Deadbeat Minnesota Republican Party Served With Eviction Papers

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Last updated on April 25th, 2012 at 10:33 am

While the Minnesota Republican Party refuses to act on a foreclosure moratorium bill, they have been served with eviction papers for not paying rent on their state party headquarters.

The Minnesota Republican Party has not paid the rent on their state party headquarters since last August, and was finally served with eviction papers. State GOP Chairman Pat Shortridge said, “We’re not going to be evicted.” He added that the party is, “continuing to negotiate on the back payments as well as on a lease that better fits both our space needs and our budget.” The Minnesota Republican Party is $2 million in debt. According to an internal party memo, they owe $1.2 million to vendors, and $700,000 in legal fees due to the gubernatorial election recount.

The hypocrisy here is that these same Republicans who in debt and facing eviction are refusing to take up a bill that would put a moratorium on home foreclosures in Minnesota. The state’s Republican leadership claims that the problem is already being dealt with and that the state should let things work themselves out on their own at the federal level before passing new laws.

To date, the committee chairs in the legislature refuse to even hear the temporary moratorium bill, much less bring it to the floor for a vote. The state’s Republican Party expects not to be evicted from their headquarters even though they haven’t paid their rent in months, but they refuse to do anything to help homeowners who are trapped in underwater mortgages do anything to keep their homes.

They feel entitled to negotiate away their own debt, but they refuse to give homeowners the same privilege that they are invoking for themselves. If you thought getting eviction papers would give the state’s Republicans some empathy for homeowners who are fighting to keep their homes, you are wrong. Empathy has no place at any level of the modern Republican Party.

Instead of aiding their constituents, the Republican leadership has cracked down on immigrants, and passed an ALEC written voter ID bill. As we have seen at the federal level, the Republican Party is a fiscal disaster. Their idea of fiscal prudence is to eliminate programs that work, while extending tax cuts to those who need them the least that they have no intention of ever paying for. Sure they utter all the buzzwords about the deficit, but behind the tough talk is a political party that can’t practice what they preach. It is obvious that in their view fiscal conservatism only applies to the poor, the middle class, working people, and the elderly.

The next time you hear a Republican on television bellowing from on high about spending and the deficit remember the eviction papers served to the GOP in Minnesota, and ask yourself, if they can’t manage their own finances, why should I let them manage mine?

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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