Tomorrow’s the day

By |

July 15 is D-Day for candidate filing for legislative, congressional and senate races in Minnesota. That’s when Jesse Ventura will have to decide whether he is running for the Senate. Over at Minnesota Independent, Steve Perry has put together a laundry list of reasons for and against running, but nobody really knows what Jesse will do–and that’s just the way he likes it. At the end of last week, Politics in Minnesota reported that Duluth’s House district 7B had the most candidates running– Republican Allan Kehr and Democrats Marshall Stenersen, Brandon Cloke, Roger Reinert, John Derbis and Daniel Maryland. (The Secretary of State’s candidate Web site didn’t show Cloke as a candidate.) More than two dozen House races showed only a single candidate, but that’s likely to change by Tuesday at 5 p.m. The Green Party had fielded two candidates, Allan Hancock in District 46B and Farheen Hakeem in 61B, and the Independence Party just one—Paul Gaston in 54B. Continue Reading

Comments from readers: Have you had your say?

By |

“Thanks for being a voice for the oppressed … NCLB feeds money to the Halliburtons of education … The two grapplers in the ring so far don’t impress … ”
“Thanks for being a voice for the oppressed and the voice less.” Comment on Douglas McGill’s coverage of human rights abuses in Ethiopia, through the testimony of Ethiopians living in Minnesota, which continues to draw high readership and gets dozens of comments. Continue Reading

The Schultz Report: Obama fiddles, Wes Clark (and liberals) get burned

By |

Today’s Schultz Report begins with a review of the public pillorying of Wes Clark last week for daring suggest that being a POW and a war hero did not qualify John McCain to be president–a fairly terrifying little spectacle in which Clark’s words were transmuted by “reporters” as well as chatterers into a wholesale attack on McCain’s character and the idea of military service itself. “What Clark pointed out,” Schultz notes, “is that merely having been a prisoner of war, his record in Vietnam in and of itself, is not a qualification to be president. He went on to say that McCain never served in an executive position in the military, the government, or a corporation. He was simply trying to say that McCain lacks the executive skills, based on his military record alone, to be president of the United States. That’s a pretty accurate statement. Continue Reading

Check your lake

By |

From my vantage point in St. Paul, it looks like everybody goes to the lake for the weekend. Traffic is peaceful, restaurants seem less crowded, and I confess to a little envy of all those folks sitting somewhere “up north” with a book, beer or bratwurst in hand. I’m less envious now that I have reviewed the “impaired waters” report published by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). The report has lots of technical language—”While the final 2008 TMDL List has 1,475 impairments, the Inventory of all impaired waters contains 2,575 impairments.”—as well as recognizably scary terms, such as mercury levels and fecal coliform bacteria. Continue Reading

Are new transit fares fair?

By |

The Metropolitan Council plans to raise Metro Transit fares by 25 cents on October 1 and by an additional 50 cents some time in 2009. The Met Council is hosting a series of eight public hearings on the fare increase from July 6 to July 15.Your Chance to SpeakToday, Wednesday, July 9: Noon — 1:00 p.m.Minneapolis City Hall – Conference Room 333350 South Fifth Street, downtown Minneapolis
Today, Wednesday, July 9: – 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.Burnsville City Hall – Chambers100 Civic Center Parkway, Burnsville
Thursday, July 10: 6:30 — 7:30 p.m.Maplewood Community Center2100 White Bear Avenue, Maplewood
Monday, July 14: 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.Eden Prairie City Hall – Heritage Room8080 Mitchell Road, Eden Prairie
Tuesday, July 15: Noon — 1:00 p.m.Metropolitan Council – Chambers390 Robert Street North, downtown St. Paul
Tuesday, July 15: 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.Seward Square Apartments — Meeting Room2121 South 9th Street, Minneapolis

“We want public feedback,” said Steve Dornfeld, Director of Public Affairs for the council. “The fare increase is not something we propose lightly.”
Katie Eukel, communications manager for Transit for Livable Communities, opposes the fare increases. “Instead of raising fares we think there are alternatives that could fill the shortfall,” Eukel said. Continue Reading

What we don’t know can’t hurt him: Tim Pawlenty’s adventures in closed government

By |

Who can blame TP for stinting on public information? It’s not like his administration has nothing to hide
Be sure to check out Pat Doyle and Mark Brunswick’s Sunday Strib feature on Tim Pawlenty’s minimalist approach to government record-keeping (emphasis added):
“Pawlenty, after more than five years as governor, has not filed any records with state archives. He has also been less willing to preserve documents than his predecessor, Jesse Ventura, who despite a reputation for being thin-skinned, saved even unflattering memos and e-mails for future public access. Pawlenty’s administration has cited a 40-year-old Minnesota Supreme Court decision to justify retaining only records of final decisions — not the e-mails or paperwork that cast light on how decisions were made.” So the Pawlenty administration is preserving none of its deliberations, only records of final decisions. Continue Reading

VOICES: NCLB test results: Bogus results for a misguided program

By |

There are several reasons why the results of a mandatory statewide test released Monday by the state Department of Education are bad news for Minnesota students. The achievement gap between blacks and whites grew from 32 percent last year to 36 percent. These test results unfortunately don’t reveal any new information; a host of national tests show that Minnesota blacks lag greatly behind their white counterparts. The MCAII does nothing to shed more light on the issue. 34 percent of all students — only 8 percent of black students — passed this year’s 11th-grade math test. Continue Reading

Coleman perpetuates Cuba-China oil myth

By |

Sen. Norm Coleman finally got around to aping the latest big Republican talking point on July 3. Like Dick Cheney, John Boehner, Roy Blunt and others, he’s saying that Chinese firms, via leasing agreements with Cuba, can drill for oil closer to the United States than we can. “The Chinese are able to begin operating 90 miles off shore by working with the Cubans,” Coleman said, arguing for new offshore oil exploration. Thing is, it’s just not true. Florida Democrat Sen. Mel Martinez says it’s “akin to urban legend,” FactCheck.org says Cheney got it wrong, and Jorge Pinon, an energy fellow with the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami, states unequivocally, “China is not drilling in Cuba’s Gulf of Mexico waters, period.” Continue Reading

Phoning it in to DC

By |

A giant, red phone rolled up to the offices of Senators Klobuchar and Coleman bright and early on Monday, July 5. The phone, and the people accompanying it, delivered a message: stop FISA. Continue Reading

Instant Runoff Voting boosts voting power for communities of color

By |

In 1975, voters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, elected their first African American mayor using Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). The losing candidate filed suit, claiming that IRV is unconstitutional. He lost again. And so have other opponents who have attempted the same tactic in other states. Opinion: Instant Runoff Voting boosts voting power for communities of colorAs elected leaders from communities of color and champions of voters’ rights, we are concerned about dubious claims against the constitutionality of IRV now rising in Minnesota and efforts to keep IRV off the ballot in St. Continue Reading