Not to pick nits with Craig Westover (" 'Essential' — or not, period" April 4), but we obviously do have a different idea about what is essential for Minnesota.
Over the past six months, Minnesota has lost almost 30,000 jobs and our economy is lagging behind that of our neighbors. Our bonding bill is expected to create more than 10,000 good-paying jobs. During our selection process, we also gave preference to projects that were ready go, meaning that many of the jobs will be created as soon as the bonds are issued. In this current recession, I'd say that job creation is essential.
Over the past decade, Minnesota's infrastructure has been decaying an alarming rate. There is a growing backlog of basic maintenance and repair projects at our colleges and universities, much of our sewer and water purification system was built in the Depression and we had a major bridge in the state collapse into the river last summer. The majority of our bonding bill addressed those key issues. I consider that essential.
Certainly, you could go through the Capital Investment Bill and find something you personally don't consider essential, just as Westover did. However, those were essential to the communities in which they were located.
Westover also fails to consider that some of the projects he might consider unimportant were in fact essential to getting the bill passed. For better or worse, that's the way our system works.
Governing is more than simply saying no. It's figuring out a way to bring people together to accomplish what's really essential. Right now, DFLers think putting people back to work and protecting the investment past generations made in our infrastructure are essential.
I'm guessing most of the public agrees with us.
State Rep. Alice Hausman of St. Paul is chair of the House Capital Investment Division. Write to her at
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(Pioneer Press, April 6, 2008)
