In Monday's Minnesota House Legacy Funding Finance Committee meeting, Representative Denny McNamara (R-Hastings) claimed that since "bees don't eat corn," using neonicotinoid-treated seed corn in food plots on land purchased with Legacy funds wouldn't be an issue for pollinators.
But McNamara said during the hearing:
The letter from Pollinate Minnesota talks mostly about the need to be conscious of not having neonicotinoids plants planted that are going to kill bees when they're planted. My amendment, because it was so broad in the original adoption in so broad that it would stop the planting of certain crops that would be used temporarily to prepare the land to properly plant it with prairie plants such as corn seeds coated with the neonicotinoid, and bees don't eat corn, so it's not going to kill the bees. That's not the issue here. . .
As the photo at the top of the post illustrates, bees do gather and eat corn pollen from tassels (the flower of the corn plant), and researchers at Purdue and elsewhere have discovered that bees are exposed to neonicotinoids via pollen from corn grown from treated seeds; one study found worker bee counts to be lower at hives near corn fields. Talc dust from the seeds themselves can also be a problem.
Rep. Phyllis Kahn (DFL-Minneapolis) insisted that no neonicotinoids were safe for pollinators, while noting that non-treated seed corn, such as that used by organic farmers, was available.
Regardless, McNamara was successful in stripping language protecting pollinators from HF181, the outdoor heritage funding bill as it went through the Legacy Committee. Along the way, McNamara made an additional odd claim neonicotinoid pesticides that are playing a role in their decline.
He associated neonicotinoids with weed control, an odd notion given that herbicides, rather than insecticides, kill plants. Treating seeds with neonicotinoids is done to discourage insects, not weeds.
Here's a Youtube of the excerpts of committee discussion referenced above:
In 2008, Minnesotans voted to dedicate a three-eighths of one percent tax on themselves for 25 years, until 2034 for wildlife habitat, clean water and arts & culture. These funds are commonly called "Legacy" money.
Learn more about pollinators and neonicotinoid pesticides from the Xerces Society.
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A new development in the controversial Zip Rail project to Rochester has Bluestem wondering if Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) has left the station without his constituents.
A Minnesota-based transportation business has emerged as the possible private-sector answer to the Zip Rail funding question.
The North American High Speed Rail Group has been meeting with county officials and Minnesota lawmakers to pitch its proposal for high-speed rail service between Rochester and the Twin Cities, said Wendy Meadley, the group's chief strategy officer. She said North American has pulled together a group of investors interested in the rail line and that the project would also include an economic development component that's tied into the rail corridor. . . .
Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, said he has also been working with Zip Rail supporters on a compromise to allow private construction to move ahead. He said his proposal would require financial assurances so that if the project fails, taxpayers aren't stuck with the cost. He is still pushing ahead with a bill that ties Destination Medical Center funding to Zip Rail. It would give the city of Rochester more flexibility in how it pays for DMC-related administrative costs in exchange for requiring no public dollars are spent on Zip Rail.
By five minutes after 5 p.m., there was barely a spare seat for late arrivals at the Citizens Concerned About Rail Line meeting in Kenyon last Thursday. By 5:30 p.m., latecomers were filling the back hallway.
Elbow to elbow in the lower level at Schweich’s Hotel, approximately 80 people from Kenyon and surrounding communities came to learn more about the proposed Zip Rail passenger line between the Twin Cities and Rochester. One possible route follows Hwy. 52, while the other branches down west of Hwy. 56.
Concerned about their property, emergency services accessibility, route and road crossings, they got a lesson in grassroots organization 101.
Spokesperson Heather Arndt of Hader led the discussion and told about Rep. Steve Drazkowski’s HF920 bill that would prohibit Rochester, Olmsted County and the state from spending any money on the proposed Zip Rail project in exchange for more flexibility on funding administrative costs related to Destination Medical Center. . . .
Goodhue County Commissioner Dan Rechtzigel addressed the group and said the board has commented on the state plan, making clear their unanimous opposition to Zip Rail, and continued support of freight rail.
But more action is needed, according to organizer Nora Felton of Cannon Falls. She and Arndt offered to work with township leaders to go over the issues and clarify points to aid in drafting a statement. Felton handed out copies of sample resolutions that people could take to local government officials. She also passed around petitions that people could take with them. . . .
Arndt brought the conversation back around to the planning and placement of the Zip Rail line. She said the train would operate at slower speeds in urban areas, allowing for at-grade crossings in the Twin Cities and Rochester only.
In Goodhue County, she said, there would be no at-grade crossings. All of it would be over or under the rail line, with sealed and fenced off corridors.
Stopping the Zip Rail and getting the no-build option will not be easy.
“It will take the hands, voices and minds of many people,” said Arndt.
She advised people to make their comments are specific and measurable. How much income do you lose each year if they take your farm? Do the math; numbers count in this game, she said. . . .
Somehow, we don't think that the main issue for these folks was public funding, and we're curious just how much private economic development funding the supporters can come up with along a rail line with no stops.
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Representative Tim Miller told a Christian radio talk show host that bathrooms are at the core of his bill to mandate anti-trans-inclusive policies in Minnesota's public schools.
On Thursday, Michele Lentz of the Minnesota Child Protection League joined Rep. Tim Miller and AM 980 KKMS host Paul Ridgeway to talk about the bill.
Rep. Miller told Ridgeway that the bill was about bathroom use.
“You know the the fundamental question I ask people when they are discussing this bill, do we as a state, do we believe in there being boy bathrooms and girl bathrooms? And if we do then we need to do something about confirming that through the the laws that we have because right now that’s up for question after what the Minnesota State High School League did.”
He told Ridgeway that he had already discussed the bill with Gov. Mark Dayton. “I had a meeting with the governor on this subject and one of the things that he said was that frankly he doesn’t believe there’s that much support for what we are doing.”
Photo: Rep. Tim Miller (R-Prinsburg), via his Facebook page.
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The bill faces more committee stops before reaching a full House vote. A similar Senate bill, sponsored by three southern Minnesota Republican senators, awaits its first hearing.
The bill was amended today to remove language that would have prevented active lawsuits from going ahead. The amendment also required a facility to be out of compliance with state noise and odor standards.
As Davis reports, the committee voted 6-4 to send the bill to the House Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee, despite additional opposition from city and township officials:
City and township officials said Anderson's bill would limit their ability to bring nuisance claims against large farm operations. Environmentalists also oppose the bill.
Here's the video of Tuesday's hearing, discussion and vote:
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This may be the boldest stroke of political brilliance from Representative Matt Dean since that time the Dellwood Republican called sci-fi novelist Neil Gaiman "a pencil-necked little weasel."
Days after saying they want to cut taxes and still spend money on key priorities, a key Republican in the Minnesota House is floating a proposal to end a popular health care program for Minnesota's working poor.
Pressured by their own party to return a $1.9 billion budget surplus to taxpayers, GOP leaders are looking for ways to do that while pursuing their agenda.
State Rep. Matt Dean, who chairs the House Health Care Finance Committee, would move the 95,000 people currently participating in MinnesotaCare coverage to MNsure, where they would buy a private plan. Dean estimates the shift would save about $900 million over two years, cash that could be used for Republican priorities that include nursing home funding, and mental and dental health programs. . . .
Ghita Worcester, senior vice president of public affairs and marketing for Ucare, which covers about 30 percent of MinnesotaCare's participants, said the company's analysis of Dean's idea points to higher costs for Minnesotacare participants.
"We're talking about a couple of hundred dollars at least in differences in premium through the year, and deductible differences," Worcester said.
Dean's bill is scheduled to receive its first hearing this week.
While his approach to MinnesotaCare might suggest Dean wants to bolster MNsure, which has been the subject of criticism from Dean and other Republicans since it launched in 2013, Dean said that's not the case. He has another bill that would abolish MNsure and move Minnesota to the federal exchange in 2017.
In a media release, Minority Leader Thissen deplored Dean's plan to dismantle MinnesotaCare:
House DFL Leader Paul Thissen released the following statement on Rep. Matt Dean’s proposal to dismantle MinnesotaCare, cutting health care for 95,000 Minnesotans.
