November 2-3, 2011
Nov 02 08:46 David Frum, Political Idiot Nov 02 09:43 Dan Severson's Grand Opening Nov 02 14:58 We Can't Wait, GOP Edition Nov 02 19:09 Cain Chief of Staff reads from script during Bret Baier interview Nov 02 19:48 Photo ID: The Keith Ellison vs. Artur Davis Edition Nov 03 08:08 Letting people decide property tax issues rubs DFL wrong way Nov 03 11:35 Dayton appoints retreads, big gov't liberals to Sunset Commission
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
David Frum, Political Idiot
It isn't a secret that David Frum is a frustrated, petty man. That's been known for at least a couple of years. What's becoming clear is that he's turning into this generation's David Gergen. After reading this op-ed , I have to question Mr. Frum's abilities and his objectivity:
A new CNN poll finds that about half of Republicans sympathize with the tea party movement. The other half either remain aloof or (5%) even express hostility.
That second group of Republicans has received remarkably little media attention this cycle. Yet their man, Mitt Romney, has held steady in first or second place for the past three years. Meanwhile tea party Republicans have bounced from Sarah Palin to Donald Trump to Michele Bachmann to Rick Perry to (now) Herman Cain, transfixing the media every time they lose faith in one messiah and search for another.
Yet sooner or later, the tea party Republicans must converge on a single choice. When they do, they will present the non-tea party Republicans with a troubling menu of possibilities.
First, when the TEA Party settles on 'their candidate', they won't settle on a spineless, finger-in-the-wind politician like Mitt Romney. First, Romney hasn't been consistent on any of the issues. He's frequently wavered back and forth.
Second, when TEA Party Republicans settle on their candidate, whether that's Rick Perry, Herman Cain or Newt Gingrich, they'll get behind that candidate with tons of energy and with tons of small contributions.
The thing that pundits like Mr. Frum hasn't talked about is enthusiasm gap between Mitt and a candidate like Herman Cain. Mitt's enthusiasm rating, if it can be calculated, might be in the low teens on a scale of 1 through 100, with 1 being unenthusiastic. Mr. Cain's enthusiasm rating would be in the 90's.
If a candidate inspires people and is actually qualified to be the next president, that candidate would hold a significant advantage for the primaries.
Here's another of Mr. Frum's mindless meanderings:
From the point of view of a non-tea party Republican, the third possibility is the most tragic waste. A winnable election will be thrown away on an ideological adventure. Yet within the disaster might lurk a silver lining. At least the GOP will get the ideological adventure out of its system. For three years, Republican activists have lived in a fantasy world in which fringe characters like Sarah Palin and Herman Cain somehow "speak for the common sense of the common people." It seems incredible that anybody could believe such a thing. It seems crazy that anyone would actually need a presidential election to disabuse them of such notions. But as Benjamin Franklin said: "Experience is a hard teacher, but fools will have no other."
That's right, Mr. Frum. Ignore the 63 seat gain in the US House of Representatives, the 680 seat gain in state legislative races nationwide for Republicans. Forget about the fact that those statistics wouldn't have happened without common sense people rejecting Mr. Frum's establishment politics.
What's chapping Mr. Frum's hide is that people don't trust spineless, inside-the-Beltway types because they've played a major role in destroying the US economy.
Finally, there's this mindless Frum rant:
Possibility 4: A tea party Republican is nominated and wins.
This possibility has to be reckoned the most unlikely. But it cannot be excluded as utterly impossible, on two conditions:
If the U.S. economy continues as weak and sick as it is today, and;
If tea party Republicans revert from the utterly unelectable Herman Cain to Rick Perry, who as governor of Texas possesses at least the paper qualifications for the presidency.
Then - who knows? - anything might happen.
Perry would be a much weaker candidate than Romney, but if the voters are determined to fire the incumbent, then even a weak challenger can prevail. (See Barack Hussein Obama, 2008 candidacy of.)
In which case, not only tea party Republicans but all Republicans and all Americans will confront the problem: what next?
