Category: State Issues

Education is on the Ballot in November

While Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is working to dismantle the department she is charged with leading and Republican governors are ignoring educators’ pleas for better funding, voters are making their voices very clear – they want better pay for teachers and better schools for every child. Education is on the ballot in November, and Democrats are running and winning by making education central to their campaigns.

In Arizona, Democrats nominated education activist David Garcia for governor and 2016 Arizona Teacher of the Year Christine Marsh is running for state Senate. It’s no wonder; in April, teachers in Arizona took to the streets in support of better pay and school funding as part of the Red for Ed movement.

Arizona Capitol Times: “Garcia jumped into the governor’s race last year after Ducey signed legislation to create universal vouchers. Garcia was so incensed by the action that he characterized as a major blow to public education in Arizona that he set his sights on ousting Ducey.”

Continue reading “Education is on the Ballot in November”

Mounting his bid for governor of Minnesota, GOP’s Jeff Johnson says he’ll stick with Trump

The following article by Jessie Van Berkel was posted on the Star Tribune website August 27, 2018:

Candidates across the country are carefully weighing the Trump factor on midterm races. Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Johnson praises Trump’s policies, but noted that he doesn’t always agree with the president.

Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson Credit: Glenn Stubbe, Star Tribune

Republican candidate for governor Jeff Johnson said his support for President Donald Trump, a likely boost in his recent upset victory in Minnesota’s primary election, will not waver as he turns to the general election and tries to win over a much wider and less conservative set of voters.

“I support him. I like what he is trying to do. I like the direction he is trying to take the country,” Johnson said of Trump during an interview with the Star Tribune. “I don’t always agree with him.”

Candidates across the country are carefully weighing the Trump factor on midterm races. Republicans are wondering whether to align with or distance themselves from a president beset by controversies and persistently low approval ratings, but who is still popular with party loyalists. Democrats must decide whether to go hard at Trump in a nod to their own base, or elevate more issues-based appeals to win over less politically tuned-in voters.

View the complete article here.

Third District forum in Edina focuses on campaign finance reform

The following article by Kelly Smith was posted on the Star Tribune article August 28, 2018:

It was the first policy forum that DFLer Dean Phillips is holding as he challenges U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen in the west metro congressional district.

3rd Congressional District Candidate Dean Phillips Credit: Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune

Campaign finance reform and outside spending have emerged as contentious issues in the west metro’s Third Congressional District, where DFLer Dean Phillips is challenging U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen.

Phillips made campaign finance reform the focus of a Monday public forum in Edina with Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, a national political action committee (PAC) that’s targeting Paulsen and 19 other Republicans in Congress.

“We have to get our system back to you,” Muller said. Phillips is “people-powered, not special interests-powered.”

View the complete article here.

https://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2018/08/hillary-12-vs-donald-7-meet-districts-may-decide-control-minnesota-house

The following article by Peter Callaghan was posted on the MinnPost website August 24, 2018:

House Speaker Kurt Daudt in front of Republican House candidates on the filing deadline. Credit: Peter Callaghan, MinnPost

Insiders call them “borrowed ground” or even “rented districts.”

They are the dozen or so Minnesota state House districts carried by Hillary Clinton two years ago but narrowly won by Republicans lawmakers in the same election. Now they are the focus of both parties’ attempts to control the body.

With an open governor’s seat and the state Senate likely to remain in a one-seat GOP majority, the 134 House seats on the November ballot will either give the Republicans complete control of the state Legislature — or ensure that Democrats have a share of power.

View the complete article here.

Phillips has more integrity for refusing PAC money

To the editor:

I remember watching Erik Paulsen’s campaign ads in the 2010 election cycle, in which he lectured his daughters from a whiteboard, called himself “a numbers guy,” and promised to “protect our wallets from politicians.” These promises seem preposterous in 2018, after Paulsen voted for a bill that will increase the national debt to $11.7 trillion by 2027. As a mom of three kids, I’m not comfortable with shifting our nation’s burden from corporations to our families now and in the future. Paulsen was a powerful advocate for this bill, and now we all pay the price.

Paulsen had gone more than six years without holding a town hall. In May, he acquiesced and held three small, ticketed town halls. I did not win the lottery to attend these meetings, and suspect I’ll never have the opportunity to tell him face-to-face what I think of his cavalier attitude toward the national debt. Continue reading “Phillips has more integrity for refusing PAC money”

Feisty debate kicks off Paulsen-Phillips race for Congress

The following article by Mark Zdechlik was posted on the MPRNews.org website August 21, 2018:

Rep. Paulsen responds to a question during a debate with DFL congressional candidate Dean Phillips at the DoubleTree Park Place in Minneapolis, Minn. on Aug. 21, 2018. Credit: Lacey Young, MPR News

Republican U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen and his DFL challenger Dean Phillips tangled over taxes, health care and campaign finance reform in their first debate Tuesday.

Paulsen said Phillips would derail economic growth by voting to repeal the Republican tax cut law. Paulsen argued the tax cut was needed and that it’s helping ordinary Minnesotans.

“Weak growth, which was what we were seeing under the last eight years, was not acceptable,” he said. “Sure, people like Dean Phillips and those who are well off will do fine under those circumstances. But the rest of us, we won’t do well in an economic depression, and that was only just around the corner.”

View the complete article here.