April 1-3, 2016
Apr 01 00:01 Ripping the IRRRB's mask off Apr 01 05:02 Gov. Dayton's anti-mining declaration Apr 01 06:07 Strassel: Trump's Waterloo? Apr 01 11:23 Trump attempts to spin FBN poll Apr 02 10:43 Stealing Trump's nomination? Apr 03 00:33 Will IRRRB lean from this? Apr 03 17:42 Next Chamber transportation sellout
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Ripping the IRRRB's mask off
Anyone who's read LFR knows that I'm not a fan of the IRRRB. Likewise, if you've read my Examiner article knows that I've pulled lots of information together that verifies that the IRRRB has failed. This afternoon, a loyal reader of LFR sent me this article about the IRRRB's outright corruption. Saying that this friend of LFR isn't a conservative is understatement. He's a Bernie Sanders guy.
The thing that jumps out at me from the article is how the Iron Range delegation have used their positions on the IRRRB board to torment cities who don't cheerfully submit to the will of the IRRRB board. For instance, the article says that former State Rep. Tommie Rukavina "has been outspoken in dealing with township officials opposed to [new sulfide] mining, again using the threat of IRRRB funding."
I get it that Commissioner Rukavina is one of the strongest mining advocates in Minnesota. I've written about Commissioner Rukavina's fight for mining in this article .
It's one thing to be a mining advocate. That's justifiable. What isn't justifiable is threatening to withhold IRRRB funding if you don't toe the pro-mining line. That's a slippery way of doing things but it's still corruption.
Here's what "the late Rep. David Dill" said about withholding IRRRB funding:
There are times when Senator Bakk and myself [sic] have to fight and answer questions from core Iron Range legislators as to why Cook County should get taconite tax dollars when they hear anti-mining rhetoric from some citizens in Cook County.
Legislators are listening to the mining debate [about sulfide mining] going on in Cook County and elections have consequences. The rail harbor has been shut down for years. The power plant is reducing its output and with generator No. 3 scheduled to be closed in the future there will be more questions. The loss of millions of production tax dollars a year would be devastating to businesses, Grand Marais, the school and the county. The local boards would have very tough decisions to make.
Other counties have stayed in the service area after mining has left their communities. Those communities have realized the benefit it is to be a part of a "mining region" and likewise have supported mining.
It's pretty clear that these legislators that have comprised the IRRRB board are playing hardball with Iron Range and Arrowhead communities. One wonders if there's a correlation between the IRRRB playing hardball and the poverty rates on the Range and in Minnesota's Arrowhead.
Posted Friday, April 1, 2016 12:01 AM
No comments.
Gov. Dayton's anti-mining declaration
Bill Hanna's article about Friday's agenda says everything about who Gov. Dayton and the Metrocrat wing of the DFL listen to. Gov. Dayton and the Metrocrats take their orders from the environmental absolutists that fund the DFL's campaigns. That's why this afternoon's meetings will get passionate.
Gov. Dayton better be prepared to hear lots of things that he won't like hearing.
The only item on today's agenda will be "Gov. Dayton's decision three weeks ago to not allow the Department of Natural Resources to authorize any access or lease agreements for mining on state lands." It's a little ironic that today's Ely City Council meeting is getting held at the IRRRB offices in Eveleth. Predicting that there's a better chance of Gov. Dayton getting criticized during the meeting than there is a chance that he'll receive a hero's welcome doesn't require Nostradamus. Here's why it doesn't require great prognostication skills:
The state would be turning away millions of dollars of just exploration work based on a pre-emptive emotional appeal by Gov. Dayton regarding the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness watershed rather than a DNR assessment based on science and facts.
There's a fair amount of distrust of the DNR on the Iron Range. There's more distrust in the declarations of an out-of-touch governor from the Twin Cities.
Gov. Dayton is coming north for a couple reasons. First, he wants to explain why he's stopping the Twin Metals mining project without a serious scientific study to determine whether it can be done without harming the environment. Good luck with that. The other reason he's visiting the Range is to tamp down this type of political unrest:
Public comment in Iron Range newspapers was overwhelmingly against Dayton's decision.
That included a letter to the governor from former DFL Rep. Joe Begich of Eveleth, who said he was "shocked" by the decision. He also said, ".... as I have traveled in our area, I can't believe the solid Democrats who are saying they are voting Republican. Will this be your legacy?"
A longtime Range DFLer, who is now political wavering, said the Begich letter was especially telling. "If the DFL loses Joe Begich, it would lose the Range," she said.