The tea party stands for a series of propositions that don't meet the reality test: that deficits matter more than jobs, that cutting deficits and tightening credit will accelerate economic growth, that high taxes and over-regulation are the most important reasons that growth has not revived, and that America still offers the world's best opportunity for the poor to rise. Tea party plans call for a radical shift in the burden of taxation from the rich to the poor, and promise big reductions in government spending without touching any of the benefits of current retirees.
That's what mindless blather looks like. It's insulting that idiots like Frum get paid for writing it.
Mr. Frum apparently thinks that overregulation and high taxes wouldn't cripple an already-staggering economy. What galaxy has he lived in the past 3 years? Reality matters...except in Frum's galaxy. That's where insanity rules.
Apparently, the thought that local people making local decisions repulses Mr. Frum. Apparently, Mr. Frum doesn't think highly of keeping the cost of government under control either.
In other words, Mr. Frum's apparently turned into a shit-for-brains liberal idiot.
Posted Wednesday, November 2, 2011 8:46 AM
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Dan Severson's Grand Opening
Tuesday night, I interviewed Dan Severson about his candidacy for the US Senate. Here's what I learned from the interview.
Dan, People know that you're a Navy pilot. How will that experience help you be the leader that Sen. Klobuchar isn't?
A: It took me around the world. It helped me see people thirsting for America's freedoms. Alot of people that I met while I was the GOP outreach coordinator attended tonight's Grand Opening. We didn't just ask for their vote. We made a connection with them. That's why they attended tonight's Grand Opening.
What will you do to capitalize on America's abundant natural resources?
A: It's clear that Rep. Severson is committed to opening up America's abundant natural resources for exploration and production. Rep. Severson said that the EPA and the Interior Department have put too much of our energy supplies offlimits.
On an issue closer to home, Severson said that he'd join Rep. Chip Cravaack in making PolyMet a reality. While it isn't an energy source, it is a source of high-paying jobs.
Rep. Severson said that Klobuchar's failure to lead in making PolyMet a reality is something that the state simply can't afford anymore, suggesting that Minnesota needs a leader, not a talker, as their senator.
I agree with Rep. Severson on this. I wrote here about Sen. Klobuchar's proclivity to photo ops without offering actual solutions:
Minneapolis, MN - At a busy gas station, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar announced that she is asking the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to respond to high gas prices by acting immediately to limit excessive price speculation in the oil markets.
Klobuchar serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
In a letter sent today, Klobuchar urged Commission Chairman Gary Gensler to move forward with rules to restrict the size of speculative investments in oil and other commodities.
She noted that, in response to record high gas prices in 2008, Congress included provisions in the Wall Street reform legislation authorizing the Commission to rein in excessive speculation by hedge funds, investment banks and other financial entities.
However, the Commission has not yet adopted rules, called 'position limits,' to restrict purely speculative contracts in oil futures. These rules would reduce price volatility by helping to ensure that supply-and-demand market factors, rather than financial manipulation by non-oil traders, determine gas prices for consumers.
'When we saw oil prices rise to record levels in 2008, I said we needed a cop on the beat to protect American families and businesses from artificially high gas prices created by excessive speculation,' said Klobuchar. 'Now is the time to make sure the cop is on the job, vigilant and armed with the authority to enforce fair rules in the marketplace.'
Sen. Klobuchar is a pro's pro at attending photo ops. She's a total failure at figuring out solutions to Minnesota's biggest crises.
If Minnesota decides that it's more important to have a smiling lady with a far left voting record and a history of attending photo ops represent them, then Amy's their clear choice.
However, if Minnesota decides that it's more important to have a senator that listens to the people and is committed to creating real jobs in the private sector, then Dan Severson would be a great choice.
