Publisher’s Perspective

By Tim Douglass, Publisher of the Pope County Tribune

Both Minnesota Republicans and Democrats support returning surplus tax payments to Minnesotans, and yet they can’t agree on returning surplus tax payments to Minnesotans.

Last week Gov. Tim Walz resurrected the idea of providing each Minnesotan with a check–$1,000 to individuals and $2,000 to families.

He said when he announced the revived plan of “Walz checks,” that it could be done by the legislature in about 15 minutes in a special session called for just that one purpose. 

 Don’t hold your breath.  

In this divided legislature in an election year, the House and Senate came to an agreement, then closed the regular session with most of their work left undone.  

It’s all about the election, apparently.  Walz and legislative leaders earlier broke off negotiations for a special session, dashing hopes that the two sides would reach an agreement on spending the state’s $9.3 billion projected budget surplus.  Walz is resurrecting his plan to give some of the money back. Republicans want more permenant tax cuts and rejected increased spending, giving them more fodder for election rhetoric.  The same could be said for Walz, who wants Minnesotans to know he tried to send more money to fund education, health care, etc, and even wanted to give residents a check.

And, of course, Republicans seem poised to blast Walz and all Democrats for inflation.  But inflation is a national, even global problem right now for many reasons and is beyond party control.  Neither party can claim credit or blame for a global phenoenon that is rearing its head in every developed country in the world.  

Still, inflation is a difficult problem for state lawmakers.  On the one hand, rising gas prices, food prices are hurting people — especially people with modest incomes. On the other hand, dumping more money on a hot economy risks driving up demand and further exacerbating price increases.

And, the all-important elephant in the room is re-election for both sides.  So legislators doing anything to help Minnesotans right now is highly unlikely.  

It appears it is far more important to campaign on blame than it is to work for the very people who elected  legislators.  That’s what makes the inaction by a legislature that had  a $9.3 billion budget surplus so disappointing.

We’re hoping that backfires.  A party that runs against something rather than for something always seems to have an edge.  And governing is always more difficult than campaigning. Governing means making tough decisions.  Campaigning is usually about criticizing those tough decisions. In otherwords, it’s easier to talk than to do something. 

And compromise has gone the way of the dinosaur, apparently.  When politicians are first elected they all talk about bipartisanship.  But it doesn’t take long for them to realize they want to be re-elected and choose to join their respective party in demonizing the opposing side.  It’s an ongoing political problem that needs to stop.  

So we, as voters, need to quit rewarding that behavior.  We need to be informed enough to see through half-truths and misinformation and we need to quit allowing the extremes on both sides to dominate our choices. 

Most voters are weary of the rhetoric and divisive talk. They’re tired of the outside money and anonymous super PACs and their influence.  Let’s elect legislators who can admit that their party, on the state and national level, isn’t always right.  Let’s elect people who will represent all of us, not just lobbyists or special interests. 

In the upcoming elections let’s vote for those who will govern and compromise.  Let’s vote against the hyper-partisanship that dominates our state and our nation.