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.

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.

Unfortunately, our complex armed conflicts abroad – particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq – have demanded more troops than were readily available. This resulted in Stop Loss – the involuntary extension of enlisted members’ active duty beyond the end of their initial service.

The Department of Defense recently announced that thousands of military men and women still have not claimed the back pay owed to them for an extension of their service under Stop Loss.

Last year, Congress passed legislation that established Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay (RSLSP) to pay American servicemen and women the money they deserve for the time they served during Stop Loss. Service members, veterans, and beneficiaries of service members — whose service was involuntarily extended under Stop Loss from September 11, 2001 to September 30, 2009 — are eligible.

The deadline to apply is October 21, 2010, but only a fraction of eligible service members have submitted claims. I encourage all eligible Minnesotans to apply for the pay that is owed to them for their outstanding service to this country.

Individuals can access the Department of Defense’s website (http://www.defense.gov/) for information to learn more about claiming this special pay.

The discussion then moved to the absurd by suggesting that his action increased the value of his Fish Lake property. Does that mean that County Assessors are going to use the slot limit of a lake in the determination of a property’s market value?

This whole tempest in a teapot is the result of opportunists in District 50 scrambling to further their own political aspirations. It is not as if this is the only legislation Senator Chaudhary has worked on. He is a member of the Agriculture and Veterans Committee, and the Budget and Policy Division of that committee. He is on the Budget and Policy Division of the Environment and Resources Committee as well as on the Capital Investments Committee.

District 50 and the DFF can ill afford to lose an outstanding legislator such as Senator Chaudhary.

The “Profiles” were being pushed by progressives in the federal government caught up in fads such as minimizing teachers’ roles in the classroom, preferring the idea of kids being “self-taught”. The “Profiles” were replete with “busy work” requiring countless hours from parents. I opposed this proscriptive, dumbed-down curriculum and am happy to say that my state senator (at the time), Linda Runbeck, took charge of the debate in the Minnesota Senate to oppose the “Profiles” passage. She wasn’t even a member of the K-12 Education Committee, yet she audited dozens of hours of committee hearings and prepared her colleagues with printed data and arguments for the Senate debate.

While it took a few more years for the “Profiles” law to be repealed, Runbeck helped lay the groundwork and gave frustrated parents hope that there were courageous allies like her fighting for them in state government. We need someone with her common sense, big-picture views on the priorities for our state.

When Runbeck was in the legislature, some hospitals were forcing new mothers to leave within 48 hours of delivering their babies. Runbeck was one of the few legislators (Republican or Democrat) to vote against a common-sense bill that required hospitals to keep new moms in the hospital for at least 48 hours. At the time she said the “The legislature should not be practicing medicine….There is no exceptional risk…” Are you kidding me? Talk about being out of touch and out of the mainstream.

Gardner has also weighed in on health care. Gardner authored legislation that passed this year that will help health care facilities figure out how to reduce the waste of unused drugs through smarter prescribing practices and technology. His blog estimates the savings in Minnesota at tens of millions a year. Now that’s the kind of thinking and hard work we need in the legislature.

When Runbeck was in the legislature, she fought attempts to allow the state to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for seniors, and was against creating a Minnesota Senior Drug Discount program. Just whose side is she on?

Gardner is working to find ways to avoid having health care facilities flush old drugs into the sewer systems to avoid threats to fish and our drinking water quality. This strikes me as Gardner looking at the big picture and working on behalf of future generations. It’s easy to tell whose side he’s on.

A lot of candidates talk about reform and efficiency, but not so many actually do it. Vote Gardner.

In sharp contrast to this series is the September 18, 2009 Star Tribune op-ed piece “Linda Runbeck and Don Parmeter: Clean-water bill is a federal power grab.” The authors sharply criticized the proposed Clean Water Restoration Act. They characterized the bill as a federal power grab – ”a cleverly designed ploy to nationalize land-use planning and decision making” and asserted that we must trust the people who live near and enjoy the waters to find common-sense solutions to protect them. They never acknowledged the critical necessity of strengthening state and federal regulations and enforcement to control non-point sources of pollution as included in the Clean Water Restoration Act.

As co-author of the op-ed, Runbeck, a candidate for house district 53A, reveals that she has a narrow understanding of the complex relationship between human activity and the resulting affects on our surface and ground waters. Now that the “Losing our Lakes” series has provided a preponderance of evidence that shows her approach is a failed policy, I would hope Runbeck will reconsider her expressed views before the upcoming election.

I want to tell you about my neighbors here in Shoreview. I recently attended my political caucus and from my little precinct we have sent Phil Krinkie, Mady Reiter and Paul Gardner to state offices. Now I’ve met a new neighbor, John Kappler, and he too is from precinct #4. John is running for House District 53A which represents parts of five cities. He has knocked on my door at least three times. He’s 62, has been married for 33 years and has raised two kids to be solid citizens. In raising them, John said he wanted them to offer the best of their talents to society. Today, one is a scientist and the other an engineer. I find John to be smart, friendly and a man of character. He joined the navy in 1969 after two of his buddies died in Vietnam. He believes strongly in our nations’ Founding Fathers. He said they created our foundation which created a system that has enabled all of our blessings. He says it requires us to protect it to preserve it. He sees our country now headed in the wrong direction.

Our current state Representative, Paul Gardner, lives just three doors down from me. He has never knocked on my door. He has put his official efforts into issues such as waste management and even voted on Feb 18 to continue taxpayer funding of abortions. He was also obligated to apologize to two other House members after making disparaging remarks. I found his apology to be weak and insincere.

John Kappler can do better. He can focus on creating jobs and energizing the economy. He says the government is causing roadblocks to economic gain. John can fix that. For me its real simple, a good neighbor comes to help. John will do more than that because he is more than a good neighbor. I desire a better neighborhood and a better Representative in the House.

Respectfully,