Bluestem Prairie

Free-ranging Senator Franken stops for a little piece of pie on the prairie

With the debt crisis bill passed, Minnesota's congressional delegation is out on recess--and Al Franken is using the time to visit Greater Minnesota.

It's no secret the Frankens are pie lovers, so Bluestem isn't surprised to read about this stop in yesterday's Mankato Free Press article, Franken continues trip through Mankato area:

Al Franken’s wide-ranging tour of south-central Minnesota comes to Mankato today following stops Wednesday at Farmfest near Redwood Falls, Lyle’s Cafe in Winthrop and the New Ulm Medical Center.

The Farmfest stop is a traditional one for Minnesota’s elected officials, and the famous pie at Lyle’s explains the Winthrop stop.

Winthrop is just down Highway 15 from Bluestem's national headquarters in Hutchinson.

It's too bad my state representative Ron Shimanski couldn't enjoy some pie with Al at the restaurant just outside Minnesota House District 18A, but the Minnesota Independent reports that the Silver Lake apple grower was headed far farther south.

No wonder constituents like Gus Ziemer send letters with headlines like Party politics caused lawmakers to stray from their duty to the Hutchinson Leader. Heck of a party.

Franken's progress across the prairie demonstrates there's plenty to do in sunny Greater Minnesota and that Al talks fluent Minnesotan. The Marshall Independent reports in Franken talks agriculture at Farmfest:

With a debt ceiling deal reached in Washington, national legislators are coming back to Minnesota. U.S. Sen. Al Franken was present at Farmfest on Wednesday, speaking at the main forum tent and meeting with members of the public. However, questions from audience members at the forum tended to center more around topics like ethanol subsidies and the next Farm Bill.

Franken gave an update on his involvement with agriculture-related issues in Congress. Agriculture is a key part of Minnesota's economy and traditions, Franken said. "I know that in representing Minnesota, a large part of my job is representing you," he told audience members. . . .

The rest of the article is a fascinating read about Franken's fairly technical responses to the questions--but the discourse is pretty familiar stuff out here on the prairie. That gal in the bib-overalls may not have an Ivy League degree like the junior senator, but raise a point about federal farm policy, impossibly complex, and she'll sound like the expert she is. And has to have been to stay in an brutal business.

Franken fits in pretty well with the farmers.

His remarks at the farmshow parallel a column in the ECM chain, Sen. Franken fights for future of Minnesota farmers, which touches on renewable energy and railroad issues. Go check it out.

The West Central Tribune reports in Sen. Franken talks agriculture, debt vote at Farmfest stop:

. . .Dressed in khaki pants, a dark collared shirt and cowboy boots, Franken fit right in during his Wednesday afternoon radio interview with Lynn Ketelsen of the Linder Farm Market.

The Democratic senator, back in Minnesota while Congress is in recess for a month, said he was not pleased with how the negotiations went to keep the country from defaulting on its obligations. . . .

In addition to the radio interview in front of an audience under the Forum Tent at Farmfest, Franken spoke to the crowd there for about 15 minutes about various issues facing Minnesota farmers, including the 2012 Farm Bill that Franken said he hopes is actually completed in 2012.

Franken said that direct payments to farmers and agriculture research could “take a hit” in next year’s legislation. The current farm program includes “direct payments” to farmers that are paid each year on qualifying crops regardless of market conditions, and “countercyclical payments” that are paid only in years when market prices fall below a set level.

“It seems an emphasis is on a safety net program to make sure we keep farmers farming,” Franken said.

As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Franken said he is working on legislation to capitalize on wind energy and give small farms and cooperatives the opportunity to own wind.

Franken also spent time Wednesday at the University of Minnesota tent at Farmfest and meeting his constituents on the grounds of the annual show. . . .

The focus shifted from ag to health care for the New Ulm stop, the Journal reports in Franken talks health care, debt ceiling:

Sen. Al Franken stopped by New Ulm on Wednesday for an update on the status of the New Ulm Medical Center's (NUMC) Heart of New Ulm program.

NUMC Administrator Toby Freier and Heart of New Ulm Community Coordinator Betsy Pieser led a brief presentation on the status of Heart of New Ulm before taking questions from Franken.

The main highlight was a Center of Health Care Innovation at Allina study showing a drop in New Ulm heart attacks and the HeartBeat Connections program that provides health coaching. . . .

. . .Franken said after the meeting that he thought Heart of New Ulm was overall moving in the right direction.

"It's unrealistic to for people to expect an incredible transformation this soon," said Franken, "But, as pointed out, it's doing a good job of bucking obesity trends nationally and in Minnesota."

Health Care

Franken said there needs to be a national push to approach health care like the Heart of New Ulm, which emphasized keeping people healthy as opposed to just treating illness.

Staff writer Josh Moniz covers Franken's reaction to the debt ceiling bill in depth. Definitely worth a read.

Though Franken established himself first as a comedian, it's clear from the coverage that he's growing comfortable in his relatively new senatorial skin, at ease with policy and the wide range of people on the prairie.  Doggone it, we like him.

Tales of Hoffman: supporter blames "Book of Rules for the Old Boys Club" for ethics ruling

In a letter to the Fergus Falls Journal, yet another local supporter of ethically-challenged State Senator Gretchen has risen to defend her status as the real victim. The letter follows the "Hoffman-is-a-victim" messaging launched by the co-founder of the area's "Bulldog Republicans" in comment sections of Journal articles about the ethics review.

The letter writer has quite the record for veracity. Back in April, one of Gretchen Hoffman's supporters claimed in a letter,Hoffman garners even more respect from voter, that the freshman senator had to be escorted around the state capitol by law enforcement because of threats by public employee unions:

And her work in committees to expose and cut unnecessary jobs and payroll expenses in some bloated governmental agencies and departments has got the government labor unions so angry with her that there are days when several Capitol police have to escort her and other conservative lawmakers around the halls of the legislature to provide her safety from the threats of the unions.

Really? There were no reports at the time that Hoffman and others were being threatened by anyone or that Minnesota's conservative lawmakers needed escorts.

Now the same letter writer believes that he has discovered the reason why Gretchen Hoffman was reprimanded by the Senate ethics subcommittee, as he writes in Check out the public record:

Hoffman, a freshman senator (as you note) was unaware that in the Senate Book of Rules for Members was an archaic rule which said that if you are a senator in a committee hearing and another senator says something which offends you, you must either object openly, or wait to discusss the matter privately with the other party before you may offer any comments critical of the other.

Now, how many times can we all recall that politicians criticize each other, and are not called to account for it?

Many, no doubt, for that is part of the process, to point out differences between opposing parties. Hoffman made to apologize to Goodwin for criticizing her without informing her beforehand, but the DFL decided to make an issue of the matter, and charges were filed not by Goodwin but by a member of the DFL Senate leadership designated to roil the waters between the parties.

The ethics committee decided not so much on the accuracy of Hoffman’s comments, but on her failure to observe the Book of Rules for the Old Boys Club, and put her in her place as a freshman.

That Barbara Goodwin is also a freshman and a woman seems to have escaped this man's discerning eye. However, he has located the only victim here: not the woman who was smeared by a tweet about her speech from the floor of the senate (not in committee as the LTE writer claims). Nor is it the people living with disabilities who might have been harmed by the HHS budgt bill that Hoffman supported and Governor Dayon vetoed.

Oh no. Hoffman herself is the victim, put in her place as a freshman by the Old Boys Club. Okay then. On the Star Tribune report noting her apology, one commenter predicted a defense like that advanced by Mullins:

jo1glexJun 16, 118:20 pm

Hoffman is acting like a garden-variety sociopath. All too common these days, as the two parties become more and more the same and only value raw power. The worrisome part is that it looks like she's being coached by some downright cunning sociopaths. Because of course now it will be, "Gaw-lee, she apologized and everything, and those PC liberal nazi commie fascist bleeding hearts just won't let it go! And if she doesn't understand how The Tweeter works and all that, well, she's just a girl, and from the country to boot! But don't criticize her, you elitist sexists!" You know, the usual right-wing "I know you are but what am I" pity-party nihilism.

What Bluestem still can't puzzle out about this line of defense by Hoffman's supporters is the implied slam on the two Republicans on the evenly split Senate ethics committee, which issued the unanimous ruling concerning Hoffman's tweets. When he calls the decision partisan, does Mullins really mean to suggest that Michelle Fischbach and Bill Ingebrigtsen are closet DFLers?

If so, I'm ready to entertain strong doubts about the acumen of de facto Senate Majority Leader, caucus communications guru and Deputy Republican Party chair Michael Brodkorb. After all, Fischbach was selected as President of the Senate once the MNGOP took control of the body following the November 2010 elections.

Who knew she was secretly a Democrat wishing only to enforce the Book of Rules for the Old Boys Club? Who would have guessed the married mother of two was in reality a cross-dressing member of the Old Boys Club?

How could Brodkorb have missed it?

