Dear Neighbor,
On Tuesday, January 5, 2021 I was sworn in to serve another term representing SD46 in the State Senate. It continues to be an honor and privilege to serve the communities of St. Louis Park, Plymouth, Hopkins, Medicine Lake, and Golden Valley. I will serve on the Judiciary and Public Safety Policy and Finance Committee (where I am the DFL ranking member) as well as the Civil Law and Data Practices Policy Committee.
There are many pressing issues to be addressed in our state. The continued effort to contain and slow the spread of COVID-19, the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, and creating and passing a two-year balanced budget, are several major tasks on our legislative agenda. In the coming weeks, I will be sharing a newsletter more closely focusing upon my work and the work of the legislature.
However, this would be an incomplete letter without addressing the insurgency in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. Armed individuals spurred on by the President’s rhetoric and total disregard for the Constitution and our duly elected government violently breached the United States Capitol. This was an attempted coup – shall I say insurrection, sedition, treason – by those who have deeply bought in to the repeatedly disproven claims that the election results in President-elect Joe Biden’s favor are fraudulent. Four years of inflammatory, conspiratorial and violence-encouraging messages from the White House – and their repetition and amplification by some political leadership at the state and national levels – have led to this and I fear this may be the beginning of repeated, coordinated actions against government. It is incumbent upon leaders across the nation to speak out in condemnation of this and to continue the difficult work of supporting and defending the U.S. Constitution in the face of domestic terrorists.
Our democracy is resilient and strong. Even so, all it takes is for good people to remain silent, or worse for some people to shamelessly magnify the lies for their own political ends, for democracy to be at risk. We will build back better, seek unity of purpose and community, respect the actual facts and truth, and continue to speak loudly in support of our basic institutions and values. We will indeed perpetuate this great historical experiment in self-government.
Regards,
Ron Latz