Winkler's epic troll of GOP members who can't recollect forming Not A Penny More Caucus

Back in 2012, Phil Krinkie, who then served as president of the Minnesota Taxpayers League, wrote in What happened to ‘Not a Penny More’?:

During last summer’s protracted budget debate; conservative lawmakers developed the slogan “Not A Penny More” to push back against Gov. Dayton’s billion dollar tax increase proposal. The phrase was a commitment not to grow general fund spending more than 12 percent from the previous budget.

The 34 GOP House members that pledged they would not approve any budget solution beyond $34 billion went to great lengths to make their opposition to more state spending clear. They formed the ‘Not a Penny More Caucus’, had members wear penny lapel pins and plastered their office doors at the state capitol with posters stating ‘Not a Penny More.’ This group of budget watchdogs carried the day; but in the end, Gov. Dayton vetoed all but one of the dozen GOP spending bills. . . .

. . .If you weren’t counting; the estimated total of new revenue proposed by Republican lawmakers since the start of the session would add more than one billion to the next biennial budget. Conservative lawmakers demand for “Not a Penny More” appears to have been replaced by some Republican lawmakers demand for millions more in state revenue. With new legislative boundaries to be announced soon, it will be interesting to see whether conservative Dr. Jekyll or tax-and-spend Mr. Hyde shows up to ask for endorsement from their constituents.

Krinkie's column came to mind last Thursday as we watched a floor session in which House Republicans denied that "Not a penny More" was ever a thing.

In May, 2011, Rochester Post Bulletin staff writer Heather Carlson reported that GOP House members launch "Not a Penny More Caucus." Writing for Politics in Minnesota's Capitol Report, Briana Bierschbach reported in Rank-and-file House Republicans press their case for limiting spending to $34B — no matter what:

By last Monday, posters had begun popping up on Republican legislators’ office doors depicting an overflowing bag of cash with “$34 billion” stenciled on the front and the legend “Not a Penny More” inscribed above. Many of the members who have hung the signs are new to the Capitol, including freshman Assistant Majority Leader Kurt Daudt as well as Reps. Mary Franson and Doug Wardlow. Among the more veteran Republican caucus members sporting signs on their door: Buesgens, Tom Hackbarth, Joyce Peppin, Peggy Scott and Mary Kiffmeyer.

By last Thursday, Krinkie wasn't the only one asking the question. As the video clip from Thursday's floor session below shows, Ryan Winkler (DFL. Golden Valley) got up and called out a few former members as well. Neither Draz nor Peppin seem anymore able to remember the Not A Penny More caucus or rallying cry.

Winkler: Representative Drazkowski are you still a member of the Not A Penny More Caucus? . . .

Drazkowski: . . .Thank you Representative Winkler, I don't know that there ever was a Not A Penny More Caucus, at least a formal one. . . .

Then Winkler asked Majority Leader Peppin the same thing:

Winkler: Representative Peppin, you were also a member of the Not A Penny Caucus. I wonder if you're still a member in good standing with that organization in your caucus?

Peppin: . . . Ah, Representative Winkler, can you clarify I was a member of the Not A Penny More Caucus? What evidence do you have of that?

Winkler: . . . Representative Peppin, I have a newspaper article, I think it's the Capitol Report that is from May 13, 2011, and you are listed as a Not A Penny More inscription on your office door, you with a number of other members, some of whom are here, some are not, but you were identified by Capitol Report, [along with] Representative Drazkowski as a member of the Not A Penny More caucus not spending a dime more than $34 billion.

So the question is, are you still a member of that caucus that believes you shouldn't spend a penny more than you did last time?

Peppin: Well I don't remember going into any--ah--caucus meeting, subcaucus meeting . . .

What a bunch of kidders that Republican caucus is with its public declarations and pretty posters, saying one thing and doing another, as both Krinkie and Winkler point out.

Here's the video from whence the exchanges above are drawn:

Photo: "Not A Penny More" on Mike Benson's door, via the Rochester Post Bulletin.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or use the paypal button below:

Email subscribers can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen at gmail.com as recipient.