"He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left."
Matthew 25:33

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Seifert Continues to Stretch the Truth



Despite being confronted on his claim to have been the chief author of the Woman's Right to Know legislation, Marty Seifert and his campaign continues to deceive both voters and delegates with this boast, leaving them with a false impression. On a recent lit piece to Republican Party activists that hit our mailboxes on Friday, January 22nd, Marty again makes the claim that he was the chief author.

Representative Mary Liz Holberg is well known and respected for this landmark legislation. She worked endless hours on this legislation and introduced four different bills to accommodate all the cosponsors to Woman's Right to Know. To take the credit for her work is a poor form of disrespect to legislative perspective.

Marty Seifert has been traveling throughout the state since announcing his candidacy for governor making the claim that he was chief author. After being confronted on this issue, he has done little more than acknowledge Rep. Holberg for her work as chief author of the Woman's Right to Know legislation. Despite the fact that his campaign has promised to drop this issue from future lit pieces as claimed on Wednesday, January 20th, "Marty had the Woman's Right to Know stricken from his new lit piece out of respect for you," he is continuing to take credit for the work of others.


Another claim Marty makes on this piece is "Chief Author, Minnesota Sovereignty (10th Amendment) Bill." Marty can lay claim to his bill, HF997 which is nothing more than a resolution reaffirming states rights under the 10th Amendment of the US Constitution. Tom Emmer authored HF998, which is virtually identical to HF997, but, Tom Emmer takes it one step further with the introduction of HF 2376, known as the Firearm Freedom Bill,

(1) The tenth amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees to the states
and their people all powers not granted to the federal government elsewhere in the
Constitution and reserves to the state and people of Minnesota certain powers as they were
understood at the time that Minnesota was admitted to statehood in 1858. The guaranty
of those powers is a matter of contract between the state and people of Minnesota and
the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon
and adopted by Minnesota and the United States in 1858.

Tom Emmer also authored HF171, which is known as the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Bill. This bill calls for a vote on a new amendment in our State Constitution that would declare all Minnesotan citizens right to freely choose the health care they desire. This too is a bill aimed at our 10th Amendment rights under the US Constitution.

One other claim on this lit piece of Marty's that I must point out, it was Tom Emmer who was the chief author of HF2579 which would require that voters present a valid picture ID to vote. Marty Seifert was not even a coauthor on this bill so I fail to see his support for this.

As a delegate, and a conservative activist, I will keep a close eye on all claims made by candidates leading up to the November election. Honesty and integrity are top priority to win my vote this Fall.

4 comments:

Eric said...

Note also that Emmer's sovereignty bill was submitted first, but somehow got numbered after Seifert's bill.

Anonymous said...

This would make a great op-ed piece.

1ScottRep said...

Your statement says it all: “Honesty and integrity are top priority to win my vote this Fall.”
I believe integrity begins with how money much a legislator demands for their presence or when they are not present! The leader of the Tax Payer League has indicated that legislators accepting per diem payments rather than expense reimbursement points out one way to pad one's government compensation. Is Representative Emmer proud of taking per diem payments seven days a week including holidays during the legislative sessions? Does he really have legitimate legislative expenses on Holidays and Sundays? Who are these guys really working for?
Tom Rees

Bill Jungbauer said...

Here it is. A comparison between Tom Emmer and Marty Seifert of the per diem taken and their ranking among House members based on how much they took for the last five years.

2009
Marty Seifert, 28th, $11,473.00
Tom Emmer, 83rd, $9,240.00

2008
Marty Seifert, 24th, $8,767.00
Tom Emmer, 96th, $6,039.00

2007
Marty Seifert, 18th, $12,507.00
Tom Emmer, 63rd, $10,846.00

2006
Marty Seifert, 20th, $6,930.00
Tom Emmer, 43rd, $6,336.00

2005
Marty Seifert, 65th, $9,834.00
Tom Emmer, 30th, 11,086.00

As you can see, Tom Emmer is a fast learner. His take of per diem continually drops while Marty's has always increases. 2008 for example, Tom ranked 96th out of 134 House members and he is a fair distance from home.