We may as well not have held an election in 2008. First, former senator Norm Coleman has deprived Minnesotans of their full representation in the United States Senate, refusing to concede that Al Franken got more votes and is entitled to the seat. Now, Coleman’s crony Governor Tim Pawlenty has threatened to dispense with the elected Legislature, and run the state’s finances in the middle of a historic economic and fiscal crisis using only his executive powers of line-item veto and unallotment
Maybe I need to explain how our Republic works. I thought this was fairly common knowledge, but here goes.
The public votes for their representatives, and it is accepted that the election results express the will of the people. Somehow, though, an extraordinary thing has happened in the past year: Republicans no longer care about the will of the people. They refuse to relinquish power despite the public’s overwhelming support for the DFL.
The DFL had overwhelming support in 2008. They did not just win more seats that the GOP, but more total votes in all major races. Shouldn’t the election matter?
what are you complaining about? he is signing the DFL bills!! If the DFL doesn’t like how he’s solving the budget, then they should send him a plan to fix the 3 billion dollar gap.
More importantly, it appears that at least a couple of DFL committee chairs had to be involved in this scheme. Why else would ALL the bills be written in a manner that Pawlenty could support?
“Shouldn’t the election matter?”
Would it matter if the shoe was on the other foot?
Actually, yes, C-man, if the shoe were on the other foot, the Democrats would compromise some, and meet somewhere in between the two polar opposites.
Between borrowing 2 billion and putting our grandchildren in debt, and taxing 2 billion, you would think there could be a middle ground, but not with T-Paw.
Somewhere between zero and 2 billion, there has to be a solution.
It’s a game of chicken and the DFL blinked. In a time when we don’t need to blow more money on a special session, the Governor is not going to let that happen. Perhaps the DFL should make better use of their time to negotiate the next time.
It should, as most of us were told when we were about five.
Aren’t conservatives always bloviating about the stupidity of moral relativism and how things are either right or wrong?
Then why do they now rely on speculation about what the other party might do if the situations were reversed to justify their actions?
Sore losers
Ignoring the will of the people - that’s turning your back on America’s founding principles (of, by and for the PEOPLE).
Republicans: Go to your doctor and get a prescription for anti-depressants.
Shouldn’t ALL elections matter? Why should the election of legislators matter but not the election of a governor count for nothing? If we had a British style parliament, your argument would be appropriate. We don’t. The Founding Fathersrejected that system. Our system incorporates checks & balances; parliamentary systems don’t.
I’d further argue that Gov. Pawlenty’s use of his constitutional authority makes the DFL’s namecalling look silly.
The DFL held dozens of hearings last summer & fall. They didn’t accomplish anything in that time. The DFL dawdled the first 2 months of this session, sending only 9 bills, all unrelated to the budget deficit, to Gov. Pawlenty’s desk.
If I were to believe your argument, I’d be forced to believe that their inaction is Gov. Pawlenty’s fault. Good luck selling that swill to thinking people.
Is it really Norm Coleman depriving us of our full representation in the Senate? Personally Norm Coleman. Or is he following the process that has already been defined.
While I totally agree this is a joke at this point. Norm isn’t the problem. The fact that we have no reasonable procedure to follow for a statistical dead heat is. The difference is so tiny, I will not be confident one way or the other that the true winner is headed to office.
But this is the law as it is defined. I suppose some turkey should fix that, but you can’t change the rules in the middle of the game. So we all have to wait it out.
Norm is following the course.
Of course,
Cheney & others on the right have expressed loathing for lawyers, except when THEY use them.
He has the right to push this to the state supreme court, if he can make a case that it should be heard.
He hasn’t met any of those standards to this point. They are already declaring an aim for federal court -
so they aren’t very convinced they can make a case themselves!!!!!
Stalling representation for the state. Has anybody noticed its mid-May & we still can’t get the winner, Franken, seated?