Tag: Rep. Paulsen

Government investment in the Light Rail would create jobs, support small businesses

The following column by Sirish Samba was posted on the Sun-Sailor website October 18, 2017:

Sirish Samba is a Minnetonka business owner.

I am convinced that the best opportunities come at the most challenging times.

The year 2008 was not the best year for small business owners. The Minnesota economy, like that in many states, was hit hard by the Great Recession and many companies faced the reality of insecure funding streams.

Our company, Sambatek, was no exception. We were primarily a land development/municipal engineering firm that specialized in designing retail stores, apartment buildings, hotels and municipal infrastructure projects. Our services were not of much use in an economic bust.

But as a civil engineer, I was trained to see the solution that might be hidden to others. And I saw the recession as an opportunity to grow our company in a new direction. We decided to create a new specialty in transportation, including public transportation.

It has been almost 10 years and we have never looked back.

By 2014, we were the 48th fastest growing company in the country, with offices in Minnesota and North Dakota. We could not have become as successful as we have without a devoted staff and, strange as it may seem, sustained public investment in our public transportation systems.

When our government prioritizes public transportation, it not only keeps our systems running, but it spawns job creation in companies all along the supply chain.

Our firm employs 100 professionals in what we often refer to as the “Sambatek family.” Plain and simple, we would not be able to provide sustainable careers for these individuals without local, state and federal investment in public transportation.

Currently, we are working on several projects with Metro Transit including the Blue Line Extension and Southwest LRT projects. Not only do these projects provide jobs for hardworking Minnesotans, but they will spur economic growth in our state once they are completed.

Already, the Southwest LRT corridor has experienced more than $515 million in new development in anticipation of the project’s completion, according to a report by the American Public Transportation Association. Once it’s done, estimates hold that the line will create 16,600 jobs near the new stations and 18,500 jobs in downtown Minneapolis.

The Blue Line Extension corridor’s development has grown from $358 million in spring 2016 to $489 million today. It is estimated that, once completed, the Blue Line Extension’s 11 new stations will mean 4,600 new jobs along the route – a 30-percent growth for the region, not to mention the 20,000 jobs created downtown.

So when the federal government invests in public transportation, it’s doing much more than creating a rail in a vacuum. It is supporting small businesses, creating jobs within the supply chain, and facilitating long-term economic growth and long-term jobs.

When politicians fund public transportation, they are investing in our communities and in economic development.

Both the Southwest and the Blue Line Extension LRT rely on several different funding streams, including federal investment. They are both recipients of Capital Investment Grants (CIG grants), which come from the federal government.

Yet federal allocation for public transportation is far from secure. I am calling on Congressman Erik Paulsen and others to designate vital transportation resources in the federal budget next year.

Our politicians often speak about their focus on job creation and economic growth. They can act on these priorities and create real change in their districts and across the country with designated funding for public transportation.

After all, it is more than just the transit systems that benefit from this investment. Our employees would not have jobs without federal investment in Metro Transit’s system.

It was federal investment in public transportation that set our company on a pathway of growth back in 2008 – and what has kept us successful all these years.

I hope that if our politicians truly care about job creation and supporting small businesses in our country, they will support and fund public transportation.

Sirish Samba is a Minnetonka business owner.

View the post here.

Paulsen should donate NRA campaign contributions

To the Editor:

My Congressman, Erik Paulsen, when asked about the shootings in Las Vegas and possible new regulations concerning guns responded “no comment.”

Really?  No comment in face of the worst mass shooting in our current history?  It is bad enough Mr. Paulsen will not meet with his voters in the 3rd District in a public meeting, but now he doesn’t respond to simple questions from the press.

Rep. Paulsen received over $20,000 since 2007 from the NRA so we know why he votes the way the NRA approves.  In my opinion this $20,000 is blood money and should be returned to the NRA or donated to a local charity. Continue reading “Paulsen should donate NRA campaign contributions”

Who wouldn’t support an anti-trafficking act?

