In Monday's Star Tribune, we read in Torrey Van Oot's Climate change becomes key voter concern in Minnesota, across U.S.:
. . . Perennial campaign issues like the economy, health care and immigration have long driven voters to the polls. But, in the face of growing international concern about the planet’s future, climate change and the environment are emerging as key concerns among voters such as Hasbrook.
The share of Americans who feel the same way — and rank the environment as a top issue — has grown in recent years.
“It’s a ‘from-the-gut’ issue,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. “It affects everything about your life. It’s not just taxes. The environment is the future of the world.”
But support for action to address climate change is divided along party and generational lines, with the surge of interest concentrated among Democrats and young voters. Eighty percent of caucusgoers surveyed in a recent Iowa Poll conducted by the Des Moines Register said they want a candidate who talks “a lot” about climate. Youth activists in St. Paul and across the country took part in a mass day of protest to demand action from lawmakers. Several leaders of that movement, including Minnesota teens Maddy Fernands and Isra Hirsi,recently launched a new campaign calling on Democrats to hold a forum on environmental issues ahead of the 2020 election.
The piece is cast along partisan lines, but we recalled a reaction we had early in January about DFL House framing of issues. On January 9, Speaker Hortman issued a press release, Minnesota House DFL unveils the “Minnesota Values Agenda," in which the word "environment" and phrase "climate change" never appeared. The copy begins:
Minnesota House DFL leaders and legislators unveiled the “Minnesota Values Agenda” today — House Files 1 through 10. These bills are based in part on the Minnesota Values Plan released in September.
The Minnesota Values Plan was an initiative of the Minnesota House DFL to engage legislators, Minnesotans, and community groups in a conversation about the future of our state. In 2017, House DFLers traveled the state to listen to Minnesotans and have conversations about our shared values. Legislators continued those conversations with community members and organizations, shaping part of the agenda for the 2019 Legislative Session.
“Our shared values as Minnesotans bring us together and those values are serving as our guide for how we move forward,” said Majority Whip Liz Olson. “Working together, we can strengthen our communities across the state by improving education opportunities, keeping Minnesotans safe from the threat of gun violence, and investing in a brighter economic future for all of our families.”
Bluestem wonders how those conversations held around the state missed concerns about the environment and climate change, so much so that the terms don't show up in the caucus's publicly distributed agenda. The copy above is followed by a list of bills--none of which relates to the environment or climate change--and then this punch list:
House DFLers are focused on a number of other issues this session, including addressing the opioid crisis, protecting our seniors in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, and investing in infrastructure. Increasing funding for public education is a top priority, with more details coming after the February budget forecast.
Going back to September's Minnesota Values Plan, we find this description of the process by which the plan was discovered:
Today, House DFLers unveiled the Minnesota Values Plan, a continuation of the Minnesota Values Project — an initiative of the Minnesota House DFL to engage legislators, Minnesotans, and community groups in a conversation about the future of our state. In 2017, House DFLers traveled the state to listen to Minnesotans and have conversations about our shared values. Legislators have continued those conversations with community members and organizations, and are ready to put forward an agenda for the 2019 Legislative Session.
Perhaps the environment wasn't on the public's radar in 2017, but this is Minnesota, so we have our doubts about that. One item strongly related to climate does show up in the MVP, but it's framed as an infrastructure and jobs issue, not as something related to the environment:
We must modernize our aging energy infrastructure so that it is secure and supports greater use of renewable energy.
House DFLers will work to:
Make long-term, robust investments in transportation, broadband, and clean energy, creating good Minnesota jobs.
Alas, climate change was still an issue that dare not speak its name.
Why the silence? Bluestem suspects that if we found and followed the money that footed the bill on those listening tours, we might be able to figure out why the copy reads the way it does.
Fortunately, some actions by the caucus spoke louder than the words that were absent from the publicly declared agenda. On November 20, 2018, Minnesota Public Radio's Brianna Bierschbach reported in House Democrats signal priorities in new committee structure:
The incoming DFL majority in the Minnesota House released its new committee structure and named committee chairs on Wednesday, signaling a renewed focus on issues such as criminal justice, the environment, affordable housing — as well as the legislative process itself.
Democrats reclaimed the majority on Nov. 6, picking up 18 seats from Republicans for a 75-59 hold on the chamber beginning in January. The new committees include ones focusing on climate change, clean water, early childhood education, labor and corrections. . . .
Among the committees and division:
Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division — Rep. Rick Hansen
Subcommittee on Water — Rep. Peter Fischer
Energy and Climate Finance & Policy Division — Rep. Jean Wagenius
Environment and Natural Resources Policy — Rep. John Persell
The first division--when contrasted with its counterpart in the Republican-held Minnesota Senate--is the one contrasted with headlines such as City Pages' Republicans go 'slash and burn' on Minnesota's parks, environment funding, and MinnPost's Why the GOP wants to cut Minnesota’s environmental spending.
As for climate, Torrey Van Oot reports in the Strib's Climate change becomes key voter concern in Minnesota, across U.S.:
Mike Kennedy, political director for the Senate DFL caucus, said he expects climate to be one of the “defining issues of the 2020 election,” especially in suburban districts the party hopes to flip to win majority control in the upper chamber.
“I think it’s going to play very well in the districts that we are looking to pick up in 2020,” he said.
Will the Senate DFL discover the other missing word? Given the strong leadership displayed by many new DFL House members on environmental issues, it might be helpful to also view "environment" as a winning word in the caucus's campaign agenda.
See also: Omnibuzz: pollinator hater Draz derides effort to name rusty patched bumble bee state bee.
Photo: Maybe pictures like that of this truck swept off the road in Nebraska's bomb cyclone flooding shows that Minnesota teens Maddy Fernands and Isra Hirsi are on to something with their organizing.
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