Headlining himself, "A New Guard for Liberty" on his campaign website, online here, the site identifies him as from Anoka, as is his primary challenger, Whelan, while the DFL candidate, Perovich, resides in Ramsey and has resided here for at least a decade to my knowledge, and longer is my guess. One of Boals' comments suggests a willingness to discuss issues:
Eric, feel free to reach out to me at boals4house@yahoo.com. I am more than happy to sit down and discuss my candidacy, my views and my hopes for our district and our State. I look forward to talking with you, Sir!
Others can take Boals up on that suggestion of sitting and having a talk, my preference being to initiate an email correspondence with an email trail, since I do not record/transcribe, and would truly not want to misquote. By an email Boals also suggested a willingness to present his views, something Whelan has not done.
I have known Peter Perovich for a few years and have supported previous candidacies (including a run against Whelan's mentor, Jungbauer).
Perovich has not suggested my having any role in his getting out his message and I have not offered one. I fully trust his ideas and motivation, and that said, the primary fact for today, he is not in any primary this August.
------------------
The contest - Boals vs Whelan, with Whelan appearing more the theocratic of the two, in terms of wings or branches within the Republican party [branches being the better figure of speech in that eagles and other birds each have but two wings, with our state's GOP appearing to have more "branches"].
Boals' 2012 website is no longer online, but, except for "Michigan" inexplicably showing up within text, there is this BallotPedia page posting website soundbite quotes; e.g,
Taxes
Excerpt:"I pledge NOT to vote for tax increases and will fight to lower your already heavy tax burden. The more our citizens have to spend, the more our economy benefits."
Gun Rights
Excerpt:"One of the first tasks that I will set myself to work on is drafting an amendment to our constitution to that effect."
So one thing Boals can clarify in correspondence, what is that last item referring back to, and how important to him is that issue; as a candidate for a state legislative office. Clearly, a corollary, is he a gun owner, how many and what kind and for how long, and has he a conceal/carry permit? It is easy to advocate a position in the abstract, so those questions spring to mind. To assure it is not just getting the ticket punched.
The Big Ticket question that way - when did you join the NRA, and why not sooner?
That rings bells that really resonate with the gun bunnies.
Truly, however, more interesting to me and likely to most readers would be how Boals proposes to solve the sky-high increases in university tuition even at state schools, and the consequent student debt crisis, given that the legislature has power over the University system in Minnesota and can if having the will, fix things.
That's real, and immediate, and yet not an issue with which Republicans seem to have much comfort. No real answer, no comfort, I suppose. And then the obvious follow-up, on that issue and on the phony-college scam, how does Boals' view of higher education differ from John Klines'?
And if not wanting to vote for tax increases, what about inflationary effecs; i.e., is the Norquist-Hamiltonian Taxpayer League pledge conditioned on an inflation escalator exception; or absolute?
Just wondering.
This from the present Boals website troubles me
Minimum Wage Increase
Minimum wage is just that a minimum. It was never intended to be a "livable" wage. The jobs that are minimum wage jobs are primarily jobs that require minimal education and/or skill sets. While I am not disrespecting these jobs or disagreeing that State minimum wage should not be raised from time to time I am opposed to raising it just because individuals cannot "live" on it. I have had minimum wage jobs in my 40 years. I understand how difficult it is to support a family on these wages. HOWEVER, I found ways to better myself and acquire work that paid more. Raising minimum wage AND indexing it to inflation will increase costs to business owners especially our small, independent business owners that we value so much. They are ALWAYS forgotten in the argument against "Big Profit/Big Business". Because of this increase in costs, these business owners will be forced to go out of business or cut back staff. It will cost Minnesotans jobs. Not just the ones that they have now but ones that may have been created if the business owners (who know what is best for their business AND their employees) could have afforded to hire new employees. In regards to our high school/college youth: Since many work part-time hours they could be pushed from the work force by older individuals with families and bills to pay. Also, because many work in service industry jobs, they will see a decrease in available positions because employers will not be able to afford the extra help.
