March 15-18, 2012
Mar 15 03:16 Gaming figures don't add up Mar 16 11:12 Vikings stadium: Time for backup funding or Plan B? Mar 17 05:50 Levin Slams Coulter's anti-Palin comments Mar 17 23:18 Global warming? Mar 18 02:09 Rep. Kalin: Vikings funding plan 'held together with duct tape and bubble gum' Mar 18 14:40 Arlington Amy, Photo Op Amy Mar 18 21:42 Why does Common Cause MN oppose election integrity?
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Gaming figures don't add up
Saying that the people don't think the figures in this article don't add up is understatement:
Figures released by the Dayton administration project a 229 percent growth in sales at the Hoffman senior center, the highest figure in the state, in percentage terms.
"Our people wouldn't go for that at all," said Darlene Christensen, CEO of the Hoffman Senior Citizens Club that serves about three-dozen people daily. It offers meals, a weekly craft activity and a foot clinic. Christensen is skeptical about the $100,000 in new sales the state thinks the bingo operation could get.
"Aw, get off my back. No way."
It's silly to think that a town of 672 people could grow from a $900-per-week bingo game to over $100,000 a year e-pulltabs game.
State revenue commissioner Myron Frans concedes that the numbers may not add up in Hoffman. But he said they're still valid overall.
For one thing, the state's projections assume the number of places to gamble will jump by a third, and that growth will likely be uneven, big in some places, nonexistent in others.
Saying that "growth would be uneven" is spin for saying 'We have no idea how this will work'.It's shameful that Gov. Dayton, Commissioner Frans and Sen. Bakk are proposing such a financing plan for a major project like the Vikings stadium.
It's time to pull the plug on this stadium financing plan. It's unstable at best.
Posted Thursday, March 15, 2012 3:16 AM
Comment 1 by Bob J. at 15-Mar-12 09:26 AM
"It's time to pull the plug on this stadium financing plan. It's unstable at best."
It's time to tell Zygi Wilf that if he wants a stadium, he can build one with his own money.
Comment 2 by Chad Q at 15-Mar-12 04:10 PM
While I don't want to build a new stadium for a billionaire, why is this so hard to figure out? Place a ticket tax on each ticket sold to any event. That way only those who want to use the facility will be the ones paying for it. Pretty easy.
Comment 3 by J. Ewing at 16-Mar-12 07:08 AM
Better yet, don't charge any ticket tax at all, let the Vikings (and everybody else) charge a little more and pay for their own place of business like every other business does. Leave out the taxpayers as middleman. Heck, give 'em a big tax break like we do every other "favored" company we try to keep in the state, don't add to it.
Comment 4 by Chad Q at 16-Mar-12 11:58 AM
J. Ewing I will agree to that 100% but everyone knows the Queens will never go for it because stadiums are money losers and they need to partner with someone who can raise revenue (taxes) when the the people don't buy tickets.
Just don't build the thing period. If they leave, it's still a lot cheaper to get the NFL Sunday ticket to watch them play in another state than it is to buy them a stadium.
Vikings stadium: Time for backup funding or Plan B?
I had a recent conversation with a former state legislator on a variety of topics. One topic we talked about was the Vikings stadium. One thing I said, which I've harped on many times, is the unstable funding mechanism to the existing plan.
Wednesday's hearing provided proof of that:
Sen. Benjamin Kruse asked what would happen if revenues weren't enough to meet the state's bond payments. "Money would have to come out of the general fund, right?"
Frans insisted that there would be enough, and Rosen told legislators that they should trust the projections but then finally admitted that "we're looking at that." The solution, she said, might be some sort of backup user fee.
The stadium's funding mechanism is like Gov. Dayton: more than a little unreasonable. Gov. Dayton's unreasonableness shined through yesterday:
Gov. Mark Dayton minced few words Wednesday, March 14, as he called on House and Senate leaders to end the "theater of the absurd" surrounding the Minnesota Vikings stadium proposal and move the bill to a final vote.
Without identifying House Speaker Kurt Zellers or Senate Majority Leader David Senjem by name, the governor sounded a rueful tone while urging the Republican leadership to take the stadium proposal to an up-or-down vote on the Senate and House floors.
"I know when I'm not getting any help," Dayton said. "I'm not as naive as someone thinks I am."
