Makeover Mark Kennedy continued his quest to rid himself of his rightwing zealot/Bush lapdog image by issuing a press release the other day. From the release:
“I have been a strong advocate for increasing LIHEAP funding in the House [.]” [Kennedy Campaign Release, 3/27/06]
LIHEAP is, of course, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, a program which countless Minnesota families rely on to keep their homes warm through the winter. Mark Kennedy must be a realy good guy to support this program. But wait, the DFL begs to differ…
Mark Kennedy Voted To Cut More Than $170 Million From LIHEAP.
In 2005, Kennedy voted to cut LIHEAP by $176 million.
The vote came as Americans were about to face the largest one-year jump in home heating prices in three decades – meaning that LIHEAP would require a significant amount of additional funding for fiscal year 2006 to avert widespread hardship. Projections issued by the Department of Energy indicated that home heating prices would average 47.5 percent more in the winter of 2005-2006 than the previous year. [Vote# 321, 6/24/05, HR 3010, the bill passed 250-151; CQ House Action Reports, ""Fact Sheet No. 109-17 Labor-HHS Appropriations," 6/21/05 & "Floor Summary: No. 109-14 Labor-HHS Appropriations," 6/27/05; CBPP, "Out in the Cold," 10/20/05]
Damn, Kennedy caught again. Well Mark, if you keep throwing BS against the wall, sooner or later some of it might stick
Published by Zack 2 years, 1 month ago
in Local.
Doug has always been my favorite local righty, and I have to give him credit for posting on Sen. Don Betzold’s proposed compromise on the gay marriage issue.
For those that aren’t familiar, Sen. Betzold has proposed a constitutional amendment that would mandate that the official definition of a marriage in the state of Minnesota could only be decided by the legislature. This measure would prevent the “nightmare” scenario of a court ruling Minnesota’s marriage laws (which currently only recognize marriage between a man and a woman) unconstitutional.
What’s the problem with Sen. Betzold’s compromise? Doug worries that the wording of the amendment is not clear enough to prevent mass confusion in the voting booth. But Doug should remember that any constitutional amendment having to do with gay marriage will dominate the news throughout the election cycle. If this amendment were to appear on the ‘06 ballot, I have no doubt that by the time Election Day rolls around, every single voter will know exactly what it means.
The real problem with Betzold’s proposal is that it takes away a valuable wedge issue for the GOP. And given the current lack of political popularity for the party of Lincoln, they need all the wedge issues they can get.
Major kudos, however, to Doug for conceding that the proposal “does seem to offer a potential compromise”. I only wish more Republicans were willing to be as reasonable as he is.
Published by Zack 2 years, 1 month ago
in Local.
Looks like Michele Bachmann’s strategy of all hate all the time might not be a winner statewide. From the Pioneer Press:
A majority of Minnesota voters oppose a state constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman, according to a statewide poll to be released today.
The survey found 54 percent of registered voters were against the proposed amendment, while 40 percent supported it.
If the amendment also makes same-sex civil unions or domestic partnerships illegal, support for it drops from 40 percent to 28 percent.
I have to admit that I am surprised to see these results, but perhaps I should have had a little more faith in my fellow Minnesotans.
A few other interesting tidbits from the poll:
The results suggest Minnesotans have reservations about the proposed amendment. By a 61 percent to 29 percent margin, they agreed with the statement: “Minnesota already has a law banning same-sex marriage; we don’t need a constitutional amendment.”
Seventy-seven percent said an anti-gay-marriage amendment “could be a distraction from other important issues facing Minnesota.” And 60 percent believed such an amendment “could divide us, and we need to work together for the good of Minnesota.”
By more than a 3-to-1 ratio, the respondents said gays and lesbians “should have the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else.” An even larger proportion said government shouldn’t treat people differently because of sexual orientation.
So, Michael Brodkorb, the voters see through your charade, they know the old smoke and mirror routine when they see it. Minnesotans know that the Hate Amendment is nothing but an attempt by the GOP to distract, divide and conquer, and they would much rather see their elected officials focus on the issues that matter.
DFLers exposes the not-so-moderate St. Sen. Geoff Michel, who will soon have the privilege of losing to one of MN Publius’ favorite candidates, Andrew Borene.
Michel apparently thinks that the best way to win his blue-trending district is to align himself with right wingers like Michele Bachmann. But then again, my mother taught me that honesty is the best policy, so perhaps I shouldn’t criticize Michel for showing his true colors.
From Mark Kennedy’s latest propaganda email:
“At a time when spending is out of control in Washington, doesn’t it make sense to send a CPA to the U.S. Senate?”
That’s all fine and dandy Mark, but you are a member of the majority party in Congress that is voting for all of this “out of control” spending. Makeover Mark is trying to run against budgets that he voted for. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.
If my accountant put me in debt as deep as the federal government is now, well, firing him would only be the beginning of what I would do.
If Dean Johnson’s taped remarks to about the hate amendment were given in January, why are we only hearing about it now? Awfully convenient that Johnson’s public humiliation was saved until the legislature was in session. It seems the GOP’s righteous indignation was tempered by political expediency.
