Letter to the Editor; Bemidji Pioneer

Like many people in northern Minnesota, I found the article in the Bemidji Pioneer about the life of Irene Folstrom very interesting and informative. Just the kind of information we need from a local newspaper to help us be informed about problems of unemployment, poverty, racism and lack of access to healthcare.

I wonder if Tiger Woods will return the favor and come help Irene Folstrom campaign for public office?

I noticed Irene Folstrom was not as specific about these problems plaguing northern Minnesota as she has been about explaining her very satisfactory love life with Tiger Woods; what an interesting and innovative way of announcing ones candidacy for public office in 2012.

It is good to know that State Senator Mary Olson has such a good friend as Irene Folstrom... it looks like Mary Olson is facing a very significant challenge in the upcoming primary--- maybe Irene and Tiger will help her campaign... in fact, maybe Tiger could bring along his entire "team," including his wife and children.

I should probably be charging John McCarthy and his Minnesota Indian Gaming Association which funds Mary Olson's campaign for this advice... in lieu of payment for my consulting services for which I charge $40.00 an hour just like Michael Meuers who manages DFL activity for the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association... the fee can be divided and sent as my yearly contributions to the AIDS Foundation and Planned Parenthood.

Alan L. Maki
58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
218-386-2432

Health Insurance Industry Bailout and Profit Maximization Act of 2010

The “Health Insurance Industry Bailout and Profit Maximization Act of 2010” is tantamount to the doctor killing the patient. The American people are entitled to more.

Dear friends,

I am sorry I have to send out this mass response to everyone writing me about the Open Letter I sent to Dr. Quentin Young of PNHP but it will be impossible to answer everyone personally in an appropriate manner. I will answer all the letters I have received so far--- about two-thousand.

Thank you for responding with your thoughts and ideas to the “open letter” to Dr. Quentin Young of PNHP I sent out.

Some people thought I was too hard on Dr. Young… one letter writer said I was “brutal.”

I did not write my letter to attack Dr. Young; but, rather, to raise some questions and concerns about this entire healthcare fiasco. Everyone can judge for themselves how successfully I did this.

The letter went to about 12,000 people, mostly in the great lakes region… please feel free to circulate it widely since this letter is serving a dual purpose: 1.) Acknowledging I received your e-mail/phone, and 2.) Providing a copy of the letter to those who have not received it.

I understand some of the views I am expressing are somewhat controversial and contentious but I am not trying to impose these views on anyone--- I offer them in the interest of discussion and dialog.

Many of the letters I have had a chance to look at so far are full of ideas ranging from all kinds of protests actions like refusing to participate in the mandatory aspects of this legislation to voting all these people out of office--- some have expressed a “ready for revolution” theme; others, “Let’s take over the Democratic Party.”

I have a couple added thoughts and questions:

--- Do you think it is possible to begin to organize some kind of national alternative to the Democratic Party?

--- Is single-payer being the best solution or is it a step towards the very best solution: socialized healthcare?

--- Many people are suggesting we should just go all out for socialized healthcare; thoughts?

--- I doubt HR 676 is going to be revived by Conyers; so, shouldn’t a new movement emerge out of this with the intent of strengthening HR 676? It’s “premiums” are way too--- far higher than what people pay in Canada. For another, HR 676 doesn’t seek an expansion of public healthcare in this country… the movement is going to have to get away from this support for “private delivery” of healthcare if we are going to expand the healthcare reform movement to its limits. Your thoughts on this?

Also, you probably noticed that this “coalition” pulled together by the Campaign for America’s Future at the instruction and behest of the AFL-CIO for the explicit purpose of undermining and subverting the single-payer movement brought together all the leaders of organizations whose very members were on record supporting single-payer;  is it time to try to bring all these people--- the members of these organizations--- into some kind of very broad coalition on a grassroots and rank-and-file basis? I kind of think the days of getting a bunch of “leaders” to put their names on a statement has run its course and we need to be looking to build an organization from the ground up where the name of the “average Joe/Jane” means more than a Rich Trumka. Your thoughts?

I have told Margaret Flowers, Cindy Sheehan and Cynthia McKinney they should go away together for a weekend and see if they can’t come out with plans to head up a real campaign of grassroots and rank-and-file activists speaking specifically to what the American people voted for in the last election:

Peace, Healthcare, Jobs with enforcement of affirmative action enforcement.

Quite frankly, I doubt any of these issues standing alone is sufficient for any kind of movement capable of winning change; but, liberals and left at a grassroots/rank-and-file level united around these issues creates a very powerful progressive force and movement that can engage in the kind of activities you suggest, take the struggles into the streets and into places of work and the schools, and into the voting booth. Your thoughts on this?

I think there are some people who do not understand just how powerful liberals and the left at a grassroots/rank-and-file level working in unity around this kind of progressive agenda can be.

