Aug 29, 2003 News
Sometimes the beauty of this area can almost be overwhelming. Each day as I drove back and forth across the house district when I was campaigning last year, I was struck by how blessed we are to live in such surroundings. I don’t pause to appreciate it often enough. Fortunately,I’ve been driving the country roads over the last couple weeks, and the rolling hills, even with sparse rainfall, are vibrant with color.
Tom Maakestad has captured it well.
Wednesday, visited with several people at the St. Olaf all community picnic. The picnic was held at the field house overlooking the valley to the west of Northfield. I can remember watching many sunsets from that hill. I talked a bit with Dr. Thomforde about the direction the state seems headed and how much we need a change of course.
Later that same evening, I participated as a reader in the ‘Heat of the Night’ Northfield Art’s Guild poetry/prose reading in Central Park. The reading took place on the stage built for the Guild’s production of ‘Twelfth Night’, and it was a rich reading with novel excerpts, memoirs, poems, and stories, all read by the authors, describing a near fall from Ytterboe tower, talking with wolves, challenging slumber parties, and unique ways of making yogurt. I read a poem, ‘Night Train’, recalling some thoughts from a trip to China:
THE NIGHT TRAIN
1
Americans are extroverted people.
Like ice to the Titanic, grief surprises us
eyes heavenward not expecting to go down.
Our greatest strength our greatest vulnerability.
We are blind to ourselves unaware of dangers
we create by our insatiable materialism.
We believe we know what we need but
know nothing of the soul’s desire.
We will make whatever sells
and sell whatever will make money
without thinking of the consequences.
Time stops, sky filled with blackness and smoke…
2
In the silence bodies piled high their black
hair burning, there is no place to hide.
Suddenly the whole world is crumbling.
In the aftermath of death a child
will still reach for its mother’s face,
a father will still long to hold his daughter.
3
On the night train to Luoyang
a soldier stared into my eyes wondering
at the mystery of their being like the sky.
I reached for my ticket and he shrugged,
entering my eyes again as though they were
a cavern of sapphires and then moved on.
We mean no harm but cannot protect others
from the evil we contain, protecting our interests
we become more dangerous even to ourselves
As the rest of the world becomes more like us
perhaps then we will see who we are.
Lights Out! #4 about Energy and Transmission
Today the Strib had a good editorial about ‘Fixing the grid: Don’t compromise the future.’ The word seems to be getting out. People are understanding that corporate greed for the profits of bulk power transactions is what is causing the system’s instability – they’re overloading the grid to its breaking point.
“Deregulation of wholesale markets has made it profitable to move large amounts of power across long distances – encouraging operators to ignore NERC rules, for example about overloading lines,” so the Strib editors say. That is echoed in the N.Y.Times article, which reported early warning from the industry, that in “July 2001 the North American Electric Reliability Council, an industry group formed to monitor transmission after a blackout in 1965, told Congress that “the grid is now being used in ways for which it was not designed.”
Overloads have been the theme of the major outages and ‘incidents’ such as those July 11, 1997; June 25, 1998; and July 11, 1999, which have been cited as justification for the Arrowhead transmission line. It was a factor in this month’s blackout too. “Because the state had relatively light internal demands, it was exporting lots of power to Ontario. But when the border was sealed,” Cambridge Energy says, “that large flow of power had nowhere to go, and it sparked the abrupt New York shutdown“.
Massive transmission is not the answer – as industry reports and pundits agree, there is a glut in generation, reserve margins are at their highest ever, and the market for electricity is down. Deregulation is not the answer, wholesale deregulation, market manipulation, and corporate greed is a major contributing factor. Read what Greg Palast says on the recent power failure.
It’s scary that Schwarzenegger once met with Ken Lay to figure out how to solve the California energy crisis. What did Kenny recommend? Massive deregulation. Wonder who Arnold is listening to now.
