Bonoff vote helped to raise Hennepin County sales tax without voter approval

I recently had a letter to the editor published in the Plymouth Sun-Sailor newspaper taking Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka) to task for voting in favor of granting the $1.1 billion Hennepin County local option sales tax increase without the referendum required by state law. She was one of only five Senators in Hennepin County, all DFLers, to vote yes.

Someone who read my letter left me this voice mail message:

Hi, I just wanted to thank Mr. Abe for writing that letter in the paper about Terri Bonoff. I agree with him totally. I contacted her shortly before Memorial Day, and she didn't return my call until a couple of weeks later. But I straightened her out on why I think she did the wrong thing. The vote was 34 to 32 by the way in favor in the Senate, and I told her that her vote would have made the difference to make the thing go down in defeat. Thank you very much for writing the letter. I appreciate it.

Another letter, presumably also from constituents of Sen. Bonoff, appeared in a subsequent issue of the paper:

In a previous edition of the Sun-Sailor, Sen. Terri Bonoff, DFL-Minnetonka, wrote about her accomplishments and that she was honored to have been part of the 2006 Senate.

She does not once mention her irresponsible vote to support the building of a Twins stadium that will mostly be paid for by residents of Hennepin County. This, in our view, was against the wishes of the vast majority of the people Sen. Bonoff represents. It is understandable why she did not include this as an accomplishment but it does show what Sen. Bonoff's priorities are.

Judy and Dick Peterson
Minnetonka

POLITICS