The word “progressive” is tossed around quite freely these days and I hate to even use it anymore because of the misunderstandings around the word; but, when liberals and the left come together into a working relationship a progressive agenda is developed where liberals don’t always agree with those on the left who think in terms of getting rid of capitalism while liberals generally think some reforms will be good enough. It looks to me like there is now enough of a consensus on the part of the American people who want peace, healthcare and jobs with the understanding affirmative action is going to have to be enforced if discrimination I employment is going to be eradicated.

Voting green is one point I disagree with many of you on although I often vote green and support individual green candidates. But, it has been my experience that the Green Party has really mired itself in the world of the middle class, as opposed to the working class. Some greens refer to themselves as “watermelons: green on the outside and red on the inside;” I kind of think that kind of thinking should be the basis for a broad-based progressive political party that focuses on the problems of working people because in general, when we solve the problems of working people we are making life better for everyone since it is mostly “universal” programs which would not be denied to anyone that solves problems of working people.

Quite frankly; personally, my idea of what is required in electoral politics is along the lines of the old Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party which was preparing to go national at the time of Minnesota’s socialist governor Floyd Olson’s untimely death… I would encourage you to check out this movement--- quite a bit comes up in a google search… besides Olson, there was Elmer Benson (U.S. Senator and Minnesota Governor) and John Bernard (U.S. Congressman) to name a few. For too long the history of this powerful movement has been suppressed and those who won’t take the time to look into this history are probably short-changing themselves in the long run.

Finally, I want to call your attention to the best book I have ever read about the most powerful movement in this country that was ever developed and spun off union organizing and the civil rights movement and created the basis for the modern peace movement… you can obtain this book at various prices ranging from a few dollars to $85.00 or get it free through you public library’s inter-library loan system. The book is, “The People’s Front” by Earl Browder, recognized as the architect of the movement which won the New Deal reforms. The “people’s front” is what you get as a progressive coalition when liberals and leftists agree to work together for social change… this has proven itself time and time again to be the only way working people achieve real, meaningful change.

Again, I am sorry I had to respond for the time-being with a general letter like this; I will respond to each and every letter I have received as I get time.

Feel free to express whatever views/suggestions/criticism you have about this.

Again, I place the open letter to Dr. Quentin Young--- along with his original letter I responded to--- below for those who called or e-mailed who had not received it.

I will be placing all of this on my blog with a link on my facebook page and you are welcome to comment. If you are not on my “friends list” just search “Alan Maki” and look for my picture with a Chocolate Lab.

Thanks, also, for telling me about all of my spelling and grammar errors--- and, no, I don’t make these mistakes to find out if people are reading what I write.

The American people are talking; let’s keep people talking about healthcare; it’s a prerequisite for action.

Thanks for your responses,

Alan

An Open Letter to Dr. Quentin Young and PNHP---

From Alan L. Maki--- Founder, Minnesotans for Peace and Social Justice

Dr. Quentin Young, Physicians for a National Health Program ;

Please let me begin by stating that those of us in Minnesota (liberal and left grassroots and rank-and-file activists inside and outside the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party who come together as progressives for real healthcare reform along what was advocated by the old socialist Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party of Floyd B. Olson, Elmer Benson and John Bernard which was torn asunder by the anti-communism initiated by Hubert H. Humphrey wielding the Communist Control Act of 1954) who have supported single-payer universal healthcare as a first step towards socialized healthcare, are at one and the same time: supportive, disappointed and dismayed with you and your organization--- PNHP; and, the position you have taken regarding healthcare that has both awakened the American people for the need for healthcare reform and pointed the general way we need to be moving towards a single-payer universal healthcare system best reflected by the Canadian example which was the compromise reached with a reactionary Canadian government then dominated by the reactionary Liberal and Conservative parties after the great Socialist leader Tommy Douglas and the Communist Dr. Norman Bethune launched the movement for socialized healthcare in Canada--- or, as the great working class leader Tim Buck, and head of the Communist Party of Canada, used to say, National Public Healthcare.

We think it is wrong that PNHP has continued to push single-payer universal healthcare as the main solution since single-payer is only one very small initial step on the road to socialized healthcare.

You and your organization continue to peddle the myth that the American people insist of “freedom of choice” and “private delivery of healthcare” which weakens the movement for real healthcare reform in this country because most people are satisfied just to have access to qualified doctors and other healthcare specialists to keep them healthy and get them well when sick.

Healthcare is a human right; not a “civil right” as some associated with PNHP are now claiming.

As a “human right” people are entitled to healthcare without any attached prerequisites of “affordability;” you need health services, you walk in and get those services required--- no questions, no fees.

Here in Roseau County, Minnesota we have articulated very simply what people living here in the wealthiest country in the world are entitled to by birth in the way of healthcare:

“No-fee/no-premium, comprehensive, all-inclusive, pre-natal to grave universal healthcare; publicly funded, publicly administered and publicly delivered.”