Closer to home, Rep. Ray Cox’s position of “I won’t claim to have answers to America’s energy problems or future needs” is not the right approach. The House Regulated Industries Committee needs members who do understand. In his blog on August 21, 2003, entitled ‘Electricity,’ he suggests we need to improve our ‘distribution system’ and cites Southwest Minnesota’s supposed inability to transport wind energy on Buffalo Ridge 
- but doesn’t address the PUC docket which reveals other motives for building transmission in SW MN. Ask Lignite Vision 21 (see map, p. 5)
Ray’s co-authoring of the Mesaba coal (“Two Lobbyists and a wife”) bill, H.F. 964 is nothing to brag about – not only is it the piece that got expanded nuclear waste storage through the legislature, but it set utility policy back 30 years and committed us to a central station model that doesn’t have to show need for the generating capacity – and why should it when the bill gave Mesaba a captive market in Xcel! More on this handout to former NSP lobbyists Tom Michelletti and Tom Weaver to come…
So ‘Wind Transmission’ and ‘Two Lobbyists and a Wife’ are not sound energy policy? What do we do?
First, we have to educate ourselves and define the problem. For an overview of transmission operation and control, see EPRI’s presentation to NARUC.
For an overview of where we are now, see NERC’s Reliability Assessment 2002. Review ME3′s Transmission Page, and Distributed Generation Page, and Examples of Major Bulk Electric System Outages
Second, take a hard look at this latest blackout. Try the New York Times series:
1) Experts Retrace a String of Mishaps Before the Blackout
2) Energy Bill Draws a Deeply Split Utilities Lobby
3) New Kind of Electricity Market Strains Old Wires Beyond Limits
And of course, read “Seeing the Light: Regaining Control of Our Electricity System” by David Morris, Institute for Local Self Reliance.
To be continued…
Republican message
Aug 24, 2003 News
The meaning of the Republican message is in the impacts of their policies. What kind of economic plan advocates lower wages and causes the loss of millions of jobs as it watches the middle class shrink and the income gap sky rocket, at the same time plunging our nation deeper into debt than any other time in its history? 
These economic trends were well on the way long before the nightmare of George W. became reality. Yet I hear folks say they like the Republican economic plan! They blindly quote the presidential financial advisors and say, “Prosperity is just around the corner.” How many of us can remember the last prominent political figure, Herbert Hoover, who made that statement just as our country was plunging into a deep depression? What got us out of that depression was investment in community — a huge public investment with public works projects and an effort to bring necessary infrastructure and services, like roads and electricity, to some of the most economically depressed areas of our country.
Recently, I heard an interview with Duane Benson, retiring head of the Minnesota Business Partnership, and a big advocate of the ‘more with less campaign’. He was full of advice for Minnesotans. He addressed the right issues, but his answers were so far off the mark. Among the tired Republican arguments he used was, ‘it’s useless to tax big business because they just pass on the tax to customers,’ and “it’s useless to tax the rich because if you tax them, they leave the state.” But what’s wrong with expecting more from those who have benefited so much from past public policy and investments in community? Why shouldn’t they bear some of the costs of that success and why should they instead pass those costs on to us? And why would they leave a state that has contributed so much to their wealth and progress? Are they that fickle? Would they bite the hand that feeds them?
The Citizens League published a paper you should read. It’s called “Doing the Common Good Better,” in which they describe two scenarios where a Minnesota citizen opens their newspaper five years from now. The citizen sees a different Minnesota in each scenario. There is one where, without public investment, our community is in decline; and in the other, where because things have been done with the public good in mind, our community is are prosperous.
Reading this report made me wonder, now that we’ve have had almost 20 years under the influence of supply-side economic policy, where has it gotten us? “Twenty years older and deeper in debt” most would agree. Infrastructure is falling apart, there’s been a massive loss of living- wage employment and a mass exodus of U.S. manufacturing. ‘Planning’ is determined by market responses, looking only at that which will maximize profits this quarter. The middle and lower class have seen wages stagnant or in decline at the same time that those at the top make off like pirates with no sense of gratitude, obligation or responsibility to the community that helped them amass their great wealth.
