To the Editor:
Representative Paulsen, how many more lives will it take? You already know what we want, and it still isn’t going to change.
I don’t want to be scared of school anymore. I don’t want to lose any of my friends or siblings or peers, and I do not want to talk to my teachers about what to throw at a shooter first or what to hide behind. Continue reading “Listen up, Rep. Erik Paulsen”
At a recent Polar Plunge fundraising event in Eden Prairie, I was standing next to a very dear friend when Congressman Erik Paulsen approached the launching pad. My friend clapped loudly, and said something akin to “He’s a good man.” I’ve never met Mr. Paulsen, but my friend has, so I’m inclined to trust his judgement.
What I struggle with is reconciling my friend holding Mr. Paulsen in high regard to two distinctive but perhaps related observations. One s a well-documented record of Mr. Paulsen not conducting face-to-face, on-the-record town hall meetings with his constituents. The other is a dearth of public commentary regarding the personal conduct of the current president of the United States. Continue reading “The 3rd District needs accountability”
It is disingenuous of Erik Paulsen to state that he is not going to host real town halls because people will “grandstand.” He is denying us the right, his constituents as a group, to have a discussion with him as a community. Given that he was elected to represent the community from which he comes, is it not within all our right to expect town hall meetings together with him as that community?
Erik tries to skirt the system by claiming that he meets with citizens and holds phone call “town halls.” To be honest, it’s a rigged system. He or his staff vet who gets to meet in person with him, for the most part, and when they do it is private and the citizen is not allowed to record the encounter. Continue reading “Paulsen’s Phone Town Halls Aren’t Scheduled”
Rep. Erik Paulsen sure is busy telling everyone how great he thinks the tax reform act is. Erik, if the plans is so fantastic why don’t you plan an in-person town hall and have a conversation with your constituents so you can hear what we think?
We all understand that the tax reform act will reduce taxes overall, but it appears to be a gift to the wealthiest individuals and corporations, not working families. Home-owning Minnesotans, especially in cities like Eden Prairie, will see limited benefit or even tax increases while narrow interests, like real estate businesses will have windfall. Republicans used to abhor government picking winners and losers. No more. Continue reading “Income Taxes Aren’t Going to Go Down”
Erik Paulsen paints a very rosy picture for “American families and hard working taxpayers across the nation” in his commentary on tax reform, in the March 15 edition of the Eden Prairie News. This is the rest of the story.
It is important to keep in mind that the tax-reform provisions related to corporations are permanent, while those affecting individual taxpayers expire in 2025. As a result many individuals will have higher paychecks in the near term, thanks to the new tax bracket levels and several increased tax credits. However, the tax bracket levels will return to their previous rates after 2025, while many tax credits will expire. Therefore, depending on one’s personal situation, taxes may increase substantially in 2026. Continue reading “Don’t be fooled by short-term gains”
The following article by Caroline Orr was posted on the ShareBlue website March 16, 2018:
Trump’s violent rhetoric on the campaign trail breeds real-life violence, leading to a spike in assaults wherever Trump makes an appearance.
That’s the conclusion of a new study, which found that cities experienced an increase in assaults on days when they hosted a Trump campaign rally. There was no corresponding link between the incidence of violence and rallies for Hillary Clinton.
“It appeared to be a phenomenon that’s unique to Donald Trump’s rally,” said Christopher Morrison, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and lead author of the study.
The study, published in the journal Epidemiology, looked at data on assaults surrounding 31 rallies in 22 cities for Trump, and 38 rallies in 21 cities for Clinton. Continue reading “Trump’s campaign rallies are officially a threat to public health”
The following political cartoon appeared in the March 29, 2018 StarTribune:
Vice President Mike Pence wrote a love letter to President Donald Trump and his party that graced the Opinion Exchange page of the Star Tribune on March 28 (“Our tax, energy and trade policies are working for Minnesotans”). The article was misleading in a variety of ways, but particularly so for low-information voters.
Here’s Pence describing how Trump’s policies are “working for Minnesotans”: Continue reading “That was a VP (very poor) commentary.”
On the evening of March 19, my telephone rang, and I heard a recording of Paulsen’s voice announcing his telephone conference call. Although I was already late for a meeting, I decided to accept his invitation to press *3 and ask a question. When Paulsen’s screener came on the line, I told her that my question involved the scheduling of his conference calls. Could he please announce the dates and times of these calls in advance, because his constituents have their own schedules and many don’t have the luxury of dropping all of their plans at a moment’s notice in order to participate in unannounced telephone calls? The screener wished me a good day and hung up on me. Although I continued to listen until the end of the conference call, my congressman never answered my question.
Robert Malecki, Brooklyn Park
Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 28, 2018
So U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen thinks his phone town halls are more civil? (“Telephone town halls mute critics,” front page, March 27.) Of course they are — because Paulsen gets to choose the questions. Of course they are — because they almost always occur at a normal family dinnertime, and many people simply hang up since it is not a good time. Hit *3 and ask a question? Yes, you get a polite staffer who takes your question and puts you back on mute.
I’ve participated twice. Neither time did my question get asked — too tough a question, Rep. Paulsen? A question about which you might have needed to disagree with your party in order to agree with your constituents?
Phone town halls are a sham! We need a representative who actually listens!
Lonni Skrentner, Edina
Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 28, 2018
