Archive for December, 2011
QUIST ASKS TIM WALZ TO STOP CAMPAIGNING AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE
Thursday, December 29th, 2011CD1 GOP candidate Allen Quist today issued a release on his website asking Congressman Tim Walz to stop mailing thousands of pieces to his constituents that clearly violate congressional franking rules and are intended to re-elect the sitting representative. Here’s the release: Congressman Walz: Stop mailing campaign materials at taxpayer expense. By Allen Quist on [...]
MN SENATE GOP ELECT NEW LEADERSHIP
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011The Senate Republican Caucus today chose Senator David Senjem (R-Rochester) as the new Senate Majority Leader. Senate Majority Leader Senjem was first elected in 2002 and served as Minority Leader before the Republicans regained the Senate Majority in the 2010 elections. The Senate Republican Caucus held a press conference to comment further on today’s caucus [...]
DID GOV. DAYTON GET HIS HAND CAUGHT IN THE SLUSH FUND JAR? (VIA GARY GROSS)
Monday, December 26th, 2011Gary Gross wrote the following piece in the Minneapolis Conservative Examiner on the Governor’s recent comments that he was offended by the notion that he may be trying to return political favors to big labor through the unionization of child care providers. AFSCME endorsed Dayton very early on in the gubernatorial battle, and one even [...]
HOLIDAY BUST: MAJOR DFL DONOR SUSPECTED OF NEARLY $300K IN FRAUD
Sunday, December 25th, 2011Longtime progressive activist and donor Jason Sheedy was moving from his St. Paul home to a Minneapolis condo in 2007 when he reported to his insurance company that nearly $300,000 worth of his artwork and historical treasures were suddenly stolen. His insurance company wrote him a check for nearly all of the losses he claimed [...]
DFL FOX IN THE LAKEVILLE GOVERNMENT HEN HOUSE
Friday, December 23rd, 2011UPDATE: Dedicated readers of MDE point out that Councilman Matt Little was a scheduled speaker at the DFL’s 2011 State Fair booth panel. He spoke on the topic of “DFL, the Next Generation.” ——— Lakeville City Council member Matt Little is a overtly ambitious, smooth talking, liberal DFL operative and was slick enough to be [...]
PEOPLE OF DULUTH BEGIN TO TURN ON KLOBUCHAR, SAY SHE’S ‘OUT OF TOUCH’
Friday, December 23rd, 2011The Duluth News Tribune today ran an opinion piece from one of Senator Amy Klobuchar’s many disappointed constituents who cites her recent failures to stay in touch with Minnesotans. The letter is one of many that have been submitted to newspapers across the state in recent months, but most never get printed. Although she polls [...]
DAYTON RULES OUT MEETING WITH GOP SENATOR, STILL REELING FROM UNIONIZATION RULING
Friday, December 9th, 2011Gov. Dayton today sent a message to GOP State Senator Mike Parry telling him he was cancelling their scheduled meeting for today and would not hold any additional future meetings with him on the issue of home child care unionization. Dayton was rattled by a line of back-and-forth communications following yesterday’s statement by Sens. Mike [...]
AFSCME DIRECTOR HAS DESPICABLE ONLINE CONDUCT AND HAS PUSHED DAYCARE UNIONIZATION FOR YEARS
Thursday, December 8th, 2011Minnesota’s public employee unions have worshipped him for years, and in 2010 he gave the keynote “State of the Union” address to the AFSCME Council 5 convention. But AFSCME Council 5 Organizing Director Eric Lehto has made his real intentions clear on his Facebook page, which got a lot more traffic recently given the failed [...]
NEW U OF M PRESIDENT MAKES HIMSELF RIGHT AT HOME, INCREASES OFFICE SPENDING
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011*Editor’s note: While there is a huge difference in salaries between Kaler and his predecessor, readers point out that total compensation is fairly comparable (with retirement benefit differences). Story from MPR here. University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler has only been on the job since July 1, but almost immediately after taking over for former [...]
JUDGE TO DAYTON: NO-GO ON CHILD CARE UNION VOTE
Monday, December 5th, 2011A Ramsey County judge this morning ordered a temporary restraining order be placed on Governor Mark Dayton’s executive decision to order a unionization among several thousand home child care providers this month. The ballots for the election were to be mailed out to around 4000 providers this week. The lawsuit was brought to the court [...]
RYBAK TURNS HIS BACK ON OCCUPIERS AS THEY APPROACH HIS DOORSTEP
Thursday, December 1st, 2011Dedicated readers of MDE report today’s activity at Occupy Plaza downtown. Two months ago, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak spoke loudly in support of the Occupy Wall Street camp on the Hennepin County Government Plaza. His early support was not surprising, because Hizzoner’s spokesperson John Styles is a life-partner of one of the Occupiers’ main organizers. But when [...]