Our progressive leaders quickly understood the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic. As early as March of 2020, they pushed for measures to keep Minnesotans safe and healthy while helping our economy stay afloat.
Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka? Not so much.
True to form, he created hurdles to COVID recovery measures and spread dangerous information. And that’s just his record in the past year and a half. For more than a decade, before any of us had even heard of COVID-19, Paul Gazelka endangered Minnesotans with reckless lawmaking.
Here’s how:
Spreading anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination
At every turn, Paul Gazelka has failed LQBTQ+ Minnesotans, even his own child.
Ten years ago, during his first term as a state senator, he supported a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota. He kicked off his tenure as a senator with anti-gay bills and hasn’t stopped since.
Minnesotans voted against that constitutional amendment during the 2012 election, making a clear statement that discrimination has no place here. But still, Paul Gazelka didn’t get the memo.
Gazelka went on to introduce bills that would allow businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people and make it harder for transgender Minnesotans to safely use public facilities. He blocked bans on anti-gay conversion therapy and tried to sneak transphobic policy measures into the state’s education budget.
A dangerous COVID response
During the COVID-19 crisis, Paul Gazelka consistently downplayed the pandemic, refused to rely on facts and science, and made reckless decisions like holding a large, in-person post-election party that resulted in a member of his caucus dying from COVID.
He denied the need for masks and pushed for a hasty re-opening of the state. Gazelka compared COVID-19 to “a bad flu,” even after his colleague, former senator Jerry Relph passed away from the virus.
After Gazelka’s failures in responding to COVID-19, it’s clear that we can’t trust him to care for Minnesotans’ health.
And that’s not all…
As a state senator, Gazelka also voted to shortchange working Minnesotans, underfund Minnesota schools, and reduce access to pre-K for Minnesota’s youngest learners. He supported tax breaks to the wealthiest Minnesotans and big tobacco companies. As the opioid epidemic worsened, he protected opioid manufacturers from taking responsibility. He tried to deny emergency insulin for Minnesotans with diabetes and blocked gun violence prevention legislation.
We need to hold Paul Gazelka accountable. And we need your help to do it. Sign up now and together we’ll build a better Minnesota for all of us.
