Why I am voting for Farheen Hakeem on October 18
Me & my buddy Farheen at SlutWalk Minneapolis, October 1, 2011
Farheen Hakeem is one of the smartest, funniest, and most forthright people I have ever met. These are wonderful qualities to have in a friend, but they are even better to have in a public servant. Luckily, Farheen is running for Minnesota State Senate, and tomorrow, I will cast a vote for her in a special election to replace retiring Senator Linda Berglin.
There are many on the political left here in my state who find Green Party members like Farheen pesky at best and scary at worst. They say they would never vote for a non-Democrat in the state that gave the world Dem idols like Hubert Humphrey, Gene McCarthy, and Paul Wellstone.
But you know what I find scary?
- Last year, 18 Minnesota Democrats voted for the so-called Pain Capable Unborn Child Act that would criminalize any abortion after 20 weeks’ gestation, and 15 Minnesota Democrats in the State House and Senate voted in favor of a law that would ban state funds for abortion care, despite the 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that struck down an earlier ban, saying such a law places “undue financial constraints” on low-income women.
- Last week, Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson voted YES on HR 358, nicknamed the “Let Women Die” Act, which greatly expanded permission for health professionals to refuse to perform reproductive health care services, including immediately life-threatening ones.
- Today, Minnesota Democrat Mark Dayton (who thankfully vetoed the two insane anti-choice bills mentioned above) is holding meetings to discuss building a new stadium for the Vikings, with $300 million in state funds, during an ongoing economic crisis that has left my kids’ two south Minneapolis schools overcrowded, understaffed, and gutting their desperately needed special education, sports, arts, and gifted & talented programs.
Does THAT sound like Wellstone’s legacy to you? I didn’t think so.
The days of trusting one party blindly are over. Farheen Hakeem is not beholden to a system that favors the status quo over positive change in our community. She’s an experienced community organizer (like some other politicians we know), as well as a math teacher and foster parent to a child in public schools. She knows that people in Minneapolis need jobs, educations, health care, and homes–they don’t want the legislative priorities to be tax breaks for millionaires or billion-dollar sports venues the average person can’t afford to enter. Farheen is the 99% and is committed to working for the 99%!
I hope you’ll join me in casting your vote tomorrow for a true Minnesota progressive: Farheen Hakeem!
Great blog! I’ve enjoyed you writing for some time, but never commented before.
Regarding your last bullet on Mark Dayton, he has stated time and again that no general fund money would go to the stadium and that the state share would be paid with taxes and user fees generated by the stadium itself, which would not exist without the stadium being built. I don’t think it’s fair to conflate the stadium issue with underfunded schools and the rest of our financial issues in Minnesota at least as far as the state’s share is concerned.
A Ramsey County (and now Minneapolis?) citizen could question the local component, however. After all, if a new .5% sales tax or casino is a good idea, why not have one to fund schools?
Dave, thanks for reading and for commenting.
As a writer, not a journalist, I am interested in the grand gesture–the big picture stuff. When I look to Mark Dayton, an avowed liberal in the traditional sense, I want him to face our state and announce that this is not the time to discuss a project like this, not when our state is falling apart, both literally (my god, the bridges!!) and figuratively (the emotional cost of the recession on families without jobs and opportunities). Taxes, user fees, bonds, yadda yadda…. that pales before the photograph of Zygi Wilf driving up to MY state capitol in a limousine. THAT’S a big picture that the writer in me can’t ignore.
And as a Minneapolis resident, I am still paying up the wazoo for the Twins stadium! Rybak can’t let well enough alone!