Dayton Lets His Droll Out For The Dude

Posted on by

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton’s approval rating is fairly high right now, though his backing of an unpopular sales tax on a wide range of services may be eating into that a bit.

Still, the awkwardly earnest introvert has always been a difficult guy for Minnesotans to get to know, and he hasn’t been known for his sense of humor.  That’s why it was such a treat to see this 7-minute video of the Governor playing along with a gag video for Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.

Dayton gave as good as he got with a comedic host called The Dude, an amalgam of The Dude charcter in the movie The Big Lebowsky and the Wayne character in the SNL-based  Wayne’s World movies.  The Dude tried very hard to upstage the Banterer-in-Chief, and, quiet amazingly, failed. Continue reading →

Star Tribune Survey Delivers Mixed News for Dayton Tax Package

Posted on by

For Governor Dayton’s bold package of tax increases, there was more good news than bad in the Star Tribune’s Minnesota Poll, released yesterday.

Bad News for Dayton

  • Bye Bye Professional Services Tax.  Only 28% of Minnesotans support a sales tax on business services.  With only 36% of DFLers supporting this idea, and an army of special interests mobilized against it, this part of the Governor’s budget is in deep political trouble. Continue reading →

MN GOP Condemns Colleague for Endorsing Spherical Earth Theory

Posted on by

Saint Paul, MN — In the wake of two Minnesota Republicans’ shocking endorsements of  freedom-to-marry legislation, today Minnesota Representative Orville Nielsen (R-Outing)  further stunned the state’s political establishment by becoming the first member of his caucus to say he now believes that the planet Earth is probably not shaped like a disk.

Conservatives were quick to downplay the Nielsen announcement as an isolated example of a misguided member being bullied by “junk scientists,” and not the beginning of a movement toward a more science-friendly Republican Party.  A few Republican officials who asked not to be identified also expressed concern that Nielsen may be suffering from a mental illness. Continue reading →

Teacher LIF0 Reform: Weirdest. Politics. Ever.

Posted on by

Minnesota remains one of the few states in the nation that requires decisions about which public school teachers to hire, promote or  lay off to be made solely based on seniority, and not teacher performance measures, such as student progress or principal evaluations.  DFL Governor Dayton and the DFL-contolled Legislature want to keep it that way.

The DFL has faired well at the polls recently, but Minnesotans aren’t tracking with the DFL on this “last in, first out (LIFO)” issue.  The education reform group MinnCan commissioned a poll which put the following statement in front of a random sample of Minnesotans: “If teacher layoffs are required, seniority should be considered, but the primary factor in deciding which teachers to layoff should be based on teacher performance.”  An overwhelming 91% of Minnesotans support that notion (68% strongly support, 23% somewhat support), while just 9% oppose it (4% strongly oppose, 5% somewhat oppose). Continue reading →

Snow Birds, Not Snowed Birds

Posted on by

In his 2013 budget proposal, Governor Mark Dayton proposed a “snow bird tax” as a matter of fairness:

“It’s one of the unfairnesses that somebody can spend six months and one day out of the state and pay no state personal income taxes and come back here and take advantage of all the state has to offer for five months and 29 days. So, yes, there’s a snowbird tax.”

As Fox News dutifully reported, Florida GOP Congressman Trey Radel wrote a snarky rebuttal letter a few weeks back to Governor Dayton: Continue reading →

MN Government Workers’ Pay Falls Further Behind

Posted on by

The basis of much conservative commentary in Minnesota is that overpaid government employees are causing Minnesota taxpayers to be gouged.  With this week’s news that Governor Dayton is giving 35,000 state workers a raise, we can expect to hear a lot more of that type of commentary.

I have a lot of conservative friends, and I get very concerned for their health when such news causes them to hyperventilate en masse.  Because I care for them, I want to put their minds at ease.  Here goes: Continue reading →

Is Legalizing Gay Marriage a Minnesota Jobs Program?