Posted Wednesday, November 2, 2011 9:43 AM
Comment 1 by Dave Thul at 02-Nov-11 09:34 PM
Not to nitpick, But did Dan answer the questions or did his campaign? The first answer is in the first person and the next is in the third.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 02-Nov-11 09:45 PM
Dave, I spoke directly with Dan. I was quick enough to quote his first answer but I just simply wasn't fast enough to quote his other answer. That's my bad. I'm not fast enough on the keyboard & I don't have a recorder to make an audio of interviews. That's what happens with a low-rent operation like mine.
Comment 2 by MplsSteve at 02-Nov-11 10:17 PM
I attended the event last night. I am all in favor of a big-tent GOP where Hispanics, the Hmong, etc. all feel the GOP is the place they want to be. We do need to reach out to them.
But I have to ask...
Is it worth the campaign's time to reduce the Hmong % of the DFL vote from, for example, 92% to 88% - while ignoring areas like Rochester, Plymouth or Cottage Grove?
Will this campaign have the resources to do it all? At this immediate point, I have to say No.
This election will hopefully be won in those above-mentioned areas - not in the east side of St. Paul or in the Cedar-Riverside area of Minneapolis.
We Can't Wait, GOP Edition
President Obama's mantra recently starts with "We can't wait..." According to this wayward president, we can't wait to go deeper into debt. We can't wait to cripple America's economy with high energy prices. Most importantly, according to President Obama, we can't wait while the Democrat-controlled Senate sits on its hands rather than voting on the House of Representatives' serious, job-creating proposals. Phil Kerpen's NRO op-ed makes the case why we can and should wait:
Consider, from that same day-after press conference, how Obama answered a question about what would happen to cap-and-trade, his signature plan to bankrupt the coal industry and make energy prices skyrocket. This was the day after dozens of House Democrats had been defeated largely because of their support for the bill, which died without even being considered in the Senate. Obama said: 'Cap-and-trade was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way. It was a means, not an end. And I'm going to be looking for other means to address this problem.'
Why is President Obama in a hurry to kill America's energy industry? We know he wants to because he's said he wants to kill America's energy industry :
What I've said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else's out there.
I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.
So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.
It's apparent that President Obama is driven to demolish economies in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Indiana.
Simply put, America can't wait to throw this bum out of office. America can't wait to erase the mistake they made in 2008. America can't wait to start undoing the damage that this administration has done. America can't wait to restore the federal government to its constitutional limits.
Most importantly, America can't wait to get America's economy going again. In fact, America can't wait to stop this administration's ill-advised economic prescriptions.
They can't wait because the economic policies of this administration and the Democrat Congress lengthened the Great Recession. They've been highly ideological. Most importantly, they've been total failures.
Finally, We The People can't wait until early voting and absentee voting start. That's when the first votes will be cast to sweep this corrupt administration from office.
Posted Wednesday, November 2, 2011 2:58 PM
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Cain Chief of Staff reads from script during Bret Baier interview
Of all the things I've seen in presidential campaigns, I'd never witnessed a presidential candidate's chief of staff use a script to answer an interviewer's questions. That streak came to a screaching halt tonight when Mark Block, Cain's chief of staff, appeared on Special Report:
Frankly, Mark Block's performance on TV was an embarrassing moment in presidential campaign history.
What's particularly embarrassing for the Cain campaign is that a) they essentially admitted that they don't have proof that the Perry campaign leaked these sexual harrassment allegations to Politico and b) Herman Cain briefed the alleged leaker on the sexual harrassment allegations in 2003 prior to his run for the US Senate in Georgia.
Cain started Monday he didn't know about a settlement that the NRA might've reached with the women alleging sexual harrassment. That the Cain campaign has now admitted that Cain briefed Curt Anderson about the allegations just 6 years ago is a huge change in Cain's story.
First, Cain's chief of staff is so inept that he has to read from a prepared script when accusing the Perry campaign of leaking the story. Next, Cain's chief of staff admits on national TV that he couldn't prove his allegation. Finally, this story has been floating around for years.
Each day, the Cain campaign is proving itself significantly short of being ready for primetime. Block's performance, and it was a performance, was pathetic. The more they mishandle this scandal, the more inept they look.
