This week, while walking to classes at Minnesota State University Moorhead, I kept seeing members of the Occupy MN movement walking around with signs, trying to recruit students to go down to Minneapolis and join their protest. I decided to go talk to two of the men and get more information about their movement; more specifically, I asked why they were personally involved. They told me how they both worked at fast food restaurants and were worried about getting a better job after they graduate this year.

As a college student and journalist, I can totally relate to their concerns; however, I totally disagree that forcing the “rich” (for this movement, that seems to be anyone making more than I am at a given moment) to pay higher taxes than they already do will somehow create jobs. I wanted to see what the rest of their members were thinking, so I decided to go to the meeting that night with them.

Everyone in the movement was extremely nice to me and genuinely cared about the direction our country was heading. Some of the members did make some, in my humble opinion, absurd comments. One of the older women there tried to recruit us to help the union members protest American Crystal Sugar. She told us about the importance of unions:  “Labor has made this country great. Many people are telling us that unions aren’t important anymore, but unions have got the middle class where we are today and are just as relevant as ever.”

Many of the people there didn’t identify themselves with either political party. They all talked about corporate greed and how both sides were maintaining the status quo, acting as puppets of the wealthy. One man said, “As long as both sides get paid by the same people, nothing will change. We aren’t a democracy by the people anymore; it is controlled by the corporations. Take the money out of the system or you are just spinning your tires. I don’t think the liberal model of trying to make them feel guilty is working; we need a group of protestors like in New York to scare the shit out of people — legally of course. It scares the hell out of the right wing media who is trying to turn us into an angry mob with no purpose.”

Another man built upon the previous statement, “Egypt showed the world you can show up and change things. We will be worse off and the corporations will be better off unless we are engaged like the protestors in New York. They got arrested, but they keep coming back. That’s the type of determination we need.”

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Earlier this week the Obama administration announced that health insurance plans must now be extended to include birth control without copay. These new guidelines for women’s health also include breast pumps, regular “well woman” visits, counseling about HIV and sexually transmitted infections, screening for gestational diabetes, domestic violence counseling and screening, in addition to several other services. For the most part, these new requirements will take effect Jan. 1, 2013.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said, “These historic guidelines are based on science and existing (medical) literature and will help ensure women get the preventive health benefits they need”.

However a recent Fox News article states “generic versions of the pill are available for as little as $9 a month. Still, about half of all pregnancies are unplanned. Many are among women using some form of contraception, and forgetting to take the pill is a major reason.” This shows that even if we offer them free birth control, we have no guarantee they will not get pregnant.

Who will pay to offset the cost of these new “free” services? We all know that nothing is truly free. The rest of us will be forced to pay for these services and premiums all over will be increased. In a Bloomberg editorial they admitted, “The average yearly cost to an insurer of providing full coverage for the entire range of contraceptive methods and counseling services (with no copays or deductibles) is about $40”.

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The Minnesota shutdown draws to a close after a very long month for many Minnesotans. Once all the details were hammered out in the five days of closed-door negotiations between Republican leadership, Committee chairs, and the Dayton administration a special session was called Tuesday 7-19-11 at 3p.m. The session went throughout the night, ending with Gov Dayton signing the legislation 9a.m. Wednesday morning.

The budget deal came after Dayton agreed to the GOP budget as proposed before the shutdown with some changes. The Governor agreed to not raise taxes and instead adopt the Republican proposal to delay school aid payments and sell bonds based on future proceeds from the state’s settlement with tobacco companies totaling $1.4 billion in one-time money. The Republicans agreed to Dayton’s terms and dropped the social issues, let go of their proposed 15 percent reduction in the state’s workforce, and agreed to assemble a $500 million bonding bill.

Some of the social issues that will be dropped include the Baby Pain Bill, which would have stopped abortion after babies can start to feel pain, banning funding for stem cell research,  public employees’ bargaining rights, and the Voter ID Bill.

In a press release from Majority Leader Senator Amy Koch, Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers (R-Maple Grove) said, “This budget accomplishes what we set out to do: it does not raise taxes, cuts projected spending by $2.5 billion and bends the cost curve of unsustainable state spending. Our economy will be stronger as a result of not increasing taxes on businesses and job creators.”

In the same press release House Majority Leader Matt Dean (R-Dellwood) said, “We looked at every area of the budget for reform to reduce costs and improve service delivery. We didn’t cut for the sake of cutting but for the preservation of sustainable services that meet the evolving needs of Minnesotans. Our nation-leading reforms, particularly in the area of health care, will serve as a model for other states.”

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In recent years the attitude against incumbents has dramatically increased. According to a 2011 Gallup poll, 63% of Americans believe most members of Congress do not deserve to be re-elected. This percentage went from 52 in 2007 to 65 in 2010.

This feeling only escalates during times of budget crises, which is exactly what we are in now. Although people elected Republicans to stand strong against spending and tax increases, their support stops when conflict begins. Common belief is both parties are just sticking to party platforms in order to prove a political point. This is not the case. They were sent there to get America back on the right track and that is exactly what they are trying to do. We all knew this wouldn’t be easy and it wouldn’t be fast.

There cannot be a compromise on the budget. Half of a bad thing is still a bad thing. This is an ideological battle. Do we want politicians who just “get along”, or do we want leaders that will represent the views of every day Americans? It is our job as voters to vote out the bad politicians, but we also need to use discernment and keep in politicians who will stand by their values.

You cannot just vote out every incumbent, every time.

