Rep Garofalo (Left), Rep West (Center), Rep Lucero (Right)

Politicians are known for saying one thing and doing another; Minnesota is no exception to this rule. During the height of the pandemic in 2020, many legislators were encouraged to stay home and attend legislative proceedings via zoom. Despite this, there were several legislators who claimed the full $9,900 stipend for travel expenses… a few of which claim to care about protecting taxpayer dollars.

According to Fox 9, Republican representatives Pat Garofalo (Farmington), Nolan West (Blaine) and Lucero (Dayton) all claimed this per diem despite failing to be physically in St. Paul for more than 10 days last year.

This is particularly shocking considering that these supposed “fiscal policy champions” all live within a reasonable distance of St. Paul. Nonetheless, they decided to pocket these travel expenses to pad their own wallets.

This is not a responsible use of taxpayer dollars. If these three representatives continue to campaign on the promise of being fiscally responsible, they should face up to voters who see through their lies.

Give these representatives a phone call, and let them know how you feel about their stay-at-home legislating on your dime.

Representative Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) 651-296-1069 [email protected]

Representative Nolan West (R-Blaine) 651-296-4226 [email protected]

Representative Eric Lucero (R-Dayton) 651-296-1534 [email protected]