We deserve lawmakers’ fight

By Joel Myhre (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, April 5, 2008

If there’s anything that has been proven about the Minnesota State Legislature, it’s that the lines are drawn not between political parties, but around the Twin Cities area and the rest of the state.

And in my view, the division of resources between outstate Minnesota and the Twin Cities should not only be unfair, it should be biased in favor of we who live out here.

In other words, we should not just get our “fair share” of resources for education, transportation, health care, economic development, and the plethora of other things the Legislature funds. Per capita, we should be getting more.

We in outstate Minnesota should get more because, frankly, Twin Cities residents should be appreciative that outstate residents continue to live where they do, and should do everything they can to get us to stay.

After all, our alternatives are either to move to the Twin Cities, further crowding the roads and schools, or leave the state, which leaves the Legislature without our money to pay taxes and keep the economy moving.

The fact is, every day, there are residents of Fergus Falls and other outstate communities who have to be truly creative to piece together a family income that can support a decent lifestyle here. While many in the Twin Cities have their pick of jobs within 20 to 30 miles of each other, those in outstate Minnesota often choose between 50 to 100-mile commutes, or underemployment. And let’s not forget all the cool shopping, professional sports, and entertainment options the big city offers to further sway young families.

Similarly, those same families watch as our school districts are forced to continue to cut programs and teachers because parents are having fewer children in general, and young families simply aren’t moving here the way they are moving to, say, Maple Grove. And when schools are forced to cut teachers and programs, it prompts young families to give up on outstate Minnesota and move to the big city.

So I say to outstate Minnesota legislators, we are entitled to get more than our share out here, and you need to fight for it.

For example, the time has come to give outstate Minnesota school districts a higher amount of funding per student than Twin Cities school districts. I frankly don’t want to hear about how the poor suburban schools have all these students and need funding to support them. How about asking that wealthy tax base of yours for more money, since they chose to live in your district? Their alternative, of course, is to live in outstate Minnesota.

On economic development, if you ask me, the fact that there’s even a question of whether Fergus Falls will get a small expansion of the Veterans Home and public library is ridiculous. Even if the projects were pure pork, and certainly there can be an argument that they are not, Fergus Falls should still get them. If the expansion of the Veterans Home brings jobs to town, and a library expansion convinces at least one local family to stick around or come here, the projects are worth the state dollars.

By the way, I refuse to use the term “Greater Minnesota.” It’s a word Twin Cities types use to make us feel better. I don’t want to feel better. I just want the state to pony up.

Either that, or we can jam our cars into that stretch of freeway near Rogers. I’m sure you Twin Cities types would love that.