May 16-20, 2010
May 16 23:13 Rep. Haws Retires May 16 17:15 Not All Stubborn Refusals Are the Same May 16 13:00 Meltdown Margaret Returns May 18 04:49 Campaign Kicks Into Higher Gear May 18 05:36 Central Minnesota DFL Scrambling May 19 01:24 The Visuals Said Everything May 19 10:14 Pogemiller's Reform Argument Falls Flat May 19 13:00 Blumenthal's Career Is Finished May 20 11:25 Another DFL Retirement, Another GOP Pick-up?
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009
Rep. Haws Retires
Citing health issues within his family, Larry Haws announced tonight that he was retiring from the Minnesota legislature.
I'd heard rumors that he might retire amonth ago but didn't put much stock in them because Rep. Haws had already gotten the DFL endorsement to run for re-election in HD-15B. I thought it unnlikely that an endorsed candidate would retire.
Considering the fact that there's some health issues within Rep. Haws' family, it makes more sense now.
Following Rep. Haws's speech, King Banaian, the endorsed GOP candidate in HD15B, issued t his statement :
"I thank Representative Haws for his five years of service in the Legislature to the people of St. Cloud," Banaian said. "Rep. Haws will be remembered as a hard worker and leader in this community."The conventional wisdom will have us believe that Rep. Haws's retirement makes it more likely that King Banaian will get elected. there's a certain amount of truth to that but it's equally true that this was shaping up to be a challenging race for him.
"We have much work to do now, to continue to talk to the people of St. Cloud about how we can hold state government accountable to its promises and to make it live within its means. I look forward to hearing many good ideas from residents of our district, and to taking those ideas to St. Paul in January."
The biggest thing going for King is his understanding of building and sustaining a prosperous economy. Not so coincidentally, that's this campaign's hottest issue.
Rep. posted this statement on his House website:
Dear Neighbors,Though I've disagreed with Rep. Haws on policy a time or two or more, I appreciate the hard work that he did in trying to improve St. Cloud. I wish Rep. Haws nothing but the best in his retirement. I hope he enjoys himself immensely in his retirement.
Because you're a friend and supporter, I wanted you to know first about my decision to not seek re-election. Five years ago I offered myself as a candidate for public office in Minnesota out of a deep sense of appreciation of the issues important to the people of District 15B.
As a Minnesota State Representative, I have gained the greatest respect for the people in our community and have enjoyed serving their diverse interests at the Capitol. It has been a great honor to help make policies to improve the quality of life for those Minnesotans who call St. Cloud home.
During my service as your State Representative I have chief authored over 100 bills during five sessions and successfully carried and passed 15 bonding bills for Central Minnesota's universities, prisons, airport, North Star Rail and the Civic Center.
I've been honored with 'Legislator of the Year' three times:
I carried legislation important to the Minnesota Trust for Public Land that better positioned Greater Minnesota's regional park system. As a past Park Director for the city of St. Cloud, I recognized the need to advocate a higher priority for the regional park system in rural Minnesota.
The Minnesota VFW applauded my efforts to carry the Governor's 2007 bill that was a cluster of 12 bills to address the needs and rights of Minnesota's veterans. This legislation represents one of the most significant movements in veterans' benefits.
The Minnesota Work Force Council of Minnesota celebrated my authorship of legislation that required prioritization, reduction and saving of a work force program for at-risk youth in the State of Minnesota. Both the Minnesota Work Force Council and the Boys & Girls club benefited from this legislation.
Before coming to the capitol, my life revolved around teaching and coaching, leading athletes in four different sports to win 14 state and national titles before I started to change my hat in to serve as the St. Cloud Park Director, and later, a Stearns County Commissioner. While at the St. Cloud Park Department, I established one of the earliest Adopt Park Programs, recruiting 2,000 volunteers a year and raising $8.3 million dollars to supplement the St. Cloud Park Budget. As a county commissioner I helped establish a public forum at the beginning of each commissioner meeting, invited television coverage of county meetings, and modernized the county web site.
My priorities have always been my family and my community and will remain so whether I'm serving in public office or walking in the neighborhood. After 48 years of public service I am retiring one more time. I love retirement and have done so three other times. My professional journey has opened up incredible opportunities to engage with some wonderful people as we pursued common interests of concern to our families and communities.
