April 8-10, 2011
Apr 08 10:44 Netroots Nation is Centrist? Apr 08 13:34 Union Chanting Points, Continuing Apr 08 13:58 McCotter Rocks the House Apr 08 19:01 Jim Moron...er...Moran Gets Testy With Another Military Vet Apr 09 18:00 Pelosi: Net Neutrality Forever Apr 10 14:58 Townhall Notes Apr 10 19:08 Fisking Sen. Bakk's Latest Diatribe
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Netroots Nation is Centrist?
For years, Tarryl Clark has portrayed herself as a centrist or moderate. She's also attended Netroots Nation events like I wrote about here . Netroots Nation isn't a centrist organization. Their logistics and political director, Nolan Treadway, has posted something on Facebook calling for progressives to dump their trash on the lawn of Speaker John Boehner's yard in DC:
"Speaker John Boehner is ready to shut down the government, including District of Columbia city services like trash collection," it says on the page. "Well, if he won't allow us to use OUR TAX DOLLARS to pick it up, maybe we should just BRING IT TO HIM."
As of 2:30 p.m. EST there are 1,476 attending; 126 are listed as maybe; 156 aren't showing up; and 4,652 are still making up their minds (much like Congress, apparently).
The trash-a-thon is scheduled for Saturday and apparently will last through June 30.
Organizers of the event, Jonah Goodman and Nolan Treadway, write on the page that even if the government shutdown doesn't occur, they will "move forward with this event, we'll provide details on location(s) and we'll make sure it's done in a sanitary and respectful way. Please don't list any personal addresses for members of Congress on this page."
Is this how the political director for a centrist organization acts? Tarryl has aligned herself with this organization. This is from Tarryl's press release from last summer:
I'm Tarryl Clark, and I'm the candidate who will defeat Michele Bachmann on November 2! I'm looking forward to seeing you at Netroots Nation.
Across the country, you, the Netroots, have rallied to send a message that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's unique brand of divisive rhetoric would not be tolerated. You've kept vigilant watch as Congresswoman Bachmann has gone under the white-hot spotlights of the cable talk show circuit again and again. And you've called her out: when she called on a conservative crowd to "slit our wrists" and "become blood brothers" in the efforts to defeat health care reform. When she called net neutrality an Obama plot to censor the Internet. When she said the American people needed to be "weaned off" Social Security and Medicare. Her comments aren't just outrageous or headline grabbing; they're part of her agenda for America. They tell whose side she's on, and it's not ours.
We're holding her accountable. But our work won't be done until we bring an end to Congresswoman Bachmann's agenda by winning this election.
Washington isn't working for the people of my district, and neither is Michele Bachmann. They deserve better. They deserve a representative to will always be on their side. And that's exactly where I'll be.
As the Senator from Central Minnesota, I've stood with the people I represent, not the special interests. When insurance companies refused to give consumers the coverage they paid for, I wrote a law to hold them accountable. The insurance companies spent nearly a million dollars to defeat the bill but we fought back. And we won. When banks targeted seniors offering risky reverse mortgages, we empowered seniors to get the facts and take action. When predatory lenders put families at risk, we helped them stay in their homes through the Subprime Borrower Relief Act.
And when Congresswoman Bachmann has flat-out refused to help our area, to rebuild an unsafe bridge, to bring new forms of transit like the Northstar commuter rail, or to invest in our colleges and universities, we stepped up and got it done without her.
I've never shied away from the tough fights. And this is the fight of our life. For the past four years, the people of the 6th have had a representative who fights every day for a personal agenda that benefits the special interests, who has left them behind as she travels the country speaking at Tea Party rallies. And they've had enough. They're ready for new leadership who will fight for them.
But to get the job done, I need you. You have been able to shine the spotlight on Congresswoman Bachmann's controversial, misleading, and flat-out-wrong pronouncements. You have been the voice for what is right: calling on Washington to do more to create jobs, to hold Wall Street accountable, and to make health care work for real Americans.
