Perhaps the most bizarre explanation for keeping a legislative salary during the shutdown was that provided by state senator Al DeKruif. In The Pogemiller prophecy; or, Senator Al DeKruif's secret history of the MN government shutdown, Bluestem looked at DeKruif's dark vision of the Power of Former Pogemiller staffers. The freshman senator, big load hauler and resort owner wrote back in July:
. . .The DFL held the majority in the State Senate for 38 years and losing it was a major blow to the DFL and Senator Pogemiller. There are direct ties between Governor Dayton and the Senator through Michele Kelm-Helgen who is the Governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff and is very involved in day to day negotiations on the budget. Michele was the former Majority Leader Pogemiller’s Chief of Staff. . . .
Yesterday, Governor Dayton announced that Pogemiller will take the helm at the Office of Higher Education. PIM staff writer Brian Bierschbach reports in Sen. Pogemiller to lead Office of Higher Ed that there's a former Pogemiller aid involved:
The higher ed office has been without a director since Sheila Wright suddenly resigned in September. Its current acting interim director is Susan Von Mosch, a former Senate staffer who worked on tax issues in Senate Counsel and Research when Pogemiller was Taxes Committee chair.
Will DeKruif see this as more Pogie machinations? Fortunately, the Madison Lake madman serves on the Education Committee, which has authority over K-12 education, rather than higher education and so DeKruif's obsession likely won't get much play.
Perhaps he'll simply return his credits earned at the Waseca campus of the University of Minnesota (it morphed into the federal prison) and call it a day.
Photo: Senator Al DeKruif.
Related post: The Pogemiller prophecy; or, Senator Al DeKruif's secret history of the MN government shutdown
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