As the new Republican majority settles into its custody of the Minnesota House of Representative, we've spotted coverage that reminds us that with this crowd, it's important to watch what they do, rather than what they say.
Exhibit A: Veteran Forum Communications political reporter Don Davis's dispatch in the Fargo Forum, New GOP leaders put priority on greater Minnesota, in which we read Majority Leader-elect Joyce Peppin saying:
“Our goal is to represent all of the people of Minnesota,” state Rep. Joyce Peppin, R-Rogers, said Friday shortly after being elected House majority leader. “We’re not going to leave greater Minnesota behind as has been done the last couple of years.”
Perhaps Peppin is thinking of her own three "no" votes on HF1444, which funded transportation projects, included the Corridor of Commerce projects which have accelerated funding on upgrades for Highway 23 near Willmar, Highway 14 near Owatonna, and eleven other projects.
Let's hope she'll begin voting for those projects.
Exhibit B: Minnesotans are united in our concern for pollinators--and for many Greater Minnesotans involved in raising food, bees aren't a luxury, but necessary allies in pollinating apple trees and other plants. Honey production itself is an industry.
As Bluestem noted in Kurt Daudt and the Neonicotinoid Nine: pollinator-friendly plant labeling bill passes 118 to 10, Peppin was one of those legislators who voted against this common sense bill. Later in the session, she opposed another pollinator-friendly bill, a vote noted in Buzzkill Seventeen: handful of MN state reps take pollinator unfriendly votes on bipartisan bill.
We've asked friends who are keen House watchers for other examples of Peppin votes that are hostile to Greater Minnesota interests.
Photo: Joyce Peppin, via ECM Publishers.
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