June 1-2, 2015
Jun 01 01:14 Exposing DFL deceit, Part I Jun 02 03:04 Gov. Dayton, Sen. Bakk and DFL propaganda Jun 02 04:52 Bakk, the backstabber Jun 02 06:03 Censorship, progressive edition Jun 02 08:11 Farmers vs. environmentalists, PUC Jun 02 08:29 This week: Special Session? Jun 02 08:50 Adrian Peterson's return Jun 02 09:08 DFL to emphasize pre-K in 2016?
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Exposing DFL deceit, Part I
The DFL has launched a PR (propaganda?) campaign that insists that Republicans hate children. I can't quite call this LTE an outright lie but it isn't difficult calling it utterly deceitful.
The Minnesota Legislature is headed toward a special session, and it's all about education. Gov. Dayton has fought hard to improve Minnesota's schools, and particularly to increase quality pre-kindergarten for every family in Minnesota, but Minnesota House Republicans refused to support those priorities.
First, Gov. Dayton isn't fighting hard "to improve Minnesota's schools." He's fighting hard to pay off Education Minnesota. There's a gigantic difference between the 2 things. That's the only explanation that makes sense. Last Sunday, Dr. Art Rolnick told Pi-Press columnist Ruben Rosario that Gov. Dayton's plan didn't include $2,200,000,000 in infrastructure funding, nor did Gov. Dayton's plan include money for additional transportation and heating costs.
Those things would have to be paid for by local school districts, which would require huge property tax increases. The first property tax increase would have to go before the voters because it's an increase for building new buildings. It's far from a certainty that voters would ratify a massive property tax increase. The other massive property tax increase wouldn't go before the voters because it's for the operating levy.
Second, it's true that Republicans didn't support Gov. Dayton's plan, meaning that the editorialist's LTE isn't a lie. It's just deceitful. It's deceitful because the editorialist didn't mention that the DFL didn't support Gov. Dayton's plan, either. In fact, the DFL Senate rejected Gov. Dayton's plan in committee, then approved the Daudt-Bakk plan by a 52-14 margin. For those that are interested, that's 6 more votes than what are required to override Gov. Dayton's veto.
IMPORTANT QUESTION: How can people say that Gov. Dayton is fighting hard to improve Minnesota's schools when he's dumping billions of dollars of property tax increases into people's laps?
Because of this it is absolutely infuriating that House Republicans are dragging Minnesota into a special session because they don't believe in providing quality pre-kindergarten and investing in K-12 schools.
This is a matter of opinion so it can't be classified as an outright lie. Still, it's exceptionally deceptive because Republicans support a different method for delivering quality pre-K. According to Dr. Rolnick, the Republicans' plan would cost half what Gov. Dayton's plan would cost. Further, it would cover 3- and 4-year-olds, not just 4-year-olds. That's before factoring in the fact that the method that Republicans support is a proven program. That's before factoring in the fact that Dr. Rolnick's plan would targets at-risk children rather than spending finite resources on extending free pre-K to all kids, regardless of whether they're at-risk or not.
Gov. Dayton's plan would've dumped one of the biggest property tax increases on Minnesotans to pay for an unproven plan that's expensive. The Republicans' plan costs less, gives parents greater flexibility and builds on a plan that's already working.
Posted Monday, June 1, 2015 1:14 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 01-Jun-15 07:12 AM
Yeah, republicans hate children. I mean they only agreed to dump another $400 million on a failing public education system and education is half of the overall budget. Sheez.
Maybe if Dayton and other politicians started examining why our public schools are failing (lack of English speaking students, no parents at home, neither kids nor parents care, etc.) they'd learn that dumping billions upon billions of dollars at a problem is not the solution. But as you have already pointed out, this is not about caring or the children, it is about paying back the unions.
Comment 2 by walter hanson at 01-Jun-15 08:00 AM
Oh so it's the out number Republicans in Minneapolis who can't elect any school board members let alone city council members let alone members of the state House and state Senate that are responsible for the poor Minneapolis school system.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 3 by Gary Gross at 01-Jun-15 09:02 AM
Walter, it's the doctrinaire liberals that are at fault in Minneapolis. They keep reverting to the same failed policies and expecting different results.
It's like flashing a red cape in front of a bull, then being surprised that the bull charged you for the twenty-eighth straight time.
