May 1-5, 2013
May 01 06:29 Going, going, gone? May 01 07:18 Jim's Grave? May 01 08:21 The Tribune blows the whistle on Dayton/DFL tax increases May 01 11:54 Numerically-challenged DFL blames GOP for tax bill defeat May 01 12:51 Obama to DSCC, DCCC: Obamacare sure sucks, doesn't it? May 02 10:16 Wheel of Fortune Host: Cola tastes better with trans-fat May 02 11:51 DFL's agenda: killing jobs, prosperity May 03 15:34 Poor little Mark Dayton May 05 10:33 The DFL's political nightmare
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Going, going, gone?
Spring brings new hope to just about everyone. Everyone but gun control advocates, it seems. Based on this article , it sounds like gun control advocates are having a miserable spring:
Rural Democrats' opposition to changing Minnesota's gun laws casts doubt on what legislation, if any, will pass this year to tackle gun violence.
A group of at least eight Democrats from outstate Minnesota are standing firm against virtually any expansion of the state's background check system. Together with Republicans, who need just six votes from across the aisle to block a bill, those Democrats hold the keys to shape, or sink, any gun legislation.
Bills to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines in Minnesota were quickly dropped, and an effort to impose universal background checks for gun sales was whittled down in the House to a bill that would close the so-called gun show loophole.
Advocates and lawmakers backing gun control measures acknowledge the possibility that even that bill won't pass. Senate legislation for universal background checks is in limbo as top Democrats there wait to see what happens in the House.
The St. Paul Democrat who led an unsuccessful push to impose universal background checks on gun sales hopes a bill will hit the House floor for debate in the next two weeks. House Speaker Paul Thissen wouldn't guarantee they'll take up a gun bill this session, but said he wants to have the debate.
When the Newtown tragedy happened, gun control advocates stepped forward, saying that this was the best chance they'd ever get to pass sweeping gun control legislation. That's true. If they couldn't pass sweeping gun control legislation after that, they'd never pass sweeping gun control legislation.
Now that this coalition of rural DFL legislators and GOP legislators has formed, the gun control advocates are staring at another humiliating defeat. This is a major defeat for Speaker Thissen, Rep. Hausman and Rep. Paymar, especially Speaker Thissen. His inability to keep his caucus together on this issue indicates his agenda isn't Minnesota's agenda. Rather, it says that the metro DFL's agenda is significantly different than the rest of the state.
Tags: Gun Control , Assault Weapons Ban , Michael Paymar , Alice Houseman , Paul Thissen , High Capacity Clips , Gun Control Advocates , DFL
Posted Wednesday, May 1, 2013 6:29 AM
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Jim's Grave?
Now that Jim Graves has officially announced that he's running against Michele Bachmann, people wonder if he can defeat her. John Stossel's article highlights Graves' weakness:
Most Americans, even those who are legislators, know very little about the details of President Obama's Affordable Care Act, so-called Obamacare. Next year, when it goes into effect, we will learn the hard way.
Many people lazily assume that the law will do roughly what it promises: give insurance to the uninsured and lower the cost of health care by limiting spending on dubious procedures.
Don't count on it.
Consider just the complexity: The act itself is more than 906 pages long, and again and again in those 906 pages are the words, "the Secretary shall promulgate regulations ..."
"Secretary" refers to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. Her minions have been busy. They've already added 20,000 pages of rules. They form a stack 7 feet high, and more are to come.
A couple of weeks after announcing his candidacy last time, Graves made an appearance at a weekly gathering at a St. Cloud bar to visit with conservatives. During that visit, he stopped past my table, at which time I asked him if he supported the PPACA. Though he stopped short of endorsing that specific legislation, he did attempt to sell the ACA as market-driven health insurance reform. More on that later.
The thing is that legislators don't vote on sweeping principles. Legislators vote on specific legislation. Since there's no chance that Graves would've been one of the legislators shaping the legislation, he would've been forced to vote yea or nay on the ACA.
