With the new Legislature sworn into session on Tuesday, one new official is coming under scrutiny for opinions he’s shared in the letters pages of local newspapers. Republican Glenn Gruenhagen, elected to the Minnesota House in November to represent Glencoe after Rep. Laura Brod retired, has been assigned to the Health and Human Services Committee. His controversial public statements about welfare, anal sex, abortion and alcoholism — areas the committee oversees — could make for interesting political theater in the months ahead.

The HHS committee deals with the state’s safety net programs — programs Gruenhagen has compared to prostitution schemes, as Bluestem Prairie reported after his GOP endorsement in May.

“Government run welfare programs are little more than a government subsidized prostitution program paying extra money to women who have children out of wedlock,” he wrote. “This has contributed to over a 70% out of wedlock birth rate for Americans with an African heritage. Also, welfare provides financial support to able bodied men instead of incentives for an honest days [sic] work.”

On abortion and substance abuse, two health issues the committee will deal with, Gruenhagen has been vocal about his beliefs.

“The pro-death abortion crowd continually attempts to lie to themselves and the American people that unborn children are not really human,” he wrote in a letter to the Hutchinson Leader. “Of course, medical science has completely proven them wrong, but just like the blind leading the blind, they continue to regurgitate the mantra of Planned Parenthood and the Democratic Party.”

Gruenhagen has said that alcoholism is not a disease and has no genetic basis, despite evidence to the contrary.

Labeling alcoholism and drug addiction as a disease is not only medically inaccurate (since there is no germ or gene), it also sends a false message to the abuser that they are a victim rather than to accept some level of personal responsibility for their abuse and behavior. In addition, it sends the completely wrong message to our young people about the dangers of alcohol and illegal drug abuse.

I voluntarily participated in Gideon International jail ministry with local prisoners for over 13 years. One of the questions I routinely asked prisoners was “how many of you were on alcohol or illegal drugs when you were arrested?” The answer was almost always the same: over 90 percent said “yes.” By the way, you won’t get a DWI for driving with cancer.

Labeling alcoholism and drug addiction as a disease is a recent trend and is bad for both the addicted and the non-addicted. It is rooted in a false psychological medical philosophy that everyone is a victim when it comes to wrong and bad behavior.

The HHS committee’s purview includes sex education and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Gruenhagen has taken a particular interest in sodomy, defined by Minnesota statute as “carnally knowing any person by the anus or by or with the mouth.”

In the Hutchinson Leader, he wrote:

Many have great concern for our country as we have drifted from the Judeo-Christian principles which gave us our liberties and freedoms, into the religion of atheism, such as the belief in abortion, pornography, sodomy as an orientation, evolution, etc. The corruption of atheistic values in our schools and government institutions leaves open the door for a foreign religious value system to influence our country’s culture.

He elaborated in a letter to the Glencoe News:

The primary purpose of my letters to the editor has been to alert the public to the danger of the homosexual agenda, which is the full acceptance and legitimizing of their lifestyle in every aspect of our society. One of their first objectives is to mandate the teaching of this very destructive behavior as normal to the children in our public schools and eventually in all schools.

We, as citizens, need to encourage our social workers, public health nurses, medical professionals, pastors, lawyers and political leaders in our community and state, to oppose this agenda and protect our children from the destructive and confusing influence of homosexuality.

It comes down to this: If you don’t believe that we should be teaching sodomy as a normal behavior to our children, it is time to stand up and say something publicly and voice your dissent before the legal door is closed through hate crimes legislation. . . .

