Is Senator Senjem playing partisan politics with clean energy?

Members of the Minnesota Legislature should represent the people of their district, including state Senator David Senjem, whose district includes Dodge Center, Kasson, Byron, Oronoco, and north Rochester. 

Senator Senjem controls the agenda of the Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy Committee because he is the chair. A majority of people in both local and national surveys have a desire for clean energy. I asked Senator Senjem to bring bill SF643 to a hearing in committee; it would require electric utilities to generate higher percentages of electricity from clean energy sources as time passes. Although he has collaborated on clean energy with groups in Minnesota and Germany, he didn’t bring SF643 up for hearing. 

I feel this may be the result of partisan politics; the chief author of SF643 is Democratic Senator Nick Frentz of Mankato. As of March 11, Senator Senjem included 22 of 30 bills whose chief author was a Republican in the agenda of his committee, but only 1 of 14 bills whose chief author was a Democrat.

Senator Senjem knows that Minnesota will benefit by being a leader in clean energy with economic growth, jobs, and a better environment. Senator Senjem, please lead by what we need rather than by partisan politics — that will be best for everyone.

—Dave Mickelson, Rochester