Yesterday, Bluestem noted that GOP caucus cuts to local government aid play metro and rural cities against each other:
This geographically divisive strategy-- a divide and conquer strategy similar to pitting public and private workers against each other--isn't getting much purchase among the state's mayors.
City officials across Minnesota are taking a Three Musketeers strategy when it comes to LGA ("All for one, one for all"). Rural mayors say they won't support LGA cuts to metro cities.
Now a Star Tribune article points out another division being created in Minnesota. This time it's within the business community. Business columnist Neal St. Anthony writes in Local-aid battle divides business: Some chambers of commerce say state cuts to cities have gone too far already:
In the budget battle playing out in St. Paul, business interests are diverging.
Doug Olson is business development manager with Lou-Rich Inc., a contract engineering and manufacturing company with more than 325 employees in Albert Lea, Minn. He's also chairman of the local Chamber of Commerce.
"We are considering hiring more people, some from outside our area," said Olson of his company. "The city of Albert Lea has done a good job of being as efficient as possible. And we don't want to lose good candidates because of [diminishment of municipal services]. That's a concern for us if local government aid gets cuts further."
The question Albert Lea and other cities are asking is whether they can afford another year of cuts in state aid that helps keep the local snowplows running and the extra cop on the night shift.
Olson's enough-already view adds to concerns among state chambers that more cuts in "local government aid" may hurt the local business climate.
Has the state Chamber of Commerce hitch a ride on the big corporate highway, leaving Main Street's interests behind?
It sure seems like it sometimes. Read the whole article.
Minnesota Public Radio points of that cuts proposed by the House aren't evenly distributed around the state, either in House Republicans want to cancel projects in DFL districts:
GOP Rep. Larry Howes is proposing to cancel $60 million in already approved public works projects. Howes, the chair of the House Capital Investment Committee, is scheduled to hold a Wednesday hearing on his bill to cancel projects. The list includes the Minneapolis Planetarium, the Mesabi Trail Connection and planning money for the Inter-City Passenger Rail project. Read the draft bill here.
All but one of the projects tapped for elimination are in districts represented by Democrats. The only project in a GOP district is the Greenleaf State Recreation Area. GOP Rep. Dean Urdahl represents that area. But that doesn't mean the project will be eliminated since Urdahl chairs the Legacy Fund division which appropriates money for outdoors projects.
Not all of the DFL districts are in the Twin Cities. One project scheduled to get the axe is $100,000 for Mott Hall at the Minnesota State Academies in Faribault, served by Patti Fritz. The State Academies educate deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired and deaf/blind people from across the state.
In an online chat today, a friend shared his frustration with political rhetoric that sees only divisions and differences among Minnesotans.
My friend wasn't born in the state, but now lives in the metro area. He observed, "There are so many connections among ordinary people throughout Minnesota; I've never seen such strong regional ties between cities and rural areas anywhere else."
Thinking about when I lived in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Iowa and Missouri, I had to agree with him. And he's right, I think, in agreeing with the mayors and others: Minnesota will do better when our leaders see us as one state, vitally connected.
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