That third sentence, the double negative with "not" used twice is confusing, but the notion you can work full time and not be owed and accorded a livable wage, either it means he supports welfare to span the difference, food stamps and such, or that low-wage earners working full time can simply get fucked. He appears to have no beliefs about the measure of effects government impositions - hidden costs beyond hourly wage - have on levels of employment, or he simply declines to add any thoughts that way into his position on the less than simple issue. At best, he seems to use many words to be saying, "Father knows best." Republicans do that, and bottom line seems he is proving a Republican bona fides.
This makes sense.
The time has come for the full legalization of marijuana in this state and I support it. The tax revenue generated from the regulated sale of marijuana could be used to provide free lunch to all of our public school children. The State of Colorado is predicting tax revenues of over $40 million this year alone. I believe Minnesota could use that kind of money! Legalization will not only create additional revenue for our state but also new businesses and jobs. If the legalization of medical marijuana is the first step towards full legalization then I say, "Let us take that step".
At least he posts something beyond mindless "cotton candy" blurbs saying little or nothing; e.g., this "dear Diary" stuff his GOP primary opponent puts online. He does not bore or insult us, by at least stating issue positions.
Okay, cut the young lady some slack, for she has posted a campaign website of sorts. However, I defy you to find any single thing of beyond-soundbite substance on it. Here. Ms. Twitter-like Soundbite Special of 2014. Little else. Have a look, and you decide. It is an absolute insult to the mental facility of people she expects to have vote for her. So, don't.
---------------
Of the two, Boals seems least disdainful toward the intelligence level of people he'd have vote for him.
Neither of the two website-up on problems at the University level, not to mention post-grad where the best and brightest innovators of next generation technology are trained [those not seeking political science advanced degrees but in real and actual disciplines instead] and it is less acceptable from Whelan to present that Iron Curtain silence, since she's been a career student.
With that background one would think she'd have something insightful to say from experience.
---------------
Sorry for making it something of a screed, but some things truly test my patience. I will cross-over, I will vote Boals as the lesser evil, as the less offensive and hence the more promising, but it's scary. I also in crossing-over to that ballot side will be voting Abeler. He's not been the greatest, but on balance, okay. Abeler can leave a room without leaving an oil slick like Norm, Vin and their choice. Abeler's sound. He is among those closest to being an actual moderate in today's GOP.
____________UPDATE_____________
Two thousand more words, a thousand a piece - and are you impressed:
 |
| from here |
 |
| from here |
Best minds of their generation?
_____________FUTHER UPDATE_____________
Where the crossover choice is truly stark, CD6, Rhonda with a mind vs. fundiefavorite and Hubbard hustler, Tom The Skating Bloviator. Rhonda deserves the run for the job, by being the better person and candidate. That is being said with the thought that Perske would have a better shot in Perske v. Emmer, than in Perske v. Sivarajah. The latter would have "people of faith" left on the sidelines, for the good of the district. But either a winner with Sivarajah the GOP primary victor presents a better scenario than either a winner with Emmer one of "either." (Yet, a consideration, with Rhonda surviving the primary, it disrespects poor Stanley and his cash for Tom, and would we want that since it could make Stanley unhappy?)
Another quick UPDATE observation. Emmer's hundred grand restaurant servers likely have a harder time of things, given predilections of some of Emmer's support base.
_____________FUTHER UPDATE_____________
Tom Emmer is so patently offensive, that any opponent in general poses a respite. Admitting to being unfamiliar with the Sivarajah campaign, and her as a person, but knowing of the great virtue of her not being Tom Emmer; some reader feedback has me wondering now whether she is more extreme than Emmer. Finding that a mind-boggling possibility, something staggering to the imagination but possible, here is where I ask for reader comments, or email. Educate me. Am I like a misguided watchdog of some sort, barking up the wrong tree?
In any event, getting back to the starting point of the post: Boals is clearly a secular conservative, which is a cut better than those wanting to interject their religion value-set into government - those such as Mary Kiffmeyer [who beyond ALEC ties] shows disdain for separation of church and state.
BOTTOM LINE: Is Sivarajah in fact worse on the separation question than Emmer?
That is my question to readers.