I'm not leaving St. Cloud; I'm leaving St. Paul and coming home to St. Cloud. I'm truly looking forward to being home and seeing more of familiar faces and places. Thank you again for the privilege of serving this district for the last five years. It has truly been an honor and a joy to represent the people in our community.
Sincerely,
Your Friend,
Larry Haws
Posted Sunday, May 16, 2010 11:13 PM
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Not All Stubborn Refusals Are the Same
It isn't a secret that Larry Pogemiller is an ideologue who doesn't like taking no for an answer. When Sen. Pogemiller said that Gov. Pawlenty was stubbornly refusing to raise taxes, what he should've said was that Gov. Pawlenty was stubbornly refusing to ignore the will of the people :
Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, blamed Pawlenty's stubborn refusal to consider a blend of cuts and tax increases to balance the budget. He also criticized Republican legislators for going along with it.The latest KSTP-SUSA poll showed that 64 percent of likely Minnesota voters think they're paying too much in taxes while 27 percent think they're paying the right amount of taxes and a paltry 8 percent think they're paying too little in taxes. (I've heard that the people comprising this 8 percent live in Dane Smith's and Mark Dayton's neighborhoods but I can't confirm it.)
Pogemiller warned it would be a further hardship to the struggling construction industry if the state can't honor its commitment to build hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of projects.
While it's true Gov. Pawlenty and Republican legislators have been stubborn on raising taxes, the truth is that there's a differece between the DFL's stubbornness and Republicans' stubbornness. The GOP's stubbornness comes from the fact that the vast majority of people are adamantly opposed to tax increases.
NOTE TO DFL: It's silly to cave when you're on the side of the angels on such this important an issue right before the campaign start.
Sunday morning, Laura Brod tweeeted that the DFL is using fuzzy math:
REALLY Fuzzy Math..Dems claim each $1 we spend we get $7B back from feds. If true, heck, why not spend $5B & have the feds pay entire budget.Steve Gottwalt isn't amused with the DFL's tactics either:
Our budget is growing TWICE as fast as our revenues! We are spending $200 million more per month than we take in! Wake-up!!!Even though everyone's tired, Rep. Gottwalt is still making sense:
Sertich asks "What more can we do?" How about leading with real, sustainable solutions? Walked away from real reforms and compromise. Shame!The DFL must have a death wish. That's the only explanation I can think of for their tactics. They've conceded that they won't increase taxes. While they're proposing cutting spending for some things, they're proposing increasing spending for other things.
The most concerning part of this budget proposal is the tails, the incredible deficit this leaves for the coming biennium: $7 billion!
What they aren't doing is agreeing to any of the GOP's reforms. If they weren't so adamant about that, a budget deal likely would've been struck hours ago. That's what's behind the DFL pushing Obamacare's Medicaid expansion. Report after report shows that picking this option raises next biennium's deficit, and each subsequent biennium's deficit, by $1,000,000,000.
Why on God's green earth would people push that option? The DFL spent this session whining about how we aren't doing anything to solve the structural problems in the budget. They finish whining about that then they propose a bill that will make the deficit situation worse going forward.
The DFL, especially Tony Sertich, have talked about all the spending cuts they're willing to make. NOTE TO TONY: They don't matter if the budget still doesn't balance, which it won't with the new spending that the DFL is adding.
This won't end well for the DFL if they force a special session. GOP candidates will be talking about how the DFL didn't balance last year's budget, then insisted on raising taxes until the last minute, then insisted on a health care plan that will add $1,000,000,000 to next biennium's already huge deficit.
That won't play except in the urban districts of the Twin Cities, in Duluth and in college towns. The DFL is in danger in districts not fitting those descriptions.
The other thing that's playing out right now is Mark Dayton and Matt Entenza are licking their chops. Speaker Kelliher is having another meltdown for the second consecutive year. Mssrs. Dayton and Entenza will surely pounce on that, saying that it proves she can't close a deal. Fair or unfair, that's how Mssrs. Dayton and Entenza will play it.
With there only being hours left in the final day of the session, things aren't looking good for the DFL. Unless they drop their health care demands, they'll get hurt by a special session.
That's what happens when you stubbornly refuse to listen to the people's cries for not raising taxes.
