Standing up for rural Minnesota
On Tuesday, I was honored to take the oath of office and be sworn in along with 133 of my fellow colleagues in the Minnesota House of Representatives as the 88th Legislative Session officially began. I am deeply grateful to my friends and neighbors in District 09B for placing their trust in me to represent our community.
I have deep concerns about Speaker Paul Thissen’s decision to eliminate the House Agriculture and Rural Development Finance Committee, and combine it with the Environment Finance committee, currently chaired by Rep. Jean Wagenius, a Democrat from Minneapolis. Rep. Wagenius has very little experience with agriculture issues, and has a record of voting for policies that disproportionately favor Metro cities and suburbs over Greater Minnesota. I worry that rural Minnesota’s voice and influence will be greatly diminished if the Agriculture Finance committee remains in the hands of a Metro legislator.
For that reason, I joined with my fellow Republicans Tuesday in voting for a motion that would have moved the Agriculture Finance Committee and recombined it with the Agriculture Policy Committee, as it has been in the past. That committee is chaired by Rep. Jeanne Poppe, a rural Democrat who better understands the issues and challenges facing our state’s agriculture industry.
The motion was introduced by Rep. Rod Hamilton, a Republican pork producer from Southwest MN. He gave a compelling plea for bipartisan support, and I cast my first vote in support of our rural district and agriculture industry. I will continue to push for the committee change, and will continue to advocate for rural Minnesota. It will be one of my highest priorities this session to ensure that rural Minnesota is adequately represented, and that we keep the best interests of rural Minnesota and our agriculture industry in mind when passing legislation.
Rep. Ron Kresha
R-Little Falls, District 09B
Comments (2)
Add commentOld McHamilton had a farm, ee I ee I oh! And on that farm
he had a pig, .... Rep. Kresha sings the second verse of Hamilton's letter of rural doom and gloom from yesterday's letter, http://brainerddispatch.com/opinion/open-forum/2013-01-13/ward-votes-aga.... Many of the same comments apply.
Additionally, Rep. Kresha doesn't mention that this same committe configuration, combining Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Finance Committee, existed in the 84th Legislature (2005-06), with Rep. Dennis Ozment, R-Rosemount (metro) chairing the committee. Republicans had no problem with the arrangement then.
In an article from The Bemidji Pioneer, "Rep. John Ward, DFL-Brainerd, said that combining environmental and farm finance in one committee helps farmers. He said that farmers often express concerns about environmental policy but in a joint committee will have more say.
"In an interview, the House Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Finance Committee’s vice chairman said he will fight for agriculture.
“I think people are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill,” Rep. Andrew Falk, DFL-Murdock, said.
"As a fifth-generation farmer on his western Minnesota farm, Falk said he is comfortable with the committee and said he expects to carry plenty of influence." http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/content/gop-loses-farm-vote-gets-attention
Rep. Kresha is a nice person (though I didn't vote for him), but he clearly just voted with his leadership on this, deferring to unsubstantiated fears, rather than carefully assessing whether there's really any cause for concern. Returning to the way this committee stood when Republican Ozment was the Chair will probably not initiate the unraveling of rural MN issues.