May 15-16, 2012
May 15 03:05 Gov. Dayton vetoes another jobs bill May 15 04:53 Another poll with Romney leading President Obama May 15 10:47 Highlighting President Obama's crisis May 16 04:02 LFR EXCLUSIVE: Mark Ritchie in his own words on Photo ID May 16 06:08 Protestors storm Obama campaign HQ May 16 07:25 Rosenstone statement vs. SCSU reality
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Gov. Dayton vetoes another jobs bill
Gov. Dayton is learning quick how to veto job-creating bills. MNGOP Chairman Pat Shortridge issued this statement after Gov. Dayton vetoed another job-creating bill:
'Governor Dayton had a one track mind this legislative session, the Vikings Stadium, and in the process, he let several great opportunities slip by. The bipartisan tax bill that Governor Dayton vetoed today would have helped our state's economy grow and put our people back to work.
Unfortunately, it joined other common sense items, like the end of the Last In First Out policy that governs teacher employment decisions, paying back the school shift, tort reform legislation and several other key jobs bills, in the Governor's veto pile.
Governor Dayton should have been a little less obsessed with building the Vikings a stadium and a little more concerned with doing the people's business. If we thought the top agenda was jobs and the economy, we were wrong. Minnesotans deserved much more from Governor Dayton this legislative session.'
The definition of political insanity is passing a tax bill with solid bipartisan support, then expecting Gov. Dayton to sign it.
Gov. Dayton is ideologically wedded to the idea that the rich aren't taxed enough. What's worse is that Gov. Dayton is wedded to the belief that jobs bills are those bills that start with taking capital out of the private sector, then inefficiently spend the money on the government's priorities.
People that know how the economy works understand that the best way to create jobs is to have the private sector produce goods and services that fit people's needs at a reasonable price. Wealth, and therefore prosperity, are never created by taking money from the private sector.
Gov. Dayton's and the DFL legislators' definition of a jobs bill isn't in synch with creating prosperity.
Tags: Veto , Mark Dayton , Bonding , DFL , Tax Bill , Bipartisan Support , Jobs , Pat Shortridge , MNGOP
Posted Tuesday, May 15, 2012 3:05 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 15-May-12 06:36 AM
Jobs bill? You say jobs bill? What have you been smoking?
It was a business tax cut. Business responds to demand. Cut taxes for consumers, keep revenue high by taxing the business profits arising from consumer demand, then you have a working economy. But somebody has to pay and that should be those most capable of taking a tax hit. The Wealthy. The 1%. They have it all. It's well past time for them to share.
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 15-May-12 09:24 AM
There's no question but that demand is an important part in the health of an economy but it's just that: a part. Companies that decide that expanding costs too much won't expand. That's the other part of the equation.
BTW, when was it right to judge a company's worth based on what it gives government? Shouldn't it be based on whether companies contribute to a) their profits & b) their employees' prosperity?
When a company's worth is judged by whether it's doing a good job of funding government, you're using the wrong metric.
Comment 3 by Bob J. at 15-May-12 09:58 AM
"Gov. Dayton is ideologically wedded to the idea that the rich aren't taxed enough."
Except if your name is Wilf.
Comment 4 by walter hanson at 15-May-12 04:12 PM
Eric:
Just once can't you come up with an original thought or argument instead of repeating the most recent DFL talking point. If you think the Republicans are wrong why does GM survive today with a $35 billion gift from tax payers like us?
If you think the Republicans are wrong why doesn't Solyandra employ thousands of employees?
If spending money and not cutting taxes creates wealth why does California have a sixteen billion dollar deficit while Minnesota's budget is balanced when the Republicans did the exact opposite of what you want?
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Another poll with Romney leading President Obama
It's months too early to attach too much significance to the polling. Still, Mssrs. Axelrod and Plouffe can't be happy with this poll's results .
Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has a slight edge over President Obama in the race for the White House in the latest CBS News/New York Times poll.
