City government
Thanks to Budget
Commission
I’d like to thank the Budget Advisory Commission (BAC) members for their considerable effort and many hours they logged in the past year and a half reviewing Eden Prairie’s budget and capital improvement plan. As volunteers, it is encouraging to see the dedication the commissioners gave to help analyze each city department.
On behalf of the BAC, we thank [City Manager] Scott Neal, [CFO] Sue Kotchevar, and the entire city staff for their time answering our numerous questions and concerns. As a new commission, we appreciate your help in refining the process and more importantly, assisting us in making good recommendations to the City Council.
Since the budget translates into services we all receive, as well as taxes we all pay, I applaud the current City Council, Mayor Phil Young, Sherry Butcher, Brad Aho, Jon Duckstad and Kathy Nelson for adding this commission. The BAC’s work, through the talents and skill of its commissioners, brought a new level of consideration to the budget process. Given the financial level of the city, it makes perfect sense to supplement the City Council’s time as we already do in other areas such as parks and recreation and city planning.
BAC meetings are open to the public – another benefit for residents of Eden Prairie. Residents are able to hear details on each city department not readily accessible in the past. As a result, the public was able to pass along their comments to City Council prior to their first review of the full budget.
With our city’s development coming to a close and redevelopment beginning, it’s good to see the City Council thinking and adapting.
Donald Uram
Eden Prairie
Editor’s note: Uram is chairman of the Budget Advisory Commission.

Election 2008
Supports Aho
for council
I would like to extend my support and appreciation to current City Council member, Brad Aho, who is running for re-election this November.
Brad’s engineering background brings a unique and analytical approach to city government, combined with his forward attitude toward wisely spending our dollars and being fiscally responsible. Along with current council members and Mayor [Phil] Young, Brad has been instrumental in lowering property taxes, an initiative that will reflect on 54 percent of Eden Prairie households receiving a decrease on their property taxes. This is the type of fiscal leadership Eden Prairie needs and deserves.
Brad has also played an integral part in the re-opening of Round Lake, adding a fourth fire station, upgrading our parks and recreational areas, adding a citizen Budget Advisory Commission along with taking an active role for the completion of Highway 212 and expansion of Highway 494 while serving on the 494 Corridor Commission for the city of Eden Prairie.
Along with his leadership and participation on the current City Council, Brad possesses a “give back to the community” mindset as a member of Eden Prairie Rotary and Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce, active member of his church and volunteer for such local organizations such as the Eden Prairie ABC Foundation and the Eden Prairie Foundation.
Please join me in supporting incumbent Brad Aho for another successful term as an Eden Prairie City Council member. Your vote will ensure that our community will continue to prosper and grow, thanks to the efforts of individuals like Brad Aho.
Kevin Schultz
Eden Prairie
Editor’s note: Schultz is Aho’s campaign manager. He also holds a seat on the Eden Prairie Planning Commission.

Questions
Republicans
What does it mean to be a Republican? Using examples from the War in Iraq, I believe we can guess what will happen if we continue blindly to elect them to office.
Republicans believe in fiscal responsibility. Since the start of the War in Iraq, it has cost us about $648 billion, not including higher costs of gasoline and medical care for injured soldiers. A lot of money has gone to contractors like Halliburton and KBR. Examples of the overcharges alleged by these companies are price gouging on gallons of fuel, charging for extra meals never served to soldiers, and charging $100 for cleaning each bag of laundry and $45 for each can of soda. [Source: Chicago Tribune] Meanwhile, our government has an inadequate number of auditors reviewing government contracts, allowing wasteful spending to go unchecked. [Source: Washington Post] Our soldiers risked their lives without the best equipment, like improved body armor and armored vehicles, because it cost too much. Are Republicans going to continue fiscal responsibility like this if elected? How can they change?
Republicans believe government should only perform essential functions our society needs and subcontract for the rest. In Iraq, some contractors have provided poor work or have committed major crimes. Parsons Corp., hired to build prisons, health clinics and other buildings, received $142 million for canceled work. In reviews, the reasons for the cancellations ranged from slow progress to dissatisfaction. For some work, other contractors were needed to fix Parsons’ work. Some contractors recruited foreign workers without telling them they were going to Iraq. Once there, the contractors took away their passports and imposed forced labor. [Source: Testimony to the House Committee on Government Reform, as reported in the Washington Post] Contractors have used or accepted bribes, including prostitutes and jewelry, in their business deals in Iraq. [Source: Chicago Tribune] Other contractors, like Blackwater USA, have killed innocent civilians, complicating our soldiers’ mission. Do Republicans believe this is how our government should work? What would Republicans do to prevent similar events from happening in the future?
Republicans believe in maintaining strong national security and spreading peace, democracy and freedom throughout the world. Our armed forces have spent over five years in combat with many soldiers serving on multiple tours of duty. This stress on our military risks our national security. Millions of Iraqi refugees have fled their homes in fear for their lives. We have lost our focus from the attacks of 9/11 and allowed Al Qaida to reorganize in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We have failed to stop acts of genocide elsewhere because we are stuck in Iraq. We cannot be serious in attacking another country, like Iran, by ourselves. Other nations question following us into another war. If we continue to elect more Republicans, how will they be different from President George W. Bush?
When we elect our representatives, we expect them to make responsible decisions in our name. We want our government to work successfully for everyone, not just the few connected individuals. When people vote in November, will they vote for more of the same or will it be for something better?
Dan Daniels
Eden Prairie

