Sago » Entries tagged with "DFL"
Gov. Dayton, what about the miners?
Earlier this week, Gov. Dayton joined DFL lawmakers in Duluth to pretend that building a new Vikings stadium was all that was needed for a great Minnesota economy: “Thousands of people are going to be working on that stadium, and on the transit center in Duluth. Those aren’t just words, those are real jobs,” Dayton said, referring to $6 million included in the state bonding construction bill for the $27 million downtown transit hub supporters say will link bus, taxi and train passengers with hikers and bikers. Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said Republicans seemed content the past two years with passing little or no legislation to create jobs or move the state forward. “We saved the Republicans from what would have been the largest do-nothing session in state history,” Bakk said, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Raw
Which Minnesota do the people want?
One of the few things that I’ve ever agreed with Chris Matthews about was his questioning GOP presidential candidates in 2000 what type of America they wanted to live in. It’s a great question which is scalable to state and local levels, too. The DFL’s special interest allies started their barrage of lies against the GOP legislature by accusing the GOP legislature of being a do-nothing legislature. Those attacks took another hit thanks to Mark Sommerhauser’s article: Rep. King Banaian, R-St. Cloud, sponsored a provision included in a broader colleges and universities act, which he says should help students shop for textbooks. The provision requires the price of textbooks and other key information be posted online with a college or university course schedule, and requires that information be available to students longer … Read entire article »
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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 … Read entire article »
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A Better Legislature: Already misleading Minnesota
Minutes after the legislature recessed, a new progressive organization joined in misleading Minnesotans. The people writing ads for A Better Legislature made it clear that they share ABM’s disdain for telling the whole truth. If history was written based solely on their first video, you’d think that nothing positive got accomplished during the 2011-12 legislative sessions. ABL didn’t waste time before ignoring the GOP legislature’s positive pro-jobs and pro-taxpayer accomplishments. If we based our votes on who accomplished and/or proposed positive things this session, the decision would be over within minutes. The DFL refused to propose a budget. The DFL didn’t put a set of redistricting maps together. Sen. Bakk and Rep. Thissen wanted a government shutdown because they thaught they could force Republicans into a tax increase during a special session. Another … Read entire article »
Filed under: Raw
Session highs and lows
Thursday night, the Minnesota legislature adjourned sine die. Now that the 87th Session of the Minnesota Legislature is history, it’s time to take a look back at the highs and lows of this legislative session. King Banaian’s HF2 legislation will have a substantial impact on the structure of state government. That’s long forgotten because it was passed during the special session that ended the state government shutdown. Dan Fabian’s HF1 legislation was one of the first bills signed into law in 2011. Its impact will be felt for years to come. In fact, the impact is already being felt. It’s a shame that this legislative session’s highlights are the historic state government shutdown and passing the Vikings stadium bill. The bill that Gov. Dayton signed into law in mid-July, 2011 was the bill … Read entire article »
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Paul Thissen, House Minority Spin Leader
When Gov. Dayton vetoed the GOP tax reform bill, he vetoed a bill that would’ve created lots of jobs. He then had another hissy fit about the rich not paying their fair share and how the middle class is getting shafted, blah, blah, blah. House Minority Leader Paul Thissen quickly issued this statement: In this tax bill[,] Republicans made it crystal clear that corporations and big businesses are their top priority. But cutting taxes for corporations and big businesses while ignoring homeowners, seniors and farmers is the wrong priority. Governor Dayton made the right choice for Minnesota’s future by vetoing it. Republicans are simply out of touch with middle class Minnesotans, seniors and farmers. Last year they squeezed Minnesotans with higher property taxes when they eliminated the Homestead Credit while protecting corporate special … Read entire article »
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Three blind mice (Bakk, Thissen & Winkler) won’t find jobs in tax bill
