Bonnie Wilhelm, in her announcement for her candidacy for the Minnesota House of Representatives from District 13B, raises serious questions which it is her duty to answer to the satisfaction of the voters in her district.
In her letter to the editor of this newspaper printed on May 19, 2005, which to me indicated at that time she planned to run for the Legislature, she came out strong for the proposition that Gov. Tim Pawlenty is the boss of Minnesota, whose "ground rules" are to be obeyed by everyone, including the legislators. The voters of this district will not take kindly to the thought that their representative in the Minnesota House, which is really the House of the people, are to pay attention to the dictates of a strong-willed governor rather than to the people who elected him or her.
In the March 6 West Central Tribune, she states: "They (the families of Kandiyohi County) want a representative who is actively involved and is respectful of their opinions." I submit that they have that in their present representative, Rep. Al Juhnke, who in his years of service has demonstrated in good measure the qualities Wilhelm looks for, "a state representative who listens and doesn't just talk." Furthermore, we have in Juhnke a legislator who gets things done for his constituents.
Juhnke has one thing more that Wilhelm does not possess -- experience. The demanding work of representing constituents in the ways of legislating and working to get one's voice heard does not come easy. Legislators of long experience may be hard to convince and are many times reluctant to give a neophyte even a hearing.
Wilhelm still has to learn that there are occasions when the chips are down and one must stay and fight, no matter how tedious and hard it is to stay on the job. A legislator should not give in so the legislators can go home. She talked of the need for compromise. Compromise is, however, an art, and it takes experience to learn how to do it well and not give away the store in the process.
