving to spend $6400 for the “Historic Gas Station”.  In today’s difficult financial times, we need leaders to be acting in a more fiscally responsible manner.

• SP - You are Vice Chair of the Economic Development Commission. Does this experience help you understand how the City works and what it needs? What other experience do you have that would benefit you as a council member?
  • JW - I believe being a member of the EDC has given me a perspective to what is important to our local businesses.    We have an incredible business community in Shoreview and I believe we need to continue to be innovative in our approach in helping these businesses.  The success of the PAR systems real-estate transaction is a great example of how a group of local community, city and businesses can work together to help create a win for our businesses and a win for our community.
  • As a new resident to Shoreview (relative to current council members) I add a new element of diversity to the council being able to bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to help solve new and old challenges.
  • Experienced leader in my professional roles, responsible for leading strategies and being accountable to delivering results.

• SP - What is your political Philosophy? Are you conservative, liberal or moderate? Do you feel partisan politics of has any part in the city council?
  • JW - I would consider myself fiscally conservative and socially moderate.  I don’t feel partisan politics should play a role in the city council.

• SP - Do you have any other thoughts you would like to share?
  • JW - I want to Thank everyone who voted for me in 2008 and hope to win your support in 2010.  Change can happen from the tops down, or from the bottom up!!  Please vote for Josh Wing on November 2^nd!

Josh has been a Shoreview resident since 2004 and is a buyer at Target Corporation. He is currently Vice Chair of the Shoreview Economic Development Commission. Wing has a BA in Business Adminstration from the University of St. Thomas.

Wing has a website at joshwing.com which has been partially updated since the 2008 election and is currently undergoing further updates.

Collett immediately turned her attention to the General Election challenging incumbent Betty McCollum to debate four times between now and November 2. ‘Minnesotans don’t like what they see happening in Washington –bills being passed that no one has read; government takeovers of auto manufacturers, big banks, and healthcare; Congressional budget committees refusing to even propose a budget to deal with our growing national debt. Betty McCollum and I have very different views about each of these things and about how to solve the problems facing this country. Voters deserve to know about and understand those differences.’

Collett then called upon Betty McCollum to meet her in four debates, which Collett characterized as a ‘time-honored way’ of allowing Americans to hear firsthand what each candidate proposes. She asked supporters to join her in hand-delivering a formal request to debate to McCollum’s campaign headquarters tomorrow morning. ‘I encourage all voters in the 4th Congressional District, Republican, Democrat or Independent, to ask our sitting Congresswoman to explain and debate her views on the growth and direction of the federal government,’ said Collett.”

The embedded spreadsheet below shows complete Shoreview Primary results with totals and breakdown by precinct. Be sure to use the scroll bars on the right side and bottom of the spreadsheet to view the precinct tallies and all the races.

• Shoreview Primary results PDF
• Shoreview Primary results as independent web page

Overall state, county & district results

DFL Governor:

• Mark Dayton      179,881      41%
• Margaret Kelliher      174,687      40%

Republican Governor

• Tom Emmer      106,760      83%

Senate District 50 DFL

• Barb Goodwin      5,470      70%
• Satveer Chaudhary      2,354      30%

DFL US House MN 04

• Betty McCollum      55,458      87%

Republican US House MN 04

• Teresa Collett      6,945      67%

Ramsey County Attorney

• John Choi      28,438      50%
• David T. Schultz      16,534      29%
• Tammy Pust      12,134      21%

Results for all races can be found at the MN SOS, WCCO, Fox9, MPR, Star Tribune and Ramsey County.