A conservative advocacy group is targeting Rochester GOP Sen. Carla Nelson for supporting a hike in the state's cigarette tax.
Americans for Prosperity sent a direct-mail piece this week that
states "Carla Nelson wants to raise our taxes … even more than Mark
Dayton!" It goes on to state that "Not even Mark Dayton supports such a
massive tax hike" and urges people to call Nelson to tell her to "stop
raising sales taxes on Minnesotans."
Nowhere on the mailer does it use the term "cigarette
taxes." A footnote in small print cites a bill Nelson introduced that
would increase taxes on cigarettes by $1.29 a pack, to the same tax
level as in Wisconsin, and use that money to help reduce the statewide
business property tax . . .
Nelson is one of three state lawmakers who support various tax increases
being targeted by the group, which was founded by conservative
billionaires Charles and David Koch. The others are both Democrats from
Edina — Rep. Ron Erhardt and Sen. Paul Rosenthal. . . .
Van Guilder declined to say how much is being spent on the mailers but
said it is "significant." He said the group also plans to use social
media to urge its supporters to speak out against these tax proposals.
It's likely that most progressive observers will focus on the Koch Brothers connection with AFP, and chuckle at the Koch money being used against Nelson, but there's more than just Koch change rattling in AFP's cup.
Politically active non-profit organizations like Americans For Prosperity (and its state wings) are not required under
current law to disclose the names of businesses, organizations and
individuals who
provide their funds. But groups like the Center for Responsive
Politics and Greenpeace have unearthed other sources, including the secretive Donors Trust.
Receipts reported to IRS by Contributing Organizations since 2010
Organization
Date Filed
Amount
Recipient
Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation
11/19/10
$354,725
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
EL Craig Foundation
01/01/11
$100,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Issue
08/08/11
$10,000
Americans for Prosperity (c4)
Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation
11/21/11
$150,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
Donors Trust
11/14/11
$50,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
Donors Trust
11/14/11
$300,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
Donors Trust
11/14/11
$500,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
Donors Trust
11/14/11
$580,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
National Christian Charitable Foundation
11/10/11
$22,500
Americans for Prosperity (c3)
Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation
11/18/11
$20,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation
11/18/11
$500,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
John William Pope Foundation
11/21/11
$500,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
John William Pope Foundation
11/15/10
$25,000
Americans for Prosperity (c4)
John William Pope Foundation
11/15/10
$50,000
Americans for Prosperity (c4)
Donors Trust
11/14/11
$1,500,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
Donors Trust
11/14/11
$4,500,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
Donors Trust
11/14/11
$1,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
Donors Trust
11/14/11
$1,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
Center to Protect Patients' Rights
12/13/11
$1,924,000
Americans for Prosperity (c4)
John William Pope Foundation
11/21/11
$250,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
John William Pope Foundation
11/21/11
$500,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
John William Pope Foundation
11/21/11
$100,000
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (c3)
Cmnty Fndtn Serving Richmond/Central VA
11/16/10
$350,250
Americans for Prosperity (c3)
Cornerstone Action
11/14/11
$148,000
Americans for Prosperity (c4)
Who's funding this particular attack against Nelson and two suburban Democrats? We'll probably never know--- but it's likely Van Guilder's not stretching it when he says "significant" money is available.
For more on the Donor's Trust, check out DeSmogBlog's Who is Donors Trust?. There does seem to be a lot of money to follow.
Photo: Senator Carla Nelson, R-Rochester.
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While conservatives like to whine about over-regulation, it's easy to appreciate the manure management advice the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is distributing to livestock farmers.
As a winter of heavy snowfall and freezing
rain gives way to warming temperatures, rapid melting and potential for
flooding pose challenges for manure management among the more than
25,000 livestock farms in Minnesota. Farmers who spread solid manure
during winter must ensure that it doesn’t run off with rapid snowmelt
flowing to ditches, streams and other waters.
Manure-contaminated runoff not only threatens water quality, it
reduces the value of manure as a crop nutrient. If possible, farmers
should refrain from spreading manure during periods of rapid melt. This
may be even more important in some areas this year because of frozen
snow conditions. In January and February the snow was saturated by rain,
and then froze. This prevents surface-applied manure from soaking in to
the soil, and more susceptible to runoff.. . .
In the eyes of the federal government, urban Minnesota has just pushed a little farther into the countryside.
What used to be a 13-county metropolitan statistical area now
contains 16 counties. Mille Lacs, Sibley and Le Sueur counties, which
still look pretty rural if you go driving around the likes of Milaca or
Winthrop, are now considered by the federal Office of Management and
Budget part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington Metropolitan
Statistical Area (MSA).
Part of this is statistical artifice, and at least a couple research
folks I've talked to around town have been scratching their heads about
how meaningful it is. But one thing it says is that the artery of
commerce and commuting that for some time has tied the Twin Cities to
the St. Cloud area is being duplicated in regards to Mankato.
. . . A county
is added to an MSA when more than a quarter of its workforce commutes to
the "core counties" of the statistical area.
While Gruenhagen's insurance office is in McLeod County (notably still not part of the metro), the lawmaker hangs his hat in Sibley County--and so now, he's statistically a metro legislator. (Indeed, all of his old pre-2012 district--parts of Sibley, Le Sueur and Scott Counties--is now part of the Twin Cities statistical metro area).
Does this radical Big Government redefinition of metro threaten Gruenhagen's role as a voice in the wilderness? After all, in his first message home after being sworn in, the insurance salesman wrote:
It was an honor and a privilege to take the oath of office on Tuesday
and be sworn in for the second time to the Minnesota House of
Representatives. One of my highest priorities this session is to be a
voice for rural Minnesota. Agriculture is such an important part of our
local economies, and we must make sure that rural Minnesota is
adequately represented in Saint Paul.
Someone needs to let Glenn Beck know.
For ourselves, we're just worried that hipsters will discover the incredible pie at Lyle's Cafe in Winthrop, itself already an urban island of lavender blue in Gruenhagen's deep red district.
Photo: Lyle's Cafe, future hipster haven? If you call this metro, serve it with a heavy dollop of irony.
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During last fall's debate over the amendment to restrict the freedom to marry, one of the spokesters for Minnesota for Marriage (M4M) compared the tactics of Vote No supporters with Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. M4M quickly repudiated the claim, but has revived the trope in news materials for April 7 church-based organizing.
The coalition that advocated last year for a constitutional amendment
banning same-sex marriage in Minnesota has continued to fight as
legislators now consider a marriage equality bill. The so-called “Minnesota for Marriage” coalition is urging pastors to use their sermon on April 7 to take a stand against same-sex marriage, and the provided materials — a “Sermon starter,”
accompanying PowerPoint presentation, and bulletin insert — are
gratuitously anti-gay. Notably, one passage not only condemns gay people
as having a chosen behavior, but then compares the LGBT movement to
Nazis for peddling untruths:
Third, there is a definitive problem. Homosexuals claim:
“We were born this way; it is in our genes; God made us gay.” They cite
old “gay gene” studies predominantly conducted by researchers who are
homosexuals; studies that have been repudiated by credible research.
Yet these same biased and discredited studies have been widely
publicized by the liberal media as true and factual. They
essentially practice Joseph Goebel’s Nazi philosophy of propaganda,
which is basically this: Tell a lie long enough and loud enough and
eventually most mindless Americans will believe it. . . .