“With a $2 billion surplus, it is outrageous that Republicans would consider jeopardizing the health care of tens of thousands of Minnesotans. Not only do Republicans want to cut taxes for corporate special interests, they apparently want to pay for it by cutting health care for hardworking Minnesotans and working parents.
In 2011 Republicans took us down the path of taking money from doctors and hospitals and conjuring made-up savings through Medicaid waivers to create the pretense of a responsibly-balanced budget. That path led to a state government shutdown. It's not a path we should follow again.”
There's that.
Meanwhile, progressive political operatives at TakeAction Minnesota were tweeting about how Greater Minnesota's working poor would disproportionately pay the price of the Dean scheme. After we retweeted one of those posts, communications director Greta Bergstrom sent us this documentation sheet, which we've posted to Scribd:
Sunny Chippewa County, our beloved prairie home, is right up there in terms of percentage of population enrolled in MinnesotaCare.
Photo: Representative Matt Dean, real man of Republican genius. Photo by James Nord.
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The choice likely signals a return to hostility toward applications for Heritage funds from Ojibwe bands, given some members' negative attitudes toward the bands' prohibition of wolf hunting. Gray wolves hold a special place in the bands' cultural belief systems, which position the animals as the indigenous people's brethren.
Many non-native hunters resented not being allowed to shoot wolves on native land. For the moment, it's an abstract discussion, since a federal judge's decision to close the hunt in the upper Great Lakes region.
Anderson most recently made his opinion clear at the December 11, 2014 meeting when he moved to strike funding that would allow the White Earth Band to acquire land along the Wild Rice River and its tributaries for wildlife habitat protection.
We've excerpted the discussion in the YouTube embedded below (complete audio here; minutes and meeting agenda here).
Representative Steve Green (R-Fosston) is an enrolled member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, or Gaa-waabaabiganikaag Anishinaabeg, but he's having nothing to do with a proposal the nation submitted to the Outdoor Heritage Fund.
The council that reviews and approves proposals included the nation's request in its recommendations to the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee today, but an amendment Green submitted removing the tribe's request passed on a roll call vote.
DFL Representative David Dill joined the Republican majority on the committee in voting down the proposal. . . .
Green's objections were not explicitly linked to the wolf hunt, but rather to a belief that the tribe doesn't pay enough taxes. (This claim had been vetted and rejected by the council, as one member notes in the December 11, 2014 tape).
The Legacy funding proposal came up in the House Legacy committee Monday, and an amendment was on the agenda to restore the funding, but the audio from that meeting has yet to be posted.
Bluestem believes that the election of Anderson as chair, was well as Speaker Daudt's appointment of Representative Dave Dill (DFL-Crane Lake) to replace South St. Paul DFLer Rick Hansen on the Council, signals a step backward for funding native projects. The Pioneer Press's Dave Orrick reported in New Lessard-Sams outdoor council set, and ready to disburse $100M:
Rep. David Dill, DFL-Crane Lake: Dill comes to the council amid a predictable fracas of finger-pointing. Daudt appointed Dill instead of Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul. Hansen and House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, both objected publicly, accusing Daudt reneging on a pledge of bi-partisan cooperation. Daudt hasn't responded, but the deed is done. Some areas to watch for possible contrast between Dill and Hansen: Whether Indian projects should be funded, how invasive species work should be viewed by the council, and whether any money from the Outdoor Heritage Fund should be spent to reimburse local governments for lost property tax revenues when land is purchased for protection. More on that below. Daudt also re-appointed Rep. Denny McNamara, R-Hastings.
We'll see how this cultural conflict works out.
Photo: Canoes and wild rice. The White Earth project will also help preserve water quality necessary for wild rice.
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Reading Farmers push back on buffer strip proposal, Dan Linehan's March 14, 2015 article about HF1534, the buffer bill introduced by Representative Paul Torkelson, Bluestem's eyes teared up at this confession by the Hanska Republican:
“At this point I’ve had no one from Greater Minnesota tell me that they think this is a great idea,” he said Friday.
“I also want to send a message that we in the agriculture community are not anti-buffer,” Torkelson said.
Will no one offer this poor man solace? The bill was introduced on Monday, March 9, 2015 and by Friday, he could remember no one from Great Minnesota telling they even liked the idea.
To cheer up Representative Torkelson, we went looking to see if we could find people from Greater Minnesota who might have told the pork producer that they think this is a great idea. First, we would like to remind him of his co-author, Representative David Bly, Democrat of Northfield.
Unless the sylvan city of cows, colleges and contentment has also become the metropolis of radical gerrymandering, David Bly is a resident of Greater Minnesota. He is a resident of Greater Minnesota thinks this idea is so good that he introduced a clone bill, HF1819 on Thursday, March 12, 2015.
On our personal Facebook page on Sunday, Bly posted this comment:
I have not seen or heard from Rep. Torkelson since the bill was introduced. I had offered to author it. I will see Paul tomorrow at the Leg. Water Commission. Many of my greater Minnesota constituents have e-mailed me that they whole heartedly support the Governor. Many farmers I have talked to say they support the concept and want to work on it. Some agree with clean safe water but don't want a 'one size fits' all approach. A few don't want anyone telling them what to do. I have a few farmers tell me they are concerned about the practices of their neighbors and recognize the need for some enforcement.
Dairy farmer James Kanne, a Franklin area dairy farmer who is one of Torkelson's constituents commented:
Saw and talked with Paul on Thur before and after the committee meeting. This was only mentioned in passing, he knows we support the concept and we are willing to work on the details. Most of our conversation centered around the bill on the table that neuters the citizens board for the MPCA. Personally I would like to see a provision that works with the landowners to improve results, t-values, of the water leaving their property. How each farmer would do this would depend on their circumstances. In some cases narrow buffer strips are fine in others complex systems may be needed to control the runoff into the waterway. We all want clean water and will do what we can where we can to get it.
Karen Johnson Flom, the office manager for the Renville County Soil and Water District posted this note:
I sent him an email on Friday thanking him for introducing the bill and quoted 4 positive comments from Renville County landowners.
Our final example to help Representative Torkelson cheer up about the bill he authored comes from Clean Up the River Environment (CURE) in Montevideo, Minnesota, a rural, grassroots membership organization that's dedicated to conservation in the lovely Upper Minnesota River Valley.
All of Torkelson's district is in the Minnesota River watershed, and what with his being the author of the bill and all, we're surprised he hasn't been contacted by members and staff of the group. He and his staff must not go on social media much, since the (mostly) energetic young staff at CURE has been tweeting away about #BuffersNow.
Here's a nice tweet with a picture from Thursday by Ariel Herrod, a CURE staffer who lives in Montevideo.
The seat of Chippewa County, Montevideo is 129 miles west of The Cities. Representative Torkelson must have missed Tom Cherveny's article in the West Central Tribune about the #BuffersNews campaign:
We sincerely hope that this brief digest cheers Representative Torkelson up about his bill. Listening to all those Debbie Downers at the commodity groups would depress anyone.
If you live in Greater Minnesota and would like to help brighten Representative Torkelson's week, please call him or email him at:
Be very polite about your support of the bill. If you want to learn more about the proposal so that you feel more confident about your message to Representative Torkelson, Bluestem recommended the DNR's new Governor's Buffer Initiative webpage.
Meme: An example of the pro-buffers social media Greater Minnesotans are sharing.
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As Representative Tim Miller's constituents in Minnesota House District 17A, we're used to receiving his explanations about why he does what he does, but St. Cloud Times columnist Tim Johnson has another explanation.
Boredom, and a need to meddle in something where a problem doesn't exist.
Tim Miller--we'll call him Tim I--sent us a legislative update about his new bill to repeal the trans-inclusive policy adopted by the Minnesota State High School League. Here's part of what he said:
This week I've been working on a bill called the Student Safety and Physical Privacy Act, which seeks to protect the basic physical safety and privacy rights of every Minnesota student.
I believe the bill is necessary due to the Minnesota State High School League's (MSHSL) approval of a "transgender student athlete policy" that would allow biological males to play on girls' sports teams. Not only does this raise questions of competitive fairness in girls' sports, but also of the safety and privacy of all student athletes.
