Tracking Minnesota Politics Since 2005
“It is pretty much of a longshot with that few ballots being put in play … We are disappointed. But we feel the court is wrong and we will appeal.”
It is worth noting that is has been about FIVE MONTHS since Norm Coleman said he would step down if he was not the leading candidate.
UPDATE: My understanding is that the court has not ruled on the so called “double counted” ballots and a handful of other issues. This ruling is confined only to the absentee ballots. This is still a big win for Franken because the number of ballots the court ordered to be counted is so small, Coleman would have to win 80% or so to make up Franken’s lead. That is simply not going to happen. There is a conference call briefing later today, we’ll have more then.
For instance, what about the 60 million people without access to basic medical care? My guess is that they wouldn’t mind having the situation “messed with.” How many more millions have access, but are unhappy with the health care they’re provided on the market? Are you happy with the health care you receive, or would you like Congress to work to improve it?
At least thrice this session at availabilities with the press, Minnesota Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem has suggested special sessions cost the state $500,000 a day.
I particularly like watching Senjem contradict himself:
March 2:
“My recollection in 2005 when we, if you will, shut down government is that it cost $500,000 a day to run this operation. ”March 27:
“If you go back to 2005, a melt-down so to speak, a special session on a daily basis cost the taxpayers of Minnesota $500,000.”
Question from a reporter: ” I’m sorry, did you say special session cost the taxpayers $500,000 per day?”
Senjem: “That was the number we had worked up in 2005.”
…
Question: “That’s not just special session, that’s…”
Senjem: “That was special session…My recollection is that it cost, special session, $500,000 per day. I’ll stand corrected but that’s the number that we were referenced in that time….”
As Jeff pointed out earlier today (and more here, here and the original here) Big John Cornyn said state rulings and equal representation be damned, he was going to start a cataclysmic dustup if Al Franken was seated before Norm Coleman exhausted all of his options, and the bank accounts of the national Republicans who are funding this obstructionist agenda.
The citizens of Texas have two Senators to represent them, for the mundane and for the demanding needs of governance. Everything from getting flags that have flown over the Capital to dealing with branches of our government like the IRS, they can call on Cornyn or Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Even though he luckily enough has a partner in representing Texas, Cornyn has decided that Minnesota can go without, so I think it’s only fair that Big John steps into the breach and helps represent the people of Minnesota. Cornyn has decided for completely craven, but understandable political reasons that his party’s membership in the Senate is more important than the people of Minnesota getting their fare share of representation in Congress, so it’s not unreasonable at all that we expect Big John to come up big until we get a second Senator.
Texas and Minnesota have enough in common, we’re pretty big states, we’re on terminal ends of I-35, Minnesota is God’s country, Texas thinks it is; in either western Minnesota or the panhandle of Texas you can stand on a tuna can and see the curvature of the earth. This should be easy enough for the Senator (Amy has handled it with aplomb) so here’s my suggestion, since John Cornyn thinks we don’t need a second Senator he should be totally willing to take on some of the responsibilities of our Senatorial delegation.
So, tomorrow, or later this week or any time until we get two Senators I think that we should call Senator Cornyn’s office with our constituent needs. Highways need repairs? Call Big John! Issues with the IRS? BIG JOOOOOOOOHHHHHNNNNNN will rustle up the help you need. Want to call someone about a piece of legislation in the pipe? The soothing southern drawl on the other end of the line may not sound like us, but gosh darnit if John Cornyn is going to keep us from having two Senators, then he and his staff should pick up some of the slack.
John Cornyn’s office website can be found here, and you can contact him here, or call his office(s) at 202-224-2934 (DC), 806-472-7533, 972-239-1310, 512-469-6034, 210-224-7485, 956-423-0162, 713-572-3337, 903-593-0902. Or heck, you can call all of them.
And remember, when you call and some nimrod intern from Texas Asinine and Mediocre University wonders why someone from Minnesota wants something from their Senator, just say Big John sent you.
Just think about this year’s budget. In order to reduce the budget deficit for a single biennium, Pawlenty is proposing borrowing that will put us on the hook for payments for the next 20 years. His plan is to pay off the interest on one credit card by putting it on a second credit card. Unlike most credit-card holders, though, Pawlenty gets to skip town before the payments are due. It’s Minnesota’s taxpayers that are left to pay the bill, while Pawlenty will run off to Iowa to run for president.
Or how about his proposed budget for 2012-2013? A recent Minnesota law requires the Governor’s budget to be balanced for four years, not just two. But while Pawlenty’s budget purported to be balanced for four years, even the Minnesota Management and Budget office estimated it would be $2.6 billion short.
This behavior isn’t new. Pawlenty’s policies have been causing serious damage to Minnesota for years. A lot of the problems are still under the surface, because Minnesota’s previously-strong infrastructure and institutions were able to handle the strain relatively well for a long time. Pawlenty’s goal seems to be to disappear before the full extent of the damage he’s caused becomes evident. His support for term limits, then, should come as no surprise.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn is threatening “World War III” if Democrats try to seat Al Franken in the Senate before Norm Coleman can pursue his case through the federal courts.
Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, acknowledges that a federal challenge to November’s elections could take “years” to resolve. But he’s adamant that Coleman deserves that chance — even if it means Minnesota is short a senator for the duration.
I have been very supportive of letting this entire process play out in the interest of transparency, but enough is enough. Once a candidate is determined to be the winner by Minnesota courts, Minnesotans have the right to be represented by the candidate they’ve elected. We have the right to full representation in Congress.
The losing candidate has every right to continue appealing, but in the meantime the victor should be seated. Once the election has been certified by Minnesota judges, the Senate should not refuse to seat the victor. We can’t allow Norm Coleman to drag this process out for the next six years.