. . . To sum up: LGBT activists use Nazi propaganda techniques, homosexuality
is comparable to promiscuity, adultery, and pedophilia, and gays are
sinners who have “perverted and twisted desires.”
What's just as awful is M4M forgetting about its own arguments--and apologies--last fall. A backgrounder issued today by Minnesotans United cites three instances of M4M rejecting the Nazi tactic analogy:
Parrish, publicly apologized for Rev. Brandon’s comments: “I apologize that it wandered off in this direction… It’s clearly not what we are talking about in this campaign,” and furthermore that Rev. Brandon’s comments were “not representative about how we feel about the other side.” (Star Tribune).
Additionally, WCCO reported that “A spokeswoman for Minnesota For Marriage said the group doesn’t support Brandon’s statements.” Autumn Leva – who still serves as a spokesperson for Minnesota for Marriage and is registered in Minnesota as a lobbyist on behalf of that organization – said in October 2012 that “We’ve since, very seriously, discussed this with Pastor Brandon, and explained… drawing an analogy to Hitler and Nazi Germany isn’t the right way to go.”
In that same report from WCCO, Pastor Brandon’s apology included the following: “it was a terrible mistake to even mention Nazism in an attempt to illustrate my point, and I fully understand why many found it to be offensive. I sincerely apologize for making this very inapt reference. In no way was I attempting to equate the marriage debate with Nazism and I profoundly apologize to anyone who felt that was my objective.”
But Nazi analogies weren't the only arguments M4M rejected in 2012 that are picked up in the group's new material. There's that verse from Levitcus, for instance.
The Leviticus hacking flap: that was then, this is now
Think Progress also notes that M4M's April 7 materials cite Scripture that condemn same-sex attraction.
In the "Sermon Starter" by Dr. Kenyn Cureton, there's also this:
Second, there is a deceptive perversion of the divine pattern. Hear me: Any and all sexual sin outside of the marriage covenant relationship is a deceptive perversion of the divine pattern, but for the purposes of this message I want to focus on one sin in particular: homosexuality. The Word of God, which does not err, is abundantly clear. Leviticus 18:22 says: “You are not to sleep with a man as with a woman; it is detestable.” Leviticus 20:13a says: “If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman, they have both committed an abomination...” Homosexuality is an abomination to God. This is the strongest biblical word for the denunciation of sin, the proof of which is in the account of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were destroyed in
a hail of fire and brimstone (Gen. 19).
Note the how that verse is now 20:13a and there's an ellipsis, meaning that some text is being left out. There's a rich backstory in M4M's recent social media experience stemming from a surprise Facebook posting of that verse.
Just last week the Minnesota Council of “Respectful Conversations Project” to encourage civil religious dialogue about this fall’s vote on an Amendment to limit the freedom to marry.
About nine hours ago (and counting) this quote was posted on the
Facebook page of Minnesota for Marriage, the campaign supporting the
Amendment:
“If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does
with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be
put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”
~Leviticus 20:13
Jeremy Hooper has a screen shot here. While they’re still up, go ahead and read the comment thread.
Andy Parrish, the spokesman for Minnesota for Marriage, claims in a tweet:
My Twitter, Facebook, @gmail.com @me.com were all hacked and garbage was posted on the MInnesota For Marriage FB. I won’t be intimidated.
It’s curious that, although all of his accounts were hacked, only the Facebook page got the Leviticus love.
But, wait a minute – is Parrish saying that some quotes from the Bible are garbage?
Now that we can agree that the Bible and Leviticus in particular can
be used to justify all sorts of stuff we might today consider “garbage” —
maybe now we can begin that respectful dialogue?
Isn't that nice? Surely, comparing gay marriage advocates to Nazis and citing homicidal scripture will surely help the conservative party brand recover from its current market position as the enclave of scary old guys. We feel for our conservative young friends, most of whom support marriage freedom.
The long arc of backstory on the flaming lavender stormtroopers of love
Back when he was appearing on the National Organization For Marriage's summer tour, this site dug up audio
in which Pastor and local radio host Brad Brandon compared
"Satan-influenced" gays to alcoholics, pedophiles, and Hitler, before
then saying that we have to "get [gays] saved and get 'em out of that
lifestyle." Audio that our pals at Think Progress then put into a handy
YouTube video:
Good As You went on:
So I have to wonder:why is the Minnesota for Marriage campaign, an
effort supposedly focused only on civil marriage, compensating this same
Brad Brandon to the tune of $3,000?
So not only do we have yet another example of a campaign against
civil marriage thumbing its nose at any separation between personal
faith views and shared public policy, but here we have it coming from a
person who leaves not one shred doubt about where he stands on gays
(like alcoholics and pedophiles) or what his endgame his (getting gays
"out of that lifestyle"). This is what MN For Marriage is recruiting!!
Then again, this Minnesota fight is one that has roots in Michele Bachmann, someone who has said homosexuality is "part of Satan I think" and compares lawmakers who don't support marriage amendments to soldiers who missed Pearl Harbor's warning signs. Perhaps the bigger surprise would be them confining this conversation to the civil policy realm where it belongs.
Go check it out, and google a bit yourself. Bran Brandon should be no
stranger to the Twin Cities media or local socially conservative
Republicans. Back in 2010, Hart van Denbrug wrote Rev. Brad Brandon wants his GOP endorsements to be tax exempt.
Moreover, M4M communications director Chuck Darrell also knows
Brandon's history of making controversial statements about gay folk
assaulting his sensibilities. Andy Birkey reported in Pastor says Minnesota gays teach kids how to masturbate:
In one of the more bizarre speeches at the Minnesota Family Council’s
rally for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, Hastings
Pastor Brad Brandon said he saw “homosexuals” teaching children how to
masturbate in the rotunda at the State Capitol a few weeks ago. A check
of news clips and Capitol schedules by TheColu.mn did not turn up any
such event.
Brandon, a young pastor from the Hastings area, was among several
dozen people who showed up for the rally on Thursday afternoon. He fired
up the crowd by saying that homosexuals teach kids to masturbate.
“We as Christians, as followers of the lord Jesus Christ, we need to
be bold in such a time as this,” he said. “This is an assault on our
culture and I don’t think god takes it very lightly when we mess with
the image of Jesus Christ.
. . . .Brandon’s was among several other speeches at the Capitol. Here are some highlights.
The Minnesota Family Council’s communications director, Chuck
Darrell: “God’s design is for marriage between a man and a woman.” . . .
Photo: Not only are LGBTQ folk not nazis, they were among the victims of Hitler's most inhumane policies; the story of the pink triangle relates and
commemorates this chapter in LGBTQ history. In recent Minnesota
history, the pink triangle also played a part in the retirement of
Representative Arlon Lindner.
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I was born by a scheduled C-section, my parents' second child. After my mother went through a prolonged labor with my sister that nearly ended her life, both my brother and I showed up on schedule; my mom loved to tell the story of taking the local bus to the hospital the day before my deliver everytime she heard about someone being "rushed to the hospital."
My parents picked my birthday within a window doctors gave them--a day after Grandmother Sorensen's birthday, but before Halloween and the coming holy days.
