Bluestem was up late last night watching the Minnesota House Republicans and their special interest allies pillage both our state's environmental and campaign finance laws. We'll have more on the former later, but can turn to The Uptake for coverage of the latter.
Mike McIntee reports in Rep. Winkler, MN GOP Square Off On Campaign Finance In Tense Debate – Full Video:
Minnesota mailboxes will likely continue to be flooded with campaign flyers, many of them negative, that don’t disclose who paid for them because of what Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) calls “campaign finance law loopholes.”
“The public deserves to know if you’re on their side or only care about the people who bought your election,” Winkler said, introducing his campaign finance disclosure provision that he said requires disclosure of “who is paying when you are trying to get somebody in office or out of office.”
After a tense late night debate, the Minnesota House rejected Winkler’s proposal on a 51-78 party line vote.
Republicans, who hold the majority in the House, blocked Winkler’s bill from being heard in committee and blocked it several times from being added as an amendment to other bills. Friday night was the first time it received substantial debate this session.
Winkler seemed almost surprised when no point of order was raised when he offered his amendment to the omnibus state government finance bill. He then proceeded to quiz various Republican members about letters they had forwarded to other lawmakers from special interest groups such as the National Rifle Association and Minnesota Concerned Citizens For Life warning that his bill is unconstitutional and prevented free speech. . . .
Read the rest at The Uptake. Weeks ago, we tweeted the word "winkler" as a verb to describe the Golden Valley lawmaker and attorney's skill at needling his opponents. Watch some world-class winklering here:
Photo: Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley).
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