It isn’t surprising that Rep. Winkler’s tax bill is a jobkiller. What’s surprising is that he got Reps. Thissen, Hortman, Greiling, Hornstein, Anzelc and Ward to sign onto the bill as co-sponsors. This op-ed does a great job of explaining why this bill is a jobkiller: So why is Rep. Ryan Winkler, D-Golden Valley, supporting a 900-percent increase in taxes on corporations for increasing a firm’s payroll as the chief author of H.F. 2480? Minnesota taxes its corporations on an average of three items: sales; property value; and payroll. It has wisely relied mostly on the sales factor, and indeed had planned to use it alone in 2014. Thus, adding another worker would not add a dime to the corporation’s tax bill. Rep. Winkler’s tax increase is a job killer because it … Read entire article »
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Spoken like a true socialist, Part II
Saturday, I wrote this post to highlight Sen. Anderson’s statements about how tax cuts don’t create jobs. Here’s what Sen. Anderson said early in the roundtable: The Governor was clear from the beginning that he wasn’t going to support this proposal. He wasn’t going to support something that was all about corporate tax cuts and very little, tiny bit of help for average people in the form of property taxes but most of it in the form of tax breaks for corporations. Never, ever work to create jobs and adding to the budget deficit. As foolish as that statement is, Sen. Anderson wasn’t finished. Later, she got into this fight with Andy Brehm: BREHM: The biggest problem we have in Minnesota right now is jobs and I wish this was as obvious as … Read entire article »
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Gov. Dayton sides with unions…again
It isn’t surprising that Gov. Dayton has sided with the PEUs each time he’s had the chance to side with working class people. That’s why it’s disappointing, not surprising to read about this: St. Paul – Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Pat Shortridge issued the following statement regarding Governor Dayton’s veto of the Last In, First Out (LIFO) legislation that would have allowed schools to make teacher employment decisions based on more than just seniority, including teacher effectiveness. If we thought it was all about our children and providing them with the best possible education, we were wrong. Governor Dayton has once again sided with the teacher unions over our children. Minnesota children deserve the best possible education, and eliminating the Last In, First Out policy is an important reform that would … Read entire article »
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Tarryl’s spin, Chip’s solutions
If ever there was a video that was nothing but spin, Tarryl’s introduction into Eighth District politics fits that bill: Tarryl’s video starts with scenes from the Duluth Harbor and the start of the St. Louis River. Tarryl then says that she’s from Central Minnesota before saying “I’m running for office but I think of myself as a public servant.” According to the Secretary of State’s website, Public Servant Tarryl Clark has been running for office since 2000. While Tarryl might think of herself as a public servant, people who’ve seen her in action think of her as a career politician. Public servant is just a euphemism. What’s laughable is the last line of the video. That’s where she says “If you elect me, I will go and fight for you.” What makes it … Read entire article »
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Chip Cravaack by the numbers
The DFL approach to defeating Chip Cravaack is apparent. The DFL will apparently attempt to paint Chip as someone who doesn’t care about the district and as a capetbagger. The Duluth News Tribune’s op-ed in Sunday’s paper won’t end the DFL’s spin. The DFL’s spin machine is truth resistant. Nonetheless, it’s worth noting their statistics: No matter what anyone may have predicted, Cravaack has been spending far more than a day a week back home in Minnesota, working with constituents and staying in touch with their needs and challenges. In 2011, he spent 164 days in Minnesota’s 8th District, or more than three days a week, according to the pages of the congressman’s official calendar and schedule, access to which was granted exclusively to the News Tribune Opinion page. Cravaack spent … Read entire article »
Filed under: Raw
Arne Carlson ignores Minnesota’s Constitution
For the past 5 years plus, Republicans have refered to erstwhile Gov. Arne Carlson as a RINO. Today, I’m setting the record straight. He isn’t a RINO. He’s a Democrat. PERIOD. This video attack on Mary Kiffmeyer, his buying into the DFL’s lies about Photo ID as voter suppression, suggest that he isn’t in touch with reality. Here’s a transcript of the interview: CARLSON: Be that as it may, I grew up in the Bronx of New York City. We never owned a car. Where would I get a Photo ID. This is the party of Abraham Lincoln. This is the party of Theodore Roosevelt. This is the party of Dwight Eisenhower, the party of Ronald Reagan. They welcomed people in. When did we suddenly turn over the keys to voting to Kiffmeyer … Read entire article »
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Did Senate kill Vikings’ stadium bill?
