TO THE EDITOR:
Electronic pull tabs in Minnesota fund charitable organizations and small businesses throughout the state. As the Legislative Session comes to a close at the Capitol, some are pushing to end E-Pull Tabs that would negatively impact these organizations and the charities they support resulting in a loss of $100 million statewide.
As your State Senator, I do not support any changes to the current laws for e-pull tabs. Losing these would be a statewide loss of millions of dollars to our local charities like softball leagues, hockey, 4-H, nursing homes, fire departments, and many more.
Pull tabs have been incredibly successful in helping charitable organizations over the years, and even funded the new Vikings stadium in a negotiated agreement. Any changes to these laws would be a massive step backward for our state and I will not support any attempt to pull the e-pull tab law.
In 2012, a bipartisan agreement allowed e-pull tabs and bingo to be a funding source for the state’s share of the Minnesota Vikings stadium. More recently, an Administrative Law Judge ruled that e-pull tabs also do not violate the tribal gaming monopoly in Minnesota. With these factors considered, I see no reason to make any changes.
E-pull tabs are good for Minnesota. Trying to repeal this law will only hurt our state in ways that have not even been considered yet. I will continue to be the voice of District 30 and stand strong against any attempt to repeal e-Pull tabs.
Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer
Big Lake, MN
TO THE EDITOR:
Big Lake Schools has chosen “Educational Equity Consultants” from an organization “Love & Struggle” for their May 20th “Listening and Learning” conversation. I encourage everyone to review the website. From my research, this is an organization that espouses critical race theory. Critical race theory is a Marxist ideology and promotes equity instead of equality. Equity means equal outcomes based on membership in a defined group. Equality means equal opportunity regardless of group identification. Equity categorizes people by exterior attributes, such as skin color, and promotes a uniformity of outcome based upon group membership. In contrast, equality means everyone has the same opportunity, but the outcome depends on the individual. Equality promotes excellence, which challenges people of all backgrounds to reach their fullest potential. This is what we call “The American Dream.” No matter what your history or background, you can make something of yourself through your own individual effort and determination. Equality is ingrained in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Equity seeks to upend the principles in our founding documents and remake our country into a Marxist nation.
EQUITY has no place in Big Lake Schools, our educational system, or in the United States of America. EQUALITY and EXCELLENCE--I’m all for those!
Holly Swanson
Big Lake
TO THE EDITOR:
Driving your vehicle is going to become more expensive.
Three proposals at state and federal level will make our life less bearable.
First is the increase in gas taxes.
Second, politicians want a mileage charge for every mile you drive. This is above the gas tax collected.
Third, they want to limit the total miles we are allowed to drive.
Some of these changes are proposed by Congressman Kent Conrad (D) from ND, Rep. Frank Horstein (D) in the Mn House, and US Secretary of Transportation Buttigieg. Some references are HF1684 and web site https://townhall.com/columnists/terryjeffrey/2021/04/07/should-government-track-the-miles-you-drive-n2587502
Electric vehicles do not pay any gas tax for maintenance of our roads and hybrid vehicles pay very little. MN Senator Howe (R) proposed a vehicle license charge to make up for this in 2020, but it was defeated.
Contact your elected state and federal officials to voice your opinions on these concerns. To get information on contacting your representatives go to WWW.gis.leg.mn.
Barry VanBuren
Clearwater, MN