 PNHP makes the claim that only single-payer universal healthcare has been “kept off the table;” when, in fact, socialized healthcare has been left off the table, too.

Now is the time to kill this reactionary and regressive piece of legislation being put forward by Barack Obama and the Democrats. Let me remind you that you were a part of these “progressives for Obama” who helped dupe the people of this country into believing that Obama was something that he is not--- a friend of the people. You used your prestige as an advocate for single-payer universal healthcare to do this. We aren’t going to belabor this point at this late hour; sufficient is it to note this fact. True, you didn’t bully and badger as your buddies Carl Davidson and Tom Hayden did; but, still you helped create the “myth” of Obama being liberal or progressive in the eyes of many people. Well, now we all know just what Barack Obama is: a worthless warmonger who would rather dole out our tax-dollars to the military-financial-industrial complex fighting dirty wars in three countries while funding over 800 U.S. foreign military bases dotting the globe and keeping the Israeli killing machine rolling in carrying out its pogroms against the Palestinian people instead of creating a public healthcare system comprising 800 healthcare centers which would serve as the beginning of a public healthcare system which would eventually include the more than 30,000 community-based community and neighborhood healthcare centers that are required to provide for the healthcare needs of the American people the same way our public school system provides everyone the opportunity to learn to read and write.  

Dr. Young, what makes you believe that if we can’t teach people to read and write without this vast public institution known as our public schools, we can continue to rely on private delivery of healthcare services--- how many of us have had: “choice of teacher;” parents and students alike are satisfied with QUALIFIED teachers, just as everyone will be satisfied with qualified doctors and healthcare professionals and workers employed by a public healthcare system just like teachers receiving the same kind of pay.

You and the PNHP owe it to the American people to properly frame the debate over healthcare reform because you bungled movement building by tossing in “private delivery” of healthcare when public delivery is what is required; you then compounded your bungling by supporting Barack Obama in the manner you did that helped create a mythical figure with no association with reality.

With you being a physician, I am sure you always have found a way to tell your patients the truth about their illness; well, healthcare reform requires telling the entire truth if we are going to have a chance of solving the problem we need to understand the “cure” for what is causing the ailment: a private for profit healthcare system where everyone involved in healthcare delivery has had their greedy, corrupt fingers in the public till and in our pockets--- everyone, beginning with the profit-gouging insurance companies, HMO’s, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and, yes, even the doctors.

In the midst of this greed driven frenzy and profit orgy, we have seen socialized healthcare systems in the form of VA and the Indian Health Service, not to mention the National Public Health Service, serve the healthcare needs of people well in spite of severe underfunding by both Democrats and Republicans with these worthless bribed politicians more often than not working together to deprive these fine public institutions of funding required to serve the healthcare needs of people rather being in operation to reap maximum profits and wealth.

Public and socialized institutions in our country are many and often so taken for granted we do not even consider they are public institutions in a country where we are bombarded day-in and day-out with the fallacy that “free enterprise capitalism” is the only road to take where “capitalist markets” regulate everything successfully--- well, we have plenty of socialized public institutions operating just fine which proves these musings concocted by  high-paid Wall Street apologists to be the lies that they are just like the insurance companies that are now bombarding the airwaves with advertisements in a manner of the snake-oil salesman hawking his “cure-all” claiming that if you don’t buy it now you will be shit-out-of-luck as this most reactionary and regressive piece of legislation that has ever come down the pike out of the U.S. Congress--- and there have been some real doozies in the last 100 years--- is about to be voted on by the most well-bribed gathering of politicians beholden to the profiteers in the healthcare industry.

Here is a partial listing of our public and socialized institutions---

Every single American benefits from many socialized/public programs in this country without any complaints every single day of their lives:

·       Public schools.

·       United States Post Office.

·       Police.

·       Fire.

·       Libraries.

·       Parks and recreation.

·        Water and sewer.

·       Public transit.

·       Courts.

·       Roads, highways and bridges.

·        Power lines.

·       Sidewalks.

·       Public forests and lands.

·       Public fishing accesses. (These are very important to people here in Minnesota)

Dr. Young, I encourage you to have the courage of Frances Perkins to stand up and help initiate the struggle for real healthcare reform this country requires--- single-payer universal healthcare with a vastly expanded public healthcare system.

This fiasco is the: "Health Insurance Industry Bailout and Profit Maximization Act of 2010"

No one but the profiteers and those who have been scared and frightened are for this; everyone else is opposed to it.

Dr. Young, in the interest of unity I am requesting that you and PNHP reconsider this idea that “private delivery” of healthcare services is wanted and a requirement for healthcare because it is simply not true and it is an impediment to building the kind of movements that have so successfully won reforms of many kinds over the years. The majority of the people in this country are liberal-minded or left-wing thinking, especially among working people.