As a dad, grandpa, and former coach, I understand the importance of allowing children to discover who they are and what activities they enjoy. The only way this can occur is within an environment where all kids feel safe, and this bill will protect the privacy, dignity, and opportunities for every student in every sport . . .
The bill requires that bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms in a school be separated based on that athlete's biological sex, while ensuring that schools can continue to meet individual student needs for students who are uncomfortable using the facility that corresponds with their birth sex by providing access to a private or faculty facility. It also ensures that girls' teams will remain only for biological girls.
It's all about the bathrooms, and making sure those boys stay boys.
I believe a government smaller than what we have now would be better at both the state and federal levels. So, when I see politicians trying to legislate outside that which is absolutely necessary, I get annoyed.
Over-regulation and the introduction of bills meant to micromanage an ideology are signs of bored politicians. Bored politicians are dangerous.
Several Minnesota politicians got bored last week and introduced HF 1546, which will micromanage the Minnesota State High School League.
The bill is a response to a 2014 MSHSL ruling that will allow transgender girls (who were born as boys but identify as girls) to participate on girls sports teams. My dissent is invigorated by the attempt to make life even more difficult than it already is for transgender kids, but I see no reason to exclude any kid from participating in dance line, football, volleyball, checkers any other game they want to play.
The ruling did not and will not result in naked boys showering with naked girls as fear-mongers might have you believe. Sec. 2. Subd. 3(d) of the proposed law says "Nothing in this section shall prohibit public schools from providing accommodation such as single-occupancy facilities or controlled use of faculty facilities upon a student request due to special circumstances."
If they're not prohibited from doing that now, what's the problem?
The mere introduction of HF 1546 is a waste of resources. We smaller-government types don't like that. . . .
Read the rest at the St. Cloud Times.
Photo: Tim Miller (R-Prinsburg).
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In a letter published in the Sunday Grand Forks Herald, Paul Lysen of Meeker County's Kingston Township accuses Democratic Congressman Collin Peterson of being a Democrat in his letter, Reject Rep. Peterson, a Democrat in Democrat's clothing.
Another version of the letter has been published in the Park Rapids Enterprise, another newspaper in the Forum Communications chain, under the headline, Collin Peterson is not one of us. More on that one later in the post.
Since Congress reconvened with an even more Republican cast, Peterson hasn't been getting any more blue of a Blue Dog, so we suspect with the district back on the national hit list, we'll see more of this purple prose and yellow journalism.
Representative Kevin Cramer (R-ND) sponsored H.R. 3, yet another a bill to automatically approve the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, which would transfer the world’s dirtiest oil through the American heartland to be exported at an international shipping port on the Gulf Coast. Keystone XL would lead to a significant expansion of tar sands development, unleashing massive amounts of carbon pollution and threatening surrounding communities, ecosystems, and watersheds including the Ogallala aquifer, which provides drinking water for millions of Americans. Despite these real threats, Keystone XL would create just 35 permanent jobs and would not enhance American energy independence. H.R. 3 would short circuit the approval process, eliminating the State Department’s ability to assess whether the pipeline is in the national interest and the President’s authority to ultimately approve or reject the project. On January 9, the House approved H.R. 3 by a vote of 266-153 (House roll call vote 16). NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.
He supported tax credits for wind farms and solar installations, but voted against the Keystone Pipeline and against permits for more oil refineries in our country and oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Peterson has always voted for the Keystone project. It's true that he's supported wind and solar, but it's peculiar to pit votes on petroleum industry policy against wind and solar, which are related to electricity generation.
Westrom encouraged executives of Xcel Energy to meet with members of the neighboring Prairie Island Indian community to consider increasing the number of fuel casks and boosting Xcel's commitment to renewable energy at the same time. The resulting law was enacted four years before former Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed a 2007 law requiring Minnesota utilities to generate 25 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025. Westrom's bill also required Xcel to contribute $16 million annually to a Renewable Development Account. . .
Westrom characterized the wind turbines as "freedom towers." While support of renewable energy among Republicans has decreased since the 2010 GOP landslide, Westrom remains a centrist on energy policy; believing that a diversified portfolio of conventional and renewable energy creates jobs. He characterized himself as a "huge supporter" of renewable energy, including 2001 legislation he sponsored to mandate a 5 percent biodiesel fuel blend for vehicles used by the state.
However, since Westrom campaigned a lot on ramming the Keystone pipeline through, perhaps in these deeply divided times, Lysen inferred from Westrom's intense focus that Peterson opposed Keystone, regardless of what those dirty hippies and their roll call votes say.
Park Rapids Enterprise version: Collin Peterson, bond to be voting for Obamacare?
Peterson has held firm on two issues, the right to life and gun rights, which has inoculated him against kickback from voting the way Obama tells him to on other issues–like supporting Obamacare.
Peterson has held firm on two issues, the right to life and gun rights, and this has inoculated him against kickback from voting the way Obama tells him to on other issues.
As Republicans are quick to remind, U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, one of 34 Democrats to oppose the Affordable Care Act in 2010, has voted against every full repeal bill the House has considered since the GOP took control in 2011.
He has, however, sided with the party on half of the 50-some Obamacare bills they’ve voted on over the last three years, including all of them since October.
Not that he’s keeping track. In fact, Peterson said his votes since last fall are only “somewhat” related to what the GOP is actually bringing up. . . . .
But Peterson’s record on GOP-led Obamacare votes over the last three years reflects his still-dim opinion of the law as a whole. And while he doesn’t have anything nice to say about how President Obama or Democrats are handling the law’s roll-out, he said he’s not going to back a GOP repeal bill unless it maintains the several parts of the law he does like, something he acknowledges is unlikely to ever happen.
A full repeal bill “repeals pre-existing conditions, it repeals all the good stuff, kids on their parents’ policies, the Medicare donut hole … by doing that, you’re getting rid of the good stuff,” he said. “So why are we doing that?” . ..
After looking at Henry's article and the attached list of Peterson's votes, we can see why the editors at the Grand Forks Herald threw that final prepositional phrase in the trash can.
But on Planet Lysen, Park Rapids Enterprise version, Peterson is supporting something evil than universal health care: the separation of church and state.
Park Rapids Enterprise version: anti-Christian bigots endorse Peterson
Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) also endorses him with a glowing 100 percent rating. These are the same anti-Christian bigots who conspire to drive Jesus Christ out of our politics, laws, schools, and public displays.
Collin Peterson apparently agrees with their atheistic goals, but I doubt that many people in the 7th District do.
The word "hack" is also added to the last sentence:
Why should we continue to return this man to office time after time? Wake up, people, and kick this hack Democrat out!
Americans United for Separation of Church and State doesn't make endorsements; moreover, in 2014, only Keith Ellison was rated 100 percent by AU; like the rest of the Minnesota House delegation, Peterson was ranked 0 percent, according to the data available for the group on Project Vote Smart.
Perhaps Lysen means the 2013 ranking, where Peterson was joined at 100 percent with AU's atheistic goals by those godless commies John Kline (R-MN02) and Erik Paulsen (R-MN03), while the rest of Minnesota's congressional delegation stood at zero. (Bachmann's score is now omitted, since she's left office).
We'll presume that the Grand Forks Herald edited this erroneous copy out of the letter; it's unfortunate that it couldn't do the same for the misinformation about Peterson's Keystone votes. Let's hope that the Forum Communications papers that
As far as we can tell, the last time a sitting Minnesota congressman was accused of sharing the goals of atheists was around 1920, when Rev. Ole Juulson Kvale made such claims against bluenosed Gopher Andrew Volstead. That worked out well.
Lysen is no stranger to the ranks of outspoken Republicans in West Central Minnesota, though we don't anticipate him following in Ole Kvale's trailblazing path or Congressman Emmer's mellowing.
