Jeff Reinert while not exactly a household name, should be. After all he’s got experience, vision, integrity and common sense. How do i know? His website says so. And those qualities were all but obvious the other night when Jeff himself saliently led the charge of the light brigade for Lino Lakes to BECOME THE FIRST, THAT’S RIGHT THE VERY FIRST Minnesota city to adopt English as it’s official language. But really going forward, we have a lot be thankful for.Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. Continue Reading
Want a list of reasons why our elected leaders won’t solve the state’s budget deficit by May 17 like they were supposed to? Let’s count the ways in which they will fail:1) Tim Pawlenty is running for the Republican nomination for President, and he can’t sign any bill into law that includes new revenues to help the state out of its budget deficit.2) DFL lawmakers won’t agree to ratify all of Pawlenty’s unallotment cuts unless every Republican in the Senate and House of Representatives votes for them, and they won’t because taking direct responsibility for those cuts would kill their chances in November.3) Republican lawmakers have every incentive to make the DFL leadership look like it can’t get anything done and no incentive to help fix the mess as they go into the November elections.4) DFL lawmakers won’t agree to a budget deal that doesn’t include new revenues because they’d have agreed to hurt the poorest and most vulnerable Minnesotans while leaving the wealthiest untouched. Incompatible with reason 1.5) $408 million in enhanced Medicaid matching funds won’t be approved at the federal level before the Legislature adjourns, yet the money is essential to any budget deal.6) Nobody really knows for sure how big the budget deficit is anymore, since the MN Supreme Court ruled Pawlenty’s unallotment actions did not follow the law. A best estimate from Minnesota Budget Bites is that there’s still $700 million to cover, if the Legislature agrees to ratify Pawlenty’s delayed payments to K-12 school districts, but it’s still not clear how much of his $2.7 billion got wiped out in the court decision.7) The House may be prepared to go along with that K-12 shift, but the DFL Senate under Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, shows no signs of agreeing to any of Pawlenty’s actions from last year. That shift represents $1.8 billion.8) House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, is the DFL Party’s endorsed candidate for governor, and won’t be able to reprise her past role as the sane, rational adult in the room when she and Pawlenty and Pogemiller meet to find an agreement. Continue Reading
This Sunday marked the first Governor’s Candidate Forum on Clean Energy, Clean Water and Minnesota’s Future at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul, as part of the annual Living Green Expo. Among those invited were major party candidates who had polled at five percent or higher in straw or statewide polls. Forum participants included: Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL), Mark Dayton (DFL), Matt Entenza (DFL), Rob Hahn (I), and Tom Horner (I). Tom Emmer (R), who received his party’s endorsement last Friday, had been invited to the event, but did not attend. Kelliher left midway through the event due to a prior commitment to participate in the Mayday Parade, which commenced at 1PM. Continue Reading
The author of a proposal to reform the way judicial elections in Minnesota are held pulled his bill rather than having it fail a key House of Representatives committee vote, a key Minneapolis DFLer told the Daily Planet.HF 224 from Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, would have failed on an 11-2 vote in the House Civil Justice Committee, said Rep. Joe Mullery, DFL-Minneapolis, the committee chairman.The bill would have put a constitutional amendment on the 2010 election ballot asking voters to eliminate competitive judicial elections in favor of a system of governors appointing judges and the people voting whether to retain them.Mullery said he was willing to give the bill a hearing and in fact would have done so, had Simon not asked to have it removed from a Monday committee hearing list.”He promised that if we withdrew it, it wouldn’t come up again as an amendment or as some funny business from the Senate,” Mullery said of Simon’s decision. “Otherwise, we were going to hear it and it would have been rejected soundly.”Mullery, who opposed Simon’s bill as “a solution in search of a problem,” took some heat from House DFL leaders earlier in the session for not giving the bill a hearing. Mullery did not say which committee members supported or opposed the bill, but that it was a “general consensus” that the bill would not have prevented partisan involvement in judicial elections, only moved it from a focus on candidate campaigns to recall efforts.With no benefit, Mullery said it wasn’t worth taking away a voter’s right to choose which judge to elect.Asked why they didn’t approve the bill and then let the voters decide whether to amend the state constitution, Mullery said he was not confident voters would know what they were voting on, and that the interests behind a “yes” vote would have drowned out any discussion with a well-funded campaign and misleading ballot language.Simon has not returned a call to his office seeking comment on his bill’s demise. A Senate companion bill from Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, could still get a vote in the Senate.It is possible that the Senate bill, if passed, could be brought to the House floor for a vote, despite the assurances Mullery said he received from Simon. Continue Reading
