To the editor:
Alice Seagren’s May 3 letter to the Bloomington Sun Current endorsed Rep. Erik Paulsen for Congress.
Paulsen seeks re-election in the Nov. 6 midterm election. Paulsen’s DFL-endorsed challenger is Dean Phillips, a District 3 businessman who is running against Paulsen’s voting record.
Seagren writes that Paulsen is not a partisan, that he is a moderate. The word moderate is a misnomer. There is nothing non-partisan about Paulsen. He has voted with President Trump’s agenda 97 percent of the time according to fivethirtyeight.com’s “Tracking Congress in the Age of Trump.”
We need a congressman who is in touch with the values and the people he represents, a congressman who is tuned into his constituents and not special interests. Phillips, unlike, Paulsen, has signed the Minnesota Way, a people’s pledge regarding campaign contributions. Phillips believes that he and Paulsen should reject contributions from PACs.
Phillips wants to go to Washington beholden to no one except his constituents. His willingness to sign the pledge speaks volumes about how Phillips would lead. Paulsen has not signed that pledge. Could it be that he cannot afford to lose those dollars? After all, he has accepted millions from PACs in recent years.
It is also alarming to note that Paulsen has accepted $20,000 from the National Rifle Association in recent years.
Seagren maintains that Paulsen has not been a partisan because he has been a co-sponsor with Democrats on several pieces of bipartisan legislation. His work here is appreciated. I, too, oppose sex trafficking, but that does not make Paulsen a bipartisan legislator — his voting record does not pass muster.
My representative should be a person who does not hide behind telephone town halls, who stays in touch with District 3 voters like me. If you have been out and about lately, you know that Dean Phillips is driving around the district in his Government Repair Truck. He talks to all voters, Democrats and Republicans. We need a someone who listens to us and votes accordingly. We need Dean Phillips for Congress.
Jan Parks
Bloomington
Click here to read the original posting on the Sun Current (5/21/18).