Responding to inquiries on everything from gay marriage to gun
control, increasing the minimum wage to lowering the drinking age, fully
funding all-day kindergarten, legalizing marijuana and more, Dayton
gave thoughtful and straightforward answers.
Later he told the
students, “I’m impressed with how well-attuned you are to the world
around you. These are great questions and they give me great hope for
the future of our state, our nation. Thank you.”
After his
allotted time had ended, the governor stuck around a few minutes longer,
chatting with staff and students, greeting custodians and secretaries
before signing out.
And then, eager to greet his first grandchild –
a baby boy born by scheduled C-section late Wednesday morning – Dayton
climbed into his SUV and made his exit.
A call to Blaine High School established that Governor Dayton had been at the high school from 9:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.
Governor Dayton had had another event scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., speaking at the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce's "Public Affairs Series featuring Governor Mark Dayton," but had sent Chief of Staff Tina Flint Smith in his place; the substitution had been arranged two weeks before.
Dayton “deeply respects” the business
community, said Smith, who said she was speaking in the governor’s stead
because he was becoming a grandfather for the first time. (A Dayton
spokeswoman confirmed the governor’s son Eric and his wife, Cornelia
(Cory) Dayton, were the parents-to-be.)
Not good enough for a number of Minnesota's finest conservatives commentators on twitter. The substitution became a "cancellation;" without stopping to learn the circumstances of the birth, it became "induced labor;" and, the lack of interest by the press about the alleged snubbing of the business community became occasion for outrage.
Yes, really. Presented in their self-evident glory, here's that gentle chorus of family values, with Bluestem's favorite leading the list:
Dayton never speaks 4 long periods of time anyway. A politician wouldn't like 2 tell an audience he has to leave rt away 4 grandchild birth?
Somehow Dayton's destination ended up in the Blaine story--and news of it in Finance and Commerce as well. Perhaps Ms. Kihne misjudged yesterday's political climate. Here's what the St. Paul Chamber tweeted:
Whatever Governor Dayton's faults may be--and Bluestem has counted the push for the stadium as one of them--his kind heart for dogs and children isn't one of them.
Moreover, the tenacious trolling about yesterday underscores the RNC's own report noting that Republicans don't seem to care for people. The birth of a child is a welcomed event, and I know from tales of my own scheduled C-section that there's nothing odd about this tale except for public boorishness.
Apparently so, if citizens bearing dead fish to Rep. Paul Torkelson's office are any indication.
In Insurance exchange concerns aired, the New Ulm Journal's Fritz Busch writes about a town hall conducted town hall meeting Wednesday with Rep. Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska) and Sen. Gary Dahms (R-Redwood Falls) at New Ulm's Pizza Ranch.
Not only did the new health insurance come up, but this:
Torkelson said people have bought carcasses of Asian carp to his
legislative office in an attempt to get support for keeping the invasive
species out of the state by closing locks and adding electric barriers.
Bluestem has obtained exclusive footage of one of those meetings:
Fritz continues:
"I'd
like to see the St. Anthony lock closed. It isn't used for much anyway.
I'd like to see electric barriers added on the Mississippi and
Minnesota rivers too," Torkelson said.
Dahms said Asian carp pose
a serious threat to Minnesota fisheries and that time is of the essence
to prevent their spread in state waters.
Bluestem hopes that the legislature addresses this issue.
Photo: Rep. Paul Torkelson.
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In addition to the hailstorm of criticism Michele Bachmann is facing, unforeseen family circumstances caused her to beg off from a badge retirement ceremony today in honoring Cold Spring Officer Tom Decker, who was killed in the line of duty in November.
The Cold Spring-Richmond Police Department had planned a badge
retirement ceremony Wednesday in honor of Officer Tom Decker, who was
killed in the line of duty in November.
U.S.
Rep. Michele Bachmann was scheduled to be the keynote speaker. Bachmann
canceled the appearance in the middle of last week and the event was
called off.
Bachmann’s
Communications Director Dan Kotman told the Times that the
congresswoman unable to attend because of unforeseen family
circumstances. He said she regrets she can’t be there and her heart
remains with Decker’s family, the police department and the community.
The City Council had canceled its meeting that night to accommodate Bachmann’s availability.
The Gentlewoman from Minnesota's Sixth is having a rough time, an experience reflected in the headline of Esquire columnist Charles P. Pierce's column, Michele Bachmann's Bad, Awful Month:
Oh, mercy, it seems like The Girl With The Faraway Eyes may have discovered that running for president is not like an ATM after all.
Glenn Beck has a theory about why Michele Bachmann is under investigation by
the Office of Congressional Ethics, and it’s not because her 2012
presidential campaign allegedly committed campaign finance violations:
It’s because the U.S. has been “infiltrated” by “radical Islam,” and
Bachmann got on the wrong side of it.
“You see what they’re doing
to Michele Bachmann?” Beck asked. “Michele Bachmann is under all kinds
of ethics investigations now. Why do you suppose that is? She’s evil?
She is uber-clear on what’s going on. Uber clear.”
He continued
that the State Department is “pushing” Somalis into Minnesota, and
Bachmann tried to find out why. “She hasn’t gotten any answers, and now
she’s under investigation,” Beck said.
According to contemporary reports, as here and here,
Egyptian protesters who pelted the motorcade of then Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton with tomatoes during her visit to Egypt last July were
chanting "Monica! Monica!"
So who did Al Sharpton, on his MSNBC show this evening, blame for the
tomato pelting? Why, Glenn Beck and Michele Bachmann, of course!
According to the Reverend Al, it was the raising by Beck and Bachmann of
the possible connection of Hillary's top aide, Huma Abedin, to the
Muslim Brotherhood that outraged the Egyptian horde .. .
It's a bit of a stretch, even for Newsbusters. Meanwhile, Washington Post's Chris Cillizza reports in Can Michele Bachmann be beaten?:
A certain Minnesota conservative friend was lamenting via the twitter that he had just heard the breaking news that "Sen. David Hann & Brad Biers chartered a plane to fly around MN to "message?" Really? Anyone hear of this before now?"
Since Bluestem has discovered the miracle of Google Alerts, we had been charting the news of Senate Minority Leader Hann tour through northern Minnesota, a progress swelled as it were by the presence of his attendant lord Mr. Biers.
In a clever divide and conquer strategy, House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt headed off to conquer southern and western Minnesota with the charming Susan Closmore, who is still pulling at the oars, whatever awful rowing her party has faced.
Republicans say they spend time this week making a case against the
DFL budget approach. House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, said he
plans to travel throughout the state pointing out the problems he sees
with the proposals.
"Minnesota's economy is recovery and Minnesota's economy is creating
jobs, and it's happening because we didn't raise taxes over the last
couple of years,," Daudt said. "So, our case is if we raise taxes, we're
going to stop that from happening, and it's going to be bad for
Minnesota's economy and it's bad for hard working Minnesota families."
Minnesota House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt said Monday he thinks the
DFL budget proposal presented last week will hurt the state’s economy
and essentially tax job creators. . . .
. . . Instead, he said, legislators need to continue to let the economy grow and naturally recover.
“Just have more patience and we’ll get there,” Daudt said.
Economy: heal thyself. Daudt also doesn't sound like he's into the balm of bipartisan LGA, either:
Daudt said he thinks with the Legislature freezing local government
aid at 2010 levels, the answer to helping local governments will come
with cutting some of the unfunded mandates.
