Senator Bob Gunther(R) has been the incumbant representative for this area for over 18 years. His family has a lot of old money in town and in this area that to run against him is like trying to stop a freight train with a broom stick.
He has done wonders for the hog farmers in this area as every year our ground water is polluted by another hog lot that was allowed to go up. This county went from having sloughs to having fertile fields to having hog lots.
We have a picturesque downtown area that looks like something out of Norman Rockwell, but because Mr. Gunthers friends own land near the Interstate 90 corridor, all businesses have been moving out of the downtown area to the Interstate strip malls going up.
The first time Bob Gunther and myself met, i was working for the local newpaper. I had just read an article we printed regarding Bob Gunther’s approval for funding on a study which came to the conclusion that college educated people get better paying jobs than non-college educated people. Meeting him (it was an election year btw) i asked him if he was the one who had approved $3.5million on this study. He smiled proudly and said “yes, yes i did, i co-authored that funding”. i looked him in the eye and said “well, duh! you could have paid me $1.5million to tell you that!”
I was not allowed to talk to any visiting politicians who came into the news room after that incident.
The second time, i read a report from a different newspaper that he had been caught sending out a letter inviting lobbyists to a dinner he was holding. There were 3 different plates you could order. Depending on what plate you ordered, most expensive to least expensive, that would be how he addressed your issues. I found it funny and outrageous that this was not printed in the newspaper that his constituents and the people of his district, it was printed in a separate newspaper in a different district. I confronted both Gunther and the Publisher and i was “let go” by the newpaper and “ignored” by his office.
Now, the latest from voted in again Bob Gunther, in an article regarding the “Racino Bill” in which Native American casinos would be taxed to fund a stadium for the Minnesota Vikings, Bob Gunther said, “The new governor thinks Indians should pay taxes too,” Gunther said. “They’ve had a free ride long enough.”
To which my reply in an editorial is this: “”INDIANS?” are you serious. Hello, “representative” Gunther!! this is the 21st century. A free ride living on reservations that the american people put them in after they share the land and taught us to live on it?? YOU DO NOT represent me. You are exact proof that you get your position by who you know or who you are. great statement! Ignorance at it’s best! what’s next? Putting african americans back into slavery because we’ve let them be free for long enough? or how about women, we’ve let them have a voice in politics long enough, lets put back in the kitchen?”
So, if i end up missing in action, you will know why.
Here is a link to the actual article: Dateline HotDish Hell