These liberals don't seem good at detecting patterns.
Gov. Dayton, Sen. Bakk and DFL propaganda
Monday afternoon, Gov. Dayton and Speaker Daudt finished negotiating a deal on an education budget. Sen. Bakk immediately issued this statement :
'I applaud Governor Dayton's leadership in bringing these E12 negotiations to a close. Minnesota's children and families will be better off thanks to his work in securing additional funding for our schools.
While I am disappointed House Republicans are unwilling to invest the additional funding we know our schools need, I agree with the Governor that shutting down state government is not the responsible way to resolve these negotiations. Throughout this process we have kept the state workers and their families in our minds, and are unwilling to gamble with their future by forcing Minnesota to endure yet another state shutdown."
That statement has enough BS in it to fill a barn. A special session wouldn't be happening had Gov. Dayton listened to the people and organizations complaining about his universal pre-K initiative. That's the plan that would've imposed a $2.2 billion property tax increase on taxpayers to build additional classrooms to house these new students. That's the plan that would've cost taxpayers the additional expense of transporting those children and heating their classrooms.
One part of Bakk's statement is accurate, though. The DFL has "kept the state workers and their families" in their minds. They certainly didn't keep Minnesota families and taxpayers in their minds. Gov. Dayton was perfectly willing to sign a bill that would've imposed one of the biggest middle class tax increases in state history because paying off Education Minnesota was Gov. Dayton's highest priority.
When the DFL and the Twin Cities media insist that Gov. Dayton gave up his universal pre-K initiative, I'd note that it never should've existed. It was fatally flawed from the start. Had Gov. Dayton put children first instead of putting Education Minnesota first, the initiative never would've looked like Gov. Dayton's initiative. It isn't a sacrifice to give up on a program that a) raised taxes on the middle class, b) put kids in another one-size-fits-all program and c) doesn't offer parents the flexibility that they need.
Posted Tuesday, June 2, 2015 3:04 AM
No comments.
Bakk, the backstabber
The last Friday of the regular session, Sen. Bakk and Speaker Daudt kicked Gov. Dayton out of the room because they'd wasted an entire week negotiating a budget deal but only had agreement on 2 bills. Once they kicked Gov. Dayton from the room, they finished the other bills in 2 hours. Now that Gov. Dayton finally gave up on paying off Education Minnesota with his universal pre-K initiative, there's an agreement between Gov. Dayton and Speaker Daudt. I wrote here that Sen. Bakk is now pretending that he's supported Gov. Dayton from the start. Now I understand why Gov. Dayton called Sen. Bakk a backstabber :
Gov. Mark Dayton erupted in anger Thursday in a dispute with the DFL Senate leader over a weeks-long controversy surrounding pay raises the governor gave to his cabinet. "To have a majority leader of the Senate come in and stab me in the back and blindside me is absolutely unacceptable," Dayton said.
Dayton's ire came after Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk led the Senate in voting to suspend the salary increases for state commissioners. All but two members of the DFL-controlled Senate voted with Bakk in favor of the proposal. The friction between the Capitol's two most powerful DFLers threatens to cast a cloud over the rest of the 2015 legislative session. The two have tussled before, but Dayton indicated Thursday that their relations now were beyond repair.
Dayton said Bakk, a former ally, has proved himself untrustworthy because he brought forth the salary smackdown without any warning. "I'm confronted with two hostile bodies of the Legislature, one with a leader I believe I can trust (Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt) and one I know I can't trust," Dayton said. "I certainly learned a brutal lesson today that I can't trust (Bakk.) I can't believe what he says to me and connives behind my back."
Sen. Bakk, if you trusted Gov. Dayton wholeheartedly, why did you boot him from the room the last Friday of the regular session? How could you and Speaker Daudt reach agreement on a bill that's dramatically different than the bill Gov. Dayton pushed until the final minute? If you wholeheartedly supported Gov. Dayton's universal pre-K initiative, why didn't you pass it out of the Senate?
Sen. Bakk, there are 2 indisputable facts that you can't refute. You can't refute the fact that the Senate affirmatively rejected Gov. Dayton's proposal. Likewise, you can't refute the fact that the bill you negotiated with Speaker Daudt passed with overwhelming bipartisan support :
This sentence from Sen. Bakk's statement is disgustingly dishonest:
While I am disappointed House Republicans are unwilling to invest the additional funding we know our schools need, I agree with the Governor that shutting down state government is not the responsible way to resolve these negotiations.