I wrote about Rep. Begich's op-ed in this post . The message of my post is that today's DFL isn't anything like Rudy Perpich's DFL. Perpich's DFL actually fought for the Range's blue collar workers. Today's DFL is more of a white collar bunch than anything else.
When Gov. Dayton meets with the people of the Range, he'll see firsthand the difference between Metrocrats and Rangers. I hope he won't be too traumatized.
Posted Friday, April 1, 2016 5:02 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 02-Apr-16 08:28 AM
Dayton and the DFL need government dependent voters and by not allowing mining, logging, etc., they get just that. No solutions or even compromise from the DFL to create jobs but they are more than happy to keep the unemployment and welfare checks rolling in.
Strassel: Trump's Waterloo?
Kim Strassel's article highlights what I've been saying for most of this week. Wisconsin is shaping up to be Mr. Trump's Waterloo.
Ms. Strassel notes that "some prognosticators have gone so far as to suggest the billionaire could place third - behind even John Kasich. The opposition to Mr. Trump is deep and wide enough that he could lose most districts." That would be extraordinary. It doesn't seem possible, considering the fact that Trump leads Gov. Kasich by 9 points in the Marquette Poll . Further, Trump leads Gov. Kasich by 13 points in the Fox Business poll . The only poll showing a close race is PPP's poll , which shows Sen. Cruz leading Trump by 1 point.
Strassel insists that national pundits haven't noticed that Wisconsin has "been in continuous political warfare for six years. Over that time, Republicans lived through Gov. Scott Walker's epic battle for his Act 10 public-sector bargaining reform; judicial races; a Senate recall effort; a gubernatorial recall effort; a political assault in a vicious John Doe probe; another election cycle; campaign-finance reform; an overhaul of the state's ethics body; a right-to-work law; and prevailing-wage reform."
As much as I'd like to see Trump's fortunes take a nosedive, I won't believe it until it's recorded in the history books. Still, there are some things that are starting to hurt Trump. Pundits like Charlie Hurt repeat the line that others have predicted doom for Trump before and been wrong before. That's undeniable. Still, this is different in a couple important ways.
At this point, virtually everyone stipulates that Trump's supporters are incredibly loyal. That's indisputable. That isn't the dynamic, however, that's in play here. What's in play is the fact that Trump isn't expanding his base. His attacks against Heidi Cruz and Michelle Fields have hurt him with women. Trump's abortion gaffe has hurt him, giving people whose first choice candidate has dropped out a reason to not trust Trump.
While Trump's base is modest-sized, Cruz's base is growing. Whether people are noticing and caring about Trump's policy chops remains to be seen. Still, with fewer candidates left, there's never been a better time to question Trump's policy chops.
Mr. Trump stumbled onto three of the four biggest shows on Monday, seemingly unaware that all the hosts are part of the 'Never Trump' movement. Mr. Sykes likened Mr. Trump to a "12-year-old bully" and insisted he was no conservative. Ms. McKenna was similarly rough, though Mr. Trump did himself no favors by hanging up on her.
Unlike Sean Hannity, a charter member of the Trump Adoration Society, Wisconsin's conservative talkers didn't give Trump a pass. They've given him tons of well-deserved grief. It's better to be exposed now before he's the nominee than after he's the nominee and you don't have other options.
Posted Friday, April 1, 2016 6:07 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 04-Apr-16 10:07 AM
The problem with a Trump Waterloo, you Republicans have no Metternich to reorder things as some of you would want.
First the young Ron Paul supporters were chased away last cycle. Now the Trump angrybots. Just saying, gonna have big tent, nobody in it.
Trump attempts to spin FBN poll
Everyone knows that Donald Trump's ego won't let him admit that he isn't winning or that the latest poll doesn't have him in the lead. The latest spin from Trump's campaign attempts to make it look like he's leading. Saying that the devil is in the details fits the Trump campaign's latest take on this week's Fox Business poll .
To hear a Trump supporter's take on it, Trump leads Cruz and Kasich 37% to 26% to 26%...with "WI Independent voters." That statistic is accurate but incomplete. What isn't mentioned is that women "back Cruz over Trump by a 19-point margin (46-27 percent)." It doesn't mention that "Cruz's advantage over the real estate mogul also comes from self-described 'very' conservative voters, who give him a 36-point lead (61 percent Cruz vs. 25 percent Trump)" or that white "evangelical Christians voting in the GOP primary prefer Cruz over Trump by 49-28 percent."