Posted Sunday, May 16, 2010 5:15 PM
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Meltdown Margaret Returns
Last year, the petulent, temperamental side of Speaker Kelliher was on full display in the final budget negotiations. This year, as if on cue, Meltdown Margaret has made her return. Last night, after negotiating a budget deal with Gov. Pawlenty, the House passed a bill that they knew would be vetoed by Gov. Pawlenty.
They knew it would be vetoed because they added $1,000,000,000 in out-year expenses thta would take next biennium's deficit from a projected $4,500,000,000 to an estimated $5,500,000,000.
At the heart of this was Speaker Kelliher. It was her petulent insistence on implementing the Medicaid expansion called for in Obamacare. According to several loyal readers of this blog, she insisted that spending that $1,000,000,000 would return us $7,000,000,000 in federal aid money.
Having gone through the Obamacare bill, I know that there are some nasty provisions that are called maintenance of service agreements. Implementing the Medicaid expansion obligates Minnesota to conforming to Washington's rules even after the federal money dries up.
That's unacceptable under any cercumstances but especially so because there's federal money available without implementing President Obama's Medicaid expansion. According to a tweet from one of the Capitol reporters, a working group (they can't call it a conference committee because those are for resolving differences between existing bills)was working on getting a waiver from the federal government that lets states put together their own program with their own rules.
The beauty of that option is that Minnesota would control the program with their own policies while still being able to access federal money. That option doesn't involve a $1,000,000,000 tail or a maintenance of service agreement.
Despite this being the best option for Minnesota's taxpayers, Meltdown Margaret had another eruption last night, an eruption that led to a vote a bill that Gov. Pawlenty either has vetoed or will veto shortly.
Sane Minnesotans would've rightly crucified Gov. Pawlenty if he'd opted to sign the bill into law because it would've added $1,000,000,000 to the deficit that the next governor and the next legislature would have to deal with.
Speaker Kelliher worked hard at crafting the image of being a responsible centrist. As last night's temper tantrum proves, the end of the session is a time when Meltdown Margaret reappears. Meltdown Margaret's reappearance doesn't benefit anyone.
After all, it was her meltdown last year that contributed to the DFL not passing a balanced budget. It's important that we remember that she's the one who couldn't keep her caucus together on the DFL's tax increase bill:
Minutes ago, the House of Representatives sustained Gov. Pawlenty's veto of the Tax Bill. The vote was 85-49, meaning that 2 DFL legislators voted with all 47 House Republicans.I haven't seen proof that Speaker Kelliher is a poised person. Last year, she came unglued in May. It looked like she wore down physically, which led to her irrational, petulent behavior during last year's negotiations.
I'm still astonished that she won the DFL's endorsement in Duluth. It's obvious that I wouldn't agree with any of their candidates' policies. Still, I thought they would've done better picking someone with a better temperament or with more gravitas than Meltdown Margaret.
If Speaker Kelliher won't start acting more rationally, then her caucus should revolt and install someone who isn't as likely to have the temper tantrums that she's currently having. If Speaker Kelliher won't act rationally, then I'll predict that we'll have a special session.
If there is a special session, the DFL will be staring at a bloodbath this November. When people find out that the DFL legislature voted to raise taxes on small businesses before dropping that, they'll be upset. When people then find out that the DFL legislature then opted for adding $1,000,000,000 to next year's already staggering deficit, they'll understand that they can't vote for the people who think of voters as the government's ATM's and who think all spending increases are worthwhile.
It's time that the DFL reined in Meltdown Margaret before they find themselves in a terrible situation. If they don't rein her in, they'll get the fate they deserve. It's just that simple.
UPDATE: MDE posted a statement from RPM Chairman Tony Sutton on 'Meltdown Margaret'.
UPDATE II: Here's a Twitter update from last night:
Stowydad Kelliher just left governor's office very very upset.Meltdown Margaret is real to firsthand observers.
UPDATE III: Here's Tom Hauser's observation on Speaker Kelliher:
I'm not a body language expert...but Speaker Kelliher just left the gov's office looking very angry.That was from just a little before midnight Saturday night.
UPDATE IV: Legislature adjourned until 7:00 pm. Meltdown Margaret steering us towards the cliff. This isn't leadership. It isn't even smart politics. If there's a special session, the DFL loses bigtime this November, MAK included.
