June 14-15, 2015
Jun 14 03:50 Mocking Hillary's speech Jun 14 11:29 Prof. Schultz's diatribe, Part I Jun 14 13:54 Prof. Schultz's diatribe, Part II Jun 14 21:14 Byron Buxton's debut Jun 15 09:39 Regular session losers Jun 15 10:35 Regular session winners Jun 15 14:18 More about the Citizens Board
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Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Mocking Hillary's speech
Based on Hillary's speech Saturday, Hillary will need to relaunch the relaunch to her campaign. First, here's the text of Hillary's speech . The content of the speech was typical Hillary: tons of spin, tons of chutzpah and tons of identity politics. First, here's a dose of Hillary's chutzpah:
As a Senator from New York, I dedicated myself to getting our city and state the help we needed to recover. And as a member of the Armed Services Committee, I worked to maintain the best-trained, best-equipped, strongest military, ready for today's threats and tomorrow's. And when our brave men and women come home from war or finish their service, I'll see to it that they get not just the thanks of a grateful nation, but the care and benefits they've earned.
I've stood up to adversaries like Putin and reinforced allies like Israel. I was in the Situation Room on the day we got bin Laden.
Hillary knows where she was when bin Laden was killed but she can't tell us where she was when Christopher Stevens was killed on her watch. As for standing up to "adversaries like Putin", this is closer to the truth:
Russia has felt free to threaten, then take, its neighbors. Crimea is just one example of Russia doing whatever it' wanted to do. Let's make another comparison that drives the point home:
A few short years later, the Berlin Wall crumbled, thanks in large part to President Reagan's foreign policy, President Reagan's robust economy and President Reagan's willingness to push the USSR to the brink.
Hillary isn't willing to push Putin to the brink. This administration's foreign policy has highlighted red lines drawn and red lines erased. This administration's foreign policy has highlighted underestimating our enemies, like ISIS and the Russians, then underreacting when they've laughed at us.
Next, let's look at Hillary's identity politics:
There are allies for change everywhere who know we can't stand by while inequality increases, wages stagnate, and the promise of America dims. We should welcome the support of all Americans who want to go forward together with us.
There are public officials who know Americans need a better deal.
Business leaders who want higher pay for employees, equal pay for women and no discrimination against the LGBT community either.
There are leaders of finance who want less short-term trading and more long-term investing.
There are union leaders who are investing their own pension funds in putting people to work to build tomorrow's economy.
Income inequality increases when progressives push a $15/hr. minimum wage. Hillary's advocating for that. As for "business leaders who want higher pay for employees," they'd pay more if they weren't riddled with this administration's strangling regulations that Hillary has supported. Hillary's economic policies sound like they're straight from the Obama handbook:
In the coming weeks, I'll propose specific policies to:
Reward businesses who invest in long term value rather than the quick buck - because that leads to higher growth for the economy, higher wages for workers, and yes, bigger profits, everybody will have a better time.
I will rewrite the tax code so it rewards hard work and investments here at home, not quick trades or stashing profits overseas. I will give new incentives to companies that give their employees a fair share of the profits their hard work earns. We will unleash a new generation of entrepreneurs and small business owners by providing tax relief, cutting red tape, and making it easier to get a small business loan.
Businesses can't create capital when tax compliance is expensive and regulations strangle capital creation. That's what exists now. In this section of her speech, Hillary just proposed more of the same. With all due respect, that's what has this economy ambling along. This is the weakest economic recovery in US history and Hillary wants to double down on it? No thanks.
QUESTION: Is there anything in Hillary's speech that speaks to the future? ANSWER: No.
Hillary is so yesterday:
Posted Sunday, June 14, 2015 3:50 AM
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Prof. Schultz's diatribe, Part I
If there's a central theme to David Schultz's post , it's that liberalism has died. If he would've called me, I could've told him that. Liberalism is dead in the Democratic Party. It's been replaced by collectivism and progressivism. In the late 1970s, the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan declared that the Democratic had stopped being the party of ideas. He was right. Prof. Schultz apparently is just noticing:
What the hell ever happened to progressive politics and liberalism in the Democratic Party?
When I first moved out here DFLers bowed to the memory of Humphrey, McCarthy, Freeman, and Mondale. Later they added to that Wellstone. But such homage is living in past, shallow in the sense that the DFL today lacks the courage of the convictions it once had. The same is true for Democrats at the national level.
It's clear that Prof. Schultz is extremely agitated. Look at the number of punctuation mistakes that are contained in those 71 words. But I digress.