Checks and Balances is reporting that Kelly Doran is about to drop out of the Governor’s race. We announced our support of Mr. Doran a few weeks ago, so it should not be surprising that we view this as a disappointing development. Sean Towle claims that Doran is “finally believing the low numbers he continually sees in his polling data”, but Doran’s numbers current numbers are all about low name ID. My personal opinion is that once the primary gets a little closer, Doran puts up a few ad buys, the press writes a few “outsider businessman” stories, he’ll be competitive with the big dogs.
Here’s hoping Towle is wrong on this one.
I am SO tired of the Dean Johnson “controversy”.
Yes, Johnson made a mistake. A significant mistake. He, however, at least had the decency to admit he was wrong and apologize (which is more than a certain President did when he told us there were WMDs in a certain country). And then, after he apologized, he apologized again, and again, and again, to the point that every single news story out of the Twin Cities these days is about a Dean Johnson apology. For instance, I saw this headline in the Strib this morning:
Vikings finally nab Hutchinson, Dean Johnson apologizes for the delay.
Its ridiculous!
Dean Johnson is not going to resign, Speaker Sviggum and the Governor both said that he shouldn’t. In fact, head wing nut Pawlenty said “There should be room for forgiveness.” If One Term Timmy can find it in his heart to forgive, can’t Michael Brodkorb?
Over on this side of the aisle, we have been saying that the whole “marriage” issue is nothing but a distraction meant to distract and divide Minnesotans. This debacle puts an exclamation point at the end of that sentence. Look at MDE today, he ridicules an attempt by legislators to bring the Olympics to Minnesota as an effort to “change the subject”. C’mon! Its the damn Olympics! Can’t we all agree that bringing the Olympics to Minnesota would be a good thing??? Are we really supposed to ignore everything else in the universe until the right wing spin machine is done with their hit on Dean Johnson? Can’t we please get back to talking about bonding bills and issues that actually matter rather than Dean Johnson’s failings?
Greetings from Washington, D.C. I’m taking a break from my vacation just for a minute because of the huge news that longtime Congressman Martin Sabo will retire from Congress. Sabo’s retirement is a huge loss to Minnesota, particularly because after the Democrats retake the House this fall (knock on wood) Sabo was slated to become the Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. I’ll try to put up a post next week marking Sabo’s legacy, but since I don’t have much time (or energy) for blogging right now, I’ll focus on what you all want to read about - Sabo’s successor.
The frontrunner has got to be Mike Erlandson. As Sabo’s Chief of Staff and the former Chairman of the DFL, he’s an obvious choice (perhaps this is why he passed on a long-rumored run for Secretary for State). R.T. Rybak probably won’t run; he was, after all, just reelected four months ago. In fact, it would not surprise me if Sabo timed his retirement to preclude Rybak from making the jump. Had he waited until 2008, Rybak probably would have run and beaten Erlandson handily.
The Star Tribune mentions Peter McLaughlin and Margaret Anderson Kelliher, but I doubt either would run against Erlandson. McLaughlin is too close to the DFL establishment, while Anderson Kelliher has an excellent chance to be Speaker of the Minnesota State House and I doubt she’d give that up for an uncertain bid against Erlandson.
A pro-choice female candidate would be a formidable foe for Erlandson, however, in part because she could count on significant financing from EMILY’s List (The Strib also mentions Minneapolis Council Member Lisa Goodman).
Two final darkhorse candidates: St. Sen. Satveer Chaudhury and St. Rep Steve Simon. Chaudhury is a strong campaigner who has moved through the ranks of DFL Senate Leadership, while Simon was an impressive fundraiser (and candidate overall) in his upset win over longtime Rep. Jim Rhodes in 2004.
I finished finals this morning and I’m heading to Hawaii in a couple days. I’d sit around and blog, but I think instead of going to give myself some well deserved veg-out time. Videogames, here I come.
MN Publius successfully launched our latest assault on conservatism. Let this be a warning to the rest of you right-wingers, Publius is on the prowl.
Also, Matt will try really hard not to giggle like an 8 year old next time.
I’m glad Coleman ruled out higher office. I want to beat him here.
Published by Matt 2 years, 2 months ago
in Blog.
It would be nice if for once we were in the real news and not just Blog House… but as long as they keep sticking us in every other week, I’m fine with it: http://www.startribune.com/1519/story/299157.html
Just a quick post as I procrastinate studying. The Analyst has a great post going through the specifics of the Senate fundraising numbers so far and it is definitely worth a read. (check out the difference in Kennedy’s PAC numbers and Klobuchar’s)
And it was Sviggum that done killed it.
In his State of the State Speech yesterday, One Term Timmy Pawlenty highlighted a proposal to mandate that 70% of education funding be spent in the classroom. Today, House Speaker Steve Sviggum proclaimed that proposal DOA.
“We know the votes aren’t there. The votes are not there … that bill will not pass … that initiative of the governor’s will not pass.”
Man, you know its bad when the Governor’s most important ally in the legislature is already bailing on key components of the Gov’s agenda. Its ok, Timmy, your pain will be over soon.
As a side note, I just find this particular picture hi-larious.
People are Shouting