In a May 2103 letter to the Litchfield Independent Review, Why did Broman tell Republicans to cave on gay marriage? he attacked the paper's editor while making some rather eccentric claims about what supporters of marriage equality want:
Andrew Broman really stepped in it this time. Why would he tell Republicans to cave on gay marriage ("Democrats spring gay marriage trap," March 7)? Is he really trying to improve their chances of winning elections or is he trying to deceive them into giving up the fight against Democrat ideology? He has earlier attacked Republicans for advancing the Voter ID amendment, claiming that it was “antithetical to democracy.” What he really meant to say was that it was antithetical to Democrats. Broman was helping to preserve their right to lie and cheat their way to election victories.
So, the question remains, why is Broman telling Republicans to give up on opposing gay marriage? The same reason any Democrat would — to grant legitimacy to any and all perversions that Democrat voters choose to engage in. After all, we have to be enlightened and progressive and free from Christian prejudices. We must allow man-boy marriages, man-animal marriages, and man-inflatable doll marriages!
“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36.) Most of us Republicans are Christians first and conservatives second. Every Republican caucus, convention, and meeting I have attended starts out with prayer. We do not intend to hide our belief in God under a basket when we go out into the world. Atheists, humanists, evolutionists, Muslims, and earth-worshippers don’t. God is real, and we take His dictates seriously. Marriage is between a man and a woman. Jesus said so. Why should we deny that to win a few votes from Democrats?
Grant the homosexuals their demands and what will happen? Pastors who preach from the Bible about homosexual unions will be hauled into court for hate crimes. Schools will be required to teach that homosexual unions are normal and honorable. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders, and whatever else, will demand special rights as protected groups.
Faith in God guides our conservatism, as it did the country’s founders. They knew that all humans are fallen. Give men power over others and they will abuse it. The founders’ solution was to keep government close to the governed. The states were free to decide their own matters while the federal government, with three countervailing branches, was to be held in check by the Constitution. If a citizen disagreed with the policies of one state, they were free to move to another. This is what conservatives stand for.
Broman has proclaimed that the “Republican leadership ought to prohibit Bible-thumping within its ranks” and “rediscover the true meaning of conservatism.” I doubt that he really cares about the true meaning of conservatism. Clearly, he isn’t a conservative himself since his interest is not in helping the cause of conservatism but in undermining it.
Well then. The man-inflatable doll marriage talking point is a new one on us. We also appreciate Christian soldier Lysen giving himself a waiver on that commandment about not bearing false witness. Perhaps a higher power is a-okay on misrepresenting Peterson's dirty energy votes on the Keystone pipeline.
Earlier, Lysen had accused the Litchfield paper of supporting voter fraud, and repeated the old canard that felons voting put Franken over the top in the 2008 election. In his November 2012 letter, 'Our View' supports voter fraud, he writes:
Contrary to your “Our View” editorial of Nov. 12, “Republicans lost their way with voter ID,” you editors and publisher of the Litchfield newspaper were the ones who lost their way by joining with the Democrats to celebrate the defeat of voter ID. Why didn’t you question why the Democrats spent so much money to defeat voter ID? Clearly, the present “honor” system works to their advantage.
In editorials before the election, you agreed with the Democrats who claimed that voter ID was a huge expense that would be dumped on local governments. But, how much does it cost to flash an ID card? If it so expensive, why have over 30 states already implemented it? You also cheered the Democrat’s half-baked contention that voters would be disenfranchised by having to show an ID card. Well, then, in the name of social justice, why don’t you demand that drivers need not show police their identification or that check cashiers need not show their ID to the banks?
Your paper takes the Democrat view that there is hardly a smidgen of fraud to be found in Minnesota voting. Right, and how was it that the votes of a thousand felons (who are ineligible to vote) were counted in 2008 allowing Franken to come from behind to win over Coleman by 300 votes? Do you think we have forgotten this?
Minnesota’s present voting laws are a goldmine for Democrats to exploit. Scenarios where voter fraud is possible under current law include the following:
Registering up to 15 impostors on voting day by one registered voter. The same 15 could be vouched for in another precinct by another registered voter.
Registering in multiple precincts on voting day by producing expired identification cards such as an old driver’s license.
Registering in advance in multiple precincts and going from precinct to precinct on voting day.
Voting by felons.
Voting by illegal aliens (since proof of citizenship is not required).
Double voting by college students who vote in their college town and in their home precinct.
Voting by impostors who assume the identity of people who are dead or who have moved away.
These scenarios are more likely, of course, to occur in urban areas where Democrats predominate and where anonymity is assured.
These abuses would be curbed by a voter ID requirement. So why does your newspaper criticize Republicans for supporting voter ID? You should be applauding Republicans such as our Sen. Scott Newman for trying to bring integrity to the election process. Why should you want to conspire with the Democrats to preserve a tool they can use to win every close election held in this state? Just what is your agenda here in Meeker County?
Lysen can invent as many likely scenarios as he wishes, but there's little evidence any of that has been happening.
Finally, the Kingston Township activist was among those who supported a 2014 Meeker County Republican resolution to immediately impeach President Obama, the Litchfield paper reported:
“I think it’s time we have it on record that we should impeach him,” said Kingston Township resident Paul Lysen, one of about 30 delegates to attend the convention in Litchfield.
The resolution states, “President Barack Hussein Obama has abused his office and acted in defiance and violation of the Constitution. He must be impeached immediately.”
No delegate attending Saturday’s convention voiced opposition to the impeachment resolution.
Several other resolutions also received widespread support, including one relating to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. That resolution calls for the prosecution of former State Department Secretary Hillary Clinton for “countermanding the defense of the Benghazi consulate against the attack from Islamic jihadists.”
A total of eight resolutions were adopted Saturday, and party organizers said the resolutions will be submitted to the Minnesota GOP State Convention, scheduled to take place May 30 in Rochester, for possible inclusion in the party’s platform.
The only resolution to fail Saturday accuses the Democratic Party and mainstream media of engaging in a “conspiracy of lies.” “The Democrat Party and the mainstream media have engaged in a conspiracy of lies to defraud the American people,” the resolution states. “They constitute a criminal conspiracy and must be prosecuted under racketeering laws.”
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Editorials written by the board of North Dakota's Fargo Forum are often reprinted throughout the Forum Communications chain, so the appearance of Marquart advances rail debate in the Detroit Lakes paper isn't too surprising.
The board is impressed by the minority caucus insisting on raising the issue of rail safety:
Assistant House Minority Leader Marquart comes from a city steeped in railroad history. A railroad town from its beginnings, Dilworth celebrates its heritage with annual Loco Daze. Marquart is a former mayor of Dilworth. He is not anti-railroad. Rather, he is emerging as a champion of improving oil train rail safety.
Marquart’s bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis, and several other Democrats. It seeks $100 million in revenue from new taxes on railroads. The money would be used to improve rail crossings, and given to cities to use for safety programs, such as first responder training, emergency services, and specialized rail safety equipment.
Marquart is right to call attention to escalating risks oil trains visit on Minnesota communities along the tracks. New statistics confirm the risk is real. Oil train wrecks, fires and explosions are up 28 percent since the North Dakota oil boom took off. Oil train derailments are making headlines more frequently. The more attention on oil train safety — whether state, federal or local — the faster railroads and industries associated with oil transport will act to improve safety records.
Marquart’s legislation likely won’t make much headway in the Republican-controlled House. But the debate will be useful to better define the state’s role in protecting its residents from danger on the rails. Moreover, he’s forcing his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reveal where their commitments lie: to an anti-tax ideology, to fealty to the railroads, or to real-world public safety. That’s a debate worth watching.
The initial reaction to Rep. Paul Marquart’s, DFL-Dilworth, oil train safety proposal is Republican anti-tax boilerplate. While giving lip service to the need to improve rail safety as it applies to oil trains rumbling through Minnesota communities, Republican leaders in the House apparently are not willing to pay for a core function of government: public safety. . . .
Republican House Transportation Chairman Tim Kelly of Red Wing said his majority caucus is developing its own transportation plan, but that a railroad safety provision probably won’t be ready for at least a year. Not good enough, said Hornstein. He said his Minneapolis district can’t wait to address oil train safety concerns.
And always the good neighbor, the BNSF Railway, the major carrier of volatile Bakken oil through Minnesota, said the railroad would “absolutely” take the state to court if Marquart’s legislation passes. The railroad says the state tax would violate federal law.