“More with less” and “more for a few and less for you” are philosophies devoid of patriotism and community. We are the ones who enabled them to amass wealth off of our labor. I have to scratch my head when I hear anyone, small business owners in particular, say they like Republican economics.
The Clean Water Act
Aug 23, 2003 News
The 2002 Water Quality Assessment under the Clean Water Act is now posted on the MN Pollution Control Agency’s web site. There’s a story in today’s (8/23/’03) Star Tribune about the posting and what it reports.
Rice County lakes (pdf) don’t fare well — only 3 are “good” and rest are “poor.” 
For some specifics on the Cannon River, scroll down — the Rice County monitoring results are on the second page.
You might also want to check the Total Maximim Daily Load monitoring program.
Rice County is on this map (pdf).
Earlier this year, I moderated an Environmental Forum for the Northfield League of Women Voters on the impacts of development in our area. The forum was a result of planning and suggestions from Chris Robbins and Patrick Ganey of the Cannon River Watershed Partnership. Land use has an impact on water quality, whether from runoff due to increased impervious surfaces of developed land, or whether from runoff and spills inherent in agricultural uses. This MPCA web site shows the status of some of our water in Rice County.
TMDL monitoring is something you can do. Two summers ago, 
Clean Water Action Alliance, the state’s largest grassroots organization with over 60,000 members, conducted TMDL workshops around the state, presented by Patience Caso, Program Coordinator of Clean Water Action’s Water Program and Merritt Frey, Policy Analyst/TMDL Campaign for
Clean Water Network. The workshops explained the Clean Water Act and the MPCA program, encouraged citizen monitoring, and was attended by several from the district. CWN offers a great handbook to help you work on water issues called “The Ripple Effect: How to make wave in the turbulent world of watershed cleanup plans” For more information about CWAA’s Water Program, contact Patience Caso at (612) 623-3666.
You may have seen Clean Water’s canvassers in the neighborhood — they’ve been working hard in Northfield this week. Clean Water Action’s Voter Education Project, endorsed me in the last 25b Minnesota House election.
Sunday in District 25b
Aug 21, 2003 News
Last Sunday, I went to Belle Plaine after a member of the Belle Plaine Historical Society told me about their annual Flea Market. It was very hot but cheerful nonetheless — people were selling crafts, baked goods and antiques. I got a great tour of the Hooper-Bowler-Hillstrom House 
and learned a little history about pioneer life in Belle Plaine. The most noteworthy feature of this famous farm home is the double decker outhouse.
One room, of the house, not the outhouse, is dedicated to Judge Chatfield, Belle Plaine’s founder, who gave the town its moniker which means ‘beautiful prairie’ — and it is that — a borough nestled into a wide valley of the Minnesota river.
In spite of the heat, the house was surprisingly cool upstairs, and the double decker out house is only one of the many examples of pioneer ingenuity you can find in the house. It reminded me a bit of visiting the Veblen home over in Nerstrand where a master carpenter, Thomas Veblen, solved numerous problems with pioneer ingenuity.
Later that afternoon, I attended celebration for Jennings Feroe’s 90th birthday, Pastor Feroe is visitation pastor at St. John’s church in Northfield. Bly and Feroe family histories go back a ways in Minnesota Norwegian Lutheran annals, and two of my closest friends at St. Olaf, David and Paul Feroe, were great nephews of Jennings. Jennings has had a long and fruitful career in ministry and education finance and is a well respected member of the Northfield community.
More for a few, and less for you!
Aug 21, 2003 News
Those Republicans are at it again, and we’re still trying to understand the Republican message. We have to look at what Republicans say are their priorities and how that matches with their policies, it’s frightening, an exercise in disbelief, but how else do we hold them accountable?
