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Mr. Expedient, Collin Peterson:

At first blush, Peterson’s vote appears to be a demonstration in bipartisanship. He seems to be putting aside party politics in an effort to fix a problem, acknowledging Republicans’ complaints about Obamacare’s unintended consequences. But this would be giving Peterson too much credit. If he really believed in addressing the flawed nature of Obamacare, he would have done more to stop Obamacare’s implementation. He could have joined Republicans in their efforts to stop Obamacare’s implementation during the government shutdown in October, for example. But that wouldn’t have been a prudent move. That wouldn’t have been expedient.

But now that the you-know-what has hit the fan, Peterson is making sure to distance himself from the Democratic Party’s sinking ship called U.S.S. 2014 Election. He has deftly navigated through the Obamacare controversy, displaying a firm grasp of the political ramifications of appearing too closely aligned with his party on the issue. Most notably, he was one of the few Democrats in Congress that voted against the legislation giving birth to Obamacare, aka the Affordable Care Act.

Mary Franson and other House GOP Members’ letter to Mark Dayton on Child Unionization Bill, read the complete letter Here.

Top 10 “Unaffordable-Care Act” Facts:

2. Obamacare requires the IRS to own your personal health care and financial data.

Last week, the private personal data (including social security numbers) of 1600 Minnesota citizens was illegally sent out. Governor Dayton casually brushed it off saying: “There are going to be mistakes, there are going to be glitches…” If the governor’s cavalier attitude doesn’t give you pause, maybe the fact that all of this personal data will eventually end up with the Internal Revenue Service does. Not to worry, Al Franken will help direct the IRS’s use of it.

3. Millions are being forced off the insurance they like and onto Obamacare.

Remember the promise “and if you like your insurance you can keep it”? False advertising. Large national companies like Home Depot and Trader Joe’s are pushing their employees to Obamacare. UPS is dropping coverage for spouses. The first million enrollees to Minnesota’s Obamacare exchange will be forced there from the state’s existing Medical Assistance plan, the high risk insurance plan and MinnesotaCare, our plan for the working poor. Some believe this was the intent of Obamacare’s incentives from the beginning. Single payer here we come?

MN Senators Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake, and Sean Nienow, R-Cambridge unsure about MNSure:

MNsure has gotten off to a rough start. It already has spent $150 million building an information-technology infrastructure and a website, yet not a single dollar has gone to medication for seniors, checkups for kids or preventive care for women.

MNsure also is spending almost $5 million in outreach grants — some of which may go to a “trusted community partner” who was recently arrested for wielding a shotgun at a sheriff’s deputy in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, no background checks were in place at MNsure for outreach partners who will work with vulnerable adults, children and seniors.

MNsure also spent $9 million on a controversial advertising campaign featuring Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. The exchange also has a payroll with a total cost of more than $11 million a year, and its executive director is making more than Gov. Mark Dayton.

Members of the MNsure Oversight Committee also have raised a number of concerns about data privacy and how MNsure would ensure the security of sensitive, personal information that Minnesotans will share on the website to sign up for health insurance.

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Related articles

• Rep. Mary Franson (08B) – Legislative Update (douglascountyminnesotarepublicans.com)
• Scammers trying to exploit Obamacare (winonadailynews.com)
• Minnesota ObamaCare exchange breach exposes 2400 agents to identity theft (hotair.com)
• State Health Insurance Marketplaces: How to Get Covered (turbotax.intuit.com)

Short article on the history of women in the GOP from the National Federation of Republican Women.

This Week in Pictures from the MNGOP.

Five things to Love about Minnesota.

Dayton’s Shell Game Sends Mixed Signals On Middle Class Taxes:

Governor Mark Dayton has been very clear on where he stands with raising taxes on businesses and “the rich” – yes you.

It’s much harder to figure out where Governor Dayton and the Democrats are coming from on the issue of taxes and the middle class.

They held a press conference this week touting new projections that property taxes would actually decrease in 2014. Keep your eye on those projections, by the way – they come from the same agency that predicted e-pull tabs would finance the new Vikings stadium.

So the Governor says low property taxes are a good thing for hard-working Minnesotans. We agree. But he had to raise over $2 billion in new taxes and fees, much of them on the middle class and even poor Minnesotans, to pay for lots of things including his supposed $121 million property tax reduction.

So which is it? Are higher taxes good or bad for the middle class?

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Remove the F from DFL: Democrats too often using farmers as political pawns:

Democrats in Washington are using Minnesota farmers as pawns for big government welfare programs. At first, Democrats supported a new farm bill, but when they didn’t get their welfare programs customized to their liking they voted against the farm bill. Why can’t they split the two issues into two separate bills?

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Gov. Dayton Finds Solutions To Problems He Created.