Photos: Senator Gretchen Hoffman, victim (top); President of the Minnesota Senate, Michelle Fischbach, secretly a DFLer and a dude, if a letter writer's argument is followed to its logical conclusion (bottom). Note: for the record, Bluestem's editor has met Michelle Fischbach and, unlike Mullins, does not seek to imply that the Stearns County Republican is either a dude or a Democrat.

Related posts: Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen apologizes; local GOP bulldog takes up her cause

Lawyers, puns and money: on doing the right thing, and moving on

Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn seller's "sensitivity" defense unravels, forced to apologize

Tales of Hoffman: Senate Ethics Committee to workshop freshman pol's tweet on Monday

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet

Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate

Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game

Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!

Tales of Hoffman: Senate Ethics Committee to workshop freshman pol's tweet on Monday

When Bluestem last left Vergas' former yarn peddler State Senator Gretchen Hoffman, she'd just been slapped with an ethics complaint for her budding genius as a creative writer of twitterverse.

As readers may recall, Senate Majority Leader Michael Brodkorb had retweeted her imaginative take on a floor statement by DFL colleague Barbara Goodwin, inventing a storyline in which Goodwin called people with disabilities names.

Hoffman later thickened the plot by reiterating that Goodwin indeed meant the things that the Republican claimed.

Now, this fanciful development gets its day on The Uptake. MPR reports in Senate Ethics Committee schedules hearing on Hoffman complaint:

The Senate Ethics Committee has scheduled a Monday morning hearing to discuss DFL Sen. Ann Rest's complaint against GOP Sen. Gretchen Hoffman.

Rest filed the complaint in the final days of the 2011 legislative session. She said Hoffman mischaracterized DFL Sen. Barb Goodwin's comments during a Senate debate on her Twitter feed.

"Sen Goodwin just called people with mental illness- idiots and imbeciles- while debating HHS bill #offensive #mndfl #mnsrc #mnleg"

Hoffman's tweet was redistributed when Senate Republican Caucus spokesman Michael Brodkorb retweeted it so his 2,500 followers could read it.

The offense:

Both Goodwin and Rest said Hoffman misrepresented Goodwin's remarks. Goodwin said she was talking about the history of developmental disabilities and mental illness in Minnesota during a debate over the Health and Human Services budget bill. Hoffman refused to apologize and said she was "offended" by Goodwin's remarks.

The four member Ethics Committee will decide whether Hoffman published material that she knew was false and whether Hoffman violated a rule that says members of the Senate should adhere to the highest standard of ethical conduct.

Pop some corn.

Related posts: Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet

Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate

Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game

Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!

 

Guest post: News from St. Paul sparks memories of mother's cancer battle

Guest commentary by Chad Larimer

Sometimes you read something in the news or see something on tv that strikes a deep nerve. That happened to me yesterday.

The news that Minnesota State Senator Linda Scheid had ceased treatment for ovarian cancer and was entering hospice care at home brought back a wave of raw emotions.

It seems like only yesterday that I went through this myself as a family member. My mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer around Christmas 2003. She fought it valiantly but in the fall of 2008 the doctors advised her that there were no further treatments that would be of help. She entered hospice care at home around Christmas time 2008 and died New Year’s Day 2009.

Sen. Scheid and her family are going through the same things my family went through. It is an experience I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy.

I walked away from the political world with an apathetic finger in 2010 when I was told by a staffer of one of our federally elected officials that the senator would not sign on and support a bill in the Senate that would provide funding for ovarian cancer research because you can’t support every cancer research bill that comes along.

According to the American Cancer Society, in women age 35-74, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. An estimated one woman in 58 will develop ovarian cancer during her lifetime. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2009, there will be 21,550 new cases of ovarian cancer and 14,600 women will die from ovarian cancer.

When one is diagnosed and treated in the earliest stages, the 5-year survival rate is over 90%. Due to ovarian cancer's non-specific symptoms and lack of early detection tests, only 19% of all cases are found at this early stage. If caught in stage III or higher, the survival rate can be as low as 30.6%.

There is still no early detection test available for ovarian cancer nor has Congress approved funding to develop an early detection test.

In honor of Sen. Scheid and her family, my mom and family and the 21,550 women who will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year maybe we can get our politicians to listen to our pleas and pass legislation setting aside funding to develop an early detection test for ovarian cancer.

One woman in 58 will develop ovarian cancer during her lifetime.

Are you going to be one of those 58? Will your mother, sister, daughter, girlfiend, wife?

Chad Larimer lives and works in Rochester.

Bluestem Prairie hopes readers will keep Senator Scheid in their prayers, and work for congressional action for funding for an ovarian cancer early detection test.

Image: Ovarian cancer awareness ribbon.

Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet

When Bluestem last left Gretchen Hoffman, the charming freshman senator and poster child for listening comprehension tests had sniffed that she looked forward to talking to Barbara Goodwin about an offensive tweet.

The plot of this opera buffa thickened today when ethics charges were filed against Hoffman--and the yarn-peddling princess of Fargo, North Dakota, tossed out a statement that Goodwin had indeed insulted people with mental illness and developmental disabilities. Because, you know, Hoffman is a nurse.

In sunny Detroit Lakes, the DL Online reports in Ethics complaint filed against Sen. Hoffman:

Sen. Gretchen Hoffman, R-Vergas, is in hot water after a Wednesday night tweet.

An ethics complaint was filed today against Hoffman by Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, for a Twitter comment Hoffman made regarding Sen. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights.

Hoffman tweeted around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday that Goodwin used derogatory names when referring to people with mental illnesses.

Hoffman’s tweet stated: “Sen. Goodwin just called people with mental illness-idiots and imbeciles-while debating HHS bill #offensive #mndfl #mnsrc #mnleg.”

This was after Goodwin approached the floor to debate cuts in the Health and Human Service bill.

“I’m concerned this is a rationing of healthcare in other parts of the bill,” Goodwin said, referring to the Omnibus Health and Human Service Bill.

Goodwin said that, before working in the Legislature, she worked on a study relating to the institutionalization of state hospitals.

“We took a look at what the costs were of the state hospitals – at that point 10 state hospitals – and what it would take to de-institutionalize those folks, get them back in the community,” she said.

Goodwin then went into the history of state institutions in Minnesota, specifically in the late 80’s.

“This is how far we’ve come, the way state institutions used to be; they were called institutions for the idiots, imbeciles and the insane – and that’s what it said right on the hospital,” she said. (These comments can be found around 3:50 of the YouTube clip of Goodwin's speech.) . . .

. . . Toward the end of her remarks, Goodwin again referred to the name previously used by state institutions.

“These are people, these aren’t fiscally wise decisions in so many ways,” Goodwin said referring to cuts in the bill. “We might not have the 10 state hospitals for the idiots, insane and the imbeciles like we used to, but that’s because a lot of people put a lot of hard work and logic into how to develop absolute basic services we need in our communities.” (These comments can be found around 11:20 of the YouTube clip of Goodwin's speech.) . .

The skinny on the complaint:

The complaint suggests Hoffman violated a Senate rule that states any member shall not publish material about another member’s position that is known to be false or clearly misleading. It also alleges that Hoffman violated a portion of the rule that states members are to adhere to the highest standard of ethical conduct.

In a separate editorial, the Detroit Lakes paper's editorial board posted its opinion in Jeers for Hoffman’s inflamatory ‘tweet’:

Jeers to State Sen. Gretchen Hoffman of Vergas for her needlessly incendiary way of doing business in the Legislature.

She is in trouble for a “tweet” message Wednesday night during a Health and Human Services debate in which she took a fellow legislator’s comments completely out of context.

Hoffman, a small business owner, is no fool. Perhaps she was bored or tired — it was a late session — but we don’t understand what she hoped to gain by sitting back and sniping falsehoods through her Twitter account.

As a rookie lawmaker, she is new to politics, so her constituents may want to cut her a little slack.

She should apologize and move on. And most importantly, make sure it doesn’t happen again.

If she is going to cover the Legislature by tweeting messages, she has a journalist’s responsibility to get as close to the truth of the matter as she can.

Hoffman fell far short of that mark on Wednesday night.

It doesn't look likely that Hoffman will apologize. In Ethics complaint filed against senator for Twitter message, Rachel Stassen Berger reports:

In a statement Friday, Hoffman said: ""On Wednesday, May 18, Senator Barb Goodwin referred to people with mental illnesses as idiots and imbeciles in the Minnesota State Senate floor.  As a registered nurse who has worked with patients with mental illnesses for many years, I was offended by her remarks.  I shared Senator Goodwin’s remarks with my Twitter followers. Until the Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct completes their work, I have no further comment.”

Okay then.

Photo: Gretchen Hoffman.

Related posts: Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate

Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game

Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!

Glenn gone wild: Gruenhagen co-authors bill to ban tribal gambling compacts; will speak at Mystic Lake Hotel on August 15

Glencoe's Glenn Gruenhagen is the only co-author for Rep. Mike Benson's bill to ban Class III gambling and nullify any existing compacts with tribes in Minnesota. (It's the party platform's take, as this article in today's Strib points out).

He's also speaking at Mystic Lake Hotel on August 15 for the Agents Driving Change gathering staged by the Agents Coalition for HealthCare Reform. Sponsorships are being sold for those who want access to the Agents Driving Change, possibly 500 of 'em.