Isn’t it enough, way too much, that they want us to always do “More with Less?” No, they aren’t stopping at taxing regular workers at a higher percentage than the wealthiest Minnesotans, they aren’t stopping at trying to cut state workers’ wages, or cutting Minnesota Care or daycare funding, nope, that’s not all, not by a long shot. The Republicans also want to reduce access to public higher education, those institutions that allow middle and low income folks to climb the income ladder. The state college and universities are affordable and are flexible enough so that adults going back to school who have adult responsibilities can make it. We saw the difference higher education makes after World War II when so many veterans went to college on the GI bill. This was the start of an important class shift in our society. Access to higher education is the type of social investment that provides vast benefits.
Now, the Republicans want to reduce costs by closing some state campuses as reported in the Star Tribune, and they also have a plan to shift public money to private higher education institutions. How many of the Republicans clamoring for restricted access to higher education have themselves received those benefits, such as Gov. Pawlenty? Our Governor went to the University of Minnesota law school, where tuition is less than half of what it is at the other law schools in Minnesota. How many others received federal student loans or outright grants? Their cry to cut higher education funding is a variation of that “pull up the ladder” mentality, that “I’ve got mine, now let’s not give anything to anyone else” selfish mantra.
University of Minnesota President Bruininks has it right when he says:
As we embark on the next 150 years, this is a time for renewal of our covenant with the people of Minnesota. In a global economy whose currency is knowledge, this is not a time to pause or retreat from the state’s historic commitment to education. Our success and our quality of life in this new century will depend upon continued investment and public support of education and the University of Minnesota.
Bruininks inaugural address is available online.
Former Governor and University Regent Elmer L. Andersen once said:
It is difficult to think that an investment in our youth and our future could be better placed than in our university. And we-the people of this university, its thousands of alumni, and its friends will continue to make that case.
Check out one of the legislature’s higher education bills:
My fiscally conservative parents always told me you can’t get more with less. There’s always a price to pay. You get out what you put in. When a community invests in higher education, we all benefit,and some of us, like Gov. Pawlenty, benefit directly. But throughout the history of higher education, all the way from establishment of the Land Grant Universities to the founding of my alma mater St. Olaf, investments in community were made because of the deeply held belief that we all benefit from the education of our citizens. To quote President Bruininks again:
This is an institution that has endured and thrived, and one that has benefited from the state’s largesse at the same time that it has underpinned its economic progress and quality of life. Let us continue to advance knowledge. Let us continue to partner for the public good.
More for a few, and less for you! (Second in a series)
Aug 19, 2003 News
Last night, I attended a Northfield Precinct 2-1, neighborhood meeting hosted by Bill and Janet McGrath, a great idea for promoting citizen action and involvement. It was an open mic event and all were invited to speak. It was so encouraging to hear folks talk about their concern for their community for their state and what has been happening in the state as a result of the last legislative session.
Among the things folks talked about was the Republican directive that every one has to do “More with Less”. To understand the Republican message we have to look at what Republicans say are their priorities and how that matches with their policies, both expressed and enacted. In the last session, they protected those who have power and money, and harmed those who have little.
I’m a teacher, and I’m also a union negotiator in my school district. It’s my job to be a voice for teaches and remind the district of the important job teachers do and the value of keeping quality employees in the district. Republicans say they want quality education, but their policies protect high income folks at the expense of public school teachers and state employees, that came out in their bills proposed this legislation session. Sen. Tom Neuville and Rep. Ray Cox were supporters of these bills. They want state workers to take less. Republicans want to change the terms of negotiation HF. 0330 and SF. 0293., they also eliminated the measure establishing a deadline by which all school district contracts had to be negotiated, an important bargaining point because it put pressure on all parties to get to the real issues and hammer out a deal. They say “we want quality education for our children,” but their policies mean that teachers paid less. They say we, “We want our workers to take home more money”, but through their policies wages are stagnant, and the poor and disabled get less in state aid, and state services for everyone costs more in fees, so what money we do have means less. Why not just pay the workers a living wage in the first place? Shouldn’t workers doing such an important job be able to keep up with the cost of living and a little more?