Leadership includes the ability to articulate important facts. Mr. Cain hasn't shown an ability to articulate important facts. He's just shown an ability to give nice sounding speeches.
UPDATE: HotAir has posted another update about possible sexual harrassment by Herman Cain:
'Like awkward/inappropriate things he's said to two females on my staff, that the fact the guy's wife is never around: that's almost always a warning flag to me,' Deace wrote. 'But I chose to leave that stuff out [of the opinion piece] and make it about his record and not the personal stuff.'
Pressed about what exactly Cain said to the employees of his show, Deace responded by describing how he himself treats his staff.
'Many a man has been done in by the inability to control his urges,' Deace wrote. 'I am no different and just as vulnerable as any other man, which is why I put safeguards around me and hold myself accountable to my wife and other men in my life. Especially since I have very talented employees that happen to be women. I go out of my way to treat them like my sisters. For example, I wouldn't tell them or any other woman I am not married to nor related to how pretty she is.'
Let's hope Mr. Cain's attempt to explain this away isn't that the attacks are racially motivated or that people need to get a sense of humor. This time, a man came forward to talk about Cain's alleged inappropriate behavior. This time, the source isn't anonymous.
How Mr. Cain handles this will be telling.
At some point, Cain's supporters will have to make a decision, a decision on whether he's just too loose a cannon and not fit temperamentally for being POTUS.
Posted Wednesday, November 2, 2011 8:08 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 03-Nov-11 07:45 AM
Off point, not any attempt to hijack a thread.
I toggled your site meter sidebar item.
It is good that people are visiting and reading your work.
It is bad that more are not doing so.
Often in disagreement with you when you publish opinion, I value your effort, the time you take, and the information you publish. And seeing opposing opinions argued is a helpful thing for anyone going to the ballot box. It would be boring if everyone said largely the same thing - a two-party system problem.
That said, back to raising Cain ...
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 03-Nov-11 08:13 AM
Thanks Eric. We've had our disagreements but you've kept it civil. Passionate but civil. I think of you as the Pat Caddell or the Doug Schoen of the DFL, not the Alan Grayson of the DFL.
Comment 3 by eric z at 03-Nov-11 01:25 PM
I LIKE Grayson.
Comment 4 by Gary Gross at 03-Nov-11 02:02 PM
Seriously? The guy's a liar & a hater. He's the most despicable man I've ever seen in Congress & that's saying alot.
Comment 5 by eric z at 03-Nov-11 03:50 PM
That duplicability honor goes to Michael Joseph "Ozzie" Meyers. In the old days of the '70's. No need to Google. He's the congressman, subsequently expelled, who was caught on tape by the Abscam team with the famous quote about his sympathies for the alleged Arab multimillionaires and their desires, "Money talks and Bullshit walks." He wins, most despicable.
Back to Cain and Block, Block's reportedly got his own closet full of rattling skeletons, however, the Nation is not an entirely unbiased outlet:
thenation.com/blog/164346/herman-cain-david-koch-scott-walker-paul-ryan-smoking-man
It was follow the money with Abscam.
It appears it may end up being follow the money with Mark Block. Time will determine whether this story grows legs.
Finally, if you know, is it the campaign's money or Michele's private money from the book's general sales, (if any)? I know her recent email solicitation of $75 and $125 pops for signed and/or personalized advanced copies was for the benefit of the campaign. But where the personal/campaign line is drawn was unclear in the reporting I read.
Photo ID: The Keith Ellison vs. Artur Davis Edition
This afternoon, Rep. Keith Ellison submitted 2 pieces of legislation that would ban the use of Photo ID for federal elections . Predictably, Rep. Ellison's statement was hyperbole-filled:
'In America, our right to vote is a sacred right, and a moral obligation,' Ellison stated. 'We must do everything that encourages, fosters and facilitates everyone's ability to exercise that right. While photo ids seem harmless, they are in fact the modern day poll tax,' Ellison said. Poll taxes were used extensively throughout the South from Reconstruction through the Jim Crow era to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Black voters. In 1964, Congress ratified the 24th Amendment which banned poll taxes.