The Senate Finance Committee unexpectedly voted to include Racino in the Vikings stadium bill. Julie Rosen’s expression says it all: But adding racino gambling would cost needed political support, said Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, sponsor of the stadium bill in the Senate. She called its addition “a serious blow to the bill.” “It will have to be taken out,” Rosen said. A spokeswoman for Dayton said she couldn’t say whether the DFL governor would sign a stadium bill that included racino gambling. Earlier Wednesday, Dayton said he didn’t think racino should be in the stadium plan. If it’s challenged in court, he said, the sale of construction bonds would have to be postponed until the legal process had concluded. Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, sponsor of the bill in the House, said … Read entire article »
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Radio station owners, spines and the Left’s censorship
Last week, Mitch Berg wrote a brilliant series of articles about U of M Professor WB Gleason’s threat to file an FCC complaint against Late Debate’s Jack Tomczak. Specifically, Gleason threatened to file the FCC complaint over some tweets made by Jack. As Mitch highlighted in this post, the FCC doesn’t have jurisdiction over tweets: Of course, Channel Five doesn’t phrase their requests for interviews with terms like “asshole“. Which was Tomczak’s sole mistake. But, I hasten to add, that took place on Twitter – a place where the FCC has no jurisdiction. Despite conservatives’ warning the station that they shouldn’t cave to Gleason, that’s precisely what 95.9 did. To say that this touched off a firestorm amongst conservatives is understatement. Jen DeJournett, co-founder of VOICES of Conservative Women, sent this letter to … Read entire article »
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Gov. Dayton sides with unions…again
It’s almost like this isn’t news. Gov. Dayton sided with his union thug allies rather than with parents: St. Paul- Governor Mark Dayton announced Friday his rejection of efforts by the legislature to ensure child care assistance dollars are not diverted to unions. Senate Assistant Majority Leader Ted Lillie (R-Lake Elmo), chief author of House File 1766 (SF 1630), gave the following statement after the Governor’s veto. “I am surprised and disappointed by the Governor’s decision to leave dollars meant for the care of our children unprotected from union hands. Our priority is to act as faithful stewards of taxpayer dollars and also to protect private businesses from government overreach. With his veto today, the Governor does nothing to prevent unions from capturing tax payer dollars intended for the care of our children,” … Read entire article »
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Is MnSCU overfunded?
Back in March, 2007, DFL Sen. Sandy Pappas said that the GOP was “starving higher education.” The higher education budget increased by $296,000,000 that biennium: Under the Senate targets, public education would get the most of $1.3 billion in new money: $498 million in the next two years. Following would be higher education ($296 million) and health and human services ($245 million). Other parts of the budget would get relatively insignificant increases considering the total state spending will top $34 billion over the next two years. Despite that 11.3% increase, DFL Sen. Pappas still said this: Higher Education Chairwoman Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, said college and university funding is far from enough. “We are starving higher education,” she said. It’s worth noting that tuition increased at Minnesota universities despite that hefty increase. Besides, I’d … Read entire article »
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Franken won’t let Buffett Rule die
Whatever else is said about the Buffett Rule, one thing’s certain: Sen. Franken won’t let it die: Sen. Franken, who co-sponsored the defeated Buffett Rule provision, said voters will invariably need to compare the Democrats’ approach with that put forward by House Republicans, who passed a budget that couples lowered tax rates across the board with deep cuts to federal spending. Franken said he preferred to raise revenue through taxes on high-income earners to prevent deeper cuts from coming elsewhere. “Anybody who’s been on the ground looking at what the economy has been doing knows that we have to make investments in education and infrastructure and innovation,” Franken said. “If you don’t have some more revenue coming in you can’t do that without increasing the deficit.” First, if Sen. Franken thinks that the … Read entire article »
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DFL legislators kill Vikings stadium in committee
In the end, the funding mechanism was too complicated, too volatile to work. Tonight, 5 DFL legislators serving on the House Government Operations Committee essentially killed the Vikings stadium bill for this session: After clearing two House committees with relative ease this month, a bill to use public money to help build a Minnesota Vikings stadium in Minneapolis was defeated Monday night, April 16, in a third, dealing a potentially fatal blow to the project’s chances this legislative session. In a 9-6 vote that was bipartisan in its opposition, the House Government Operations and Elections Committee declined to go along with even a watered-down motion to pass the bill “without recommendation” to the House Taxes Committee. Bill sponsor Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, called the vote “very disappointing” and said that for the … Read entire article »
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ABM’s spin machine fully operational
If ever there was an organization that’s built to spin political yarns, it’s the Alliance for a Better Minnesota, aka ABM, aka Dayton Family Politics, Inc. Recently, ABM posted this drivel: “Today Cravaack voted to put trillions of dollars in the pockets of big corporations by ripping it out of the hands of Minnesota families,” Carrie Lucking, Executive Director of the Alliance for a Better Minnesota, said. “This is a question of priorities. Cravaack repeatedly puts the interests of big corporations with their lobbyists and limousines over the needs of middle class families in Northeast Minnesota. Instead of toeing the extreme, special interest party line, Cravaack should be representing the interests of Northeastern Minnesotans.” Carrie Lucking is full of it. It’s time to tell her and her herd of professional propagandists that enough’s … Read entire article »
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Mismatch: Michele Bachmann vs. Jim Graves?