Unions have changed the terms of employment for all workers. Where did the 40 hour workweek originate? How did workers first get health and retirement benefits? Collective bargaining and employee benefits did not come from management or owners. One of the citizens at the precinct meeting put it well, “Our power is that we do the work in the country, and our strength lies in our seeing, when we stand together we are strong.” Adam Smith, the great free market economist said, “All wealth comes from Labor” and even Lincoln, our greatest Republican President said, Labor is first before property in value. The ideas of today’s Republicans have been twisted by modern supply-siders. Even the Governator,Swartzeneger, gets it wrong.
By cutting taxes, shrinking government. and laying off government employees, Republicans shrink the power and influence of unions. They divide us as a group. They know that State employee unions often set the standard for private sector contracts. If they can decrease the power of those unions they can strengthen their hand, increase their wealth and make us more dependent on them. During the last session both the House and Senate DFL caucuses put forth plans to raise taxes on those who could afford it and protect those middle class and lower income folks who can’t afford it. At a forum at the Methodist church in Northfield both Tom Neuville and Ray Cox said that even though neither took the ‘no tax increase’ pledge they could not support these initiatives because they were not fair. They would only support the bills if everyone were taxed, a sure way to defeat them. Instead of any taxation measure, even one deemed fair by Neuville and Cox, Republicans chose to slash initiatives that help people, a wide group ranging from battered women shelters to farmer cooperatives; they chose to raise fees to make it harder to do most anything if you are financially struggling or out of work. They claim they are protecting workers wages by allowing them to be taxed less.
These examples of Republican actions and impacts are not the politics of fiscal responsibility, they are not the politics of quality education or quality health care or compassionate government but it is the politics of ‘low wages’. Who benefits? Who pays? Those who benefit are that top 10% and particularly that top 1% who control the wealth, who drive the engine of profits and profitability — they can, and they are choosing to increase their profits at your expense. They cut taxes so that they don’t have to raise wages because they’ve found they can pay the same wages but less in taxes and the workers think they get a little more, but owners keep far more. The workers pay in the long run – we all do. 
More for a few, and less for you!
Aug 18, 2003 News
(First in a series)
“We have to do more with less.” Republicans are using this phrase a lot, and I roll my eyes and struggle to keep a straight face. But the problem is, it’s no laughing matter. I wish they’d say what they mean instead of harkening back to the old ’70s phrase ‘less is more.’. Even they didn’t believe it then, and it’s less credible now. What Republicans mean when they say ‘more with less’ is that most of us should do less with less so that some can have more – more for a few and less for you!
Republicans say they are protecting hard working employees from having to pay more in taxes. Democrats recognize that hard working middle class people pay more than their fair share in taxes and that wealthy people who can afford more pay less, and this is why the DFL House and Senate budget plans protected the middle class and poor from necessary tax increases. In March, the Minnesota Department of Revenue published its seventh “tax incidence study“, which looks at who is really paying taxes. They found that the state’s 2.32 million households had total income of $132.1 billion in 2000. These taxpayers coughed up $14.8 billion, or 11.2 percent of that amount, in state and local taxes.
According to Dave Beal of the Pioneer Press, “The researchers divided the households into 10 groups, each of which made a tenth of the total income. They found that the highest-income group was taxed at a much lower rate, 7.7 percent, than each of the other nine groups.
“However, the top ten percent of income accounted for just 0.3 percent, of all the households, just 5,831. These few taxpayers had average income of $2.3 million – a figure pulled way up by the $42.8 million average income for the 31 households that made up the top 1 percent. And on average, the top 10 percent paid taxes of $177,000 – $3.1 million for the top 1 percent.
