My Point of View by Jennifer Vogt-Erickson

Al Franken has surprised some people, including me, by turning out to be a very serious senator. He has focused on serving Minnesotans and delved deeply into a few big issues that don’t grab headlines but have far-reaching effects.

Three key things that make Al Franken the best choice for U.S. Senate in this election are his work in maintaining Internet neutrality, supporting and improving the Affordable Care Act and opposing the Citizens United ruling, one of the biggest threats to democracy in our time.

First, Franken is working hard to maintain net neutrality, which prevents Internet service providers from prioritizing information from some websites over others. The FCC is in the process of developing new Internet regulations, and the chairperson initially proposed a two-tier system, with a fast track and a slow track, which would allow Internet service providers to charge extra fees to companies to send their information more speedily.

Franken adamantly opposed this proposal. His position has overwhelming public support, but he’s up against millions of dollars in lobbying — since 2009, Verizon alone has sunk $100 million into lobbying Congress on circumventing net neutrality.

The Internet is now the most democratic, open playing field we have for information, and Sen. Franken has taken the lead in protecting it from corporations who would like to profit from “pay to play” arrangements. These fees would block many small startups from competing with established giants, which would diminish innovation and restrict the spread of ideas. Minnesotans should return Franken to Washington for this watchdog role alone.

Second, Franken worked to pass the Affordable Care Act. Under the ACA, Minnesota’s uninsured rate has dropped from over 8 percent to just under 5 percent, one of the best rates in the country, and far below the national average of 13 percent.

Franken’s signature contribution to the ACA was to require insurance companies to use at least 80-85 percent of the premiums they collect toward services rather than administrative costs, profits and CEO pay. The provision is based on Minnesota’s medical loss ratio law, which has helped our state lead the nation in reining in health insurance costs.

Third, Franken is an outspoken critic of the Citizens United decision, which unleashed a torrent of “dark money” into our election system. On the Senate floor in September, he characterized the Supreme Court’s decision as supporting “the fallacy that corporations have a constitutional right to flood our elections with undisclosed money.” He wants to overturn the decision, which requires passing a constitutional amendment, in order to “restore a voice for millions upon millions of everyday Americans who want nothing more than to see their government represent them.”

Dark money, which has funded more than half the political advertising in the 2014 campaign so far, has already topped $190 million. That is more than double the previous mid-term election record from 2010, with two weeks still remaining. The Hometown Freedom Action Network, an Ohio-based group with Tea Party ties which does not disclose donors, recently dropped $340,000 into Minnesota’s senate race.

Democracy requires transparency to thrive. Unlimited, undisclosed spending is anathema to free and fair elections and puts us on the fast track to oligarchy.

Franken’s opponent, Mike McFadden, and the dark money groups that support him are using a lot of air time to tie Franken to Obama, which is an interesting strategy in a state where Obama won 54 and 53 percent of the vote in 2008 and 2012, respectively. It might work better in a red state like Kansas.

Kansas, by the way, is no shoo-in to re-elect a Republican senator or governor due to the economic hardships it has experienced after Republicans enacted a supply-side “red-state model.” Cutting taxes on the wealthy and slicing the state budget turned out to be a drag on their economy; Kansas’ growth lagged behind that of surrounding states. Now the Sunflower State faces bigger budget shortfalls and had its credit rating reduced, which will increase its borrowing costs and deepen deficits. The upshot: bigger coffers for the Kansas-based Koch brothers, bigger class sizes for kids.

Minnesota, led by Democrats, is outperforming both Kansas and Republican-controlled Wisconsin in job growth. Perhaps the term “job killing” is something to embrace, because Democrats’ so-called “job killer” policies have helped Minnesota’s job growth outpace the national average.

With economic facts like these facing supply-side Senate candidate Mike McFadden, it’s no wonder he held a press conference to talk about Ebola. People already have overblown fears about Ebola thanks to inflammatory cable news coverage, and McFadden sought to capitalize on those fears with his travel ban suggestion. Michael Gerson, former speechwriter for George W. Bush, did not pull any punches about this kind of stunt when he stated, “People who directly politicize this issue may well, in my view, be demonstrating their unfitness for office.”

Thankfully, we have a serious choice for U.S. Senate. Vote for Franken on Nov. 4.

 

Albert Lea resident Jennifer Vogt-Erickson is a member of the Freeborn County DFL Party.