There you have it: Tarryl courting Nutroots Nation, telling them she needed their help to win her election against Rep. Bachmann.
Treadway's 'partner in crime' for this event at Speaker Boehner's DC home is Jonah Goodman. This is what Goodman said on his website :
From 2007 through 2010, I was the Lead Designer for the Democratic National Committee in Washington, DC. As the organization's senior designer my responsibilities were to design and oversee the production of all print and web projects. During this time I have had the opportunity to work through many elections, several legislative advocacy campaigns and daily online organizing initiatives as part of the organization New Media team. I have experience designing for social networking, designing tools for online organizing and testing and implementing design changes based on analytical measurements.
Again, this man isn't considered an extremist by the DNC. He was involved with numerous online campaigns, though there's no proof that he's done anything this outrageous.
Whether it's SEIU's thugs showing up at Greg Baer's home , SEIU thugs attacking Kenneth Gladney outside a townhall meeting in St. Louis, union activist/schoolteacher Katherine Windels sending out death threats to Wisconsin senators or whether it's this event at Speaker Boehner's DC home, it's apparent that progressives have a distinct in-your-face attitude.
That's who Tarryl Clark is associating herself with. The last speech Hubert Humphrey gave to the unions was to the AFL-CIO . In that speech, Humphrey said that, from time to time, corruption crept into the union. Humphrey said that they'd booted out heels when it was needed.
Tarryl isn't criticizing the unions' thuggish behavior. She isn't working with others in getting rid of the heels that Humphrey talked about. It's time that the sane people still left in the Democratic Party started booting out the troublemakers and thugs.
It's also time that we stop thinking of politicians that talk in centrist tones but who vote radical. I'm thinking about both Tarryl and Sen. Klobuchar.
Posted Friday, April 8, 2011 10:44 AM
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Union Chanting Points, Continuing
If I got paid $5 each time a DFL legislator, a public union official or Gov. Dayton complained that Republicans hate unions, I'd be extremely rich. This article is essentially more of the same:
"This is, simply put, an attack on public workers to divert attention from the Republican plan to make sure that the richest Minnesotans don't pay their fair share of taxes," said Eliot Seide, AFSCME Council 5 executive director. "It's outrageous, it's unnecessary and it needs to stop immediately."
Gov. Dayton, the worst governor an ex-wife can buy, chimed in, too:
"I've never seen an onslaught, and I've never seen an assault against good Minnesotans as I've seen in this legislative process so far," Dayton told Education Minnesota members at their convention in early March. "The basic right of collective bargaining will not be taken away (while) I'm governor of Minnesota."
Onslaught. Assault. Attack. Those are pretty incendiary statements. The DFL and their special interest allies want to portray Republicans as hating unions.
My perspective is significantly different. Private sector taxpayers have been hit hard by this recession. Some have lost their jobs and still haven't found new employment. Unemployment is still high. Gas prices are still skyrocketing. They're paying more for their groceries, too.
What gives Elliot Seide the notion that his union has the right to impose a substantial burden on the taxpayers' wallets while the taxpayers are struggling? PEU spokespeople have said that they stand with the middle class yet they continue to resist the opportunity to accept a pay freeze. They also resist being partners with Rep. Downey in reforming state government. To hear Seide talk about it, you'd swear that Rep. Downey's legislation would quickly lead to the destruction of Western civilization.
In reality, most of what Rep. Downey wants to accomplish with his legislation to reduce the state workforce by 15 percent before 2015 will be taken care of by retirements. In some instances, the state will offer incentives for early retirement.
This is being done mostly because the orientation towards government is changing. For too long, agency heads and department commissioners haven't always wanted to lose employees because it represented, in their minds, a loss of power and prestige.
As I wrote in this post , the GOP attitude towards government is shifting more towards serving Minnesotans rather that focusing on whether union employees are held harmless. That said, their attitude isn't one of hostility towards public employee unions. It's just that they're putting a higher priority on making government efficient in doing the things it's tasked to do and serving Minnesotans.