That way city and county leaders will know what to expect of local government aid in the future.
A team of the House Minority leadership toured southern Minnesota today,
angling for a balanced budget without the additional revenue of a tax
hike on the rich.
Asst. Minority Leader Rep. Kurt Daudt (R-31A)
says, "Throwing more money at a problem doesn't always fix it. Frankly,
we think we can handle the problem in that way rather than taxing middle
class Minnesotans and job creators."
St. Rep. Kurt Daudt, MN House Minority Leader says, "The state will see
more revenue and it will be a win for all Minnesotans. Unfortunately the
Governor's budget picks winners and losers and frankly it will be a
setback for Minnesota's economy and it will hurt job growth in
Minnesota."
That's all we can find so far, though more is likely as the weekly papers publish and tomorrow's dailies hit the street. One legislator tweeted about a meeting with the Rochester Post Bulletin editorial board, but no article has emerged that we can find.
Lending a Hann in Duluth and Brainerd
David Hann's pilgrimage turns up on television in Duluth and print in Brainerd. Northland News, Duluth's NBC affiliate, reports in MN GOP Leaders: Less Spending, Less Taxes:
. . .Senate Minority Leader David Hann is traveling across the state during
the legislature's spring break this week to talk about the budget. . . .
Sen. Hann says the budget proposals from the Governor, the House and
Senate focus too heavily on revenue increases by the way of nearly $2
billion in taxes.
"We think that is excessive, we think that is over reach and
we don't think it's necessary," Sen. Hann said. "So what we're trying to
do is propose to our friends on the other side of the aisle that we
should focus on trying to manage the spending down within the revenues
that we have and see if we can find bipartisan ways to bring reform to
that spending ." . . .
During the spring break, House and Senate leaders are touring the state to talk about the budget.
David Hann, the Senate Minority Leader, stopped in Duluth Monday
afternoon. Commenting on the DFLs proposal, he called it a surprise.
"I've talked to a lot of people in the long term care industry that are
very concerned about it. So, it is a little surprising to us that they
have chosen that particular area to do some reductions."
Apparently, Hann wants to cut spending, but just not on health and human services spending. Perhaps it lost its joy when his party cut millions when it controlled the legislature in the last session.
. . .“How does raising tax rates help grow Minnesota’s economy?” he asked Monday.
The Eden Prairie Republican, traveled to Brainerd Monday to offer the
GOP perspective on a legislative session that is roughly at the halfway
point. Earlier in the day, he was spreading a similar messsage in St.
Cloud and planned to continue on to Duluth later in the day. . . .
Turning to the efforts at gun control at the state Capitol, Hann said
he signed on to the gun control bill authored by Sen. Julianne Ortmann,
R-Chanassen, which addresses the issue of straw purchasing where one
person buys a gun for another person’s use. Hann said he wasn’t sure if
that bill would pass, even though it’s backed by the National Rifle
Association.
Hann said he doesn’t favor a bonding bill this year, citing the
tradition of bonding bills generally being passed in even-numbered
years.
He also opposes the legalization of same-sex marriage, a topic he
said that won’t likely come up for a vote until late in the session.
“We think that’s an over-reach and a misreading of the last election,” Hann said.
In November of 2012 voters rejected an effort by conservatives to change the state Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages.
Hann, who was first elected to the Legislature in 2003, said Rep.
Kurt Daudt, the House minority leader, was traveling in southern
Minnesota discussing Republican priorities. . . .
Although news reports said Hann had traveled to St. Cloud, we couldn't find anything about the visit in the St. Cloud Times. Perhaps other news reports will trickle in as the weeklies and biweekly papers hit the street.
These guys are on message--but if that message is spoken like silence, and GOP leaders repeat quotations and draw conclusions on infographs, Bluestem is left to conclude that there's no success like failure and that failure’s no success at all.
Image: This infographic is the tip of the iceberg of a media tour . . . messaging as underwater as an Occupy Homes MN mortgage.
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Minnesota State Representative Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) is having one heck of a spring break while the legislature is adjourned for the Passover-Easter Week holiday.
The six day jaunt on the all-gay Atlantis Cruise Lines was mistakenly booked after Marcus Bachmann visited a Minneapolis travel agent who assumed he was gay.
Although
the couple has reportedly requested to leave the ship, it won't reach
its next port in The Bahamas for another three days. The pair are
currently holed up in their suite waiting to disembark and return to
Miami by air.
Phillip Jennings, a partner at North Star Travel
agency in Minnesota, is deeply apologetic over the incident and explains
how the mishap occurred.
"Mr. Bachmann came into our office three
weeks ago," Jennings says. "He said he wanted to book a cruise for
himself and his partner 'Michele'.
"From his demeanor, I assumed that Mr. Bachmann was gay and that 'Michel' was a man who pronounced his name in the French way. So I booked them on one of our finest all-gay cruises in the Caribbean.
"In
retrospect it was unprofessional of me to assume his sexual
orientation. I am very sorry for the inconvenience this misunderstanding
has caused and we have offered to fully refund the cost of the
Bachmanns' trip."
Marcus the Bear
The
unexpected detour for the Bachmanns during Congress' recess
is especially ironic given their stated opposition to the "homosexual
lifestyle."
Michele has vociferously opposed same-sex marriage
from her perch in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Marcus operates
a counseling center which advocates "pray the gay away" reparative therapy.
The duo's anti-gay positions don't seem to be causing any animosity aboard the Rainbow Warrior,
however. A source on board the vessel says Marcus has attracted the
attention of the passengers and was even voted "cutest bear" on the
ship's traditional Bear vs. Twink night.
After reading that--or just seeing the headline--the Farmington lawmaker asked:
We must ask: with Garofalo on twitter, do we even need those old school, pre-Occupy Homes political pranks for entertainment? Or the Onion and the Daily Currant?
Photo: Michele and Marcus Bachmann campaign in Iowa.
Donate: If you enjoy reading posts like this at Bluestem, consider throwing some coin in the plate at Paypal:
Twitter usually isn't a dangerous place for Representative Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington), who typically risks being mistaken for the better-known Pat Garofalo, former Economic Policy Editor for ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress Action Fund who now works in U.S. News & World Report‘s opinion section as an Assistant Editor.
Today, his reputation as a lawmaker may be eclipsed by his failure as a twitter legal eagle with a series of egregiously mean and misinformed posts about Governor Dayton's selection of David Lillehaug as a state supreme court justice. Perhaps the worst goof was claiming gender discrimination on Dayton's part, while failing to acknowledge Wilhelmina Wright, the governor's first appointment to the state's highest court.
David Lillehaug, a Minneapolis attorney and former U.S. attorney for
Minnesota, will be appointed today to fill the upcoming vacancy on the
Minnesota Supreme Court. . . .
Lillehaug is currently a partner with the downtown Minneapolis law firm
of Fredrikson and Byron, specializing in real estate law and what the
lawyers call "complex litigation." He has been very active in DFL
politics including, notably, legal work on the high-profile recounts
surrounding the election of both Sen. Al Franken in 2008 (which included
final argumentsw before the state Supreme Court on which he will now
serve) and Gov. Dayton in 2010. . . .