According to the survey, conducted May 11-13, 46 percent of registered voters say they would vote for Romney, while 43 percent say they would opt for Mr. Obama. Romney's slight advantage remains within the poll's margin of error, which is plus or minus four percentage points.
The horserace numbers don't tell the real story. These statistics should worry President Obama:
Amongst women, Mitt Romney leads with 46%. President Obama gets 44%. Mitt gets the support of 43% of independents, with President Obama struggling with only 36% of independents supporting him. Most impressively, Mitt gets 91% of the Republicans' vote compared with President Obama getting 84% of Democrats.
That last statistic essentially says that Mitt's getting strong support from the GOP base. Campaigns that don't get their base solidified early tend to struggle the rest of the campaign. It's difficult catching up if you don't have the base solidified.
Winning a plurality amongst independents isn't anything but a positive for Mitt at this point.
Finally, this NYT/CBS poll was amongst registered, not likely, voters. That most likely means that Mitt's lead is bigger than those statistics say.
Tags: Polling , CBS , NYTimes , President Obama , David Axelrod , David Plouffe , Democrats , Mitt Romney , The Base , Independents , GOP , Election 2012
Posted Tuesday, May 15, 2012 4:53 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 15-May-12 06:40 AM
It's a long time to November.
What's wrong with Obama? Take a look:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/barack-obama-the-great-deceiver.html
What's he got going in his favor? Romney. The proven Bain-based job killer. I can envision Romney favoring Jamie Dimon for VP, now that it looks as if Dimon may become available for the role.
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 15-May-12 09:16 AM
Hey Eric, I just read an interesting article. Did you know that 78% of companies that were failing grew as a direct result of Bain's efforts? Let me repeat that: 78% of companies that Bain invested in succeeded.
As for Jamie Dimon's political affiliations, you should've read this article:
Jamie Dimon was once the silver-haired hero of Wall Street, scooping up failing banks during the worst of the financial crisis and avoiding the kind of toxic mortgage bonds that sent competitors into bankruptcy and pushed the American economy to the brink.
He was also one of President Barack Obama's most prominent Wall Street friends, a rare high-profile Democrat.Perhaps President Obama should dump the gaffe-prone VP Biden in favor of Dimon.
Here's a suggestion: Next time, do your homework before you make a smartalecky comment.
Comment 3 by walter hanson at 15-May-12 04:19 PM
Eric:
When Obama is whining about how bad a poll is done that has historically been leaning for the Democrats you know Obama is in trouble. Even the Democrat pollsters can't hide it!
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Highlighting President Obama's crisis
This article highlights President Obama's decisionmaking prowess:
President Barack Obama's decision in February 2011 to hold the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina looked like a bold move to reclaim a state he'd won in 2008. Today, it's more like an awkward fit.
The state's Democratic Party is mired in a sexual harassment scandal. Voters just approved a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, which conflicts with Obama's view on the issue. Convention fundraising has been slow, and labor unions tapped to fill the financial gap are angry the convention will be in a city, Charlotte, with no unionized hotels and in a state where compulsory union membership or the payment of dues is prohibited as an employment condition.
North Carolina's 9.7 percent unemployment rate is above the national average and one of the host city's top employers, Bank of America (BAC), has announced job reductions. Obama is scheduled to accept his party's nomination at Bank of America Stadium in September.
FYI- Bev Perdue is the governor of North Carolina. She's another cookie-cutter Democrat .
National conventions are the opportunity for political parties to highlight their successes. When President Bush accepted his party's nomination in New York City, he highlighted the fact that he'd prevented another 9/11 without saying a word about it. The setting said everything that needed to be said.
President Obama, on the other hand, will be accepting his party's nomination in a stadium named after a bank that's still too big to fail. He'll accept the nomination in a state where the Democratic governor's economic plans have failed.
What's worse is that a major part of President Obama's base isn't excited over the possibility of being forced to paying tons of cash to pay for this national convention.
That's just the start of it. What do you think the Democrats' lineup of primetime speakers will look like? Will the list include Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich and Chuck Schumer? Will Cherokee Warren get a primetime slot?
