Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

My husband and I have knocked on almost 17,000 doors, and I have had thousands of enlightening conversations, but I want to address some misinformation that frequently comes up.

Our schools deserve our support. Teachers work hard to ensure our kids are both intelligent and kind. Our current representative often criticizes our schools, stating she supports only “basic science.”  Shouldn’t schools teach advanced sciences like chemistry and physics (along with technology, music and art) so that our kids are able to succeed in the future? And it is worth noting, critical race theory (CRT) is not taught in this district, or any district I know of. And there are no litter boxes. These are tactics made up to scare people into not supporting our public schools.  

I think most people feel safe in southern Minnesota. The police do a good job keeping us safe and deserve the resources they need.   Efforts to make us feel unsafe are just that — attempts to use fear to scare us in order to win elections without focusing on bread-and-butter issues.   

Minnesota has one of the best run voting systems in the country. Our friends and neighbors operate them. Any unnecessary barriers to voting are just that, barriers. Any suggestion that those systems are not safe, as Rep Bennett has said, is not only wrong, it is one more attack on democracy.  

I rely on facts and feel compelled to speak out against these examples of harmful fear-mongering when so much is at stake. 

Yours truly,

Mary Hinnenkamp

Albert Lea