Erik Simonson Is A Republican Within The Democratic Party

Published July 18, 2020 at 5:14 AM

This letter is paid content. We deserve a Minnesota Senator with integrity. That person is not Erik Simonson. His record is so bad that he failed to get a 2020 endorsement from the Minnesota DFL. Erik’s time in office has been filled with unscrupulously self-serving tactics. For example, he accepted a job in administration at Lake Superior College following directly on the heels of his bill seeking $1 million in bond funding for, you guessed it, Lake Superior College. His job with the college will provide him with a substantial six-figure salary.

Simonson routinely sides with Republicans. When the Department of Commerce appealed Enbridge’s Line 3, Simonson voted in favor of a Republican initiative to defund the appeal. These are the same Republicans who want to crush worker’s rights; it’s not a good look for Simonson to vote on behalf of their agenda.

Additionally, Simonson joined forces with Republicans in voting to lower sulfate pollution standards which protect wild rice lakes and indigenous treaty rights. As the Native Lives Matter movement calls for equity, Simonson doesn’t seem to care.

In another act of political maneuvering, after Simonson won funding for Lake Superior Zoo, he subsequently took a cushy job as the Director of that very same zoo. This was a clear conflict of interest.

Simonson also authored amendments to the Clean Energy Bill to significantly raise costs for consumers, and lower rates for industrial firms to around 20 percent below average. His amendments would screw over the public while lining the pockets of corporations.

Finally, Simonson sided with Republicans in supporting the notoriously anti-union Glencore corporations sulfide operation. Simonson’s record of political maneuvering, coupled with his propensity for siding with Republicans, and his opposition to protecting indigenous watersheds, along with his support for anti-union companies, all paint a picture of someone whom Democrats cannot trust.

Allen Killian-Moore

Duluth, Minn.