Posted Sunday, May 16, 2010 4:17 PM
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Campaign Kicks Into Higher Gear
With the Minnesota legislature officially adjourning sine die just before 11:00 am Monday, political junkies like myself will turn our attention to this summer's campaigns. One campaign that I'll be watching with interest is the governor's race. The man I've supported since Day One, Tom Emmer, issued this statement on the session :
First of all, we should be grateful to Governor Pawlenty for once again protecting Minnesota families and businesses from tax increases. Economic recovery in Minnesota will come faster because we had the strength to hold the line on taxes.During the debate on the budget deal, Marty Seifert and Jim Abeler both criticized the deal because it didn't deal with the out years, aka the budget tails. Because the DFL refused to deal with those tails, the next legislature, one that's sure to have alot more Republicans, will have to work with the new governor to put Minnesota on the path to prosperity.
But any recovery will be stopped in its tracks if the next governor "opts in" to Obamacare early by enrolling thousands of Minnesotans onto the federal health care roll at irresponsibly high costs, ignoring Minnesota's nation-leading reforms in health care delivery.
With this deal, the next governor will have that power. I am announcing today I will not use it if elected this November. I also challenge my opponents (including Speaker Kelliher, who pushed for this power in closed-door negotiations) to tell Minnesotans where they stand on this issue immediately.
In addition to the "opt in" provision to Obamacare, the 2010 session will be remembered as another wasted opportunity due to failed Democrat leadership.
We should have taken this opportunity to redesign our government to provide expected services in a sustainable and sensible manner and we should have taken this opportunity to eliminate redundancies and excess in government. Instead, we have yet again postponed the day of reckoning and kicked the can down the road to the next Governor and the next legislature.
Minnesota expects more. Minnesota deserves more. We are ready, willing and able to take charge of our runaway government in this state. It is time to redesign government to serve the citizens of our great state. It is time for new, fresh and bold ideas. It is time to govern and we are up for the challenge!
In my opinion, that won't happen with Sen. Dayton, Speaker Kelliher or Rep. Entenza as governor. That said, I'm confident that we won't have to find out whether I'm right or wrong because I'm confident Tom will win this November. Thus far, polling indicates Tom's positioned nicely going into the campaign:
According to the poll of 588 registered voters who say they're likely to vote, Emmer leads Kelliher 41 to 33 percent. Horner is at 9 percent. Another 17 percent are undecided.The DFL will have difficulty gaining traction running on the issues of tax increases (Sen. Dayton), spending increases (Rep. Entenza) and single-payer health care (Speaker Kelliher). The KSTP poll that shows Tom leading Dayton, Entenza and Kelliher also shows that there isn't much support for tax increases, with 64 percent of likely Minnesota voters saying that they're taxed too much, with a modest 27 percent of likely Minnesota voters saying that they're taxed just right and a paltry 8 percent of likely Minnesota voters saying that they're taxed too little.
According to the poll, in a hypothetical race, Emmer leads Dayton by eight points; 42 to 34. Horner is again at 9 percent and 15 percent are undecided.
The poll showed, Emmer leads Entenza 42 percent to 31 percent. In this hypothetical race, Horner pulls in 10 percent and 16 percent are undecided.
Speaker Kelliher made a deal with the devil when she won John Marty's endorsement at the DFL convention by saying she'd push for passing single-payer health care. That decision was understandable but foolish. It's understandable in the sense that it's what she needed to do to win the endorsement. Without that, Speaker Kelliher doesn't live to fight another day.
It's foolish from the standpoint from the perspective that that commitment will be a millstone around her electoral neck for the general election. Single-payer is more radical and less popular than Obamacare, which is quite the accomplishment.
The DFL's candidates will be fighting an uphill fight because of their positions on health care, spending and taxes. Each of their solutions to Minnesota's problems aren't just outside the mainstream. They're disliked to the point of voters being weary just hearing about them.
Posted Tuesday, May 18, 2010 4:49 AM
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Central Minnesota DFL Scrambling
Make no mistake about it: the DFL is scrambling in Central Minnesota. This was only highlighted by Rep. Larry Haws's surprise retirement announcement Sunday night.
The DFL currently doesn't have a candidate in House Districts 14A, 15A and in SD-14. They were without a candidate in HD-15B less than 24 hours because Carol Lewis announced that she was running for Rep. Haws's open seat.