If the DFL and their union allies want to characterize Republicans as hostile to unions, that's their right. Then again, it's the Republicans' right to question whether the unions are being hostile towards the private sector people who pay their wages.
Posted Friday, April 8, 2011 1:34 PM
Comment 1 by eric z. at 08-Apr-11 03:29 PM
Gaddafi asserts his focus is on serving Libyans. He must be his nation's version of a Republican.
His attitude towards government is shifting more towards serving Libyans rather that focusing on whether Islamic fundamentalist led rebels are held harmless. That said, his attitude isn't one of hostility towards the Islamist rebel leadership. It's just that he's putting a higher priority on making government efficient in doing the things it's tasked to do and serving LIbyans.
Empty words can be filled with whatever flavor of Koolaid fits the occasion.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 08-Apr-11 04:34 PM
Eric, Don't start talking about empty words. The guy currently living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is nothing but empty words. If I had a dollar for each time he said & the media repeated that he was pivoting to jobs, I'd be in a high tax bracket.
By their actions shall they be known.
Right now, Democrats are making promises they can't keep with money they don't have. That isn't just a cliche. It's what the Medicare Actuary testified to in February.
Paul Ryan's budget is a serious plan, acclaimed by economists from both the left & right. Obama's plan? Well, I'm not sure he's got a serious plan.
McCotter Rocks the House
This morning, Thad McCotter rocked the House with a great speech. Here's the video of that speech:
The gist of Congressman McCotter's speech was that the Democrats' response to the budget reminded him of Led Zeppelin. He wondered if there'd been a Communications Breakdown . Then Congressman McCotter wondered if his hankering was because a senator was wearing a Kashmir sweater.
Congressman McCotter was finally able to pinpoint the reason why he had this hankering. He said it's because, with the Democrats, The Song Remains The Same .
MCCOTTER: Once again, seniors and children wake to the hysterical, frightening visage of specters of doom and gloom...Democrats...Once again, we're regaled to the Democrats' entitlement reform plan. It is called "Do nothing, spend everything, go bankrupt. Benefits? Bye Bye.
We continue to see a party that does not understand that you cannot lift an economy when it's crushed beneath the weight of big government. We continue to see a party ideologically zealous on spending your tax dollars on Planned Parenthood to the point that they would shut down the federal government to do it.
And we continue to hear that the fundamental crux of the issue of a government shutdown. The Democratic Party will shut down the government so they can spend more of your money.
The Republican Party is committed to keping government open and spending less of your money.
After listening to Congressman McCotter's speech, I thought about what the American people's response would be. I suspect that the American people's response might best be summarize by another legendary rock song from another legendary British rock band.
I'm speaking, of course, about the Who singing We Won't Get Fooled Again:
Seriously, I've never seen the American people more engaged, more outraged than I see them today. House wives who'd never paid attention to politics are suddenly leading the charge. They're worried about their children's education. They're worried about their retirement funds. They're worried about what effects the Democrats' cutting $500,000,000,000 from Medicare will have on their elderly parents.
Independents that voted for President Obama are often voting for Republicans by a 2:1, sometimes by 3:1 margins.
While there's a Pox on both their houses factor involved, let there be no mistake. The anger is directed more at Democrats than Republicans, not because Republicans are blameless but because they've started listening to We The People.
That started with the TEA Party rallies. It intesified during the townhall meetings where Democrat politicians essentially told We The People that they should step aside, that the professional politicians would take care of health care, that they didn't have worry themselves about it.
It's understatement to say that that wasn't a wise decision.
The Democratic Party shows no signs of recognizing the historic 2010 midterm elections. That's a bad career decision. It's a decision that'll cost many of these Democrats their careers.
Swing district Democrats that think TEA Party activists are getting apathetic will get defeated in 2012. They've pledged to not get fooled again.
Posted Friday, April 8, 2011 1:58 PM
Comment 1 by eric z. at 08-Apr-11 03:19 PM
Too many in today's GOP are climbing a stairway to heaven, or see themselves that way.
