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.
The Shadow of a Daudt
On Sunday morning, Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reported in Lawmakers to use break for budget pitches:
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."
So how is Representative Daudt doing?
Daudt and his entourage stopped by the Albert Lea Tribune on Monday, Sarah Stultz reports in House minority leader: DFL’ers hurting economy:
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.
At Mankato's KEYC-TV, Ryan Gustafson reports in MN GOP Pushes For No New Taxes:
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."
Up in Fargo today, WDAY reports in Minnesota lawmaker speaking out against tax plan that Daudt's saying that naturally recovering economy will take care of any need for additional revenue:
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 ." . . .
WDIO, Duluth's ABC affiliate, focuses on the DFL-proposed HHS cuts in Minn. Lawmakers React to DFL Health Program Cuts Proposal:
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.
At the Brainerd Dispatch, Mike O'Rourke reports in GOP leader wants state to live within its means:
. . .“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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