According to Mark Sommerhauser's article , Lewis is a former school board member:
One DFLer wasted no time stepping forward: Former St. Cloud school board member Carol Lewis said Monday she hopes to replace Haws in House District 15B, which covers north, east and downtown St. Cloud.Ms. Lewis, whom I've never met, is starting from a compromised position. Because of the late start, her fundraising is a mess. She's also put herself in the difficult position of defending raising taxes at a time when tax increases are extremely unpopular:
Lewis ran for the District 15B seat in 2005, but dropped out after losing the DFL endorsement battle to Haws.Raising taxes of any sort won't be popular this election cycle. Ms. Lewis will get a cold reception from voters once it's known that she wants to raise taxes when families are struggling.
If elected this time, Lewis says she'd focus on "fiscal responsibility." That could come through combining state agencies to cut costs, and also may require expanding the state sales tax to cover clothing, Lewis said.
Larry Hosch will have a real fight in HD-14B. He's being challenged by small businessman and longtime GOP activist Tom Ellenbecker. Mr. Ellenbecker is helped by the fact that Rep. Hosch didn't follow through on reforming the Green Acres tax laws like he promised.
Politicians break campaign promises all the time and get away with it. This is one of those promises that people expected to be kept. Because the DFL legislature didn't fix the mess they created in 2008, farmers' property taxes will be significantly higher, putting many farms in distress.
Rep. Hosch won't get those farmers' support when he visits their farms this summer. Hosch will find it difficult to win without substantial support from his district's farmers.
Adding to Rep. Hosch's difficulties are his frequent votes for tax increases the past 2 years as part of the House DFL leadership. That won't play well in 14B because it's one of the most conservative districts in the state. It isn't currently represented by a conservative because, prior to this election, Rep. Hosch was able to portray himself as a centrist/moderate.
That won't be possible this cycle because of all the tax increases he voted for this session.
Republicans are willing to work hard this cycle. Add to that that they're on the right side of the issues in most polling and the DFL's disarray and you've potentially got the recipe for a strong year in 2010.
Posted Tuesday, May 18, 2010 5:36 AM
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The Visuals Said Everything
It was a busy day at the St. Cloud airport Tuesday afternoon, with the DFL and the GOP stopping in during their post-session flyarounds.
When I pulled into the airport parking lot at 1:20 pm, Sen. Pogemiller was standing outside talking on his cell phone. That seemed rather odd compared with past flyarounds. In the flyarounds in previous years, I assumed that the DFL and GOP planes would be late.
When I walked into the lobby where the press conferences would be held, the people that I didn't see spoke louder than the people who were there. Tarryl Clark wasn't there. Neither was Larry Haws. Also missing from this trip was Speaker Kelliher. The only local candidate attending was Bruce Hentges, the DFL endorsed candidate for Tarryl's Senate seat.
It isn't that that's surprising considering the fact that the DFL doesn't have endorsed candidates for a number of House and Senate seats. As of tonight, Steve Gottwalt, Mary Kiffmeyer, Michelle Fischbach and Tim O'Driscoll don't have opponents.
Like I told Times reporter Mark Sommerhauser, I can understand the DFL not having candidates running against popular incumbents like Michelle Fischbach, Mary Kiffmeyer and Steve Gottwalt. It's stunning that they don't have a candidate running against Tim O'Driscoll for the open seat in HD-14A, where Dan Severson left to run for Secretary of State against Mark Ritchie.
When asked if Gov. Pawlenty had won the budget battle, Sen. Pogemiller said that yes, "Gov. Pawlenty did win if you're talking about national talking points" before adding that he'd "argue that Minnesota lost" as a result of the outcome. When pressed about why they didn't push harder for their agenda, Sen. Pogemiller said that "There's no amount of political philosophy that's worth shutting government down over."
For her part, Sen. Berglin said that this year represented a lost opportunity caused by Minnesota not agreeing to opt in on Obamacare. Sen. Berglin said that Minnesota would've gotten $7.45 back for MA for each dollar it paid into the federal government.
Sen. Berglin said that not doing the early opt-in would cause other states to get the money Minnesota could be getting.
Clearly, the DFL leaders were dispirited as a result of not getting their priorities passed into law.
When the GOP entourage arrived, there was a detectable difference in attitude. Led by GOP endorsed gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, the entourage of Emmer, House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers, Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem, Rep. Matt Dean and Sen. Amy Koch greeted the people gathered in the Aviation building at the St. Cloud Airport.
