Letter: Area legislators not representing Minnesotans

Talk about it

Editor’s note: The following was sent to District 22 Sen. Doug Magnus and District 22B Rep. Rod Hamilton by the writer.

Dear Sirs,

I am one of your constituents in Worthington. I want you to know how angry I am that you did not work during the session with Governor Dayton to negotiate the biennial budget. You are both leaders in your party, so therefore I have to conclude that you are in step with Zellers and Koch and are taking your cues from Tony Sutton. 

I did some quick math — feel free to check out my answers — and looked at census data to find out what the average millionaire earned per week compared to the median income in Worthington and Nobles County and the State of Minnesota along with the income of state employees.

The medium income in Nobles County is $45,468, in Worthington it is $37,806 and in Minnesota as a whole it is $56,767, according to the 2010 US census.

The 7,700 identified millionaires make at least $19,230 per week. These are the people you are defending from a tax increase. This means that in two weeks, they make more than the median income of someone living in Worthington. In three weeks they make more than the median income of someone living in Nobles County, and in one month they make more than the median income of people living in Minnesota. If the average state employee makes $38,000, that means that the 20,000 employees laid off on Friday are being sacrificed so that a millionaire can enjoy two weeks of income. SAD!

The 20,000 state employees laid off is almost equal to the population of Nobles County! And if we add in the collateral damage — non-state employees who are laid off and the ripple effect the shutdown has we will over take this number. And most of the non-state employees who are laid off will lose their health insurance. You still have your health insurance, don’t you? You are still getting a salary and per diem when you go to the cities and don’t complete the work you were sent to do and go into special session, aren’t you?

How can you say you represent Minnesotans? You are representing only 7,700 people who can afford to have tax attorneys find places to shelter their money.

You ran on a platform of creating jobs. Instead, you have increased the unemployment rate by laying off 20,000 people.

Tell me: Was the social agenda you pushed through — voter ID, a constitutional amendment vote on gay/lesbian marriage, and others worth it? If you had spent the energy on settling the budget instead of these items, we would not be in the predicament we are currently in.

Tags: opinion, letters, minnesota, legislature, politics, magnus, hamilton