During the last week of the session, Sen. Bakk bragged that the DFL could 'win the shutdown'. That hardly sounds like a politician that believes shutting down the government" is irresponsible. That sounds like a politician who thinks the DFL propaganda machine can win a DFL-induced shutdown. It's also worth noting that Sen. Bakk agreed to the Republicans' budget.
It's laughable to think that Sen. Bakk wholeheartedly supports Gov. Dayton's bill now but didn't pass Gov. Dayton's bill during the session. It's BS to think that Sen. Bakk doesn't like the bill he negotiated and voted for . Frankly, it sounds like Sen. Bakk can't decide which lie he's planning on sticking with. Here's a suggestion for Sen. Bakk. It's easier to tell the truth. Then you don't have to remember which lie you told to which audience.
Posted Tuesday, June 2, 2015 4:52 AM
No comments.
Censorship, progressive edition
Glenn Reynolds' column highlights just how oppressive campus progressives are:
Feminist professor Laura Kipnis of Northwestern University published an essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education in February, decrying "sexual paranoia" on campus and the way virtually any classroom mention of sex was being subjected to an odd sort of neo-Victorian prudery: "Students were being encouraged to regard themselves as such exquisitely sensitive creatures that an errant classroom remark could impede their education, as such hothouse flowers that an unfunny joke was likely to create lasting trauma. ... In the post-Title IX landscape, sexual panic rules. Slippery slopes abound."
This article sat poorly with campus activists, who in response reported her for sexual harassment, on the theory that this article (and a follow-up tweet - yes, that's right, a tweet) somehow might have created a hostile environment for female students, which would violate Title IX as interpreted by the Education Department. Because, you see, female students, according to feminists, are too fragile to face disagreement. And they'll demonstrate this fragility by subjecting you to Stalinist persecution if you challenge them, apparently.
It gets worse:
The university's investigators wouldn't tell her who made the charges or even, for some time, what the charges were, which is typical of these Kafkaesque proceedings. While Kipnis was allowed to bring a faculty "support person" to her hearing, "support person" was not allowed to speak. After the hearing, a Title IX complaint was filed against the speechless "support person."
It's clear that Northwestern doesn't think professors are entitled to the rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights. It's clear that they don't think Professor Kipnis has the right to confront her accusers or the right to due process. What Northwestern is guilty of is conducting a kangaroo court, then pretending it's rendered a real verdict.
Title IX, as its simple language provides, was intended to open up colleges to women, not to empower a Stalinist bureaucracy to torment people who don't toe the feminist line. Congress needs to haul some Department of Education bureaucrats up for hearings, then rewrite Title IX to make clear that it doesn't grant the kind of sweeping powers over academic expression that educrats have seized. Despite what they might think at the Department of Education, 1984 was written as a cautionary tale - not an instruction manual.
Simply put, 1970s feminists would bitch-slap 21st Century feminists. It's apparent that 21st Century feminist 'leaders' think their followers would shrivel up and die if they heard anything that they disagree with. That's quite the difference from the anthem of 1970s feminism . This chorus and verse highlights the difference between 21st Century feminism and 1970s feminism:
Oh yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong
(Strong)
I am invincible
(Invincible)
I am woman
You can bend but never break me
'Cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'Cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul
Those aren't the words of a delicate flower that'll wilt the minute they hear anything controversial. They're the lyrics of a battle-tested feminist.
Posted Tuesday, June 2, 2015 6:03 AM
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Farmers vs. environmentalists, PUC
It isn't a secret that environmental activists don't want the Sandpiper Pipeline built. That's because they're pushing for an all-renewable energy economy. Here's what they're saying this year:
'We've just suggested that there should be a safer place to put it across the state, environmentally,' said Richard Smith, president of Friends of the Headwaters. 'The state would still retain whatever property tax dollars come from the company from the pipeline itself, plus there'd still be construction jobs.'