Never heard of them? It's the coalition of the Minnesota Association of Health Underwriters, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors-Minnesota (NAIFA-MN), the MN Independent Agents and Brokers Association, and the Professional Insurance Agents of Minnesota. According to the event web site:

The Coalition is actively pursuing market based health insurance reform in Minnesota, and working to advance the interests of licensed producers.

I'm not sure where they were when Barb Goodwin proposed an amendment requiring state legislators to buy health insurance on the free market with vouchers on Tuesday, but perhaps their presence on the floor of the state senate isn't quite what they would like. Or maybe everyone doesn't need to be based in the market.

Here's a bit more about the Gruenator's speech at the "Day for Agents to Secure their Professional Future:"

Glenn Gruenhagen, Insurance Agent and State Representative

Minnesota State Representative Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe (25A): Gruenhagen has more than 30 years experience as a licensed insurance agent. In 2010, Gruenhagen decided he had had enough of watching elected officials weaken the U.S. health care system.

Gruenhagen ran for the legislature to reform health care - his primary objective. He even wrote a small book about how he would change things if he had the power to do so. District 25A voters sent him to St. Paul and in his first term, he has aggressively pursued the Agents Coalition for Health Care Reform agenda.[emphasis ended]

Gruenhagen learned quickly it is tough to change laws. But he is committed to doing so. Gruenhagen's story is perfect for this event, as it will help clarify not only how important the issues are, but just as important to have a plan to accomplish legislative goals. He will help you understand your role and why it is essential.

That's curious. Was Gruenhagen elected as an insurance agent to pursue the Agents Coalition agenda--presumably that will help his own private busness out--or as the state representative of his district?

But Glenn won't be the only state legislator there, the Agents Coalition event site promises. With details TBA, there's going be a panel:

Legislative Panel and Professional Moderator

We won't know which State Representatives and State Senators will join us as of yet. But we do know this. These are the women and men that hold your future in their hands. We promise that the legislative panel will include key Majority and Minority Party leaders from each body, that you will hear them explain their views on your value to the distribution of insurance products; most importantly, we promise you will have ample time to ask them direct questions.

And then there are the Coalition's lobbyists (actually, they're registered to lobby for the coalition's indvidual trade associations): Ralph Weber, Greg Sailer, Greg Dattilo and Dave Racer (who is managing the event).

Only the last name rings a loud-sounding bell, since he's something of a honcho on the right.

In 2010, Racer headed Minnesotans for Personal Choice and Competition in Health Care, an independent election campaign committee (IECC) which endorsed candidates and toured the state to put on Town Hall Meetings Scheduled to Inform Insurance Agents about Impact of New Federal Healthcare Law, warning about HCR, which would:

lead to the demise of the insurance markets, increased costs and federal control of health care, and the potential for health care rationing.

Racer attracted scornful attention while speaking in St. Louis in 2008 when he said "no one dies because they don't have insurance." Of course not: they die from the diseases or accidents they can't afford to have treated when they don't have insurance.

And Racer once chaired the old Reform Party when it backed Pat Buchanan ( a candidate who prompted Jesse Ventura and other Minnesota moderates to bolt and form the Independence Party). (Greg Aamot, "Buchanan speaks at convention to renew Minnesota's Reform Party,"The Associated Press State & Local Wire, April 7, 2000, Nexis All News, accessed May 11, 2010).

He managed Alan Keyes 1996 Presidential bid ("Speak up! You can be heard!" U.S. News & World Report, February 19, 1996, Nexis All news, accessed 5/12/2011).

But he's probably remembered best, if at all, for the tempest that was stirred up by a text on the Minnesota Majority's site in 2007. Rachel Stassen Berger reported for the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

Minnesota Majority's Web site features an issue paper on health care, which backs consumer-driven health care and claims that racial diversity and single-parent households negatively affect health in the United States.

"Black women, for a variety of reasons, are more prone to underweight babies than are Caucasian and Asian women. It is not surprising that Sweden has a lower infant mortality rate, or that Japan has a longer life expectancy than the United States does. They are nearly racially pure; we are not," says the Web page, written by public speaker and former radio talk show host David Racer.

The Agents Coalition's event site claims that "[t]he lobbyists that represent the Agent Coalition's members are tops at the State Capital." 

Are the rest of them at the level of Dave Racer? If so, the backgrounds and beliefs of the architects of the market-driven health care reform now being promoted by the new Republican majorities in the Minnesota legislature might be worthy of a closer look. Who has Glenn Gruenhagen's ear?

Image: Could insurance agent lobbying be a more powerful force than the male sex drive?

Gruenhagen gone wild, redux: ladies, help men control themselves

Fresh off his Youtube performance about some guy's scary tax story (maybe), Glenn Gruenhagen (R- Onion County) is back in the saddle of worrying about the male sex drive.

This time it's in the context of abortion.

Over at The Uptake, Michael McIntee reports that Abortion and Slavery Court Decisions Equated By MN GOP Representative. A standard anti-choice talking point.

But Gruenhagen polishes it with his refrain about the male sex drive being a force to exploit the ladies, since we are but passive vessels to be used and filled with the force that through the green fuse drove the flower--and that you can look it up on the innertubes:

He went on to say “I consider my comments about the fraud and lie to be objective truth. You can research it on the internet. The fact is the entire case was based on lie.

Secondly, one of the things I’d just like to say and its especially to the ladies in the room, OK? Ladies, the Supreme Court made this ruling. Their not infallible. If you remember right, the Supreme Court made a 7-2 ruling on slavery, with Dred Scott, in fact he was part of Minnesota here. And they said that black people were not fully human. They were wrong then. They were wrong in 1973. Let me just remind you, especially ladies, it was seven men that made abortion legal. Not seven women. Now what’s the significance of that? Men, a certain percentage have developed a perverted view of women and what abortion tells men is they can use women and lose them. OK? Use and lose them and run from their responsibility. Then on top of that we have the state showing up and paying for the sexual exploitation of women. Ladies, let’s put a stop to this. Let’s put a stop to sending a message to men that they can use you and leave you with the consequences and have the government pick up the tab for that.

(interruption for quieting the house)

The second thing is, the other thing I’d just like to say, if we look at taxpayer funded abortion, it unfairly discriminates against minorities. OK? Human life Alliance, right here in Minnesota, puts out excellent statistics about that. It’s the minority women that suffer the most consequences from the taxpayer funded abortions. and also suffer the consequences of the sexual exploitation of women in our society. Again I plead with you Ladies, help men support legislation that teaches men to accept their responsibility when conceiving with a woman. Don’t support government legislation and programs that tell men they can impregnate women and run away from their responsibilities. Please ladies, think about what’s been done to you in the last 40 to 50 years. Thank you Mr. Speaker.

The Uptake video:

Related posts: Seeing dead people in the Public Safety committee: Gruenhagen berates Alfred Kinsey

Glenn gone wild: Gruenhagen gets public health crisis that leaves Bachmann stammering

 

Rethinking punishment in a time of budget cuts

Both the Mankato Free Press and the Winona Daily News have taken a look at Representative Cornish's plan to return short-term offenders with 60 days (or less) remaining on their sentences to the care and expense of county jails.

Both editorial boards suggest that something is being lost in shuffling the prisoners: a rethinking of harsh sentences and "time" itself, in favor of other approaches to crime and punishment. Neither paper asks whether such programs are slated to be funded as usual or cut in finance bills working their way through the legislature.

Editors favor "real reform"

In Shifting prison costs isn’t real reform, the Mankato Free Press urges a different approach to the costs off incarceration:

But both [the Legislature and sheriffs] should also examine the entire system to see if a “throw away the key” mentality is filling jails and prisons with non-violent offenders who would have a better chance of rehabilitation in a half-way house or other facility.

If the state wants to shift more of the cost to the county jails, the state should consider removing several unfunded mandates sheriffs and jails must put up with.

Instead of this issue being about who pays higher and higher costs, it should be how we can equitably assess costs that we can somehow lower through sensible reforms that maintain public safety but also protect the public’s pocketbook.

In behalf of the Winona Daily News board, editor Darrell Ehrlick writes in Maybe, solution isn’t jail or prison:

Many Minnesota sheriffs across the state aren’t real happy with Rep. Tony Cornish, R- Good Thunder.

One of his latest proposals includes sending any state prisoner with less than a 60-day sentence back to county jails to serve time. . . .

. . .Counties are pretty much powerless to fight such a measure, if other lawmakers hop aboard.

This, in a nutshell, is a game the Legislature has played for a few decades. It’s the fundamental problem that has the state shifting all its burdens to the county or city level, meanwhile sending little or no money along, and hobbling them by putting limits on local property taxes.

In other words, in a fight between the counties and the state, the state will always win. . .

. . .Instead, we wonder if Cornish’s legislation isn’t also another subtle endorsement of the good work that’s being done by our criminal justice coordinating committee that is considering other alternatives to sentencing and crime than just prison or jails.

Will legislature fund real reform?

