We were strolling through state representative Glenn Gruenhagen's Facebook page--part of a wider look into District 17 networking--when a post jostled our memory of a June 22, 2022, constituent email.
The header image from that email is posted above.
Didn't Gruenhagen vote against drought relief, HF3420?
Indeed.
And not simply once--when HF3420 originally was passed by the House 101-33 on March 10--but also late in the session, on May 21, when 64 House Republicans voted against the conference committee bill.
Only one member of the Minnesota Senate--Justin Eichorn, R-Grand Rapids, voted against the agreement Senate Ag Chair Torrey Westrom, R-Elbow Lake, described in Session Daily's Conferees settle differences with agriculture omnibus, drought relief bills:
The conference committee report to HF3420 combines the omnibus agriculture and broadband supplemental finance and policy bill with one that would provide relief to farmers from the 2021 drought. . . .
“We’ve got a very strong, solid bill for the state of Minnesota on all the fronts for farmers, for agriculture, for rural broadband and the connectivity that’s become so important in our lives,” said Sen. Torrey Westrom (R-Elbow Lake), who sponsors the bill with Rep. Mike Sundin (DFL-Esko). “We can be, I think, proud as a conference committee to be a big piece of this policy and financing that will be moving forward.”
As far as we can determine, Gruenhagen didn't communicate his no votes to the broader public in his area. Note how on the Facebook post (screenshot below), a citizen thanks the ultra-conservative legislator, commenting: "Thank you Glenn Gruenhagen for for fighting for the people."
Gruenhagen isn't the only rural House Republican to vote against the final conference committee bill. Indeed, Dean Urdahl, Acton, voted no on My 21. Heck. they all voted against it, flipping from 33 for on March 10, to 64 against. Perhaps readers can find other examples of Republican House members--even those without Senate ambitions like Glenn--promoting applications to a relief program they voted against.
Residents in Gruenhagen's district wouldn't find out how how he voted in the June 2 story in Crow Wing Media, Legislation session ends with negotiations unfinished, where the drought relief is mentioned at the end of the article:
The session wasn’t all gloom. An omnibus mental health bill with $92.7 million in spending over three years cleared the House and Senate, as did legislation targeting improvements to agriculture, broadband and drought relief. Frontline worker bonus checks were approved, as was funding for three veterans homes.
On Thursday, July 1, the paper reported, Gov. Walz in Foley to highlight agriculture funding package:
Governor Tim Walz used a stop at a family dairy farm in Foley to highlight the agriculture funding package passed by the legislature in May. The governor held a ceremonially re-signing of the bill Thursday. Walz called it “a response to what people said needed to be done, and it was in a truly almost non-partisan manner.” The law includes more than 200 million dollars to expand broadband internet access in rural Minnesota, over 18 million for drought relief, and programs to help beginning farmers.
Walz can be a One-Minnesota kind of guy, but it's hard to understand how that May 21 House vote was rendered in "a truly almost non-partisan manner." I guess it depends on how one defines "almost."
The paper ealier reported on federal relief in the August 9, 2021 article, $17 million in drought aid on the way to Minnesota farmers.
Not that Representative Gruenhagen had anything to do with that drought relief, either.
Visit Gruenhagen's Senate campaign website--and he has this to say about MN Agriculture:
Minnesota livestock and crop farmers are among the world’s most productive and efficient food producers. Glenn will adamantly and publicly oppose any global warming scheme that would impose a tax on livestock.
We'll leave readers to write their own ironic remarks.
Images: screenshots from Representative Gruenhagen's constituent email and Facebook page.
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