Photo: Paul Marquart (first on left) at the Governor's press conference Friday with mayors of cities along rail lines.
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There is no overall agreement on how to prevent Minnesota oil train explosions.
Democrats want to raise railroad taxes $100 million to improve oil train safety. Republicans balk at higher taxes and say more information is needed before drawing up a solution.
Assistant House Minority Leader Paul Marquart of Dilworth and Rep. Frank Hornstein of Minneapolis, along with Democratic colleagues, on Tuesday released their plans to expand the property tax to railroad cars and to increase assessments on railroads. It is a plan similar to that of Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton.
Republicans, who control the House, are expected to release their transportation plan soon, but House Transportation Chairman Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing, said more information is needed before a comprehensive rail safety plan is written. . . .
On Friday, Governor Dayton held a press conference to discuss his plan; he was joined by mayors of towns along railroads. The Associated Press reports in Dayton wants railroads to pay for safety upgrades:
Gov. Mark Dayton is giving railroad companies a tongue-lashing for resisting his tax plan to fund safety improvements.
Seven trains haul North Dakota crude across Minnesota daily. The Democratic governor has suggested a series of tax changes and fees on railroads to upgrade railroad crossings and improve first responder training to prepare for a major accident.
Railroad companies like BNSF Railway have balked at those proposals and suggested they may violate federal laws by singling out their industry.
Dayton brought officials from towns with heavy train traffic to St. Paul Friday to ramp up pressure for his plan. Dayton says railroad companies' opposition to pay more for safety improvements is "totally unacceptable.''
Majority House Republicans have also signaled they're not on board with the governor's proposal.
Not a single Republican lawmaker joined Dayton at the press conference, although a source tell us they were invited.
Campaign contributions and profits
As usual, Bluestem thought we'd see who's paying the piper for our new House Republican overlords. Turns out that one railroad gave $85,000 to the Republican State Leadership Committee, which in its turn gave $325,000 to the Minnesota Jobs Coalition, a major player in independent expenditures that flipped the Minnesota House to Republican control.
[Bluestem looked in giving to DFL state-level politics, including ABM, WIN Minnesota and the 2014 fund, and didn't find giving by the rail industry to the left. Like the regulation of railroads themselves, the big political giving by railroads and rail-related PACs is to federal candidates.]
. . . BNSF didn’t spell disaster for Berkshire’s shareholders in 2014. The company earned nearly $4 billion, up 2% from a year ago. To be sure, that was much slower than the 13% jump in profits the railroad experienced the year before.
Overall, BNSF has been a very good investment for Buffett. Berkshire bought the company for $26 billion in 2009. Last year, BNSF had revenue of $23 billion and profits over the past three years of just over $11 billion. Buffett says BNSF now carries 15% of all inter-city freight, which he says is more than anyone else—by land, air, or sea.
For Jacksonville-based CSX Corp., freight volume has dropped 7 percent since 2004. Meanwhile, its shares have climbed to $35 from less than $6, and its net income has risen 450 percent, to almost $1.9 billion in 2013, according to SEC filings.
It’s the same story for the other three mega-railroads. Their traffic is down from a decade ago, but their profits are up: 107 percent for Norfolk Southern Corp., 626 percent for Union Pacific Corp. and 380 percent for BNSF Railway. Norfolk’s stock price has tripled, Union Pacific’s has sextupled, BNSF’s doubled before the company was gobbled up by Berkshire Hathaway in 2010.
In this region, traffic is up, however.
That $85,000 to get Republicans in state-level offices? A drop in the bucket.
The Dayton Plan
Here's the press release from the Governor's office, explaining Dayton's proposal:
Seventy-five railway safety projects – at Minnesota’s most dangerous and congested rail crossings – would be completed statewide, if a proposal from Governor Mark Dayton is passed this session. Governor Dayton today revealed a comprehensive list of those specific projects, which were compiled by experts at the Minnesota Department of Transportation and chosen based on their levels of danger and congestion.
Governor Dayton’s railway safety proposal would invest $330 million over the next ten years in the construction of safer railroad crossings across Minnesota, and provide additional bonding dollars to fund four major grade separations in Coon Rapids, Moorhead, Prairie Island, and Willmar. The plan would implement new quiet zones in communities located along busy rail lines, provide better training for emergency managers and first responders, and hire a new Rail Office Director who would position the state to play a larger role in addressing freight rail service and safety issues throughout the state.
“Over the last year, I have traveled across Minnesota and seen firsthand the very serious and costly challenges that increased rail traffic have thrust upon our communities,” said Governor Dayton. “Minnesotans did not cause these disruptions; they are not responsible for the endless barrage of dangerous cargo being shipped through their communities every day. The railroads responsible for these problems have a responsibility to pay for these essential safety improvements.”
What the Proposal Would Deliver
The Governor developed his railway safety proposal after holding seven railway safety meetings across Minnesota, hosting a railway safety summit last fall, and conducting a statewide survey gathering the input of local community leaders. His recommendations are based on the input of Minnesotans, emergency managers and first responders, and experts at the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Specifically, the proposal would deliver:
Four Major Grade Separations – When the Governor introduces his bonding proposal later this month, it will include funding for four major grade separations in Coon Rapids, Moorhead, Prairie Island, and Willmar. Improvements at these rail crossings, which are heavily congested and considered particularly dangerous, are urgently needed and require major investments.
Another 71 Infrastructure Improvements Statewide – The Governor’s proposal would also fund 71 additional railway safety improvements at rail crossings across Minnesota. A comprehensive list of these projects, which were chosen by MnDOT experts based on their levels of danger and congestion. A comprehensive list of those projects is available online.
Better Training for First Responders – In order to adequately prepare for potential derailments or railway disasters, the Governor’s proposal would fund additional training measures for first responders and emergency managers across Minnesota. Specifically, this would include the construction of a new multifaceted training facility at Camp Ripley, which would simulate response scenarios related to the transportation and storage of hazardous materials, including Bakken oil.
More Quiet Zones – The Governor’s proposal would also provide funding to help establish new quiet zones in communities located along busy rail lines.
A New Rail Office Director – The proposal would hire a new Rail Office Director who would position Minnesota to play a larger role in addressing freight rail service and safety issues in the state. This would allow accelerated and expanded delivery of grade crossing safety improvements, expanded rail safety inspection, and enforcement of rail safety regulations and rail planning.
How the Proposal is Funded
The Governor’s proposed railway safety improvements would be funded through the following measures:
Assessments on Class I Railroads – The proposal would implement a $33 million annual assessment on the four Class I railroads that operate in Minnesota, based on their track mileage in the state. It would be used to fund additional grade separations and crossing improvements across Minnesota.
State General Obligation Bonds – The Governor’s bonding bill will include funding for four major grade separation projects in Coon Rapids, Moorhead, Prairie Island, and Willmar. It will also include funding for a new railway safety training facility for first responders at Camp Ripley and funding for quiet zones.
Modernizing Property Taxes Paid by Railroads – Minnesota’s current railroad property tax laws are have not kept pace with railroad uses, or the need for improved safety. Modernizing railroad property taxes would expand the taxable property of railroads to include rolling stock, rail cars, trestles, and rail bridges. This would expand the tax base for communities that are now dealing with increased rail use and congestion. Property tax modernization would provide $45 million in new annual revenues for cities, counties, and townships to address their local infrastructure needs. It would provide $21 million each year to help fund statewide rail safety measures.
Building on Recent Progress
These needed improvements would build on new railway safety measures implemented last year by Governor Dayton and the Minnesota Legislature. Those efforts required railroad companies to submit disaster prevention and emergency plans to the State, increased the number of rail inspectors at MnDOT, required railroads to respond to derailments or spills of hazardous cargos within a specified timeframe, and provided additional emergency response training for local police and fire departments, and other first responders in Minnesota.
This is part 2 of a multipart series about investments by North Dakota energy interests (and those who transport their products) in Minnesota politics.
Photo: Dayton's Friday press conference with mayors and legislators. Not a single Republican lawmaker joined the mayors and the governor at the event.
