A Crisis in the Party…

Rahm Emanuel is famous for his quote, “Never allow a crisis to go to waste’. A first reaction to a statement such as this was likely to be based on political bias. Mine was. Most of us were disgusted and aghast that someone would consider the suggestion of taking advantage of a bad situation to advance a political agenda.

Well, after more thought, it is likely that Mr. Obama picked the right person to be his advisor, confidant, and chief of staff. Karl Rove is considered to be a mastermind when it comes to political strategy and I can envision him making a similar statement but he would have had enough political savvy to have said it in private.

We in fact are in a crisis in the Republican Party. Our party is in crisis nationally, at the state level, and in our local government. We have lost our edge and the confidence in the people, to represent the people, for the good of the people. We are failing to find a base of fresh new candidates to represent the moral and fiscal values that this country was founded on. We dig around in the candidate bucket and grab someone willing to make a run at a seat with indifference to passion or opinion. For this we are now paying a heavy price.

Our party represents fiscal responsibility, moral values which include protecting the sanctity of marriage and the family, and making tough political decisions in tough times. Politics has become a dirty game, every politician will espouse whatever view the electorate wants to hear during a campaign. Once elected, they conform to the pre-existing political hierarchy established by those in power in trade for committee assignments and a potential seat at the power brokering table in the future and it’s business as usual.

Is representation by individuals like Jeremy Kalin and Rick Olseen truly representation of the people, by the people in this district?

I’ll be honest and admit that I had resigned myself to the fact that this district was full of left wing nut cases for having elected the representation that we have at the state level. But having experienced more and more people out in this district over the past months, talking with every day people who are concerned about their property taxes, the deficit we face in our state, jobs disappearing, property values declining, and the constant attack on family values, I am convinced more now than ever that we are in the majority and it is the responsibility of our party to step up.

We need to find candidates who are passionate about the core issues, defend the Minnesota family values, bring fiscal responsibility to state government and accountability to the tax paying citizens of our district and the state. If we want to fix this mess, we need to be prepared to step up and build a viable campaign to elect good candidates. We need to put forth decent candidates who can spell out the solutions to the electorate in this district in language they can understand.

Families in this district are losing their jobs, their homes, and there is an attack on their financial and family stability by those elected and sent to St. Paul tasked with representing us in this district.

Our current representatives are very willing to raise our taxes, promote alternative lifestyles as the norm, and conform to the political leanings of the liberal left entrenched in St. Paul.

Let us take a little advice from Rahm Emanuel, let us take advantage of the current crisis in our party and in the political climate in this state. The voters in this district are going to be looking for new leadership in the upcoming elections, let us offer them viable, enthusiastic candidates who are ready to represent this district and this state with the true values and beliefs I believe are in the majority in this district.

Let us move forward and let us move now.

FACTS ARE ALWAYS STUBBORN THINGS!!!!

The record is written!

The facts are in!

The truth cannot be disputed!

And now the tale must be told:

The "TAXPAYERS LEAGUE of Minnesota" has just published their Legislative Scorecard for 2009 showing the performance of Representative Jeremy Kalin and Senator Rick Olseen.

Representative Jeremy Kalin 17b earned a score of zero for the 2009 Session of the legislature and a score of zero for his legislative career!

That makes Representative Kalin's overall voting record even worse than the liberal extremist Representative Phyllis Kahn of Minneapolis.

And Senator Olseen, Dist. 17, was not much better than Kalin

Olseen earned a paltry score of "7" for the 2009 Session right along down there with Representative Kalin.

Folks, it is not how nice they smile at you or how many little red wagons they pull or tractors they drive in the parades - it is how they vote in your stead that tells the tale.

Clearly Kalin and Olseen must be replaced post haste.