This morning I launched my campaign for Republican National Committeeman by sending the following email out to party activists in Minnesota:

We have a wonderful opportunity in a few months to elect a new Republican National Committeeman who can redefine the role of that position in a very positive way.

I am writing to announce that I’m running for the Republican National Committeeman position currently held by Brian Sullivan. Brian and Evie Axdahl (our National Committeewoman) announced last week that they will not run for reelection at our upcoming Republican State Central committee meeting in Minneapolis on April 16. Evie and Brian both deserve our thanks for their many years of service to the Republican cause.

Now it’s time to look forward; our selection of a new committeeman will determine what this position will look like in 2012 and beyond.

First, a little background: I’m a father and husband, lifelong Republican activist, youth football and baseball coach, Sunday school and confirmation teacher, small business owner, Hennepin County Commissioner and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives.

I was proud to count myself as one of the most conservative members of the Minnesota legislature in both fiscal and social matters during my six years in the House and am proud today to count myself as a loud, clear and frequently lone conservative voice on the Hennepin County Board.

My Third Year on the Board Begins

Two weeks ago, we opened the 2011 season of the Hennepin County Board by reelecting Mike Opat as chairman and returning all seven commissioners to the same chairmenships we held over the past two years.  I will again be chairman of the Public Safety Committee and co-chairman with Peter McLaughlin of our Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.

As you can see in my last post from 2010, we finished the year on a relatively positive note, with a small overall tax cut for Hennepin County property tax payers.  The cut was not as large as it could have or should have been, but Hennepin County is taxing less and spending less in 2011 than 2010 – and that’s a good thing.

We still have a LONG way to go before I’ll be willing to argue that we’re spending wisely on the right priorities in the county, but we should always recognize and appreciate steps in the right direction.

On Tuesday, the board approved a resolution I offered to begin planning work on a new 911 communications facility for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office at the adult corrections facility site in Plymouth.  The resolution passed on a vote of 4 – 2.

The county has been discussing the need for a new 911 facility for many years.  Currently, the Sheriff’s Office dispatches 911 calls in an outdated 60-year-old facility in a Golden Valley residential neighborhood.  Earlier this year, the county hired a national expert on emergency communication facilities from D.C. to take a look at our current facility.  His report is not public, but the message in it was simple and stark: Hennepin County needs to replace the Golden Valley facility and we need to do it soon.

The two commissioners voting against the proposal had various reasons for their opposition, including the $30 million plus price tag of the project and disagreement about its location in Plymouth.  I have no reservations, however, about the dire need for this new facility.  Public safety is the first responsibility of government and we are clearly putting public safety in jeopardy if we don’t finally act on a new 911 facility.  Failure of our 911 system wouldn’t be an inconvenience, it would be a disaster.

I’m constantly complaining about our inability to prioritize spending on the county board, but this week I’m happy to say the board chose to make public safety a priority.

Nothing, however, happens up here without a little drama:

For fix of politics, dial up 911 plan

Kevin Duchschere, Star Tribune

The Hennepin County Board voted Tuesday to proceed with plans to develop a new 911 dispatch center at the county’s workhouse in Plymouth. That was the expected part.

Yesterday’s StarTribune carried a commentary I wrote about the county board’s spending priorities.  Bottom Line:  Until we stop spending on things like library art and garbage burner beautification, don’t let anyone tell you that government is broke and needs more of your money.

Cut to the bone? We haven’t even cut library art.

Recently, I offered a resolution to place a moratorium on the requirement that Hennepin County automatically spend 1 percent of every large library building project on public art. We are scheduled to spend almost $1 million in our capital budget over the next four years on library art.

My resolution failed on a 2-5 vote.

My rationale was simple: At a time when we are making actual budget cuts almost across the board in the county, it makes absolutely no sense to be automatically dedicating hundreds of thousands of dollars to every library building project for art. Most of my colleagues, however, disagreed.

There has been considerable coverage and interest in this story and some have asked why I’m making such a big deal out of something that represents a minuscule portion of Hennepin County’s $1.6 billion annual budget.

I have actually made no bigger deal out of this spending issue than I have numerous others over the past couple years; this one just caught people’s attention — as evidenced by numerous media stories, letters to the editor and e-mails to my inbox (the most recent with the salutation: “Hey, Pukebreath”).

Art in libraries is simply the freshest example of a much bigger problem in government: Our inability or unwillingness to set spending priorities.

Board Votes Down Resolution to Place a Moratorium on Art Spending

Yesterday, I offered a resolution to place a moratorium on the requirement that Hennepin County automatically spend 1% of every large library building project on public art.  Currently, we are scheduled to spend almost $1 million in our capital budget over the next four years on library art.

My resolution failed on a 2-5 vote (with Randy Johnson joining me in voting “yes”).

My rationale was simple: At a time when we are making actual budget cuts almost across the board in the county, it makes absolutely no sense to be automatically dedicating hundreds of thousands of dollars to every library building project for art.  Most of my colleagues, however, disagreed.