As Bluestem Prairie notes, Gruenhagen tried to get a resolution passed at the Minnesota School Board Association to have what he calls “sodomy as an orientation” banned from schools:

BE IT RESOLVED, THAT THE MINNESOTA SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION URGES THE LEGISLATURE TO SUPPORT LEGISLATION PROHIBITING THE TEACHING OF SODOMY AS AN ORIENTATION TO OUR CHILDREN IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, AT AN AGE APPROPRIATE LEVEL, STUDENTS SHOULD BE TAUGHT THE PUBLIC HEALTH RISKS AND THE MEDICAL FACTS OF THE PRACTICE OF SODOMY, WHETHER PRACTICED BETWEEN TWO MEN, OR A MAN AND A WOMAN. ANY CURRICULUM WHICH PRESENTS INDIVIDUALS WHO PRACTICE THE MEDICALLY PROVEN UNHEALTHY BEHAVIOR OF SODOMY IN A SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE CONTEXT SHALL BE PROHIBITED IN THE CLASSROOM. STUDENTS WILL ALSO BE TAUGHT THAT IT IS COMPASSIONATE AND IN ACCORD WITH OUR PUBLIC HEALTH LAWS TO HELP PEOPLE STOP A BEHAVIOR THAT SPREADS SICKNESS, DISEASE, PAIN, SUFFERING AND DEATH. THERE IS NO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT WHICH GIVES PEOPLE THE FREEDOM TO PRACTICE BEHAVIOR THAT SPREADS INFECTIOUS DISEASES. WE HAVE ALWAYS HAD PUBLIC HEALTH LAWS IN OUR COUNTRY.

Gruenhagen’s tenacity at bringing up these contentious religious-based issues in his capacity as a school board member prompted five members of the Glencoe-Silver Lake School Board to issue a letter to the editor of the McLeod County Chronicle. There can be little doubt that on the HHS committee he will be as vocal.

With regularity, Mr. Gruenhagen inserts his own biases into school board meetings with not the least provocation. Abortion, homosexuality, safe sex, evolution and countless other topics that do not appear on the school board’s agenda are brought to the fore, repeatedly, and forced onto unsuspecting school board members, administrators and individuals in the viewing audience.

To do so is rude, a violation of school board decorum, a waste of attendees’ time and a disruption in the flow of otherwise quality public meetings.

The school board is tired of Mr. Gruenhagen’s inappropriate behavior and is intent that, over time, repeated actions on his part will not be met with sympathy, understanding, patience and tolerance, as they have in the past.

Gruenhagen has not responded to the Minnesota Independent’s interview request. The Minnesota Independent asked several social service and reproductive health organizations for comment on Gruenhagen, but most said they’d sit back and wait to see how the session unfolds.

The Minnesota Catholic Conference, the lobbying group for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, hailed the DFL omnibus bill on Tuesday as promoting “dignity and the common good” and for supporting those most in need. “While the HHS Budget Omnibus bill contains hurtful cuts, it recognizes the importance of maintaining critical assistance for Minnesota’s poorest families — especially in our ailing economy,” the group said.

The group implied that Pawlenty should sign the bill. “Gov. Tim Pawlenty has until Friday, May 15 to sign or veto the HHS Budget Omnibus bill,” said the Conference. “While the bill contains $489 million in cuts for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010-11 and $742 million in cuts for FY 2012-13, it preserves many needed services for our sisters and brothers who are poor and vulnerable.”

Catholic Charities also weighed in on the bill this week. Kathy Tomlin, director of the Catholic Charities Office for Social Justice, said even the cuts passed by the legislature are too deep — and those proposed by Pawlenty would be devastating.

One of the most egregious cuts debated at the Minnesota Capi­tol were those that would strip services from General Assistance Medical Care, a health care program that serves very low-income persons. Thirty-two thousand people are on GAMC, some 350 are clients of Catholic Charities,” wrote Tomlin. “While the Pawlenty administration doesn’t propose cutting the whole program, many of its services would be eliminated, including in-patient hospital care, dental services, radiology, eyeglasses, occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy and audiology services.”

She said that the state can’t cut its way out of the deficit. “While it is true that the cost of health care is adding to the state’s fi­nan­cial woes, cutting those with the fewest resources from access to health care doesn’t seem to address the real heart of the problem.”

The Archdiocese has been outspoken about making sure cuts don’t impact the poor.