Lillehaug was also a finalist for the Supreme Court vacancy that Dayton
filled last year with the appointment of Wilhelmina Wright, who had been
a member of the Minnesota Court of Appeals. . .
Garofalo apparently didn't see Wright swearing in the new speaker in January (photo above and here at MPR). Rough to be in the minority.
Here's the series of unfortunate tweets. The worst, in which he fails to recognize the gender of the first Dayton appointment, has now been deleted:
With Dayton's new appointment to MN Supreme Court, there is now only 1 woman on the court - Chief Justice Lorie Gildea
While Southeastern Minnesota might be the land of 10,000 sinkholes, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) hydrogeologist Jeff Green tells area residents that they have little to fear.
Though there haven't been any sinkholes
that have swallowed homes in southeast Minnesota recently, that doesn't
mean they aren't present across the landscape.
Jeff Green, a hydrogeologist for the Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources, said there are currently about 10,000 sinkholes that
have been inventoried in this section of the state, but it's difficult
to get an exact figure.
. . . Sinkholes are nothing new for residents of Steele County. In March
2004, a portion of County Road 45 — near the interchange with Highway
14 and what is now Federated Insurance Companies' A.T. Annexstad
Building — collapsed, leaving a gap in the road that was 15 feet deep
and 20 feet wide. The collapse happened just moments after a sports
utility vehicle and a gravel truck had driven over that exact spot in
the road . . .
Still Green doesn't fret much:
Green said while the types of sinkholes that occur in Minnesota are
similar to the ones that happen in Florida, they aren't of the same
magnitude.
"We have big sinkholes here, and we have sinkholes
that pop up every year -- we have a very dynamic landscape," Green said.
"It's the same process but it's a different magnitude.
"Put it this way, I don't lay in bed at night worrying that a sinkhole is going to get me."
Eighteen months ago, the Minnesota House member was considered an
unlikely but undeniable Republican rising star, winning the Iowa straw
poll that unofficially begins the primary season. Today, she is
embroiled in a litany of legal proceedings related to her rolling
disaster of a presidential campaign—including a Office of Congressional
Ethics investigation into campaign improprieties that has not previously
been reported.
The Daily Beast has learned that
federal investigators are now interviewing former Bachmann campaign
staffers nationwide about alleged intentional campaign-finance
violations. The investigators are working on behalf of the Office of
Congressional Ethics, which probes reported improprieties by House
members and their staffs and then can refer cases to the House Ethics
Committee.
“I
have been interviewed by investigators,” says Peter Waldron, a former
Bachmann staffer who’s embroiled in his own fight with his former boss,
involving his allegations of pay-to-play politics and improper payments by the campaign—making
him one of several members of Bachmann’s inner circle who’ve fallen out
with the woman they once hoped would become commander in chief. While
he was careful to avoid specifics in regard to the investigating body,
Waldron said that “investigators came [and] interviewed me and are
interviewing other staff members across the country.”
Two
other former staffers confirmed the existence of the investigation this
weekend, and on Monday Bachmann’s campaign counsel, William McGinley,
of the high-powered firm Patton Boggs, confirmed that the Office of
Congressional Ethics (OCE) was looking into the congresswoman’s
presidential campaign last year.
“There
are no allegations that the Congresswoman engaged in any wrongdoing,”
McGinley said. “We are constructively engaged with the OCE and are
confident that at the end of their Review the OCE Board will conclude
that Congresswoman Bachmann did not do anything inappropriate.” . . .
Read the lengthy article at the Daily Beast for the whole story, which comes on the heels of a very bad week for the Gentlewoman from Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District. As we noted over the weekend in St. Cloud Times: the two faces of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann:
Unlike our reluctant spring, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has
roared back on to the national spotlight as speeches to CPAC and her
congressional colleagues were fact checked; the findings were not
pretty.
Political junkies, partisans and the media are abuzz as to whether a
closer-than-expected 2012 re-election victory changed the divisive tone
and lightning-rod tactics of U.S. Sixth District Rep. Michele Bachmann.
Two
events — a national speech Saturday and a St. Paul lobbying appearance
Monday — not only reflect how there is no clear answer to that question,
but highlight why district voters will remain frustrated if all they
want is a hardworking, level-headed House member.
The Saturday speech was vintage Bachmann — heavy on political red
meat and light on accuracy. Monday’s lobbying effort for expanding
Interstate 94 from Rogers to St. Cloud was about bipartisan service to
the western end of the district — a rare focus for her since elected.
CPAC speech
Up
until Saturday, there was a growing body of evidence — best symbolized
by her post-election low profile in national media — that Bachmann might
be taking to heart a message district voters delivered Election Day:
Her style isn’t what they want in Washington.
Yes,
the Tea Party champion won a fourth term. But it came by only about
4,200 votes in a long-held GOP district redrawn since 2010 to be even
more conservative. Plus, she needed a record amount of money and
outspent first-time candidate Jim Graves by $9.3 million. Yet she barely
won. . . .
Read the rest at the Times. They're hoping that they'll see more of
the bread-and-butter Bachmann, but her behavior in the House suggests
that's wishful thinking.
LSP "sand lady" on Minnesota Public Radio's Daily Circuit Monday 3/25, 9:06 a.m.
MPR's Daily Circuit outlines issues related to industrial sand mining in Debate continues on frac sand mining's health, environmental impact, but if you want to get the good stuff, tune in to MPR at 9:06 a.m. on Monday, March 25 to listen to Land Stewardship policy organizer Johanna Rupprecht talk about frac sand.
"You
can farm the same land over and over but once you mine it, it's gone," a
Wisconsin woman told filmmaker Jim Tittle. Born and raised on a farm
that's been in her family for generations, she represents one of the
positions explored in his documentary, The Price of Sand, which
focuses on Wisconsin conflict over silica mines, small towns and money —
a conflict now playing out in southeastern Minnesota and in the
Minnesota legislature.
The Price of Sand, an
independently produced documentary examining the human and environmental
costs of silica (frac) sand mining, was shown at an advance screening
in Red Wing, Minnesota on March 22. The film, which offers a broad
overview of some of the tough issues facing rural communities threatened
by mining in the Upper Midwest, played to a packed audience at the
Sheldon Theatre.
The Price of Sand will be screened in St. Paul
on March 28, 7:00 p.m. at the Grandview Theater. A Q & A session
with film director, Jim Tittle is scheduled after the screening. The
documentary was selected for the MSP Film Festival in April and more
screenings along with a DVD release will be coming soon. For more
information about The Price of Sand, go to www.thepriceofsand.com.
Jim
Tittle, the film's director, spoke at a Q & A session afterwards
along with Minnesota State Senator Matt Schmit (DFL, Red Wing), and Jody
McIlrath, representative for Save the Bluffs, a grass-roots
organization based in Red Wing, Minnesota.
Tittle, a videographer by profession, started working on The Price of Sand
two years ago after learning that an oil company had purchased land
close to his mother's home in Hay Creek Township, south of Red Wing,
Minnesota. Initially puzzled by the deal, Tittle soon discovered the
company wasn't interested in oil but in silica (frac) sand, a commodity
widely used by the oil and gas industry for the hydraulic-fracturing (or
fracking) of shale and found in abundance in the blufflands of western
Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, and northeastern Iowa. Concerned
about what this might hold for the future of his hometown, Tittle began
digging deeper into the subject and produced a series of YouTube videos
featuring interviews with people living next door to mining operations
across the river in western Wisconsin. These interviews became the
foundation for his film.
