Winona Daily News LTE: Winona Walz office a great service
Valerie Clark reminds Winona residents of Congressman Walz's mobile office visits:
In case you hadn’t heard, our new congressman, Tim Walz, is sending members of his staff to Winona every other Wednesday to serve us, his constituents.
We can go and give them our ideas and opinions, ask for assistance if needed, or just chat and find out how Tim is doing in Washington. This is our system at its best: Our representative in Congress is reaching out to us even in our smaller cities like Winona.
Your next opportunity to visit Tim’s Winona office will be from 9 a.m., to noon, April 25, at Winona City Hall, 207 Lafayette St. (The following opportunity after that is May 9 at the Blue Heron coffeehouse.) And thank you, Congressman Walz, for all the hard work you are doing for us. We appreciate it.
Mankato Free Press LTE: Chrysler, DM&E loans are not the same
Liz McLoone, a Good Counsel Academy grad who worked as Tim Walz's scheduler last year, gets a letter in the Mankato Free Press:
A recent opinion piece titled “Walz to DM&E: Drop Dead” is full of incorrect information regarding my favorite new congressman, Tim Walz. This is my response from the perspective of a southern Minnesota gal who grew up in Mankato.
While campaigning, Walz learned how to listen to voters. In doing so, it became clear that the people of the 1st Congressional District (not just Rochester) were appalled about approving a $2.3 billion loan to a railroad with the worst safety record in its class. Walz took a thoughtful approach to this issue; not coming out against DM&E right away, but after serious consideration came to the conclusion that this “midnight deal” was not in the best interest of the residents of southern Minnesota.
The differences between the Chrysler loan and the secretive DM&E loan are twofold: The Chrysler loan was debated on the floor of the U.S. Senate and was paid back; and DM&E did not prove financially that it could pay the loan back in full to the taxpayers.
Not only did the Mayo Clinic oppose this project because of the legitimate risk to patient safety, the United Transportation Union (DM&E’s own union) opposed this project because of their inability to run a safe and fiscally sound railroad. In addition, many citizens took action on this issue by holding “Backyard BBQ’s” to educate their neighbors about the dangers of this deal.
As Minnesotans, we ought to join people like Walz, Minnesota Taxpayer League President David Strom and former Vice President Walter Mondale by fighting to not allow outside greedy interests to divide us and our most precious assets.
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