“Meanwhile, at the bottom, it took 906,500 households to bring in as much as the 5,831 in the top tenth. These taxpayers paid taxes at a higher rate, 11.3 percent, than those at the top. Their average tax tab was $1,647 on income of $14,575.”
STATE & LOCAL TAXES
Who pays more, who pays less? Who gets more, who gets less?
……………………Highest……………….Lowest
Households……..5,831………………906,500
Avg. Income…$2.300,000…………$14,575
Tax/Dollars……$177,000…………..$ 1,647
Tax %…………….7.7%……………….11.3 %
(Source)
“For all households, the overall tax rate fell from 12.9 percent in 1994 to 11.2 percent in 2000. It’s been falling more for the top earners, mainly for two reasons: as their income grows, a smaller percentage of their income goes to buy taxable goods and taxable property ; (also, Minnesota caps their marginal state income tax rate at 7.85 percent.”
So in Minnesota, we’re doing with less so that we protect these high income groups more. Republicans believe that it is their money so they should be able to keep more of it. But in most cases they got that money from some where, often your pocket — by keeping workers’ wages low, passive income from investments while the rest of us work for our income, or by making investments with high profits that means someone is paying too much for something (like Xcel’s NRG with 300% profits off of California consumers 300% price increases for electricity!) All this happens because the economic and political systems support the inequity They owe their wealth to the system and to hard working individuals who are continually coerced and extorted into giving more for less.
My fiscally conservative parents always told me you can’t get more with less. There’s always a price to pay. You get out what you put in. That’s the basis for our family tradition of investment in community. And investment in community is the exact opposite of Republican policy, which is to suck the resources from those least able to pay, and preserve and expand the wealth of those taking advantage of all our society provides.
My parents always said, “If someone is trying to sell you something for nothing, or ‘more with less’, he’s probably the Flimflam man.”
Utility lies and misdeeds…
The fourth most common lie… “There’s an energy shortage!” When you hear we need new transmission and lots of new big generation, it’s a bunch of hooey! Here’s what the industry organization says:
North American Electric Reliability Council Reliability Assessment 2002-2011
“Reserve margins are nearly twice what’s needed” (p. 17)
“These are low estimates” – (p. 48)
Since then, why, there’s so much electricity supply they can’t sell it all!
Surplus of Electricity Supplies May Persist at Least Until 2005
Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2003
FERC told no end yet seen for US power market woes Reuters Jan. 16, 2003
Even the Minnesota Utility Investors can’t deny the market disaster:
As Problems Mount for Utilities, Cities Pull Plug on Deregulation
And of course Greg Palast has a thing or two to say – from “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, California Reamin’: California and the Power Pirates” and what about changing the dim bulb in the White House.
But don’t think that this corporate behavior is only “over there” on the coasts, because our own Xcel got caught — NRG was one of the primary price-gougers in San Diego’s electricity crisis. When the electricity market caught up and generation development overran demand, the energy glut caught NRG by surprise and its 300% profits disappeared overnight and turned into massive losses that threaten Xcel.
Bankrupt NRG zaps Xcel’s Q2 earnings
As its non-utility business teeters, Xcel hangs in there
Xcel subsidiary bankrupt…blaming a prolonged slump in demand for its product… (scroll down)
For some refreshing regulatory action, keep an eye on Attorney General Mike Hatch’ in the PUC docket regarding the Xcel submorph “TRANSLink,” transmission insulating invention of the corporate kind. Hatch is actively protecting Minnesota consumers, the lone watchdog protecting our public interest in this transmission ownership shell game: Power line plan zapped
TRANSLink website:
TRANSLink filings: Formation Filings, Minnesota-Xcel
PUC Staff Briefing Papers 
pdf)
Hatch has more than a few things to say about the corporate responsibility that is so sorely lacking these days:(pdf)
