Tag: Rep. Paulsen

Federal leaders need to renew fund

On Sept. 30, a vital source of funding for Minnesota’s public lands expired. The Land and Water Conservation Fund has provided over $245 million to Minnesota’s parks and public lands, taking the burden off of Minnesota’s taxpayers. The LWCF takes revenue from offshore oil drilling and invests it in the shared spaces that help make Minnesota special.

A piece of the fund was set aside to complete a Boundary Waters land swap — that swap would provided better protection for the still-patchwork Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness while providing direct property tax relief for Minnesotans. Now that may never happen.

There is still time to revive the LWCF, though. We’re lucky to have supporters like Sen. Tina Smith helping push for LWCF, but we need Rep. Erik Paulsen’s support as well. Ask federal politicians if they know what the fund is — and whether or not they want to revive it.

Molly Muth, Minneapolis
Lakeshore Weekly News, November 23, 2018

Not a single Republican will support bill to combat rise in hate crimes

Credit: Nikos Frazier | MLive.com

With hate crimes surging nationwide, not a single Republican will sign on as a co-sponsor to a bill to address the problem.

Hate crimes are on the rise in Trump’s America, a trend that has been attributed in large part to Trump’s incendiary rhetoric, tacit endorsement of violence, and embrace of far-right extremism.

According to new FBI statistics released this week, documented hate crimes rose by 17 percent in 2017, with particularly notable increases in anti-Hispanic and anti-Semitic crimes. During the same time period, white supremacist murders doubled, making 2017 the fifth deadliest year on record for extremist violence.

Clearly, there’s a need to do something to address the surge in hate crimes.

Bid farewell to a representative who’s been no help with light rail

U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen is an absentee congressman on so many critical issues — from climate change to gun-violence prevention and controlling assault weapons — that the time for change is long overdue. But after Paulsen’s complete and total inaction and rank partisanship in the face of a chance to expand not one but two light-rail lines in his district, voters should wish him well in his next endeavors.

The Third District is composed of the west metro’s largest suburbs, including Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka and Plymouth, and home to both the Southwest and Bottineau light-rail projects. Both lines have been planned for years. Each line has received multiple approvals from each of the nine cities through which they run. The only funding that remains to be received is from the Federal Transit Administration, which mysteriously refuses to allocate the money Congress has awarded specifically for the purpose.

It is clear that Paulsen has never assisted with any part of Southwest or Bottineau. Instead, he stands idly by while more than $3 billion in infrastructure remains tied up in bureaucracy. That’s $3 billion — more than three U.S. Bank Stadiums’-worth of jobs and physical infrastructure. Continue reading “Bid farewell to a representative who’s been no help with light rail”

Top 10 GOP House seats most likely to flip in a blue wave

Republicans are scrambling to minimize their losses in Tuesday’s midterm elections in an effort to deny Democrats the 23 seats they need to recapture a majority in the House.

In recent weeks, Republican groups have redirected millions of dollars to competitive districts where their prospects appear brighter. Meanwhile, President Trump has gone to bat for several vulnerable GOP incumbents.

A handful of GOP lawmakers are fighting uphill battles for survival and appear likely to lose their seats, according to party strategists, with just days left before the vote.

Here are the 10 Republican incumbents seen as most likely to lose their seats:

View the complete November 2 article by Max Greenwood on the Hill website here.

 

Paulsen is on the take, torn between constituents and PACs

To the Editor:

The serenity prayer is a popular prayer and, in the case of this upcoming election, it is more relevant than I can imagine.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can…”

I am an army veteran. I fought for my democracy in 1970 and I am doing it now as a citizen. The democracy the Republicans have painted for us now is not the democracy I fought for. Stand up for it. Others will follow. Democracy is not free.

Voting is not enough if you are uninformed. Depending on how you feel (red or blue) that day, that’s how you are going to vote. We still have time and our voices matter. Change the unacceptable! Continue reading “Paulsen is on the take, torn between constituents and PACs”

Donald Trump Again Endorses Erik Paulsen

On October 29, Donald Trump again tweeted his endorsement for Erik Paulsen:

Paulsen Begs Voters to Believe That He’s Still the Nice Guy

Paulsen’s unprecedented negative attacks have been condemned by sexual harassment survivors, local business leaders and area voters alike

GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen listens to DFL candidate Dean Phillips at their debate at the UBS Forum at MPR in St. Paul on Oct. 5, 2018. Credit: Tony Saunders, MPR via AP

EXCELSIOR, MN – Yesterday, Erik Paulsen released two more ads funded largely by special interest contributions to his campaign. The first was released online by his campaign and touted as Paulsen’s closing argument, representing just the second positive ad from Paulsen this cycle. True to form, however, Paulsen also released yet another dishonest and negative attack ad at the same time, which is the one currently airing widely on broadcast TV.

