Column: Ted Hinnenkamp, My Point of View

I am in no way a financial expert. Here is what I understand about the recent Facebook-going-public-on-the-stock-market scandal.

The main bank involved cheated when it informed other 1 percenters that Facebook was going to be a weak investment. So if us 99 percenters had decided to invest in Facebook, our investments would now be worth substantially less money. So who gets the money we lost? We are being told by these financial experts that this is the way things are done in the financial markets.

Then there is Romney’s Bain Capital company. Romney and his other 1 percenter partners buy a perfectly sound and profitable company so that they can take on its debt and therefore change from an equity to a debt-structured venture.

Debt-structured means we taxpayers actually gave Bain money instead of Bain paying taxes on the equity. Bain made money. The company goes bankrupt. Thousands of Americans lost their jobs. Romney moves from just his inherited millions to a vulture capitalist multi-millionaire.

While all of this corruption continues in the financial market by the 1 percent, state Rep. Rich Murray squarely put himself under the control of his Republican Party House caucus.

Murray was quoted by two Minneapolis Star Tribune reporters on May 17, 2011, stating: “I’ve actually moved a little further right when I see there’s a lot going on in government that we could do a lot better.”

Two events happened since this quote that bear analysis.

The first event is a meeting attended by Murray, me, plus about a dozen or so nonprofit and government workers. This was about the same time as the Republican Party caused a government shutdown last summer. Murray told this group that his Republican freshman colleagues were being too revealing and strident with their plans — plans that we all knew were to cut and eventually eliminate basically all of the programs dear to this group.

Murray told the group that he counseled his freshman Republican colleagues to just be patient and eventually “we” will achieve what we are seeking.

The second event was when Murray summoned two of his Republican Party caucus leaders for an education forum here in Albert Lea. Our superintendent of schools attended the meeting. These three Republicans told us they were there to convince everyone that their slash, burn and eventual destruction of the Minnesota education system was simply “reform” and not to be confused with what they were actually planning and doing.

Our superintendent refreshingly said to the three that his numbers did not support their claims of reform.

I don’t know Murray. What I have heard of him over the past 33 years is that he is a decent family man plus a hard-working guy. Murray is only representing the 1 percent. Just about all of Murray’s constituents have been unrepresented by him.

Just take a very close look at his votes. Ninety-plus percent of the time he votes with his Republican Party caucus, the caucus that convinced him to move, as he said: “further to the right.”

Our superintendent was not fooled by the three Republicans’ claim that all they are doing is reform. Don’t you be fooled either.

As good fortune may have it, the Freeborn County DFL Party endorsed the former mayor of Wells to run for the District 27A house seat. Our candidate is Shannon Savick. She hopes to unseat Rich Murray. We will write about Shannon as the campaign evolves.

 

Ted Hinnenkamp is a member of the Freeborn County DFL Party.