Perhaps that's why they've shrunk the convention an additional day. Is it that, in addition to being too broke to pay for the convention, they don't want to highlight the left wing looniness of their legislators?
Get out the popcorn. Things are about to get interesting in North Carolina.
Tags: President Obama , Democratic National Convention , North Carolina , Right to Work State , Too Big To Fail , Unions , DNC , Elizabeth Warren , Bernie Sanders , Socialists , Democrats , Election 2012
Posted Tuesday, May 15, 2012 10:47 AM
Comment 1 by Bob J. at 16-May-12 09:30 AM
One of the best ways to screen for media bias is to rephrase their key statement using its reciprocal form. Let's try that here. The original:
"The state's Democratic Party is mired in a sexual harassment scandal. Voters just approved a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, which conflicts with Obama's view on the issue."
And now:
The state's Democratic Party is mired in a sexual harassment scandal. Voters just approved a state constitutional amendment to affirm traditional marriage, which conflicts with Obama's view on the issue.
Hmm.
LFR EXCLUSIVE: Mark Ritchie in his own words on Photo ID
Tuesday night, Mark Ritchie travelled to St. Cloud to talk about the photo ID constitutional amendment. His presentation lasted approximately 20 minutes, which was followed by a 15 minute Q and A period.
During his presentation, Secretary Ritchie talked about the great expense of a photo ID system. Ritchie also spoke about how people lose their drivers licenses, then don't get their replacement license for "sometimes up to 3 or 4 weeks." Ritchie made the point that, if we went to a provisional ballot system, people who had lost their license just prior to that election "would have to do this", at which point Ritchie crossed his fingers.
First, the odds of a person losing their drivers license right before the election are tiny. Further, if it's taking the DMV 3-4 weeks to process a drivers license, then the DMV needs a top-to-bottom overhaul. Either that or that function needs to be privatized immediately.
Prior to his presentation, Secretary Ritchie handed out an information packet to everyone in the audience. Part of that information packet was an op-ed written by Randy Maluchnik, the president of the Association of Minnesota Counties.
In his op-ed, Mr. Maluchnik states that "Minnesota's counties currently do an excellent job of administering fair and open elections across a state with significant geographic challenges. The lack of any significant voter irregularity for decades supports this assertion."
With all due respect to Mr. Maluchnik, the fact that Minnesota's counties haven't noticed "any significant voter irregularity for decades" doesn't prove anything except that counties haven't detected significant amounts of voting irregularities. It's quite possible that it's happening. It's equally possible that it hasn't been detected because it's impossible to find the things that people refuse to look for.
Another of Secretary Ritchie's stories was about a felon who'd just gotten released from prison. According to Secretary Ritching, the newly-released felon had "turned his life around" and was living in Warroad, MN. Ritchie then said that Warroad was "near the North Dakota border." According to MapQuest, Warroad is over 75 miles from North Dakota.
Again, according to Secretary Ritchie, the just-released felon didn't know that he couldn't vote. Again, according to Secretary Ritchie, this man called his parole officer. He left a message on the parole officer's voicemail saying that he was going to vote. By the time the parole officer responded, the felon had voted, requiring him to be charged with a felony.
According to former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, prisoners that are about to be released are instructed that they aren't eligible to vote until they've finished parole and the Secretary of State's office informs them that their voting rights have been reinstated.
When asked about felons voting, Secretary Ritchie almost squirmed out of his skin. He talked about the felon in Warroad. He talked about how the laws in North and South Dakota are different than Minnesota's election laws.
What's striking is that he never addressed how hundreds of felons had voted illegally and had gotten convicted of voter fraud. According to Rep. Kiffmeyer, it's almost impossible to convict a felon for committing voter fraud because it requires proving that the felon voted knowing that he or she wasn't eligible to vote.
According to Rep. Kiffmeyer, that's why few cases are even brought to trial.
UPDATE: Follow this link to read more aboout Secretary Ritchie's visit to St. Cloud.