After giving a brief presentation on his reform agenda, Rep. Emmer invited questions from the audience. WJON-AM's Jim Maurice and the St. Cloud Times' Mark Sommerhauser also covered the event. Rep. Emmer said that health care would be a major issue in the campaign, saying that, if elected, he wouldn't opt into the Medicaid expansion.
Opting into the Medicaid expansion is enticing initially, he said, but that there's no guarantee that the money Sen. Berglin talks about would be there after 2014. What would be there would be maintenance of service agreements that Minnesota would have to sign if they opted in.
Rep. Emmer then called St. Cloud Rep. Steve Gottwalt to the microphone to explain his Healthy Minnesota Plan, HF3036 this past session. Rep. Gottwalt said that it wasn't accepted as the reform to MinnesotaCare but that it was adopted as a pilot program.
Under the pilot program, 60,000 single Minnesotans without dependent children will be covered. Rep. Gottwalt said that the fiscal note calculated the savings at $110,000,000 for the next biennium. If enacted into law for all 800,000 people on MinnesotaCare, the savings might exceed $1,000,000,000 for the upcoming biennium.
Rep. Zellers spoke about how government operations should change to be more customer friendly. He spoke about streamlining the permitting process for construction permits would save contractors time and the government money.
Rep. Emmer said that the key isn't in cutting money from the budget because, sooner or later, that agency or that department will want the cuts restored. He said that the key is first determining what state government should be doing, then eliminating duplicative agencies, then streamlining processes so that the bureaucracies so that they're more responsive to the public.
When asked if he thought if there were enough reform opportunities to balance the budget, Rep. Emmer pointed out the budget saving that could be realized just by implementing Rep. Gottwalt's Healthy Minnesota Plan.
Sen. Senjem drove the point home by saying that making government more efficient and responsive to Minnesota's needs would help Minnesota become a business friendly state that's able to compete with anyone.
The thing that stood out to everyone who attended both events was that the DFL event was poorly attended and all but lifeless whereas the GOP portion was upbeat, filled with ideas and laying out an appealing agenda that Republicans will campaign on.
Also attending the event were GOP endorsed candidates John Pederson and Dave Brown, representing SD-15 and SD-16 respectively, along with King Banaian and Tim O'Driscoll, representing HD-15B and HD-14A respectively.
The GOP group was outgoing and upbeat. Also impressive was how they cheerfully answered all questions posed to them in a straightforward, facts first manner.
There was a detectable difference in energy levels, with there being significantly more energy, and more people attending, at the GOP event.
That Tarryl Clark, Larry Haws, House Majority Leader Sertich and Speaker Kelliher weren't there spoke louder than anything in Sen. Pogemiller's or Sen. Berglin's presentation.
It truly was a case of the visuals telling the real story.
Posted Wednesday, May 19, 2010 1:24 AM
Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 19-May-10 07:53 AM
Somebody really asked the right question there, as to whether there is enough "waste, fraud, abuse and reform" in the current budget to cover the "shortfall" of the next biennium. I have no doubt there is, because current revenues would fully cover the spending budget of just 4 years ago. It will take a GOP legislature, lots of political will, and earplugs against the wailing of liberal special interests to get it done, though.
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 19-May-10 09:58 AM
You're right on all statements, Jerry. The group I saw yesterday are ready to listen to John Q. Public but they're willing to ignore the whining of people whose ideas don't make sense.
Like I said in the title, the visual told a great story for the GOP. The energy level for reforms is obvious from a mile away.
Pogemiller's Reform Argument Falls Flat
Apparently, Sen. Pogemiller used a canned line during his visit to St. Cloud. After reading this quote in the Makato Free Press, I realized that:
Pogemiller, who landed at the Mankato Airport less than an hour after the Republicans took off, said he doesn't understand why Republicans are waiting until next year to push for reforms.Technically, Sen. Pogemiller is correct. If you eliminated the salaries of every employee from every government agency, you'd fall short of what's needed to balance the budget.
"I think we have to talk about facts and fantasy," Pogemiller said. "...This state has been governed by a Republican governor for eight years."
Pogemiller also said government reform alone won't fix the looming budget shortfall for 2011 and 2012, projected to be $5 billion or more. "You could eliminate all of state government, all of the agencies and all of the state employees, and that would be less than $1 billion (in savings)," he said.