And that outraged, engaged, teaparty and townhall meeting confrontation gig, where's that whole lot of love?
More hate, it seems.
Comment 2 by Rex Newman at 10-Apr-11 08:09 PM
McCotter is great when he appears on Red Eye, usually twice a month or so.
Jim Moron...er...Moran Gets Testy With Another Military Vet
Last night, Jim Moran got testy with a military veteran:
Here's what lit the fuse:
MORAN: Alright, I will respond. If you've served your country in the military for twenty-seven years, I thank you for that service.
The majority, which is now the Republican majority. I'm not part of the majority. They determine when Congress is in session, when it recesses for the day and what the agenda for the day is. They control the Rules Committee. They determine how much time you have for debate on each bill and which bills will be considered.
If they will open the Congress now, which I would urge them to do but that's their prerogative, I can be there within minutes and would be there within minutes. There's not much point standing there in an empty chamber through the evening, is there?
It seems to me there is a point for making myself available to people to make caustic comments as well as people who have legitimate questions to ask as to what might happen if there is a government shutdown.
VET: I didn't...I take exception...
MORAN: FINE FINE. Now I'm talking. You can sit down...
VET: I really do take exception...
MORAN: I'm sure you do...
VET: I didn't say anything caustic...Can you explain why the troops are not going to get paid?
MORAN: Alright, yes. I can tell you...Sir, you had an opportunity to speak. Now it's time to sit down.
VET: Well, I take exception to you calling my comments caustic...
MORAN: Sit down, please. Or you can leave if you don't want to listen to the question. I suspect you don't. It was a rhetorical question. You've made your point so now it's time to sit down and listen.
This isn't the first time Moran's had difficulty respecting veterans. Powerline wrote about how he disresprected Sgt. Mark Seavey in this post :
"Yes sir my name is Mark Seavey and I just want to thank you for coming up here. Until about a month ago I was Sgt Mark Seavey infantry squad leader, I returned from Afghanistan. My question to you...(applause).
"Like yourself I dropped out of college two years ago to volunteer to go to Afghanistan, and I went and I came back. If I didn't have a herniated disk now I would volunteer to go to Iraq in a second with my troops, three of which have already volunteered to go to Iraq. I keep hearing you say how you talk to the troops and the troops are demoralized, and I really resent that characterization. (applause) The morale of the troops that I talk to is phenomenal, which is why my troops are volunteering to go back, despite the hardships they had to endure in Afghanistan.
"And Congressman Moran, 200 of your constituents just returned from Afghanistan. We never got a letter from you; we never got a visit from you. You didn't come to our homecoming. The only thing we got from any of our elected officials was one letter from the governor of this state thanking us for our service in Iraq, when we were in Afghanistan. That's reprehensible. I don't know who you two are talking to but the morale of the troops is very high."
Let's not forget about this disrespecting his opponent last fall :
What [Republicans] do is that they find candidates, usually stealth candidates, that haven't been in office, haven't served or performed any kind of public service. My opponent is typical...And of course, for 24 years, he's taken a government check because, frankly, the military still is part of the Federal government, uh, and, yet, his principle platform is to cut government spending.
Moran's opponent last year was Patrick Murray, a 24-year veteran retired Army Colonel .
That's before considering his anti-semitic rants or considering his anti-semitic sentiments :
Moran should be familiar to you from his previous comments. The last time he expressed his opinions about the the Jewish people, Moran said:
"If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this...The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going, and I think they should."
If I wasn't already familiar with Rep. Moran's diatribes, I'd be stunned. Unfortunately, anyone who follows the news knows that Rep. Moran is capable of showing great animosity towards the military and the Jewish community on a moment's notice.
It's time to run this anti-military, anti-semitic pompous jerk into retirement. There is nothing about him that says he's qualified to be a congressman other than his insatiable appetite to spend other people's money.