That's a lie. Here's what they said about their earlier actions:
The Friends of the Headwaters ('FOH') was successful in educating Hubbard County Coalition of Lake Associations (HCCOLA) Board Members who submitted a resolution to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) that the Sandpiper Pipeline Route must be relocated in order to protect and preserve the lake country's natural resources http://www.hubbardcolamn.org/sandpiper-pipeline.html. FOH also successfully educated the Hubbard County Board of Commissioners and the County Soil and Water Conservation District ('SWCD') so that they submitted resolutions to the PUC requesting that it include a non-water alternate route in its proceedings regarding the Sandpiper route.
For the first time in an energy request before the PUC, both the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency ('MPCA') and the Department of Natural Resources ('DNR'), the state agencies charged with protecting the state's environment and natural resources, have raised very serious concerns regarding the North Dakota Pipeline Company, LLC, an Enbridge affiliate ('Enbridge') Route. The MPCA concluded Enbridge's route is the least environmentally sensitive of 6 of the routes proposed. See http://www.friendsoftheheadwaters.org/latest-news-and-information.html.
The Friends of the Headwaters are doing everything within their power to prevent the building of the Sandpiper Pipeline. Meanwhile, there's a massive railcar shortage that's preventing farmers from getting their crops to market and creating safety issues for towns that the oil trains pass through.
Here's more proof that the FOH is attempting to kill the Sandpiper Pipeline:
Leading up to the June hearing before PUC regulators in St. Paul, Administrative Law Judge Eric Lipman criticized the regulatory procedure for being 'a lot harder than it ought to be.'
Lipman's 106 page ruling advised the PUC to exclude 'rising global temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, climbing sea levels: global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict' from consideration in future proceedings. 'The addition of those larger items to the hearing agenda has a significant impact. It adds genuine complexity and expense to a contested case - and the burdens of coping with that complexity and expense falls upon energy companies, government agencies and ordinary citizens alike.'
Here's a little interesting information about FOH :
Friends of the Headwaters is represented by the legal team at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA). Arguably the most respected environmental stewardship organization in Minnesota, MCEA is staffed with knowledgeable and passionate people fighting for environmental best practices across Minnesota.
That MCEA is mentioned as FOH's attorneys speak volumes. I wrote about MCEA way back in this post . Here's what MCEA bragged about in their op-ed:
Along with our allies at the Izaak Walton League of America, the Union of Concerned Scientists and Wind on the Wires, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and Fresh Energy argued, first in South Dakota, then before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC), that the new plant was a bad idea. Our message was simple: The utilities had not proven the need for the energy, and what energy they did need could be acquired less expensively through energy efficiency and wind.
We kept losing, but a funny thing happened. With each passing year, it became clearer that we were right. In 2007, two of the Minnesota utilities dropped out, citing some of the same points we had been making. The remaining utilities had to go through the process again with a scaled-down 580-megawatt plant.
MCEA has a lengthy history of stopping fossil fuel projects. They're in the legal sabotage business. Frankly, they don't care if farmers get hurt. FOH and MCEA's highest priority is stopping any project that makes fossil fuel more available.
Posted Tuesday, June 2, 2015 8:11 AM
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This week: Special Session?
According to Don Davis' article , it sounds like Gov. Dayton will announce a special session for later this week:
ST. PAUL -- A state budget deal is all done except for a few details, the chief negotiators said Monday, making a special session for lawmakers to complete their work possible as early as late this week.
The almost-deal came on the day when nearly 10,000 state workers were told they could be laid off if no budget passes before July 1. "All of the points that are still outstanding, I would call minor points," House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, said late Monday afternoon. "We are really close right now. ... I think we're there." "We are very close..." Gov. Mark Dayton said. "We have agreed on the dollars; we have not agreed on the details."
Things fell quickly into place once Gov. Dayton and the DFL started feeling the heat over Gov. Dayton's universal pre-K proposal. While it's true that DFL legislators essentially supported the Daudt-Bakk compromise, people knew that House DFL legislators stood fiercely loyal to Gov. Dayton's proposal.
It's inevitable that the DFL and the Twin Cities media (forgive the repetition) will say that this came together because Gov. Dayton relented on his payoff to Education Minnesota, the truth is that Gov. Dayton was forced by Minnesotans, Kurt Daudt, Art Rolnick and various school board associations to abandon his proposal because it's terrible policy.
