My Day At The Capital
The Junior Logician has been tracking a couple of bills this session (Rep. Lesch's breed ban and Rep. Paymar's HF 2906 which is a dangerous dog ordinance) so I told him that we would try to do a day at the Capital together. Since Rep. Lesch has (apparently) tabled his breed ban and Rep. Paymar's bill is languishing in committee, we decided to go yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours. We met with our Representative, Mike Beard, and followed him to a couple of committees.
The first committee meeting we went to was Commerce. Rep. Beard had a bill in front of that Committee on Telecom regulations. Since that bill was scheduled on the committee for later, we ran to Rep. Beard's other 4pm committee meeting...Transportation. As the Junior Logician and I walked in Rep. David Bly (DFL-Northfield) was in front of the committee with a bill that was designed to allow the Met Council and the cities of Northfield, Lakeville, Burnsville and Savage to talk about whether the Dan Patch commuter rail line would be something that their communities should consider. Apparently our legislature, in their wisdom, decided that the state should be able to discuss all sorts of different rail options EXCEPT the Dan Patch Line. North Star Line...A-OK, Red Rock Line...perfect, Dan Patch - you will not speak of it!
Joining Rep. Bly was an earnest young man representing the Met Council who was making a pitch for re-opening discussion. Rep. Mary Liz Holberg (R-Lakeville) spoke against the Dan Patch Line, but she agreed that discussion should be allowed. Rep. Beard spoke in favor of opening discussion. The gentleman representing the Met Council assured the committee that no monies would be spent toward developing the line - they simply wanted to see if current freight rail corridors would be suitable for commuter rail. Sitting next to mostly silent Committee Chair Rep. Bernie Lieder was Rep. Ron. Erhardt. Rep. Erhardt launched into a tirade against his fellow Reps, throwing down a 6 year old report claiming "we have studied it and it is dead". The tirade was so bad that the Junior Logician and I both looked at each other in shock. While the erstwhile young man from the Met Council treated the assembled Representatives with the utmost respect, while Rep's Bly, Holberg and Beard spoke in calm, measured, almost hushed tones, Rep. Erhard harped and belittled and berated anyone who simply wanted to "discuss" whether this was a possibility. It got to the point where I felt sorry for both Rep. Bly and the young man from the Met Council. No one deserved that kind of treatment.
I have a hot tip for Rep. Erhardt. In the last 6 years, the south metro (Scott and Dakota Counties) have seen explosive population growth. New homes had been going up at astonishing rates. As such, the number of drivers coming out of the metro are skyrocketing. You can't have it both ways, Rep. Erhardt....if you are going to punish drivers by bumping the gas tax and demanding that we take mass transit, then you have to provide us with transit that WORKS. As I said yesterday, current light rail projects don't go from where the people are (Lakevill and Northfield) to where the wayt to go (Minneapolis). If a commuter in Lakeville has to drive from their home to Burnsville to catch a bus (as they do today) what is to incent them to not drive the rest of the way! We need transit that works in the south metro Rep. Erhardt. Stiffling discussion on all options does no one any good.
What the Junior Logician walked away with yesterday is that politics stinks when people are allowed to get away with bad behavior because they have "seniority". I walked away with the knowledge that forcing "transit" on the masses is great....as long as it doesn't come through your back yard - as the Dan Patch Line does for Rep. Erhardt.
The first committee meeting we went to was Commerce. Rep. Beard had a bill in front of that Committee on Telecom regulations. Since that bill was scheduled on the committee for later, we ran to Rep. Beard's other 4pm committee meeting...Transportation. As the Junior Logician and I walked in Rep. David Bly (DFL-Northfield) was in front of the committee with a bill that was designed to allow the Met Council and the cities of Northfield, Lakeville, Burnsville and Savage to talk about whether the Dan Patch commuter rail line would be something that their communities should consider. Apparently our legislature, in their wisdom, decided that the state should be able to discuss all sorts of different rail options EXCEPT the Dan Patch Line. North Star Line...A-OK, Red Rock Line...perfect, Dan Patch - you will not speak of it!
Joining Rep. Bly was an earnest young man representing the Met Council who was making a pitch for re-opening discussion. Rep. Mary Liz Holberg (R-Lakeville) spoke against the Dan Patch Line, but she agreed that discussion should be allowed. Rep. Beard spoke in favor of opening discussion. The gentleman representing the Met Council assured the committee that no monies would be spent toward developing the line - they simply wanted to see if current freight rail corridors would be suitable for commuter rail. Sitting next to mostly silent Committee Chair Rep. Bernie Lieder was Rep. Ron. Erhardt. Rep. Erhardt launched into a tirade against his fellow Reps, throwing down a 6 year old report claiming "we have studied it and it is dead". The tirade was so bad that the Junior Logician and I both looked at each other in shock. While the erstwhile young man from the Met Council treated the assembled Representatives with the utmost respect, while Rep's Bly, Holberg and Beard spoke in calm, measured, almost hushed tones, Rep. Erhard harped and belittled and berated anyone who simply wanted to "discuss" whether this was a possibility. It got to the point where I felt sorry for both Rep. Bly and the young man from the Met Council. No one deserved that kind of treatment.
I have a hot tip for Rep. Erhardt. In the last 6 years, the south metro (Scott and Dakota Counties) have seen explosive population growth. New homes had been going up at astonishing rates. As such, the number of drivers coming out of the metro are skyrocketing. You can't have it both ways, Rep. Erhardt....if you are going to punish drivers by bumping the gas tax and demanding that we take mass transit, then you have to provide us with transit that WORKS. As I said yesterday, current light rail projects don't go from where the people are (Lakevill and Northfield) to where the wayt to go (Minneapolis). If a commuter in Lakeville has to drive from their home to Burnsville to catch a bus (as they do today) what is to incent them to not drive the rest of the way! We need transit that works in the south metro Rep. Erhardt. Stiffling discussion on all options does no one any good.
What the Junior Logician walked away with yesterday is that politics stinks when people are allowed to get away with bad behavior because they have "seniority". I walked away with the knowledge that forcing "transit" on the masses is great....as long as it doesn't come through your back yard - as the Dan Patch Line does for Rep. Erhardt.
Labels: MN Legislature, Rep. Ron Erhardt
posted by The Lady Logician at
11:17 AM
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