The requirement for photo ids in federal elections can impose a burdensome requirement and ultimately disenfranchises hundreds of thousands of voters, particularly low-income, communities of color, senior citizens, women and young people.
Recently, the Chief of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Voting Rights Division, John Tanner confirmed this when stating: 'It's probably true that among those who don't [have Photo ID], it's primarily elderly persons. And that's a shame. Of course...our society is such that minorities don't become elderly. The way that white people do. They die first."
Rep. Ellison apparently thinks that he's become the newest Supreme Court justice. That's based on his statement that photo ID are "the modern day poll tax." That was settled with the Crawford v. Marion County Election Board ruling . Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the majority opinion. Though legally less powerful than Justice Stevens' majority opinion, former Congressman Artur Davis' op-ed, which I wrote about here , is a powerful rebuttal against Ellison's claims:
I've changed my mind on voter ID laws; I think Alabama did the right thing in passing one; and I wish I had gotten it right when I was in political office.
When I was a congressman, I took the path of least resistance on this subject for an African American politician. Without any evidence to back it up, I lapsed into the rhetoric of various partisans and activists who contend that requiring photo identification to vote is a suppression tactic aimed at thwarting black voter participation.
The truth is that the most aggressive contemporary voter suppression in the African American community , at least in Alabama, is the wholesale manufacture of ballots , at the polls and absentee, in parts of the Black Belt.
Voting the names of the dead, and the nonexistent, and the too-mentally-impaired to function, cancels out the votes of citizens who are exercising their rights ; that's suppression by any light. If you doubt it exists, I don't; I've heard the peddlers of these ballots brag about it, I've been asked to provide the funds for it, and I am confident it has changed at least a few close local election results.
The last part of Mr. Davis's statement is especially powerful:
If you doubt it exists, I don't; I've heard the peddlers of these ballots brag about it, I've been asked to provide the funds for it, and I am confident it has changed at least a few close local election results.
Mr. Davis said that a) voter fraud happens in Alabama, b) he knows about it because he's been asked to provide funds to make it happen and c) he's "confident it has changed at least a few close local election results."
Equally powerful is the fact that, in his mind, "voting the names of the dead, and the nonexistent, and the too-mentally-impaired to function, cancels out the votes of citizens who are exercising their rights..."
Rep. Ellison is a political hack who's trying to gin up support in the black community. He knows that the turnout for President Obama's 2008 election victory won't happen if Democrats can't artificially gin up voter intensity in the black community.
That's why Artur Davis' op-ed is powerful. His op-ed eviscerates the typical liberal arguments. This statement doesn't help Rep. Ellison's case:
The fact that a law that is unlikely to impede a single good faith voter, and that only gives voting the same elements of security as writing a check at the store, or obtaining a library card, is controversial [says alot] about the raw feelings in our current politics.
I'd love hearing Keith Ellison's argument that a properly administered Photo ID law "is unlikely to impede a single good faith voter."
UPDATE: I just got this tweet from Rep. Ellison to my question about Artur Davis:
Artur is a friend but we disagree on this.
That's a nice all-purposes reply but it doesn't say why he disagrees with Mr. Davis. Does Rep. Ellison not believe Davis's story about having firsthand knowledge of voter fraud in Alabama? Does Rep. Ellison think it's ok for legal voters to have their votes essentially nullified by people voting illegally?
Posted Wednesday, November 2, 2011 7:50 PM
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Letting people decide property tax issues rubs DFL wrong way
Apparently, the DFL doesn't like civic participation, at least when it comes to K-12 referenda. Their reaction to Pat Garofalo's statement on getting people involved is pretty stunning. Here's the radical idea Chairman Garofalo is proposing:
Minnesota House Education Finance Committee Chairman Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, today unveiled proposed legislation that would require school districts to hold their levy referendums in General Election years.
