What does it mean that Peggy Bennett voted with her GOP caucus 94 percent of the time? It meant thwarting all of the legislation to help children, families and our communities in need. It also meant she walked in lockstep to only slash budgets no matter necessity, including no real bringing home the money for roads and bridges, plus forging total obstruction to find a solution to fix rising health care costs for the 5 percent of MNsure recipients who are now seeing a large increase in health care insurance. Bennett also dutifully plays politics before people when promoting her GOP caucus strategy of creating a fake problem with light rail. The fact is Bennett knew light rail would be paid for by urban area residents. Bennett also dutifully played politics before people when promoting her GOP caucus strategy of creating a fake problem with teacher tenure. Bennett became a master of demonizing the metro area and teachers. How exactly did that help District 27A?

The truth is, Peggy Bennett said the GOP takeover of the Minnesota House gave the GOP an opportunity to make the rural areas of the state priority No. 1. Instead, Bennett simply giggled a bit with the GOP recipe for gridlock, and we lost that opportunity.

I remember when our former state Rep. Shannon Savick took on her own DFL caucus by organizing several rural legislators to demand and get a much higher local government aid funding amount for District 27A. Bennett’s only thoughts about LGA funding for her district is how can she slash the funding and give those LGA funding cuts as tax breaks for the rich.

The only way to get the state Legislature on a path to solve the needed roads and bridges repair, fixing MNsure for the 5 percent who are seeing much higher health care insurance cost, achieving a significant increase in LGA funding, showing respect for teachers, stop the demonizing of urban folk needing light rail transportation solutions, showing respect for teacher’s tenure, plus putting an end to fake scandals like voting fraud; vote to turn the house back over to the DFL party.

It’s time to turn our District 27A back into the hands of a DFL-endorsed candidate — Gary Schindler. Gary recently wrote a letter to the editor describing himself as a moderate. A moderate is what is needed to stop the damage created by Bennett’s GOP caucus and get some governing done.

Ted Hinnenkamp

Albert Lea