The Mankato Free Press editorial board salutes Blue Earth County native Margaret Anderson Kelliher's collegiality:
Thumbs up:
To the continuance of collegiality in the Minnesota Legislature, where earlier this week several Republicans announced satisfaction with the way committee assignments were shaping up.
Republicans had made numerous committee requests that were treated with respect by House Speaker-designate Margaret Kelliher, whose Democratic party will be taking over leadership in 2007.
Republicans Laura Brod of New Prague, Bob Gunther of Fairmont, Tony Cornish of Vernon Center and Brad Finstad of New Ulm were among those happy about the committees they were granted. Gunther, for instance, will remain heavily involved in economic policy while serving on panels dealing with energy, the environment and education. Finstad will remain very much in the forefront on agricultural policies and health and human services.
The spirit of bipartisanship will be tested in the coming months, but so far, so good.
The Fairmont Sentinel writes up Representative Gunther's response in Gunther positive about DFL majority:
. . .What may serve Gunther well during the session, which begins Jan. 3, are the relationships he has cultivated across party aisles.
“Some ways I’ll be able to represent (District 24A) better because I treated the DFL as well as I wanted to be treated,” he said. “Isn’t that the Golden Rule?”
Seven DFL committee chairpersons will come out of Gunther’s Jobs and Economic Opportunity Policy and Finance committee, where he says he gave them all a fair shake. Their early actions would appear to prove his assessment.
“Four of them asked me to be on their committees,” Gunther said. “And three of them asked me how to effectively chair a committee. I felt good about that; their high opinion of me and my performance.”
Because of those relationships, Gunther believes he will get hearings for bills he sponsors.
“And if I don’t poke anybody in the eye, I’ll get them passed,” he added. . . .
Ice Raids Reaction
The Mankato Free Press gives them a thumbs down:
Thumbs down
To the continued absence of sensible policies regarding immigration in this country, heightened by this week’s federal raids on meatpacking plants in six states, including the southwestern Minnesota city of Worthington where 230 people were detained.
While it is important to protect our borders and crack down on the illegal ID trade, Americans still don’t know what to do with the law-abiding people who are here contributing to their communities and raising children. This week’s raid disrupted the economic vitality of Worthington and placed a question mark on its future.
Meanwhile, we are left to consider how we can control our American borders without disrupting entire towns and causing undue mayhem with the lives of people who otherwise quietly go about the business of contributing to the local economy.
The Rochester Post Bulletin editorial board asks similar questions:
The raids this week by U.S. Immigration and Customs officials struck close to home, both physically and emotionally.
The enforcement action aimed at illegal immigrants swept through Austin, as well as Worthington. The Minnesota raid coincided with action across the country. In Austin, Post-Bulletin coverage reported 21 people arrested. In Worthington, some 400 people were detained at the Swift pork-processing facility there.
Those are, as they say, the facts. The story goes far deeper.
Law enforcement creates gut-wrenching stories
The Star-Tribune reports arrested women crying about who would look after their children. In Worthington, the newspaper reports, 39 percent of the children in the city's schools are Hispanic.
The same report detailed how school bus drivers were forced to leave children at churches because nobody was there to meet the children at their homes and that church volunteers were going door to door to look for children whose parents might have been caught up in the raid.
When this country calls for tough enforcement of its immigration laws, this is what it means. It is tough and emotionally painful. It is an outcome obvious to those caught up in the swirl, but to the community as well.
In Worthington, Minnesota Public Radio reports told of the fears in the business community because the raids might depress holiday shopping.
The grayness of illegal immigration: A policy of looking the other way leads to crime but also benefits
Yes, laws should be enforced, but the big picture of immigration is not black or white. A Post-Bulletin editorial on April 19 of this year detailed this grayness. Local law enforcement and social service workers described how nearly all illegal immigrants come here for the work and live quite lives.
The same editorial also noted that identity crimes are closely related to illegal immigrants. Because they are outside the law, illegals are also themselves extremely vulnerable to crime.
The sinister side of illegal immigration cannot be ignored but there is another take as well.
For starters, it is certainly true that the defacto national immigration policy along the U.S. - Mexico border has been one of looking the other way mixed with a smattering of law enforcement. The reason is the cross border migration of workers has benefited the U.S. economy.
For example, the presence of the illegal -- and low-paid -- workers benefits consumers. It's a system that holds down the price of pork and assists corporate profits while giving the illegal workers a greater wage than possible in their home country.
It is also anecdotally true that the presence of illegal workers drives down wages. Workers at Austin's packing plants have seen wages plummet over two decades.
Working illegal immigrants do burden social safety nets but they are also contributing tax dollars to government. These workers are getting the top layer of their paychecks removed to cover state and federal payroll taxes. Social Security payments attributed to a phony number won't be there when the worker needs help.
It is also true that they are deprived access to many social assistance programs that they are helping support.
Reform is a cliche but U.S. immigration policy does need change
The U.S. needs a comprehensive immigration policy. The country needs strong border control, but it also needs a compassionate legal framework that respects the humanity of workers who are contributing to the economy.
The last Congress failed to take up immigration reform. Come January, the next one needs to make it a front-burner issue.
Event: Walz at Rochester Chamber of Commerce
The Post-Bulletin takes note of two C of C events featuring elected officials on Wednesday:
First District Rep.-elect Tim Walz will be the featured speaker during a luncheon sponsored by the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce. The event is scheduled for Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Galleria Ballroom of the Radisson Plaza Hotel.
Walz, a Mankato high school teacher, defeated six-term, incumbent Rep. Gil Gutknecht, a Republican from Rochester in the last election.
To register, visit www.rochestermnchamber.com or call 288-1122. The cost is $15 for members and $25 for non-members.
The chamber will host a reception for the Rochester area legislative delegation that will offer a preview of the 2007 legislative session. The event will be held Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Elizabethan Ballroom at the Kahler Grand Hotel.
The cost of the event is $25 for chamber members and $30 for non-members.
Netroots
The Rochester Post Bulletin takes note of Rochester-based YouTube videos. Included in the round-up is Mrs. Evil Bobby's footage of Walz's victory stop in The Rock.
Minnesota Monitor asks if the DM & E loan may be near a negative tipping point. Leigh Pomeroy at Vox Verax reprints a column by the editor of the Brookings Register that's pretty scathing toward Senator Thune.
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