To the Editor:

I read the commentary by John Albers questioning the positions of Eric (sic) Paulsen.  I have always believed that actions speak louder than words.  Paulsen campaigned as a moderate in this district.  Regardless of your political party, no thinking person can call this administration’s positions as moderate.  Yet Paulsen has voted with the administration on practically every legislative effort of the administration.  I am hard pressed to find a single bill or executive action that Paulsen has not supported.

Paulsen voted against: Continue reading “Who wouldn’t support an anti-trafficking act?”

Rep. Erik Paulsen’s Latest Survey on “Tax Reform”

We know many of you aren’t on Rep Paulsen’s list.  And, many more have been bumped from the list. So, here’s a link tothe latest survey for you to complete.  Granted, there isn’t a plan in place, and not much information has been made available (kind of like with the health care bill he voted for).

It does sign you up for his emails.

https://paulsen.congressnewsletter.net/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100144678.80365.1&gen=1

Erik Paulsen is the poster child for a failed Congress

The free press is the gatekeeper to our democracy, contrary to what the current rants emanating from D.C. would like you to believe. The beauty of City Pages is that you have the courage, confidence, and conscience to speak the truth of power and to challenge the status quo. Cory Zurowski’s excellent investigative journalism has made a public record of the reality of Erik Paulsen.

No other news organization has taken interest in this congressman who has been serving out-of-state moneyed, special interest groups and extreme ideologues, as opposed to his constituents. No other news organization has taken the time to thoroughly investigate Paulsen and present these truths. In fact, the Star Tribune continually endorses Paulsen to the detriment of my district, state and nation. Continue reading “Erik Paulsen is the poster child for a failed Congress”

Republican tax plan looks like boon to the wealthy, not so much for you

The following article by Cory Zurowski was posted on the CityPages website September 29, 2017:

Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Eden Prairie) wasted no time. Less than 24 hours after GOP leaders announced a new tax cut plan that would largely benefit businesses and wealthy Americans, Paulsen came out with a big public thumbs up.

Credit:  Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune

The conservative from Eden Prairie called it long overdue “reform” that’s sure to restore “the hope of prosperity for American workers.”

Rep. Jason Lewis (R-Woodbury) went into hyperbole mode: “This plan is about defending the American Dream — the right to fly as high as your wings will take you.”

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) also came out in support of the blueprint that’s big on cuts, scarce on details. It’s estimated to amount to a $5.8 trillion tax break while doing away with $3.6 trillion in deductions. That comes out to a $2.2 trillion net cut.

Whether America can afford it or not is another conversation.

Here’s what’s known: The corporate tax rate would drop from 35 percent to 20 percent, which in theory greases the wheels for multinational companies to bring money back into the U.S. In the past few years, America’s largest companies have been hoarding cash overseas to skirt their obligations to Uncle Sam.

It would also kill the estate tax, which currently charges as much as 40 percent when a dead person’s assets are transferred to their heirs. Yet this too would be a bonanza for the rich, since it only applies to estates of $5.5 million and greater.

The GOP bill provides another bonus to the financier caste, proposing to lower rates on investment income, which are presently taxed between 15 percent and 23 percent.

What would it mean to working Minnesotans earning $25,000 per year? Or $65,000? Not much.

It looks like a wash now, according to Mark Haveman of the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence, a nonprofit that focuses on fiscal policy. But he’s quick to qualify that: “There’s a lot of details missing. There’s blanks to be filled in here.”

It promises to bump the child tax credit, which stands at $1,000. But doesn’t say how much. The three new tax brackets — 12, 25, and 35 percent — don’t show which income groups will be subject to the new rates.

Haveman points to the standard deduction, which would double to $12,000 for those filing singly and $24,000 for those filing jointly. At the same time, personal exemptions would be eliminated.

“That sure would take a lot of the benefit away from the doubling of the deduction,” says Haveman. “These benefits of the standard deduction are partially, potentially, and largely — and maybe in some circumstances — could be completely offset depending on the household size.”

In other words, some families might be paying more.

