Colin Lee gets DFL endorsement for probable Holberg rematch
Longtime Rep. Holberg defeated Lee 60 percent to 34 in 2010
By Aaron M. Vehling
Thisweek Newspapers
Colin Lee has received the DFL’s endorsement to run in Lakeville’s new House District 58A this fall.
Colin Lee
He ran against Republican Mary Liz Holberg in her old district in 2010, with Holberg defeating Lee 60-34 percent. If Holberg receives the GOP endorsement for 58A, as is expected, then it will be a rematch between the two political foes.
Holberg lives in the new House District 56B but announced recently that she would run in 58A.
Lee said among the reasons he decided to run again was that “the 2010 elections took our country in a profoundly wrong direction.”
“I want to raise the important issues that have been mostly ignored by our legislature,” Lee said. “They’ve been overly focused on morality posturing when their voters really elected them to create jobs and run a balanced budget that doesn’t borrow from our children’s future.”
Among the serious issues the state faces is “the impact of skyrocketing health costs,” he said.
He compared Minnesota to Vermont, noting the latter’s new health law that goes into effect in 2017. He said that state’s move was an “an admirable attempt… at reining in costs through group purchasing as a state, while providing first-rate care to all of its citizens.”
Lee recalled a survey he read that was conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business in which small businesses ranked rising health costs as the top cause of their troubles for the past decade. According to the NFIB’s report, the concern goes back even further to 1986.
“There is no better jobs program than making health care affordable, making it affordable to early entrepreneurs and separating it from employment,” he said.
A positive he noted about Minnesota is the wealth of universities and the strong technology community.
“The CEO of Salesforce.com recently referred to the Twin Cities as an ‘emerging country’ due to the massive growth in sales and engineers he saw at technology events in this region,” Lee said. “Programs like the angel tax credit and (tech startup accelerator) Project Skyway offer great opportunity to develop a local ‘Silicon Prairie’.”
Lee is a software engineer for Pearson VUE, a Minnesota computer-based testing subsidiary of the educational publisher Pearson. In his free time, Lee is a Lakeville Lion and volunteers with Lakeville Friends of the Environment. He plays electric guitar and enjoys off-road rallycross racing, he said. Lee awaits in anticipation for a special kind of new car he expects to arrive in about three months.
“I’m excited to likely become the first electric car owner in the city in a few months,” he said, pointing to the imminent arrival of his new all-electric Nissan Leaf.
Looking back at 2010, Lee said he learned a few lessons from that campaign. First, he said, “Rep. Holberg actively avoids debates.”
In addition, “I probably won’t make it to every single door in my district while I’m working full-time,” he said. “The easiest way to reach constituents is to meet them where they go. I need to be more visible at events around Lakeville and boil my message down to its essence for people who have less time to think about politics.”
Vehling is at aaron.vehling@ecm-inc.com and www.facebook.com/sunthisweek.
Dear Mary Liz Holberg and Colin Lee: Get rid of Progressive Rail’s residential railcar storage biz. No one wants it here.
End Mary Liz Holberg’s 14-year regime of power (fronted by the political pocketbook of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life). Elect a FRESH perspective for the people of Lakeville that will not include BIG GOVERNMENT, more rules for women’s health care and physicians and clinics and intrude on our personal lives and families. Support Colin Lee who will not succumb to the pressures of MCCL. See Mary Liz Holberg at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8MjKnSyAzU
Time to put Colin Lee in place of Mary Liz Holberg. She has been ruling the roost and calling the shots in the Republican ranks in St. Paul long enough. Personal agendas have no place in the State Office Building; representatives are to do just that: represent those who elect them.
Barb G is right. There is no room for personal agendas in the State Office Building. Holberg was elected to represent those who elect her. There will be no “Who do you think you are?” (NBC) or “Finding Your Roots,” (PBS) great TV shows originating out of Minnesota due to her personal agenda against the pending Original Birth Certificate legislation, which most legislators support. So wrong and cruel of her to use her power and personal agenda to defeat this bill again another year.
Colin Lee’s past ultraliberal writings in this newspaper, including a scathing condemnation of American individualism (“We bleed together,” 2010), reveal his true ideology in his own words. Weigh his campaign promises against his history.