If Prof. Schultz hasn't noticed that the DFL locally and the Democratic Party nationally have become political machines only, then I question whether he has the expertise to be a college professor. While there's no question that Prof. Schultz is a lefty, there's a question about whether he's thought things through. In case he hadn't noticed, machine politics has failed. Detroit and Baltimore are prime examples of machine politics failing nationally. Duluth and the Iron Range are perfect examples of how progressive machine politics has failed in Minnesota.
In Minnesota a governor who just a few months was heralded in the national media as the most liberal one in America who got the job done, just folded to the Republicans on almost any measure. The giveaways on the environment, gun silencers, gutting the State Auditor's office, and retreating on universal pre-K send signals that Republicans can win if they hold long enough. And then there is Senate majority Leader Tom Bakk- why he is a Democrat is anyone's guess. His leadership was deplorable, his messaging horrific, and his negotiating skills next to none. If he thinks that his capitulation will defend and protect Senate seats in 2016 he is simply wrong. His gaffes and missteps only make suburban DFLers more vulnerable and he has done nothing to convince rural voters to support Democrats. He made the classic mistake Democrats have made for so long, believing that by acting like Republicans they are more electable. The reality is that the more the Democrat brand is muddled and undistinguished the harder it is to win an election.
Actually, Gov. Dayton giving up on universal pre-K was mostly a matter of Republicans having the superior argument. (Apparently, public policy isn't Prof. Schultz's strong suit.) Ditto with the MPCA's Citizens Board. There simply wasn't a justification for what is essentially a patronage board with real life implications. The Citizens Board didn't serve a useful function.
Prof. Schultz, when you fight for bad policies, don't be surprised if you lose. This year, the DFL fought for one terrible idea after another. The DFL came into this session thinking that they could just force House Republicans into capitulating. That was a big mistake.
The politics that looks dead is good old-fashioned economic liberalism. The progressive politics that appears dead is that of Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, and even Teddy Roosevelt. It is about the Great Society and the New Deal. It is about redistributive politics that sought to raise those at the economic bottom, narrow the gap between the rich and poor, and wrestle control of political power in the United States from corporations and plutocrats. It was a commitment to believing that the government had an important role in make sure we had a nation that was not one-third ill-fed, ill-clothed, and ill-housed, that kids should not go off to school hungry, and that corporations should not have the same rights as people.
That's stunning. The Democrats sold their soul to the corporations. Think Christopher Dodd, Bill and Hillary Clinton, not to mention Barack Obama. They're frequently feeding at the corporate trough.
That Prof. Schultz is just noticing these developments now says that he should've taken off his rose-colored glasses a generation ago.
Posted Sunday, June 14, 2015 11:29 AM
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Prof. Schultz's diatribe, Part II
There was just so much to Prof. David Schultz's post that it required a Part II. Let's pick up where Part I left off:
But if Bill Clinton's presidency did not kill off this type of progressive politics, surely Barack Obama has. If Obama did not do it directly, he did so indirectly with the 2010 and 2014 backlashes against him that has done more to kill progressive politics than can be imagined. With less than two years to go Obama is liberated and you would think he would be more bold, but he is not. Why? He never was the liberal folks wanted to believe. In 2008 his liberalism was far distant to the right compared to Dennis Kucinich and even John Edwards.
President Obama's agenda was the farthest left agenda in presidential history. Further, President Obama's utter disdain for the legislative process and the Constitution's Separation of Powers clause aren't ideological matters as much as they are a matter of President Obama's lawlessness. It isn't difficult to make a powerful case that President Obama is both the most incompetent president in the last century and the most lawless president in recent history. Yes, that's including Richard Nixon.
There's a difference between Bill Clinton and President Obama that's worth noting. Bill Clinton was a policy wonk. The economy grew during his administration. President Obama was a community organizer. His economic record is spotty at best. FYI for Prof. Schultz- Hillary isn't a policy wonk nor is she a community organizer. She's a machine politician. Check Baltimore and Detroit for how well machine politicians do.
Mark Dayton gets nothing his first year in office then supports corporate welfare for the billionaire Vikings owner. Now again in 2014 he gives in and Tom Bakk is complicit. Progressives are on the run everywhere. It is not just on matters of public policy such as with taxes, government regulation, and health care, but also in the rhetorical battle for the hearts and minds of the people. You can't even call yourself a liberal anymore without being red baited. Thus the reason for switching to the term progressive. Conservatives have successfully labeled as left or socialist anyone who does not agree with them.
