Demmer has choice to make

It’s time for Representative Randy Demmer and Norm Coleman to disclose who’s dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into Demmer’s race against Rep. Tim Walz. It is only right that we know where this money is coming from.

Regular folks disclose who they donate to, so why should corporations be exempt from this? By allowing corporations to spend freely, Demmer is showing us who he stands with, and it’s not the citizens of Southern Minnesota.

Demmer has a choice to make. Show the citizens of Southern Minnesota that you stand with us by rejecting Coleman’s money until he discloses his donors or continue on your irresponsible and destructive path.

The choice is Demmer’s. We’re waiting.

Jan Weir

Mankato

Morrow wasn’t the one casting heartless votes

Imagine my dismay to learn, from the pile of mail awaiting me when I returned from Ireland recently, that our representative, Terry Morrow, had cast a heartless legislative vote against relief funds for those suffering from September’s floods, while giving the Ordway $16 million.

Surely, this can’t be true. But there’s the proof: House Journal, 2/15/2010.

Huh? February? But the floods were in September.

Whiff of dead catfish. So, I went to the House Journal (easily available online). Findings:

1. Not only did Morrow not vote against flood mitigation, he very clearly voted for it. $50 million. In fact, of the 37 votes against it, 32 were Republicans.

So who’s really casting the heartless negative votes? (HJ, 2/11/2010, p. 7653)

2. Sure, Morrow voted $16 million for the Ordway Center, but he also voted $14 million for the Mankato Civic Center, and $97 million for eight similar job-creating projects in communities all over the state. (HJ, 2/11/2010, p. 7630) Eight Republicans even agreed and voted along with Morrow.

Turns out, this February 15 vote was on the big state funding bill which, if not passed, would close down our state government. And the votes against it were nearly all (32 of 37) Republicans.

Is this what “stop the spending” means?

I’d say Morrow got it right. As did those eight Republicans. And this Republican will vote for him on Nov. 2.

John Braun

St. Peter

Morrow votes to fund responsibilities

We Minnesotans expect our elected leaders to use our tax dollars wisely, and that is exactly what Terry Morrow has done as our state representative.

Morrow voluntarily did not take over $15,000 from the state. He refused an increase in per diem, and in fact, cut his amount twice.

Morrow’s record shows that he votes to carefully fund the responsibilities of state government like education and transportation and to pay for them with fair taxes.

As former governor Elmer Andersen said, “Taxes are the way we join hands across Minnesota to do good things.”

Ruth E. Johnson

St. Peter

Morrow works on what we value

Rep. Terry Morrow, District 23A, has had unfair charges raised against him.

First he has been charged with not having been born and raised in Minnesota.

I wasn’t born here either; but live here now and as Morrow is, I am committed to making a good life in rural Minnesota.

When one has children in the schools, one becomes very committed to education. Morrow is a teacher as well.

He is also charged with voting to give large sums of money to the City of Minneapolis for Orchestra Hall. It is unfortunate that things get added to bills in order to get passed; but when “Minneapolis gets four votes to every one vote in greater Minnesota” (Senator Kubly, Prairie Lutheran School, Fairfax, Oct. 4), what can we do?

This was in the bonding bill, which also included:  Greater Minnesota Transit, flood mitigation dollars, buildings at colleges and universities, the Veterans Home, and needed local bridge repairs.

Another additional funding need that Morrow supported is the Minnesota Prairie Line. Improvements to the rail line will help businesses and farmers create jobs and help our small communities.

In order to save lives, Morrow has been working tirelessly to get improvements to the dangerous section of Highway 14 between New Ulm and Mankato

I am thrilled to read that Minnesota Department of Transportation is considering the December awarding of funding for improvement projects here.

Morrow works on what we value in rural Minnesota. He “was the key legislative person” (John Fritsche, Friends of Fort Ridgely), who worked to preserve the historic value of sites at Fort Ridgely.

Lisa A.S. Black

Gibbon

Rep. Walz stands up for veterans

Several days ago, Elwin Gunnick wrote a letter to the editor criticizing Rep. Tim Walz for an ad that features my personal story.

I have never met Gunnick, but I want to tell him why I am supporting Walz and  encouraging my fellow veterans and neighbors to support him as well.

I suffer from Parkinson’s Disease due to my exposure to Agent Orange while in Vietnam. When I tried to get the Veterans Administration to help me with the cost of medical care, I was denied because, at the time, the VA did not recognize Agent Orange as being a contributing  factor to the development of Parkinson’s. After reviewing the literature on the relationship between Parkinson’s and Agent Orange I found that the VA’s position just was not right.

It was frustrating at first because no one appeared to be listening or caring. Then I met Walz and things started to change; he listened  to us, he read the research and he, then, fought for us.

Through his work on the VA Committee, we started to turn the corner and last year, the VA announced that it would assume that if a person served in Vietnam and had Parkinson’s Disease, Agent Orange was responsible.

In an age when many politicians talk the talk about veterans, but not stand behind them, I understand  Gunnick’s skepticism. But, Walz is not a politician like the others.

He walks the walk and  follows through. He is doing the right thing and we need him back in  Congress.

Michael Trok

Wabasha

Stuehrenberg trusted and experienced leader

We support Vance Stuehrenberg for Blue Earth County Commissioner.

Stuehrenberg is a trusted and experienced leader, which is demonstrated in his career as a City of Mankato police officer and First Ward Council representative.

We believe he will bring these same traits with him to the county board.

Stuehrenberg is an individual who will listen to your concerns and understands the needs of the community.

