Archive for March, 2011
EDUCATION MINNESOTA LOSING ITS INFLUENCE QUICKLY
Thursday, March 31st, 2011Education Minnesota, the union of 70,000 state education workers, has seen better days. After helping propel union favorite Mark Dayton into the governor’s mansion by a razor-thin margin, Ed Minnesota was riding high going into this year’s legislative session. When the GOP took the gavels in the state legislature, their long history of one-sided support [...]
HIDE YOUR LIBERTY-HENNEPIN COUNTY DEMOCRATS WANT IT
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners approved a move yesterday to completely ban tobacco (smoked and smokeless) from any county property, including all outdoor areas owned by the County and inside personal vehicles parked on county land. Commissioner Jeff Johnson, district 7, was the only board member to oppose this radical and unnecessary trampling of [...]
DAYTON APPOINTS CSC COMMISSIONER FRESH OFF SUSPENSION FOR PARTICIPATING IN A FIGHT CLUB-STYLE EVENT
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011Last Friday, Gov. Mark Dayton’s office announced his appointments to a number of open positions in his administration. One was the appointment of Robert (Bobby) Brunette to sit on the Combative Sports Commission. The commission is essentially the Boxing Board of Minnesota, but also oversees the regulation of mixed martial arts and “tough person competition”. [...]
LGA MYTHS DEBUNKED BY HOUSE GOP AS DAYTON DECLARES WAR OVER THE BUDGET
Monday, March 28th, 2011Halfway through the 2011 legislative session, the MN House of Representatives passed its first major budget bill today after seven hours of contentious debate. HF 42, the omnibus tax bill, was debated today to set the stage for the remaining financial bills moving through the pipeline towards passage before the end of session in May. [...]
CRAVAACK TO GEITHNER: CHINESE TAKEOVER OF CIRRUS THREATENS JOBS AND NATIONAL SECURITY
Saturday, March 26th, 20118th district Congressman Chip Cravaack is asking U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, in his role as the leader of a key Congressional oversight committee, to review the pending acquisition of Minnesota’s Cirrus Industries by a foreign entity in China. Cirrus employs around 500 people in Duluth, Grand Forks and elsewhere. In a letter released by [...]
DFL-CONTROLLED LCCMR ENVIRONMENTAL APPROPS CONTINUE TO MAKE HEADLINES
Friday, March 25th, 2011Props to Tom Steward of the Freedom Foundation of MN for his piece on the Center for Energy and the Environment that was featured on Big Government this month. The piece highlights the outrageous salaries of some leaders of the Minneapolis-based “non-profit” in 2009 per records from the MN Attorney General that were dug up. [...]
LGA REFORM ADVANCES IN ST. PAUL TO BRING SANITY BACK TO SPENDING
Thursday, March 24th, 2011A lot has been happening in the MN Legislature in the last two weeks to advance unprecedented reform to Local Government Aid (LGA), a budget item created by the State in 1971 as part of the “Minnesota Miracle” legislation. House and Senate Republicans are proposing cuts to LGA that would wean major cities like Minneapolis, [...]
DID SD 66 DFL CANDIDATE VIOLATE FEDERAL MILITARY REGULATIONS TO CAMPAIGN?
Saturday, March 19th, 2011Rep. John Lesch (St. Paul) recently announced his candidacy for the open State Senate seat in district 66 as sitting Sen. Ellen Anderson leaves her position to become Chair of the MN Public Utilities Commission. We brought you coverage of this questionable appointment earlier this month. Dedicated readers of Minnesota Democrats Exposed pointed out Lesch’s [...]
A DOUBLE-CARPETBAGGER FOR CD8? NOT EVEN WINKLER’S PARENTS CAN HELP HIM TAKE ON CRAVAACK
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011DFL Rep. Ryan Winkler’s name continues to pop up as a potential contender in 2012 for the 8th Congressional District. The problem is, Winkler lives in and represents Golden Valley, MN. MN Progressive Project wrote in early March that the 8th CD DFL were ‘casting a wide net’ in search of candidates and are recruiting [...]
Innovative and bailout free: Ford makes a splash at MSP Auto Show
Monday, March 14th, 2011I had the chance to interview Ford executive Paul Russell on Friday as the annual MSP Auto Show kicked off in Minneapolis. Since the major auto bailouts were issued by the federal government two years ago, Ford has taken on a sterling reputation as the auto giant that didn’t need a check from the American [...]
HOUSE AND SENATE GOP ANNOUNCE BUDGET GOALS, DFL MIA
Friday, March 11th, 2011In a press conference yesterday morning, Senate Republican leaders announced their budget targets for the next biennium, just part of a process that has been moved up earlier in session than years past. Republicans are serious about addressing the budget crisis in Minnesota through real change that will force our state government to live within [...]
ENVIRONMENTAL EXTREMIST APPOINTED BY DAYTON TO CHAIR PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011(Developing) In a move that has shocked many in St. Paul and throughout the political chattering class, Gov. Dayton has appointed sitting state senator Ellen Anderson (DFL-St. Paul) to chair the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. MDE has obtained a letter sent by Anderson to her Senate colleagues this afternoon: Dear Senate colleagues, News travels fast [...]
COMMON SENSE REPEAL OF DFL-IMPOSED BAN ON COAL COULD SOON BE REALITY
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011House and Senate committees are moving forward this week with a repeal of some parts of the large energy legislation passed and signed into law four years ago. Rep. Mike Beard and Sen. Julie Rosen are the chief sponsors of a bill that would remove the current guidelines for constructing a new coal plant in [...]
IS DAYTON RESPONSIBLE FOR HUTCHINSON BUSINESS LEAVING MN?
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011Under the logic of Mark Dayton’s comments last November, the answer is yes. Hutchinson Technology today announced it will shed 30-40% of its workforce in a restructuring move. Hundreds of employees will be laid off from the company’s Hutchinson operation, where many jobs will be moved to Eau Claire, WI and overseas (Star Trib story). [...]
GRANDMA WON’T GET RUN OVER BY THIS DAYTON TAX REINDEER
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011A proposal by Gov. Dayton to change the tax rules for those “snowbirds” that live outside the state for several months a year is too hard to enforce or regulate, experts say. MPR’s Tom Scheck wrote today on the matter, which was part of Dayton’s budget proposal last month. The measure was only predicted to [...]
FRUSTRATED DFL SEN LEADER THINKS ONLY CAREER POLITICIANS SHOULD MAKE THE BIG DECISIONS, GOP RESPOND IN KIND
Monday, March 7th, 2011Staffers for the MN GOP Senate Caucus distributed buttons today jokingly referring to the newest Republican senators as the “Clean-up Crew” after insulting comments from DFL Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk last week. The comments came during week wrap-up press conferences held by leadership of both parties in the Senate. Bakk’s comments were posted online [...]
WISCONSIN SENATORS PREPARE TO RETURN FROM EXILE WHILE ONE MN LEGISLATOR THROWS GAS ON THE FIRE
Sunday, March 6th, 2011The Wall St. Journal and other outlets are beginning to report that the Wisconsin State Senate Democratic caucus members hiding out in Illinois for weeks are prepared to return home: (from the story) Sen. Mark Miller said he and his fellow Democrats intend to let the full Senate vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s “budget-repair” bill, [...]
DAYTON SWIPES MET COUNCIL CLEAN TO MAKE ROOM FOR UNION REPS, WITH ONE EXCEPTION
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration announced today his intention to appoint new members to the Met Council beginning next week. In a release to the public, the names and backgrounds of 15 new members are highlighted, along with the one member that will remain: Lakeville’s Wendy Wulff. Wulff is a conservative member of the Council, but [...]