Tittle carefully builds an argument against the sudden industrialization of small, close-knit agricultural communities in The Price of Sand.
Over the course of the documentary, we meet the beleaguered residents
of New Auburn, Knapp, Alma, McGregor, Maiden Rock, and Chippewa Falls.
In the tiny village of Tunnel City, Wisconsin, the Connecticut-based,
multi-national corporation, Unimin is constructing a 500-acre, open pit
sand mine. One of its neighbors, an unfortunate woman who lives with her
young family directly across the street from the mine, tells us it will
operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and there's nothing she can
do about it. Like so many people Tittle interviewed in Wisconsin, she
feels not only helpless but abandoned by public officials who would
prefer to look the other way rather than challenge the status quo and
restrict mining activities through zoning. Another unhappy resident sums
the dilemma up nicely saying, "we place a high value on our freedom and
these companies take advantage of that."
Beautifully shot and edited, The Price of Sand
presents a cautionary tale for Minnesotans currently debating the issue
of whether to regulate mining at the state and local level. The film
begins and ends with a long sequence of aerial shots revealing
wide-spread devastation caused by open pit mining. Throughout the
documentary, one person after another speaks out on such difficult and
thorny topics as the influence of big money on local politics; economic
hardship and the promise of jobs; gag orders and media buzz; and the
inevitable conflicts that arise when corporate interests compete for an
unfair share of the pie in rural communities vulnerable to exploitation –
all topics relevant for a discussion of Tittle's leading question: What
is the true price of sand?
During the Q & A session after
the screening, Senator Matt Schmit (DFL, Red Wing) announced that a bill
he recently introduced in the Minnesota state legislature calling for
more stringent controls on silica sand mining had passed committee
deadlines and would be brought before the Minnesota House and Senate for
further discussion. When asked if he backed Governor Mark Dayton's
stated opposition to a proposed moratorium on mining, Schmit said he
would continue to push for a one-year moratorium and supports an
extension of a rule permitting the Environmental Quality Board to
continue studying the issues.
Carol Inderieden is a writer and photographer from the Twin Cities area living in western Wisconsin.
This post was original published at the Twin Cities Daily Planet; published with permission via our content exchange agreement.
We're a bit behind the curve in commenting on this story, but the consequences of budget cuts proposed by DFL leadership in the Minnesota House and Senate don't look good for the poor and vulnerable in rural areas.
Add a hike in the minimum wage--which Bluestem favors--nursing home and hospital administrators could be in the untenable situation of having to raise wages while receiving smaller checks from the state. These new cuts will come after a round of cuts from two years of Republican control of the legislature.
Democrats in the House and Senate want to cut $150 million in spending
from health and human services programs. After education, health and
human services is the second-largest portion of the state's two-year
budget at $11 billion in general fund spending. But it is increasing at a
fast rate, and that worries DFL House Speaker Paul Thissen. . . .
The proposed spending cut is troubling lawmakers in charge of crafting
budgets for health services and human services. They have to set
priorities for spending for nursing homes, hospitals, subsidized health
insurance and welfare. The budget is complicated because it includes
money from the federal government and other funds.
DFL Rep. Tom Huntley of Duluth, who
chairs the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee, said he is
unhappy . . .
"I'm very upset. I came close to
resigning as chair," Huntley said. "If that's what the Democrats are
going to do, what's the difference between that and what the Republicans
have done over the last two years?"
Huntley said about 90 percent of the
health and human services budget is directed at programs for the
disabled and the elderly. He said he thinks it will be difficult to cut
$150 million without harming those people.
His counterpart in the Senate, Tony Lourey, isn't any happier. But perhaps the greatest dismay comes from those who work with the disabled and the elderly. Their budgets were slashed two years ago when Governor Dayton and the Republican legislature cut $1.2 billion from health and human services programs.
Bruce Nelson, CEO of the Association
of Residential Resources in Minnesota, which advocates for community
living for people with disabilities, said he was hoping lawmakers would
give nursing home and community-based home workers a cost of living
increase. Now Nelson worries they won't get a raise or may get their pay
cut.
"When they don't see an increase in
their paychecks for maybe now the fifth year in a row, they're going to
move on to other jobs," Nelson said. "And that really does compromise
the quality of care for our most vulnerable Minnesotans."
Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, said she does not have a problem with cuts, but this area actually needs increased money.
Franson
said, especially in nonmetro Minnesota, hospitals and nursing homes are
having trouble keeping good employees because of the pay, and some
people are not getting the care they need.
“They are really struggling,” she said.
Politics can make for odd bedfellows, and this development is making for some odd bunking arrangements. Franson's no friend to unions, but we've been contacted by a couple of labor activists distraught with these cuts. One pointed out that if the state minimum wage is raised, rural nursing homes and hospitals will face both cuts and the need to pay higher wages.
Another labor leader writes that he's trying to understand the logic, but doesn't.
We don't either. Surely, there are other areas where government can be made more efficient than one that has been cut and cut. We like the governor's target--a modest increase--far better.
Photo: Nursing home residents.
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These are the same folks who spent the last election cycle promising
residents that if they voted ‘no’ on the Marriage Amendment, nothing
would change in state law. Now these individuals are not only going back
on their word, they are focused on approving this “divisive social
issue” before they set a budget.
Well, no. First the budget will come up for a vote, then marriage freedom. Second, the message last year on the part of anti-amendment opponents was "Don't Limit the Freedom to Marry."
Indeed, the message from amendment supporters now backing Dibble and Clark's marriage freedom bills is so consistent, they're using an ad from last year's debate. The only changes? The sponsor and the closing message.
With election day rapidly approaching, the national group Freedom To Marry today debuted its first television ad.
Called "Grandparents" and airing in Minnesota, where voters will decide on an amendment banning marriage equality come November, the 30-second spot features a Duluth couple called Yvonne and Fred Peterson.
Peterson, a veteran who says he's fought for "the basic freedoms for
all people," explains that the past 53-years with his wife are the
happiest of his life and that gay and lesbian couples deserve the same
joy.
While they weren't always so understanding — Yvonne admits she used
to be against equality — they realize the world has changed and that
society must too.
Here's the new version, wherein only the sponsor and closing title has changed. For now, embedding has been disabled at that account, so Bluestem is being pretty naughty, and hace uploaded it so we can make our point:
In a press release about the "new" ad, Minnesotans United states:
The first ad, “Grandparents,”
features Yvonne & Fred Peterson sharing the story of their marriage
of 59 years, and their own personal journey towards recognizing that all
people deserve the freedom to marry the person they love.
“Grandparents” was released (on August 16, 2012)
during the 2012 marriage amendment debate, highlighting the continuity
of what Minnesotans have been talking about all along: Marriage is about
the love, commitment and responsibility that two people share.
Brown said the other side insisted during the campaign that the
amendment was not necessary because it wouldn’t change anything. Now
same-sex marriage advocates are trying to change the law.
“Minnesotans were sold a false bill of goods,” Brown said.
Well, no. As Minnesotans United for All Families director Richard
Carlbom pointed out to Helgeson in the article, those seeking to extend
the blessings of marriage did no such thing.