Stuehrenberg has the common-sense leadership which makes him the perfect choice for District 2 Blue Earth County Commissioner.

He cares for his community by serving on several commissions and boards.  He will bring his variety of experience and leadership needed to do an excellent job serving the citizens of District Two.

Duane and Janet Johnson

Mankato

Consider pro-life when casting your vote

I recently received Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life’s current newsletter. I highly recommend this for anyone who’d like to know the voting record of their candidates on the all-important life issues

If you want to know how Minnesota representatives, senators, and governor candidates voted on life issues, as well as U.S. House and Senate candidates, this is a great way to become informed.

I was happy to find Tom Emmer has a 100 percent pro-life voting record in the Minnesota House of Representatives. He co-authored the Positive Alternatives Act to provide women with alternatives to abortion and supports efforts to prevent health care rationing. He also supports protecting human life from conception to natural death. He gets my vote for governor.

I was also glad to see info on the candidates for Minnesota Supreme Court. Such info is hard to find. Both Tim Tingelstad and Greg Wersal have shown their respect for our Constitution and their opposition to judicial activism. Judicial activism has resulted in many wrong decisions.

I find Tingelstad and Wersal’s opinions refreshing and moral —  we need more of that. Thumbs up on both these candidates.

Please remember that although there are many important issues, without the right to life, there can be no other rights. It’s the most important issue of our day.

Helen Bressler

Belle Plaine

Better ways for church to get point across

This letter is addressed to the Westboro “fundamentalist” Baptist Church. We are a small gathering of believers located in Southern Minnesota. We feel there is a much better way to get your point across. The way you picketed and disrupted a soldier’s funeral, causing the grieving parents enough stress and heartache to sue you, and the way you breezed through the courts, eventually taking your pitiful case all the way to the Supreme Court where you could let the world hear your cause.

These soldiers that you are protesting against, and thousands of others in our past, have given their lives to give you the rights to allow you to protest in the first place. Without their sacrifice, you would probably be in jail or even put to death by now. Look around, most countries frown on such freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

What a waste of money dragging this through the courts for your own benefit.  Policing the whole world is taxing enough to each and every taxpayer in the United States. But then again, you hide under the disguise of a “church.” You don’t pay taxes, do you?

What kind of Bible are you reading? Ours says to “love your neighbor as yourself” and “do unto other as you would have them do to unto you.”

Don’t get us wrong — we struggle a lot learning the truths in the Bible. We get persecuted a lot from mainline churches by the way we act or what we believe.

Please review your tactics and of course, read your Bible and try to understand what kind of message the Bible is talking about.

Bruce Zingler, Solid Rock Ministries

Blue Earth

Bumper sticker vandals must like classical music

I read with interest the letter by Eric Steinmetz in your paper of Oct. 17.

He reported that hundreds of Walz signs had disappeared all over Mankato and North Mankato.

Here in St. Peter, our yard sign for Kathy Sheran was stolen, too, and a Democrat bumper sticker was torn off of our car bumper.

At least they didn’t remove the one which says “Beethoven Lives!”

Sara McKay

St. Peter

System of choosing judges works well

Recent letters to the editor indicate a need for more information regarding some of the less visible candidates whose names will appear on the Nov. 2 ballot, in particular those running as judges.

The League of Women Voters did a thorough study on proposed methods of choosing judges and concluded the best method is to continue with the present system, which has worked well.

The governor appoints new judges from a pool of qualified candidates recommended by a nonpartisan citizen panel. After one term the judge stands for re-election, thereby assuring accountability to the public.

Marit Kvamme

St. Peter

Your vote does matter

As Tuesday is approaching fast and our decision of who to vote for must be made up quickly, I beg of you to do research on the candidate who wants a better Minnesota and a better America.

Don’t be swayed by false attack ads and inspiring speeches. As president Obama has showed us first-hand, a great speech gains votes, fans and passion, but does nothing for Americans in Washington.

This Election Day vote on what is best for this community, state and country.

Vote for the candidates that want to lower your taxes, cut spending, reduce the size of government and send sensible spending back to the capital and the White House. Vote for the candidate that is looking after the best interest of you in Mankato and not special interest groups or his own fame and fortune.

I am voting for Dave Kruse, Peter Trocke, Randy Demmer and Tom Emmer.

As the Franken and Coleman race showed, your vote does matter. So get out and support the candidate that wants your best interest.

Taylor Fast

Mankato

Horner deserves more local media attention

I find it very interesting that KEYC-TV and this paper are not giving coverage to governor candidate Tom Horner.

Three past governors — Arne Carlson, Al Quie and Jesse Ventura — have endorsed Horner. Former U.S. Sens. Dave Durenberger and Dean Barkley and former U.S. Rep. Tim Penny, former North Dakota Gov. Al Olson, 13 former Republican state officeholders, former gubernatorial candidates Doug Kelly and Mike Ciresi all have endorsed Independence Party governor candidate Horner.

Twenty-six of the largest newspapers in the state endorsed Horner. Papers like the Minneapolis Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Rochester Post-Bulletin, Duluth News Tribune, St. Cloud Times, Grand Forks Herald, Bemidji Pioneer, Fargo Forum and Red Wing Republican Eagle selected Horner for his common-sense solutions.

Yet, all this is not covered by our local media.

People, if you truly want to stop all the bickering between the Democrats and Republicans and you want to see a state government that works, elect Tom Horner for governor and Mark Meyer for legislative District 24B representative.

It’s time to put Minnesota first, not a political party.

Michael Burger

Mankato