Thanks to Graves' insistence on not getting pinned down to anything, we don't know if he would've voted for the PPACA. What we know, though, is that he's attempting to not talk about the ACA . His issues page includes this line:
But today, too many Minnesotan families are struggling under the weight of rising home mortgage payments, skyrocketing health care costs and increasing college tuition.
The only other reference to health care on Jim Graves' issues page is about the Medicare Part D doughnut hole. I don't blame Graves for evading the issue. If I were a Democrat, I'd want to evade talking about health care. Stossel's article provides the reason why the PPACA is a touchy subject for Democrats:
Government likes to think regulations can account for every possibility. Injured at a chicken coop? The code for that will be Y9272. Fall at an art gallery? That means you are a Y92250. There are three different codes for walking into a lamppost -- depending on how often you've walked into lampposts. This is supposed to give government a more precise way to reimburse doctors for treating people and alert us to surges in injuries that might inspire further regulation.
On Government-Planned World, this makes sense. But it will be no more successful than Soviet central planning.
Compare all that to a tiny part of American medicine that is still free-market: Lasik eye surgery.
Its quality has improved, while costs dropped 25 percent. Lasik (and cosmetic surgery) are specialties that provide a better consumer experience because they are a market. Patients pay directly, so doctors innovate constantly to please them. Lasik doctors even give patients their cellphone numbers.
Mr. Graves isn't foolish. He knows what constitutes a free market. He knows that the ACA is the opposite of a free market solution.
Michele Bachmann has been right about this issue from the outset. She submitted the first bill to repeal the ACA and replace it with a specific plan. Michele's plan included eliminating the preferential tax treatment for corporations buying health insurance by giving individuals the same tax treatment that multinational corporations get. As a result of that provision, Michele's plan made health care portable, which is a huge liberating force for employees.
While we don't know what Graves' solution to health care is, we know with certainty that Michele got it right with health insurance reform the first time. When Democrats are in the minority, talk immediately focuses on compromise. Minnesotans in the Sixth District have the choice of voting for an evasive man or voting for someone who got health care reform right the first time.
With health insurance premiums skyrocketing since enacting the PPACA, why would Minnesotans vote for someone who dodges the issue? Why wouldn't they vote for the candidate who got it right the first time?
Tags: Jim Graves , Affordable Care Act , Insurance Premiums , Regulations , Kathleen Sebelius , Democrats , Michele Bachmann , John Stossel , Free Markets , Lasik Eye Surgery , GOP , Election 2014
Posted Wednesday, May 1, 2013 7:18 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 01-May-13 08:59 AM
Rising home mortgages? Interest rates are at their lowest point in my life. Now health care and tuition costs skyrocketing are the result of liberal intervention into that "free market" Mr. Graves speaks of. Graves is just another guy who thinks he can spend our money better than we can.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 01-May-13 09:12 AM
Chad, that's a good catch. Then again, Mr. Graves is filled with happy talk & DFL chanting points. He's no more a "new Democrat" than Barney Frank is. BTW, Barney Frank a) helped cause the credit meltdown & b) hosted a fundraiser for Mr. Graves.
The Tribune blows the whistle on Dayton/DFL tax increases
This Tribune op-ed highlights the tax increases being imposed on Minnesotans. Here's a glimpse:
The tax plans and budget proposals that'll be debated and hammered together in St. Paul in the coming weeks do include healthy tax hikes on wealthy Minnesotans. But they also include taxes and fees every one of us will pay, no matter what our income level. In fact, some of the new and rising 'revenue sources,' as lawmakers like to call tax hikes and fee increases, would be paid, disproportionately, by lower-income Minnesotans.
Most notably on the table are tax increases on beer, wine and booze, in a state that hasn't had a tax increase on liquor in 26 years. But now we face the prospect of paying 7 cents more in taxes per drink and as much as $4 more in taxes for a case of beer.
The state's cigarette tax also is almost certain to go up, to $2.83, a $1.60 increase, under a House proposal.