Here's where the WDN's argument gets interesting--and where I wonder if the paper could have looked just a bit deeper into the omnibus bills for public safety and judiciary finance to see how programs like the criminal justice coordinating committee fare in the time of budget cuts.

If the bills cut funding to such efforts, perhaps what seems to be a subtle endorsement is simply an illusion.

Ehrlick continues:

Instead of handing out weak or anemic sentences, maybe it’s time to quit with the sentencing part and focus on the behaviors that led someone to commit the crime in the first place.

So much of the lower-grade criminal courts are packed with people who have learning disabilities, psychiatric illnesses and drug use. . . .

. . .Shouldn’t we be locking up those who truly are dangerous, and figuring out how to help the rest?

This seems like common sense, although as a nation, we rejected this reasoning several decades ago when states moved toward harsher sentencing.

So, how are programs designed to address learning disabilities, psychiatric illnesses and drug use faring?

Much of the attention to cuts in the bill focused on the severe slices made to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights budget; in the House bill, the department loses 50 percent of its funding, PIM's Paul Demko reported.

Are pieces of reform seeing cuts?

But Scott Russell at Minnesota Budget Bites (a multi-author blog published by the Minnesota Council on Nonprofits) looked beyond that rancorous debate in Legislature’s public safety budgets focus cuts on vulnerable Minnesotans:

Compared to other areas of the state budget, it appears the court system and public safety services fare well in the budget bills presented by the Governor, House and Senate. However, a little digging reveals some harmful cuts within the House and Senate proposals that will negatively impact access to legal representation and crime prevention services (both the House and Senate are now both working off of Senate File 958). [BSP note: this is the judiciary finance bill; the House version is authored by Smith and Cornish]

The House, Senate and Governor all propose increasing funding for the Department of Corrections by $27 million to partially restore a cut to core prison operations that was made in the 2010 Legislative Session. However, the House and Senate must turn to cuts in other areas of public safety - including services for children, youth and other vulnerable populations - to meet their budget targets.

And some of those programs relate to the areas Ehrlick delineated:

Prevention services. Office of Justice programs within the Department of Public Safety work on crime prevention, crime victim assistance and improvements to the justice system. The House cuts funding for these programs by 17 percent in FY 2012-13, [emphasis added] limiting cuts to battered women programs to a maximum of 11 percent. The Senate cuts funding by five percent in FY 2012-13, including eliminating grants for youth and community crime prevention. The Governor proposes essentially flat funding for these services in the FY 2012-13 biennium, although he recommends $3 million in one-time funding for Network for Better Futures to complete a pilot program that provides housing, employment and other supports to men at high risk of entry or re-entry into corrections or chemical or mental health programs (the House and Senate do not fund this pilot program).[emphasis added]

Other initiatives. The House plans to achieve $17 million in savings in public safety in FY 2012-13 by cutting back on management and reducing inmate medical per diems. . . .[emphasis added] . . .Other initiatives in the House bill include moving offenders with 60 days or less on their prison sentences to county facilities, which shifts these costs to the county level, and charging inmates a copayment for health care visits.

In Recent budget bills offer cause for concern, Rep. Alice Hausman (DFL-66B) notes one such concern:

With deep cuts to the Public Safety budget, the Department of Corrections will see changes in their ability to offer programs that reduce recidivism in our communities, like chemical dependency treatment and community supervision. . . .Furthermore, there are particularly painful cuts to . . . crime prevention programs like youth intervention services.

It appears that programs designed to "focus on the behaviors that led someone to commit the crime in the first place" are indeed facing the axe.

The truth is that such programs cost money, at least in the short term, and with the revenue crunch the state is facing--and the unwillingness of the Republican Party to ask for a single dime of added revenue (the professional sports industry and its fans excluded), there's no movement in the legislature to fund them.

And editors discerning glimmer of such hopes in Cornish's public safety agenda of one provision (sending prisoners to county jails when they have 60 days remaining on their sentences) might need to look at the larger finance  bills for public safety and judiciary finance bill  to see if those hopes are validated.

One final note. Ehrlick specifically mentions the Winona County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council in the WDN editorial. It runs effective diversion programs. How will those diversion programs--and the services they rely on--be affected? The WDN has some very good reporters on staff, as does the MFP. It's worth looking into to see how  these programs would do.

Fairmont Sentinel wonders "what the real benefit would be" from Hann parental consent bill

David Hann's bill that would require parental consent for teens seeking treatment for drug issues, pregnancy and STDs--with a requirement that incest victims get a judge's consent rather than that of their abusers--has been widely reported.

It's another Republican bill that isn't getting support in greater Minnesota's newspapers. The Mankato Free Press editorial board wrote that the Law would threaten teen health, while the Post Bulletin opined that Parental notification would hinder health care.

But it's not just centrist-to-liberal editorial boards of outstate papers shaking their collective heads at Hann's misguided attempt to recover some golden age of parental control. The very conservative Fairmont Sentinel--a paper that has never endorsed a Democrat--isn't buying it.

The headline makes it clear: Parental consent for treatment? We disagree.  The deets of the disagreement:

We wonder what the real benefit would be - if any - if the Minnesota Legislature passes a law requiring parental consent before minors could seek treatment for pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases or drug/alcohol abuse. Proponents say it seems obvious to them that parents should have a right to know about the medical condition of their child. But if the goal is to get children needed medical care, we're not sure the proposed law helps. . . .

Current law, which has been on the books for 40 years, lets minors see doctors without parental knowledge. Parents have no access to their children's medical records.

It seems to us that the proposed law is a backwards way to go about something entirely different:?Instilling a certain set of values in young people to get them to refrain from certain activities. Parents have every right and opportunity to instruct their children any way they wish. Whether kids follow the advice is another matter. Whether kids - young adults, really, given the circumstances - have access to unfettered medical care should not be held over them.

Like the anti-ag whistleblowers bill, Hann's proposal isn't gaining support anywhere. Legislators like Hann, Magnus and Hamilton should focus on more important budget and revenue issues and leave these sorts of unlikely bills in the dustbin.

State legislative town halls across Minnesota: Labor and health care

Looking around for public meetings held by Minnesota state legislators with their constituents during the Passover/Easter break, I didn't find much. However, two sets of meetings--mostly after the break--turned up. If you go, speak your mind but be respectful and on topic.

From the Minnesota AFL-CIO:

Several key state lawmakers have agreed to meet with working men and women in their communities. For the last decade, Minnesota’s state budget has been balanced on the backs of middle class families.  We need you to tell your lawmakers that it’s time to create jobs, time for a fair budget, and time for the richest Minnesotans to sacrifice too.

The following meetings have already been scheduled. Check back here for upcoming meetings in your community.  Don’t see your legislator yet? Drop them a line.

Anoka – Representative Jim Abeler (48B)
Monday, April 18, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Anoka City Hall Community Room
2015 First Ave N, Anoka, MN 55303

Mound – Representative Steve Smith (33A)
Wednesday, April 20, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Mound Depot, Mound Bay Park
5801 Bartlett Blvd, Mound, MN 55364

Plymouth – Senator Terri Bonoff (43)
Tuesday, April 26, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Plymouth Creek Center, Black Box Theater
14800 34th Ave N, Plymouth, MN 55447

White Bear Lake – Representative Carol McFarlane (53B)
Tuesday, April 26 6:00-7:30 p.m.
White Bear Lake Library
4698 Clark Ave, White Bear Lake, MN 55110

Eagan – Senator Ted Daley (38) and Representatives Diane Anderson (38A) and Doug Wardlow (38B)
Monday, April 25 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Wescott Library Eagan
1340 Wescott Rd, Eagan MN 55123

Rochester – Senator Dave Senjem (29)
Friday, May 6, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Rochester Labor Temple
11 4th St SE, Rochester, MN 55904

From Kathy Sheran's office:

State Sen. Kathy Sheran will host a Health Care Town Hall meeting along with Rep. Terry Morrow and Rep. Kathy Brynaert on Saturday, April 30 at S. Central College in North Mankato. The focus of the meeting will be health care issues and discussion about legislative proposals under consideration at the Capitol. The legislators will be joined at the town hall by Sen. Linda Berglin.

 The town hall will be held from 2-3:30 p.m. at the college’s Conference Center.

 “There are serious issues and potential changes being discussed that could have serious ramifications for the people of our area and for the people of Minnesota,” Sen. Sheran said. “I encourage folks to attend the town hall to tell me what they think and to find out more about what’s happening at the Capitol.”

The Senate’s Health and Human Services budget was passed in early April.

 “Sen. Berglin is a foremost expert on health care issues,” Sen. Sheran said. “I look forward to having her with us at the town hall to answer questions and offer her perspective.”

Know of others? Drop Bluestem a line.

Annals of budget numbskullery: Drazkowski touts replacing health care workers with monitors

Update: This Bluestem Post--Looking a gift Little Pony in the mouth: Are Parry's pals poster kids for privatization's perils?  documents far more serious and expensive GOP numbskullery. Highly recommended that you click on the link! [end update]

The Post Bulletin described Friday's Not Tax Day Tea Party Rally speaker Steve Drazkowski:

Two well-known Republicans will take the stage Friday for the Rochester Tea Party Patriots' third annual Tax Day Rally.  . . .