Paulsen has taken the fourth most special interest money of anyone in Congress, and used the money to run a dishonest and shockingly negative campaign that has been called inappropriate, reckless, false, distorted, not even in the same time zone as truth, extremely misleading, just plain false, and wildly out of context by independent journalists, community leaders, sexual harassment survivors, and Democrats, independents, and Republicans alike. Continue reading “Paulsen Begs Voters to Believe That He’s Still the Nice Guy”

Washington Post Asks Media to Shine a Light on One of Paulsen’s Favorite Lies

Erik Paulsen again caught lying, this time on pre-existing conditions; refuses to redact false statement

EXCELSIOR, MN – Today, The Washington Post took issue with how Erik Paulsen and six other Republican politicians that are mis-portraying their fact checks, and asked local media to shine a light on Paulsen’s refusal to withdraw his misleading statement.

Erik Paulsen has repeatedly – and falsely – claimed that the Washington Post had given “four Pinocchios” to anyone saying that he and other Republicans voted to gut protections for pre-existing conditions, including in a recent debate on KSTP. As the article makes clear, that was not the focus of the fact check in question, and Paulsen’s claim is not accurate.

“Facing the most competitive race of his career, Congressman Paulsen has shown his true colors,” said Zach Rodvold, campaign manager for Phillips for Congress. “His blatant disregard for the truth is beneath what we expect from a sitting member of Congress. In lying to try and save his job, he is showing Minnesotans exactly why he should be voted out. It may be the preferred approach for DC consultants and the special interest groups bankrolling his campaign, but voters have had enough.”

The Washington Post calls Paulsen’s behavior “dismaying,” asking local media to shine a light on this “brazen misappropriation” of facts while awarding Congressman Paulsen himself with “four Pinocchios” for his claim.

They Write:

Continue reading “Washington Post Asks Media to Shine a Light on One of Paulsen’s Favorite Lies”

These Republicans are misleading voters about our Obamacare fact checks

SPOILER ALERT:  Guess who else is on the list?  Our own Erik Paulsen.

Somewhere, somehow, a memo must have gone out to Republican lawmakers who voted for the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare: If you are attacked for undermining protections for people with existing health problems, jab back by saying the claim got Four Pinocchios from The Washington Post.

That’s not true. Republicans are twisting an unrelated fact check and are misleading voters. We have found at least seven politicians who have done this.

Rep. Peter J. Roskam (Illinois’s 6th District): In a debate on Oct. 22, he said: “Sean [Casten] has falsely accused me of being against protecting people with preexisting conditions and that was fact-checked by The Washington Post, who gave that four Pinocchios.”

View the complete October 29 article by Glenn Kessler on the Washington Post website here.

Erik Paulsen, Dean Phillips campaigns dispute ads, campaign finance

As Election Day nears, the competitive race for the Third Congressional District seat is becoming increasingly contentious.

Rep. Erik Paulsen and challenger Dean Phillips debated late week on “Almanac.” Credit: Mark Vancleave, Star Tribune, file

U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen faced fresh criticism Friday for a TV ad critical of Democratic opponent Dean Phillips, while Phillips threw in $1.3 million of his own money as he tries unseat Paulsen.

As the Nov. 6 election nears, the competitive race for the Third Congressional District seat is becoming increasingly contentious as Paulsen, a five-term congressman from Eden Prairie, fights for re-election. Phillips, a distillery heir and businessman from Deephaven, is trying to become the first Democrat to hold the seat since 1961.

On Friday, Paulsen was criticized again for making a sexual harassment case part of his campaign. Lori Peterson, a lawyer who represented seven women who sued Allina Health in 2007 over sexual harassment, sent a note Friday to Paulsen’s campaign manager demanding the team stop using the women’s story in the TV ads, which call Phillips “shady” and charge that he “did nothing” to combat the harassment when he was on Allina’s board of directors from 2005 to 2011.

View the complete October 26 article by Kelly Smith on the Star Tribune website here.