Archive for the 'MN State House' Category
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Conservatives like Tim Pawlenty love to talk about responsibility. They complain that stimulus money is going to people who don’t deserve it. They say that lower- and middle-class Americans have been irresponsible with their money. But why is it that they see no need to act responsibly themselves?
Governor Pawlenty has a responsibility to Minnesotans. Just as Americans need to be responsible with their family’s finances, the Governor has and obligation to be responsible with the state’s finances. He has a responsibility to protect our common wealth and keep our state strong for the future.
Instead, his budget is reckless and irresponsible, made with his own national ambitions in mind, rather than the good of our state. Just think what he and his fellow conservatives would say about a person who treated their household budget like Pawlenty has treated the state budget. What would they say about a regular Minnesotan who shared some of Pawlenty’s “solutions” to our budget problem?
- He’s written postdated checks to our schools, hoping he’ll have enough money in the bank by the time they’re cashed.
- He’s taken out new credit card debt to make the payments on our existing debt.
- Even as he plans to borrow $1 billion, he’s still giving expensive gifts to his rich corporate friends.
Taking out new credit cards to make your existing credit card payments is a sign that you have a serious problem. Once a family starts engaging in these desperate budget tricks, things tend to unravel quickly, and it’s no different for our government. The Governor can’t make ends meet, and he’s rapidly pulling us into a spiral of debt. But even though the bills are piling up, he won’t stop giving gifts to his rich friends like a corporate income tax reduction.
If Minnesota were a household instead of a state, Pawlenty would say we shouldn’t get any stimulus money. He would say we don’t deserve it — we’ve made bad choices, and now we have to live with the consequences of our actions.
It’s time for the DFL-controlled legislature to stand up to Pawlenty and pass a responsible budget. We need a budget that will put an end to the constant deficits we’ve experienced under Pawlenty’s “leadership.” The budget will certainly have to have spending cuts in it; there’s simply no way to avoid them. But a responsible plan would also raise revenues to make sure we can afford to pay for our childrens’ schools. We can’t keep telling our children “we’ll pay you next year.”
While most of the legislators, lobbyists and reporters that I talk to at the Capitol speculate that it will take a special session to pass a budget, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher today said lawmakers could wrap it up by the May 18 constitutional deadline.
“I think we can make it,” Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, said in remarks at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute.
I worked at the legislature during the last budget session. All spring long, everyone thought a special session was inevitable. In the last few days of the session, an on-time ending seemed impossible. But then it happened and for the first time in I don’t even know how many budget sessions, the legislature adjourned on time. In the aftermath, Speaker Kelliher got a lot of the credit from both Poggemiller and Pawlenty. Same thing happened after the 2008 session ended on time - Kelliher was lauded for managing to wrap things up on time.
This time, the Speaker has a much tougher task. The size of this deficit is catastrophic. Once again, it seems absurd to think that the DFL legislature and T-Paw will be able to come to an agreement by mid-May. But if - and its an enormous if - Kelliher gets the hat trick (ends three sessions in a row on time), I think she’ll be in a great position to run for Governor. Talk about a real record of compromise and getting things done.
Every Sunday, Minnesotans pour over borders to liquor stores in North Dakota, Wisconsin and Iowa in search of alcohol.
Under proposed legislation by Rep. Tom Anzelc, DFL-Balsam Township, these Minnesotans would be able to buy alcohol at local liquor stores with the state’s share of tax revenue dedicated to funding of county children’s social services.
State revenue from sales tax on Sundays could equal up to $10 million a year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, an industry group that supports less-restrictive liquor laws.
The state’s share of sales tax revenue would be put into a special fund for county children’s services — an area of funding threatened with cuts as lawmakers scramble to balance an almost $5 billion state deficit.
Now, 10 million is just a tiny fraction of our massive deficit, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pass this bill. Our state’s ban on alcohol purchases on Sundays is a relic of a time long since past. Blue laws like this one should be repealed, and the extra tax revenue is just a bonus.
Minnesota House Republicans will have more than one choice for minority leader when caucus members meet Saturday to select their leader.
In an email sent to caucus members Sunday, state Rep. Tom Emmer of Delano announced he will seek the House caucus leadership position.
House Minority Leader Marty Siefert also emailed GOP House members Sunday saying he would again seek the post.
In other news, Speaker Kelliher was seen dancing a jig up on the 4th floor of the State Office Building.
But seriously folks, I can understand why some Republicans would want to dump Seifert. After the 2006 elections, most observers thought the DFL had reached their saturation point in the MN House - 85 seats was supposed to be our high water mark. 2008 was supposed to be a year of Republican pickups, the only question was how many. As we all know, however, the GOP actually lost two more seats is last week’s elections.
In addition to their electoral woes, Seifert was also behind the great moderate purge of 2008. In a vengeful rush to punish the Override Six, Seifert and conservative activists drove two members into retirement, denied three members the Republican endorsement and ended up losing two long held seats to the DFL.
But Emmer is hardly guilt free in this debacle. Jim Abeler, one of two Override Sixers that were reelected last week, sent this letter to the GOP Caucus after Emmer made an appearance at his endorsing convention:
Shockingly to me, Rep Emmer showed up at the convention on Saturday around 9:45, declaring himself as representing the caucus. “Marty went south, and I went north.”