That's a nice spin, though, because it isn't about eliminating the government employees. It's about the programs they administer.
For instance, as far as I can tell, Steve Gottwalt's plan to reform MinnesotaCare doesn't involve cutting state employees. It does, however, have the ability to save more than $1,000,000,000 during the next biennium by shifting from the current health insurance policy to an health reimbursement account or HRA.
Mary Kiffmeyer talked about getting an amendment passed through the house during this year's session that would've changed the state's budgeting process from the current baseline budgeting to zero based budgeting. Rep. Kiffmeyer explained that zero-based budgeting forces each agency to justify every penny of budgeting. It also introduces cost benefit analyses into the budgeting equation.
As King aptly puts it, it forces the government to justify every penny spent rather than just haggling over the last few pennies of the increase. Add to that Tom Emmer's pledge to vigorously search out agency overlap and their budgets and you have the potential for alot of savings.
That's before factoring in the savings the state will realize from the pension reform that will get signed into law this year.
Once businesspeople start seeing that a GOP majority in the House and Senate are enacting reforms that reduce the cost of government, coupled with a government that's more better at customer service, business costs will shrink, giving businesses the capital incentive to invest in their companies' expansion.
As Rep. Gottwalt likes to put it, that will give the goose that lays the economic golden eggs to keep laying more golden eggs.
Think about the difference in mindsets. The DFL has displayed an attitude of 'it can't be done' whereas the GOP has adopted an attitude of 'watch what's possible when we put our mind to it.'
Minnesotans are starving for leadership that says that they're returning to doing things that make sense, starving for leadership that says 'we're laying out a positive vision for Minnesotans.' I'm betting that Minnesotans are more likely to respond to the GOP's positive message than they'll respond to the DFL's message of 'No we shouldn't.'
This November, the DFL will learn the hard way that reality-based positivity sells.
Posted Wednesday, May 19, 2010 10:14 AM
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Blumenthal's Career Is Finished
Whether he admits it or not, Richard Blumenthal's political career is finished. The firestorm his 'misstatements' have caused are showing in Scott Rasmussen's polling :
Following a New York Times report that he exaggerated his military record, Democratic Senate hopeful Richard Blumenthal has lost ground in match-ups against all his potential Republican challengers in Connecticut.Though it ended decades ago,lying about one's service in Vietnam is toxic, which Mr. Blumenthal is finding out the hard way.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Connecticut finds Blumenthal with just a three-point advantage over Linda McMahon, 48% to 45%. Two weeks ago, he led the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment by 13 percentage points. The New York Times story broke late Monday; the survey was taken Tuesday evening.
When matched against former GOP Congressman Rob Simmons, Blumenthal leads by 11 - 50% to 39%. Two weeks ago, the longtime state attorney general held a 23-point lead over Simmons.
To compound the matter, Mr. Blumenthal said that "I may have misspoke...I did misspeak on a few occasions out of hundreds of times that I spoke...I will not allow anyone to take a few of those misplaced words and impugn my record of service."
With all due respect to Mr. Blumenthal, that cow's out of the barn. It isn't in his control what happens to public opinion. That's in the control of the public. Based on what they're telling Scott Rasmussen, I'd say that the public is rejecting Mr. Blumenthal as a viable U.S. Senate candidate.
The only thing left to determine is who will replace the guy who was replacing corrupt Sen. Christopher Dodd as the Democrats' candidate.
Appearing on Special Report's roundtable, A.B. Stoddard said "I really think he's finished. When he stands there and says he will not allow a few occasions where he misrepresented his service as a Vietnam veteran to impugn his actual record, he's impugned his reputation and his credibility as a candidate. I think his candidacy is finished. I can't imagine that he recovers from it."
In his post on the subject, Ed Morrissey writes that people are amazingly forgiving..."for now." He's right but Blumenthal shouldn't take comfort in that. Life will be torture for Mr. Blumenthal while he waits for the other shoe to drop. I wouldn't want to be Mr. Blumenthal right now.
This Roll Call article shows that he hasn't become toxic yet with power-hungry Democrats:
"I think, you know, his actions as it relates to standing up for veterans over a long period of time speaks volumes [about] both where his heart and his actions are," Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (N.J.) said. "I'm sure he will continue to stay in the Senate race, and we will continue to support him."Sen. Menendez is spinning this. People don't care whether Mr. Blumenthal has been 'good on veterans' issues." They're worried that they can't trust him. If he's willing to lie about his military record to advance his political ambitions.
