District 50A

We have a good candidate and a not-so-good incumbent running for House in District 50A, which covers Cities of Columbia Heights, Hilltop, and parts of Fridley and St. Anthony.

While we don’t consider Carolyn Laine, the DFL incumbent, to be the worst of the worst, it’s still quite apparent that Carolyn has little concept of private property rights. She fully supported the smoking ban, and wasn’t much interested in exemptions.

Tim Utz, the Republican candidate, is completely in favor of repealing the statewide smoking ban. Tim has received an endorsement from Ron Paul, which tells us he’s really on the side of liberty. Tim shares this with us:

On the surface, a state wide smoking ban sounds reasonable. Most folks I talk with feel uncomfortable about the Minnesota statewide ban. Infringement of personal choice, liberty, and association are some reasons we are not sure about the state dictating the citizen’s choice and conduct of smoking locations. In addition the state constitution defines the powers of state encroachment upon “We the People”.

I am a non-smoker and I would still vote to repeal the statewide smoking ban. Our constitution and logic (a quality long lost in Saint Paul) dictates free association. Two examples are local watering holes or bars and Middle Eastern Hookah eateries where culture dictates smoking.

As stated before, when government taxes, they legitimize goods, services or products. Restricting, limiting and banning them then become hypocrisy. Well-intended legislators and lobby groups have long forgotten that “We the People” rule our personal lives, not government. A government’s first duty is to protect personal liberty, not dictate conduct.

Tim also echos this statement on his website, http://www.timutzforhouse.com/. You can view the government scorecard by clicking here.