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After 14 days of a Minnesota government shutdown Governor Dayton issued a letter offering to accept the tax-free Republican budget as put forward before the shutdown, with some modifications.

The shutdown has been costing the state millions of dollars every week. According to the Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus, each week the state is shutdown we are unnecessarily keeping thousands of Minnesotans unemployed, and costing the taxpayers millions. Between the estimated unemployment benefits, lost revenue, uncollected audits, delays in construction projects, and lost private sector the total spending could top $65 million a week.

After foregoing pressure from constituents during a state fly-around to make a deal, the Governor released the letter in attempt to make a deal with the Republicans. An article from the Washington Post quotes the Governor’s letter saying, “[D]espite my serious reservations about your plan, I have concluded that continuing the state government shutdown would be even more destructive for too many Minnesotans..  Therefore, I am willing to something I do not agree with — your proposal — in order to spare our citizens and our state from further damage.”

The letter specifically outlined three conditions of a compromise. First, all of the policy proposals are off the table. For example the voter ID laws and abortion/stem cell research restrictions will not go through. Second, Republicans must let go of their “arbitrary” across-the-board 15 percent cuts in the number of employees in all state government agencies. Finally, after the budget is completed in the special session, Republicans must help pass a bonding bill of no less than $500 million.

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On June 14^th Congressman Robert Dold (R-IL) introduced a new legislation, H.R. 2162, that would nullify the pension received by politicians convicted of a felony. This new legislation is known as the Congressional Integrity and Pension Forfeiture Act of 2011.  The bill is an amendment to United States Code Title 5 for the purpose of denying retirement benefits accrued by an individual as a public official if such individual is convicted of certain offenses.

In the House press release Senator Kirk (R-IL), author of the Senate version of the bill, was quoted saying, “American taxpayers should not be on the hook for the pension benefits of convicted felons. The proposed legislation will expand regulations to include the solicitation of political contributions, tax evasion, obstruction of justice, theft or bribery related to programs receiving federal funds, interfering with commerce using threats or violence, or promising political appointments. The expansion will help block pension benefits for Members who fail to honor their pledge to defend the Constitution and uphold the laws of the United States.” The Congressional Integrity and Pension Forfeiture Act of 2011 will reinforce current laws and protect tax payers. In a note on Facebook Senator Kirk said, “According to the National Taxpayers Union, former Members of Congress who committed public corruption crimes are currently receiving more than $800,000 per year in taxpayer-funded pensions”.

When asked in an interview by Fox News about the fiscal note on the bill, Congressman Dold said that is wasn’t so much about the financial aspect rather the integrity of public officials. “It sends a clear message about integrity. Your integrity determines your identity… It sends a clear message that we are very serious about integrity and how you conduct yourself not only while you are in Congress but also what you do outside of Congress”. Although the bill will not stop current cases, like Former Governor Blagojevich, from receiving funding it will begin the path for a higher standard of ethics for our leaders. Later during the interview Dold re-emphasized the importance of our politicians’ integrity, “We as public officials need to make sure that we are living by and meet a higher standard”.

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As we head into Independence Day weekend, Minnesotans have more on their mind than just holiday celebrations. Late Thursday night Legislators sat in their chambers waiting to be called into a special session in order to pass the “lights-on” bill that would prevent the government from shutting down until a deal could be reached. Meanwhile Governor Dayton was holding a press conference in which he referred to the “lights-on” bill as a “publicity stunt” several times, and never called the special session. As a result of the shutdown, over 22,000 state employees will be forced out of work.

The Governor keeps referring to the ‘cuts’ in the Republican budget as “draconian” which is absolutely false. The Republican budget of $34 billion is the largest budget in the history of Minnesota, yet it does not raise taxes. Republican leadership has offered to match almost half of the Governor’s budget, yet the Governor refused.

In an article by FrumForum, the Governor was quoted saying Republicans “would prefer to protect the richest handful of Minnesotans at the expense of everyone else.. Instead of taxing their friends, they would prefer very damaging cuts to healthcare, public safety, mass transit” and other state services. What he failed to mention was that taxes will go up for everyone. According to a study by the Department of Revenue, his tax increase will affect all levels of income earners.

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While Minnesota is quickly approaching a July 1^st government shutdown, Governor Mark Dayton refuses to call the Legislators back for a special session. The budget passed by the Legislature not only increases spending to the highest levels Minnesota has ever seen, yet balances the budget without raising taxes. So why did the Governor veto it? He did so because he wanted to add in an extra $1.8 billion in tax increases, which only 8% of Minnesotans want.

The state constitution states no bills can even be considered until the governor calls the Legislature into special session. So the bill written by the House Republicans to continue current funding levels until a deal is made, cannot even be heard. According to recent article by the Examiner, Republicans have been attempting to reach across aisles and work together by offering to match the Governor’s budget on K-12 Education, the courts and public safety. However, if Gov. Dayton isn’t willing to call a special session to pass those bills plus the Transportation Bill, then many jobs will be lost. The reality is that over 20,000 jobs could be kept by just signing the Transportation Bill that works on the dedicated funding.

In an article by the Chanhassen Villager, Senate Tax Committee Chair Julianne Ortman asked, “Why wouldn’t he just agree to our $34 billion budget? It’s the largest state budget we’ve ever had, and it funds all of the state’s essential services. If there’s something critical that we haven’t funded, let’s talk. I think our budget does fund everything that’s critical. I question the governor when he says that he’s really concerned about those folks, but he’s willing to hold them hostage to a tax increase of $1.8 billion. It’s not right.”

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