Audrey responds to “Budget Surplus” message, Dec. 4, 2011

 “Budget Surplus!” – Not Really

 It’s been raining for 10 years. Suddenly, there’s an hour of sunshine. A group quickly organizes to tell everyone they made the sun come out.

How quickly some take credit for a good turn of events. The problem is they rarely take responsibility and  are typically the same people who blame others for a bad turn of events.

 Let’s take a more informative, some might say “truthful,” look at Budget Surplus! an announcement sent to us by state majority-party legislators.

1. The day we learned of an unanticipated $876 million, buried in the news was the fact that we also have a projected $1.3-$2.6 billion budget deficit. Personally, I’d put away the party hats and balloons.
2. Minnesota has borrowed from several sources including $2.8 billion from our schools, the highest level of borrowing in our state’s history.
3. The $876 million will not go toward education. State law requires the money be used to pay back Minnesota’s depleted cash account and budget reserve so the state can operate.

According to the authors of Budget Surplus!  it was their cost-cutting measures that brought about the unanticipated $876 million.  However, the $876 million came from two areas each fought against: taxes and healthcare reform.  Increased tax collections make up 77% of the $876 million; most of the remaining 23% from healthcare reforms.

The authors also claim that we will retain a surplus unless the Euro is devalued. An unaddressed deficit, uncontrolled borrowing, and the accounting gimmicks and political discourse that continue to tarnish the state’s credit rating will hurt us more.

 We need long-term, priority-based, responsible, transparent and accountable fiscal planning, not more political rhetoric and accounting gimmicks.

Sure, enjoy a few moments of sunshine but keep your eye on those persistent dark clouds.  Next we need to discuss the highest increase in property taxes in our state’s history. Mine went up 6.7%.

-Audrey

Audrey Britton For State Representative 2012
Plymouth and Medicine Lake
www.brittonforhouse.org
Twitter @brittonforhouse
Facebook Britton For House
12500 53rd Ave North, Plymouth, MN 55442
(612) 807-0311 cell / (763) 559-6601 home

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September 8, 2011

Audrey Britton Announces Candidacy for the
Minnesota Legislature
And
2011 Legislative Session Recap

Dear Friends,

It is with a sense of honor and a call to service that I announce my candidacy for the Minnesota legislature 2012 elections. My vision remains the same as when I announced in February 2010. However…

…my resolve has increased tenfold.

What has happened this legislative session cannot go unaddressed:  I am prepared, with every fiber of my being, to stand in our Capitol and challenge every legislator to focus on our priorities, eliminate political favoritism that costs Minnesota taxpayers billions and defend our rights and freedoms. Our work for the 2012 elections begins today. Please walk with me through a session recap and consider a donation to my campaign.

Our Priorities: After speaking with thousands of Minnesotans, we agreed on our priorities:  sound fiscal management, jobs and economic growth, and education while still caring for the most vulnerable among us.  This is what has made Minnesota a great place for families, individuals and businesses.

We were promised a “laser-like focus” on our budget crisis yet far more time, money and public goodwill was expended on bills to turn personal ideology into law, diminish civil rights and thwart public participation in our government. Here are just a few of the thousands of bills introduced this year:

• End pay equity for women
• Limit the rights of minorities
• Slash higher education funding to 1993 levels
• Eliminate funding for special education
• Remove background checks for gun purchases
• Eliminate choice for women and girls without regard to circumstances • Secede from the union including printing state money
• Eliminate environmental protections
• Implement a fire sale of state land and log our state parks’ 200-year-old trees
• Fund pet projects, i.e., the restoration of a grain elevator, handouts to cherry-picked businesses, social-issues license plates, etc.

Our Budget: The public demanded a fair and balanced approach to solving our budget crisis but instead we were given more accounting gimmicks and spending habits that led to one of the worst budget deficits in the nation. Legislators continued to seek funding for pet-projects while eager to cut services for our citizens who are elderly, disabled, destitute, and veterans.

Expensive, partisan “estimators” were hired to replace professional nonpartisan state-budget professionals. These “estimators” were never able to provide a realistic response to the Governor’s February budget proposal.  On the House floor a legislator, based on his “gut feeling,” dismissed professionally-prepared fiscal analysis and claimed that “costs could just be absorbed.” He had no data and had held no conversations to back his claim…

…We need to replace magical thinking with fiscal responsibility and accountability

Education:  Instead of repaying schools for money borrowed last session as promised, legislators passed bills to borrow more. They also proposed eliminating special education funding and did little to address Minnesota’s achievement gap, the worst in the nation.

The House passed bills to cut higher education funding to 1993 levels. Meanwhile employers tell me they are in desperate need of an educated workforce. Many are going outside Minnesota to find engineers, computer programmers and medical researchers. At a recent University of Minnesota Imaging Center presentation, success was credited to Minnesota’s “medical alley” – a crossroads of business partnerships, education, technology, and medical research…

…An educated workforce is essential to a strong economy

Jobs and the Economy:  Of the thousands of bills this session, a small handful were related to solving Minnesota’s fiscal crisis and getting people back to work. One legislator even proposed extending an expensive, failed program for businesses in his district – a program funded by taxpayers with little or no effect on the economy. (The program, riddled with lawsuits, has cost $20,000 per job created.)…

…Spending must be focused on our priorities and tied to measurable outcomes

Civility and Our Rights:  This video exemplifies a disconcerting trend of incivility at the Capitol and attempts to suppress Freedom of Speech. Members of the public must be allowed to disagree with elected officials free from fear of interrogation, public humiliation and being denied their right to testify at public hearings. At another hearing, Jeff Wilfahrt and I worked to have a staff person removed who was patrolling the aisles, provoking and intimidating those who had come to testify….

…Legislators are accountable to the people who elected them

On April 28, my opponent introduced a bill 1) allowing legislators to disregard public input and testimony when crafting legislation, and 2) to keep legislative work, such as redistricting maps, hidden from public view. These bills defy participatory government and Freedom of Information…

…Public participation in government is our right and it must be encouraged and welcomed

Equal Rights for all U.S. Citizens:  On May 20, a well-known hate group leader was welcomed to the House floor to give the day’s opening prayer.  Later the Speaker of the House expunged the official state records of this incident.  One violation addressed by crafting another violation. Together, we asked the records be restored. That process has begun…

…We need to restore integrity to the legislature

This hate-group leader supports the “execution of gays” and blames homosexuals for the Holocaust among other vile remarks. Private organizations may condemn or condone but it is the duty of elected officials to uphold and protect equal rights for all U.S. citizens. Never may the majority vote on the rights of a minority. Currently 515 laws discriminate against those in same-sex relationships…

…It is the duty of elected officials to uphold and protect equal rights for all US citizens

This session saw an unprecedented attack on women’s rights.  Bills were introduced to end pay-equity and make many legal health services illegal to provide. One bill abolished women’s (and a girl’s) choice no matter the circumstance, including in cases of violent crimes and when the mother’s life is in jeopardy.  Simultaneously, efforts continue to limit  reproductive health education…

…The fight for women’s rights will continue

Guns: Thanks to those who joined me in speaking out against a bill to end state background checks that would allow gang members and some criminals to purchase guns. Your concerns were echoed by all law enforcement agencies and the bill did not pass.

Our environment: Together we helped ensure important aquatic invasive species (AIS) language became law. However several other important environmental initiatives were rolled back and our legislators spent many hours debating the existence of climate change. (Read Merchants of Doubt.) We need more moderate legislators to keep the balance in place and to explore alternatives sources of energy.

This is a critical time in Minnesota’s history. You may find the actions in our legislature difficult to fathom. I did. My opponent and our current legislator supported it all. The foundation on which we stand was threatened.  As a wife, mother, businessperson, citizen and lifelong volunteer born and raised in Minnesota’s western suburbs, I will bring an experienced, passionate, energetic, focused and representative voice to the Capitol.

I am willing to work 7 days a week but need your assistance to help fund the ads, mailings and leaflets that are a reality of campaigns. Please consider a $20, $50, $75 or $100/per voter donation to my campaign.

Sincerely,

-Audrey

Audrey Britton For State Representative 2012
Plymouth and Medicine Lake
www.brittonforhouse.org
Twitter @brittonforhouse
Facebook: Britton For House
12500 53rd Ave North, Plymouth, MN 55442
(612) 807-0311 cell / (763) 559-6601 home