What I'm Thinking About as I Vote

A couple of thoughts as I go into voting:

I have a few clients that get state funding. For a few of those grants, we get the grant and then have to provide an annual reconciliation for the funds received. The others are reimbursement grants (so we are reimbursed for the expense 30-60 days after we turn in our request reports). Reimbursement grants tend to be for the larger ones, somewhere between $50-250K.

In both reimbursement requests and reconciliations, I have to provide the payment information — the date paid (not just entered into the system), the kind of payment (check, EFT, etc.) and check number, the vendor, the amount, the proof it cleared, the expense documentation, and of course what budget it came out of. In programs that split an expense, I have to demonstrate how that proportionality was decided. If something was evenly split between two programs (say a package of paper towels that was $6.21), I have to demonstrate why one program was charged $3.10 and the other one $3.11. These reports are all reviewed, and often (not so often now because I have been doing them for a long time) sent back for more information. Once a year, they are further audited.

This means that, for me, the "fraud" in Minnesota is simply not as important an issue to me as the cost of living, or representation, or women's rights, or so many other issues that are important to me. My guess is that, given things I've read that fraud is actually much higher in many other states (especially FL and TX), it might not be a factor to many MN voters.

But one of the key things that IS important to me is remembering Metro Surge, and still experiencing the repercussions of it. FilmNorth has worked with several recent filmmakers who have created work based on Metro Surge, and so for the past several weeks I have been overwhelmed with images and sound and memories from January-March of last year. Honestly, I had blocked out a lot of it, but seeing it all again has been hard, infuriating, terrifying, and eye-opening. It was not all that long ago, folks, and it's also not over. I'm frankly stunned that we made it through that, that my kid managed to graduate from high school in that environment, and that any small business at all — much less an immigrant-owned one — is still functioning. I don't think we have even scratched the surface of realizing the effect.

So yeah, last night I spent a few minutes looking at the video I took of the first abduction I witnessed, and thinking about my child's future, and being thankful for those who stand up and keep fighting. Those are the things that will inform my polling choices next week, and I am happy to talk to you more about why if you want.



Photo by Sarah Whiting, one of those heroes who stood up and kept fighting, and continues to to this day.


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