This morning, Michele Bachmann and Jim Graves, her DFL opponent, appeared on Esme Murphy’s program. The first part of Michele’s interview focused on high gas prices, which Michele handled well. Here’s a partial transcript of that part of the interview: ESME: Critics have said that even if we expanded production, it would not have an immediate impact at the pump. Realistically, what would it take to get gas prices down to $2 a gallon and when would that happen? MICHELE: Well, remember that the day Barack Obama became president, gas was $1.84 a gallon so gas prices have gone up 110% since he was in office. And in the last 30 days, gas prices have gone up 30 cents a gallon…So what we can do are a few simple things. We can … Read entire article »
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Denise Cardinal, progressives, propaganda and FactCheck.org
This morning, Denise Cardinal debated Brian McClung during the Face-Off segment of @Issue. During the introduction, host Tom Hauser said that Denise has a new title, that of executive director of ProgressNow: ProgressNow operates under the direction and leadership of Executive Director Denise Cardinal. Denise is also executive director of Alliance for a Better Minnesota (ABM), ProgressNow State Partner in the North Star state. Before moving back to her home state of Minnesota in 2006 to be Communications Director for America Votes Minnesota and then start ABM, Denise served for five years as senior press officer for the National Education Association in Washington, D.C. She also spent time in our nations capitol as the Press Secretary for U.S. Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND). She has worked at newspapers in Nevada, Idaho, and … Read entire article »
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DFL storylines crystallizing
If anything is becoming clear, it’s the messaging from DFL operatives. This am on @Issue, Ember Reichgott-Junge said that “there’s very little that the President can do to lower gas prices. Later, during the Face-Off segment, ABM executive director Denise Cardinal admitted that the sole criteria for a jobs bill was one that first stole money from the private sector, then redirected by government into government-approved jobs. First, Reichgott-Junge saying that “there’s very little that” President Obama could do about gas prices is partially true. It’s impossible for him in the sense that militant environmentalists, along with his own ideological beliefs, prevent him from setting sensible, time-tested energy policies. It’s more true, though, that presidents, acting in the best interest of the American people while ignoring the extremists, can do plenty to … Read entire article »
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SF-based superPAC’s mudslinging against Chip Cravaack
Apparently, ABM isn’t the only progressive organization that doesn’t care about the truth. There’s a new kid on the block, at least in Minnesota, who isn’t interested in telling the truth, at least the part about telling the whole truth. CREDO SuperPAC is funding a new blog titled “Take Down Cravaack”, which is dedicated to misleading people. Anyone watching this video knows what Chip’s saying: Here’s what Take Down Cravaack wrote about a townhall meeting Chip held in Aitkin, MN: After one Minnesota mom told Rep. Cravaack how her family struggled to pay for her 8-year-old son’s bone marrow transplant, Cravaack replied, “That’s a great story.” What’s missing from Malinda Frevert’s article, though, is hugely important. Here’s the transcript of the video, starting with a statement from a mother in the audience: MOM IN AUDIENCE: … Read entire article »
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