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Cheers to Amy Klobuchar
The U.S. senator called out President Donald Trump’s behavior in a just-the-facts manner that avoids name-calling or vitriol while placing into context why the president’s actions are an outrage by any normal historical standard. In an appearance on CNN, Klobuchar said Trump is using the U.S. Department of Justice as his “private playground” in seeking $230 million in reimbursement to “line his own pockets” for past investigations. She faulted him for prosecuting his “so-called enemies” while protecting himself and his friends, including the granting of commutation to fraudster and disgraced former congressman George Santos. “Sometimes I think he just does stuff to get attention,” Klobuchar said, adding that in the middle of the government shutdown when Trump should be negotiating with Congress, he decides to make a money grab.
Jeers to a lack of government transparency
There’s a suffocating blanket of secrecy surrounding the proposed, planned or perhaps imminent data center in Hermantown just south of Duluth. A Fortune 50 company is planning an energy-sucking behemoth of a project on 200 acres. City and St. Louis County leaders know who the company is, but they’ve signed nondisclosure agreements and are declining to reveal the company even as the project moves forward over substantial citizen concerns. What has been publicly gleaned about the project has come from journalistic digging. You can’t stop progress, but something of this magnitude requires public scrutiny along the way. Props to St. Louis County Commissioner Ashley Grimm who criticized the NDAs at a recent meeting. Hermantown resident Bob Kohlmeier, who owns property next to the proposed data center, nailed it when he said he was “losing faith and trust in government over these NDAs.” Government shouldn’t operate like a privately held business. We all deserve to know the plans, concessions and incentives being discussed for this site before they’re cemented.
Cheers to Jennifer DeCubellis
The former Hennepin Healthcare CEO landed the job as president and CEO of America’s Essential Hospitals. The advocacy organization, based in Washington, D.C., seeks to ensure hospital care for all regardless of their ability to pay. DeCubellis announced her departure from Hennepin Healthcare in March, saying “a strong leader passes the baton when the time is right.” After a career in various health care-related posts at Hennepin County, DeCubellis left as CEO months before the Hennepin County Board took direct control of HCMC, the state’s largest safety-net hospital that sees all patients regardless of their ability to pay. She’s a skilled administrator and communicator with a vast knowledge of health care systems — it was great to see DeCubellis land an even bigger job with wider reach.
Jeers to avoidable food insecurity
Federal cuts to the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) are leading to depleted shelves at food banks as more cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) loom due to the government shutdown. This means real pain and empty stomachs to struggling families as winter approaches. Hundreds of families visit Gethsemane Lutheran Church in north Minneapolis daily in search of food where the Rev. Jeff Nehrbass warns of the ripple effects of going hungry. “Food stability is so important for violence prevention, for household stability, that not having those resources throws all of that up in the air,” Nehrbass said.
Cheers to Steve Simon’s election integrity ad blitz
It’s great to see the secretary of state’s office come out with a campaign to bat down the forces that seek to undermine the integrity of our elections. Simon has launched a campaign to show the robust security working year-round to protect the integrity of our ballots. The “Trusted elections, crafted locally” ads direct users to a secretary of state webpage that explains the structural underpinnings of elections, including some 30,000 judges who take an oath to protect the ballots. No need to wait for the ad to visit the page, which features an original hometown hero: those made-in-Minnesota, red-and-white “I voted” stickers.
Jeers to state Sen. Omar Fateh
The Minneapolis mayoral candidate is relying on a blame-the-media strategy for his revisionist personal history. Fateh claims multiple policy positions he has publicly held both here and in Virginia, where he formerly lived, have been misreported in the media. Most significant for Minneapolis voters is that Fateh’s 2020 campaign literature cited his support for dismantling the Minneapolis Police Department and featured him standing in front of a “defund police” banner. In his current campaign, he’s claiming he didn’t support the defunding effort. That’s just one of several examples of shifting stories and positions that city voters should note.
