Is the party system broken?

By Chuck Kajer

A recent email update from State Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan) surprised me.

I'll admit, I've often been surprised by things that legislators say or do, and not always pleasantly surprised.

And it's fair to say that Rep. Buesgens and I don't agree on a whole lot politically. But this email had me nodding in agreement, and I felt it important to share with our readers.

Buesgens talked about his disillusionment with the legislative caucus system. He said that it's something that has been festering for some time and he wanted to get it off his chest. What he had to say seems to be so common sense, and goes a long way toward describing the dysfunction we've seen in our legislative and congressional leaders of late.

It is no secret that over the past few years I have become more and more disillusioned with the legislative caucus system as it exists in St. Paul