The budget plan that the governor has proposed includes a deficit of approximately $1 billion, even after nearly $2 billion in federal stimulus funding is included. The governor proposes to address that deficit by issuing bonds, which will supposedly be repaid through future proceeds from the state’s tobacco settlement. With interest, the bonds will require payment of a total of $1.7 billion over 20 years.
Shameless politicking is nothing new, of course. But proposing to send the state budget down the slippery slope of longterm deficits for operating costs is new. That’s true, in part, because the state’s Constitution clearly outlines the things for which the state can borrow money.
Pawlenty now proposes to deal with the situation he helped create by longterm borrowing that will only exacerbate the problem for future state leaders by stealing future revenues to pay for operational spending today. What we have is a governor who claims the mantle of fiscal conservatism while proposing the most fiscally damaging solution to a state budget crisis since the founding of the state.
And he has the guts to call Washington irresponsible?
Read the whole thing here.
The Red River is setting a new and deadly record this year:
the ice-laden river could climb as high as 43 feet, nearly 3 feet higher than the record set 112 years ago.
The Red Cross is asking for donations. Please help if you can.
About a week ago, Think Progress launched a campaign to “Stop Supporting The O’Reilly Harassment Machine” by asking advertisers to pull their support during the show. Well guess what you naysayers, THE INTERNET WINS! UPS is pulling their ads.
And just so that you never forget: Bill O’Reilly is a sick piece of shit.
A new analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center shows that under Obama, even the tax rate for the wealthiest Americans would be slightly lower than it was under Clinton:
Specifically, the top 1 percent — who have average annual incomes of $1.6 million — would pay an “average effective tax rate” (the percentage of income paid in taxes) of 32.6 percent in 2012, compared to 32.8 percent if the tax code under President Clinton were in effect that year, according to the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center.
High-income households below the top 1 percent would experience a somewhat larger drop in their tax burdens compared to the Clinton years, and low- and middle-income households would pay significantly lower effective tax rates under the Obama budget than during the Clinton Administration.
Republicans can declare that the sky is falling all they want. Clearly, their tax cuts haven’t worked as an economic strategy. Even during the Bush “jobless recovery,” the economy only really looked good on paper, while most households saw stagnant or declining wages. It’s time for a different strategy; we’ve seen the Clinton-era tax rates in action, and they worked pretty well.
After the break: where the numbers come from.
But as many of us recall, not everyone thought it was acceptable for Paul Wellstone to seek a third term in 2002.
When Wellstone announced he would seek a third term, Republicans were apoplectic in their outrage. They claimed Wellstone had broken his word and was ideologically bankrupt for reversing his position. The criticism came loudest from GOPers who were considering challenging Wellstone in the 2002 race, one of whom was then St. Rep. Tim Pawlenty (R-Eagan). Some might remember that T-Paw was initially geared up to run against Wellstone in 2002 before Karl Rove personally intervened and cleared the field for Norm Coleman. Check out this quote from a Pioneer Press article dated January 18, 2001:
Republicans immediately criticized him for breaking his term-limit promise. “The issue is not about term limits, it’s about Sen. Wellstone violating the trust he had with the people of Minnesota,” said state Republican Party Chairman Ron Eibensteiner. “He promised to change Washington, but Washington changed him.”
State House Majority Leader Tim Pawlenty, an Eagan Republican who is considering running for the Senate next year, said: “He went to Washington as Professor Wellstone, and now he’s morphed into Potomac Paul.”
Ouch.
So based on the record, we know the following things about Tim Pawlenty:
A. He believes that Governors should only be able to seek two terms. In fact, he felt so strongly about it, he sponsored legislation in the Minnesota House in 1995 and 1997.
B. He thinks that people who change their mind on term limits and seek additional terms in office are beneath contempt and deserving of ridicule.
C. He’s considering seeking a third term as Governor.
If Tim Pawlenty decides to seek a third term as Governor of Minnesota, what do we call him? St. Paul Pawlenty?
Nah, that’s too cute for my taste…plain old hypocrite will work just fine
Republicans in Congress, fighting back against being called the “Party of No,” hastily released a skeleton of an alternative budget proposal that has no new ideas and absolutely no concrete numbers. The proposal is only 19 pages, but that’s being charitable. Included in those 19 pages are a cover page, another page for the back cover, an executive summary, and three pages that divide the remaining text into “chapters.” All told, there are about 12 pages of text — they managed to stretch it that far by adding lots of pictures.
Here are two sample pages:
The former finance chief of a Texas company controlled by Nasser Kazeminy, a close friend of former Sen. Norm Coleman, said in a deposition last week that Kazeminy ordered $100,000 in fees be paid to a Minneapolis insurance agency where Coleman’s wife was employed.
This might sound like old news to MNpublius readers, but this is a new sworn testimony. Paul McKim had the first one, and now this is from the man “who was corporate secretary and CFO at Deep Marine from January 2002 to December 2007.” Here’s a fun bit:
According to the transcript, Thomas was asked, “In that conversation that you had with Mr. Kazeminy, did he tell you, quote, United States senators don’t make shit, close quote? Or words to that effect?”
Thomas answered: “Yes, sir.”
Thomas testified in the deposition for the company’s internal investigation that Kazeminy told him that he wanted to use Laurie Coleman at Hays in relation to the consulting services agreement. Laurie Coleman, who is not a party to either suit against Deep Marine, was hired by Hays as an independent contractor in 2006. The insurance company has said she received no compensation under its contract with Deep Marine for risk management consulting.
I’m surprised this investigation is taking so long. The whole story at the Star Tribune.
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