Grizzly Groundswell

The following post is crossposted from CarverGOP.BlogSpot.com Original Post here

The lovely Amy Anderson emailed me this post earlier Tuesday to share with the Grizzly Groundswell.  I apologize for not putting it up here sooner.

Remember our thesis? 

That is if it is happening in your backyard, it is probably happening in everyone else’s?  These socialists can not come up with an original thought and try to force their Socialist Squirrel nutty thought upon not only our backyard but across the nation’s backyard as well.  You see, they count on us not being united and awake.  Remember, today we must Awaken, Stand Up, Step Into Action and change the political landscape in your backyard.

Please take a look at your backyard and report back here if you find something similar.  Then, lets compare notes on how we can chase these socialist squirrels out of our backyard and our local government and institutions.

Here is Amy’s post:

Unanswered questions about Carver Co.’s growing government

Carver County government has grown since May 1. We now have two new levels of government:

1.       The Carver Association of Elected Leaders

2.      The initiation of a County Government health survey of 63,000

Both were publicly announced in innocuous ways, purporting the groups as “helpful.” 

I don’t know about you, but I have a healthy suspicion of government, especially when government says it is growing and spending more for my own good. 

The announcements failed to ask about the public impact or probe into any underlying intent of these new levels of government; — and more important, it did not question whether these additional layers of government are even necessary. 

County officials say the new “Carver Association of Elected Leaders” is “non-partisan,” directed to finding efficiencies in government and designed to advise elected officials on how to lead and settle differences.  It is patterned after a similar group in Scott County, the “Scott County Association for Leadership and Efficiency.” 

It all sounds goods, until one questions the idea that the elected in Carver County need to be advised and needed to hire an advisor on how to lead and vote.  Isn’t that what elections are all about?

Then there are the specifics:

·         In addition to following the template of a similar group in Scott County, the Carver “Association” originated here through a partnership between Carver County and Ridgeview Medical Center. The program was facilitated by the University of Minnesota’s Extension Service and focused on leadership development.

·         Former Democrat Chaska Mayor Bob Roepke was hired as the “Association’s” advisor and has been provided with $21-an-hour in a contract that is capped to $10,000.  (Roepke’s contract is attached to another $125-an-hour deal he made with the County Sheriff’s Department to do consulting there as well.) 

·         Roepke is being assisted by hired (not elected) Carver County staffer, Carver County Administrator Dave Hemze.

·         The “Association’s” May 1 meeting in Cologne was partially led by Democrat County Commissioner Randy Maluschnik.

·         The “Association” meets at taxpayer-funded government facilities, and uses the county government logo and materials.

·         The “elected” who attend are given a stipend of $50 per meeting.

And there are questions left unanswered:

·         Why is this taxpayer-funded group necessary?  

·         Doesn’t the “elected” already meet informally, and aren’t the townships, cities and county “elected” already connected through the policy and laws that they consider?   Isn’t this already part of the salary the “elected” receive?

·         Aren’t there supposed to be differences in the lawmaking process?

·         Who is the hospital group that initiated the formation of the “Association?”  Are there insurance or other groups tied to the hospital group?  What is the hospital group’s motive and intent?  Does the hospital group have profit and/or partisan motives/ties?

·         What is the interest of the University of Minnesota Extension?  Are there profit/partisan motives? 

·         Are there profit and/or partisan motives/ties of the hired advisor and county staff? 

·         Didn’t much of Carver County’s “elected” run on elections promising they would lead?  Why then, do they now need to hire an advisor?

·         Aren’t the people\voters the true advisors for the “elected?”   And, isn’t it proper that the “elected” should strive to seek the advice of the people, rather than the advice from other politicians?

·         What ensures that the hired advisor, or the UofM Extention Services will advise in the best interest of the public?

·         If the “Association” is led by elected Democrats and Democrat county and University staff, how can it be non-partisan?

·         Doesn’t making government smaller, with fewer layers, automatically make government more efficient?

The public, who fund this additional new layer of county government, has a right to have such questions answered.

Carver Republicans are fortunate that conservatives, Chanhassen Mayor Tom Furlong and County Commissioner Tom Workman, have spoken in opposition to this new layer of government in Carver County.   Carver Republicans would like to hear from the other County Commissioners that caucused at our county Republican convention last March, but have not yet questioned the new “Association” and one that publicly endorsed it.

 Republicans in Scott County who’ve been contacted about the “Scott County Association for Leadership and Efficiency,” said they see the meetings between “elected” as helpful, but they, too, have been unable to answer the same unanswered questions listed about Carver County’s “Association of Elected.”

The Carver County group will meet again in June.

The second scarier new layer of government

The second new layer of government concerns plans by Carver County government health officials to survey 63,000 adult residents.  The survey is promoted as a way to make Carver “healthier.”

The Carver County Board unanimously approved spending of $45,000 donated by a Ridgeview Medical Center to hire a consultant to help determine whether the idea is feasible.  Carver County residents will then visit clinics, hospitals or doctors’ offices to undergo physical exams, including blood tests, and fill out extensive health questionnaires on everything from mental health to personal habits.

Carver County government authorities intend to collect the data for a year, then follow-up in the next three to five years.

Minnesota’s Health Department said no other government in Minnesota has undertaken such a broad project.  It would be one of the largest health-data collection efforts ever undertaken by a local government agency in the United States, MHD said.

The unanswered questions:

·         Since the government is collecting data in medical settings, wouldn’t this be confusing or deceptive for many residents? 

·         How easily will residents differentiate between the information they intend to provide confidentially to their doctor or nurse and the information they are willing to make public and stored in a government file?

·         What can or will the county government do with our most private information once it is collected? 

·         Are there any limits on the Government’s use of our data or DNA contained in the blood samples?  What is to stop the government from selling the information to insurance or research organizations? 

·         Will this information be used to decide who can and cannot be insured or get medical help?

·         How are the donors to know whether their private health information or blood and DNA is not being used in research or in other ways that they would find objectionable on moral or religious grounds?

·         Why is government stepping in between a patient and his doctor in deciding how to become healthier?

·         Isn’t the County Government subject to HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ) that was enacted to protect the privacy of our medical information from insurors and other agencies?

·         Who is the new hired consultant?  What is his/her background and salary?

·         How much money is being used for flyers and other advertising?  Who wrote the ads?

·         Who is the Hospital group behind the donation to the county?  What is their intent/motive?  What organizations or insurance groups are behind the hospital group?

Until these questions are answered, the idea that these new layers of government are “helpful” is still left open to debate … and begs another question, “Helpful to whom?”

Amy Anderson

Chair, Carver County Republicans

Thanks Amy  and Carver County Republicans, thank you for being vigilant and Awake in your Backyard to this socialist threat!

~Teddy Bear