Nice economy ya got there, guv. Shame if something happened to it…

That’s the message House Majority Leader Matt Dean (R-Dellwood) had for Governor Dayton yesterday. Dean says his caucus may not even take up a bonding bill unless the Governor agrees to sign some of their bills first:

“I know a lot of our members are very, very interested in having the governor sign some reform bills before we take up the bonding bill,” Dean said. “They’d like to see some more work product out of the governor. They want to see some yeses from the governor before taking up that bill. So, there’s going to be more of an will be more of an appetite for that when we start to see some yeses from Gov. Dayton.”

Wow. Where to even start? Let’s start with this: If they don’t get what they want, Republicans are going to sabotage the Minnesota economy. Although we’re in recovery now, we need a bonding bill to create jobs and help jumpstart the virtuous cycle of consumer spending and job creation. But if they don’t get their way, House Republicans will take it out on all Minnesotans by denying us thousands of jobs.

Second, what a crummy deal Dean is offering the Governor. If the Governor signs a bunch of House “reform” bills — such as the one that would give corporations a tax cut and make renters pay for it — then the House will “take up” its tiny, inadequate bonding bill. The House’s bonding bill would be the smallest we’ve seen in decades.

Finally, I love that Dean only considers Dayton’s signatures to be “work product.” The most important work the Governor has done for Minnesotans has been protecting the 99 Percent from the Republicans’ efforts to take what little we have and give it to the rich. For that work, the GOP will now punish Minnesota by sabotaging our economy.

House Minority Leader Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis) has had it with the MNGOP’s refusal to give a straight answer regarding their constitutional amendment to suppress voting. At a hearing where Majority Leader Matt Dean (R-Dellwood) cut off debate, even preventing one DFL representative from speaking, a frustrated Thissen quipped:

On a vote to suppress voting, it’s interesting that you’re suppressing debate, Mr. Chair.

Of course, the GOP’s refusal to allow debate — or answer any questions asked during the limited debate that was allowed — shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, they want to stop thousands of Minnesotans from voting. Why should they respect the legislative process?

You can see some clips from the hearing below, courtesy of The UpTake.

It’s no secret that Michel Bachmann’s campaign for president has been flagging. She’s been dropping like a stone in all the polls, and in the GOP’s field of “flavors of the month,” she’s two flavors ago. But what nobody could have expected was that she had two major endorsements that she waited until now to spring on us:

Minnesota House Majority Leader Matt Dean and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch.

Perfect timing! We all thought Bachmann was beaten. But announcing the endorsements of two state legislators, in a state that probably won’t even factor into the nomination, on a Friday afternoon months into the campaign, puts Bachmann right back in this thing.

Stay tuned for the upcoming Bachmentum.

House Majority Leader admitted yesterday that the House needed to “get more real” with their budget numbers. But he doesn’t think that should stop them from passing the Health and Human Services omnibus bill anyway.

I think we need to get a little bit more real about our numbers, I agree with you on that, but I also agree that we have to be moving forward in a manner that gets us where we need to get.

That’s an understatement. According to the Star Tribune, a full $1.2 billion in “savings” in the House Health and Human Services bill are just made up.

Mark Dayton ran on a platform of streamlining regulations in Minnesota, while ensuring that the regulatory process still offers the protections it was designed for. As part of that effort, Dayton issued an executive order yesterday setting a 150-day limit on the completion of environmental permits.

Dayton’s executive order was very similar to legislation proposed by House Republicans. Bizarrely, the GOP called his move “counterproductive:”

“We find his actions today to be counterproductive to the legislative process and his stated commitment to work together on these common-ground issues,” said House Majority Leader Matt Dean, R-Dellwood. “House Republicans will continue with our previously-announced public process for (their proposal) and other initiatives designed to make Minnesota’s business climate competitive.”

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On the first day of the legislative session, Minority Leader Paul Thissen proposed a rule that would have made solving the budget crisis the legislature’s number one priority. Here’s Thissen’s proposed rule:

During an odd-numbered year, a House or Senate bill that proposes a constitutional amendment must not be considered in a committee or on the calendar for the day, the fiscal calendar, or any other floor calendar until bills necessary to provide a balanced general fund budget for the biennium beginning on July 1 of that year have been enacted into law.

House Republicans referred it to a committee to kill it, but the DFL won’t give up on the budget that easily. Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) sent a letter to Majority Leader Matt Dean, who is also the chair of the rules committee, asking him to hold a hearing immediately and adopt Thissen’s rule.

Considering the severity of Minnesota’s economic and fiscal crises, I was disappointed that as Majority Leader you did not encourage all members to vote for Representative Thissen’s amendment. As Speaker Zellers himself has stated, job creation and the budget deficit must be the legislature’s highest priorities.

Now I am asking you, as chair of the Rules Committee, to hold a hearing on this measure as soon as possible. I also request that you include this provision in the Permanent Rules that you will soon propose.

You can view Winkler’s full letter here [PDF].