EdAction
Maple River Education Coalition PAC
105 Peavey Rd, St 116 
Chaska, MN  55318 
952-361-4931
http://www.EdAction.org
E-mail

May 24, 2000

Postscript to the 2000 Legislative Summary

In our legislative summary, we mentioned special legislators who have gone the distance for us and "walk the talk."  When we were being criticized by the Speaker, they stood up and defended us and they very openly encouraged other members to oppose the bad language of the bills.  They were the members who stood up in their caucus and spoke against the bad bills and the Speaker's position.  They are the legislators who support local control, not just the elimination of the Profile.  They were the legislators who have been working with us since the beginning of this fight and who did not waiver.

There were other legislators that voted correctly on this issue and some also spoke against the bad bills.  We thought that their names should be recognized in a more meaningful way.  We have decided to list their names once again at the close of this postscript.

We feel we would be doing you a huge disservice if we did sufficiently expose you to the ugliness with which the Senate leadership dealt with the Profile of Learning and the North Star Standard.  We find it very offensive of Sen. Roger Moe and Sen. Larry Pogemiller to pigeonhole everyone who opposes the Profile or who supported the North Star Standard into the classification "right wing radicals."  It is necessary for each and every one of us to call them and tell them that we are a nonpartisan group and we take offense at unilateral stereotyping.  We are democrats, republicans, independents, reformers, etc., so Sen. Moe and Sen. Pogemiller may very well be alienating the base of their party with such sweeping statements.

Sen. Pogemiller said that the parents who supported the NSS were "greedy," and, because of their inability to take what they could get, they showed that they do not care about the children.  We should be outraged at such statements, and we should let Sen. Pogemiller, a man with no children, know that if anyone has endangered Minnesota's children, it is he.  

Sen. Roger Moe and Sen. Larry Pogemiller, during the 15 hour negotiations last Wed. and Thurs., scurried back and forth from the Senate floor to Sen. Moe's office to negotiate with the House Leadership.  They had to pass by where I was standing.  On more than one occasion, Sen. Moe locked his eyes with mine and with a chilling, piercing look sent a loud message to me that was nothing short of pure hatred.  It was a look of, "I will show you who is in control."

I think it is very important that all of you understand what we are dealing with.  We are dealing with people who are in this for power.  They are in this because of their ties to power at the federal level. They are in this because of the business power brokers who salivate at the thought of young, pre-trained kids coming right out of high school into their businesses -- fresh, ignorant, moldable, loyal and compliant.  They are in this for the complete power that comes from the centralized control of education that provides the conduit for one worldview through one set of "standards."  They are in it because they love the "accountability."

On the night/early morning of the negotiations, I can only guess at the antics that they used on the House leadership in private.  By the looks on the faces of Rep. Steve Sviggum, Rep. Tim Pawlenty, Rep. Tony Kielkucki, and Rep. Bob Ness, each time they came out, they had been run through the wringer backwards.  It was disgusting to read the offered language that Sen. Moe and Sen. Pogemiller and Commissioner Jax would send out.  Each time we would send in acceptable language and each time they would come out with the same restrictions on the NSS worded differently or hidden deep within the bill.  I read the bill about once every hour during that 15 hour stretch, just to keep it free of new, hidden restrictions.

You must understand, we are not working with credible individuals, and we must discontinue allowing the House and Senate members who do not support us to get away with it.  They should be challenged in their districts in the next election and they should be told exactly why you are withdrawing your support.

We are Maple River Education Coalition and we are made up of many races, many professions, many parties, many religions, and many value systems.  The one place that we intersect is on educational freedom and what the future of our children mean to us.  If the Senate leadership, or any House or Senate member, for that matter, attempts to marginalize us to avoid us, they will find that they are attacking the very people on whom they are relying to reelect them.

Renee T. Doyle,
President
Maple River Education Coalition Political Action Committee

MN House of Representatives:

Abrams  
Boudreau  
Broecker  
Buesgens  
Cassell  
Clark, J.  
Daggett  
Dehler  
Erickson  
Gerlach  
Gunther  
Haas  
Hackbarth  
Harder  
Holberg  
Holsten  
Kielkucki  
Knoblach  
Krinkie  
Lindner  
Luther  
Molnau  
Mulder  
Olson 
Ozment  
Paulsen  
Pawlenty  
Reuter  
Rifenberg  
Rostberg  
Seifert, J.  
Seifert, M.  
Smith  
Stanek  
Storm  
Swenson  
Tingelstad  
Van Dellen  
Vandeveer  
Wenzel  
Westerberg  
Wilkin  
Wolf  
Workman  

Absent: B. Anderson, 
  Dawkins

MN Senate:

Day  
Dille  
Fischbach  
Hanson  DFL
Kierlin  
Kleis  
Larson  
Lesewski 
Limmer  
Neuville  
Ourada  
Pariseau  
Robling  
Runbeck  
Scheevel  
Stevens  
Ziegler  

Absent: G. Olson

EdAction - 105 Peavey Rd, Ste 116, Chaska, MN  55318 
952-361-4931 - edaction@lakes.com - (c) EdAction - All rights reserved.