Tags: Photo ID , Voter Fraud , Felons , Mark Ritchie , Warroad, MN , Randy Maluchnik , Association of Minnesota Counties , Op-ed , Elections
Posted Wednesday, May 16, 2012 5:28 AM
Comment 1 by Steve Parsons at 16-May-12 09:12 AM
The critical line in your piece is " It's quite possible that it's happening." Almost anything is "possible," but the real question is whether it's probable. Intentional voter fraud (as opposed to mistake)is improbable because there's so little to gain for the individual by committing a felony. The only "gain" would be to a party, candidate, or group that would "gain" by organizing sufficient fraudulent activity to turn an election. It THAT has happened in Minnesota, it's been the best-kept secret since omerta. Oh, yes, and photo ID wouldn't prevent felons who haven't completed parole from voting.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 16-May-12 09:44 AM
Steve, Intentional voter fraud is actually quite well-documented in Minnesota. When thousands of Postal Verification Cards are returned because the address doesn't exist, the odds of these returned PVCs being a keying error by the data entry operator or the registration form was filled out incorrectly is microscopic.
Second, your logic is flawed. There isn't much to gain by robbing a liquor store either but it happens often. Ditto with car theft. Also, when election officials refuse to look for voter fraud, the risk is miniscule & the reward is high. If election officials refuse to look for voter fraud, why wouldn't people in tight races commit voter fraud?
Comment 2 by J. Ewing at 16-May-12 09:12 AM
Perhaps instead of saying "voter fraud" all of the time we could just say "Mark Ritchie." He is the biggest voter fraud in the State. His "errors" run into the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of illegal votes cast, and he has not only not prevented them, or even looking for them after the fact, but actively preventing others from finding them, thus encouraging the fraud!
Comment 3 by Curt Prins at 16-May-12 09:36 AM
Where's your proof, Ewing?
Comment 4 by eric z at 16-May-12 10:29 AM
Dumb voters is a far bigger problem than fraudulent voters. They are far, far, far more numerous. Bright enough to get a photo ID, probably, but little beyond that. And the same day voting you guys want to murder, were it not for that Jesse might have lost to weasel Norm, so same day voting has something going for it. Franken might have lost to weasel Norm, so same day voting has very much going for it.
Comment 5 by Randy Maluchnik AMC President at 16-May-12 11:31 AM
Good discussion, thoughtful piece however my mind has not changed. Thanks for writing to this issue.
Comment 6 by walter hanson at 16-May-12 03:59 PM
Gary:
A little FYI to put into proper discussion about DL issuing. Some drivers licenses the public is told that they will take 4-6 weeks. Part of this is because the state is short staffed or other reasons. Sometimes it's not even the state's fault the person isn't getting their drivers license such as the postal service not delivering it, waiting out a legal suspension time frame, or a flag from another state. Just privatizing DMV will not correct those problems.
Still what you failed to mention is if they had applied for their duplicate dl's they will have their yellow receipt (plus if they have an old clip one 99% of the public accepts that as ID) and should qualify for a provisional ballot which DMV in my professional opinion as a person who works on processing dl applications should be able to be setup to verify applications right after any election day to make the provisional ballots count.
Ritchie despite your attack on DMV was lieing about this being a real issue that will affect lots of people.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 7 by Bob J. at 17-May-12 11:21 AM
The question that needs to be asked, and it should continue to BE asked because no one on the left can ever seem to answer it with any sort of moral clarity is:
Why do liberals have such a problem with using the power of their beloved government to ensure that ALL elections in Minnesota are carried out as fairly as possible, with the power of government harnessed on behalf of the law-abiding, to make sure that the liberal mantra of every legal vote being counted is carried out?
Comment 8 by walter hanson at 17-May-12 09:13 PM
Bob:
That's because that will keep the number of their votes down. Al Franken won by something like 300 votes.
Dayton just 9000.
And before somebody complains this is a phony issue the state of Florida apparently has made an effort to check to see if there any illegal voters on their voter roles and they got into the hundreds of thousands.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Protestors storm Obama campaign HQ
President Obama's week is off to a terrible start. This week, we learned that the DNC is too broke to pay for a real convention. We learned that President Obama's favorite banker, Jamie Dimon helped create a $2,000,000,000 loss for his shareholders.