And if you thought Minnesota's first-ever tax on clothing died when the governor dropped it after his initial budget proposal, well, not so fast. It's still alive in the Senate, along with a long list of other previously untaxed services, including on car repairs, over-the-counter drugs like aspirin, tattoos and even dating services.
Sports fans can be on alert, too. The Senate has a new 13 percent wholesale tax on sports jerseys and other memorabilia to help cover the state's portion of funding for a new Minnesota Vikings football stadium. The total sales tax on sports memorabilia, including sales tax, could push 20 percent in Minnesota.
If you think this was a Strib op-ed, I have to say that it isn't. It's in the Duluth News Tribune. If you thought that the Strib editorial board would write something like this, you really need to get back in touch with reality.
Two weekends ago, Matt Entenza tried spinning the DFL's tax increases, which I wrote about here . Here's how Entenza tried spinning the DFL's tax increases:
Part of what Democrats are responding to is an election where people said 'We're tired of higher class sizes. We're tired of roads that are falling apart and a Human Services Department that doesn't work as well as it should.
Policy lightweights like Entenza know that raising taxes on cigarettes, income and liquor won't fix a single pothole. They're fixed by revenues from the gas tax. Period.
The heart of the DFL's tax increases are summarized in this theory :
The type and formula of most schemes of philanthropy or humanitarianism is this: A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall be made to do for D. The radical vice of all these schemes, from a sociological point of view, is that C is not allowed a voice in the matter, and his position, character, and interests, as well as the ultimate effects on society through C's interests, are entirely overlooked. I call C the Forgotten Man.
Last fall, the DFL ran on the Forgotten Man theory of taxation. This year, however, the Senate DFL, the ones that can't count straight , have decided that the middle class aren't paying their fair share. In addition to raising the plethora of regressive taxes listed earlier, the Senate, in Sen. Bakk's finite wisdom, has decided to raise income taxes on the middle class.
What's interesting is the sports memorabilia tax. It should be renamed the Boy-did-I-screw-up-the-Vikings-Stadium-funding-bill tax increase. Thanks to the Dayton administration's willingness to buy into the gambling industries' wildly optimistic projections on e-tabs, the state is forced to rethink their funding of the Vikings stadium.
Had the Dayton administration been honest about the e-tabs projections, the stadium likely wouldn't have gotten support. Then again, if the DFL had honestly campaigned on raising taxes on everyone, they wouldn't have gavels this year.
Thanks to the Duluth News Tribune's editiorial, Minnesotans are finding out that the DFL won't hesitate in lying about taxing the middle class and the working poor.
Tags: Tax The Rich , Mark Dayton , Tax Increases , Cigarette Tax , Income Tax , Liquor Tax , Sports Memorabilia Tax , Tom Bakk , Middle Class Tax Increase , DFL , William Graham Sumner , The Forgotten Man , Economics , Philanthropy
Posted Wednesday, May 1, 2013 8:21 AM
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Numerically-challenged DFL blames GOP for tax bill defeat
Sen. Bakk and other numerically-challenged DFL senators are attempting to blame Republicans for the initial defeat of the tax bill:
KMSP-TV
Sen. Bakk should be embarassed by Monday's initial vote. His whip team couldn't count straight. When Sen. Rest said that she was busy counting votes and forgot to vote, red flags went off. That's because she isn't part of the DFL Senate Whip team . Lyle Koenen and Chris Eaton are the Senate DFL whips.
If Sen. Bakk can't even assign these basic functions without his leadership team getting confused, then he's inept. Counting votes isn't that difficult. It's the DFL's responsibility to pass bills. With the exception of Sen. Senjem, who voted for the bill because of the money for the Mayo Clinic expansion, Republicans voted en masse against the DFL's middle class tax increases.
The next thing I expect to hear from Sen. Bakk and their allies is that their awful policies are the GOP's fault, too.
In 2011, Sen. Bakk criticized the GOP, saying that they didn't have the veteran leadership required to run the Senate. Monday, Senate veterans Tom Bakk and Ann Rest couldn't count straight. As a result, the Senate's middle class tax increase was initially defeated. The DFL's incompetence showing, Sen. Bakk is now attempting to spin away the fact that this was the biggest mistake made in Senate history.
