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11 V1GVV.J. In answer to a question Monday, Bolton, who now serves as the State Department's senior nonprolifera- tion officer, denied the United States had ever disputed U.N. reports that Saddarn Hussein did not have a uranium -enrichment program. That is just not true. In March 2003, just before the invasion, for example, Vice President Dick Cheney said Saddam "had a massive effort un- derway that involved four or five different technologies for enriching uranium to produce fissile material." He went on to say that Muhammad E1Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was "wrong" in saying otherwise. That led to questions of Bolton about why he is personally so ag- gressive in seeking E1Baradei's ouster. "Term limits," he said, a preposterous assertion. The Bush administration seeks to get rid of El- Baradei for the same reason it wants to get rid of U.N. Secretary -General 11RIL SPUC .11 Wal M UUU.J VVll11 stated U.S. policy, was not prop- erly cleared by the State Depart- ment and was strongly opposed by Jack Pritchard, chief U.S. envoy for North Korea.' It took all Pritchard could do to keep the six -parry talks on track. Bolton then worked to push Pritchard out of the State De- partment. He succeeded; less than a month later, Pritchard resigned. To say that Bolton isn't a team player understates the problem by a factor of 10, yet he has. been nominated to be the U.S. voice on the team of all teams, the United -Nations. Then, of course, Bolton has a long history of denigrating the United Nations. He now says he wants to "reform" it, but for years he has said it is irrelevant, and worse. Unless Bolton has had a Paul -like conver- sion on the road to Damascus, he's not to be trusted within 100 miles of U.N. headquarters. The Senate com- mittee should ensure he doesn't get even that close. History matters Stop cutting Historical Society For a look, taste, smell and feel of Minnesota farm life in the 1860s, no place surpasses the Oliver H. Kelley Farm near Elk River. Its oxen - powered plow, heirloom vegetable garden, wood -burning cookstove and farm chore demonstrations give visitors memorable immersion in agricultural history. School tours bring upwards of 15,000 students a year to the farm where the National Grange move- ment started. Among those kids have been the three Rohlf children of Elk River. All three became serious history buffs as a result. So when a state financial crisis in 2003 landed Kelley Farm on the Min- nesota Historical Society's list of sites to be closed, Elk River city employee Stephen Rohlf swung into action. He helped organize the 130-member Friends of the Kelley Farm and set out to raise the $140,000 per year needed to keep the farm open to the public — albeit with reduced hours and staff, and higher admission prices. The goal was met for 2004 and 2005, thanks to two large one-time gifts, a Save the Farm event, and a lot of work. But Rohlf says the fundraising for 2006 isn't going as well. "It's a struggle to get the repeat donor," he said. "They think that if this is for the good of the public, the public should pay." That proposition — that Min- nesota's historical treasures belong to the public, should be available for the public and are the financial responsibility of the public — is be- ing tested this year at the Legislature. Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposed 2006- 07 budget takes a 2.5 percent bite out of the Historical Society's state appropriation. That's not just a nick. It's added insult to the injury the His- torical Society sustained in 2002 and 2003 — an 18 percent cut in state funding and the layoff of 25 percent of its full-time staff. Perhaps the governor's, proposal was built on the belief that private fundraising is dependable enough to keep Kelley Farm and five other threatened sites open indefinitely. If it was, legislators need to hear Rohlf's testimony: "People are will- ing to step up in the short term. But expecting them to sustain that [level of giving] isn't reasonable." All year long, many of the His- torical Society's 18,000 dues -paying members have been wearing rectan- gular lapel buttons reading, "History Matters." It does indeed, to the edu- cation of this state's citizens, its tour- ism economy, its cultural diversity, and its sense of identity and pride. This. year, the Legislature needs to make funding decisions commensu- rate with history's value to this state. That means — at a minimum — no more cuts.