Rep. Lyndon Carlson (D-45B) is again in the top of per diem (daily expenses) earners for 2008. He charged $13,860, just below fellow DFLers Tom Rukavina. Speaker Margaret Kelliher and Alan Juhnke.

Senator Ann Rest (D-45) made the top five in the senate, earning $15,936. With other line items, her total for the year reached $20,775.06.

Early this year, WCCO's Pat Kessler explained the money grab:

IN FACT, officially, the legislature meets for about 3 to 5 months every year, and lawmakers get paid $31,140 every year. They also receive daily expense payments called per diem, which originally was meal money, but now can boost their income by more than 50 percent.

It's TRUE.  Lawmakers can get up to $96 a day in the Senate and up to $77 a day in the House. They can receive per diem seven days a week during the session, even when they're not physically at the Capitol. And it counts toward their pensions.

No receipts are necessary and no questions are asked.

You can download House and Senate per diem earnings at the WCCO article. Since we taxpayers pay their salaries (and per diems), it's time we ask questions - then unseat them both in 2010.

Nancy in Crystal wrote this letter to the editor in a recent Sun Post, after she saw a "Y" next to Senator Rest's name in the last minutes of the 2009 session:

I was deeply disappointed that my state Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, voted to push through a bill that would raise our taxes by $3.6 billion during the last minutes of the Senate session May 18.

The lengthy bill (HF 2323/SF 2074) included $1.2 million in grants for TV and film producers and $200,000 for a youth environmental education program (which regional parks offer already).

Our DFL leaders appear willfully ignorant that we're in a recession. Or is it that they don't care? Struggling taxpayers must be relieved that the bill was vetoed with no override chances this year. We are also spared from a special session where Rest would no doubt try again to pass across-the-board tax increases (including ending the local property tax cap).

Sen. Rest held several town meetings where I, along with others, asked her to vote no on taxes and unnecessary spending. Sadly, she seemed to have suffered from selective listening - ignoring us in favor of DFL special interests and hurriedly voting yes to raise taxes in the last minutes of the 2009 session.

Please remember this in 2010: Ann Rest demonstrated taxation without hesitation.

SD-45 resident Todd M. suggested some excellent ideas in his letter to the editor to the MN Sun-Post Feb. 26:

At the start of the 2009 legislative session, I received Sen. Ann Rest's Weekly Update e-mail. At the time, the projected state deficit was $4 billion. Today, it's $7 billion. Herein are my deficit reduction ideas.

FIFO: First In, First Out - an accounting term to quantify inventory control, whether finished goods or raw materials. This accounting protocol has a cousin named LIFO: Last In, First Out.

I believe the Legislature needs to employ this technique - LIFO - whereby all increased spending over the last three years needs to experience a line item veto by either the Legislature or the governor.

We had a $2.2 billion budget surplus at the start of last year's session, but due to the recession and the Legislature's insistence to spend money, we are now faced with a $7 billion deficit.

First, all new spending programs instituted during the past three years need to be eliminated. We can no longer afford them. Those programs that were last added in the budget need to be the programs first cut out of the budget. Second, simply employ an across the board spending cut of 10 percent.

This will achieve a balanced budget very quickly. If help is needed in identifying which programs to eliminate, I will be happy to serve. Then, once fiscal stability is reached, we need to ensure that future spending generates a return on investment; if not, then that expenditure needs to be eliminated.

Election 2010 is right around the corner.

From Minnesota Majority:

Minnesota DFL legislative leaders have introduced a transportation bill that would raise taxes by $8.4 Billion over 10 years. This video captures highlights of the press conference as well as the reactions of conservative leaders.




Tell our DFL legislators how you feel at their upcoming Town Meetings February 23, March 29 and May 3 at the Crystal Community Center. This is another reason why democrats must return to the minority in Minnesota!