Date: May 3, 2004
Subject: Ember Reichgott Junge: Confirm Yecke

It rarely happens, but DFL commentator Ember Reichgott Junge agreed with the Taxpayer's League's David Strom yesterday, in their regular Sunday appearance on the KSTP-TV public affairs program "At Issue," hosted by political reporter Tom Hauser.

While making the point that education commissioners should bring the education community together rather than be "divisive," Junge said that this issue is not enough to "de-seat" Cheri Pierson Yecke, and that the Senate should confirm her. I would argue that Yecke is the first commissioner in recent memory to bring all education stakeholders to face one another at the same table. It may be the family reunion from hell at times, but disagreement is not the same as divisiveness. It's the first step toward reconciliation in a family that too often doesn't communicate at all.