I take exception to Gov. Dayton's statement. It's possible, based on that statement, that he thinks people are exceptionally naive. Why would a constituent tell their legislator to vote for a stadium with that funding plan?
Set aside whether you think the state should contribute to sports stadiums. There's a significant amount of people from both sides of the aisle. Gov. Dayton is essentially telling legislators and their constituents to take a leap of faith that everything will work out fine.
That wasn't all Gov. Dayton said during Thursday's temper tantrum:
"This stadium bill will not be successful this year without the active, positive leadership" of House and Senate leaders from both parties, Dayton later told reporters.
"To kind of dismantle the foundation of the proposal in an underhanded way is really irresponsible and needs to stop."
What's underhanded about asking straightforward questions about Gov. Dayton's and Sen. Bakk's funding plan? That's called oversight. It's possible that Gov. Dayton didn't engage in oversight when he was a U.S. senator. Perhaps that's why he wasn't a great senator.
Other reports say that senators from both sides of the aisle were switching their votes. That hasn't been, and likely can't be, confirmed. If that's happening, I can't blame them.
What investor would invest in new business with this type of funding mechanism?
Tags: Minnesota Vikings , Mark Dayton , Temperament , Tom Bakk , Investors , Investors , Bonding , NFL
Posted Friday, March 16, 2012 11:12 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 16-Mar-12 12:03 PM
The fiscal mentality of some of the GOP legislators is appalling. We have some GOP legislators who believe that a racino will solve all of our debt woes but when asked what happens if actual revenue falls short of projected and the money is already spent, they say that would never happen. Do they really think we are stupid?
While I despise pretty much everything the DFL does, at least you know where they are coming from and where they stand. With this group of GOP legislators, you never know what is going to happen as they don't want to follow the party platform or conservative philosophy a lot of the time.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 17-Mar-12 05:57 AM
Chad, Knowing where the DFL is coming from isn't comforting. A disaster is still a disaster.
Comment 2 by Jethro at 16-Mar-12 02:21 PM
Governor Dayton's clown show has no end. Taking a leap of faith is what you do when trying a new pizza...not something you do with taxpayer money on an expensive stadium.
Comment 3 by eric z at 17-Mar-12 08:40 AM
Don't blame Dayton, alone.
I think the challenge to funding uncertainty and guesswork is inherent in the process.
I think Chad Q. nails the point that the debate should first be at the policy level.
Do we want gambling expanded, for any reason, apart from whether income to the state would expand - is it something we as a state want to do, for any reason.
Then, public subsidy of a wealthy New Jersey gentleman in a club of wealthy gentlemen [NFL owners]is a comparable public policy issue.
I think a "No" and "No" as the only proper answer pair should end things. But that's an individual judgment and all policy questions become that, which is why I suppose the debate always goes to dueling details.
It would if legislators were less pliant and willing to think once or twice a session at basic policy questions. I see the spine for that lacking. Go along to get along seems to prevalent. Young Mondale's kind of a poster child that way -- he and family went along and got along with Petters, before the collapse.
Not that he was the Lone Ranger ...
Rep. Kalin: Vikings funding plan 'held together with duct tape and bubble gum'
During Almanac's roundtable Friday night, former Rep. Kalin said that the Vikings stadium financing plan was "held together by duct tape and bubble gum." Of course, he agreed with Ember Reichgott-Junge that Speaker Zellers wasn't showing leadership on the issue.
This is clearly a DFL chanting point.
I wrote here that charities hold the key to whether the Vikings stadium is built. The Minneapolis City Council needs to get on board, too. If they don't, this plan is history.
The only momentum this plan had was DFL and media-manufactured.
Another thing Rep. Kalin said was that people want legislators that are willing to take on the tough issues. If that's true, then the DFL is in trouble.
Sen. Bakk and Rep. Thissen are personally responsible for the government shutdown . When asked if the DFL would submit a budget for consideration, Sen. Bakk replied that he didn't see the need for it. When the redistricting maps were being drawn, Sen. Bakk's response was to wait until 2012 .
That's before talking about how DFL legislators refused to vote for the budget that Senate and House GOP leadership worked out with Gov. Dayton.
The DFL hasn't put a serious stadium proposal together. They didn't put a budget forward, either. They didn't put a set of redistricting maps together, either.