Think of it this way. If Gov. Dayton hadn't relented, there would've been a government shutdown, which wouldn't help either political party while it was ongoing. Still, it would've hurt the DFL more in the long term because Gov. Dayton's proposal would've gotten more unpopular with each passing day. Republicans could've asked Dr. Rolnick to appear at early learning centers, which would've made DFL legislators, especially those in the suburbs, squirm.
Posted Tuesday, June 2, 2015 8:29 AM
No comments.
Adrian Peterson's return
There's a flood of positivity flowing through Winter Park this morning. That's because Adrian Peterson is back at Winter Park :
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Adrian Peterson is coming back to the Minnesota Vikings, telling The Associated Press that he will participate in the team's voluntary practice on Tuesday and still has love for his team after nine months away.
Peterson sent an e-mail to the AP early Tuesday morning saying he's excited to put on a uniform again after missing the final 15 games of last season while addressing child abuse charges in Texas. He also skipped the team's voluntary practices last week while openly lamenting the fact that the final three years of his contract are not guaranteed.
"I've been away from the game for an entire season," Peterson wrote to the AP. "I wanted the chance to be around the players and coaches, the guys that really matter to me."
Teddy Bridgewater just improved as a quarterback. Mike Zimmer became a smarter head coach. Norv Turner is wearing an ear-to-ear smile and Mike Wallace dreams of all the single coverage he'll see this season. There's a difference between quality starters and Pro Bowl players. Then there's the difference between Pro Bowl players and true superstars. Adrian fits in at the top of the 'true superstar' category. There isn't a defensive coordinator who isn't revising his game plan if he's facing the Vikings this season.
Last year, Teddy Bridgewater had an impressive rookie season. Still, there's no denying he's still got lots to learn. His learning curve isn't as inclined as it was a month ago thanks to Adrian. Play action passes against defenses with 9 men in the box are more like pitch and catch routines. Last year, defenses didn't take the Vikings running game seriously. They didn't take Teddy's play action fakes seriously, either. That changed this morning.
One of the sneaky smart things that the Vikings did this winter was trade for speedster Mike Wallace. When he was asked if Mike Wallace was good at double moves, Norv Turner said that Wallace was fast enough that he didn't need a double move. There was a smile on Turner's face at that point. I'm thinking about the cat-that-ate-the-canary type smile.
This morning's news officially makes the Vikings a potential playoff team.
Posted Tuesday, June 2, 2015 8:50 AM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 02-Jun-15 08:57 AM
Gary:
I wonder who has been the bigger jerk here, AP's agent or Gov. Dayton. I think AP finally realized his agent was trying to destroy his career and figured he had better come and get the money which wasn't guaranteed by playing.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
DFL to emphasize pre-K in 2016?
Dave Mindeman's post raises the question of whether the DFL will campaign on universal pre-K in 2016. Here's hoping that they do.
It looks like Pre-K is not going to be part of the budget deal. Dayton settled for an increase in the per pupil formula, which will probably allow some districts to offer it. But the House GOP managed to obstruct and block more progress in education which the Governor is envisioning as the way forward for Minnesota.
It's amazing how many progressives pretend that Senate Democrats didn't reject Gov. Dayton's proposal. Pretend all you want but the truth is that DFL legislators in the Senate rejected Gov. Dayton's plan.
I hope the House Democrats take this to the 2016 elections. It is clear that the House GOP blocked an opportunity for Pre-K. The money was there....in the bank...but when the 2016 session unfolds, we will see that money getting used for more tax cutting measures and ridiculous policy ideas.
Let's see DFL House members from the suburbs campaign on universal pre-K. Let's see them explain how they would've shoved a ton of unfunded mandates down school districts' throats. Let's see how DFL candidates explain how quickly those unfunded mandates turn into massive property tax increases.
The lit pieces virtually write themselves. The ads virtually cut themselves.
I don't think progressives like Mr. Mindeman realize just how toxic Gov. Dayton's proposal would become by September, 2016. For that matter, I don't Gov. Dayton fully understands how toxic his plan will become over time.
Posted Tuesday, June 2, 2015 9:08 AM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 02-Jun-15 09:25 AM
Lets not forget all the Republicans should be talking about building roads and bridges which benefit everyone and they have a plan for doing it without increasing the gas tax. I bet the DFL wants to add that gas increase to their campaign plan!
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