'This bill is about transparency, open democracy and greater public participation in school levies,' Garofalo said. 'Districts know the facts - their levies are more likely to be approved in odd-year elections because of lower turnout and lower voter engagement. There are more than $900 million worth of tax revenue increases over the next five years on the ballot next week, and that deserves the voting public's maximum attention.'
According to the Minnesota Department of Education, referendums held during odd-year elections pass at a rate of more than 70 percent. Conversely, during even-year elections when statewide elections are held for state or federal offices, that percentage falls to 52 percent of referendums that pass.
'This bill would prevent situations where districts put a referendum on the ballot intentionally in an odd-year election to exploit lower turnout,' Garofalo said. Because state education funding is set during legislative sessions in odd-numbered years, holding referendums in even-year elections would also give schools and taxpayers time to fully assess their district's financial situation. Many schools have also not finalized teacher contracts, forcing voters to make a decision on referendums without knowing the full picture of their district's costs.
'The governor and the Legislature this year agreed to a $650 million increase in education funding, and now just a few months later many districts are back asking for more. Some of them were planning for levies even before the Legislature adjourned, regardless of what the state would provide. Holding elections in General Election years is the most open, transparent way for schools to make their case to voters,' Garofalo said.
That sensible idea drew this dramatic reaction from liberal blogger Eric Austin:
Pat Garofalo, Republican chairman of the Education Finance Committee in the Minnesota House of Representatives was one of the architects of the school shift that stole money from local school districts so that his caucus could avoid raising taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans. Now, over 1/3 of school districts are asking their local communities to renew or add levies to pay for the stolen funds and decade long flat funding.
In swoops Garofalo to cry FOUL ! How dare these districts try to recoup some of the funds lost or stolen. His method of punishment? Restricting local districts ability to levy money from their local community :
St. Paul, Minn. - State Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, says schools should only hold levy votes in even-numbered years, when turnout is already higher for other elections.
That's quite the dramatic reaction for something that seems so sensible. There's nothing radical about wanting as many people voting on important issues as possible, especially on votes that potentially affect their property taxes.
Mindy Greiling, the DFL's K-12 education guru, thinks otherwise :
'Legislative Republicans tied one hand behind the back of school districts with their shifts and gimmicks. Now they want to tie the other hand to prevent districts from compensating for their borrowing which now totals $4,168 per student.
'This proposal is an attack on local control. Minnesota communities should be trusted to make appropriate budget decisions that are best for their schools and children. I have not heard from a single Minnesotan who feels she needs to be protected from her predatory locally-elected school board. Rather, this is a deflection by legislative Republicans who are facing harsh criticism about their misplaced priorities from all corners of the state. Minnesota schools are now owed $3.45 billion and there is no plan in place to pay it back. Parents, students and school districts are fed up that this year's legislature borrowed unprecedented amounts from our students.
'With continued underfunding of local schools, more school districts are asking voters to renew existing levies as well as fund general operations rather than cut teachers or increase class sizes. Today's proposal is a distraction from this year's $2.2 billion shift where Republicans withheld funding from schools in order to dole back a bit of an increase, which districts used to pay interest on their bank loans.
First, if Rep. Greiling is truly interested in "Minnesota communities" making "appropriate budget decisions", shouldn't she want the highest percentage of people in their communities making those decisions? Isn't Rep. Greiling's complaint really that she doesn't want a big turnout deciding levy referenda?
The DFL is doing their best to try and get people to forget that Gov. Dayton's school shift was significantly more draconian. The GOP finally got Gov. Dayton to agree to a 60/40 school shift. Gov. Dayton initially offered a 50/50 school shift.
If Mr. Austin and Rep. Greiling want to complain, they should start with Gov. Dayton.
Further, Rep. Greiling's comment that 'This proposal is an attack on local control" is absurd in the extraordinary. By attacking Chairman Garofalo's proposal, Rep. Greiling is saying she's ok with a handful of people deciding local property taxes. Holding elections in odd-numbered years means a tiny fraction of a school district's population can tip a levy in the district's way.
This commentary by Austin is condescending in the extreme:
How about, Pat, you let us handle our business in our local school districts and you handle your business at the Capitol.
