i just called the governor and lieutenant governor and left them a message, but it's important that i say it here too, along with contact information so that you can also, if you'd like, do it as well.


dear governor pawlenty and lieutenant governor molnau:

please raise my gas (and other taxes) as necessary to fix the bridges and other transportation infrastructure pieces so they are no longer a hazard to minnesotans. i drive on the lafayette bridge several times a week, not to mention that i drive on the (fortunately newish) lake street bridge more than that, and various bridges on highway 94 multiple times daily.

lt governor molnau is on record as saying that gas taxes would have to go up over thirty cents a gallon to provide needed infrastructure repair. gas prices have gone up well over a dollar a gallon in the past year, and i have not seen her or the governor commenting on the disastrous effects on the economy that has had. if the state's economy could take that, it can take this, especially considering that gas prices have just gone *down* approximately thirty cents a gallon.

please raise gax taxes and start fixing the transportation infrastructure before we lose any more bridges.

Office of the Governor
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155

Other ways to reach our office:

Telephone: (651) 296-3391
Toll Free: (800) 657-3717
Facsimile: (651) 296-2089
E-mail: tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us


as additional notes, i think that gas taxes are awful and regressive, and in general i am not for regressive taxes. but taxing the people who can actually afford it seems to be unpopular, apparently since more people think they can actually afford it than can. (for example, i can think of four people i know whose *parents* i would be talking about here.) not that i'm opposed to paying more taxes myself, you understand, because i know i'm fairly comfortably middle class. but i am for taxing the rich more, the upper middle class a bit more, the middle class a teeny bit more, and past that, leaving things as is if not lowering taxes.

yours,
betsy who is a tax and save lives liberal.