Hello Friends,
Yesterday we honored our great veterans who stormed the beaches of Normandy 80 years ago in order to Liberate Europe. These soldiers were truly a part of the greatest generation and we can't possibly honor their service and sacrifice enough!
The 2024 Legislative Session may be over, but there's a lot to keep up on in the world of Minnesota politics at the moment!
First, Gov. Walz's Admin oversaw yet another state government IT/website failure this week with the rollout of the DFL's $1,500 rebates for e-bikes. This provision passed in 2023 so the government had over a year to prepare for the demand, but they fell short in a big way. The website, of course, immediately crashed and nobody was able to apply for their rebate. This is frankly unacceptable, especially since statute specified that the grants were first come first served. Not only that, but this is a pretty pathetic way to spend the surplus if you ask me. We should've returned it directly to the taxpayers instead of funding special e-bike rebates.
The website issues are concerning for another reason as well - what happens when the state tries to set up their brand new paid family medical leave system in the next year? That's a much larger and more serious operation (that features the employment of 400 new government workers). As we heard on the floor this past session, the state hasn't even picked a contractor for the website, let alone started setting anything up. They're running out of time and I fear that we'll see a repeat of this when that system is set to launch.
This week we also saw a very significant development in the case where Mary Moriarty charged a state trooper with murder. Thankfully, after much scrutiny and scandal, Moriarty dropped the charges against Trooper Ryan Londregan this week! I'm thankful that this hero is walking free, but these charges should have never been brought in the first place. Mary Moriarty must resign before she can continue her war on law enforcement.
Thank you for reading - have a great weekend!