Jackson Purfeerst joins 97 other mayors, indicts Tim Walz, DFL Trifecta budget

I'd love to meet Jackson Purfeerst, Crosslake's mayor, sometime. He sounds like a guy who isn't afraid to take on difficult fights. Mayor Purfeerst wrote a letter that's turned into an indictment of Tim Walz's and the DFL Trifecta's budget. Alpha News reported "Crosslake Mayor Jackson Purfeerst released a video and letter signed by 98 Minnesota mayors Monday morning urging state leaders to 'course-correct' and 'stop taxing our families, seniors, and businesses out of Minnesota.'"

Alpha News then quoted Mayor Purfeerst as saying "What makes this moment historic is that a letter of this nature has never been done before. This coalition of 98 mayors represents roughly 541,000 Minnesotans from both metro communities and Greater Minnesota. That measure of agreement is extraordinarily rare and should not be taken lightly. Over the past several weeks, mayors across Minnesota have been having the same difficult conversations about budgets, public safety, staffing and rising property taxes. Those shared concerns led me to write this letter."

Mayor Purfeerst is right. The DFL is great at campaigning, not-so-strong at governing. A significant percentage of DFL politicians are members of the DSA, aka the Democrat Socialists of America. Virtually all DFL politicians are socialists. To most people, lifelong learning is to learn new things each day. To the DSA, lifelong learning means additional memorization of their chanting points.

At the Jeff Johnson for Governor campaign, it wasn't difficult to understand that most Democrats are socialists. That's why I coined the phrase "Let's make Minnesota Capitalist Again." Initially, it seemed a little contrived Then I read THIS EYE-OPENING PARAGRAPH:

Individual businesses benefit from higher GDP through improved business confidence and increased consumer demand. Greater access to capital spurs innovation and growth. A stronger labor market gives businesses a larger pool of skilled workers, thanks to increased employment and training opportunities. Business leaders cite GDP growth as a top measurement of creating success. For them, it leads to new investments in their business and their employees.

Job growth is another key indicator of economic health as it signals business expansion, improved financial position for individuals and overall resiliency.

In the first Business Benchmarks report, Minnesota’s GDP ranked 13th in the nation at 2.4%. Today, it ranks 40th at 1.6%. Each state has experienced ups and downs during that time and it’s a complicated set of circumstances that determine relative growth. Job growth has largely remained stagnant since the first report; ranked 30th then and 31st today (1.4% in both years). Over the past decade, Minnesota’s economy expanded at a slower rate than the U.S. economy. GDP growth averaged 2.4% annually in the U.S., compared to just 1.7% in Minnesota. While this differential may not seem stark in the short-term, the long run implications are more significant. At this rate, it would take Minnesota’s economy 41.5 years to double in size from 2023 levels, a full twelve years longer than it would take the U.S. economy to double, leaving future Minnesotans at a relative disadvantage.

Socialist economies are essentially stagnant econmies. In terms of GDP growth and job growth, Minnesota has been virtually stagnant or worse for 10 years. 4:25 into this Fox News interview was another eye-popping chart. Check it out:

That's what Mayor Purfeerst is pointing to. That isn't a thriving, growing economy. This isn't that strange in Minnesota. For that matter, that's the economic blueprint for the DFL, whether we're talking about Amy Klobuchar or Tim Walz, Ilhan Omar or Tina Smith or any bomb-throwing back-bencher in the legislature. That's who the DFL is. Period.

We need a principled governor and limited government majorities in the House and Senate. The DFL Trifecta ruined our budget. We'll need a GOP Trifecta to fix Minnesota's budget. Vote Jeff Johnson for Governor, then give Jeff the legislature that will work with him.