That's right. The teachers and the teachers union want to handle the education system. They think that they know what's best for students. Look at their reaction to voting on school levy referenda when turnout is traditionally higher.
BTW, what do teaching methods have to do with figuring out that school districts have too many administrators or not?
Posted Thursday, November 3, 2011 8:08 AM
Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 03-Nov-11 10:09 AM
This would be so much easier if school districts were required to spell out exactly what would have to be "cut" if an operating levy did not pass, and if they had to PROVE that those cuts were the "lowest priority spending items" in the budget. Of course, most districts could not pass either requirement. They either do not know or will not say, vastly preferring to threaten cuts to what they KNOW are the highest priority spending items, and the ones with the biggest emotional appeal.
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 03-Nov-11 10:48 AM
BINGO!!! You're exactly right, Jerry!!!
Comment 3 by Rex Newman at 03-Nov-11 09:35 PM
Garofalo was great on Late Debate last night, Davis & Emmer this morning. He almost sounds like a liberal framing it as "greater participation" etc. I'd go a little further and end all odd-year and special elections. I don't have a problem with the Governor making interim appointments until the next even-year November election, like in the case of our late Sen. Scheid.
And the schools can wait it out, too.
Comment 4 by eric z at 04-Nov-11 06:28 AM
Those who have said "nanny state" want the state to tell local government when they may or may not hold elections? There are glaring inconsistencies to that suggestion, and it need a bit of sunshine.
Some of the dumbest electorates turn out in presidential years, because their passions have been inflamed by the propagandists - and down ballot havoc is all too often a result.
Deny that if you care to, but an informed electorate is, at best, a goal or concept. Argue if you will that an informed electorate turnout is a universal and repeated reality. Can your heart and mind really make such an assertion? Mine cannot.
Will you say the electorates were misled or lacking judgments should your favored GOP presidential candidate of the present batch not be the nominee? There may well be a public circling of the wagons for the one left standing, but in the private grumblings, will you believe "The best person won?"
If electorates were more capable, spending and advertising should be lesser factors. Yet the deep pocket usually prevails. Yet getting elected remains a money game. Mudslinging should be ineffective. Parties beyond two in number should prosper and win elections.
Locally, especially in presidential election years, the city council or mayoral candidate with the most highway signs usually wins. That is a down-ballot reality. In off year elections and in special elections this is less so. Is sign numbers a measure of capability or potential? I do not think so.
Comment 5 by Gary Gross at 04-Nov-11 09:00 AM
Locally, especially in presidential election years, the city council or mayoral candidate with the most highway signs usually wins.Ask Jim Oberstar how that strategy worked in 2010.
You talk about electorates that aren't informed tipping elections. That's a fair topic but it isn't the dominant topic to be considered in this.
Shouldn't we cringe at the thought that 'the education community' essentially determine whether levies are passed? I don't want any group to have that type of influence on my taxes.
Comment 6 by LadyLogician at 04-Nov-11 11:49 PM
Actually Eric has a point. That said, when the City of Prior Lake started exploring this option on it's own, guess who raised a huge ruckus....You know it - Education MN and the District 719 teachers unions....
These stories are just too easy to come by any more.
LL
Dayton appoints retreads, big gov't liberals to Sunset Commission
Predictably, Gov. Dayton picked 3 political retreads and a corrupt enforcer from the DFL's family of special interest allies to the Sunset Commission:
His four appointments to the commission, charged with figuring out if the state can end some functions, were Matt Entenza, Sharon Erickson-Ropes, Javier Morillo and Ruth Orrick.
Entenza, a former House Minority Leader, ran against Dayton in the DFL gubernatorial primary last year; Erickson-Ropes is a former DFL state Senator who was ousted last year; Morillo is a longtime union activist and Orrick is a former DFL party chair and served on Dayton's transition team.
First, Javier Morillo-Alicea isn't just "a longtime union activist." He's a registered lobbyist . He's the president of SEIU Local 26 . Calling Morillo-Alicea "a longtime union activist" connotes the image of a blue collar, rank-and-file kind of guy.