The undead judicial election reform bill that looked to be rising from the grave last week apparently will stay dead.Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, author of HF 224, was scheduled to get his constitutional amendment heard Monday morning in the House Civil Justice Committee chaired by Rep. Joe Mullery, DFL-Minneapolis.But an e-mail sent out Sunday night by Patrick Baldwin, committee administrator, said the bill had been pulled “at the request of the author” and “the provisions of HF 224 will not be taken up by any committee or body of the legislature this session.”The bill would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall asking voters if the state should replace the current competitive judicial election system with one proposed by a group of reform proponents concerned about the potential for rising partisan involvement and campaign spending in judicial elections. If approved, governors would appoint judges and they would be subject to retention elections, where the question would simply be whether they should be returned to the bench or not. If voters said no, the governor would make another appointment.It was stalled because Mullery wouldn’t give the bill a hearing and it had missed committee deadlines. But following pressure from DFL legislative leaders, Mullery had put the bill on the committee schedule and all systems looked go for Monday’s hearing.I’ve got a call in to Simon and Mullery to see if either one will comment on why the bill is dead again. Continue Reading
An election reform bill that could end competitive elections for judges will rise from its grave Monday when the Legislature goes back to work after the DFL Party convention.HF 224, from Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, is scheduled to get a hearing at 9:30 a.m. Monday in the House Civil Justice Committee chaired by Rep. Joe Mullery, DFL-Minnepolis.Newly endorsed DFL gubernatorial candidate and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, had been pressing Mullery to give a hearing to the bill, and Mullery had been resisting, but apparently, resistance is futile.The bill would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall asking voters if the state should replace the current competitive judicial election system with one proposed by a group of reform proponents concerned about the potential for rising partisan involvement and campaign spending in judicial elections.If approved, governors would appoint judges and they would be subject to retention elections, where the question would simply be whether they should be returned to the bench or not. If voters said no, the governor would make another appointment.The bill was considered dead in the House of Representatives because it missed committee hearing deadlines earlier in the session. As we’ve noted before, however, the rules don’t always apply to bills that the DFL legislative leadership likes, and both Kelliher and Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, are fans of this one.A Senate version of the bill from Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, has already passed through committee hearings and is waiting for a floor vote there.Mullery had previously said that he believes the bill is a solution in search of a problem. Republican Party Chairman Tony Sutton has also lobbied against the bill, resulting in Senate Minority Leader David Senjem, R-Rochester, removing his name as a co-author in the Senate this month.It remains to be seen if this hearing will really happen, though. Continue Reading
Just in time for Earth Day comes news that the upcoming Living Green Expo will feature the first post-DFL and GOP convention gubernatorial forum. Set for 1 p.m. May 2 outside the Grandstand at the State Fairgrounds, candidates from all major political parties have been invited to a forum on the topics of clean energy, clean water and Minnesota’s future. The Living Green Expo is being put on this year by the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, which bills it as a free, family-friendly event that brings in more than 25,000 visitors annually to view more than 300 exhibits, workshops and displays within the State Fair Grandstand. A special, 1,500 seat tent will be set up outside the Grandstand, and visitors to the expo will be able to submit videotaped questions to the candidates attending the forum. Minnesota-based supermarket chain SuperValu is sponsoring the candidate forum. Continue Reading
Ramsey County DFLers meet on Saturday to decide whether to endorse U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., for a sixth term in Congress, as Republicans meet to see who should challenge her this fall.McCollum and former Maplewood Mayor Diana Longrie will seek the DFL Party endorsement beginning at 9:30 Saturday at Roseville Area High School.Longrie, an attorney, was elected mayor in 2005 and lost her bid for re-election in 2008 under a cloud of controversy about her leadership style.CD4 Republicans will gather at 8:30 a.m. at Jimmy’s Food and Drink at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites in Vadnais Heights. There, they’ll choose from candidates Teresa Collett, Brad Lee and Gene Rechtzigel for the endorsement.Teresa Collett is a law professor from the University of St. Thomas who lives in St. Paul and has been active in the anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage movements.Brad Lee is a Mahtomedi resident and Navy veteran who worked for 3M and owns a financial services business. He lists endorsements from state Sen. Ray Vandeveer, R-Forest Lake and the White Bear Area Chamber of Commerce on his campaign web site.Gene Rechtzigel is a farmer from Newport who has not listed any campaign information.West St. Continue Reading
In Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, Republicans this weekend chose a Pentecostal minister who has claimed in his sermons that the Biblical End of Times is coming soon, to run against U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. The statement is made in audio of one of Joel Demos’s sermons at the Christian Liife Center, entitled “The Best Defense is a Good Offense.” It and three more of his sermons are available here. In a sermon delivered in late 2008, Demos praises former President George W. Bush and says his “overwhelming legacy” will be “that we have not had an attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.” Continue Reading