The DFL's braintrust has put forward a Vikings stadium plan that's getting criticized by moneymen and charities alike. The DFL's braintrust didn't put a set of redistricting maps, either.
Despite the DFL's record of obstructionism, Ember Reichgott-Junge and Jeremy Kalin didn't criticize the DFL's braintrust. That says it all.
Tags: Ember Reichgott-Junge , Jeremy Kalin , Duct Tape , Bubble Gum , Tom Bakk , Mark Dayton , Vikings Stadium , Redistricting , DFL , King Wilson , Charities
Posted Sunday, March 18, 2012 2:09 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 18-Mar-12 10:41 AM
First off, why is anyone, even ERJ, asking this unknown and worthless former legislator anything? This guy is an art major who produced nothing noteworthy during his time in office.
Second, even though I agree with you 100% on this issue, the media is portraying this as the GOP doing nothing. The GOP leadership needs to stand up to this crap and start pointing out the facts of the situation and stop being nice to the DFL because the DFL will not and have not shown the same courtesy to the GOP.
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 18-Mar-12 12:46 PM
Chad, I'm actually working on the response. I just need the money to implement it.
Levin Slams Coulter's anti-Palin comments
I've long had great respect for Mark Levin. This year, my appreciation for him has grown because he's willing to take on the GOP's biggest windbags. When Mitt Romney used sleazy tactics against his GOP opponents , Mark Levin yelled stop. Now Ann Coulter's attempting to savage Sarah Palin. Once again, Mark Levin is there to set the record straight:
There was a time when Coulter was a principled conservative. She immediately lost credibility with the conservative movement when she endorsed Mitt Romney. She's lost credibility by attacking a true conservative heavyweight in Sarah Palin.
Coulter saying that certain individuals become celebrities and are allowed to profit off that status and yet still interfere in GOP politics is laughable. She's been a well-paid conservative speaker for years. She's constantly in self-promotion mode.
Now, she's shilling for a RINO named Romney while insisting that she's a conservative. Ms. Coulter will always attract loyalists. This time, she's shrunk the size of that base of loyalists. She's seen as a windbag, not as a serious conservative.
Tags: Sarah Palin , Mark Levin , TEA Party Activists , Mitt Romney , Ann Coulter , GOP , Election 2012
Posted Saturday, March 17, 2012 5:50 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 17-Mar-12 08:26 AM
good to see LFR back online
Coulter never impressed me besides being an anorexic windbag with a law degree who never practiced. To say she once had credibility with any group is being kind.
Michele Bachmann once said she liked Coulter. Similarities are probably at play except Bachmann is not anorexic.
Comment 2 by eric z at 17-Mar-12 08:32 AM
It seems there is an identity crisis in the GOP. To call a litmus-test Rockefeller Republican a "RINO" is evidence of a split. To me Obama and Romney both seem to be Rockefeller Republican types, Obama with less of a fortune but a bigger job that I don't see Romney taking away. Rather than use a pejorative word among your colleagues, "RINO," would you agree to call each a "corporatist?" That seems an agenda apart from Tea Party,and apart from Occupy Movement.
Response 2.1 by Gary Gross at 17-Mar-12 12:16 PM
First, Obama isn't a Rockefeller Republican. He's a hardline Alinsky progressive & Marxist.
Second, it's true that there are splits in the GOP but hardly to the extent that the media portrays them. That's what happens when thoughtful people disagree. In the DFL & Democrats nationally, there's near unanimity. The DFL hasn't had a new idea since the Perpich administration.
Global warming?
This afternoon, I visited Powerline and was amused with the pictures in John's post titled "Seasons of the Absurd."
For Minnesotans, it's a rarity to see a bikini-clad woman wading in the shallows of a lake in March but that's what happened.
This evening, I called a longtime friend who's lived in Anchorage, AK since the late 1970's. I called mostly to brag about the beautiful weather we're having but also to see how my friend is doing.
When I told Joe about the high temperatures this week, Joe sighed and said that their high today reached into the 20's. Joe then said that Anchorage had their biggest snowfall in 30+ years this winter. The snowplows have been out so often that they're piling up snow outside of town.
Joe said that the mounds have turned into mini-mountains, with some being a block long and 60 feet tall. He then told me to look at their Facebook page.