This wasn't just any bill, either. The Tax Bill is the cornerstone legislation for the DFL this year. If ever there was a bill that Sen. Bakk should've lined up the votes for, it's this one. He, Sen. Rest and his whip team failed that test miserably.
Though it's one of the saddest days in Minnesota politics, it isn't surprising. For all their talk about a progressive tax system, the DFL didn't hesitate to raise regressive taxes if they need the money to pay off their political allies. For all the DFL's talk about taxing the rich and building the middle class, the DFL hasn't hesitated in raising taxes on the middle class and working poor.
That they're willing to break their campaign promises is disgraceful. That they're incompetent in counting the votes needed to break their campaign promises is a picture in ineptitude.
Tags: Tom Bakk , Ann Rest , Chris Eaton , Lyle Koenen , Majority Whips , Middle Class Tax Increase , Cigarette Tax , Tax The Rich , Income Tax , Liquor Tax , Keystone Cops , DFL
Posted Wednesday, May 1, 2013 11:54 AM
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Obama to DSCC, DCCC: Obamacare sure sucks, doesn't it?
Chris Stirewalt's column about President Obama's press conference contains a dire warning to Democrats up for re-election in 2014:
One of the big challenges to Obama's stature is the growing discontentment over the implementation of his 2010 health law. Democrats who got spanked in that year's Midterm Elections are worried about a repeat performance in 2014 as the most unpopular provisions of the law go into place.
Even Democrats who helped build the bill are pointing their fingers at the administration, saying that the chaotic implementation of the law and its ongoing unpopularity are the fault of the president and his team. And calling the implementation a 'train wreck' is kind compared to what Democrats say about the law behind closed doors.
The DCCC and the DSCC will instruct their incumbents to talk about the administration's implementation of the ACA. That won't help, though, because these Democrats voted for the bill. That won't help because people still hate the bill:
In a FOX News poll out today, a sturdy, substantial majority still want the law repealed. And get this: 71 percent of all voters, including 56 percent of Democrats, said the regulations in the law are 'way over the top.'
The supposedly good stuff in the ACA has been implemented. The employer mandate tax and the individual mandate tax haven't kicked in. The vast majority of people (71%) polled say the ACA's regulations are "way over the top" even though they're only partially implemented.
If Democrats think they're going to retake the House and keep the Senate while running with the ACA millstone tied around their necks, they're as delusional as Tom Bakk is inept . What will their pitch be? "Vote for me and I'll fix the mess I created"? Or would their pitch be "Vote for me because insurance rates are skyrocketing"?
I know what the NRSC's pitch will be:
Posted Wednesday, May 1, 2013 12:51 PM
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Wheel of Fortune Host: Cola tastes better with trans-fat
Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak tweaked New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Monday night:
Wheel of Fortune is playing in front of crowds at Madison Square Garden in New York City this week. Host Pat Sajak took the opportunity to poke a little fun at America's leading paternalist, Michael Bloomberg. Sipping from Big Gulp-sized soda - with many in the audience laughing on - Sajak informed the crowd that he had just discovered 'cola is better with trans-fats in it.'God bless Pat Sajak for tweaking Bloomberg. Bloomberg is out of control. The best way to stop his antics at this point is to ridicule him mercilessly for acting like NYC's nanny. That's precisely what Sajak did.
Why did he do it?
'Not much to say. It was Monday night on Wheel, our first night of four weeks at Madison Square Garden in New York. Not sure why everyone laughed; I was just thirsty,' Sajak told Human Events.
Posted Thursday, May 2, 2013 10:20 AM
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DFL's agenda: killing jobs, prosperity
It's no longer debatable whether the DFL hates business. They certainly hate entrepreneurs. Rep. Ryan Winkler's minimum wage legislation is the ultimate combination of nanny-statism and heavyhanded government:
The Minnesota House likely will approve a minimum wage increase later this week, after a committee Monday expanded the bill's reach by doubling state-required parental leave for a new child.