The great reforms have come as a result of liberal-minded and left-wing thinking people coming together in unity forging massive progressive coalitions to accomplish specific goals and objectives…

The American people desperately want three things more than anything:

1. An end to these dirty wars.
2. Real healthcare reform heading us towards a national public healthcare system.
3. Jobs, jobs, jobs with the enforcement of affirmative action.

We need to pull together in this country a massive progressive coalition that will fight to end these wars which will provide the money and resources to build this national public healthcare system and this will create up to ten-million new, good-paying jobs,

Peace = Healthcare reform + jobs

The “Health Insurance Industry Bailout and Profit Maximization Act of 2010” is tantamount to the doctor killing the patient. The American people are entitled to more.

We agree with you completely when you state:

The House bill, contrary to many who believe otherwise, is disastrous. And if such a thing is possible, its Senate counterpart is even worse. Both would shovel hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into the coffers of the private health insurance industry. Both would make it a federal offense, with fines, for a person to fail to buy the insurers' shoddy products.

Even so, at least 23 million people would remain uninsured under the new law. And those who have insurance would remain vulnerable to extort premium increases, not unlike Anthem Blue Cross' recently announced premium hikes of up to 39 percent in California.

While one could imagine the enactment of certain piecemeal measures that might ameliorate our condition -- e.g., a simple prohibition of insurance company denials of coverage because of pre-existing conditions -- these are precisely the stand-alone measures most stubbornly opposed by Republicans, conservative Democrats and their corporate patrons. Such concessions, in their eyes, must be linked to shoring up the very culprits who are most responsible for our health care mess.
 

The presence of the for-profit health industry -- the private health insurance conglomerate and the Big Pharma drug companies in the first place -- in the legislative process has certainly been "transparent" from the get go. Through their lobbyists and campaign contributions, they shaped a bill that would enhance their domination of our health system. They are at the root of the catastrophe that passes for health care financing in the United States today.

Hoping you will consider what I have said on behalf of Minnesotans for Peace and Social Justice--- the organization that fought for six years to win passage of a resolution supporting single-payer universal healthcare as part of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party’s “Action Agenda” because we see single-payer universal healthcare as the needed intermediary and baby step on the way to socialized healthcare.

Let’s not fear this word “socialized” healthcare; we see how Claude “Red” Pepper, the architect of modern Medicare/Medicaid, was driven from public office for so many years which held back healthcare reform in this country for decades. Of course, let us not forget, that it was Earl Browder who was the architect of the great progressive coalitions which brought liberals and the left together in these mighty winning coalitions which brought real change for the better to the lives of so many Americans.

There isn’t one single Democrat or Republican who should go unchallenged at the polls--- these enemies of the American people who have so loyally served Wall Street should be punished at the polls.

No peace; no votes.

No real healthcare reform; no votes.

No jobs without the enforcement of affirmative action; no votes.

In a democracy this is called “accountability.”

People listened to your advice about the “choice of doctor” they should choose to solve what ails this country; on the basis of your opinion they chose Barack Obama. Quite frankly, your suggestion for a doctor turned out to be nothing more than a slick health insurance salesman practicing medicine without a license and running a scam.

Dr. Young, you really did make a bad referral. You relied on a crooked and corrupt Congressman like John Conyers to carry your diagnosis to the “doctor” and you allowed a gutless little twerp like Dennis Kucinich who sees flying saucers and faints at the slightest smell of gas or the sight of blood to assist the unlicensed “doctor” you chose.

Alan L. Maki

Founder,

Minnesotans for Peace and Social Justice

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell Phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Please check out my blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