Check out that post, which reviews a bevy of other pro-marriage freedom, anti-marriage amendment video.
And there's a second ad, "Weddings" (Bluestem can't make a compelling case for swiping that one, so you're just going to have to go over there and watch it. The statement notes:
The second ad, “Weddings,”
features Lynn & Dane Youngblom of Duluth, Minnesota, who share their
hope that their son, Kyle, might one day have the freedom to marry in
Minnesota just like his siblings. “I wouldn’t want anyone to tell me
it’s illegal to marry the person I love,” Lynn concludes.
“From the moment those who oppose the freedom to marry launched their
efforts in 2011, our focus has been on reminding Minnesotans why they
got married,” said Richard Carlbom, Minnesotans United Campaign Manager.
“When two people fall in love, the next natural step is to exercise
their fundamental freedom to marry the person they love. Now, after two
years of discussion, these ads reflect what we’ve heard from Minnesotans
– they want to treat others the way they themselves would want to be
treated and don’t want to limit freedom.”
The educational six-figure cable TV ad buy will run statewide beginning on Monday, March 25.
If you support marriage freedom, consider taking a day off to head to the capitol on Thursday, April 18 at noon for the Lobby Day. Sign up here with OutFront or here on Facebook.
Photo: Yvonne and Fred haven't changed. Minnesota Public Radio noted that the couple have a gay grandson.
Donate: If you enjoy reading posts like this at Bluestem, consider throwing some coin in the plate at Paypal:
Governor Mark Dayton may have come out against a one-year moratorium on industrial sand mining while a Generic Environmental Impact Statement is conducted, but a story by Stephanie Hemphill at Minnesota Public Radio illustrates why grassroots citizen groups in Southeastern Minnesota are asking for both.
. . .The EQB is a multi-agency oversight
body that received a petition to do an in-depth study of the possible
environmental effects of frac sand mining. . . .
That kind of study would take
several years and cost a lot of money. In the meantime, the agency has
produced a 90-page report that summarizes the issues.
So far the questions outnumber the
answers regarding possible impacts on the environment, the economy and
local communities, said EQB planner Jeff Smyser.
One of those questions involves a very scary thing: sinkholes. Probably not Florida-scale sinkholes--and the water quality concerns that are related to sinkhole-producing karst geology are a whole lot more vexsome:
The report includes . . .maps of
southeastern Minnesota's unusual geology, known as karst geology, where
rich deposits of silica sand are found. That makes it tricky to predict
underground water flows, Smyser said. The limestone bedrock easily
creates sinkholes and causes unpredictable groundwater flows.
"It's kind of difficult to know
where the water's going to go, just what effects use of groundwater,
discharge of processing water is going to have because of that karst
geology out there," he said. "So that's a real tricky question that's
real hard to answer at this point."
A number of silica-sand related bills are working their way through the Minnesota legislature. Senator Matt Schmit's SF786 provides for a GEIS and a one-year moratorium; Schmit has also introduced a bill that creates setbacks to protect fish and sensitive natural areas in the driftless region. Rep. Hansen's HF906 creates standard and a technical assistance team team to help local government regulate sand mining; he also has a bill to protect wellheads and natural areas in the region.
Unlike our reluctant spring, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has roared back on to the national spotlight as speeches to CPAC and her congressional colleagues were fact checked; the findings were not pretty.
Political junkies, partisans and the media are abuzz as to whether a
closer-than-expected 2012 re-election victory changed the divisive tone
and lightning-rod tactics of U.S. Sixth District Rep. Michele Bachmann.
Two
events — a national speech Saturday and a St. Paul lobbying appearance
Monday — not only reflect how there is no clear answer to that question,
but highlight why district voters will remain frustrated if all they
want is a hardworking, level-headed House member.
The Saturday speech was vintage Bachmann — heavy on political red
meat and light on accuracy. Monday’s lobbying effort for expanding
Interstate 94 from Rogers to St. Cloud was about bipartisan service to
the western end of the district — a rare focus for her since elected.
CPAC speech
Up
until Saturday, there was a growing body of evidence — best symbolized
by her post-election low profile in national media — that Bachmann might
be taking to heart a message district voters delivered Election Day:
Her style isn’t what they want in Washington.
Yes,
the Tea Party champion won a fourth term. But it came by only about
4,200 votes in a long-held GOP district redrawn since 2010 to be even
more conservative. Plus, she needed a record amount of money and
outspent first-time candidate Jim Graves by $9.3 million. Yet she barely
won. . . .
Read the rest at the Times. They're hoping that they'll see more of the bread-and-butter Bachmann, but her behavior in the House suggests that's wishful thinking.
Obamacare “kills.” That’s what Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) of Minnesota
said Thursday on the floor of the House. In a fire-breathing speech, the
tea party favorite and former GOP presidential hopeful urged her fellow
lawmakers to “repeal this failure before it literally kills women,
kills children, kills senior citizens."
. . . Later, she came back on the floor and added that
Medicaid, the big federal/state health entitlement program for
lower-income Americans, is a “ghetto." . . .
. . . Bachmann may be trying to distract the political world from the other
stuff she’s been saying recently. In a speech at the Conservative
Political Action Conference last week, she charged that Mr. Obama has a
“lavish lifestyle” in the White House that includes “five chefs on Air
Force One,” as well as two live-in projectionists for the White House
movie theater and that “we pay someone to walk the president’s dog."
The
chefs and projectionists don’t exist. We wouldn’t rule out staffers
holding Bo’s leash, but there is no pro pet sitter on the White House
payroll. . . .
At
CPAC, Bachmann also said that Alzheimer’s disease could be cured if not
for government regulations, taxes, and lawyers. She added that 70
percent of every food stamp dollar goes to “bureaucrats."
Politifact.com rated
the former claim “pants on fire” false, saying researchers blame the
disease itself and lack of research funding for the fact that no cure
yet exists.
While bills related to regulating the frac sand industry make their way through the Minnesota state legislature, sand mining continues to generate headlines in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
With Republicans Denny McNamara (R-Hastings) and Tim Kelly (R-Red Wing) signed on as sponsors--and most objections (other than having a bill at all) from the silica sand industry overcome, the Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul) bill retains its basic shape: technical assistance for local government in permitting and monitoring under the aegis of the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) but no Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) or one-year moratorium.
Listen to the action at the end of the audio here. SF1018, introduced by Senator Matt Schmit (DFL-Red Wing), is the senate companion bill.
Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reported on the bills' earlier progress in Frac sand mining bill clears another hurdle. The Schmit bill was heard in committee but audio has yet to be posted.
Permits move ahead in Fillmore and Winona Counties
A quarry southeast of Lanesboro that has
been extracting silica sand since 2008 with little notice is asking to
expand from 18.6 acres to 50 acres.
Reilly Construction Co., of Ossian, Iowa, which operates the mine
on the land of Sandra and John Rein near the unincorporated town of
Highland, submitted an environmental assessment worksheet on Jan. 10.
The public comment period has ended, and Fillmore County is responding
to questions and comments, said Zoning Administrator Chris Graves. About
a dozen people or governmental agencies commented on the document.
It's possible the EAW will come before the county
board at the end of this month or in early April, he said. If it finds
the worksheet meets requirements, the board can approve it and the
quarry can apply for a conditional use permit that would allow the
expansion.