Under the amended measure by Rep Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, employers would be required to grant 12-week leaves after a birth or adoption.
The House Ways and Means Committee tacked the provision onto Winkler's bill that aims to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour in 2015 from today's $6.15. Then the wage would automatically increase.
Why would employers do business in a state that requires 12 weeks of maternity leave? For an employer, that means an extra 6 weeks of doing without an employee. That's almost a fourth of the year without an employee. This is nanny-statism that'd make Michael Bloomberg proud.
That's before talking about raising the minimum wage by almost 50% in 3 years. To cover the cost of higher wages, they'll hire fewer people. Rep. Winkler should rename his legislation the 'Growing the Nanny State and Killing Jobs bill' because that's what this bill will do.
A few weeks ago, Rep. Winkler tried spinning his legislation by saying that raising the minimum wage doesn't hurt employment. At the time, I argued that that isn't accurate. It's true that raising the minimum wage doesn't always hurt employment. It's equally true that there are times, like during a weak economy, when raising the minimum wage kills jobs.
Businesses that are having trouble making money simply won't hire people if the cost of wages increases. When the increased minimum wage is increased dramatically, like what's being done in Rep. Winkler's legislation the hiring freeze is that much more dramatic.
Further, employers seeking to expand will cross Minnesota off their list of destinations when they see this level of regulation and overbearing government. Business starts will shrink. Mitch's post shows that people are already leaving Minnesota:
Though data can deliver mixed messages, data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) point to one clear and worrisome fact: Minnesotans and their wealth are moving to Southern and Western states. Between 1995 and 2010, an average of $340 million in income - based on 2010 dollars - moved each year from Minnesota to other states - a movement totaling more than $5 billion over 15 years. The states that on net receive the most Minnesota income tend to be low tax states such as Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington.
It pains me to say this but it's got to be said: Minnesota isn't special anymore. The lakes are still beautiful. The woods are still picturesque. The regulatory burden is excessive. Do-gooder organizations like Conservation Minnesota are attempting to kill industry in northern Minnesota. Tax rates are confiscatory. The special interests, aka AFSCME, MAPE and ABM, run the DFL. They say jump. The DFL asks 'off what'?
Sacred cows abound within the budget. Bills pass through this legislature because we have to 'invest in higher education' or all-day Pre-K or whatever else the special interests demand of the DFL.
It's time for the DFL to wake up to the fact that they've reached a breaking point on excessive taxation, irresponsible spending and overregulation. These statistics prove that people are voting with their mortgages (and their feet) on what's excessive.
These paragraphs are a stinging indictment of Rep. Winkler's bill:
Republicans and business leaders generally said the higher wage would hurt Minnesota firms. 'There is no capacity on Main Street to absorb any more expense,' Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, said.As damning as that information is, and it's plenty damning, it's nothing compared with this admission:
Rep. Bud Nornes, R-Fergus Falls, said he talked to a restaurateur who makes $60,000 profit a year. The new minimum wage requirement would cost him $60,000, Nornes said. 'Why should he stay in business?' Nornes asked. 'We're going to lose some.'
However, Rep. Tim Mahoney, DFL-St. Paul, added: 'It is a small number of businesses that will be hurt.'Isn't that reassuring. It's only a few businesses that will get hurt. I'm sure that'll ease those businesses' minds.
The DFL can argue all it wants but capital flight from Minnesota exists. It's just that the delusional idiots running the DFL think it doesn't exist. In the end, reality trumps theory.
Posted Thursday, May 2, 2013 12:02 PM
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Poor little Mark Dayton
This Strib op-ed is about as whiny as I've read in recent years. It also isn't credible. Here's a sample from the op-ed:
The recent exchange between Gov. Mark Dayton and some community members in a discussion about increases in legislative pay ('Dayton says forum crowd in Shakopee was 'juvenile,'?' May 1) illustrates a common problem.
In Minnesota and across the United States, government is continuously cited as something terrible, and members of an opposing party are fair game for insults and ridicule.