Following a nice commendation of Rep Hackbarth for providing good representation of his district (no mention of me), Tom went onto bash the “Democrat transportation tax bill.” The entire speech lasted 7 or 8 minutes, during which time the crowd got actively engaged, since as a group they were about 3:1 opposed to the bill and many were angry at me anyway. When comments came about “those 6 republicans” Tom gestured in an encouraging way, and crowd whipped into a frenzy against those 6 (including me) resembling an Obama rally. There was no doubt as to the local object of this aggression, me. As he closed, he received tumultuous applause and left…
…What shocked me is that the caucus would send Tom Emmer who has obvious and unresolved anger issues toward me and expect his appearance in already tense situation to go well. I think in human resource circles they call this the Worst Possible Decision.
I wonder what Abeler will do if Emmer is elected Republican Leader?
Also, what does Emmer’s move do to the 2010 AG’s race? Emmer was seen as Lori Swanson’s most likely GOP challenger. Who’s the Republican candidate now?
Ouch. Supporting Marsha Swails would help ensure this self-proclaimed royal embarrassment doesn’t win this seat.
In all, six House Republicans dared to part company with Pawlenty and GOP leaders over transportation funding. For voting to raise the gas tax 5 cents by October, the Override Six were vilified by Republican mouthpieces, stripped of caucus leadership positions and advised to brace themselves for rough treatment by Republican voters…
Two of the six chose to end their legislative service. One is running as an independent. (Stay tuned for a wild fall in Edina.) One, Rod Hamilton of Mountain Lake, was embraced by his district’s Republicans. They can’t understand why anyone would take issue with a vote to fix a highway on which too many of their neighbors have needlessly died.
I think there are a lot of people across Minnesota who have difficulty understanding why the MN GOP is hell bent on driving the moderates from their party.
The most interesting part of the story, however, is Sturdevant’s profile of the conservative challengers opposing Neil Peterson and Jim Abeler. Don Huizenga, Abeler’s opponent, is already well-known on this site, but Sturdevant introduces him to a broader audience:
Huizenga allowed last week that he’s known as the “Vote No” guy on school levy referenda in his area, and “that’s given me a bad rap.” He says he’s itching to be elected so he can revamp public schools to employ fewer teachers and put parents in charge. During last year’s levy campaign, he posted a blog item describing the student achievement gap as “evidence of differing intelligence among different races.”
And as of 4:30 6 candidates have filed for the US Senate seat on the Democratic side: Al Franken, Ole Savior, Dick Franson, Priscilla Lord Faris, Alve Erickson and Bob Larson. We’re waiting with baited breath to see if there are any surprises in the next half hour.
So, when will the Lord Faris announce her departure from the race? She hasn’t filed as of this writing.
On another filing note, St. Rep. Mark Olson (R-Crazytown) has yet to file and its unclear if he plans to do so before the deadline this afternoon. Olson was expelled from the Republican Caucus late last year and was defeated at his endorsing convention this spring by former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer. Capitol staffers all across the S.O.B. are crossing their fingers and hoping that he calls it quits because the loquacious Olson adds at least two hours to every floor debate (and he once threw a piece of office equipment at a staffer in a fit of rage).
On the Fourth of July, Ron declared Independence. He has decided to run for re-election as a Moderate Independent. From his years as a political organizer and then as a State Representative, Ron knows that Edina doesn’t want partisan bickering but does want a common sense voice in the State House. So, he is running for re-election to continue representing the social moderate, fiscal conservative voice of Edina, independent of the tyranny of party extremes.
Erhardt is the second most senior member of the House Republican Caucus, behind retiring Rep. Dennis Ozment. Earlier this year, Erhardt was denied the Republican endorsement, primarily due to his vote to override the Governor’s veto of the transportation bill.
Erhardt represents Edina in the legislature. Long thought to be a Republican stronghold, the suburb voted for John Kerry in 2004. With Erhardt and endorsed Republican candidate Keith Downey splitting the conservative vote, DFL candidate Kevin Staunton now has an excellent chance to pick up this seat.
Rasmussen has their latest poll of the Senate race in Minnesota.
Coleman - 48%
Franken - 45%
Just goes to show that the MN GOP’s attacks might get a lot of attention, but they have little effect. Could it be, for once, that the voters are more interested in the issues than the slime? (gasp!)
Adding Jesse to the race creates, well, a three way race:
Coleman - 39%
Franken - 32%
Ventura - 24%
I am not convinved he’ll run, but it would be a race for the ages.
I have accepted an offer to be Phyllis Kahn’s campaign manager. This will be a volunteer position and the total recompense I can imagine from this position is a meal or two (she is a fantastic chef). I will not post about this race; if for some reason I do, I will include a clear disclaimer on the post.
I have known Representative Kahn for the last four years, she is my local representative and I served as her ‘campaign manager’ in 2006.
The first time I ever met Representative Kahn I was absolutely blown away, while living around the world my father would keep up with the local political news in Minnesota and I kept hearing about this woman (the word “communist” came up several times in spittle flecked rants) and to finally meet her and find out that the hammer and sickle was not tattooed on her forehead was just mind blowing. Since then I have grown to admire Representative Kahn’s legislative wear withal, her top shelf mind and I can’t not support a legislator whose life long record of thoughtful service has caused her name to become a pejorative among Republicans in Minnesota.
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