Health & Fitness
Rep. Stensrud Finishes Wrong-Priority Session with Little to Showcase
Representative Kirk Stensrud and legislative Republican majorities rang down the final gavel on the 2012 legislative session today — ending a two-year legislative session marked by partisan divides.
Representative Kirk Stensrud and legislative Republican majorities rang down the final gavel on the 2012 legislative session today — ending a two-year legislative session marked by partisan divides, a state government shutdown, and heavy state borrowing.
"In the last two years, Rep. Stensrud voted in lock-step with the extreme Republican agenda that shut down our state and borrowed billions from our schools and our children," Carrie Lucking, Executive Director of the Alliance for a Better Minnesota said. "Time and again, Rep. Stensrud pursued the wrong priorities. Rather than fight to protect our schools, Rep. Stensrud voted to cut their funding. Rather than prevent tax hikes on renters, Rep. Stensrud voted to give even bigger tax breaks to large corporations."
Find out what's happening in Minnetonkawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In the past two years, Rep. Stensrud and the Republican-led legislature have been dogged by the lowest approval ratings in Minnesota history in public polls. Over 50% of Minnesotans consistently give the Republican-controlled legislature failing marks. [KSTP/SurveyUSA, 2/8/12] The following critical votes over the past two years have raised Minnesotans’ ire:
>> Rep. Stensrud voted to end the Market Value Homestead Credit, causing a projected 2.5% property tax increase in Southwest Hennepin County. [MN House Research, HF 20, special session]
Find out what's happening in Minnetonkawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
>> Rep. Stensrud voted to cut area schools by over $900,000 [MN House Research, HF 934] and borrow $700 million from Minnesota’s children, leaving them a $2 billion IOU and no plan to pay it back. [HF 26, special session]
Rep. Stensrud spent his time at the legislature supporting special deals and tax breaks for big corporations and their lobbyists, at the expense of his constituents:
>> Rep. Stensrud voted to raise taxes on over 89,000 renters in Hennepin County to give even bigger tax breaks to large corporations. [MN House Research, HF 2337]
>> Rep. Stensrud voted to make it harder for consumers to hold big corporations accountable when they do wrong and voted to allow corporations to avoid paying their taxes by hiding profits overseas. [SF149, SF373, SF429, SF530, SF1236; HF130, HF 2083 - House Journal 6446, HF 2083 - House Journal 6447]
