To the editor:

While claiming to take a bipartisan approach into the next legislative session, it appears the talking points have already been set by our local representative and his supporters. Immediately after the election, our state representative commented that he would now have to watch out for "big city liberals" in the state Legislature. I've heard similar comments from locals about how it's going to be a fight between suburban legislators and "the big city."

I'm a product of the suburbs of the Twin Cities. I've lived my whole life in places like Richfield, Shoreview, New Brighton, and now Farmington. While I've always seen conflicts between the parties, I've never seen a real rift between city representatives and suburban representatives.

My wife and I worship at a Lutheran church in the Groveland-Macalester neighborhood in St. Paul. I look around the pews on a Sunday and see people who could easily be seen at St. Michael's, Farmington Lutheran, or Spirit of Joy in Lakeville. Young families, mid-life couples, retired men and women. I have a very hard time seeing them as having fundamentally different goals than my wife and I.

I work for a company with hundreds of 20- to 30-year-olds, many of whom live in Minneapolis and St. Paul. They have the same goals as the young families in Farmington -- try to buy a house, save enough for their kids‚ college education, and give back to the community.

In my over 40 years of political experience, I have never, ever seen anything good come from dividing people up into classes or groups. I've seen tremendous progress made from tapping into everyone's common interests -- good education, a healthy life, a secure retirement.

I hope our representative will drop the talking points and work harder on real collaboration in the coming session.

Paul Hardt
Farmington

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