The simple truth is that there aren't enough independent voters to swing the election in Trump's favor. There aren't enough independent voters to even make it close. For the moment, this is the only result that matters:
Cruz garners 42 percent among Wisconsin likely GOP primary voters, while Trump receives 32 percent. John Kasich comes in third with 19 percent.
There's a reason why Trump isn't holding multiple rallies each day in Wisconsin and why Trump is only calling into the national radio talk shows.
Earlier this week, Trump called into conservative Wisconsin talk radio shows. He got beaten up pretty badly by Charley Sykes. When he called into Vicki McKenna's show, things got so bad that he hung up on her. Wisconsin conservatives will make up a significant percentage of voters next Tuesday. If that's the case, expect Trump to lose by double digits. Expect this graphic to quickly fade from memory:
Posted Friday, April 1, 2016 11:23 AM
No comments.
Stealing Trump's nomination?
Trump supporter Roger Stone is planning a #DaysofRage protest in Cleveland to prevent the GOP from "stealing" the GOP nomination from Donald Trump. Helping fan the flames for these protests is Alex Jones, the conspiracy theory 'specialist'.
In fact, Jones published this Stone-written op-ed that starts with dry kindling and a match. In his opening statement, Stone wrote "The Bush, Cruz, Rubio, Romney, Ryan, McConnell faction has united and is moving into high gear to steal the nomination from Trump. The immediate plan is an all out bid to deprive Donald Trump of victory, and the delegates, in Wisconsin."
It doesn't take much to delegitimize Stone's op-ed. Stone insists that Trump deploys the moral high ground because he's the one supporting the rule of law and all things virtuous. Then he insinuates that the 'DC Cabal' will wave a magic wand and steal Wisconsin's 42 delegates from Trump. Stone's problem is that shouldn't presume that Trump is entitled to Wisconsin's delegates. The people who actually vote in Tuesday's primary actually determine who gets those delegates.
While Bush, Rubio and Romney have made their intentions clear that they want to prevent Trump from becoming the nominee, that doesn't mean that they're stealing anything. The only thing preventing Trump from reaching a majority of delegates are the voters. There's no disputing that Bush, Rubio, Romney, et al, can make their case for why Trump shouldn't be the nominee. It's equally indisputable that Trump and his surrogates can make his case for why Mr. Trump should be the nominee.
The rules for winning the nomination were published months before Trump announced he was running for president. They clearly laid out how candidates could win delegates and who would pick the delegates to the national convention. Implicit in the RNC's rules is the fact that nobody is the nominee until that candidate wins a majority of the delegates at the national convention. That requires the nominee to win 1,237 delegates.
The power-brokers' short term game is clear; stall Trump just short of the magic number of delegates needed to be nominated on the first ballot with the knowledge that many delegates bound on the first ballot by Trump primary and caucus victories would be unbound on a second ballot. Much in the way the RNC stacked the galleries with anti-Trump partisans in the last two debates, anti-Trump quislings are being planted in various delegations that will be free to betray Trump on subsequent ballots.
It's interesting to see Stone using the phrase anti-Trump quislings. The definition of quisling is "a person who betrays his or her country by aiding an invading enemy, often serving later in a puppet government."
To quote George Will "Well."
I didn't know that legitimate registered voters that pick someone other than Trump qualified as people who've betrayed their country or that they represent "an invading enemy." Saying that Stone lays the entitlement mentality thick in this op-ed is understatement. Stone's presumptuousness is breathtaking.
Simply put, Trump can't have stolen from him what isn't his in the first place.
Posted Saturday, April 2, 2016 10:43 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 04-Apr-16 09:53 AM
So Ted Cruz, being who he is, should in response cite Psalm 2, in particular the opening verse, but all, since he's anointed.
Will IRRRB lean from this?
This past week, the IRRRB faced a ton of well-deserved scrutiny. The question going forward is whether the IRRRB will learn from its past mistakes. Prior to this week, I was more than a bit skeptical that the IRRRB would learn from its mistakes. After reading this article , I'm confident that the IRRRB won't learn from its mistakes because it apparently doesn't know which mistakes it's making.
One of the key findings in Jim Nobles' report on the IRRRB verified that the "Giants Ridge ski facility near Biwabik in Northeastern Minnesota received $17.4 million in subsidies" from the IRRRB since 2006. The IRRRB's solution is straightforward and expensive. The IRRRB's plan is to "offer severance pay to some workers, paving the way for the agency to turn Giants Ridge operation over the a private company in a year."
