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Melissa Hortman believed in planting trees • Minnesota Reformer [1]

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Date: 2025-07-02

Like everyone who works around the state Capitol, I was shocked when I learned of the assassination of Melissa Hortman. The intimate, horrifying violence of the act, combined with the loss of such a colossal figure in our state’s politics, was one of the most jarring events of my lifetime. As a child growing up in Brooklyn, I experienced 9/11 up close. That is the only other moment I can compare it to.

I didn’t know Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman on the same personal level as many legislators, staff and long-time politicos who might read this column, and so I want to extend my heartfelt condolences to everyone personally affected, as well as all of those who, like myself, are fearful of an increasingly violent and unstable political environment.

There is little in the way of eulogy I could add that hasn’t already been said. She was brilliant, kind, effective, humble and a great many other wonderful things. But in the interest of commemorating a woman I greatly admired, I wanted to write about one issue on which we shared a passionate interest: Planting trees.

I always appreciated Speaker Hortman’s love for trees and I think it is worth reflecting on the essential wisdom that this interest imparts.

From cooling and cleaning the air around them, to reducing carbon in the atmosphere, trees are one simple and elegant treatment for so many of our social challenges. Trees have been associated with greater economic activity, improved community health and even reduced violent crime.

But far more important than their tangible benefits, it is worth pausing to consider Hortman’s interest in trees as embodying a set of values about how we care for one another and our collective future.

A commitment to trees is a commitment to future generations. It grows from an understanding that the world we want to create may not come about in our lifetimes, but is still worth our efforts. It is an acknowledgment that the process of democratic governance is one of stewardship, of envisioning and fighting for the world we want to pass on.

At Hortman’s urging, the state passed tens of millions of dollars worth of funding for new programs aimed at increasing the density and the sustainability of Minnesota’s urban and rural forests. Our state will be healthier and more beautiful because of her efforts.

But her even broader legacy is reflected in the countless ways she sought leave things better than we found them, often while considering the long-term horizon in which we have the greatest opportunities to improve health of our society.

Investments in public education, for example, might not benefit high school seniors, but they could forever alter the trajectory of young children and families. Similarly, our investments in infrastructure may take time and result in frustrating disruptions to our daily routines. But in the long run they will provide us with new avenues to connect with one another.

The speaker pushed and supported countless initiatives like this, aimed at ensuring a brighter future for all.

She also sought to stop policies that might seem pleasing in the moment but would carry negative effects in the future. One particularly close to my heart was the Social Security tax fight of 2023. Hortman was one of a relatively small number of key elected officials who recognized the damage that a top-heavy tax cut for wealthy retirees could do to our state budget.

As a result of her leadership, the 2023 state budget cut taxes on Social Security income for those making less than $120,000 per year, but maintained them for households earning in the millions or high six-figures. As difficult as that fight was — with many Republicans and Democrats who wanted to deliver on a catchy but universally discredited policy idea — it didn’t take decades to see the importance of Hortman’s long-term thinking: Had Gov. Tim Walz signed a full Social Security income tax elimination, the 2025 deficit would have been over $1 billion larger for the recently budgeted 2026-27 biennium, and the state would have had to put more investments in health, education and environmental protections on the chopping block.

I am going to miss Hortman’s grounded, thoughtful, far-seeing leadership, and I hope that many others follow her example.

With so much tension and vitriol focused on every headline and latest policy battle in Washington, Hortman’s passion for something as simple as trees reminds us of a larger picture and a longer story. One in which we are not separated by partisanship and geography, but intrinsically connected through our shared planet and a fluid human history of which we are all a part.

Trees, like much of the work of creating a brighter future, are also easily taken for granted. When we are surrounded by them, we assume that they are an unalterable part of the world we live in. Or worse yet, we don’t even notice them. But the truth is that the healthy, mature trees on our streets and in our backyards were all planted by caring people decades in the past — many of whom never sat in their shade. Another essential reminder of the great collective, ongoing effort it requires to build and maintain a just society.

Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark committed so much of their lives to the Minnesotan endeavor of creating a better world for all.

I don’t know that we are living up to that aspiration right now, but maybe the trees all around us can serve as a grounding reminder of all that we share and owe one another as human beings.

Let’s get planting.

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[1] Url: https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/07/02/melissa-hortman-believed-in-planting-trees/

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