While similar mines that were proposed for south of St. Charles brought
heavy criticism and comment, the Rein mine has been operating without
problems, he said. "They have been a really good mine," he said. . . .
The comments on the Rein proposal centered around many of the same
concerns as those commenting on the Saratoga proposals — traffic,
health, water pollution and noise.
The Rein worksheet also had comments from people who
feared damage to two trout streams — Nepstad and Gribben — because their
headwaters are around Highland.
That's not quite the situation in Winona County, where the small scale of a 20-acre site that will be worked out in three years is meeting little resistance. The Winona Daily News' Jerome Christenson reports in Commission: EIS not required for Nisbit mine:
If the county board’s willing and the state doesn’t intervene, Winona
County’s first new frac sand mine could go into operation this spring.
On
a 5-3 vote, the Winona County Planning Commission recommended that the
county board not require an Environmental Impact Statement for the
proposed Nisbit mine.
Mine operator Tom Rowekamp said he was
pleased with the vote. “We know people have concerns,” he said, “We’ve
done our best to address them. I don’t know what else we could do.”
The
proposed 20-acre mine site is located in Saratoga Township outside
Utica on land owned by David and Sherry Nisbit. The site lies on the
north side of Gethje Lane, a dead-end private road. Current plans call
for about 200,000 tons of sand to be removed each year for about three
years, at which time the commercially available sand is expected to be
exhausted. The mined area will be recovered with topsoil and planted to
native prairie. . . .
. . .Three fourths of the dozen or so who spoke at the public hearing favored
requiring an EIS for the mine, citing concerns about dust, water
quality and increased truck traffic. . . .
Commissioner Jim Hegland said he lived about a mile and a half from the
mine site and shared the concerns of the speakers, but “there’s only so
much research we can do before we have to do something.” He said the
Nisbit mine’s small size and limited prospective lifetime make it a good
test case for silica mine regulations in the county.
Much of the opposition to other proposed projects centers either on their massive scale--as in the moribund proposal for a mammoth processing and mining complex in St. Charles--or their location near homes, schools or sensitive natural areas, along with unanswered questions about the industry's impact.
With Gov. Scott Walker’s new budget including assistance for the sand mining industry, a controversial frac sand operation near the Lower Wisconsin River is moving closer to approval.
The town of Bridgeport Planning Commission has OK’d a conditional use permit for Pattison Sand Co. of Clayton, Iowa, to locate a mine near the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, setting up a final vote by the Town Board on March 27.
Mine opponents packed the Bridgeport Town Hall for the commission meeting last week but were given little opportunity to speak during the three-hour hearing, according to reports. . . .
“It’s supposed to be ‘For the People and By the People’ but that didn’t happen,” Arnie Steele of Bridgeport Concerned Citizens told the Courier Press in Prairie du Chien.
The group says it will consider legal action but Bridgeport attorney Todd Infield had advised the commission that it couldn’t deny a permit simply based on citizen opposition. Timing may be an issue as well for the town of Bridgeport, with elections scheduled for April 2. The town chairman and two supervisors are facing challenges from mining opponents.
The Riverway Board has urged Pattison to withdraw its application,
saying that while the project might meet the letter of the law, the mine
would detract from the scenic area and potentially conflict with the
federal Highway Beautification Act of 1965.
Last
month, the company was cited by the state Department of Natural
Resources for violating its air pollution permit at a facility in
Prairie du Chien where processed sand is transferred from trucks to rail
cars. Pattison says it is taking steps to address those problems and
has not been fined
This is a major under-the-radar story. The House Agriculture
Committee, including its Democrats, voted just this week to gut the
Dodd-Frank regulation of derivatives by approving a series seven bills.
Of the seven, six are strongly opposed by public-interest regulation
watchdogs. All seven bills now go to the House floor for a vote there.
This is a bad-Dems story, and also a derivatives story.
Read the details at Americablog.
Minnesota's Democrats on the committee--ranking member Collin Peterson and Tim Walz--aren't among the "bad-Dems." Given Peterson's work on financial reform in 2010 when he chaired the ag committee, the "No" vote isn't a surprise. (The ag committee's oversight of commodity markets gives it the ability to consider legislation related to the financial industry).
The most controversial bill to advance Wednesday is explicitly
designed to expand taxpayer backing for derivatives. It was the only
legislation that lawmakers were required to cast individual votes for or
against; the others were all approved by unanimous voice votes. The
bill to increase taxpayer support for bank derivatives dealing was
approved by a vote of 31 to 14.
Prior to the vote, the top Democrat on the Agricultural Committee,
Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), gave a speech warning that the
legislation could repeat the deregulation debacles of the 1990s.
"Two of the worst votes I ever made in this place was the Commodity
[Futures] Modernization Act of 2000 that exempted all of these swaps
from any regulation or any margins," Peterson said. "I didn't know any
better. The other vote I made that was really bad is eliminating
Glass-Steagall. We should have never done that and I bought into that.
You know, if we had Glass-Steagall back, this wouldn't be an issue here
... You're putting taxpayers on the hook. And if you wanna do that,
fine. But I mean, you know, when I, when a lot of us were here, we
hadn't paid enough attention and this thing blew up on us. At the time
we did the Modernization Act, there were $80 billion in swaps, in
derivatives. We gave 'em legal certainty, we eliminated the regulation
requirements, and it went to $700 trillion and it blew up on us. So just
be careful: You can vote any way you want, but this could come back and
haunt you.
Here's Peterson speaking out about the bills:
Photo: Seventh District DFL Congressman Collin Peterson.
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It was, as we tweeted at the time, a clear illustration that Minority Leader Kurt Daudt (R-Bogmedown) had decided that the Republicans in the lower chamber were the Seinfeld of American legislatures, a caucus about nothing.
But as time-wasting as Daudt's sudden stupidity about process was, such wrangling is one card for the loyal opposition to play when it's got nothing.
One minority caucus member, Greg Davids, has yanked a procedural vote out of context, claiming that DFL legislators had voted for a bill--when the measure itself never came to debate and a vote. Rather, the body was simply sending one committee report to another committee.
The DFL has had enough of this malarkey, and has lodged a complaint about Davids' letters to the editor with the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings. Here's a statement the DFL sent out:
The Minnesota DFL has filed a complaint against State Rep. Greg Davids
with the Office of Administrative Hearings for false claims he made in
political attacks against four DFL state representatives. In four nearly
identical letters to
the editor, Rep. Davids attacked Rep. Jay McNamar (Elbow Lake), Rep.
Tim Faust (Hinckley), Rep. Shannon Savick (Wells), and Rep. Joe
Radinovich (Crosby), falsely claiming each voted for a $3.7 billion tax
increase.
In his political attack, Rep. Davids claimed each
voted yes on Gov. Mark Dayton’s now outdated tax proposal. In truth, the
vote he referenced was on a procedural motion to move the bill from one
committee to another where it could receive
more public input.
“Representative Davids is the longest serving
Republican in the House and he knows the difference between a procedural
motion and a vote on bill,” said DFL Chairman Ken Martin. “This is
politics at its worst and a disservice to the public,
who has a right to know the facts about what their representative has
actually voted for and voted against.”
Here's the complaint to the Office of Administrative Hearings:
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