There's a leaden winter sky today on the prairie, a sure sign that we're in for a change in the weather. Forecasts call for rain, freezing rain, then snow for much of the southwestern 2/3rds of the First, with conditions predicted to be worst around Pipestone. Keep an eye on things and drive carefully.
MPR: Gutknecht looks to the future
Another farewell from Gil Gutknecht, with MPR throwing in dueling assessments of Gutknecht's records from the middle and the right. The report begins with the Contract with America:
Throughout his tenure 1st District Rep. Gil Gutknecht did a radio show, "Conversations with the Congressman."
In his last broadcast on Rochester's KROC Gutknecht described signing Newt Gingrich's Contract with America. It was the cornerstone of the so-called Republican revolution. It promised a balanced budget, welfare reform and government transparency.
"And as we came out onto the steps to make this big formal signing in front of the press and everything, all of a sudden the clouds started to part, and the sun came out, and it was almost like an omen," he said.
The day after Tim Walz was elected, southern Minnesota enjoyed record high temperatures in the 80s. The next day, it snowed. This dramatic contrast was a sign that weather in Minnesota is like that. The political lesson one might draw from it is to use the same common sense in watching the political skies that we use to gauge the weather.
Gutknecht's reflections about his time in office and his loss are no different than those reported in other farewell articles. MPR adds third-party comments from the center and the right, with Tim Penny and Steve Sviggum assessing Gutknecht's 12-year career:
Tim Penny served as the first Congressional District Representative from 1982 until he retired in 1994. He is now a senior fellow at the U of M's Humphrey Institute. Penny says Gutknecht was a back-bench legislator, a follower as opposed to a leader.
"And lots of legislators survive quite nicely playing that role and retain a lot of popularity in their district playing that role," Penny says "But it seems to me that after 12 years you ought to aspire to a greater role than that."
Penny says Gutknecht's base of support wasn't as strong as some thought. Penny says Gutknecht didn't push through concessions for farmers or work on Mayo's behalf in health care or its fight against the DM&E railroad loan.
Penny says the district has a reputation for being more conservative than it actually is. He says Gutknecht never won by more than 60 percent of the vote, and his opponents were virtual-unknowns.
"Against those kinds of opponents typically a well-entrenched incumbent will win by a two-to-one margin or seventy percent or more," Penny says.
Minnesota's out-going Speaker of the House, Republican Steve Sviggum sees a much more effective lawmaker on a national level. He worked with Gutknecht in the state legislature.
"You take the oath of office to the United States of America, to the Constitution of the United States of America,"Sviggum says, "Not necessarily just to the First District."
He says Gutknecht lost his seat because of anti-Republican sentiment. He says Gutknecht shouldn't be criticized for not having bills to his name.
"I think Gil, knowing him quite well, would not need his name attached to every piece of legislation. But I can absolutely tell you he would be very, very, vital in the passing of a bill."
Gutknecht's successor, Tim Walz, is taking a more vocal approach to the job already.
He just called for a government oversight hearing on the contentious federal loan to DM&E railroad. That's something Gutknecht, despite sitting on the Committee on Government Reform, never did.
Or Senator Coleman, heading his own subcommittee on investigations, either.
Mankato Free Press: Schieffer welcomes oversight hearings
The Free Press reports on Walz's request for oversight hearings on DM & E. The newspaper draws on a statement from last month for Schieffer's remark:
DM&E officials have accused project opponents of trying to kill the expansion through delaying tactics, something Walz said he’s not attempting to do that with his request for oversight.
As for defending the project on its merits, DM&E President Kevin Schieffer said last month that he’d be happy to do that before congressional committees.
“There’s nothing I’d invite more than an open dialogue on this,” Schieffer said.
Congress to Treasury Secretary Paulson: Soft on yuan
Someone once asked how a high school geography teacher would know anything about trade policies with China. Tim Walz answered in Chinese. Like the district he represents, Walz has a way of surprising people.
Today's Bloomberg reports on Congressional response to a Treasury report about the undervaluation of the Chinese yuan:
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is heading for a confrontation on China with the new Democratic- controlled Congress after his department softened its criticism of the country's currency policy.
Lawmakers condemned the Treasury for failing to label China a currency manipulator in its semi-annual foreign-exchange report yesterday and vowed to call Paulson to Capitol Hill to question him on the decision. Unions and manufacturers also criticized the Treasury report, which conceded China's policy of limiting gains in the yuan is a distortion.
``It's the worst kept secret in the world that they are manipulating,'' said Representative Tim Walz, a Minnesota Democrat and Mandarin speaker. ``A sense of urgency is not there, and it's something we need to move on.''
The chorus of criticism raises the risk that Congress will enact punitive actions designed to pressure China. More than two dozen measures aimed at decreasing the record U.S. trade gap with China were held up by Republican leaders in the past two years.
``They are going to get exactly what they deserve from Congress,'' said Robert Baugh, an executive director of the AFL- CIO in Washington. The nation's largest labor federation contributed $40 million to help Democrats win control of Congress. ``Our argument is that this is an illegal subsidy under U.S. trade law.''
Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, incoming chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the committee, said in a joint statement that they are disappointed with the Treasury report. . . .
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