Subject: Put Single Payer Back on the Table -- By Dr. Quentin Young (Huffington Post, Feb. 22, 2010) Date: Saturday, March 20, 2010, 1:53 PM Put Single Payer Back on the Table By Dr. Quentin Young The Huffington Post February 22, 2010 One year after its much-ballyhooed launch, the Obama administration's approach to health reform is now in serious disarray. The president's health care summit on Feb. 25 is being portrayed as a last ditch bid to find some common ground with his "just say no" Republican opposition. He also faces an increasingly wary group of disgruntled Democrats, whose memory of the Massachusetts massacre -- the election of a Republican to Sen. Edward Kennedy's seat -- remains fresh. The summit proceedings, which will be televised in the name of "transparency," will no doubt be laden with a formidable amount of stagecraft. They will be preceded by the unveiling of the president's own legislative proposal -- presumably the odious Senate bill with some tweaks -- a few days before. But it's almost certain that this latest White House initiative, undertaken with the stated goal of salvaging and passing at least some elements of the stalled congressional bills, is foredoomed.   The House bill, contrary to many who believe otherwise, is disastrous. And if such a thing is possible, its Senate counterpart is even worse. Both would shovel hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into the coffers of the private health insurance industry. Both would make it a federal offense, with fines, for a person to fail to buy the insurers' shoddy products. Even so, at least 23 million people would remain uninsured under the new law. And those who have insurance would remain vulnerable to extort premium increases, not unlike Anthem Blue Cross' recently announced premium hikes of up to 39 percent in California. While one could imagine the enactment of certain piecemeal measures that might ameliorate our condition -- e.g., a simple prohibition of insurance company denials of coverage because of pre-existing conditions -- these are precisely the stand-alone measures most stubbornly opposed by Republicans, conservative Democrats and their corporate patrons. Such concessions, in their eyes, must be linked to shoring up the very culprits who are most responsible for our health care mess.   The presence of the for-profit health industry -- the private health insurance conglomerate and the Big Pharma drug companies in the first place -- in the legislative process has certainly been "transparent" from the get go. Through their lobbyists and campaign contributions, they shaped a bill that would enhance their domination of our health system. They are at the root of the catastrophe that passes for health care financing in the United States today. Of course, the conspicuous omission in the debate has been single-payer national health insurance proposal, an improved Medicare for All. This was assured on the Senate side when the powerful chairman of its Finance Committee, Max Baucus, D-Mont., informed the world that everything was on the table but single payer. How the chairman of a congressional committee, however powerful, can set the terms of debate in a democratic society by excluding such a popular and well-substantiated solution is hard to rationalize. Baucus did, of course, prevail, and what came out of the Senate was execrable. Like the House bill, it fails the three tests of genuine reform: universal coverage, quality improvement and cost control. One can reasonably suspect that President Obama now wants something -- anything -- to pass in Congress as evidence of the fulfillment of his campaign pledge to accomplish health care reform. But if he looks to the House and Senate bills as the starting point, his efforts will be in vain. It's not too late for the president to re-embrace his earlier support for single-payer national health insurance and set the nation on the right path. Were he to lay out the facts to the American people and provide energetic leadership for this eminently rational proposal, he would get strong, grassroots support from the public. We're now spending $8,000 per capita annually on health care, $2.5 trillion in total. That's nearly one-fifth of our GDP. Yet our health outcomes rank among the lowest in the industrialized world. Some 45,000 people die each year chiefly because they have no health insurance, and medical bills and illness are now linked to nearly two-thirds of personal bankruptcies. This reality in the richest country in the world is unnecessary and intolerable. I suggest the president look to an improved and expanded Medicare program as the solution. Medicare, which was enacted in 1965 and which has served our elderly and the totally disabled so well, is a solid foundation to build upon. Enactment of an improved Medicare for All would save our nation $400 billion annually by eliminating the bureaucracy and paperwork inflicted on our system by the private insurers. That's more than enough to provide universal, comprehensive care to everyone and to eliminate all co-pays and deductibles. A single-payer system would also allow us to rein in costs and better allocate resources. We have a talented health care workforce. But to fully unlock their potential, we need to get out from under the greedy dictates of the health industry. Mr. President, it's time to put single payer back on the table. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-quentin-young/put-single-payer-back-on_b_471811.html Physicians for a National Health Program 29 E Madison Suite 602, Chicago, IL 60602 Phone (312) 782-6006 | Fax: (312) 782-6007 www.pnhp.org | info@pnhp.org © PNHP 2010

Alan L. Maki

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell Phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Please check out my blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

Olson, Persell, Bye endorsed by Senate 4 DFL

Former United States Senator Mark Dayton, now running for Minnesota governor, has refused to participate in the Minnesota DFL's nominating process... calling the process "rigged."

Nicole Beaulieu and Gregory Paquin found out for themselves just how rigged and racist the process is.

Everyone is wondering if they will now do like Mark Dayton has already said he will do and move on into the primary election where voters will choose the candidates which is the only democratic and fair method as former United States Senator Mark Dayton has pointed out.

All of Minnesota is looking to see how this election plays out in Senate District 4 and House District 4-A because Minnesota voters have had it with the mainstream Democrats and Republicans who they view, rightfully so, as nothing but a bunch of politicians bought off by the insurance, banking, mining, forestry and gaming industries without one iota of concern for solving the problems people are experiencing. Let's hope Nicole Beaulieu and Greg Paquin follow the lead of Mark Dayton and force these corporate bribed politicians like Olson and Persell out of the race... let the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association organize their own political party and see how many votes their candidates receive from Minnesota voters. Democracy has been perverted to no end with the entrance of the money from these corporate lobbyists.

The political process is so corrupt, John McCarthy, the white man who heads up the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association and has become fabulously wealthy off the poverty of Native American Indians who are being used as a pool of cheap labor for this highly profitable casino industry had to personally take charge of his hand-picked candidates along with those who nominated Persell and Olson.

