Budget deficit
My colleague Martha Njolomole noted recently:
Since 2024, the Minnesota state government has spent more money than it collects in revenue every year. Per current estimates, Minnesota will see a $1 billion budget deficit in 2029, as carryover balances run out. If left unaddressed, this deficit will persist and likely grow every year after.
The big question in November’s elections is whether this deficit will be closed by spending cuts, tax hikes, or some combination of the two.
The deficit is the result of spending decisions made by the “historic” DFL trifecta in 2023. If November yields a new trifecta, Minnesotans — already some of the most heavily taxed citizens in America — can expect more of the same; their taxes will be hiked to close the deficit.
State government spending
On November 2, 1995, Bradley Sirvio beat George Schlegel to death with a hammer in Foley, in Benton County, and set fire to the house where the murder had taken place. He was given a sentence of life imprisonment.
In 2023, Sirvio was transferred to the Shakopee women’s prison, in accordance with Minnesota state law which, since January 2023, according to Aaron Swanum of the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC), “states that facility placement decisions will be aligned with gender identity unless the placement poses a heightened risk of physical or sexual harm to the person or others housed in the facility or the person is likely to engage in sexually inappropriate behavior.” The policy was altered following a 2022 lawsuit against the DOC which was filed by a non-profit organization Gender Justice, which received nearly $500,000 from Minnesota’s taxpayers courtesy of Governor Tim Walz.
Sirvio now identifies as transgender and has reportedly adopted the name “Aurora.”
In 2024, Reduxx reported that Sirvio “is now sharing a shower with female inmates, causing them to feel ‘violated.’”
…two women who are housed next to Sirvio have come forward to protest the situation. The women reveal that female inmates have been told to share a shower with Sirvio, despite the convicted killer having had “no surgery whatsoever.” The women, whose names have been altered to protect their identities, say that Sirvio’s presence is causing them to feel anxious and violated.
One woman, Letitia, explained: “They put a man next door to me. He claimed to be transgender. I now have to share the same wing with him. I also share the same shower with no lock on the inside door … The whole wing of women share just one shower, and we do not have another shower besides this one. Some of the women live in the wing lounge, and this is their only bathroom.”
She continued: “This man is not transgender. No surgery has been done whatsoever. He is fully a man, and still has a man’s body part attached to him. He acts like a man, sounds like a man, behaves like a man.”
Letitia describes herself as a “vulnerable adult,” and adds that she feels exceedingly uncomfortable sharing an unlocked shower with a biological male.
“This violates my conscience. It causes me to feel uncomfortable when taking a shower, knowing there is no protection for me.” Letitia further noted how, despite voicing her concerns for her safety to prison officials, the matter was ignored and she was told, “there’s nothing [the authorities] can do about it unless something really happens to me.”
Letitia’s sentiment was echoed by another female inmate, who will be referred to as Kari.
“Men were brought to Shakopee, and us women were neither informed nor asked how we would feel about living with them,” Kari said, referring to a gender identity policy that was officially implemented in January of 2023.
“There are women here who have been assaulted by men, and may have PTSD because of it. We can’t go to staff and tell them how we feel about the situation because no one wants to discuss it. There are no locks on the bathroom door, so when taking a shower, I feel so unsafe,” Kari said.
“The first day that [Sirvio] moved in, I had an appointment with my mental health worker and I let her know why my anxiety was so high,” she said. “It makes me feel violated emotionally. She understood my concerns and said that she would feel the same way, knowing that they are violent and sex offenders … I just don’t understand why the DOC would put violent men and sex offenders around all these women. It’s sad that the staff doesn’t care about how we as women feel.”
The good news for these women — simple bigots, no doubt, to some — is that Sirvio has now had his cosmetic surgery. The bad news for you — law abiding, hard working, Minnesota taxpayer — is that you paid for it. Liz Collin of Alpha News reports:
Living in Minnesota, you often feel like Mugatu at the end of “Zoolander,” when everyone else is swooning over Blue Steel, Ferrari, and Le Tigra, and he screams “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”
Priorities
I do not know how much Sirvio’s sex change operation has cost Minnesota’s taxpayers. If the surgery cost $50,000 and the median Minnesotan pays $5,000 in state income tax annually, then there are ten Minnesotans out there who worked a whole year to pay for this; maybe you’re one of them? I have no doubt that the cost is a drop in the budget deficit ocean and that we could could end this nonsense completely and still have a lot of budget balancing left to do.
But his story is illustrative of the mindset behind Minnesota’s state government’s fiscal policy. From the money handed out to radicals like Gender Justice to the cost of paying for a convicted killer’s sex change operation, it is always about taking and spending more of your money often on things you wouldn’t spend it on yourself. Will we see more or less of this after November?