Also expected to speak is Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, one of the most conservative members of the GOP House.

Drazkowski isn't particularly as well-known for principled conservatism as for his deep thinking on policy. Witness his plan to cut down walnut trees in state parks or the bill to end the Pay Equity Act.

But a YouTube just released by AFSCME Council 5 of a statement The Draz made to public employees on March 22 during a members Day on The Hill visit may be the best illustration of Draz as rocket scientist.

He recommends a plan to cut staffing by the use of an electronic system similar to baby monitors because, you know, those vulnerable people in home or group living situations sleep at night.  The looks on the faces in the YouTube of those who've actually done this sort of work tells it all.

This may be another moment where the venacular wisdom shared by ordinary working people trumps numbskullery talking points by the likes of the Draz.  Working as an aide for vulnerable adults and children is a job many people hold while putting themselves through school or work in small town nursing homes. Friends who've staffed the shift for these jobs rarely talked about quiet nights, though they might get in a couple hours of studying.

The workers are there for reason, and cutting staff in favor of monitoring systems?  It may be one of the more out-of-touch statements since Tom Emmer said lots of wait staff pull down over $100,000 a year.

Update #2: The Uptake has more in Would “baby monitors” eliminate home care jobs?

Update: The comments about the video on the Minnesota Nurses Association Facebook page, from people who've worked these jobs, are priceless.

Photo: Steve Drazkowski's, Mazeppa's own resident rocket scientist. Only in Drazistan are rural values this silly.

Glenn gone wild: Gruenhagen gets public health crisis that leaves Bachmann stammering

Over at the City Pages, Jessica Lussenhop reports in a Blotter post, Michele Bachmann unsure if being gay is a public health crisis, Bachmann refused to answer the question and asked for another.

But Glenn Gruenhagen, the Minnesota Legislature's current resident crusader against the all-powerful and destructive undisciplined male sex drive--harmful even when directed toward the ladies, but exponentially tsunamic when paired with another dude--has the answer. Yes.

And the panic's not just for gays anymore.

Gruenhagen bemoaned the health risk of dudes kissing as early as 2004, in ’Til death do us 'impart' describes gay vows, a letter to the McLeod County Chronicle. He was quite certain about that "risky" threat--and was an equal-opportunity missionary against variety. Naughty straights are on the highway to hell as well.

He writes:

’Til Death Do Us “Impart”

The above title is my suggestion for gay marriage vows. In the Netherlands, where gay marriage is legal, the average gay marriage lasts 1.5 years. During that time, the average married homosexual has eight additional sexual partners per year, greatly increasing their risk of contracting deadly STDs and “imparting death” to their partner.

. ..First, the practice of sodomy is an addictive, sexual perversion that spreads sickness, disease, pain, suffering and death — whether practiced by heterosexuals or homosexuals. The public health laws in our country have always prohibited sodomy because of the medical consequences. It is an historical fact that all 13 colonies had laws against sodomy, even for married heterosexuals.

Gruenhagen has argued that alcoholism isn't a disease. Sodomy, though, is an addictive perversion with a health care agenda:

Second, what the gay rights activists really want is for the government to legalize homosexual marriages and for the rest of Americans to pick up the billions of dollars of health care costs to pay for the practice of their perversions.

. . .This is a wakeup call to Americans who still believe in our Constitution. Our Constitution has never guaranteed individuals the right to practice sexually perverted behaviors that spread disease and death to other individuals.

"Throwing condoms" at the problem is wrong, Gruenhagen asserts:

Currently the CDC estimates 8,000 teen-agers per day contract STDs (socially transmitted diseases) in our country and the liberals’ answer is to throw more latex condoms at the problem.

Perhpas Glenn just needs a lesson about condom use for something other than water balloons. I don't recall throwing them at a "problem."

Be that as it may, boys and girls, The Gruenators's in the House now to protect us against the consequences of our dirty, naughty passions:

...The compassionate political position is to help individuals who practice sexual perversions to stop that behavior before they destroy themselves and threaten the economic and social welfare of this nation. Remember, strong families equal a strong nation.

Oh, behave!

Image: Tild interprets the prescription for the public health risk of the male sex drive and sodomy. "She had the experience of an older woman, the morals of a liberal, and all of the intertubes for her wanton playground."

Roch Tea Party Patriots' demands for taxation without representation move to conference fight

Family legend has it that an ancestor once dressed like an indigenous American and, in the company of some good friends, asserted his sentiments about local representation by pitching some untaxed corporate tea into Boston Harbor.

While the family story is a bit suspect--I think our Houghton was a brother or cousin--whichever relative helped make Sam Adams a household name is probably rolling over in his grave, given a Southeastern Minnesota lawmaker's pandering to the new Tea Parties.

After micromanaging $58.5 million out of a proposed extension of Rochester sales tax, House Tax Committee Chair Greg Davids will bring his objections to allowing the Med City citizens to decide for themselves to the conference committee. Davids seems to be pandering to area Tea Party activists, who object to any taxation, it seems--and their own elected representation in St. Paul.

The Post Bulletin reports in Roch sales tax fight heads to conference committee:

The Rochester Tea Party Patriots launched an urgent call to action in an attempt to get the Senate to adopt the trimmed-down House version of the sales tax plan. But Sen. Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, sponsor of the sales tax measure, said he believes the voters of Rochester should have the right to vote on the $160 million proposal crafted by members of the community.

"I am a local control person at heart, and I just felt it wasn't my role to change what many, many people had worked on," he said. "Let the voters decide. That's basic civics. We ought to trust the voters."

Rep. Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester, said she has been getting tons of emails from residents who support the $160 million sales tax proposal and that Davids should let the residents vote on the issue.

"He doesn't represent Rochester, and I think he should stop telling us what is good for us," Liebling said.

Yes, you've read thart right. A powerful committee chair doesn't want Rochester to vote on the local sales tax proposal forged by local leaders, a one that will be presented to voters for an up or down vote. Instead, he knows better and devised his own plan when the bill was in committee. This is what he'd put forth for the voters to decide.

It's partially  a pander to those "Tea Party Patriots" who would rather see the legislature eliminate the tax altogether, however much their local elected officials support the bill. And however much local people would have the chance to vote on the extension. They know better than the entire pool of voters.

No wonder these folk love Michele Bachmann, Queen of the Tea Party. Their understanding of the meaning of "taxation without representation"  is straight out of the Bachmann School of Don't Know much about history. But then, Rochester is where Bachmann made stuff up about the Japanese medical system at an Allen Quist town hall--and the tea partiers and local Republicans ate it up.

Photo: Olmsted County Overlord Greg Davids (R-Fillmore County)

Greater Minnesota newspapers scold Republican legislature for shifts, gimmicks and raids

Governor Dayton wasn't alone yesterday in calling out legislative Republicans for "shifts, gimmicks and raids" as they seek to balance the budget without admitting a need to increase revenue.

Earlier, the editorial board of the New Ulm Journal, which leans to the right, called them out in Taking money that’s not their own? over a plan to swipe local sales tax money:

Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature are bound and determined that they are not going to raise taxes to balance the state's $5 billion budget deficit.

But apparently they are not averse to taking someone else's tax revenue.

A major transportation funding bill that is makings its way through the GOP-controlled Legislature seems to transfer $69 million in sales tax revenue raised by five metro counties for rail and bus rapid transit to replace some $51 million the state would cut from general fund spending on bus operations.

Now hold on here. This is a sales tax revenue levied in Hennepin, Ramsey, Dakota, Washington and Dakota counties. The money, approved by the county boards in those counties, has been going to the Metropolitan Council for future light rail projects like the Southwest Corridor project.

Since when does the state have the power to grab revenue from other sources of government?

New Ulm levies a half-percent sales tax to pay off the bonds that built the New Ulm Civic Center and several other park and rec facilities expansions. If the state can divert money from the metro counties' sales tax, what's to stop them from diverting our sales tax revenue, too?

Apparently the philosophy of "living within our means" that state Republicans espouse really does mean "our" means, as in your's as well as mine.

I gather those planning this pilfering met with a wall of similar criticism; the Strib reported Republicans on House panel back off transit money fight. However, the article notes it's not over until it's over:

The decision clears the way for the spending bill to reach the House floor next week -- where the issue could surface again.

DFLers had lambasted the diversion of sales tax money that five Twin Cities counties have collected to expand metro mass transit.

Rep. Mindy Greiling, DFL-Roseville, said the provision was "amazingly insulting to our local taxpayers." Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis, added, "This is raiding money that the five counties have raised," and said it set a precedent for the state to tap other local tax money to shore up its budget.

The Albert Lea Herald editorialized about a cut in health care spending in Budget plans beat hopes:

. . .The charitable interpretation of the House Republican budget is that it’s a case of hope trumping reality, as opposed to intentional smoke and mirrors. But either way, counting on a waiver from a federal government whose boss, the president, seems committed to health care benefits for the poor and elderly, strikes us as unlikely to bear fruit.