A little paranoia and a ton of frustration goes a long way. Wow. People are growing tired of the left's dishonest attacks and failed policies.
People see the smoldering refuse that is Baltimore. They've noticed that Detroit is an eyesore, too. Cities across the country from California to Illinois to the East Coast are getting noticed for their pension problems. Collectivism is failing all across the nation. It's difficult to defend failure when those failures are showing up on the nightly news 2-3 times a week. Good policies make for good politics. Lately, progressive policies have stunk.
This is frightening:
Fourth, conservatives understand how to make structural reforms and policy changes that both benefit their supporters and enhance their power. Tax cuts and cuts in regulation are simple ways to benefit supporters, but there is more. Voter ID disempowers their opposition, attacking union rights undercuts labor support for Democrats and opposition to business in the workplace, and gutting regulations on money in politics strengthens corporations and rich individuals. Obama's biggest mistake in his first two years was his failure to act accordingly. Instead of health care reform he should have used his sizable majorities in Congress to support the Employee Free Choice Act to strengthen unions, adopt national legislation banning voter ID and permitting day of election registration in federal elections, and adopting real Wall Street and bank reforms that would have limited their power, including reauthorizing Glass-Steagall.
President Obama's regulatory overreach was designed to cripple miners. That's because President Obama's hostility towards blue collar America has been evident throughout his political career. As for federal legislation banning Photo ID, that's frightening coming from a college professor with a law degree . On April 28, 2008, the Supreme Court ruled (in Crawford v. the Marion County Board of Elections) that photo ID wasn't a poll tax, which meant it was legal. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in his majority opinion that "Under Harper, even rational restrictions on the right to vote are invidious if they are unrelated to voter qualifications. However,
'even handed restrictions' protecting the 'integrity and reliability of the electoral process itself' satisfy Harper's standard."
Justice Stevens highlighted the fact that protecting election integrity is a compelling reason for implementing photo ID. That refutes Prof. Schultz's ill-informed statement that "Voter ID disempowers [the Republicans'] opposition." If Prof. Schultz wants to argue that Justice Stevens is a hard right ideologue, I'll just wish him good luck with that project. He'll need it.
Posted Sunday, June 14, 2015 1:54 PM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 14-Jun-15 03:47 PM
Gary:
Lets not forget two errors which Professor Schultz did here:
One, Bill Clinton in effect governed with some policies that were conservative. He was for a balance budget though not the way the Republicans were trying to do it until they did the job for him. He signed welfare reform (in part to get reelected in 1996). That's one reason why he won reelection in 1996. He was trying to be non progressive in some cases. Thus he wasn't trying to kill progressivism. He was trying to be as progressive as he could get with his members in congress.
Two, Obama on the other hand made his two victories solely about his race and that he will be a whole lot better than Bush. In 2016 the Democrat (I assume Hillary) will have millions of votes less from blacks. That will help throw in the death of progressivism. Throw in that several lawmakers are now former lawmakers because of the votes for healthcare and other bad bills that will help kill progressivism. And throw in that the Republicans have started to learn on how to define issues better that will help kill progressivism.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 14-Jun-15 07:11 PM
Walter, If you only counted 2 errors in that post, you gave him the benefit of a dozen too many doubts.
Comment 3 by walter hanson at 15-Jun-15 09:04 AM
Gary:
The professor probably made a lot more than two errors, but when you look at an argument (and he was trying to make two) and when your first (in theory the best case for an argument) has an error your whole case doesn't exist. I figured I'll start where in theory his case was the weakest.
Water Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Byron Buxton's debut
In 2012, the Houston Astros gave the Twins a gift when they drafted Carlos Correa. That isn't a criticism of Correa, who just started his major league career last week. He looks like a fantastic player. When Houston picked Correa, Twins master scout Deron Johnson took little of the Twins' allotted time to draft Byron Buxton. Asked after the draft why he picked Buxton, Johnson said he'd never seen a player that fast, citing the fact that he watched Buxton score on a sacrifice fly. That isn't a big deal until Johnson said that Buxton was on second base at the time.
Today, Byron Buxton flashed his speed 3 times. The first time was during his second at-bat, when he hit a one-hop smash to Joey Gallo, the Rangers' third baseman. Despite the fact that Gallo picked the ball cleanly and made a strong, on-target throw, Buxton nearly beat it out for a hit. The second time Buxton flashed his speed was on his only putout. Playing a normal depth and being positioned in straightaway center field, he made a running catch on Robinson Chirinos' fly ball in the right centerfield power ally look routine. It wasn't a highlight reel/Web Gems catch but he went a long way to get to the ball. Buxton made it look easy.