Last night, Jeff Passolt on Fox9 hosted an arts advocate and me to debate the issue:

County Board Votes Unanimously to Kill the Medina Wind Turbine

For about six years the county board has been talking about erecting a wind turbine at the county’s public works property in Medina.  In 2008, the Medina City Council granted the county a revision to its Planned Unit Development permit on that site to erect a wind turbine as long as the county applied for a construction permit by November 18, 2010.

As that deadline was approaching earlier this year, county administration determined that the numbers could not justify the county purchasing, erecting and owning the turbine.  In August 2010, the county issued a request for proposal seeking a private investor to partner with the county on this project.  A private investor would have been able to take advantage of significant federal tax breaks on this project and, therefore, arguably improve the “payback” period for the county’s portion of the project cost.

The resolution before the board yesterday was to continue negotiating with one of the two private companies that responded to the RFP and potentially return to the board with a contract to move forward (prior to Nov. 18).

The initial negotiations with this company (which had never previously been involved with a wind energy project) yeilded an offer that projected a 15-year simple payback for the county’s eventual investment.

All five commissioners present yesterday voted “no” on the resolution, likely killing the wind turbine project.

My Golden Hydrant last week to the county policy requiring we spend big money on art in libraries (which, if nothing changes, will total in excess of $1 million over the next few years) has stirred up great interest and emotion.

I’ve kept some of the nastiest emails/letters I’ve received over the years just so I can fondly reminisce over them on occasion.  I received one last week that will permanently find a place in my Top Ten.  The salutation:  “Hey Pukebreath.”  The author also unfavorably compared me to Adolph Hitler and noted that I’m a “buttlicking moron.”  Pukebreath, Adolph Hitler, buttlicking moron.  I hit the trifecta!

Tom Hauser did a nice story on the issue last week as well.  You can see it here.

Also, the Star Tribune ran a story yesterday written by Laurie Blake that I thought addressed the issue fairly:

Artwork on the way for 2 new libraries
LAURIE BLAKE, Star Tribune

Sculpture, stained glass and textiles will ornament the newly opened Plymouth and Maple Grove libraries next year, over the protest of a Hennepin County commissioner who says it’s no time to be spending money on artwork.

General tax levy will remain flat; rail and housing levies will increase

Tuesday was a big day in the county’s budget calendar as we set the maximum levy amount for Hennepin County’s three county-wide levies (the general levy, the housing levy and the rail levy). The result of Tuesday’s meeting was a mixed bag for taxpayers.

The big news: The county’s general levy amount WILL NOT increase in 2011. The board set the maximum levy amount at a 0% increase in 2011. Because it’s a maximum, we can levy less than a 0% increase when we set the final budget in December, but we can’t levy more.

The reason this is big news? It’s the first time since 1993 that Hennepin County has not increased the general levy amount. Obviously, this is a positive development.

The smaller (and not-so-good) news: The board set maximum increases for the county’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority levy and Regional Railroad Authority levy at 55% and 20%, respectively. Again, those are maximum increases, so we could set them lower in December, but I can all but guarantee that we will levy at those maximum amounts.

County seeks federal grant to better control how people live

Yesterday, the Hennepin County Board voted 5 – 1 (with me being the “no” vote) to join a consortium with the Met Council and others requesting a $5 million federal “sustainable communities regional planning grant.”

According to the background material, the grant would be used to support the metro area in planning to “integrate housing, land use, economic and workforce development, transportation and infrastructure investments in a manner that empowers jurisdictions to consider the interdependent challenges of:

(1) economic competitiveness and revitalization;
(2) social equity, inclusion and access to opportunity;
(3) energy use and climate change; and
(4) public health and environmental impact.”

There were several difficult issues yesterday over which I struggled how to vote. This was not one of them.

This is central planning, top-down government control at its very worst. And, while collaboration and coordination between government units is always wise and welcome, this project has little to do with that. This is about “Smart Growth.” It’s about population density and the evils of the automobile. It’s about subsidized housing, subsidized transit, subsidized economic development and subsidized alternative energy.

An update on the investigation of Minnesota Majority’s report

Two weeks ago, the story broke about Minnesota Majority’s investigation alleging that felons, possibly by the hundreds, had illegally voted in Hennepin and Ramsey counties in the 2008 election. Some of the news coverage suggested that the Hennepin County Attorney’s office was not taking the allegations seriously or was dragging its feet in its investigation of the Minnesota Majority’s report.

These allegations are serious – going to the very heart of our democratic process. The integrity of our elections in Minnesota took a big hit already when we learned how inconsistently absentee ballots were counted throughout the state. To suggest that hundreds of felons illegally voted on top of that would seriously damage citizens’ faith in Minnesota’s ability to run fair and clean elections.

Over the course of the past week, I’ve spoken with Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and his Deputy County Attorney who handles election fraud cases several times. Here’s the scoop regarding HennCo’s actions with respect to these allegations: