To the Cottage Grove Journal, As the session ends, there is a sense of relief that the state avoided a shutdown but no thanks to Republican House leader Kurt Daudt. You see, Daudt tried to filibuster the deal using all of the Republican state representatives at his disposal. Truthfully, Daudt has a history of being a real partisan and using all Republican state representatives including the locals to get what he wants. He also has attacked Iron Range Democratic legislators in order to increase the house numbers of Republicans and refused to support a deal when he was the speaker of the house unless power was decreased in the state auditor’s office. Moreover, Daudt has meddled in local elections for ten years because of his ties to former state representative John Kriesel essentially co-authoring the Republican redistricting maps in 2011 which would have help Kriesel win re-election which were vetoed by the Governor. The two co-headlined a local Republican fundraiser in 2016. Additionally, Daudt wanted the heavily partisan Derrick Lehrke in the state house whose behavior polarized the Cottage Grove City Council for the four years he was on the city council. Daudt wished Lehrke good luck the day before the 2012 election on social media which Lehrke lost. However, five more partisan Republican house representatives have their caucus which means one of them could replace Daudt as leader if Republicans ever gain control of the state house again. So please remember who these state representatives are actually supporting when they are in office.

William Cory Labovitch South Saint Paul, Minnesota