Who nominated Persell and Olson? None other then Skip Finn is widely viewed as the most crooked and corrupt politician in recent Minnesota history! Finn was kicked out of the Minnesota State legislature for his dirty, corrupt underhanded dealings--- an outright crook nominated John Persell and Mary Olson... this is how pathetically crooked and corrupt the Minnesota DFL nominating process has become... Skip Finn is the embodiment of this thoroughly racist and corrupt political process.

When an apple is rotten to the core, you chuck it without taking another bite... just like Mark Dayton has done.

Alan L. Maki


Highlights from the article below:

From Nicole Beaulieu:

Beaulieu said she sees certain needs of American Indians that aren’t being addressed by current politicians or tribal leaders. Coming from a “struggling family” of seven, she said she took a part-time job to help pay the bills.

“There are many needs that need to be met, and that is one reason I want to be your representative,” she said.



From Greg Paquin:

“Our people are … left out of it,” he said, adding that there is no interest in enforcing affirmative action laws. “We have tribal leaders today, but I never see them get out there and say, ‘Hey, Minnesota. Hey, Mr. Persell, Ms. Olson — we want jobs for our people, and not just behind the fence. When a legislator gets a vote from an Indian behind the fence, he thinks it’s a sovereign nation and it’s the tribal government’s responsibility to provide economic development.

“No,” he continued. “When they take a vote from an Indian on a reservation, they owe us all to be treated equally and that’s what this is about – equality.”

Olson, Persell, Bye endorsed by Senate 4 DFL

Published March 21 2010 Bemidji Pioneer

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100017081/group/News/

Olson, Persell, Bye endorsed by Senate 4 DFL

WALKER — Two incumbents and a second-time candidate were endorsed here Saturday morning by Senate District 4 Democrats.

By: Brad Swenson, Bemidji Pioneer



WALKER — Two incumbents and a second-time candidate were endorsed here Saturday morning by Senate District 4 Democrats.

Sen. Mary Olson, DFL-Bemidji, and Rep. John Persell, DFL-Bemidji, were both overwhelming endorsed for second terms, despite being challenged on American Indian issues.

Meg Bye of rural Pequot Lakes was unopposed for endorsement for a second run against Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker, who will be seeking his seventh term for House 4B.

Olson was challenged by Greg Paquin of Bemidji, a Red Lake Band member, who said both Olson and Persell aren’t doing enough to ensure that American Indian tradesmen get jobs. Olson, however, won the endorsement with a 68-3 vote of Senate 4 delegates.

Nicole Beaulieu of Bemidji, a Leech Lake Band member, sought to wrest the House 4A endorsement from Persell, saying it’s time for American Indians to become politically active and take legislative seats to represent native communities. Persell won the endorsement for a second term with a 42-4 vote of 4A delegates.

“I think we saw democracy in action, as we do at the Capitol when people come down with strong views, wanting to make sure their voices are heard,” Olson said after the endorsements.

“That’s something we encourage in the DFL, and we encourage in democracy,” she said. “And I think we heard some concerns raised that are valid concerns, and I think that’s always a good thing for the process.”

Neither Paquin nor Beaulieu said if they would challenge the endorsements in the Aug. 10 DFL primary.
Bye was unopposed for endorsement, and was unanimously endorsed by 25 House 4B delegates at the convention held in the Walker-Akeley-Hackensack High School.

“This is going to be a very, very important election,” said Olson, who will be seeking a two-year term because of pending reapportionment. “This is really going to make a difference and an opportunity for Minnesota to decide whether we affirm our traditional values, whether we affirm three separate branches of government acting as three separate branches of government, whether we affirm the importance that we place on having equal opportunity for all of our citizens, whether they’re native American citizens, whether they’re rural Minnesota citizens, or whomever they may be.”

Olson also includes having equal access to a quality education across the state, not just in property-wealthy areas of the suburban metro area; equality in funding for health care so all Minnesotans have access to quality and affordable health care; and whether to deregulate everything and let consumers fend for themselves.

“All of these issues are going to be on the ballot in Minnesota this year,” Olson said. “Which direction we go on those issues is going to depend on how involved we get in this process.”

Persell, seeking his second term, said the rest of this session will be tough and one where not much is expected to get done with a Republican governor who won’t raise taxes. The office is open on the November ballot, as Gov. Tim Pawlenty isn’t seeking a third term.

“Things are very trying down there,” Persell said of the session in St. Paul. “The anger … is on the surface. If you read the papers, it probably came out of me a couple of times. I try very hard not to show my anger.”

The Bemidji Democrat was referring to remarks he made at a town hall meeting that he had looked into how to impeach Pawlenty, and also for those who think the business climate is better in South Dakota, he’d pay them $10 toward a ticket to that state.

“But these are really tough times,” he said. “God, I wish we had a veto-proof majority. I’m not going to say some of the things that are on the tip of my tongue about that, but I did talk to some of my colleagues the other day and said in all seriousness I was going to get a peach tree and plant it outside the governor’s office.