Supports
Jenifer Loon
It’s that time of the year once again when the campaign signs go up and we get to choose who will represent us at the Minnesota House of Representatives. In District 42B, we will get a chance to pick between the Republican-endorsed Jenifer Loon or the Democrat-endorsed Jerry Pitzrick. I’m honored and excited to be the campaign chair for my good friend Jenifer. I have come to appreciate her sensitivity to the needs of the Eden Prairie community and her understanding of allocating the scarce resources we have for the most effective use and benefit of many.
Over the next three months, I’m hoping we can all expect an honest and open campaign. I encourage you to take a look at the www.jeniferloon.com Web site to get a better idea on who Jenifer Loon is, her perspectives on very pertinent issues and her range of experience. I think you will appreciate her very practical common sense approach. I like her being a straight shooter. We all expect those who represent us to lead with courage and conviction. I believe Jenifer Loon is the candidate to vote for in November to represent Eden Prairie at the Minnesota Legislature.
Gary Stevens
Eden Prairie
Editor’s note: Stevens is Jenifer Loon’s campaign chair.

Supports Pitzrick
After reading a letter from last week’s paper, I decided to do some checking on Ms. Loon. I’m certain she must be a nice person, that’s a quality that everyone wishes to have said about them in. I’m a nice person too. But, I wanted to know more. So, I went to her Web site, as well as did some more checking online.
To me, it looks like Ms. Loon has spent her professional life saying she wants to make government smaller, while always being paid because of government. She has moved back and forth from government staff positions to lobbying positions. Her job for the last five years (through April 2007) was as registered federal lobbyist for an association of credit and collection agencies.
Does Eden Prairie Senate District 42B want to bring the partisan politics of Washington to the Minnesota House of Representatives? I hope not. We’ve had enough problems with that in recent years.
I then did some checking on Jerry Pitzrick. He’s a civil engineer with a small, Eden Prairie based business who’s lived here for 32 years. He works with companies in the building industry all around the country to help them work together effectively to produce more cost-effective, successful results. Isn’t this what we really need in the Minnesota House of Representatives?
Personally, I think it’s time for Eden Prairie to have a fresh voice in the Minnesota House of Representatives not more of the same old entrenched ideas of politics as usual.
Jerry Pitzrick has my vote.
Kristina Guerrero
Eden Prairie

Other topics
Parenting is
actually self-less
Parenting is one of the most self-less endeavors a person can do in their life. I am not sure any of us start down the path of parenting with that in mind – we have all sorts of ideas about family and children and our contribution to the world – but the utter selflessness of parenting is probably not in too many minds. It certainly wasn’t in mine.
And then we become parents and it becomes increasingly apparent that parenting is about giving, nurturing, and loving. So I caution Ms. Thommes whose editorial commentary suggests that much of what motivates us all is selfishness and that parents act selfishly with their children.
Selfishness is not defined as thinking about one’s own needs. It is defined as thinking about one’s own needs in disregard of others’ needs. A parent who wants to get some exercise is hardly selfish. Only under certain conditions would it be selfish; that depends on the impact on others.
I bristled at the suggestion that the dad with the four-month-old in the bike trailer is inherently selfish. Perhaps. We would not know. Was it the smartest way to transport a baby? Perhaps not. But more importantly, I think we need to be cautious about judging someone else’s motives. We do not know enough to do that and it’s risky business for us to stand in judgment of a stranger on the street. It’s easy to do, but not particularly fair. I have single-parented my own kids from the time they were 3 and 5. Thank goodness no one was around to judge how I did that these past 14 years! I remember having my kids at a babysitting center so I could window shop at the mall for two hours, saying to anyone who cared, “A happy mother is a good mother.”
As the years go forward, we grow along with our children. We learn how to be an adult fully integrated with the world, how to parent and love, how to be loved, how to give to the greater community around us, and how to continue to learn and grow while our children do the same. This is not a simple matter. We learn how to parent as we go. We lose sight of our children in Target while they hide under a clothing rack for a bit of privacy. We hope our child doesn’t go out the door, as Ms. Thommes mentioned happened at McDonald’s. But sometimes it does. And we learn. We grow. And we continue to do one of the most selfless jobs of our lives.
Jody Russell
Eden Prairie

A dance
at Eagle Heights
A poem of Zoe:
This dance is from Mexico
It’s called “La Culebra”
First, the girls make a circle
Then, the boys go through the girls
Then, the girls make a little circle
Then, the girls go with their partner
Then, the girls dance with the boys
Then, the boys give a twirl
Then, the girls put their foot on the boys’ knee
Zoe Toppings
Eden Prairie
Editor’s note: Submitted on behalf of first-grader Zoe Toppings by her dad.

Election 2008
Supports Madia
I applaud retiring Congressman Jim Ramstad for voting with the Democrats to temporarily release 10 percent of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help lower gas prices. Ashwin Madia, the Marine Corps and Iraq War veteran running for Ramstad’s open seat said on WCCO that he agrees with Ramstad’s vote. Unlike Ramstad and Madia, Republican candidate Erik Paulsen is opposed to the idea, and supports drilling in the environmentally sensitive areas of ANWR and additional areas offshore. While the Ramstad/Madia approach would deliver immediate relief to Minnesotans, Paulsen’s approach would force us to wait up to eight years for results.
Like Congressman Ramstad, Ashwin Madia knows the importance of working across party lines to find solutions to the current energy crisis.
Paulson continues to admit that he’s not like Jim Ramstad, stating that “I’m more conservative than Ramstad’’ and “I’m more a Tim Pawlenty Republican.”
I trust that voters from both parties in CD3 will conclude that that Erik Paulsen is no Jim Ramstad.
Dan Bromelkamp
Maple Grove