We’ve noted several times this winter that those in control at the Capitol seem unable to put forth a useful plan for erasing the state’s budget deficit. It is, however, still not too late — and Minnesotans must hope that lawmakers have some ideas that are less fanciful and more likely to produce results.

The Republican Party of Minnesota likes to claim it's the party of rural values, but it's not looking like Greater Minnesota feels it's getting value for that premise.

Photo: What are the values of the party led by failed burrito baron Tony Sutton?

Tractorade joins biggest Madison rally yet; 1000s mock Walker at rural Washburn fundraiser

Wisconsin family farmers rallied with pro-union forces yesterday to protest Scott Walker's power grab that will erode the middle class. Posted on the Land Stewardship Project Youtube page:

Vegatable and beef farmer Tony Schultz is a member of Family Farm Defenders, which sponsored the tractorade along with the Wisconsin Farmers Union and LSP.

The Cap Times looks at Why farmers are driving their tractors to protest at the Capitol:

Monroe County dairy farmer Joel Greeno works 90 to 100 hours a week. He and his wife, who works at a Wal-Mart distribution center, have a 4-year-old daughter and are expecting their second child at the end of April. Despite the fact that both are working, they qualify for health-care coverage through the state-funded BadgerCare program.

"It's just sad," says Greeno, 44. "I work hard and my wife works for one of the largest corporations in the world. Where we are right now scares me."

Republican Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, which he signed into law Friday, and his recently released budget proposal haven't exactly eased Greeno's mind.

In the name of narrowing the state's projected $3.6 billion budget deficit, Walker has proposed sweeping changes to Medicaid-funded programs including BadgerCare, cuts in state aid to public schools by nearly $834 million and a $96 million cut in aid to local governments, including cities, towns and counties.

All those cuts have Greeno wondering what kind of health coverage he will have when his newborn arrives and if the school where his daughter had her kindergarten screening a few weeks ago will still be open when it's time for her to start school this fall.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in Farmers, labor join in capitol protests:

On the seat of his tractor, Chuck Arentz protested the actions of Gov. Scott Walker as both a farmer and a Teamster.

Both will suffer as a result of the budget-repair bill that strips collective bargaining rights from public employees and gives more authority to the administration in dispensing Medicaid to the poor, said Arentz, who runs a dairy farm in Cashton.

"He's cutting Medicaid for the low-class, the middle class, the people who don't make a lot of money and cutting $900 million to schools," he said after participating in the tractorcade Saturday. "That's our future.

"Can't he see what's going on down here? I don't think he wants to."

Silas Bernardoni, a beef farmer from Darlington, said farmers would suffer under the budget cuts proposed by Walker.

"It's rural areas that are going to be hit hardest," he said. "Who lives in rural areas? Farmers. We're in one of the poorest counties in this state." . . .

Walker wasn't around to see the massive rally; instead, he was off to a Republican fundraiser in Washburn, a rural community on Lake Superior in Bayfield County. But angry badgers didn't leave him alone, the Duluth News Tribune reports in Wis. governor greeted at Washburn fundraiser by thousands of protesters:

Wisconsin’s protracted family fight over the budget and public employee unions moved to this Bayfield County town Saturday evening, as embattled Gov. Scott Walker spoke at an invitation-only event and was greeted by at least 2,000 angry protesters outside.

Walker arrived in a convoy of six unmarked police cars that pulled up at 5:45 p.m. to the Steak Pit for a Republican Lincoln Day fundraiser. The large, boisterous crowd, which had been lining the streets leading to the restaurant since 4:30, quickly recognized him and erupted in boos and shouts of “Recall Walker.”

The presence of the protesters more than doubled the number of people in the small town:

Bayfield County Sheriff Paul Susienka said Saturday evening that he didn’t have a crowd estimate, but various people had estimated the size at between 2,000 and 5,000. So the protest probably at least doubled the size of Washburn, which has a population of 2,271.

Susienka said there had been no incidents and no arrests.

No arrests occurred at the massive rally in Madison, either. The paper talked to the rally's organizers:

Ron Borchers, a substitute teacher in Washburn, said he was among 24 people who organized the rally, which began Friday afternoon behind Stage North, a community theater and entertainment venue.

Borchers praised Washburn police, whom he said worked closely with the organizers to agree on ground rules.

Scott Griffiths, a freelance artist in Washburn, also was among the organizers.

“The thing that really got me here is the disparity of wealth that has grown way too out of hand,” Griffiths said. “This is not a Wisconsin thing. This is a global pandemic of wealth buying power.”

Recall Walker has posted a video:

Photos: A sign from the Madison rally: "Now settle down kitty." Photo by Rafael Morataya (above).

"10x more awesome": facing loss of Badgercare, farmers to join workers' protests Saturday

The tractorade, a tool for agrarian protest developed by the American Agriculture Movement in 1979, is being revived in Wisconsin.

In ‘Tractorcade’ moves farmers into budget debate, the Wisconsin Farmers Union reports:

Farmers, many driving their tractors, will descend upon the Wisconsin Capitol Saturday to express concerns about the effects Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget repair bill and 2011-2013 biennium budget would have on rural Wisconsin.
 
The farmers will be part of the Farm Labor Tractorcade, hosted by Wisconsin Farmers Union and Family Farm Defenders. The rally on capitol square and at the capitol will include music and presentations by farmers speaking out against the governor’s proposals.
The event will start at noon.
 
“There’s plenty in the bills which, if they’re passed, would really hurt farmers and rural communities,” said Wisconsin Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden, a Westby-area dairy farmer. “Our members have been telling us they want their voices heard, so we’re giving them the forum for the governor and Legislature to get the message that there are problems with the bills.”
 
The budget repair bill would threaten BadgerCare, on which more than 11,000 state farm-family members depend for health insurance coverage, and would nearly eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees. The biennial budget takes more than $800 million from public schools while allowing 0 percent levy increases without referendum -- which means small rural schools each would have to either increase farmers’ property taxes by hundreds of thousands of dollars or drastically cut programs. Shared revenue cuts to municipalities also would make it difficult for townships to offer services.
 
Organizers of Saturday’s event say those issues would greatly hurt family farmers and their rural communities. Just as important, efforts to cut public workers’ collective bargaining rights is an affront to the collective bargaining process, in which family farmers participate through cooperatives and pooling.

“Farmers need to stand behind workers and their freedom to collectively bargain,” said Family Farm Defenders vice president Joel Greeno, a Kendall-area dairy farmer. “All farmer cooperatives depend upon the same principle, so any attempt to take away that right needs to be challenged.  If you lower the bar for anyone, you ultimately lower it for everyone else. Just because farmers are going bankrupt due to unfair prices doesn’t mean workers should lose living wages, too. There is no way to repair the budget until we restore fairness to the whole economic system.”
 
“A lot of family farmers depend upon BadgerCare because they have no other insurance options,” said Tony Schultz, a member of WFU and FFD and an Athens-area community-supported agriculture farmer. “Many of our CSA customers also happen to be teachers, nurses, and other public workers so this backward proposal has a direct impact on our future livelihood.”
 
Von Ruden said the bills, which together would remove $1.25 billion from school and municipal aids, shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
 
“Many of these important programs were implemented by Tommy Thompson’s administration,” Von Ruden said. “He saw the importance of creating two-thirds state school funding and BadgerCare, which was backed by the Doyle administration. Gov. Walker keeps saying he’s giving schools and municipalities the tools to cut costs and somehow be able to operate better than they operate now. But the only tool we see the governor providing is a hammer to smash things.”
 
Farmers who take their tractors to the event will gather in a downtown Madison parking lot and drive their tractors to the capitol. Anyone interested in driving their tractor or providing a tractor for another farmer to drive should contact Greeno at (715) 463-7634.
 
Donations to help offset farmers’ expenses for taking their tractors to Madison are being accepted at http://www.razoo.com/story/Farmer-Labor-Tractorcade-Fund?1299566160.

There's even a Facebook page if you want to sign up. Boing-boing noted:

This has been a very weird event, by U.S. standards. We don't often have protest movements that sustain their momentum, at this level, over this long a period of time. Hell, one day is usually the maximum. So it's been interesting to me to see the Madison protests evolve. Up next, apparently, are theme protests. Next Saturday, March 12, starting at noon, it's farmer-labor day at the Wisconsin Capitol Building—with farmers from across the state set to bring a tractorcade of support to the protesters in Madison. Yes. A tractorcade. This just got 10x more awesome.

Farmer and labor alliances are nothing new for Midwest Unrest. North Dakota was home to the Non-Partisan League. In Minnesota, the Farmer-Labor  Federation, later the Farmer-Labor Association, united rural and urban citizens.

Photos: A flag-draped John Deere from the 1979 tractorcade (above); a Farmer-Labor Party campaign vehicle from 1925, via the MSHS (below).

Note: I'm active in the Minnesota Farmers Union.

Spinside the Senate: Chamberlain connects Medtronic lay-offs to high taxes

In an interview on today's  Republican Senate Majority Caucus's "Inside the Senate" broadcast, hosted by Waseca senator Mike Parry, freshman senator Roger Chamberlain repeats the Republican mantra that Minnesota's rate of taxation will drive business to relocate. Chamberlain serves on the Senate Taxes Committee.