First, the treatment Gov. Dayton received was mild. I've watched the video. The crowd didn't erupt. They mildly expressed their displeasure with Gov. Dayton's policies. Second, government is immoral, not evil, when they spend money foolishly. Like when a city spends $50,000 each for 10 artistic drinking fountains, rather than $60,000 total for the drinking fountains. It's worth noting that, after spending $500,000 on the artistic drinking fountains, R.T. Rybak had to lay off police officers.
In short, elected officials will get respected when they don't spend the taxpayers' money foolishly or make decisions that are counterproductive.
This won't happen:
So disrespect of government officials seems to be at an all-time high. Perhaps it is time to lower the level of our rhetoric and raise the level of respect for our democratic government by acknowledging that those elected to office were supported by a majority of voters.
If this were put into practice, union stewards' heads would explode. Their thugs' tactics would have to stop. In 2011, I covered several townhall meetings hosted by Sen. John Pederson, Reps. King Banaian and Steve Gottwalt, including one at the Haven Township town hall. Public employee union member after public union member berated these elected officials. They were treated like human pinatas. In my opinion, Sen. Pederson, Rep. Banaian and Rep. Gottwalt had earned the right to respond in kind. They didn't.
A month later, prior to the shutdown but after the session, Sen. Pederson and Rep. Banaian were invited to a union event to explain their votes on the budget. It's important to note that the unions contacted them the afternoon of the event. It's important to note that neither legislator attended the ambush (my words). It's noteworthy that the unions had 2 empty chairs on the stage of the Atwood Theater. The event organizers then told the audience (the theater was less than one-third full) that Sen. Pederson and Rep. Banaian couldn't be bothered to attend, omitting the part about them not getting the invitation to the event until that afternoon.
It's getting tiresome to have people who want to grow the private sector economy while limiting government to the things it's supposed to do per the Constitution are vilified while people who want government to do everything are applauded for their compassion.
Gov. Dayton, the DFL legislature and the DFL's special interest allies haven't hesitated in vilifying conservatives at every opportunity. They've gotten personal, too. They've accused Republicans of being racists because Republicans disagreed with President Obama's policies.
Suggesting that conservatives hate government and think it's evil is spin. It's also highly inaccurate. Conservatives just want government to live within its means. Conservatives want to know that the taxpayers' money is being spent wisely. They don't want to hear about drinking fountains that cost $50,000 each. They don't want to hear about universities spending taxpayers' money on events that teach women how to have better orgasms .
The people attending the Shakopee town hall are tired of DFL politicians taking their taxes for granted. They expressed that frustration loudly because their other attempts went unnoticed. If politicians ignore the people, it's only natural that the people will use whatever way works to get heard.
Tags: Mark Dayton , Townhall Meetings , State Government Shutdown , Drinking Fountains , Union Thugs , DFL , King Banaian , Steve Gottwalt , John Pederson , MNGOP
Posted Friday, May 3, 2013 3:34 PM
Comment 1 by Speed Gibson at 03-May-13 06:53 PM
The Strib has forgotten the many chippy comments Dayton has made along the way. Respect is earned and the best way to earn it is to first respect others.
Comment 2 by Jethro at 03-May-13 10:59 PM
Last business to leave Minnesota turn out the lights.
Comment 3 by walter hanson at 04-May-13 08:23 PM
Star Tribune:
Did you ever point out in 2011 let alone in 2012 that it was Mark Dayton who shut down the government?
It seems like if you don't want to report the truth you don't have the right to criticize people who can take advantage to address issues which the media isn't dealling with.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 4 by walter hanson at 04-May-13 08:24 PM
Jethro:
Since the DFL thinks unions and univerisities are businesses they will still be here to keep their lights on.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 5 by Bob J. at 06-May-13 09:41 AM
The RedStar's concern about 'civility' is directly related to who is governor. These guys could have cared less about 'civility' when Pawlenty was in office.