This morning's news reports highlights another embarrassing story :
Dozens of demonstrators dashed into the Loop building housing President Barack Obama's campaign headquarters this morning, slipping past security guards and running up escalators as they kicked off what they called a "Week Without Capitalism."
Eight protesters were led out in handcuffs about half an hour later after they refused to clear the lobby. They were cheered by other demonstrators who began dancing and singing folk and gospel songs.
The demonstration, organized by the Catholic Worker movement. began with about 100 demonstrators picketing at Prudential Plaza and passing out rolls to commuters in what they called a symbolic invitation to break bread with world leaders expected here this weekend for the NATO summit.
A week without capitalism was the theme of the protest. How appropriate for the Obama administration. The only 'capitalism' they believe in is crony capitalism that subsidizes their political allies' failures.
Conservatives would likely enjoy finding out that the "Catholic Worker Movement" is strikingly similar to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Here's how similar they are:
Soon after legendary folk singer Loudon Wainwright III finished performing for cheering protesters in Zuccotti Park yesterday afternoon, telling them that the Occupy Wall Street encampment reminded him of the 1968 'Summer of Love,' a Catholic Worker band called the Filthy Rotten System showed up.
Bud Courtney, who plays banjo in the group, said its decidedly unholy name came from the late Dorothy Day, who started the Christian-anarchist Catholic Worker Movement 78 years ago with Peter Maurin during the Great Depression. She is now being considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church.
'Dorothy observed that all of our problems come from our acceptance of the filthy rotten system,' said Mr. Courtney, 61, a former actor who served on a Christian Peacemaker Team in Iraq last year and now lives at one of two Catholic Worker hospitality houses in the East Village. With the help of several bandmates as well as protesters who sang along, he belted out Woody Guthrie's classic, 'My Land is Your Land.'
To summarize things to this point, President Obama praised the OWS movement earlier this year. Now an offshoot of the movement is taking Newt Gingrich's advice, though they aren't marching on DC. Instead, they're marching on Obama's campaign HQ in Chicago.
The irony is just sweet.
It wasn't that long ago that Ms. Pelosi was praising the OWS protesters . For that matter , President Obama praised the OWS protesters , too. Now that the protesters President Obama praised have invaded his campaign HQ, what are the odds President Obama will stop praising them?
Ironies this rich should be savored.
Tags: Catholic Workers Movement , OWS , Protesters , President Obama , Campaign Headquarters , Chicago , New York , Zucotti Park , Arlo Guthrie , Democrats , Election 2012
Posted Wednesday, May 16, 2012 6:08 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 16-May-12 10:20 AM
Geithner is Obama's favorite banker. Yet I admit I raise a distinction without any real difference.
Comment 2 by eric z at 16-May-12 10:23 AM
The problem you guys face, Romney is Romney's favorite investment banker. A serial job killer. It is what you have to work with Gary, so I look forward to what the silk purse will look like. All of those earlier thoughts aside.
Response 2.1 by Gary Gross at 16-May-12 02:40 PM
Eric, the first rule of medicine is to do no harm. That means eliminating President Obama's administration. His support for the 'environmentalists' is really support for people who hate private property rights. That must end ASAP. President Obama's assault on fossil fuels is killing family budgets with high gas prices, high grocery prices & expensive electric bills.
I'm not a total Mitt fan by any stretch of the imagination. Still, I'm confident a Romney administration will be far friendlier to families' budgets than this administration is.
Comment 3 by walter hanson at 17-May-12 09:09 PM
Eric:
Um the serial job killer has been Obama.
He told us that if we passed his stimulus plan unemployment won't top 8%. It's still 8.1% today.
GM which you can say had a Bain type takeover and which Obama calls a success cost thousands of GM workers and related jobs their jobs. The tax payer (that's us Eric) is owed billions of dollars. At least with a Bain type takeover Bain paid the bill for failure.