No news there, nor that of the studies that argue otherwise.

The most fascinating point where Chamberlainplugs a round talking point into a square hole is his mention--twice--of recent lay-offs by Medtronic.

At 11:40, Chamberlain says:

I agree with 3M, enough is enough. they have to be able to compete on a global basis and if they can't, they'll either move their headquarters, expand other places, or eventually they'll go out of business. Honeywell left, others will leave. Medtronic laid off people...

Problem: there's nothing in news reports to suggest that the Medtronic lay-offs were caused by high taxes.

On February 22, MPR's Martin Moylan reported in Medtronic plans huge job cuts, impact in Minn. unknown:

Medtronic, the world's largest medical device maker, plans to eliminate up to 2,000 jobs company-wide. The cuts are part of a restructuring effort to make up for disappointing sales of its implants.

The Fridley-based company said Tuesday the downsizing will involve both layoffs and not replacing workers who depart or retire. The cuts are aimed at achieving "long-term sustainable growth" and will reduce its 41,000-person work force by 4 to 5 percent. . . .

The layoffs announcement came as Medtronic reported net income of $924 million for the three months that ended Jan. 28, beating Wall Street expectations. Sales rose about 3 percent to nearly $4 billion....

Those sluggish sales are caused in part by consumer choice when faced with having to pay a greater share of medical costs, competition with the industry and pressure from insurance companies to lower costs:

Patients are paying an increasing share of their health care costs, causing people to delay optional procedures requiring expensive devices, Wald said.

"Even defibrillators, even pacemakers, especially spine products, the neurology products ... they can all kind of be postponed because they're not life threatening," he said. "So, if you look at it kind of that way, there's a number of products and product lines at Medtronic that are susceptible."

And Wald said Medtronic also faces intensifying competition from rivals, as well as pressure from insurers determined to cut reimbursements for medical devices.

(An aside: one standard conservative argument for health savings accounts is that consumer choice will make people more aware of health care costs and so drive down costs; reduced demand for Medtronic's products is certainly illustrative of this notion of consumer-driven health care).

And taxes? The Star Tribune's report, With growth starved, Medtronic is cutting jobs, links taxes with the company's increased earnings:

Overall sales for the quarter ended Jan. 28 declined 3 percent, to about $4 billion. Earnings were $924 million, or 86 cents a share, compared with $831 million, or 75 cents a share, the same period last year.

Analysts were expecting the company to earn 84 cents a share. Leerink Swann analyst Rick Wise wrote in a note to investors on Tuesday that although Medtronic beat Wall Street expectations by a few pennies, that performance "was driven almost wholly by a much lower-than-expected tax rate."

No word whether those taxes were state or federal, but it's not high taxes directly causing the lay-offs. Lower taxes contributed to higher earnings, but the lay-offs occurred because of disappointing sales.

Nor have, so far as I can tell, representatives from Medtronic appeared before the committee on which Chamberlain sits.

Photo: State Senator Roger Chamberlain, R-Lino-Lakes.

Related posts:

Spinside the Senate: Senate Republican Majority Caucus produces Radio Free Mike Parry

Spinside the Senate: send GOP Senate Majority Caucus comm shop your questions

 

UPDATED:Twila Brase and CCHF organizing protest against HF497, health insurance exchange bill

A quarrel within the ranks of America's conservative effort to delay and derail last year's health care reform will come to a head on Wednesday, February 16, when the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee takes testimony on draft language for a bill that has yet to be introduced. Update 2/14: the bill, HF497, was introduced today.

Conservative representative Steve Gottwalt, who chairs the committee, will be pitted against Twila Brase of the Citizens' Council for Health Freedom (CCHF), who organized a Tea Party protest in Governor Dayton's reception room last month.

It may prove to be a raucous affair, as Tea Party darling Brase is "an acknowledged master of political theater," according to the Star Tribune. And certainly, after being outflanked by the governor's gracious civility in January, Brase may need to demonstrate to the cameras that she's got her oppositional mojo back.

As near as I can tell, the St. Cloud area representative has been working in good faith to draft a workable bill. Update: he has. The Gottwalt bill is co-sponsored by  Hoppe ; Peppin ; Davids ; Abeler ; Gruenhagen ; McElfatrick ; Franson ; McDonald ; Quam ; Lohmer ;  and  Anderson, D.

On February 8, he posted on his Facebook page:

Steve Gottwalt Has been working with key stakeholders to develop insurance exchange legislation that keeps Minnesota in the driver's seat. The bill is ready for introduction.

But Brase and her supporters have different plans. The CCHF sent out a call to action (via the Minnesota Prager Discussion Group):

OBAMACARE ALERT!
Come to a MN hearing on Wednesday. We need everyone to come!
On Wednesday, February 16, at 2:30 p.m, GOP state Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud), chairman of the MN Health and Human Services Reform Committee, is holding a hearing on his bill to create the Obamacare Health Insurance Exchange in Minnesota. The Exchange is the “command and control” infrastructure of Obamacare.It will limit health insurance choices, comply with Obamacare mandates and controls, and collect and share private medical and financial data without consent.
Short List of Concerns:
The bill mentions the “Affordable Care Act” (Obamacare) a whopping 38 times. The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (federal government) is mentioned 20 times. The Internal Revenue Code (IRS) is mentioned 6 times. The word data is mentioned 21 times. The data is treated as government data under Chapter 13. The Minnesota Department of health is given surveillance powers. Citizens would not be allowed to seek redress or protest Exchange actions under the Administrative Procedures Act. The Exchange is established “to exist in perpetuity.” (p. 4)
What you can do:
1) Come to the hearing on Wednesday (see below). Bring your family and friends. Let’s flood the hearing room.
2) Ask to testify (call Holly at 651-296-4305 to sign up; Call CCHF if you want help with your testimony)
2) Contact your state Representative and Senator and tell them to oppose the Health Insurance Exchange (House bill has no number yet and there is no Senate author yet)
3) Contact every committee member by phone and email them to oppose the Gottwalt Health Insurance Exchange bill (All members are GOP except Liebling, Fritz, Hosch, Huntley, Loeffler, Moran, Murphy, Norton, and Peterson)

Brase testified in favor of Sen. David Hann's Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act (SF 33) on January 26. Mostly, Brase is one of the GOP's own "third-party experts" and allies.

A bit of background: one key element in last year's federal Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act was the creation of health insurance exchanges where consumers who aren't covered by their employers can purchase insurance. States can set up their own exchanges; should they fail to do this, the federal government will assume that role.

The arrangement creates a dilemma for Republican governors and legislators. Should they abstain from helping to create the mechanisms of what they call "Obamacare," in the hope that the law will either be tossed by the courts or repealed by Congress (and signed by a hypothetical new President in 2013)--or work to create state-controlled exchanges? Or should states be given complete discretion in the way the exchange are created?

Earlier this week, MedCity News reported in Health insurance exchanges should be controlled by states, say GOP governors that 20 Republican governor sent a list of demands for changes in the way state-based exchanges can be administered, along with an "our way or the highway" statement:

“We hope the Administration will accommodate our states’ individual circumstances and needs, as we believe the PPACA in its current form threatens to destroy our budgets and perpetuate and magnify the most costly aspects of our health care system. While we hope for your endorsement, if you do not agree, we will move forward with our own efforts regardless and HHS should begin making plans to run exchanges under its own auspices,” they wrote.

The governors' letter is just a taste of the political storm Gottwalt's committee is stepping into on Wednesday. (The bill is drafted but not yet introduced; hearings on legislation not yet in the hopper is standard fare in state legislative committees)

Brase's battle against health insurance exchanges predates the federal legislation. In 2008, the Governor's Health Care Transformation Task Force-- composed of 17 members - 13 appointed by the governor and four state legislators-- recommended the creation of a health insurance exchange in its final report.

In a Citizen Report of Dissent, the group, then called the Citizens' Council on Health Care, along with other conservative ideological organizations, opposed the provision The health insurance exchange language was removed from proposed health care legislation by the end of March, 2008 (Martiga Lohn, "Major health care bill divides Minn. Senate Democrats," Associated Press, March 28, 2008, Nexis All News, accessed 2/12/2011).

Here's betting that Brase and Gottwalt aren't going to see eye to eye. Get the popcorn.

Update: A shortened version of the CCHF alert is also up on True North, posted by GOP gadfly Sue Jeffers, although Jeffers fails to identify it as a message from CCHF.

Update #2: Wednesday will also be the Working Families Day on the Hill for Minnesota's union and the day for grasstroots citizen lobbying by MNSCU students. Should by an exciting day to people watch.

Other Reads: The St. Cloud Times' Mark Sommerhauser talked to Gottwalt about the issue in Gottwalt's bill calls for state insurance exchange.  Outstate Politics documents the atrocities tea parties left in the paper's comment section.

Photo: Brase organized a Tea Party protest in the governor's office in January. Will she be able to rally as many rowdy supporters in the coming week as she did then? Will Gottwalt be as nimble as Dayton if she does? (photo via The GH Spin, above); Steve Gottwalt (below).