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A young organizer at Clean Up the River Environment (CURE) has sent us this notice of a meeting with Minnesota Senate District 17 lawmakers in Willmar on Saturday, March 14:
Please join CURE and other conservationists for a District 17 Legislator Meeting with your elected officials, Senator Lyle Koenen, Representative Tim Miller and Representative Dave Baker. They have all confirmed with CURE that they will be able to join us and listen to our concerns about conservation during this meeting in Willmar.
Who: A face-to-face meeting with three of your elected officials, Senator Lyle Koenen, Representative Tim Miller and Representative Dave Baker.
What: A face-to-face meeting with three of your elected officials, Senator Lyle Koenen, Representative Tim Miller and Representative Dave Baker
When: Saturday, March 14th, 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM
Where: Executive Boardroom, Willmar Convention Center, 240 23rd St SE, Willmar, MN 56201. Follow signs once in building.
Why: This meeting will provide you with an opportunity to meet face-to-face with your elected officials to express your concerns and support for issues relating to agriculture, the environment, renewable energy and everything conservation related.
We're hoping that you will be able to join us and will let other concerned citizens know about this opportunity for their voices to be heard.
Share widely with your networks in the region. If you plan on attending, please let me [Kristian Nyberg CURE Energy Program Coordinator] know by simply responding to this email, or by calling the CURE office at 1-877-269-2873.
CURE is a grassroots, rural-based environmental group which works on clean water, clean energy and healthy soil in the Upper Minnesota River Valley.
Photo: A town hall in West Central Minnesota earlier this year.
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The audio of the second half of Thursday's meeting of the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee's hearing on HF1394 (Fabian), a bill to gut the power of Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens' Board, hasn't been posted as we write this.
If you listen to those supporting the bill, the delay of a single large farm by the board has brought Minnesota's dairy industry to its knees, a Cowpocalypse Now.
Talk about downer cattle.
But the melodrama of their position becomes apparently the more one learns. Mohr reports:
When a large dairy farm sought to expand its operations in western Minnesota last year, the Pollution Control Agency’s Citizens’ Board voted against the recommendations of PCA staff and required an in-depth Environmental Impact Statement of the project before it could move forward.
For Kathy DeBuhr, a farmer who lives near Chokio and a mile from the proposed feedlot, that decision meant a reprieve from the truck traffic, dust and other negative environmental impacts she says she’s experienced from a similar operation 6 miles away. For others, however, the ruling demonstrates the uncommon power this nine-member board has to delay or derail projects on the verge of approval after months, sometimes years, of work.
The House Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee heard testimony Thursday on a bill that would strip away much of that power. . . .
However, Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Mpls) said he found that unease puzzling because “if there’s one thing that’s certain based on the record of the Citizens’ Board and the PCA, it’s that (businesses) are going to get their permit.”
Hornstein said he had counted two times in the past eight years when the board may have denied a permit.
“This is a solution in search of a problem,” he said. “We don’t have permits being denied on a regular basis. We don’t have environmental review being ordered on a regular basis. … I’m puzzled by the need for this.”
DeBuhr said the Citizens’ Board was the only place she felt as though her concerns were heard and represented.
“I urge you not to remove the power from the Citizens’ Board,” DeBuhr said. “They are looking out for me.”
Thom Petersen, Minnesota Farmers Union director of government relations, said his organization was opposed to the bill because much of the concern was due to only one situation.
“We do not feel the system is broken,” Petersen said. . . .
From the way that the video (embedded at the bottom of the post) starts, one might think that Peder Larson, who Mohr reports was MPCA commissioner back in the 1990s (Linked In says 1996-1998, during the Carlson years) was representing the agency, just one might think that the Dayton Administration supports the bill when Chair McNamara reads an executive order calling for review of the Citizens Board from 2012.
That's why Bluestem thinks it's a good thing to first post the testimony of the MPCA deputy commissioner who testified on behalf of the executive branch. (Peder Larson is also a lobbyist for mining companies and others, but was so not there for his clients. He was playing an MPCA commissioner on TV instead)
While Fabian and McNamara don't share our scruples, we think its important that the public understand that a lobbyist for the state chamber of commerce and a guy who was commissioner 17 years ago don't speak for "we," regardless of how many times the boys shared the pronoun "we."
Here's the full video of the morning part of the hearing. We'll post the audio of the late afternoon part of the hearing as it becomes available and we're able to process it.
Photo: The fourth calf of the Cowpocalypse. To
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On Thursday morning at 8:15 a.m., the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee will hear HF1394, Roseau Republican Representative Dan Fabian's bill to alter the structure and duties of the Citizens Board of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
But the Offutts aren't the only ag interests who gave McNamara money last year--indeed, they're pikers compared to the Molitor Brother Farms family contributions.
According to a search of the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board's individual campaign contribution database for political contributions by the Molitors and Thorkelsons, family members gave $12,700 to three candidates: Representative McNamara (R-Hastings); Representative Garofalo (R-Farmington); and Ryan Rutzick, who was defeated by Minnetonka DFLer Jon Applebaum.
Brent Molitor and Rita Molitor made two contributions totaling $700 to Rutzick, while Brian Molitor, Charles Molitor, Heather Molitor, Patrice Molitor, Eric Thorkelson and Sara Thorkelson each gave McNamara and Garofalo $1000, for a total of $6000 each.
According to Ownership interests information online at the EWG Farm Subsidy database, the Thorkelsons and the Molitors (with the exception of Brent) were the owners of Molitor Brothers Farm in 2012. Brent Molitor is employed by the farm, according to information at the Minnesota campaign finance site.
Molitor Brothers Farm received $6,598,926 in USDA subsidies between 1995-2012; the lion's share of this figure ($6,428,949) came from commodity subsidies. Only $125,943 came from conservation programs like the Conservation Reserve Program or EQIP grants; indeed, the operations' payments from these programs shrank to under $3000 per year in 2011 and 2012, while they took in $228,561 and $222,275 from commodity programs.
. . . . the very idea of income tests and payment limits worries many full-time farmers in Minnesota. The state has harvested more than $9.5 billion from government farm programs over the past decade -- fifth most among all the states.
Among the concerned Minnesotans is Brian Molitor, who represents the fifth generation of a Cannon Falls family farm that now stretches over more than 10,000 acres of corn and soybeans in southeastern Minnesota.
Molitor Bros. Farm, which four families operate, was one of the state's top three recipients of government subsidies in 2005, the latest year for which data is available. It pulled in nearly $1.2 million. [ Editor's note: 2005 marked the high water year for the MBF and the subsidies they received shrank to $222,275 by 2012]
But Molitor, hoping that his children will become the farm's sixth generation, said that without the government money, his farm wouldn't be able to break even some years.
"If you look at the last few years, subsidies have been what's been able to keep people at zero and keep them from losing money," he said. . . .
And here we thought Governor Dayton was generous with commissioner raises.
Do large contributions from large farmers influence the way Chair McNamara votes in committee and on the floor?
As one might guess, Thursday's agenda isn't set simply by one very large family farm. Instead, we need to look at those who helped flip the House and give McNamara the chair of the Environment committee.
Agriculture and ag lobbyist contributions for the HRCC and its allies in the 2013-2014 cycle
While other parts of the country are limited by water shortage and the need to import feed, Minnesota has plentiful opportunities with respect to both of these essential elements of a successful livestock operation. Unfortunately, new investment in this industry has been placed at risk due to recent actions by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens’ Board. Beyond the costs and delays of these projects, the recent Citizens’ Board action raises real questions about Minnesota’s willingness to accommodate growth and new investment in the animal agriculture sector. AgriGrowth will be asking the legislature to review the Board’s responsibilities and powers to ensure that Minnesota can become an inviting location for responsible growth and investment in Minnesota’s agricultural sector to provide new economic opportunities for farmers, rural communities, and our entire state.
So what sort of money did Big Ag put on the table to help flip control of the House? In this post, we won't be looking at contributions to individual campaigns, but rather contributions to the HRCC, the MN Job Coalition Legislative Fund and the MN Action Network IE Fund.
We found at least $295,000 in contributions over $10,000 given directly by Big Ag interests to these three committees. With smaller PAC contributions by commodity group and ag law/lobbying entities, the total easily approaches climbs over the $300,000 mark.