It promises to bump the child tax credit, which stands at $1,000. But doesn’t say how much. The three new tax brackets — 12, 25, and 35 percent — don’t show which income groups will be subject to the new rates.

Haveman points to the standard deduction, which would double to $12,000 for those filing singly and $24,000 for those filing jointly. At the same time, personal exemptions would be eliminated.

“That sure would take a lot of the benefit away from the doubling of the deduction,” says Haveman. “These benefits of the standard deduction are partially, potentially, and largely — and maybe in some circumstances — could be completely offset depending on the household size.”

In other words, some families might be paying more.

“I mean, really,” says Haveman with a laugh. “It’s really difficult right now to access what will happen, and how burdens will shift, and who wins and who loses because there’s so many important details yet to be determined.”

Like how to create massive cuts without adding trillions of dollars to the national debt.

For now, it looks suspiciously like a trickle-down plan the GOP has peddled since the days of Reagan. THey’ve led to an economy that harkens back to the 1920s, with wealth congregated in the hands of a few and stagnant wages for the rest.

Hamline University profession Joe Peschek looks to history for what lays ahead. President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 plan featured billions in lower taxes for corporations and slashed estate taxes. It reduced income tax rates for every bracket.

President George W. Bush’s tax plans in the early 2000s were essentially crafted in the same trickle-down mold, according to Peschek, who argues the GOP’s sales pitch in 2017 isn’t much different.

“If we look back through those two periods,” he says, “wages were pretty flat, there was sluggish growth, and economic inequality grew. It’s hard to argue these kind of tax cuts trickle down very much.”

Rep. Betty McCollum (DFL-St. Paul) offered the best summation of the Democratic view, calling it “a multi-trillion dollar giveaway to billionaires and big corporations” that leaves “working families footing the bill.”

View the post here.

Need to quit playing games

The Graham-Cassidy bill being considered on the Senate floor is a destructive and poorly thought out bill that, like its predecessors, looks to strip health care from millions.

It’s unethical and immoral. What’s worse, it is again being ram-rodded to a quick vote to save face with Republican constituents and gain a political “win.” The health of millions seems to be less important and only exist to these people as a bulletpoint from their corporate backers.

A working health care solution is a human issue that should not be defined by or designed for political gain. Political positioning should not determine accessibility and cost. Continue reading “Need to quit playing games”

Rep. Paulsen’s DACA Survey

Rep. Paulsen sent an email survey this afternoon asking those constituents who’ve been able to subscribe to his email newsletter to answer a poll on how he should handle the DACA/Dreamers situation.  We’ve heard that many people have had problems subscribing to his newsletter.  Just in case, we’re including a link to the poll below.  (You will be joining his newsletter list by completing this.)

Click here to take Rep. Erik Paulsen’s DACA/Dreamers September 19, 2017 Survey

 

What is Paulsen’s definition of a town hall?

Sept. 6 marked six full years since the last town hall held by Congressman Erik Paulsen. He has stated several times that he’s held over 100 town halls, but that’s a distortion of the truth.

Through public statements by the congressman along with a conversation I personally had with his office, it can be determined that he considers the following to be “town halls”: unannounced pop-up appearances in supermarkets, corporate appearances, carefully controlled and unannounced conference calls, scripted videos and even emailed newsletters. Continue reading “What is Paulsen’s definition of a town hall?”

Rep. Paulsen needs to hold town hall meetings

To the Editor:

In an April MPR interview, Rep. Eric Paulsen of Minnesota’s Congressional District 3 stated the following regarding his unwillingness to hold a town hall: “Certainly I think there are some that would prefer to have campaign-style events, with shouting, and that kind of thing. And that’s not just very good, it’s not Minnesotan,” he said. “Civility is probably the most important thing that we need right now.”

Does Rep. Paulsen realize it isn’t very civil to make assumptions about his constituents? His assumptions about shouting at town halls certainly aren’t from his own personal experiences holding them. Continue reading “Rep. Paulsen needs to hold town hall meetings”