The DFL's political nightmare
When people read Baird Helgeson's article , it'll be easy for them to picture a DFL nightmare in 2014:
With 19 years at the Legislature, the last 10 in the Senate, Bakk is betting his political currency on a proposal that would reach far beyond the governor's tax-the-rich approach. Bakk not only would extend the sales tax to clothing and some consumer services, his income tax hike would reach down into what many would consider the middle class. In addition, he's seeking a politically unpopular pay raise for lawmakers, the governor and agency heads.
That's a disaster in the making. Raising taxes on business services wasn't popular before. That's why Gov. Dayton dropped them. Raising income taxes on the middle class is a political nightmare. Imposing a sales tax on auto mechanics and tax preparers won't be popular.
At this point, DFL senators must be losing confidence in Bakk's leadership abilities. This is why:
Bakk's soaring political currency took a body blow this week when the DFL-controlled Senate got caught by some shrewd, last-minute GOP vote-flipping and failed by a slim margin to pass its own tax bill.
A grim-faced Bakk called DFLers into a closed-door meeting. When they emerged, they had cobbled together the needed votes. But the momentary defeat served as a flustering chastisement for Bakk and one that may weaken him as he enters final negotiations with Dayton and Thissen.
Simply put, Bakk, Rest, Eaton and Koenen couldn't even count to 34, the number needed to pass the Senate Tax Bill, aka the biggest bill they'll pass all year.
Question to taxpayers: Do you want someone writing budgets when they can't count to 34?
Senate Democrats say they have never seen Bakk resort to arm-twisting. Even the governor's staff say he is known for sitting in important meetings, absorbing what is being said by all sides and not saying a word.
That being said, Capitol insiders have told me that Sen. Clausen and Sen. Hoffman were told that they'd be changing their votes so the bill would pass. That isn't arm-twisting. It's just giving them orders.
Sen. Bakk's insistence that a middle class tax hike be part of the final Tax Bill is outright stupidity from a political standpoint. The GOP will beat the DFL over the head with that during the next campaign. Gov. Dayton will have to defend it if he signs it. House candidates will have to defend it if they vote for it.
Bakk's senators won't have as much to worry about because they aren't up for re-election until 2016. Still, campaign committees have long memories. When they're up for re-election, campaigns will remind voters that they should thank the DFL for insisting on a middle class tax increase.
That's how political nightmares start.
Posted Sunday, May 5, 2013 10:33 AM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 05-May-13 12:45 PM
Gary:
I got an idea for what is Sen Clausen and Sen Hoffman every time they speak in committee or on the floor is to have a Republican ask quite politely, "So is this what you support since you're known to change your mind on important issues?" and keep doing it for three years.
Sen. Clausen and Hoffman will not only be embarrassed to death it will scare to death the next Senator that might have to switch their vote for Baak.
As for Senator Baak in 2016 after managing to win in 2012 when there was no state Republican party, the ability to tag the Republicans as being horrible, he won't be able to hide this away.
Too bad for redistricting or we wouldn't have to be talking about how bad Baak is in 2013.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 2 by Speed Gibson at 05-May-13 05:38 PM
As heard on Sue Jeffer's show this weekend, the strategy may be to have the Senate go crazy (more crazier) so that the House can appear moderate (less crazier), like only jacking taxes $2 billion instead of $4 billion. The Senate has immunity this round, the voters will forget.
But for once, their base having a significant number of Low Information Voters may work against them. An LIV will hear "DFL, tax, clothing, haircut" and completely miss their scripted nuance, "oh, that was the Senate."
Comment 3 by Gary Gross at 06-May-13 12:54 AM
Speed, the problem for Thissen is that the House bill raises taxes $2.6 billion whereas the Senate bill 'only' raises taxes $1.8 billion.
The problem for Gov. Dayton is that he'll have to defend raising taxes when people are hurting.
Comment 4 by Speed Gibson at 06-May-13 09:12 PM
I don't think the pay raise will be popular, either. Or rather, it will be a great talking point for GOP, maybe even some opportunistic DFL Primary challengers.
