& February 24, 2011 Governor Mark Dayton 130 state Capitl Senate 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther St. Paul, MN 55155, State of Minnesota Dear Governor Dayton, Thank you for your many invitations to breakfast and your willingness to meet with members of our ‘caucus. We are pleased that you are willing to hear our ideas, suggestions and concerns. Minnesotans want us to work together at the Capitol and we believe we are off to a strong start. We write to make perfectly clear, however, that we all are opposed to raising taxes to balance the 2012- 2013 $6.2 billion deficit. We all are opposed to your budget that increases state spending by over 22 percent. We disagree with your position that government spending should grow to such high levels, when all of our Minnesota families and job providers have reduced their own spending. All across Minnesota, our families and job providers are working to restructure their balance sheets and adjust to increasingly modest budgets. So many have been impacted by cutbacks, downsizing, unemployment and underemployment, and have adjusted their spending. We must do the same with our state’s budget. We do not have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. We welcome you to join us as we work to restore our state’s fiscal health. We are working diligently in ‘our committees to identify and develop the concepts for long-term redesign and reform. We all agree that our ability to accomplish such reforms must begin with the most important reform of all, whic learning to live within our means. i Y4OY Stas Respectfully, Senator Geoff Michel Senator Julianne Ortman Sefate Majority Leader Deputy Majority Leader Char, Senate Tax Committee Lalu Bree Dre, Banu ferater Michelle Benson Senator Dave Brown Senatér John Carlson. istrict 49 District 16 District a wtateeAe, Senator cary Osha Senator Teoate(/ d Senator Roger District 53 District 21 District 38 Senator Al DeKruif Senator Michelle Fischbact Senator Paul Gaze| District 25, District 14 District 12 \ ¥ 4 Senator Chris Gerlach ‘Senator Joe Gimse ‘Senator Dan Hall District 37, District 13 District 40 Senator David Hann Senator Gretchen Hoffman ~ District 42 District 10 Distri Senator Bill Inge@figtsen Senator Senator Ben Kruse District 11 District District 47 Senator Ted Lillie Senator ne ne ‘Senator Doug Magnus District 56 District 32 District 22eZ olefin Senator Jeremy Miller Senator Carla Nelson Senator Scott Newman District 31 District 30 Senator Sean Nienow Senator Gen Olson ‘Senator Mike Parry District 17 District 33 District 26 4 — Marx Athy Tie hese Senator Claire Robling nator John Pederson Senator Julie Rosen istrict 15 District 35 District 24 ’ Senator David cal Senator Dave Thompson _—_Senator Ray Vandeveer District 29 District 36 District 52 Peletul Senator Pam Wolf District 51