With the legislative session officially over, the Alliance for a Better Minnesota is already ramping up its campaign to take back the legislature:

Minutes after the gavel went down on the end of the 2012 legislative session, the Alliance for a Better Minnesota went live with a new website that will serve as a landing pad for the liberal group’s campaign for Democrats to take back the Legislature.

“A Better Legislature” is “an online and paid media campaign to hold legislators accountable for their misplaced priorities and to make the public aware of the negative impacts of Republican leadership on Minnesota,” a press release on the new website states.

A video on the new website dramatically reviews the Republicans’ failures during their two sessions in charge of the legislature, from their failure to pass a budget, to their draconian budget cuts, to the sex scandal that will cost Minnesotans hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in legal fees.

ABM played a major role in securing Mark Dayton’s victory in the 2010 election, and I’m glad to see them turning their attention to the legislature in 2012. The one thing that’s missing in the video, that I hope we’ll hear more about as the campaign progresses, is the GOP’s unwavering commitment to protecting the super-rich, even as they fought for brutal cuts to education, health care, and local government aid.

The Republicans’ control of the 2011-2012 legislature was an utter disaster. I’m glad to see ABM working to make sure Minnesotans remember just how bad it was, and I hope others will join them.

Disclosure: ABM is currently an advertiser on MNpublius. Editorial content on MNpublius is not influenced by advertising, and this post was not paid for or requested by ABM.

Republicans in the legislature haven’t accomplished anything this year. They’ve done nothing to rebuild our economy, their “reform” agenda was left for dead as soon as the talking points grew stale, and they’ve even given up on putting constitutional amendments on the ballot (for which I’m very grateful).

Minnesota legislators are edging toward a historically early end to the legislative session, potentially ditching dozens of prized initiatives in their determination to head home and hit the campaign trail….

“The tulips are up, the bushes are budding and it’s time to go home,” said Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, amid buzz that next Friday’s targeted start for spring recess could instead become a final adjournment.

Senjem has been cajoling lawmakers into adjourning by the end of the week, more than a month before the constitutionally mandated end. House Speaker Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, would prefer to go till the end of April. That would still be the earliest adjournment in 14 years.

Your do-nothing legislature at “work,” Minnesota. They campaign on the principle that government doesn’t work — then they get elected and prove it.

I suppose we should be glad they’re not doing any work, though. After all, last year they worked overtime fighting for the richest 1 percent of Minnesotans. The 99 percent are still hurting from the debt that was dumped on us in order to prevent the super-rich from paying their fair share in taxes. We really can’t afford to have them pass any more bills.

[The following press release was submitted by Jason Isaacson yesterday. I am running it unedited, with the exception of removing Isaacson’s contact information.]

Isaacson Announces Candidacy for Minnesota House District 42B

March 9, 2012 — Jason Isaacson of Shoreview, MN announced his candidacy for the DFL endorsement for the Minnesota State House of Representatives in district 42B. Prior to the redistricting this house district most closely resembled 54B and is represented by Bev Scalze (DFL). Rep. Scalze has declared her candidacy for Senate District 42.

“Representative Scalze deserves our gratitude for her dedication and service to the people of our district and wish her success in her campaign for State Senate,” said Isaacson. “I am excited about this race because I am dedicated to sensible governance and I am passionate about public service.  It is time to get back to the basics in Minnesota politics and focus on our students, encouraging economic growth, those in need of important social services, and our beautiful environment.”

Isaacson is an instructor at Century College in White Bear Lake, MN teaching communication classes including interpersonal, intercultural, public speaking, and small group communication. He is a member of Education Minnesota and has been involved in DFL politics for the past 12 years having worked on several DFL campaigns.

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Nobody — and I mean nobody — thinks the Republican-controlled legislature is doing a good job, according to a recent SurveyUSA poll.

Mark Dayton has a solid 50 percent approval rating. With 33 percent disapproving, that gives him an excellent +17 net favorability rating. The legislature, on the other hand, has a 17 percent approval rating, and 65 percent disapproval, for a whopping -48 net favorability.

Sure, the usual caveats apply — an executive nearly always does better than a legislative body, people often feel better about their own representative than they do about the entire body, etc. No matter how much you try to stretch it, though, the numbers are ugly. It looks like Republican legislators are going to be getting what they deserve this November.

After a disastrous session last year, in which the GOP agreed to put our state $1.4 billion in debt to protect the super-rich, Minnesota voters seem inclined to return control of the legislature back to the DFL:

When asked, “If there was an election for the Legislature today, do you think you would vote for the DFL or Republican candidate from your district?” 48 percent of those polled said they would vote for the Democrat and 39 percent said they would vote for the Republican. [Star Tribune, full results via Public Policy Polling (PDF)]

The Republicans aren’t doing anything to help their case, either. Instead of showing they can properly govern our state, their top priority in 2012 appears to be petty attacks on the DFL, such as cutting the Senate DFL’s budget and voting PUC chair Ellen Anderson out of office.

