Family Council to spend $4.71 million to ‘ignite’ gay marriage battle: Group plans $1.71 million to train legislators in a ‘biblical worldview’

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The Minnesota Family Council has launched its “Ignite” campaign to “achieve cultural transformation” over the next two years. According to a brochure put out by the group, MFC plans to spend $4.71 million with the main aim of getting a constitutional amendment banning relationship rights for same-sex couples onto the ballot and passed by Minnesota voters. “‘Ignite’ is a two-year plan designed to fan the embers of November 2010 into a lasting movement built to achieve enduring cultural transformation,” the brochure states, “starting with passage of a constitutional amendment to preserve marriage as God designed it, the foundation of strong families and a strong society.” MFC also believes it was picked by God for such a mission. “You see, God has uniquely positioned Minnesota Family Council (MFC),” the group writes. Continue Reading

GOP offers major overhaul to Minnesota’s voting system, democrats criticize bill as expensive, a “partisan ploy”

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Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer of Big Lake and Sen. Warren Limmer of Maple Grove unveiled the Republican plan to overhaul the state’s voting system at a press conference on Wednesday. Among the proposed changes are the elimination of vouching, implementation of a photo identification system, a ban on health care workers assisting voters in the booth, and massive changes to the recount process. Most of the changes reflect complaints by the conservative group Minnesota Majority, which Kiffmeyer ran several years ago. Kiffmeyer said that the new system unveiled today has stood up to court challenges. “This is a concept, modeled on the Indiana voting system which has been ruled constitutional by the Indiana Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court,” she said. Continue Reading

Legislators seek repeal of Mississippi River Critical Area program

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Legislators in the Minnesota House and Senate are proposing a repeal of a decades-old program to protect the Mississippi River. HF95/SF39 would eliminate the Mississippi River Critical Area (MRCA), a program that since the 1970s has provided planning and management for the 72-mile stretch of the Mississippi from Ramsey in northern Anoka County to Hastings in southern Dakota County. River advocates say the repeal of the program could have significant impacts on the environmental and aesthetic benefits of the river. The bill itself is very simple – “Minnesota Statutes 2010, section 116G.15, is repealed” – but the consequences will be serious if the bill is signed into law, according to Whitney Clark of the Friends of the Mississippi River. “It would be a huge blow to the long-standing state commitment to protecting the river,” Clark told the Minnesota Independent. Continue Reading

Bachmann vs. Dayton on Medicaid

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Rep. Michele Bachmann appeared at a press conference at the Minnesota Capitol early Monday to chastise Gov. Mark Dayton for signing an executive order opting the state into early Medicaid expansion to help provide health care coverage for childless, low-income adults. Bachmann said that “we are on a collision course with reality” over Medicaid, adding that Dayton must withdraw his executive order or a “lawsuit may be a possibility in the future.” Bachmann said that the early Medicaid expansion “seeks to put an additional 95,000 people in this state on the welfare rolls.” “This is an extraordinary move on the part of our new governor,” she added. Dayton signed the executive order on his third day as governor and rescinded the policy of his predecessor, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has opposed health care reform and the Medicaid expansion. Continue Reading

Franken backs nuclear power as Legislature mulls more plants

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Sen. Al Franken told the Rochester Post-Bulletin that he has changed his mind on nuclear power due to a conversation with former Vice President Al Gore. Nuclear power has become a hot topic in Minnesota politics as legislators, mainly Republicans, look to lift the ban on new nuclear power plant construction. That plan has already passed one committee in the Minnesota House.Franken said that with newer technologies, nuclear waste handling and storage capabilities can be improved and nuclear power can play a role in curbing global warming, the Post-Bulletin reports. “Yes, (the nuclear waste) will be around for hundreds of thousands of years, but I am kind of hoping we will, too,” Franken said. “And I am kind of hoping that just as we’re going from a decade to map the human genome to a day or two days or whatever it is that we will be more and more sophisticated on storing the waste.” Continue Reading

GOP unveils budget cuts, mayors and DFL offer swift response

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Minnesota Republicans unveiled their “Phase I” plan to reduce Minnesota’s $6.2 billion budget deficit by maintaining unallotment levels of government aid and higher education spending. The plan would direct state agencies to find $200 million in savings. DFL leaders and Mayors RT Rybak and Chris Coleman quickly criticized the plan as hurting the middle class while giving big breaks to corporate CEOs. The GOP outlined its plan in a statement on Monday. “We need to prevent automatic spending increases that are included in the state government budget, and passing this budget bill will keep some of state government’s expenditures at current levels,” said House Ways and Means Committee Chair Mary Liz Holberg of Lakeville. Continue Reading

Republicans aim to bring ‘Choose Life’ license plates to Minnesota, sales revenue would go to anti-abortion groups

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More than a dozen Republicans introduced a bill in the Minnesota House Thursday aimed at authorizing the sale of “Choose Life” license plates in Minnesota, with sales revenue going to groups that oppose abortion. The bill is nearly identical to one passed in 2003 in Florida, one of 23 states that produces the plates. But as the Florida Independent found, tracking where funds raised through the license plate sales wasn’t an easy task.The bill states that the plates “must include (1) a brightly colored, crayon-like image of children, and (2) the words ‘Choose Life.'” Funds from the sale of the plates will be distributed to counties that will then give the funds to nonprofit groups. That money can only go to organizations that oppose abortion: “A county may not distribute funds to any agency that is directly or indirectly involved in or associated with abortion activities, including counseling for or referrals to abortion clinics, providing medical abortion-related procedures, or pro-abortion advertising.” The attempt in Minnesota is part of a nationwide effort by Choose Life, Inc. and according to that group’s website, the plates are being pushed in Minnesota by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. Continue Reading

Gay Minnesota teen commits suicide, friends blame bullying

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Eighteen-year old Lance Lundsten died on Saturday as a result of a suicide attempt, according to KSAX-TV. Lundsten’s friends say he was gay and that he was bullied at Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Minn. Within hours, his death has prompted the formation of an anti-bullying group in the school district. Sen. Al Franken, who is the author of anti-bullying legislation in the U.S. Continue Reading

Pawlenty says he will reinstate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell if elected in 2012

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Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, appearing on Bryan Fischer’s radio program on Wednesday to talk up his new book,  said that if he’s elected president, he’ll reinstate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers. Fischer works for the American Family Association, a group that the Southern Poverty Law Center named a hate group in November for spreading falsehoods about Muslim and LGBT Americans. Fischer asked Pawlenty at the end of the interview, “We just saw the ban on homosexual service in the military repealed, overturned. Conservatives will be working over the next couple of years to see that that ban is reinstated. If you become president in 2012, will you work to reinstate the prohibition on open homosexual service in the military? Continue Reading

Minneapolis school board passes stringent anti–gay bullying, pro-LGBT curriculum

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In a unanimous vote by outgoing board members Tuesday evening, the Minneapolis School Board passed a resolution that significantly beefs up its LGBT curriculum and anti-bullying efforts. The resolution directs the school district to enhance its tracking of anti-LGBT bullying incidents as well as include LGBT themes in school curriculum. The resolution directs the district to include educational materials about the safety of LGBT students and to offer yearly trainings for all district staff from administrators to bus drivers. It will mean that sexual health curriculum will include LGBT issues and an elective course will be created that centers on LGBT history. The resolution also provides for the funding of these programs with either outside fundraising or district funds, and requires that the costs and effectiveness of the new programs be tracked. Continue Reading