Archbishop John Nienstedt and the state’s other bishops sent a letter to legislators last month encouraging them to balance the budget with a mix of revenue increases and cuts. “We believe that resolving the budget deficit through spending cuts alone will do great harm to Minnesotans and our economy,” they wrote. “We urge you to support raising sufficient revenue as part of a comprehensive approach to resolving.”

The bishops said that cuts to health and human services should spare the poor. “Catholic social teaching upholds the role of government to assist individuals and communities when they cannot help themselves. In performing this role, the state is fulfilling its moral responsibility to promote the common good.”

Photo: MNHS.org

Sen. Linda Berglin chairs the powerful Health and Human Services Budget Division in the Minnesota Senate and has long advocated a managed-care approach to rising health care costs. Although a staunch progressive on health care policy (she helped create and protect MinnesotaCare, the state’s health insurance program for low-income residents), she has typically demonstrated lukewarm interest in a single-payer system.

But this year, Berglin has signed on as a coauthor of the Minnesota Health Act, the bill that would create the Minnesota Health Plan. The Act (HF 135, SF 118) would take health insurance out of the private sector and put it under the control of a state board to cover all Minnesotans.

Citizens would be free to choose their own physicians or practitioners and would not be subject to any preexisting conditions clauses. The premiums that employees and employers currently pay would go into the state-run system, and each user would pay premiums according to his or her ability to pay. Advocates say those premiums will shrink for everyone under the plan.

When asked why Berglin seemed to have changed her mind on the single-payer plan, her office said her position is not quite a break from the past: “She has supported this bill in the past, so her support is not new.”

Sen. Linda Berglin

But this year, as the bill’s co-sponsor, she has brought that advocacy to a new level.

Berglin is not alone, as the bill is seeing more profound backing this year than in the previous 15 years or so that it’s been up for consideration.

While conservatives decry the plan as costly, advocates point to a number of ways a state-run health care plan could stimulate the economy.

“It makes the entire health care system less costly by making it more efficient,” said health policy expert Kip Sullivan, who has been active in Minnesota’s push for a single-payer system.

“The largest single improvement in efficiency under the plan will be the elimination of the excessive administrative costs created by health insurance companies,” he said.

Supporters expect the system to generate a 20 percent savings in health care costs. Those lowered costs would attract businesses to the state, they argue.

“[The plan] is especially beneficial to smaller employers because they are the least likely to be able to afford health insurance under the current system,” said Sullivan.

Indeed, small businesses are struggling to cover their employees and themselves, according to a study of 1,200 small businesses released this month (pdf) by the Main Street Alliance. Only 34 percent of small employers offer health coverage for their employees, and 43 percent of those only offered coverage for the business owner. Almost half, 49 percent, said that “any insurance, even bare bones coverage, is too expensive.”

Among small business owners, 59 percent said they would support a public solution to rising health care costs, compared to just 26 percent who said they’d rather let the private market sort the problem out.

Sullivan says that in addition to helping struggling small businesses, the Minnesota Health Plan could have a positive impact on the foreclosure crisis.

“Another benefit that will materialize in both good and bad economic times is fewer personal bankruptcies and home mortgage foreclosures, both of which are caused to a large extent by medical bills people can’t afford to pay.”

And as the foreclosure crisis continues to unfold in the United States, several studies have shown that just under half of all foreclosures were precipitated by medical crises, and one-quarter were due directly to insurmountable medical costs.

Under the Minnesota Health Plan, advocates say, those medical crises would be muted.

The bill co-sponsored by Berglin has two dozen coauthors in the Senate and three dozen in the House, but even with that support it’s unclear whether the measure will make it out of committee, as more conservative DFLers tend to support a free-market approach. In the past, single-payer bills have not reached the Minnesota House or Senate floors for votes.

And even if it does, passing the Legislature and making it to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s desk most certainly means a veto.

“Those of us supporting the Minnesota Health Plan expect it will take multiple sessions of the Legislature to get it passed,” said Sullivan.

“What’s different now is that a single-payer bill like the Minnesota Health Act is actually being heard in the Legislature. That is the first step to educating the Legislature, the media and the public about the need for a single-payer solution to the crisis.”