“I welcome this endorsement, and I trust that you will find it in your hearts to send me back,” he added. “I’m excited to go back again; I hope I’m fortunate to go back in 2011 and sit in the House of Representatives with a Democrat governor, a majority in each of the houses … so we can start to rebuild Minnesota.”

The rest of the session won’t be pretty, Persell said. “Those who really need help out here are hurting, and we know that, but we can’t come up with any new revenue with the governor, the way it is right now. We’re just going to have to commit ourselves … to rebuilding Minnesota, getting education back to the 15 to 20 pupils range (in the classroom) instead of 30-plus.”

Beaulieu said she sees certain needs of American Indians that aren’t being addressed by current politicians or tribal leaders. Coming from a “struggling family” of seven, she said she took a part-time job to help pay the bills.

“There are many needs that need to be met, and that is one reason I want to be your representative,” she said. “I want to commend John Persell for his dedication … I see some of the things he does for my people, although being a native American myself and growing up with these struggles and things that are not met in this community.”

A main reason to campaign, Beaulieu said, is to break the influence of gangs in Cass Lake and Bemidji. “The gang culture in our communities is so strong, and is one of the many struggles we deal with on the reservation.”

Beaulieu says she wants change for her people. “I think it’s about time that a native American gets involved in this political process — it’s long overdue.”

Olson and Persell have done wonderful things for the native people, Beaulieu said, “but they are not native. I don’t know what it’s like to be a non-native, but I’m sure it’s much easier than being a native American.”

Beaulieu said it was not her goal to just represent American Indians but to represent Democrats.
The political process is open to everybody, said Paquin, who sought the Senate 4 endorsement. But not much has changed for American Indian communities, he added.

Last year, he formed a native American labor union to try to increase job opportunities, but said he found a brick wall with the Bemidji Regional Event Center and U.S. Pipeline working the Enbridge pipeline as contractors wouldn’t hire his referrals. In another case, there was a refusal to recognize Paquin’s union.

“Our people are … left out of it,” he said, adding that there is no interest in enforcing affirmative action laws. “We have tribal leaders today, but I never see them get out there and say, ‘Hey, Minnesota. Hey, Mr. Persell, Ms. Olson — we want jobs for our people, and not just behind the fence. When a legislator gets a vote from an Indian behind the fence, he thinks it’s a sovereign nation and it’s the tribal government’s responsibility to provide economic development.

“No,” he continued. “When they take a vote from an Indian on a reservation, they owe us all to be treated equally and that’s what this is about – equality.”

He said that despite a billion-dollar American Indian casino industry in Minnesota, taxpayers still have to pay huge sums for welfare programs to American Indians. “Something’s wrong,” Paquin said.

One of Olson’s seconders was Eugene “Ribs” Whitebird, a Leech Lake Tribal Council member, who laid out numerous bills that Olson carried for Indian people, and that she is a member of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.

Harold “Skip” Finn, a former state senator and a Leech Lake Band member, seconded Persell’s nomination. Finn said Persell “has demonstrated an unwavered commitment to those less powerful, to those who have no other voice in the process — the children, the elderly and the poor.”

Working his career with American Indian tribes in environmental consulting, Persell has “also demonstrated an unwavering allegiance to the goal of one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” Finn said.

Bye, unopposed for endorsement for 4B, said more people than ever have no access to health care. More and more of Minnesota’s lakes and streams have been listed as impaired. And the state’s budget continues to spiral.

“Anger and disappointment is widespread among us,” said the former Duluth City Council member who retired to rural Pequot Lakes. ‘It has brought out the worst in many of us., as we throw verbal fire bombs at one another.”

It’s time for Minnesotans to get back into the game and do better, she said. “We still care; you still care. We still care about the state of our state and our nation. We still care about the future of our children and their children.”

Minnesotans still care to provide an education system with access to all and health care system with affordable access to all, she said.

“Democrats do not believe that transferring more wealth to the already wealthy is the way toward a healthy economy,” Bye said. “The experiences of the last two years has proven us right.”

Nicole Beaulieu opposes Persell for 4A bid

Link to article: http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100016853/

“It’s time to go back and fix the things we left behind so we can move forward in unity for a better Minnesota.”

Nicole Beaulieu

Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party Candidate for District 4-A

Published Sunday March 14, 2010

Beaulieu opposes Persell for 4A bid

Nicole Beaulieu of Bemidji, a student and Ojibwe language teacher, filed recently as a Democratic candidate for the House 4A seat held by Rep. John Persell, DFL-Bemidji.

By: Brad Swenson, Bemidji Pioneer

Nicole Beaulieu of Bemidji, a student and Ojibwe language teacher, filed recently as a Democratic candidate for the House 4A seat held by Rep. John Persell, DFL-Bemidji.