Posted Friday, April 8, 2011 7:01 PM
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Pelosi: Net Neutrality Forever
Pandering to a Free Press forum, Nancy Pelosi said that the just-passed House resolution on net neutrality isn't going anywhere in the Senate :
'No one should be guarding the gate on the Internet,' Pelosi said. She said despite the House vote, the resolution isn't likely to gain support in the Senate. 'I don't think this bill is going anyplace,' Pelosi predicted.
In Ms. Pelosi's world, life isn't right if the government isn't regulating something. The internet isn't broken. There are more ways to access the internet now through a myriad of platforms that net neutrality regulations are a joke.
Critics of the regulations say they unnecessarily interfere in the private market. Republicans who sponsored the House legislation argued that the FCC overstepped its authority to enact rules that aren't needed.
Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps, who voted to enact the rules in December but advocated for more stringent measures, said net neutrality is one of many communications principles that must be protected.
Mr. Copps' arrogance is exposed by the fact that the DC Circuit ruled the FCC's powergrab unconstitutional :
The case before the DC circuit stemmed a citation issued by the FCC against Comcast in 2008 for interfering with or blocking its subscribers' use of peer-to-peer networking applications. Those applications, such as BitTorrent, allow users to share large files directly with one another but consume significant amounts of bandwidth.
A unanimous three-judge DC Circuit panel ruled the FCC exceeded its authority when it issued the citation, ruling that Congress hadn't given the FCC the power to regulate an Internet service provider's network-management practices.
'The commission has failed to tie its assertion of ancillary authority over Comcast's Internet service to any statutorily mandated responsibility,' the court said in a 36-page opinion .
The FCC's arrogance isn't significantly different than the arrogance shown by the Florida Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore. In the initial ruling, SCOTUS ruled that the Florida Supreme Court changed the rules of the game after the fact. Further, they ruled that they ignored Florida state election law. That's why they returned it to the Florida Supreme Court to apply existing law.
In this instance, the DC Circuit ruled that the FCC attempted to expand their authority without getting legislation approving that expansion. Without legislation expanding the FCC's authority, FCC-imposed net neutrality is just as forbidden now as it was then.
Ms. Pelosi and the FCC can whine all they want but the ruling this time will remain the same.
Posted Saturday, April 9, 2011 6:00 PM
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Townhall Notes
Saturday morning's townhall meeting featuring all 6 area legislators was certainly well-attended, with over 150 people attending. St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis moderated the event, doing a good job of keeping a good pace to the many people who wanted either for their questions to be answered or to have their voices heard.
Here are the notes I took at the meeting:
9:05-- Hosch up first because he has 4 townhalls to attend. Talking deficit. 'It's gonna require compromise' to solve the deficit.
9:10-- Rep. Gottwalt, Rep. Banaian & Sen. Pederson introduce themselves first, then Sen. Fischbach and Rep. O'Driscoll introduce themselves. Rep. O'Driscoll compliments Sue Ek & Kevin Poindexter of Rep. Banaian's staff for putting this event together.
9:15-- First question Emily APAC member says mobile home owners have been abused. Says they're putting legislation together to do background checks on mobile home park managers. Talks about managers admitting that they're selling drugs out of their office.
9:20-- Retired judge dealing with the guardian ad leitum says their budget was cut by $1,000,000 a year.
9:25-- James Rugg mentioned the SCSU Aviation Dept., then asked why universities aren't focusing more on knowledge-based programs, not social-based programs.
9:27-- Two more higher ed questions, one advocating for smaller cuts. Sen. Fischbach answers that they'll be closely scrutinizing the budget. Rep. Banaian talks about voting against House Higher Ed bill, then says he'll be taking a closer look at some things in Senate Higher Ed bill.
9:35-- Lady talking about health care cuts causes them to miss their maintenance of effort targets. That causes them to miss additional fed funding. Sen. Pederson now addressing the question, saying misinformation is out there that he's addressed with constituents.
