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….”
The voice of reason, Michael Brodkorb, corrected the minority leader. The cost is closer to $40,000 per day, and he appears to be exaggerating as well, according to this:
In early July, a Pioneer Press piece said, “The special session, now in its eighth week, has cost taxpayers more than $150,000 for legislators’ expenses and for temporary employees.”
After seeing Republicans try to do math, I’ll ask again: Do you really trust them when they claim they can balance the budget?
Jeff,
Facts, reason, and historical reference are irrelevant when you have an ideology to protect. The Marines have a saying, “unit, corps, God, country”, for Republicans it is ideology, ideology,ideology, ideology. Boring, but very consistent.
Alec
So, ideology protection is unique to the Republicans? None of that going on here is there?
Clearly Dave Senjem represents the math skills of all republicans. …but really you should be complaining about his memory because a single number isn’t so much him doing math as him trying to remember 2005.
CMan,
Protecting ideology at the expense of the nation in the face of all opposing evidence is strictly a Republican endeavor.
If there was an avalanche of evidence that supply side economics actually works for the betterment of the nation as a whole, and not just a few, then I would change my ideology in a heart beat. How much more evidence do you idiots need that consumer demand drives the economy and that enriching the top 1% does NOT trickle down. When the CEO’s made 25 times the average worker the economy rolled and the country rocked. Now that the average CEO makes 225 times the average worker, the economy is at a standstill and the only way to get more spending is to encourage more and more debt.
So yeah, Republicans will stick to their ideology to the bitter demise of the country.
Hey at least he had a number — there were NO numbers in the Republicans proposed budget