Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 29
Stalled farm bill falls victim to extreme partisanship
To know how far relationships have broken down in Congress, consider this: Just as lawmakers should have been negotiating furiously to nail down the 2018 farm bill, a $489 billion behemoth that would fund agriculture and food assistance for five years, Minnesota U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, the longtime ranking Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, heard nothing but silence.
“No meetings, no calls, no letters - not for the last six weeks,” Peterson told an editorial writer. In 27 years in Congress, he said, “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Even when the farm bill went down in defeat earlier this month because of division among Republicans, he said, “Nothing.”
For a half-century, the farm bill has been the very essence of political compromise. By design it knit together the interests of rural and urban lawmakers, joining farm subsidies to the federal food stamp and school meal programs. That proved a durable coalition for many years. But it has been fraying for years because of increasingly extreme partisanship and now, Peterson said, may be collapsing.
What finally torpedoed the bill was not just President Donald Trump’s insistence on stricter work requirements for mothers of young children, some seniors and others - which Democrats opposed - but conservative House Freedom Caucus efforts to push through a bill opposed by many in vulnerable GOP districts that would radically curtail legal immigration.
Even though Republicans need Democratic votes to get the farm bill through a narrowly divided Senate, House leadership stubbornly refused to compromise on elements repugnant to Democrats, such as the tougher work requirements, Peterson said. That left the bill vulnerable to being taken hostage by far-right members. They withheld their votes, knowing leadership would not get help from Democrats.
That scenario, Peterson believes, would not have occurred years earlier, when at least a modicum of bipartisanship and common interests would have prevailed. Cracks started in 2008, he said, and have only widened since then.
It may be that the 2018 farm bill’s seeming demise may go unmourned. Peterson points out that spending for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and most farm subsidies are locked in. Unless the bill is resurrected - which could still happen - current law will remain in effect, thankfully sparing SNAP recipients from the worst GOP proposals.
Nevertheless, this is another indication of a Congress so polarized as to be ineffective. Even when their party wants policy changes, and controls Congress and the presidency, Republicans are so set against compromise that they forgo the ability to enact their agenda. That is not the sign of a healthy democracy.
The nation’s founders never intended for this to be a winner-take-all system. Checks and balances are designed to foster a balance of power and drive competing interests to find common ground. It’s a value that those who venerate the Constitution should relearn.
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St. Cloud Times, May 25
Cities, state must help stop illicit massage industry
July will mark two years since the Times’ news series “Sex Trafficking: The Victims Next Door” shocked and rocked Central Minnesota about the prominence and proliferation of men buying sex here.
Sadly - and, again, stunningly - Sunday’s front-page report shows sex trafficking hasn’t gone away. Two years later, though, it might be better described as “Sex Trafficking: The Massage Business Next Door.”
Witness Sunday’s report on a monthslong Times investigation into illicit local massage businesses. A Times reporter found that at least seven so-called massage businesses in Waite Park and St. Cloud have, since at least March, regularly had ads on websites known for advertisements selling sex.
Law enforcement hammered that point home May 11 when a task force arrested St. Cloud resident Yanhang Lin, the listed owner of Riverwood Massage and Body Works in Waite Park. She has been charged with second-degree sex trafficking and promoting prostitution.
While sex traffickers still do business in hotel rooms and private residences, these illicit massage businesses are quickly becoming the next front in the war on sex trafficking - and not just in Central Minnesota.
The nonprofit organization Polaris, which aims to help sex trafficking victims by pursuing and disrupting traffickers, recently issued a report that shows just how common illicit massage businesses are in America.
How common? More common than Starbucks.
“…There are more than 9,000 illicit massage businesses (IMBs) - fronts for selling commercial sex - spread across every state in America. For a sense of scale, consider that Starbucks now has approximately 8,222 company-operated stores in the United States,” notes the recent Polaris report “Human Trafficking in Illicit Massage Businesses.”
Because Central Minnesotans already know the horrific impacts of sex trafficking on its victims as well as the countless negative impacts on the community, residents must become advocates for change involving illicit massage businesses, while noting that the majority of massage businesses are legitimate.
After all, law enforcement cannot fight this war alone.
Here’s the good news: Thanks to organizations like Polaris, some proven solutions already are identified. All community members have to do is apply them.
As the Polaris report notes, the best starting point is for residents is to demand their elected leaders take an aggressive approach in overseeing massage businesses.
At the least, this means cities adopt strict licensing and zoning standards. Better, though, would be for the entire state of Minnesota to adopt and enforce the same rules and regulations statewide.
Unfortunately, Minnesota is one of only four states without any form of statewide licensing or requirements for massage operations.
That comes despite credible, legitimate organizations like the American Massage Therapy Association pushing for years to get states to adopt such measures.
Central Minnesota legislators, consider this your first challenge for the 2019 session: Connect with organizations like Polaris and the AMTA and draft legislation built on the best practices applied in other states regarding regulating the massage industry.
It’s time for Minnesota to be a leader instead of a state that does nothing to counter illicit massage businesses.
In the meantime - and knowing the Legislature seldom accomplishes any task quickly - local residents must demand their city, township and county officials take similar steps now.
As the Times investigation notes, St. Cloud and Waite Park have tepid regulations at best. Other area cities have none. And based on national trends noted by Polaris, that’s probably the case for most Central Minnesota local jurisdictions.
That needs to change now.
Yes, that will require new public resources. But given how sex trafficking ruins the lives of its victims, plus how it has undeniable ties to other criminal activities (think anything from gangs to money laundering) that new investment of public resources is well worth it.
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The Free Press of Mankato, June 2
Public pensions: Bipartisan bill secured future
Amidst the angst taxpayers may have for another case of gridlock this year at the Legislature, we can all take solace that in at least one case Democrats and Republicans worked together to address a critical issue: unfunded liabilities in public pensions.
The state was facing an outstanding pension bill of $16.2 billion. Like other states, Minnesota’s unfunded pension liabilities had been growing for years. Credit rating agencies were starting to warn that the state’s credit rating could be damaged if nothing was done. Retirees worried their benefits would be cut.
The compromise bill that was crafted by Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Vernon Center, and Rep. Tim O’Driscoll, R-Sartell, called for the state to shore up its support with $141 million a year for the next few years. Some retirees will also take reasonable cuts in benefits and current employees will have to pay more into the plans.
Taken together those actions will cut the unfunded liabilities by about $3.4 billion.
Rosen, O’Driscoll and Gov. Mark Dayton deserve credit for compromising on a plan that will stabilize the funds over the next few years. The funds got into trouble in part when benefits were set years ago based on unreasonable expectations for investment returns. It was a mistake driven more by math than malice.
The pension systems affects some 500,000 public employees across the state and the plans going forward will allow them to breathe more easily. Credit rating agencies are also likely to be happy. Commissioner of Minnesota Management and Budget Myron Frans said he will now have the right answer for them when they ask about fixing the pension problem.
Unfunded pension liabilities in other states across the country have led to varying degrees of disaster. Minnesota has avoided that by working together for the good of the state and its public employees.
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