The reactions of some Republicans upon hearing the estimate the state could be expected to pay for cleanup after the devastating June floods were enough to conjure up a not-so-pleasant memory -- followed by an oh-no-not-again gut response.
Two legislative sessions ago, the Republican-controlled House proposed stripping Duluth and other DFL-dominated cities of all Local Government Aid while leaving unscathed Republican strongholds like Rochester. The stunt was "purely political," we opined at the time.
As distasteful as it was, it was, nonetheless, easy to dismiss as a to-be-expected part of legislative posturing and politicking.
That sort of behavior isn't expected, however, after a natural disaster. At times like that, government is needed to and can be expected to come together to help those whose lives have been turned inside out and upside down.
Instead, this week, we heard mocking: "Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching," Rep. Mary Liz Holberg, a Republican from Lakeville, said during a meeting of a working group of legislative leaders in St. Paul, according to a Twin Cities report.
ADVERTISEMENT
And we heard belittling condescension: "If we have a washout in our field, we don't call the government to fix it," Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Claire Robling, a Republican from Jordan, said, according to Forum Communications reporter Don Davis. "It's one of those things."
The June floods were far from "one of those things." To compare the once-a-
century storm and the homes it destroyed, streets it washed away and silt and who-knows-what-else it sent careening into Lake Superior to a routine "washout in (a) field" was insensitive, to say the least, and bordered on being downright mean-spirited.
The state's price tag for the cleanup was determined by the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division, a nonpartisan agency more concerned with hard numbers and reality than with any upcoming election or party victory. It's not like the estimate came from politicians.
"I didn't make this number up," Gov. Mark Dayton said after giving a speech at Farmfest, an annual gathering of farmers near Redwood Falls, Davis reported.
You wouldn't have known it from the reactions of some Republicans. They started downplaying and dismissing before even taking the time to start digging into the numbers and the needs that were identified. Is the dollar figure high? Let's find out.
But let's not play politics with the numbers. Not while people are hurting. Real people. Fellow Minnesotans. Our neighbors. To do so is wrong. It's insensitive.
And it's unprecedented. Natural-disaster relief in Minnesota historically has been above politics. The how-can-we help and what-do-we-need-to-do discussions always have been free of partisan posturing. Why not this time? Because of the party affiliation of some of our lawmakers?
ADVERTISEMENT
Not again.