Hutchinson Leader on Newman snub: Nurses' request for meeting was for constituent

The current defense by state senator Scott Newman for his office's email to the MNA refusing a meeting is that the demands of lobbyists for his time leave no time for his constituents. This defense is getting repeated by conservative comment trolls, and rocking chair media like the Star Tribune appear to be quite satisfied with that answer.

Check out, for instance, the state senator's spin in the Strib: Newman: "Just an error, that's all":

“I’ve tried to limit the lobbyists that are coming in to see me involving committees I’m on and issues that are important to me,” he said. “I literally feel besieged” by lobbyists.

“I don’t have time to talk to constituents. I don’t have time to get any work done,” said Newman.

As Bluestem noted in an update to an earlier post--a fact which bears repeating since the truth leaves a hole in Newman's excuse I could throw a cat through--the Minnesota Nurses Association was seeking to arrange a meeting with the Hutchinson Republican with  MNA members who live in his district.

Constituents.

The request was part of planning for the March 1 "Nurses Day on the Hill." Such events are fairly common--and help ordinary citizens meet with legislators.

What's more--while Newman and his supporters are playing the victimization-by-lobbyist card in the metro area papers and comment sections--his story is somewhat different in a local paper. In Nurses group’s snub was unintentional, Newman says, Hutchinson Leader staff writer Jorge Sosa reports:

. . .Gavin said she was trying to schedule a time for Newman to meet nurses from District 18 during the Minnesota Nurses Association’s annual “Nurses Day on the Hill.” Gavin, who has worked for the association for four years, said she has been turned down by other legislators before due to schedule conflicts, “But I’ve never gotten a response like that.”

Newman now says in the local paper that he will meet with the MNA lobbyists because their work is important to the policy area of his committie assignment, but doesn't acknowledge that the MNA was contacting him in order to set up meetings with constituents:

Newman plans to meet with only lobbyists that are working on issues he’s involved in or committees he’s serving on. “I’m not picking on people that didn’t endorse me,” he said.

He added there are hundreds of lobbyists at the Capitol seeking to speak with legislators and he is trying to limit the number he’ll speak to. “Honestly, it’s becoming a problem … I think it’s more important to talk to constituents and get some work done then to talk to lobbyists,” he said.

Newman said he’d be willing to meet with the nurses association, because he’s on the Senate Health and Human Services committee and he assumed the association would want to speak with him about those topics.

I have posted a copy of the letter [ PDF: Nurses day on hill save the date legislators 121710] the MNA sent to all legislators back in December explaining the "Nurses Day on the Hill" visits.

I'm wondering if Scott Newman suddenly discovered all the teachers, Litchfield police officers, and cheesemakers at the giant First District Co-operative who are union members. And what of the Democrats, whose party endorsed Kimball?

The exposure of this incident should lighten his legislative assistant's workload, now that she doesn't have to look up the political affiliations of her boss's constituents.

In other venues, Brian Lambert's afternoon Daily Glean providess an excellent wrap-up of leftie blogosphere reaction in 'Pay-to-play' state senator taking heat over staff email.

Image: No snub intended for the folks in the scrubs, Newman says now.

 

UPDATED 4/24: So that's what they call it now: Strib reports on Scott Newman's "innocent mistake"

April 24: Welcome Minnesota Democrat Exposed readers. The current occupants of Michael Brodkorb's site--and Brodkorb is the communications director of the Senate Majority Caucus and the Deputy Director of the Republican Party-- have directed you here. 

The assumption in that post is that you will make an ethical equivalence (as they do) between an insensitive tweet made by Nicole Kaplan, a DFL senate staffer, using her Android phone to no one in particular on Twitter this weekend, with an email from a state account that a former state employee Kim Kelley sent out to the Minnesota Nurses Association when the MNA was trying to set up a meeting for MNA members who are Senator Newman's constituents.

Let me spell out what the standard is here, since the writers at MDE are unable to make the distinction. It's called senate business.

Kim Kelley sent an email using an official State of Minnesota account (kim.kelley@senate.mn) during working hours (Thursday, January 20, 2011 2:00 PM). In that email, the former GOP staffer told the MNA that Senator Newman's policy was to not meet with any group that endorsed his opponent in 2010. Remember, the MNA was trying to set up a meeting between the senator and nurses in his district.

Moreover, Kelley informed the MNA that she had spent time researching who had endorsed and contributed to Hal Kimball's campaign. Presumably, she did this as part of her employment. (Just to there's no confusion for readers, I'm adding the email that Kim Kelley sent at the end of this post, because MDE didn't send you to the first post about the episode, which contains this information; the Kaplan tweet follows it for comparison).

Kaplan's tweet was sent from an Android phone on a Saturday and was not directed to anyone in particular who had contacted Cohen's office for a meeting. Insensitive? Sure.  Tweeted in the conduct of Senate business? Probably not.

Some good has come out of the unfortunate email episode. I'm told by an MNA staffer that Senator Newman has met with nurses who live here in our district.

The original post:

No wonder why Scott Newman will talk to the Star Tribune, and not to the Associated Press.

From the Strib, readers learn that the "freshman legislator" and his legislative assistant made an "innocent mistake" that Bluestem first posted about yesterday afternoon in UPDATED: Email to MNA: Sen. Scott Newman won't meet with groups that endorsed Hal Kimball.

Hot Dish Politics reports:

Newman, who is from Hutchinson and sits on the influential Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said he had first heard of the email early Tuesday morning. “It’s just an error, that’s all,” he said.

“I’ve tried to limit the lobbyists that are coming in to see me involving committees I’m on and issues that are important to me,” he said. “I literally feel besieged” by lobbyists.

“I don’t have time to talk to constituents. I don’t have time to get any work done,” said Newman.

In reviewing another email forwarded to me by the MNA yesterday, I noticed that it appears that the group was trying to schedule a meeting with a union member who is one of Newman's constituents in the 18B side of my senate district.

UPDATE

I read it right--and the MNA forwarded a copy of the first contact that it had made with Senator Newman's office for the Nurses Day on the Hill. Since the MNA's first heads-up went out on December 17, perhaps it might be useful for the "real media" to ask how long Newman and his aide had to think this one through. The email:

From: Eileen Gavin
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2010 5:47 PM
Subject: Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) Nurses Day on the Hill Tuesday, March 1 2011

 Dear legislators-

 Please mark your calendars for this year’s MN Nurses Day on the Hill, Tuesday, March 1, 2011. I will be in touch with your Legislative Assistants after session begins to schedule appointments to meet with nurses from your districts.[emphasis added by BSP] We look forward to meeting with you in the upcoming session.

Thank you

~Eileen

 [end update]

Will Newman meet with district residents who are members of groups that organize "days on the hill"? Or, if their association opposed him, are they out in the cold?

Moreover, the Strib's phrasing -- "freshman legislator" --is somewhat misleading. Scott Newman served in the Minnesota House from 2004 through 2006, and thus isn't a first-term legislator. He is a first-term senator, and the Strib should use the more precise language. Certainly, the Minnesota House has ethics rules as well. But perhaps Newman's blaming his secretary will be a sticky excuse.

As for Newman first hearing about the email Tuesday morning--I'm surprised that the Republican Party of Minnesota(whose IP address showed up on my site traffic software in a hit on the post late yesterday afternoon) didn't contact the Senator about the news.

Perhaps Deputy Chair Michael Brodkorb, who also serves as the Senate majority communications director, needs to get new party interns.

Meanwhile, a conservative local paper repeats the Strib's report. Damage control? Of course. The twitterati swallow the "rookie mistake" excuse for Newman, who in 2010 campaigned on his prior experience in legislature.How lovely for the watchdogs in the media to allow him to have it both ways.

The email. I had redacted the email address in the original post so that spambot wouldn't harvest it. Here's the intact email, since the Kelley email no longer works:

-----Original Message-----
From: kim.kelley@senate.mn [mailto:kim.kelley@senate.mn]
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 2:00 PM
To: Eileen Gavin
Subject: [Eileen Gavin] Meeting

 

Kim Kelley sent a message using the contact form at

http://www.mnnurses.org/contact/staff/eileen-gavin.

 

Hi Eileen-

Unfortunately, Senator Newman will not see any organizations that donated

to/supported his opponent Hal Kimball. After some careful checking, I

discovered that the MNA had donated to Kimball's campaign. Your association

will be unable to schedule an appointment with Senator Newman.

 

Kim Kelley

Legislative Assistant

Compare this to Kaplan's tweet:

Kaplan tweeted on Saturday, “Ooh I wonder if Jesus will see his shadow tomorrow! That’s what this holiday is about, right?”

Related posts:

Hutchinson Leader on Newman snub: Nurses' request for meeting was for constituent

UPDATED: So that's what they call it now: Strib reports on Scott Newman's "innocent mistake"

AP: Senator Newman won't be interviewed about email to MNA

Did Scott Newman tread on senate ethics rules with his reverse pay-to-play email?

UPDATED: Email to MNA: Sen. Scott Newman won't meet with groups that endorsed Hal Kimball