Health & Fitness
Rep. Mack Finishes Wrong-Priority Session with Little to Showcase
Tara Mack and legislative Republican majorities rang down the final gavel on the 2012 legislative session—ending a two-year legislative session marked by partisan divides.
Representative Tara Mack and legislative Republican majorities rang down the final gavel on the 2012 legislative session Thursday—ending a two-year legislative session marked by partisan divides, a state government shutdown, and heavy state borrowing.
"Rep. Mack's tenure at the legislature can only be characterized as a devout follower of her Republican colleagues' extreme agenda," Carrie Lucking, Executive Director of the Alliance for a Better Minnesota said. "Not only did Rep. Mack help shut down our state and eliminate the Market Value Homestead Credit, but she voted to cut Apple Valley and Burnsville area schools by more than $2.5 million to give special tax breaks to big corporations."
In the past two years, Rep. Mack and the Republican-led legislature have been dogged by the lowest approval ratings in Minnesota history in public polls. Over 50% of Minnesotans consistently give the Republican-controlled legislature failing marks. [KSTP/SurveyUSA, 2/8/12] The following critical votes over the past two years have raised Minnesotans’ ire:
Find out what's happening in Apple Valley-Rosemountwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
>> Rep. Mack voted to end the Market Value Homestead Credit, causing a projected 3.4% property tax increase in Dakota County. [MN House Research, HF 20, special session]
>> Rep. Mack voted to cut area schools by over $2.5 million [MN House Research, HF 934] and borrow $700 million from Minnesota’s children, leaving them a $2 billion IOU and no plan to pay it back. [HF 26, special session]
Find out what's happening in Apple Valley-Rosemountwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Rep. Mack spent her time at the legislature supporting special deals and tax breaks for big corporations and their lobbyists, at the expense of her over 39,000 constituents:
>> Rep. Mack voted to raise taxes on nearly 21,000 renters in Dakota County to give even bigger tax breaks to large corporations. [MN House Research, HF 2337]
>> Rep. Mack voted to make it harder for consumers to hold big corporations accountable when they do wrong and voted to allow corporations to avoid paying their taxes by hiding profits overseas. [SF149, SF373, SF429, SF530, SF1236; HF130, HF2083 - House Journal 6446, HF2083 - House Journal 6447]