Here's the third time Buxton flashed his speed:
Why Eddie Rosario hitting with 2 out, Buxton was off with the crack of the bat. Despite the Rangers playing a no doubles defense, Rosario's drive hit the ground on the warning track. Buxton was past the shortstop when Rosario's drive hit the warning track. He was at third when the centerfielder, Leonys Martin, fielded the ball. From there, Buxton just glided into the plate standing up.
Posted Sunday, June 14, 2015 9:14 PM
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Regular session losers
It's been years since the regular session of the Minnesota Legislature was this 'colorful'. It didn't take long for the fireworks to start, which leads into the regular session's losers list:
- Mark Dayton -- Dayton announced that he was unbound now that he'd run his last campaign. It didn't take long before we learned that that meant he'd start lobbing grenades at whoever got him upset. Tom Bakk ambushed him on the commissioners pay raises. Sen. Bakk, here's your grenade. Republicans proposed a new way to fund fixing Minnesota's potholed roads. Here's your grenade. Gov. Dayton also misread the Republicans and Kurt Daudt. He thought he could bully them into compliance. Though his bullying was ever-present, it didn't move Republicans because their agenda was popular with Minnesotans. Gov. Dayton never figured that out. He's still whining about it after the special session.
- Tom Bakk -- Sen. Bakk ambushed Gov. Dayton on the commissioners pay raises but he didn't do it until they became unpopular with Minnesotans. Sen. Bakk's ambush smacked more of political opportunism than voicing displeasure with a bad policy. That was especially true when a reporter actually pointed out that Sen. Bakk voted for the pay raises. Sen. Bakk got stung hard when Gov. Dayton accused him of stabbing him in the back. Later, Gov. Dayton said that he trusted Speaker Daudt more than he trusted Sen. Bakk. FYI- That wound never healed. I don't know that it ever will.
- Metrocrats -- They came in with high expectations. Tina Flint-Smith was the new Lt. Governor. They had a bold progressive spending agenda. By the time the session was over, Rep. Thissen's face was more likely to be seen on milk cartons than at negotiating sessions.
- Move MN -- They fought for a gas tax increase. They lobbied both caucuses hard, sometimes sneakily. In the end, they got their lunch handed to them.
- Brian McDaniel -- Brian McDaniel isn't a household name to most Minnesotans but he's known by political nerds like me. McDaniel is Republican lobbyist who lobbied for the aforementioned gas tax increase. What's worst is that he didn't disclose that he was lobbying for Move MN when he went on Almanac or At Issue. That's definitely unethical.
- Keith Downey -- His 'Send it all back' tax refund campaign was a disaster. He knew that a $2,000,000,000 tax cut didn't have a chance of passing. Period. When he appeared in the ad himself, he made himself the face of opposition to the House Republicans' agenda. The Twin Cities media had a field day playing up that dispute.
I'm sure there were other losers during the regular session but that's my list. If you want to add to this list or if you want to disagree with me, knock yourself out.
Posted Monday, June 15, 2015 9:39 AM
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Regular session winners
The regular session winners list starts in the same place as the special session's winners list started:
- Kurt Daudt -- Speaker Daudt quickly became the most liked and most trusted man at the Capitol. After Sen. Bakk ambushed Gov. Dayton on the commissioners pay raises, Gov. Dayton said that he trusted Speaker Daudt more than he trusted Bakk. That set off an avalanche of well-deserved positive press. First, he negotiated a compromise between Gov. Dayton and Sen. Bakk. Speaker Daudt stood firm in rejecting the Move MN/Sen. Bakk/Gov. Dayton gas tax increase. At the end of the regular session, Speaker Daudt was the leader that brought the budget negotiations to a successful conclusion. In the end, he's the GOP's biggest hero this session.
- Rural Minnesota -- Despite Rep. Thissen's spin to the contrary, this was a positive session for Outstate Minnesota. First, they weren't hit with a gas tax increase. That would've been a major expenditure increase for them because everywhere they drive is distant. They're also the major beneficiaries of the $138,000,000 funding increase for nursing homes.
- House and Senate Republicans -- Speaker Daudt and Sen. Hann kept their caucuses in line the entire session. The messaging was crisp throughout. They made sure that overreach was a term that only applied to DFL legislators.