9:40-- Woman says she's worried about cuts to HHS bill re: children with disabilities. Rep. Gottwalt says they're seeking, on a bipartisan basis, waivers to increase flexibility for the health care programs. Representative Gottwalt then says that a 44% increase was the PROJECTED INCREASE & that we're still increasing spending by 5%.
9:45-- Bruce Hentges 'Thanks for keeping education a priority.' Concern is with 'redistribution of funds', much of it dealing with Special Ed funding. Question is about losing special ed funding even though ISD742's overall funding isn't being cut. Rep. Gottwalt says that they're working on reforms that they're working on. Rep. Gottwalt then says that if ISD's 'enact certain reforms, the money is there.' Rep. Banaian says that they're reducing mandates so ISD's can start closing the achievement gap. Rep. Banaian also says that eliminating mandates will increase flexibility for the ISD. Sen. Pederson then talked about legislation they're in the process of writing that should be submitted this week.
9:53-- Rockville city councilmember Duane Willenbring thanks the delegation for the Green Acres fix. Rep. O'Driscoll says that the conference committee report is finished & should be on Gov. Dayton's desk before May 1, noting that that's an important deadline.
10:00-- Small business owner asks about getting gov't out of businesses. Says that the state lost almost $500K delivering service that small businesses could do better. Rep. Gottwalt says that they're working on getting gov't out of the way.
10:05-- Sonja Berg talking now about LGA: says that they've had LGA cut by $3,000,000 the past 3 years. Asks for offering regional centers more flexibility.
10:10-- Gentleman says that he & his wife just built their dream home west of St. Cloud, then says that Minnesota's laws are holding back the economy: emphasizes the need for regulatory reform.
10:15-- Lori Dieters from SEIU asks what will be done to 'fix the real problem' of the wealthy not paying their fair share. Dieters says revenues are lost because jobs are being privatized into jobs that 'pay $8/hr. & that they don't get health care.'
10:20-- Teamster union member asking about family planning dollars & sex ed.
10:22-- Engineering professor saying that there's a need to eliminate some of the higher ed schools in the MnSCU system.
10:30-- Gentleman is talking about raising taxes, sharing the pain.
Most of the questions centered on either raising taxes, reforming MnSCU or cutting spending. It was apparent that some people with disabilities were worried about getting kicked off state programs based on their belief that the HHS budget was getting slashed.
As Rep. Gottwalt said, they're increasing the HHS budget by $500,000,000. They're also implementing several reforms which will save more than $100,000,000. Rep. Gottwalt said it's unrealistic, and unsustainable, to increase the HHS budget by 44% per biennium. That's what's scheduled through the budget tail from last year's HHS omnibus bill.
Consider the fact that the HHS budget is 25% of state general fund spending. That's approximately $8,000,000,000 off the top this biennium. Increasing the HHS budget by 44% would add approximately $3,500,000,000 to the HHS budget this biennium.
That isn't sustainable. What's worse is that a $3,500,000,000 increase in the HHS budget would almost wipe out the HCAF. When that fund is depleted, Minnesota state law REQUIRES that people be kicked off taxpayer-subsidized health insurance plans.
We mustn't forget that the MMB said then-Candidate Dayton's planned tax increase would generate $1,900,000,000 in new revenue. That's approximately 54.2% of what's needed to pay for the projected 44% HHS spendng increase.
Saturday morning's meeting was well-received by most in that most everyone got to ask their question or say their piece that wanted to speak up. The legislators certainly took the questions seriously.
Most importantly, it was important that the legislators got a reminder of where people were at before starting the home stretch of the session.
Posted Sunday, April 10, 2011 2:58 PM
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Fisking Sen. Bakk's Latest Diatribe
During this 2+ minute diatribe, Sen. Bakk gives the MNGOP gifts that they couldn't possibly expected:
Here's the transcript:
BAKK: You know, the Republicans are just not being honest with Minnesotans with this budget. You know, they promised that they aren't going to raise taxes but you saw the letter from the Department of Revenue saying that property taxes will go up $644,000,000 over the next 3 years.