These contributions are by no means a complete picture of the political giving--merely that which we can dig out of state-level year-end campaign finance reports. Nor are we suggesting that the getting and spending only occurs on one side. The problem is one of transparency.
Two Davis family members gave a total of $75,000 to the HRCC, the committee's 2013 and 2014 year-end reports reveals. On December 31, 2013, Marty Davis, founder of Cambria, gave $25,000 to the HRCC; months later on October 9, 2014, he threw another $25,000 into the kitty. On September October 8, Mitch Davis of the Davis Family Dairies, contributed $25,000.
. . . contribution of at least $45,000 in cold hard campaign cash to the Minnesota state House Republican Campaign Committee (HRCC; year-end report here) by members of the Fehr family, owners of Riverview Dairy. (Some might add in an additional $2500 donated by Mitch Fehr, to make the total rise to $47,500).
Tom Rosen, of Rosen's Diversified and the American Food Group, the nation's 5th largest beef processing company. gave $25,000 in 2013 and $25,000 in 2014, for a total of $50,000 for the cycle. Rosen Diversified gave the Minnesota Action Network IE Fund $50,000 on September 5, 2014.
Rosen's Diversified, Davis Family Dairies, New Horizon Feeds and the RD Offutt Company are all Agri-Growth Council members.
MN Jobs Coalition's Agribusiness Money from the Republican State Leadership Committee?
The Minnesota Jobs Coalition Legislative Fund also received $325,000 from the Republican State Leadership Committee. Although we can't determine if any of the Agribusiness contributions to the RSLC was earmarked for Minnesota, we can discern ag money in the pot.
Kraft Foods gave RSLC a total of $100,000; Kraft maintains a presence in Minnesota's dairy industry with cheese plants in New Ulm and Albany.
Archer Daniels Midland contributed $25,135 to the RSLC in 2014; the food-processing and commodities-trading corporation was founded in Minneapolis and maintains a large presence in the state.
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In Legislature takes aim at Dayton, environmental regulations, J. Patrick Coolican and Josephine Marcotty have teamed up at the Strib to provide a useful overview of the debate of bills to turn the setting of environmental regulation over to the legislature
Goatroped by lobbyists and campaign contributors, lawmakers would take decision-making from agency staff guided by science and give it to themselves--and the special interests who have admittedly written some of the bills.
It should be enough to have the rest of us joining Rep. Persell's Bull Hockey Umpire Society.
The Minnesota Legislature is muscling in on the power of state agencies in a broad effort to assume more influence over everything from water quality to health and safety regulations. . . .
The bills could trigger a sharp response from both the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees much of Minnesota’s clean water efforts, and Gov. Mark Dayton
Dayton, who vetoed a bill that would have given the Legislature a bigger role in regulatory issues in 2012, said the new proposals would “interfere with the clearly established responsibilities of the executive branch.” . . .
Previous efforts have resulted in the threat of sanctions from the EPA. The state enforces the Clean Water Act and other federal environmental laws at the behest of the EPA. If it fails to do so, the EPA can intervene. The federal agency warned the state in 2011 that rewriting the state statute that protects wild rice without a scientific basis, or failing to adopt it in permits, would trigger a response.
“The state may not issue a permit over the EPA’s objection,” federal officials wrote in a 2011 letter to Iron Range legislators Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, and Rep. David Dill, DFL-Crane Lake. “The EPA has the authority to require the state to take corrective action,” the letter read. Both Bakk and Dill are part of the group supporting changes in the regulatory process. . . .
In his 2012 veto letter Dayton quoted his GOP predecessor, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who vetoed a similar reach into executive powers in 2003.
It would have shifted “authority for conducting rulemaking from the executive branch to the legislative branch,” Pawlenty wrote, adding, “Under current law, the Legislature has granted the Governor’s office final approval authority on all rulemakings. This is sound policy as it provides accountability in a way that does not paralyze either branch of government.”
Read the whole thing at the Strib.
Photo: Rep. John Persell (DFL-Bemidji) begins his famous Bull Hockey speech in the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee. Watch the video in Persell on water quality: "Bull hockey! . . . That ain't the way we do things in Minnesota."
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It's the sort of post-moronic (and moneyed) politics Bluestem has come to expect from Speaker Daudt's majority, foreshadowed by the leader's removal of "Energy" from the Environmental and Natural Resources committee to team it up with "Jobs."
In Tuesday's floor session, Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources minority lead Rick Hansen ( DFL-South St. Paul) moved to have HF333 pulled from the House Ways and Means Committee and sent to the Environment Committee.
HF333, a bill that would require legislative approval of a state plan to comply with federal regulations regarding emissions from existing power plants, would be paid for by the state's environmental fund. Implementing the lanuage would be be part of work of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). The "federal regulations" about air emissions is part of the implementation of the federal Clean Air Act.
Hansen also noted that plans for regulating power plant emissions are part of addressing climate change, another concern tasked to the Environment Committee.
In short, this bill has everything to do with environmental policy and funding. Bill author, Becker Republican Jim Newberger, opposed Hansen's motion--prompting a remarkable line of questioning from Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley).
Newberger: . . .this is not a pollution control bill. Members please vote no on this motion.
Winkler: Representative Newberger, is air part of the environment?
Newberger: Thank you Representative Winkler. That's a complex question and one that you obviously know the answer to. Of course it is.
Winkler: Well, Representative Newberger, you said that the air is part of the environment and this is an air pollution bill, this is a bill about polluting the environment. I think that Representative McNamara's committee is based on some regulation or deregulation of pollution of the environment. I don't quite understand how anyone could stand up with a straight face, on the floor, and say that a bill that deals with air pollution, doesn't have to go to the Environment Committee since air is part of the environment.
And so members, I guess it kind of begs the question.
I understand that the coal industry favors the bill, and the coal industry doesn't think that burning coal has an effect on the environment, but I think most Minnesotans do, so the question recurs once again to the body: do you want to follow the demands of an industry who has money to be made by moving a bill away from the Environment Committee, or do you want to do what's right for the state and follow basic common sense about environmental impacts of burning coal?
And if you don't think that belongs in the Environment Committee, maybe I'd suggest you'd get rid of the Environment Committee . . .anyway.
After more discussion, the House voted 55 for and 73 against the motion. Perhaps what's most interesting about the vote is that four of the eight DFL sponsors of the bill voted for the Hansen amendment: Ben Lien (Moorhead), Paul Marquart (Dilworth), John Persell (Bemidji) and Mike Sundin (Esko) concurred that air pollution has something to do with the environment.
The other DFL sponsors of the bill--all Rangers--were joined by Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona) in agreeing that air pollution is part of jobs and energy.
Here's the entire discussion of the motion and the vote (Winkler gets started about 15:15:
Photo: Coal piled up at the Sherco coal-fired power plant near Becker. Via Pioneer Press.
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Gary Gross, at Let Freedom Ring and True North (sponsored by the Taxpayers League) had been posting about this matter for at least 10 months, based on coverage in the Mesabi Daily Range and the St. Cloud Times.
Indeed, Gross' April 22, 2014 Letter: IRRRB amounts to bank for DFL in the St. Cloud Times reads like a synopsis for her framing narrative. It also makes one wonder--along with other coverage in the St. Cloud Times of the Eveleth call center opening, collapse and rebirth--how Jim Knoblach or any other Republican suddenly can carry on as if the call center's business was unknown in 2006 or 2014.
But heck, the Strib didn't even tell readers that Knoblach represents St. Cloud--homes base for Meyers-- only that he chairs a powerful committee.
State Rep. Bob Loonan paid a $10,000 fine and was suspended from teaching continuing-education classes related to the insurance industry for three months after he decided to forego a hearing on allegations leveled by the state Department of Commerce.
The commerce department alleged that Loonan provided false information to the department related to credit hours on applications for continuing education courses he taught and that he “allowed the promotion of the services or practices and used materials of a particular entity,” in violation of state statutes.
“I learned my lesson,” said Loonan. The law infractions, which occurred last year, were “my fault,” he said.