Posted on by

Governor Mark Dayton used his State of the State Address last night to endorse legalizing gay marriage in Minnesota.   And right on cue, Rep. Greg Davids (R-Preston) took the Republicans’ most predictable jab:

 “He’d rather talk about gays getting married instead of getting Minnesotans jobs that could provide for their families.”

We’re going to be hearing a lot more of that claim from Republicans in the weeks to come, so the argument merits dissection. Continue reading →

Really, Pioneer Press?

Posted on by

When South Dakota Governor Bill Janklow and Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich were taking verbal shots at each other in the early 1980s about business climate, that was news, mostly because Janklow and Perpich were the highest ranking elected officials of their respective states, and because in those days neighboring Governors  were typically genteel with each other.  This was something new.

But today the St. Paul Pioneer Press ran a breathless piece on its front page, above the fold, about a relatively obscure Tea Party-backed state legislator, Wisconsin State Rep. Erik Serverson (R-Osceola), who wrote a little letter taking a shot at Minnesota about taxes.

A Tea Partier griping about taxes.  Gee, I’ve never heard that before.  Seriously, this is news, Pioneer Press?  It would have been news if this Tea Partier wasn’t opposing Dayton’s tax reform plan. Continue reading →

Franken Opponent Wish List

Posted on by

Minnesota Senator Al Franken doesn’t have a high profile challenger yet in the 2014 U.S. Senate race.  People don’t seem to be flocking to run against Franken at a time when a January 2013 Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey is finding that Senator Franken is leading former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman by 6 points, Congressman John Kline by 8 points, Congressman Erik Paulsen by 11 points and Congresswoman Michele Bachman by 14 points.

Despite these findings, 45% of Minnesota Republicans want to nominate Bachmann to oppose Franken. I would be in Blogger Heaven if a Franken-Bachmann race came to be, but I find it difficult to imagine that I, or Franken, could possibly be so lucky.

Given that the conventional candidates like Coleman looks to be taking a pass at the Senate race, maybe it’s time for the Minnesota GOP brain trust to get unconventional.  These are some of the match-ups that I personally day dream about: Continue reading →

The Five Best Things About Dayton’s Budget

Posted on by

Governor Mark Dayton went big and bold this week.  He took on the most powerful special interests in order to fix Minnesota’s chronic structural budget deficit problem.  Recent Minnesota Governors haven’t had the guts to do that.  This governor did.

The nitpickers are busily picking nits in Dayton’s proposal, and it’s not a perfect proposal.  But when you focus on the big picture, there is much to admire: Continue reading →

Bachmann Vindicated: Industrialized Nations Continue Rush To Replicate U.S. Health Care System

Posted on by

Oslo, Norway — The Storting, the supreme legislature of Norway, today enacted sweeping health care reforms that will make the land of the midnight sun the latest industrialized nation to scrap its government-run health care systems in favor of an American-style private sector-based health care system.

“As I’ve often said, the United States enjoys the world’s finest health care,” said U.S. Rep. Michele Bachman (R-MN).  “And the ultimate proof of that fact is that so many other industrialized nations with government-run health care are copying America’s proven private sector approach.”

While Bachmann and other advocates of the American health care system tout the efficiency of the United States’ private sector health insurance companies and health care providers, a 2012 analysis by the non-profit Commonwealth Fund notes that the the United States spends more on health care than 12 other industrialized countries, nearly $8,000 per person.  For instance, the analysis finds that the U.S. spends 12 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care, while Japan spends just 9 percent. Continue reading →

Governor’s Dayton’s Budget: The Pre-Game Show

Posted on by

Tomorrow, Minnesota Governor Dayton will be releasing his budget proposal, the first since his DFL Party regained control of the Legislature after the 2012 election.  And then, as always, there will be strongly worded interest group reactions.  Oh yes, there WILL be reactions.

Rather than have to wait another moment for the reactions, Wry Wing’s political prophesier has drunk the special brew that allows him to see the future.  Here is what Professor Prophesier sees in the mist: Continue reading →

The Battle of the Bachmanniacs: Mercenaries versus Missionaries

Posted on by

The Star Tribune’s Kevin Diaz is covering an interesting story about an ugly battle happening inside Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s 2012 presidential campaign circles.  The coverage details allegations made by an evangelical leader named Peter Waldron who worked as a national field coordinator for the Bachmann-for-President staff.

