Guest Column by Gary Dahms, Bill Weber and Scott Newman

It turns out you don’t have to follow the presidential primaries to hear about political deals getting made. We have our own version of the “Art of the Deal” or perhaps “Let’s Make a Deal” right here in Minnesota. Unfortunately, the farmers, businesses, small communities and families of Greater Minnesota are the real losers in the latest backroom deal made at the Capitol in St. Paul.

Senate Democrats recently adjusted their committee structure to give the Senate’s leading environmentalist, Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, complete control over environment, water and energy issues. In addition, the restructured committee that will assume these responsibilities features fewer rural voices. Instead, it is packed with Twin Cities liberals, which stacks the deck in favor of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Rural voices have been virtually excluded from the process.

These changes will have potentially devastating consequences for farmers, miners, anyone involved with business and any families who enjoy inexpensive energy.

The record of these metro Democrats is crystal clear: They have consistently supported an agenda that is harmful to the families of Greater Minnesota, including more burdensome regulations on agriculture and a heavy focus on expensive alternative energy sources. They lack the expertise and background to grasp how their decisions affect our way of life. Now they will take control of a powerful committee and seek to reshape state policies to fit their extreme ideology.

Twin Cities liberals have no idea how much effort is made by our agriculture community to control erosion, to limit use of chemicals and to produce a safe, stable food supply. Yet, under the new committee structure, that is who will be in control of funding for the MPCA, buffer strip programs, feedlot regulations and a number of other policies that have a real, significant impact on our lives. Truly, the fox is guarding the henhouse, and Greater Minnesota has a legitimate reason to be concerned. This restructured committee is already trying to undo bipartisan, rural-friendly laws that we adopted last year.

The change heavily upsets the rural-metro balance that we have long considered sacred. This is just plain wrong. The committee handles issues that have direct impact on the daily lives of Greater Minnesotans, and Greater Minnesotans should have fair representation when making decisions about those issues. Rural legislators would never be given near total control of issues that disproportionally affect the metro area; it is unfair to you that your interests are in the hands of an environmentalist from the Twin Cities like Marty.

What is most distressing is the message Senate Democrats are sending. The new committee structure says that the Twin Cities metro is the most important area of the state, and that residents of Greater Minnesota need to sit down and keep quiet, because Minneapolis and St. Paul knows what is best for us.

No single area of this state is more important than any other. We have to avoid shifting the rural-metro balance too heavily in either direction. The best way to do that is through diverse mix of voices. It is disappointing Senate Democrats aren’t interested in hearing how rural Minnesotans are affected by their decisions.

 

Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, is the District 16 senator. Bill Weber, R-Luverne, is the District 22 senator. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, is the District 18 senator.