I've argued here and here that the IRRRB is a failure. It should be dismantled. That isn't what Sen. Bakk wants, though, so they're proposing cosmetic changes and a ton of spin in their effort to continue spinning the need for them to stay involved. The DFL's arguments are rubbish.
First, they're admitting that they don't know what they're doing if they're admitting that they need a private company to run Giants Ridge. They're admitting that they shouldn't have gotten into the ski resort business in the first place. If they're admitting that they don't know what they're doing, why doesn't the IRRRB sell Giants Ridge outright? This explains why they won't sell it outright:
A private business already runs the IRRRB's two golf courses and other facilities. The agency will seek one business to run them all, including a new events center.
The IRRRB shouldn't be in business. Neither should other government agencies. If there's a venture that can make money, entrepreneurs will quickly start a business. If it isn't a viable business, they won't. Further, the government shouldn't get into a business if the private sector can't make money at something.
The senator said that his goal would be to eliminate the IRRRB subsidy for the ski area, then eventually make money from Giants Ridge. The IRRRB is funded by tax on taconite mined on the Iron Range. Ski area subsidies come from that tax, not general state funds. When a private operator is obtained, the IRRRB still will provide improvements, such as working on some substandard ski lifts. The IRRRB will continue to own the facility.
It's interesting to hear Sen. Bakk say that they hope the IRRRB starts making money on Giants Ridge by hiring a private manager in one sentence, then tell people that they'll keep refurbishing the facilities while they retain ownership of the company.
There's nothing in there that says they're efficient and capable of making a profit.
Posted Sunday, April 3, 2016 12:33 AM
No comments.
Next Chamber transportation sellout
This article suggests that the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce is preparing to sell out the Republican Party on transportation ... again.
It's telling that the reporter says that the "GOP's traditional allies in the business community are joining DFLers in the push to include transit in a transportation funding package." It's as if the Chamber thinks that transit isn't getting properly funded and that additional transit funding deserves a higher priority.
The Chamber is wrong on both counts. Frankly, since the Minnesota Chamber consistently insists on playing footsie with the DFL, rank-and-file Republicans should start calling the Chamber something different. I suggest that they be called 'The Crony Capitalist Chamber. The Chamber isn't about limited government. They aren't opposed to tax increases. They're just opposed to when the DFL wants to raise their taxes.
That isn't speculation. There's sufficient proof for that statement. In 2008, the Chamber provided the political cover to pass a major gas tax and transit tax and fee increase. That led to them overriding Gov. Pawlenty's veto of that major middle class tax increase. There wasn't a hint of regret that they pushed that bill.
In 2013, when the DFL wanted to raise taxes on businesses, though, they raised a stink about it. They criticized the business-to-business sales taxes. They opposed the Tax Bill proposed by Gov. Dayton and supported by the DFL. To hear the Chamber talk about it, you would've thought the end of the world was approaching.
Now the Crony Capitalist Chamber are siding with the DFL again. They're lifting the middle finger against a middle class that's getting squeezed. They're lifting that middle finger because it's someone else that's getting hit with a tax increase.
Most importantly, let's call this tax increase for what it is: a failure. In 2008, we were told that we had to raise the gas tax to meet Minnesota's then-future transportation needs. Eight years later, the same people have returned to tell us that this tax increase will help fix Minnesota's transportation needs.
The Chamber was wrong then. It's likely that they'll be wrong this time. Most importantly, the GOP has a plan that will work. It's time to tell the Crony Capitalist Chamber that the Republican Party isn't interested in part-time allies that don't have Main Street's interests at heart. The GOP needs to tell the Crony Capitalist Chamber that they're siding with their neighbors, co-workers and friends instead of siding with their part-time allies in the Crony Capitalist Chamber.
Posted Sunday, April 3, 2016 5:42 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 04-Apr-16 09:44 AM
In that sense, Gary, you oppose extending Northstar to St. Cloud? Are some transit plans different?
Comment 2 by Chad Q at 04-Apr-16 10:15 AM
All forms of rail transit should have been balked at and never built as they move very few people for the amount of money they cost to build and maintain. North Star should be eliminated and the trains sold to the highest bidder or sold for scrap. Buses are the correct form of public transportation in this state as population desities are not high enough to justify the antiquated rail transit.
With $900 million in over taxation and a $1.4 billion dollar bonding boon doggle wish list , there shouldn't be any kind of talk of raising taxes, especially on those it hurts the most, the poor and middle class. If the Chamber and politicians want more trains, raise the revenue to build them on the backs of the transit riders and not the drivers.