Joe is almost as tall as me. (I'm 6'4".) Let that be a reference for you for this picture:
That snow is in Joe's front yard. I figure it's at least 7 feet tall. They'll have lots of flooding in Alaska this year. Unless it dramatically changes, we'll have a drought this spring.
Our snow is gone. Ditto with the ice on the Mississippi in St. Cloud. So much for the theory of global warming.
Tags: St. Cloud , Minnesota , Drought , Anchorage , Alaska , Blizzards , Flooding , Mountains
Posted Saturday, March 17, 2012 11:18 PM
Comment 1 by Nick at 18-Mar-12 04:08 PM
Global warming is a hoax, plain and simple. This episode of Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura explains why: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbjGRNCeRqc
Arlington Amy, Photo Op Amy
There's no question but that Amy Klobuchar is getting acclimated to the DC lifestyle, especially after this article :
Does Amy have household help?
'We have none,' she laughs. 'In both places.' They also rent a small house in Arlington, Virginia. She notes, more soberly, that all the women senators who have schoolaged kids moved their families to Washington, DC. 'Hardly any of the men did.'
First, that's pathetic grammar. In response to the question of whether she gets help around the house in Arlington, VA, educated people would've said something like "We don't have maid service here in Arlington or Minnesota."
More importantly, according to the DFL, you can't represent Minnesotans if your children don't live in Minnesota :
When 8th District Congressman Chip Cravaack announced last summer that his family was moving from Minnesota to New Hampshire, it was obvious that the issue would become campaign fodder in the Republican freshman's bid for re-election.
This week, DFLers are jumping on it.
On Wednesday, they'll hold rallies in seven 8th District cities, Duluth, Cloquet, Grand Rapids, North Branch, Ely, Brainerd and International Falls, to focus on what they call "Cravaack's absence from the district and the importance of having a Congressperson who is open and accessible."
By the DFL's definition, Sen. Klobuchar should be picketed at one of her photo opportunities. Yesterday afternoon, Chip held his 26th townhall meeting in the district. Thus far, Amy Klobuchar's townhall meetings have been almost nonexistent.
Most importantly, Chip Cravaack has worked on issues that are important to his constituents. Chip's worked on making PolyMet Mining production a reality. Chip's worked on keeping the Duluth terminal open.
By contrast, Photo Op Amy has 'gone rogue' by blowing off her supporters by spending a day doing photo ops:
Today, Amy is headed to Big Lake, in Rep. Michele Bachmann's very Republican district, to inaugurate the new train line. She arrives to find a packed tent and color guards. And she manages to upstage Bachmann on her own turf. She has to be practically dragged out by her staff, who are trying to keep her on schedule. But Amy is very Bill Clinton-esque in how she works a crowd. She stays till the last hand is shaken, the last photograph is taken. She's supposed to spend part of this afternoon dialing for donors, the next election is but two years away, but when she hears there are five more train events at various local stops along the line, she instructs her staff to 'cancel everything else.' She wants to hit every one. 'We're going rogue!' she announces on the phone to her finance director.
When Sarah Palin went rogue, she stood up to corrupt politicians in her own party. She took down a political dynasty. By comparison, when Sen. Klobuchar went rogue, she spent a day gladhanding people at a string of photo opportunities.
When Sarah Palin went rogue, she got important things done that improved Alaskans' lives. Pipelines got built. She criticized corrupt companies, exposing them in the process. When Sen. Klobuchar went rogue, she was thrilled about getting carded at a bar.
Sen. Klobuchar loves portraying herself as a centrist, a moderate. Since getting to DC, she's voted with Sen. Franken 92% of the time. She's voted with socialist Bernie Sanders on every major piece of legislation to come down the pike. She didn't vote against Obamacare or the failed stimulus plan.
Sen. Klobuchar hasn't spoken out against Senate Democrats not passing a budget in seemingly forever. She hasn't done that because that would take fortitude. It'd require her being a profile in courage. She isn't a profile in courage and she hasn't proven that she's got fortitude.
Sen. Klobuchar has spent infinitely more time at photo ops than she's spent on finding solutions to the biggest problems facing Minnesotans. She hasn't lifted a finger to help make PolyMet a reality. She's done nothing to cut the cost of heating Minnesota's homes or filling Minnesotans' cars.
If the real Sen. Klobuchar is exposed, she'll face a difficult fight.