Mr. Waldron is accusing Bachmann of several things, including complex and serious violations of Federal Election Commission (FEC) spending laws.  But at the visceral core of Waldron’s allegations, he is also blowing the whistle on the fact that Bachmann refused to pay Waldron and his campaign allies, at the same time she was paying a lot of money to a political consultant, Guy Short, and an Iowa Republican party official, Kent Sorenson.  This as much about the IOU as the FEC. Continue reading →

Will There Be Payback for the Bakk Brodkorb Broadside?

Posted on by

WCCO-TV’s Pat Kessler tweets that Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk (DFL-Virginia) wants to reduce Republican payrolls because of the over $200,000 in legal expenses associated with the contested firing of  Senate staffer Michael Brodkorb after Brodkorb had an affair with Bakk’s predecessor, then Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch.

 This raises Golden Ruley questions, such as: Continue reading →

MN Senate Republicans Propose Improvements To Social Studies Standards

Posted on by

Saint Paul, MN — Minnesota Senate Republicans today detailed a series of suggested improvements for the new social studies standards originally proposed by the Dayton Administration’s Minnesota Department of Education.

 In a letter to the Department, Senate Republicans suggested a number of “pro-America reforms,” including:

  • Replace the term “social studies” with “Exceptional America Studies”
  • Substitute President’s Day observances with Reagan Day observances Continue reading →

Can Norm Coleman Recover From His Recent Tea Party Cheerleading Role?

Posted on by

So, Norm Coleman won’t rule out a run for Minnesota Governor.  Well, let’s see, what has Norm been doing to ingratiate himself with Minnesota voters since he lost to Al Franken in 2008?  He:

1)   Moved out of Minnesota at the first opportunity.

2)   Became a Super PAC (Congressional Leadership Fund) political hit man doing the dirty work for a group of Tea Party-controlled House members sporting a 9% approval rating, an all-time historic low.

Continue reading →

Job One for New Legislature: Ban Donny Dancing

Posted on by

Minnesota local government leaders have a perennial beef with the Legislature about “unfunded mandates,” onerous requirements imposed on local governments by the state government.

But sometimes state mandates are very, very necessary.

Ladies and gentlemen of the State Legislature, I beg of you, for the good of all Minnesotans, for all that is good and right in the world, for THE CHILDREN, please ban city mayors like Duluth’s Don Ness from ever, ever, EVER, making another “dance” video like this… Continue reading →

A Kinda Sorta Retraction on Constitutional Amendments

Posted on by

A while back, a communications strategist for the Minnesota House Republicans took umbrage with my assertion that the 2012 GOP-controlled Legislature had a historically low approval rating of 17% in part because Republican legislators were:

“Wasting all their time on constitutional amendments to limit Minnesotans’ freedoms to marry and vote.”

He took exception with my use of the word “all.”  To his credit, the Umbrage Taker was wielding supportive data, which earned him extra credit in my book.  I have no reason to dispute the data, and found them interesting, so I am happy to share them to hereby clear the record:

Continue reading →

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Go Mansionless

Posted on by

I’m not a fan of the political cheap shot, the arguments that score populist points with voters but aren’t supported with good evidence.

For instance, elected and unelected demagogues love to hammer funny sounding research projects.  While it’s great political theater to rant about spending tax dollars on “studying the sex life of a screwworm,” if you actually do your homework you will see that the public interest is indeed served by the knowledge such research generates.

Likewise, at first blush “why are we spending millions on the Minnesota Governor’s Mansion” looks to be one of those cheap shots.  In the wake of a Star Tribune news report that millions are being spent to renovate the Chief Executive’s bachelor pad, that argument  probably will be prevalent on talk radio in coming weeks.  But presumably, if you do your homework, you will learn that the Governor’s Mansion, or “The Residence” as earnest communications professionals have branded it, is a critically important public asset that deserves to be preserved, right? Continue reading →