She’s running “because I know we aren’t being represented as well as we can be. It’s time to go back and fix the things we left behind so we can move forward in unity for a better Minnesota.”

She filed March 4 with the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board as a DFL candidate for House 4A, although a three-page news release last week didn’t indicate which party.

In it, she leveled criticisms at both Persell and Bemidji Mayor Richard Lehmann, who a week ago declared his candidacy as a Republican for House 4A.

“Both John Persell and Mayor Lehmann have repeatedly failed the native community of Bemidji area by excluding our needs and special problems resulting from systemic and institutionalized racism from all matters or events that are meant to demonstrate concern for our shared community and citizens,” Beaulieu wrote.

“Neither Mayor Lehmann nor Rep. John Persell do anything about helping people living in poverty as a result of the lack of enforcement of affirmative action which is only one of the many reasons why I wish to be your 4A House of Representative chair holder,” she said.

Beaulieu did not return an e-mail asking for more information.

Born in Duluth, Beaulieu grew up in Bemidji and spent summers with her grandmother on the Leech Lake Reservation. She was graduated from Bemidji High School in 2005, and earned an associate’s degree in Anishinaabe studies from Leech Lake Tribal College in 2008. Currently she is a student at Bemidji State University and teaches Ojibwe language at Leech Lake Tribal College.

“I will work to improve the relationship between natives and non-natives. I would like to change the perspective of the native and non-natives opinion of one another by working hand in hand in all matters we engage ourselves in within our community,” she wrote. “… it saddens me to think of my own daughter exposed to the harsh realities of institutionalized racism of teachers and non-native students alike, which I have endured …”

She recalls growing up in a family of seven, making use of government programs and the food shelf, and said she would work to ensure those programs are available to all in need and entitled to receive.

“Throughout my candidacy I will make the recognition of native American issues in this city a priority along with several other important downfalls of our community,” Beaulieu wrote. “I want the people of the state of Minnesota to know that we are citizens too and we can represent our state just as well as anybody else. We want fair opportunities at whatever it is a native American may pursue as an opportunity to raise above and beyond discrimination.”

In these economic times, government programs need to be expanded, not cut back, she said, adding that it is “interesting Mayor Lehmann chose to build the Bemidji Regional Event Center rather than create the kinds of programs to help the people of Bemidji to cope better with life here.”

Beaulieu wrote that she is anti-abortion, “but why are we worrying about the unborn when the living are going without jobs, going hungry, going without adequate health care, or adequate education?”

She disputes Lehmann’s economic solution to jumpstart the economy by allowing the private sector to expand with less government regulation.

“It is because of this over-emphasis of doling out taxpayer money to private industry which is largely responsible for the present state of the economy,” Beaulieu wrote. “Massive public works programs will create jobs and stimulate the economy. Mayor Lehmann’s ‘trickle down’ theory of economics has been proven not to work.”

She also advocates for a public health program providing everyone with free health care, as is the goal of the Indian Health Service for American Indians, would create thousands of jobs in Minnesota.

She sides with Senate 4 DFL candidate Greg Paquin that the city failed to use affirmative action policies in hiring for the BREC, a decision the city says went to the construction manager and which there is no formal policy as no federal funds are involved.

“It saddens me when we have to utilize these laws meant to open up doors of opportunity for my people. But, the door has been slammed in our faces, once again, because of lack of enforcement of affirmative action,” she said.

Beaulieu is part of an effort to petition the United Nations human rights commissioner in Geneva to review human rights within the United States, including that of American Indians.

“I am doing this in hopes of giving our matters global attention so that those that create these injustices can no longer hide their corrupt agenda which has been devaluing the quality of life of my people for a very long time,” Beaulieu wrote. “Native American aboriginals are not represented by present Democrats from Senate District 4 or House Districts 4A or 4B.”

In filing her Nicole Beaulieu Committee, she lists herself as campaign chairwoman and treasurer. She reports she will not collect a public subsidy for her campaign.

Lehmann has yet to file a campaign committee with the state board.

Tags: news, local, politics, elections

For Nicole Beaulieu’s complete statement, check out her blog and bookmark Nicole’s blog to keep abreast of campaign activity:

http://anishinaabecandidate.blogspot.com

Also check out Gregory W. Paquin’s blog:

http://nativeamericanindianlaborunion12.blogspot.com/

MN DFL Senate Candidate District 4

Contact info:

1511 Roosevelt Road SE.
Bemidji, Minnesota , 56601
Home: 218-209-3157
Cell: 651-503-9493

Please distribute this blog posting as widely as possible. Minnesota has one of the largest Native American Indian populations in the United States and there is not one single Native American Indian sitting in the Minnesota State Legislature--- this must change.

Yours in struggle and solidarity,

Alan L. Maki

Director of Organizing,

Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell Phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Please check out my blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

Let’s talk about the politics and economics of livelihood for real change.