His union played a major role in the biggest smear campaign in Minnesota gubernatorial election history. He's a frequent spinmeister on @Issue With Tom Hauser and Almanac's Roundtable.
Morillo-Alicea's presence on the Sunset Commission is that of enforcer of ideological purity. People meandering away from the unions' wishlist will be punished, possibly primaried.
Matt Entenza is a major advocate of overbloated government. He won't let real reforms happen. He's anti-reform, pro-status quo. He's for making government bigger.
Putting him or Morillo-Alicea on a panel charged with keeping government right-sized is like putting Gov. Romney in charge of a class on maintaining policy consistency.
Morillo-Alicea's other role will be to fight against eliminating any union jobs and criticize Republicans for hating "working families."
Predictably, Gov. Dayton's picks show that he's anti-reform, at least reforms that his special interest allies don't give him permission to sign off on.
That isn't reform. That's special interest pandering.
Posted Thursday, November 3, 2011 11:35 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 03-Nov-11 01:23 PM
Politics is a spoils of war affair. Your guy Pawlenty, how quickly, conveniently, you forget.
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 03-Nov-11 02:03 PM
I know you love big gov't but letting bureaucrats do the same old, same old is just spending the taxpayers' money foolishly.
Comment 3 by eric z at 04-Nov-11 06:02 AM
It would not grieve me to see the Sunset on Matt Entenza's career. Neither party needs close ties to UnitedHealth. Even if severed ties are argued, distance has been created, the hand that fed you [and spouse] is not expected to be bitten, independent of the question of whether a bite is deserved.
The question is whether these commissions, special commissions with specific jurisdictions, ever do much.
Questions like that could as well be run through the Citizens League. Perhaps in parallel.
And Gary, the GOP can fund its own commission on the same issue and publish its own findings and suggestions. Nothing is stopping them. Unless a pre-existant half-million unpaid debt is a factor.
Back to my point - Pawlenty did exactly the same thing, and the quality of people he appointed often were not too great. His pick for Lt. Governor was kind of an insult to us all. Then giving the person two hats, MnDOT, and bridge maintenance ...
Comment 4 by Gary Gross at 04-Nov-11 09:17 AM
First, Matt Entenza isn't a particularly bright person. Second, It's important that we pick reform-minded people to serve on this commission.
It's important because we're still using a 1980's model of gov't in the 21st Century. That's absurd. If businesses tried doing that, they'd be out of business in a month.
If you're in favor of passing a law outlawing retreads, whether it's Arne Carlson, Dave Durenberger or Matt Entenza, of serving on commissions, I'm ok with that.
Comment 5 by walter hanson at 04-Nov-11 01:52 PM
Gary:
Eric doesn't care that Dayton put on four big spenders who will basically say that everything is an essential program and won't sunset a single cent. Too bad we don't have a governor who will take this seriously. Ventura at least would've taken it a little more seriously than Dayton is.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 6 by True North Fan at 04-Nov-11 10:47 PM
What a f*****g joke. Put people on the Commission who've worked in State government and can prove reform is needed. Are they accepting volunteers?
TNF
Comment 7 by Gary Gross at 05-Nov-11 12:20 AM
I'd love to see Gov. Dayton appoint Mitch Berg, John Hinderaker & Ed Morrissey to the commission.
Comment 8 by walter hanson at 05-Nov-11 03:28 PM
Gary:
Keep in mind AFSCME probably handed him a list of people who they thought will be good members of the commission and he picked from their list. Some how I don't think Mitch, John, and Ed made their list.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 9 by Greg Lang at 07-Nov-11 07:30 AM
Don't forget "Matt" Entenza hiring someone who tried to portray Mike Hatch as a gay cruiser. Mike Hatch is a lot of thing but one parking ticket with an alibi at a gay cruising site does not make Mike Hatch a gay cruiser. (how does "Matt" Entenza know these things?)