Loonan has an American Family Insurance agency at 1221 Fourth Ave. E. in Shakopee, and also operates Loonan and Loonans Consulting, a business in which he is a continuing-education coordinator and instructor.
Libby Caulum, acting communications director for the commerce department, said she could not disclose specific allegations as they relate to Loonan. But as an example, she said that an instructor must get approval from the state for a specific number of instruction hours for continuing-education credit for those attending the class. If, for example, the instructor was approved to teach for credit a four-hour class and actually only taught for two hours, it would be a violation, she said.
Loonan said in his case, he was teaching 21 students in Mankato in February during a winter storm. Most of the 21 students were from the Twin Cities, so Loonan said he rushed through the four-hour class material in about two and a half hours, which was a violation.
The second infraction involved the promotion of a company, which is forbidden. Loonan said vendors had supplied the students in one of his classes with a notebook and a pen at each desk in the room, which is a violation of state statutes. “If they were at the registration table outside the room, that would have been OK,” Loonan said.
Loonan had a right to a hearing on the matter and could appeal if he were ruled in violation of state statutes, but he accepted the penalties in December, a month prior to taking office as a legislator. By accepting the penalty, Loonan agreed to abide by the department’s decision but he doesn’t necessarily acknowledge any wrongdoing.
It's customary practice to acknowledge when news has been broken elsewhere, even if those stories are a bit cold. Bjorhus and her editors are getting repackaging old news as new.
We're growing disappointed with the paper. On Sunday, we looked at some major journalistic flaws in the usually excellent Tony Kennedy's story about a supposed "standoff" on feedlots that has led to calls to defang or disband the Citizens Board of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Two dairies, both of which had been permitted by the MPCA Citizens Board in 2009, but put on hold by Riverview Dairy (or by associates it was working with before purchasing the project and its permit), were described as new projects that had "ignited battles."
Framing the narrative in that way may bolster the case the Ag Mafia makes to the media and lawmakers, but we expect the working press to see through this sort of cow hockey.
Both stories--Bjorhus's IRRRB tale and Kennedy's feedlot "standoff" tale--remind us why public records and databases like Nexis are the reporters' best friends, rather than flacks and lobbyists.
Photo: Faye Dunaway acts like she takes the news seriously, so why shouldn't we? Still from Network.
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The post, which appears to be lifted from an email sent by Debbie Anderson, ACT! for America Minneapolis Chapter Coordinator, not only claims "Islamic ideology, Sunni and Shia, is antithetical to our way of life and is incompatible with our Declaration of Independence and Constitution in its very gene code," but also suggests that Somali-Minnesotans are likely to be sympathetic to terrorism:
So why does it matter that MN has an estimated 77,000 Sunni Muslims?
Even if MN had only 77,0000 Sunni Muslims and only half of them were sympathetic to Somalia’s terrorist group al-Shabaab that would be an army the size of ISIS.
That’s why it matters.
The post concludes with a list of "MN Resettlement Contractors" along with the groups' phone numbers.
According to the Central Minnesota Tea Party's About page:
The Central Minnesota Tea Party is made up of non-partisan independent thinkers working to restore our Republic. We are pro-family, pro-God, pro-American and pro-Constitution. One thing is certain. You won't see a Tea Party member desecrating the American flag or engaging in hooliganism.
Our core values are fiscal responsibility, limited federal government, personal responsibility, private property rights, free markets, and national sovereignty. We are opposed to the New World Order, social engineering in our schools, UN involvement in our government, and progressive, socialist, and entitlement legislation.
In the past, Republican elected leaders and candidates have been guests at the group's meetings. It's not the Republican Party of Minnesota's policy to promote Islamaphobia, and so we hope those Republicans stopping in to meetings in the future make it clear that the GOP doesn't support Anderson's ideas.
In St. Cloud, this isn't an abstract problem. A Muslim worship center has been vandalized several times in the near past.
Photo: Somali American women.
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Land Stewardship Project organizer Rebecca Terk White sent Bluestem the following notice of an event next Monday, March 16 in Lamberton, Minnesota, along a with that she and her husband, writer and photographer John G. White will be "bringing the "snirt show" aka The Art of Erosion" to the meeting.
The Whites live in rural Big Stone County where they keep chickens and the excellent blog, Listening Stones Farm.
The invitation:
Erratic and extreme weather plays havoc with farmers’ plans and bottom lines. That’s why farmers and others in the southwest Minnesota ag community are invited to hear about weather and climate trends and innovative agricultural practices to adapt to them at an event on Monday, March 16 at the U of M Southwest Research and Outreach Center in Lamberton.
The event, titled Farmers Lead the Way, will feature Extension Climatologist Mark Seeley overviewing changes he has seen in rainfall events, drought and heat waves in Southwest Minnesota over the past three decades, and Jerry Hatfield from the USDA National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in Ames, Iowa, who will kick-off discussions about innovative ag practices designed to adapt to the changing weather.
In this highly interactive convening, participants will have the chance to share innovations they have created or are contemplating, with an emphasis on adaptations at the home, farmstead and community levels. There is no charge for attending the convening, which includes lunch, but registration is limited to 100 people. Advanced registration is requested at z.umn.edu/adpt.
Farmers Leading the Way Monday, March 16, 2015 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. U of M SW Research and Outreach Center 23669 130th Street, Lamberton, MN 56152 (directions) Event is free but advanced registration is requested
Photo: Snirt in West Central Minnesota by John G. White, via Listening Stones Farm. Used with permission.
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Guest post by Andy Birkey Originally posted at The Column
Seventeen Republican members of the Minnesota House introduced a bill on Monday that would block transgender-inclusive school policies. The bill is identical to one introduced in the Minnesota Senate.
The bill, like Senate File 1543, would repeal the Minnesota State High School League’s transgender-inclusive high school athletics policy. That policy provided guidance to member schools that transgender students should have the ability to participate in extracurricular activities based on their gender. The bill would also block the St. Paul Board of Education’s proposed gender inclusion policy which would make school facilities accessible to transgender students.
House File 1546 was introduced by Tim Miller of Prinsburg, Eric Lucero of Dayton, Peggy Scott of Andover, Abigail Whelan of Anoka, Matt Dean of Dellwood, Drazkowski of Mazeppa, Jeff Backer of Browns Valley, Josh Heintzeman of Nisswa, Jim Newberger of Becker, Jason Rarick of Pine City, Dave Hancock of Bemidji, Linda Runbeck of Circle Pines, Brian Daniels of Faribault, Kathy Lohmer of Stillwater, Cindy Pugh of Chanhassen, Steve Green of Fosston, and Glenn Gruenhagen of Glencoe.
A second bill, House File 1547, was also introduced which is identical except leaves out language pertaining to the Minnesota State High School League’s transgender inclusive athletics policy.
The Minnesota Family Council, a group opposed to LGBT rights, praised the bill:
“We join Minnesota families around the state in saying a big ‘thank you’ to Representative Miller, Senator Brown, and their fellow leaders for hearing the concerns of families and working to protect the basic privacy and safety rights of all children. Children, and their parents, need to know that their safety and privacy rights will be protected, particularly when they are in intimate settings away from home,” John Helmberger, CEO for Minnesota Family Council said in a statement. “The Minnesota State High School League created an unworkable situation for schools and our female athletes when they passed their transgender policy. Now our Legislators are working to ensure that our female student athletes continue to have an opportunity to compete to win fairly and safely. This bill is simply common sense.”
Both the Senate and House bills were condemned by OutFront Minnesota, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy group.
“OutFront Minnesota strongly opposes this bill, as it would single out trans youth and permanently deny them the ability to take part in their school’s activities, and use the facilities,” Executive Director Monica Meyer said in a statement. “SF 1543 aims to require administrators to make decisions based on analysis of students’ anatomy and – believe it or not – their chromosomes! The bill’s sponsors speak of students’ privacy, while shamelessly eliminating it completely for transgender students.”
If you liked this article, please make a pledge to keep high-quality LGBT journalism going! Visit Give MN to make a donation to The Column today!
Photo: Representative Tim Miller (R-Prinsburg) author of the bill in the House. Profile photo via his Facebook page.
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:
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