Legalectric

Sampling of local lawmakers shows less eagerness to take credit for rebounding state budget

On the other hand…

Today Speaker Sviggum isn’t issuing threats to file complaints about pie or popsicle bribery, and he’s not holding a press conference standing in the fall sun in the smelly Rice County dump with ex-Rep. Lynda Boudreau and Ray Cox, or in the Austin dump for that matter (note both of those stunts were both done in the same districts?). But he’s stumping for his good buddy Ray Cox on the editorial page, this time saying that we can thank Rep. Ray Cox for Minnesota’s budget surplus. Uh-huh…we can thank Ray Cox for eliminating the deficit and creating a surplus… right… well, the good news is that apparently Steve thinks Ray needs help, and it looks like he has learned something about appropriate behavior for the Speaker of the House!

Representative voted wisely

To the editor:

The state of Minnesota recently completed the greatest economic turnaround in its history by eliminating a $4.5 billion deficit and creating a $701 million surplus. For this, you can thank state Rep. Ray Cox.

Rep. Cox, R-Northfield, realized that sound fiscal management would eliminate the state budget shortfall crisis. Though he knew raising state taxes would be the easiest way to solve this problem, he instead took difficult votes to reduce state spending. His actions helped lead us out of the deficit and put Minnesota’s finances back in the black.

Time and time again, Ray Cox has shown his leadership by making tough decisions in the face of adversity. He knew that better management of your tax dollars and an improvement in Minnesota’s job climate would turn our economy around. The recent $701 million surplus proves he was right.

Steve Sviggum
Speaker of the House
Minnesota House
of Representatives
Kenyon