The Republicans, seemingly acknowledging that they won’t be in office for long, are switching tactics in their quest to protect the super-rich. Their new plan is to pass a slew of constitutional amendments to force the DFL legislature’s hand in 2013. Not only do we need to work hard to help the DFL take back the legislature, we need to defeat the GOP’s efforts to govern by constitutional amendment as well.

People of Minnesota, you’ve clearly rejected the GOP and their policies. If you’re going to throw them out of office, don’t let them rewrite our constitution on the way out.

Before the MNGOP met to pick a new leader, former Chair Tony Sutton released a statement on the party’s horrendous fiscal situation:

The Party’s debt situation is a reflection of a hard fought election combined with a difficult small dollar fundraising environment. The legislative majorities won in 2010 were worth it and the people of this state are better off for those GOP majorities. I am confident that the Party will overcome its debt and have a successful 2012 election cycle.

If the GOP can retain its control of the legislature in 2012, I’ll admit that Sutton’s gamble proved to be a prudent investment. But I don’t believe they can do it. It cost them a lot of money to eke out a majority by a microscopic margin during an election cycle that was catastrophic for Democrats. Now they’ll have to do it with less money, during a high-turnout election, after they put our state $1.4 billion in debt to protect millionaires.

Sutton’s history leaves us no reason to believe he is a shrewd businessman. That’s why I won’t be surprised to find his 2010 achievements fall apart in 2012. He mortgaged his party to buy the 2010 election, without considering whether he could hold the majority for the long term. He made an investment that looked good upfront, but that was ultimately junk.

Editor’s note: I received the following campaign email yesterday from Audrey Britton, who’s running for office in House District 43A. With Britton’s permission, I’m reprinting it for you.

It’s been raining for 10 years. Suddenly, there’s an hour of sunshine. A group quickly organizes to tell everyone they made the sun come out.

How quickly some take credit for a good turn of events. The problem is they rarely take responsibility and  are typically the same people who blame others for a bad turn of events.

Let’s take a more informative, some might say “truthful,” look at Budget Surplus! an announcement sent to us by many state majority-party legislators.

1.       The day we learned of an unanticipated $876 million, buried in the news was the fact that we also have a projected $1.3-$2.6 billion budget deficit. Personally, I’d put away the party hats and balloons.

2.       Minnesota has borrowed from several sources including $2.8 billion from our schools, the highest level of borrowing in our state’s history.

3.       The $876 million will not go toward education. State law requires the money be used to pay back Minnesota’s depleted cash account and budget reserve so the state can operate.

According to the authors of Budget Surplus!  it was their cost-cutting measures that brought about the unanticipated $876 million.  However, the $876 million came from two areas each fought against: taxes and healthcare reform. Increased tax collections make up 77% of the $876 million; most of the remaining 23% from healthcare reforms.

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Following yesterday’s announcement of Sen. Linda Higgins’s retirement, State Rep. Bobby Joe Champion announced today that he would run for the seat:

State Rep. Bobby Joe Champion (DFL- Minneapolis) announced his intention to seek the Senate District 58 Seat being vacated by Sen. Linda Higgins (DFL- Minneapolis).

“I am inspired by my Senator, and I wish her all the best as she continues to advocate for the people of Minnesota. I can only hope to continue her work and represent the needs and values of our district in the State Senate.”

“We cannot continue to take out loans on our children’s futures to pay for the services we need today, “ Champion said. “We need an education system that gives all kids the opportunity to succeed; budget policies that ask the wealthiest Minnesotans to pay their fair share; equal access to quality health care; improvements in our affordable housing; and smart investments in economic development and jobs. I look forward to bringing my voice to the Senate just as I’ve done in the House.” [via press release]

Last time we saw Rep. Champion, he was attempting to fix the problem of felon voting, and running headlong into shady political maneuvering by the MNGOP.

A new poll from the Bush Foundation shows that Minnesotans are not at all happy about the Republicans’ budget. In fact, less than 10 percent of Minnesotans approve of the Republican plan to take out more debt while avoiding a long-term solution.

Here are a couple of choice results from the poll; you can see the full results after the break.

4. Looking back, how do you feel about the FINAL BUDGET AGREEMENT?

Very Satisfied 1%
Somewhat Satisfied 29.3%
Somewhat Dissatisfied 34.9%
Very Dissatisfied 31.4%

19. What about borrowing funds or delaying payments into the future,to pay for current deficits in state spending. Do you think that should be…

The most central piece of the solution 0.8%
A major part of the solution 8.0%
A minor part of the solution 25.4%
Not really part of the solution at all 62.9%

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