Of course you're one of those people who say others do what you do or support. That's why you lie about Romney and pretend Obama is God.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Rosenstone statement vs. SCSU reality
Since he took over the top position in MnSCU, Chancellor Rosenstone has said the right things. This is a perfect example of that:
'By listening to Minnesota employers, we can obtain a greater, much more precise understanding of the state's workforce needs. Armed with this data, we can ensure that higher education is delivering the right academic programs and preparing graduates with the skills necessary for the success of Minnesota's businesses and communities.' - Chancellor Steven Rosenstone
The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system is committed to supporting economic growth throughout the state. The system's state universities and community and technical colleges provide career preparation and continuing career education for more Minnesotans than any other organization in the state.
By providing customized training to more than 122,000 employees annually, the system helps employers stay competitive and workers advance their skills and manage career changes.
It will take time to see whether they've successfully met the challenge of customizing the training (I'd argue retraining) of Minnesota's workforce. Still, it's more than a bit ironic to see a picture of an SCSU Aviation student in the loop of pictures for their promotion:
I'm not objecting to Chancellor Rosenstone directing universities and especially tech colleges to helping with retraining of Minnesota's workforce. Those things can't help but strengthen Minnesota's workforce.
Still, ignoring transportation needs, which have played an important role in Minnesota's economic success, isn't wise. Aviation has the potential to loosen up traffic congestion in the Twin Cities while helping Minnesota's travelling CEOs be efficient during their travels.
Those are things that can give Minnesota entrepreneurs a competitive advantage over CEOs in other states.
Eliminating the only AABI-accredited Aviation program is foolish in terms of supplying the airline pilots of tomorrow. Considering the fact that a) there's only 26 AABI-accredited aviation programs in the United States and b) Boeing is expecting historic pilot shortages in the near future, now is the worst time to stop the SCSU Aviation program.
I'll definitely give Chancellor Rosenstone the opportunity to make great decisions. He's got a great opportunity to make a great decision right now.
Let's see how he handles it.
Tags: Chancellor Rosenstone , Workforce , Competitiveness , Entrepreneurs , MNSCU , SCSU , AABI , Accreditation , Pilot Shortage
Posted Wednesday, May 16, 2012 7:25 AM
Comment 1 by Darlene Thompson at 16-May-12 01:11 PM
I believe the way President Potter and the Chancellor have handled the closing of the aviation department at SCSU is a big part of the reason the public is so angry at our government. We, the people, are supposed to be the government, but they no longer consider us, our community or the good of our country when they make their decisions, yet they are being paid by "we the people."
I have heard President Potter say the closing of the aviation department was for economic reasons; later he said the aviation department does not fit with where they want SCSU to go. Which one of these is true? Since it has been shown that he made his decision based on inaccurate facts, he should have stepped back and re-evaluated the decision.
He seems to be a man who will listen to only those who agree with him. His decision is not good for the college, it's extremely bad for the community of St. Cloud, even though the Chancellor says MNSCU wants the colleges to work hand in hand with their communities as they make decisions, it's not good for students who would have benefited greatly from the aviation program and job placement with a degree from this program seems to be very high. It's an extremely poor decision for our nation when a severe pilot shortage is looming in the very near future.
Why will these two men not show some maturity, admit they are wrong, and reverse this disastrous decision? If President Potter worked for a private company and made such poor decisions, he would be looking for work. Private companies can not afford his kind of leadership!
Comment 2 by Patrick at 16-May-12 02:06 PM
Darlene
Good post and very to the point. Now I find out that the Strategic Appraisal decisions were made based on inaccurate data so that Aviation would look more expensive than it actually was.
Nothing about the whole Aviation closure process makes sense; it is clear that the Administration made very little effort to look at any data whatsoever! and I have a strong feeling that MNSCU Procedure 3.36.1 Academic Programs, Part 5. Academic Program Approval. Subpart B. Approval of changes to existing academic programs. 1. Closure. was ignored.http://www.mnscu.edu/board/procedure/3-36p1.pdf
