A few years ago, I had the honor of speaking at my Grandmothers funeral. I told of how she had become my hero, after I became a parent. It was than I gained an appreciation for the fact that she was a single working mom of 4, and did such a marvelous job raising my mom, two aunts, and my uncle.
Grandma was 97, and only had to spend the last several weeks of her life in a Nursing Home in Montevideo. The tiny little Norwegian woman was one of the strongest women I knew. She and her husband had just bought a farm, when my grandfather passed away, leaving her with 4 kids ranging in age of 2 to 11. They had yet to make the first payment on the farm near Hanley Falls, but my Grandmother, with help farming from her little brother, made the last payment on it, and passed it on to Uncle Arlen who still owns it today. Grandma, put the kids to work, out in the field, in the barn, before school, and after. She realized the value of a good education and was able to scrape enough together to send her three girls to college. (one didn't finish, she met my dad instead, kinda glad for that)
You might be asking what does this have to do with the Governor's budget? Well, whenever these tough cuts to the budget arise, I think of grandma, and the hardship it would put on her and people like her. She didn't have a lot. She lived on a fixed income when she retired. When she moved away from the trailer she shared with her little brother, after he passed, she moved into senior apartments in Granite Falls. Apartments she had to pay rent for, like a lot of seniors that lived on fixed incomes. After a few years there, she had to spend the last couple months of her hard, but wonderful life, in that nursing home. Staffed by wonderful people, that are way too under paid for that which they do. It was when Rep. Rukevina, and Rep. Marquardt gave their eloquent speeches on the floor, earlier today, that it made me think of Grandma, those apartments, and that nursing home. You see Governor Pawlenty's budget, would call for a 20% decrease in the renters credit, taking money away from and effectively taxing seniors in this state that rent, apartments such as my Grandmothers to the tune of $126.00 a year, all the while he has made it clear, that it is unacceptable to him to raise the taxes on someone making 300k a year, by $109.00 per year. Governor Pawlenty's water carriers seem to want to tell us that that this raise in taxes, is a "job killer." Meanwhile they don't want to talk about the 20-30 thousand jobs that will be lost in their budget. Many of them health care workers. Workers like those that take care of our grandmothers, and grandfathers. Fathers and mothers. People like my Grandma, who downright deserved it! People that made this state one of the finest in quality of life. People like Gandma Marian, that even though odds were against her, she managed to raise crops, and 4 kids that turned out to be very wonderful and productive assets to their state. With the work I do now, I realize that Grandma's story, isn't unique. It is the story of Minnesota, and America, of the day to day heroism, that made this state what it is today. Don't let Governor Pawlenty get away with this. Stand up to him, and tell him, "we are better that this." Stop him from dismantling this state, the way he has the last 6 plus years.
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