Furthering his insults, Mr. Blumenthal would have people believe that he couldn't tell the difference between serving in a tropical, humid overseas war zone to serving stateside in the Reserves. That's the ultimate in insulting. He couldn't seriously think we wouldn't notice the difference.
It's one thing for people to disagree with policy positions. It's another thing when people think they can't trust you to tell the truth about the most basic things. Like with Charlie Crist's campaign, the best days of Mr. Blumenthal's campaign are behind him.
Posted Wednesday, May 19, 2010 8:24 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 20-May-10 12:39 PM
His service record is not as good as Cheney's? Is that the case?
How can you jump this, and tolerate the chicken hawks?
There is a consistency gap.
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 20-May-10 11:55 PM
Cheney didn't lie. THAT'S the difference.
Comment 3 by eric z at 21-May-10 05:16 PM
Cheney, Rove, and the Texas National Guard guy who folded it early without it ever being clear in detail.
It looks like another Swiftboat.
How many of those things does the GOP have?
Comment 4 by Gary Gross at 22-May-10 06:35 AM
This isn't about Cheney, Bush or the Republicans. It's all about Mr. Blumenthal.
It's about his willingness to tell whoppers for his political gain. A person doesn't accidentally forget that he served in the Reserves, not in Vietnam.
Film shows that Mr. Blumenthal repeatedly lied about his military experience.
Case closed, career ended.
Comment 5 by walter hanson at 25-May-10 10:03 AM
Eric:
Blumenthal was the person who was claiming that he served in Vietnam. I've seen clips. There is no way he couldn't have been saying he was in the reserves compared with being in Vietnam.
Bush and Cheney to the best of my knowledge never claimed that they served in Vietnam. Too be exact I do believe that Bush had asked about a possible service in Vietnam, but the type of plane he was trained for was being put out
of service.
You make fun out of swiftboat. Lets remember what happened. You had John Kerry who was trying to use his service in Vietnam to help his run for President. You had people who served with him pointing out that his record wasn't as great as what Kerry claimed it. Not to mention they were reminding people that Kerry was heavy in the anti-war protest movement and accused the troops in Vietnam of being war criminals. I do believe that a self admitted war criminal shouldn't be president. How is that swiftboating?
Are you implying that Dan Rather came out of retirement to break this story?
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Another DFL Retirement, Another GOP Pick-up?
Mark Sommerhauser is reporting that Rep. Mary Ellen Otremba, DFL-Long Prairie, unexpectedly announced that she's retiring after 13 years in the Minnesota legislature.
This is another big blow to the DFL. They're already running into a stiff headwind this year. Now they're dealing with some unexpected retirements in typically swing or conservative districts.
Whoever the DFL candidate is, they'll start out at a definite disadvantage, especially in the fundraising and organizational departments. Otremba's district isn't unionized to any extent and there's alot of ground to cover. The major cities in 11B are Long Prairie, Staples and Osakis. Alexandria is just outside the district.
That's alot of territory to cover and most of it leans conservative. Rep. Otremba was staunchly pro-life, even refusing to vote for Margaret Anderson-Kelliher for Speaker. There's a strong outdoorsman's club/gun club presence in the area, too.
Mary Franson, the GOP-endorsed candidate, registered with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board to run for the 11B seat on Jan. 14, meaning she's had tons of time to put her team together. She's raising funds, too.
This will be a difficult seat for the DFL to hold. These days, there's alot of that going around.
Posted Thursday, May 20, 2010 11:25 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 20-May-10 12:36 PM
It sounds really red neck.
Comment 2 by Fresch Fisch at 20-May-10 12:51 PM
Years ago, a St Paul House member told me in the last year of the Ventura years.........
"It's not fun anymore"
So, what he means, if you can tax and spend so hard that you are like a tired puppy dog stepping on his tongue. But when the tough decsions need to be done, SEE YA!
Comment 3 by walter hanson at 21-May-10 02:53 PM
Gary:
What's up with that state senate seat we lost in 2008 with that special election. Do we have a strong candidate?
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 4 by Gary Gross at 21-May-10 03:48 PM
Get out the butter. Lisa Fobbe is TOAST.