- Jim Knoblach -- After winning a narrow election victory in 2014, Chairman Knoblach returned to his post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Everyone knows that it's a powerful committee. Few understand that it's essentially the epicenter for putting the budget together. Jim did a great job in putting an acceptable budget together. Though everyone on the GOP side would've preferred a smaller budget, that simply wasn't going to happen with a DFL Senate and Gov. Dayton. Jim didn't let the perfect get in the way of the pretty decent.
- Tim Kelly -- Chairman Kelly was the chief architect of the GOP Transportation Bill, which would've " repaired or replaced 15,500 lane miles for all roads ."
At the end of the day, Republicans did themselves lots of favors by simply doing their jobs in a very professional way. The DFL heads into the 2016 campaign without a wedge issue to emphasize. All that they've got is accusing Republicans of not raising the gas tax and not agreeing with Gov. Dayton on universal pre-K. Good luck with those issues.
Posted Monday, June 15, 2015 10:35 AM
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More about the Citizens Board
Bill Hanna's article has a great explanation for why eliminating the MPCA's Citizen Board is such a good thing:
ST. PAUL - Sometimes the best offense is a good defense. And Iron Range lawmakers were at the top of their game in that regard to forge a hard-fought good end to the 2015 legislative session. Provisions in contentious legislation that are vital to the Iron Range were in doubt right up to the early Saturday morning adjournment of the legislative overtime session. Even the very future of the PolyMet copper/nickel/precious metals project near Hoyt Lakes, which is knocking on the door of production and creation of 360 jobs, was in jeopardy.
But they all survived.
Twin Cities liberal DFL lawmakers were relentless in their attempts to get legislation changed to meet their environmental agenda, which would have proved disastrous to the Iron Range. But Range legislators, especially Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk of Cook and Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, returned their left-wing serves with hard, fast and successful volleys. The results for the Range were huge:
Elimination of a long-standing citizens' advisory board that would have had the authority to delay the PolyMet project through the back door even after the venture receives its permits, which is likely later this year, following the environmental impact statement soon to be approved. The advisory board is hostile to nonferrous mining on the Range and would have used all tactics available to delay even further the venture.
Hanna gave Republicans for their role in standing up to the DFL's environmental activists:
But the GOP-controlled House rejected that new bill and reinstated the original measure that abolished the MPCA advisory board, which is hostile toward copper/nickel/precious metals mining on the Iron Range, and the provision beneficial to the PolyMet project.
I was 'watching' the special session through Twitter Friday night. After the Agriculture/Environment bill had been defeated in the Senate, Sen. Marty spoke on the issue:
After watching the video a second time, after hearing Sen. Marty saying repeatedly that the MPCA's Citizens Board wasn't for the MPCA, that it was for the citizens, I realized that Sen. Marty had a point but it isn't the point he tried making. He said that the Citizens Board had intervened because the MPCA hadn't listened to the citizens on various issues. Sen. Marty highlighted the fact that yet another bureaucracy wasn't listening to the people.
I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, to find out that bureaucrats don't listen to people.
In reality, though, Sen. Marty was spinning things just a bit. The Citizens board isn't just about catching the MPCA's mistakes. It's about stopping mining projects. It was another stop in the permitting process where the environmental activist wing of the DFL could stop permits dead in their tracks.
Last Friday night, former Speaker Kurt Zellers said that the Citizens Board had stopped projects that had gotten their MPCA permits. They stopped these projects after the companies had started investing money in these projects, too.
These companies had done what was required of them by the regulators. They got their permits. They acted in good faith. Then an unaccountable, unelected bunch of bureaucrats stopped their projects after they'd invested their hard-earned money.
Thank God that the Citizens Board is heading to the dumpster where other failed DFL policies rest. The elimination of the Citizens Board is the biggest victory for either side from this session.
Originally posted Monday, June 15, 2015, revised 07-Jul 12:39 AM
Comment 1 by Terry Stone at 15-Jun-15 02:43 PM
After the shock of losing a couple rounds, the environmentalists will wake up to see that the sky hasn't fallen.
Comment 2 by J. Ewing at 15-Jun-15 03:15 PM
Terry, you really think environmentalists are capable of seeing ANYTHING of the real world?
Senator Marty seems to be confused. I thought the idea of the MPCA was to do scientifically sound "stuff" unburdened by uninformed citizen pressure groups? If all we need is to make some stupid political decisions, let's let the legislative masters of such make them, and get rid of the MPCA altogether!