Tags: Virginia , Arlington , Amy Klobuchar , Photo Ops , Obamacare , Stimulus , Harry Reid , Budget , Bernie Sanders , Socialists , Democrats , Election 2012
Posted Sunday, March 18, 2012 2:40 PM
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Why does Common Cause MN oppose election integrity?
Common Cause MN has held itself out as a centrist organization working for the average Joe. In reality, it's far out of touch with the political mainstream in Minnesota. This article shows just how far outside Minnesota's political mainstream it is:
Common Cause Minnesota, which opposes photo ID, is prepared to fire the first legal shot. If the Legislature approves it, the group will sue to keep it off the November ballot.
I wrote here how popular Photo ID is with people across the political spectrum:
Party affiliation - Yes, 92% of Republicans support voter ID. So do 76% of independents: and 59% of those wingnutty Democrats in Minnesota, too.
Those figures speak clearly that people across the political spectrum support the bill. Couple that with the fact that SCOTUS ruled, by a 6-3 margin, that Photo ID is constitutional. Couple that with this information from Judge Barker's opinion :
After discovery, District Judge Barker prepared a comprehensive 70-page opinion explaining her decision to grant defendants' motion for summary judgment. 458 F. Supp. 2d 775 (SD Ind. 2006). She found that petitioners had 'not introduced evidence of a single, individual Indiana resident who will be unable to vote as a result of SEA 483 or who will have his or her right to vote unduly burdened by its requirements.' Id., at 783.
That means Common Cause MN will file a lawsuit against a proposed constitutional amendment that's a) wildly popular with voters, b) been ruled constitutional and c) is the work product of the legislature. The last I looked, courts couldn't prevent legislatures from doing their job. There's this principle called the Seperation of Powers. It's in the Constitution, not that Mike Dean would know that.
What's puzzling is determining what Common Cause MN's motivation for filing this lawsuit? They should know better than trust the DFL's arguments. They should know that Photo ID doesn't prevent people from voting.
Election laws should be straightforward. That doesn't mean states should bend over backwards to make it easy for anyone to vote. In fact, the Minnesota Voters Alliance filed a lawsuit claiming that Ritchie didn't protect Minnesotans' election rights:
The defendants on the election days of 2008 and 2010, waived the qualifications found in Article VII, Section I of the Minnesota Constitution for Election Day registrants by confirming that each person is entitled to vote.
In this instance, the defendants are Mark Ritchie, Lori Swanson, Joe Mansky and others. They don't have the authority to ignore the Constitution. Nobody does.
Apparently, Minnesota's chief law enforcement officer and Minnesota's chief election official think they're the final say on Minnesota's election laws and the Constitution. Apparently, the DFL appreciates the political cover given by organizations like Common Cause MN and the League of Women Voters.
Finally, Minnesotans should be outraged knowing that election workers like Joe Mansky think that he's the final say on Minnesota's election laws.
Mike Dean of Common Cause Minnesota said if photo ID becomes law in Minnesota, "this is going to be litigated for the next five to 10 ears."
But Hans van Spakovsky, a photo ID advocate with the Heritage Foundation, said he believes the legal trend is gradually moving toward wider acceptance of the concept, even though many legal fights remain. He said if evidence of disenfranchisement existed, the Indiana and Georgia laws would be challenged on that basis.
Just for the sake of argument, let's say Photo ID is litigated for the next decade. If a state judge decides that a state's Photo ID law is unconstitutional, it'll eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court, where it'll get settled once and for all.
Meanwhile, there'll be a political price to pay for legislators who oppose Photo ID laws. This is a big issue with people. They don't like the thought of people who aren't eligible to vote cancelling out their legal vote. They'll punish DFL legislators in swing districts over this, though not to the extent that they'll be punished for being solutionless obstructionists.
When the Photo ID campaign starts in full, DFL legislators that vote against it will be targeted. They'll be asked why they opposed something that's so common sense. They'll be asked why they voted with the DFL leadership, not with their constituents.
Tags: SCOTUS , Photo ID , Common Cause MN , Lawsuit , Mike Dean , Ryan Winkler , Mark Ritchie , Lori Swanson , Joe Mansky , Corruption , DFL , Minnesota Voters Alliance , Hans van Spakovsky , Elections , Constitutional Amendments
Posted Sunday, March 18, 2012 9:42 PM
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