They promised they were going to grow jobs and rebuild the economy and the results of their budget will be tens of thousands of Minnesotans laid off, the nurses, the school teachers, the snow plow drivers, police officers, the firefighters.
They're dismantling our higher education system. How is that going to rebuild our economy? Minnesota's higher education system is critical to economic development in this state.
Republicans have promised to protect the most vulnerable Minnesotans. How are they going to do that? They're going to take health care away from 200,000 Minnesotans, take rental assistance away from students and families, veterans and people with disabilities.
They will tell you and lead you to believe that they have put together a balanced budget. It's based on accounting gimmicks, phoney money and cuts that are going to have devastating effects all over this state.
From vulnerable people to people with disabilities to our higher education institutions to our cities to our local governments.
Now why are they being so dishonest? Because the real heart of the debate here at the Capitol is Minnesota has a very unfair tax system where the wealthier you are, the smaller the percentage of your income you pay in state and local taxes.
And they are so committed to protecting that unfair system that they are willing to sacrifice our schools, our economy, our higher education systems and the pocketbooks of middle class families.
Not one time have they been able to offer up even in the tiniest way that the wealthiest Minnesotans are going to ask to participate in solving the state's deficit crisis. Not one cent have they been able to identify. Not one cent.
That's such a target-rich environment that it's impossible to pick a bad starting spot. That's why I'll start with the jobs issue. This is a combination of the DFL's all-cuts budget chanting points and their 'if we don't tax the rich, then firefighters, police officers and teachers will be laid off' chanting points.
Prior Lake is proof that if local units of government reform how they deliver services, they can stabilize property taxes without cutting firefighters and police officers while running a surplus.
If Chris Coleman or R.T. Rybak insist that there isn't a penny of spending that won't utterly cripple Minnesota's economy, much like Sen. Bakk did in this video, then they're spinning things, just like Sen. Bakk.
As for Sen. Bakk's claim that Republicans are "dismantling the higher education system," I'm not convinced that that couldn't turn into a possibility. MnSCU is an inefficient organization, with little coordination from th MnSCU board. Their decisionmaking practices are questionable. Anoka-Ramsey Community College operates two campuses offering identical degree programs.
At minimum, isn't it time to give extra scrutiny to the existing system? Couldn't a respectable case be made that a massive overhaul might be worth looking into?
Sen. Bakk is right in that an efficiently run higher education system is important to Minnesota's economic development. That alone should be reason enough for the DFL to lead the charge in scrutinizing the existing system while admitting that overhauling the system might be something whose time has come.
That they aren't proposing any significant changes in the higher education system is telling. It's telling in that they aren't serious about looking for inefficiencies, that they're prone to proposing tax increases first before thinking that systems might need to be dragged into the 21st Century.
That's the way political parties get complacent and settle for the status quo. We're living at a time when we can't justify a status quo mentality. We're living at a time when bold, thoroughly though through plans like Paul Ryan's are getting praised by serious economists from across the political spectrum.
The DFL locally and the Democratic Party nationally morphed into the gatekeepers of status quo thinking. That's why Speaker Boehner drove the proverbial train in the budget negotiations in DC this past week. That's why it's likely that Sen. Koch, Speaker Zellers and House Majority Leader Dean will drive the budget debate here in Minnesota.
It's important noting that conservatives nationwide have the appealing agenda at this point. That isn't to say that the difficult decisions are behind us. It's saying that people, if given the option between the Republicans' reform agenda and the DFL's attempted defense of the failed status quo, people pick the Republicans' reform agenda more often than not.
Posted Sunday, April 10, 2011 7:08 PM
Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 10-Apr-11 09:15 PM
You had it right a while back when you talked about a 20th century mindset. The entire DFL story is locked up in the phrase "we can't do it any other way than the way we've always done it." No imagination, these folks. If government doesn't do it, it doesn't get done, according to them, and everything always requires more money, not more smarts. I guess you use what you have, eh?
