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Name: Peter MacInnes
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Duluth in the news again.

this article was sent to me from the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota.  It helps to make the point that Duluth's spending priorities are out of wack.  We need common sense spending in Duluth again.  Things like, selling Spirit Mountain, the zoo, the aquarium, the golf courses.  these are all good things to have in town, but it is not the city's job to provide them, we need to get rid of useless spending and wastefull programs, and that won't happen if we keep electing the same Dflers to run the city.  It is time to elect a conservative majority to the city council and the county board, and this year would be a great place to start.
Peter MacInnes
 
 
 
Duluth leaders furious with Governor Pawlenty for pointing out the obvious
Duluth city leaders are outraged with Governor Pawlenty for having the temerity to question their tax and budget policies.  According to the Duluth News Tribune, Pawlenty "singled out Duluth" for planning a 14-percent levy increase "even though the economy is in recession and is not expected to grow by more than 1 percent before the end of 2009."  Pawlenty made the remarks during a news conference last Thursday, and the angry responses came quickly.
 
City Council member Sharla Gardner said Pawlenty has been "starving us, not providing the local governments with the aid that we've been needing, which is why we have to do this."
 
Presumably Gardner is referring to LGA, the program that provides direct payments to cities from state coffers.  In 2003, facing a then-unprecedented $4.5 billion deficit, the Governor and Legislature adopted some long overdue reforms to the bloated LGA program. That year, total LGA payments were reduced about 25% to about $470 million.  And starting in 2004, the LGA formula no longer included built-in inflationary increases, thereby restoring some control to a program that encouraged irresponsible spending at the local level.
 
Duluth received LGA payments totaling $25.65 million in 2005.  In 2009, according to the Minnesota House Research Department, they're scheduled to receive $30.73 million.  Considering Duluth has a stagnant, or even declining population, that increase is significant.  In fact, on a per capita basis, the city's LGA increased from $298 in 2005 to approximately $340 this year.  If this is the Governor's way of "starving" Duluth, he's doing a remarkably ineffective job of it.
 
Duluth mayor Don Ness echoed councilmember Gardner's remarks: "I'm not sure if the governor is aware of the steps the city has taken to cut our costs and, unfortunately, cut our services to our citizens, and in doing so not passing burdens along to taxpayers."
 
It's worth noting that Duluth's tax levy is about to jump 14% in a single year, during a recession.  By most people's standards, that's rather burdensome.  But it's also important to recognize how Duluth got into this situation. The city's spending (excluding debt service, interest, and capital outlay) increased from $74.2 million in 2004 to $94.4 million in 2007, a 27-percent jump.  During that same time period, city spending on "culture and recreation" increased by 70 percent.
 
Meanwhile, while they've taken some steps toward balancing their current budget, many of those steps are one-time gimmicks.  In an act of desperation, the city even tried to fix their budget by auctioning off a Tiffany stained glass window and an historic lighthouse.  And yet they shamelessly blame the state for their predicament.  Note to Duluth policymakers: People who live in stained glass lighthouses shouldn't throw stones.
 
Tags: economy  
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a video by Danielle MacInnes

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A new day in duluth politics.

   Some of you might be asking yourselves, " we have conservatives in Duluth?"  Yes, we do have conservatives, and even republicans in Duluth.  For more than forty years now, the liberal elites have run, or should I say "ruined" Duluth. They have allowed special interest groups to dictate the direction of the community.   They have looked to the economic and social elites for policy.   They have put the interests of a few over that of the majority.  Well I am here to bring an end to this.  I am here to start a revolution, to bring change to the city and county governments, to see corruption ended, to bring accountability and transparency, to bring an end to the tax and spend policies that have destroyed Duluth and its future.
        For to many years the left has hid behind the veil of bi-partisonship, they claim to be for the people, but continue to look after the interest of big money.  For too long, the elected officials in Duluth have used their positions to start political careers instead of serving the citzens of Duluth and St.Louis County.  I am here to say the time has come for real change in Duluth,  I believe we must push aside the liberal policies that have dominated local politics, we must return to sound government.  That means; cutting taxes, lowering property taxes, incourageing growth not hindering it, cutting spending, eliminating waste from the top down.  These are basic principles that work, instead we have some of the highest property taxes in the state, the third highest poverty rate in the state, ever increasing unemployment, and workers that are making far less for the same work done through out the state.   I believe it is time for the people of duluth to take back our local governments, to vote out those who care more for the top 1% than they do for the other 99%.  It is time for elected officials to tell the special interests, and the lobbiest to take a hike, everyone in the city has the right to be represented by their elected officials not just the elites.
     So the time has come for the conservative revolution to begin in Duluth.  I don't care if you are a republican or a democrat, if you believe that government must learn to live within its means, then join our fight.  If you want to see better jobs, and higher wages, then join our fight.  If you want to see a city council that encourages businesses to move to Duluth instead of pushing them away, then join our fight.  We need all of you.  We need you to talk to your friends and family, to talk to your coworkers, to get involved in the process.  One person can not do this on their own, we need all of you, we need grandparents and mothers, teenagers and college students, rich, poor, young and old, white and black, we need everyone to get involved, to make this your fight.  We need to send a clear message to candidates and politicians, "if you are only interested in a political career, if your vote is for sale to special interests, if you look only to big money for your policy, then we have two words for you,' YOUR FIRED.' "  The time for change is here, and together we can change the direction of this community, and see common sense return to local government.
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