Earlier this week, the Republican front group Minnesota Jobs Coalition started sending junk mail to voters in at least three state House districts that flipped from DFL to GOP control in the 2014 election.
Bluestem is struck be the incoherence of the messaging when the cards are brought together.
Take the postcards sent in both halves of our senate district, MN17. Voters in MN17A received a mail piece extolling Representative Tim Miller's super human efforts on behalf of K-12 education, though not, alas, for grammar.
Here's address side of the card, thanking Tim Miller "for investing on our schools."
And on the back, Miller is praised for voting for over $500 million in new funding for education.
While Miller voted for that level of funding, the card claims that Miller "helped" secure it. This is peculiar wording, since what Miller really wanted was quite a bit different--and only a gubernatorial veto dragged his kingly finger to vote for higher funding.
Here's the timeline. In late April, the Strib's Ricardo Lopez reported in Minnesota House approves education budget bill, 69-61:
The plan increases school spending by $157 million, far less than proposals by the Senate and governor.
House Republicans on Saturday approved an education budget bill that increases spending by $157 million, setting up a confrontation with DFLers in the House and Senate who call the amount paltry. . . .
The Senate has proposed $350 million in new spending; Dayton has proposed an additional $695 million, most of which would be for his top priority of offering universal preschool for all 4-year-olds in the state.
DFLers have decried the Republican proposal, saying that its overall 1.2 percent increase to the state’s per-pupil funding formula is too small and doesn’t keep up with inflation. As a result, they say it will force schools to cut programs, increase class sizes and force the layoffs of teachers.
Meanwhile, the Senate and Dayton have proposed overall increases of 2 percent, which some schools say still wouldn’t be enough. Dayton said recently he would support an increase of 3 percent. . . .
The Senate managed to get that paltry amount bumped up to $400 million, but Dayton ended up vetoing the conference committee bill, setting the stage for the special session compromise. The Grand Forks Herald reported in $17 billion education bill finalized in Minnesota, with $525 million added:
With the date and content of an upcoming special session still unsettled, the Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton did reveal significant agreement on the next Minnesota budget on Friday. . . .
The final bill is closer to the nearly $700 million in new money Dayton wanted than the $150 million House Republicans initially proposed.
“It’s worth it, $125 million for the extra few weeks,” said Sen. Charles Wiger, DFL-Maplewood, Senate Education Committee chair. “When you look at where the House started, I’m pleased. I admire the governor’s tenacity.”
More than half the new money, $350 million, will go toward increasing by 2 percent a year the per pupil funding formula schools use for general operations. The base per-student funding schools receive will grow from $5,831 this year to $6,067 in 2017. School officials said increasing that funding was among their top priorities this year. . . .
The final bill also includes several policy changes, including streamlining the process for licensing teachers. It does not include controversial changes to teacher seniority rules for layoffs or a requirement that transgender students use bathrooms based on their sex at birth. Republicans had pushed for those provisions.
That provision about transgender children--not over $500 million in funding--is what Miller fought for in the education bill. How bad was the original House Republican bill for rural Minnesota? Dilworth DFLer Paul Marquart wrote in GOP leaving Greater Minnesota behind:
This session, with a nearly $2 billion projected budget surplus, Republicans are increasing school funding by just 0.6 percent. This will put many school districts in the red, causing them to layoff teachers and increase class sizes.
Under a fully phased-in tax bill, Republicans will spend $29 in tax giveaways — mostly for corporations — for every $1 they put toward education. This kind of imbalance will leave our students behind and make it even harder for rural schools to compete with metro schools. With a surplus, education should be a top priority, but the GOP are choosing to underfund our schools so that big businesses can see a tax break.
But there's more. Over on the B side of our senate district (and in Jim Knobloch's St Cloud-area district), voters received this item praising Assistant Majority Leader Dave Baker, R-Willmar:
Dave Baker voted on that hot mess, but it didn't become law--and the original plan on the part of Baker, Miller and the rest of caucus was to shift some education money to pay the tab.
The Star Tribune reported in Minnesota House passes $7 billion transportation bill after contentious debate:
DFL leaders in the House Tuesday criticized the plan as a shortsighted “house of cards.” House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, and a parade of DFLers complained that it siphons off general fund dollars that would otherwise be used for education and health care.
In the end, the proposal died, and Governor Dayton signed a bare-bones transportation funding bill, as the League of Minnesota Cities put it.
So there you have it: the Minnesota Jobs Coalition is praising Miller for securing education funding Governor Dayton had to pry out of the legislature, while lauding Baker for voting for a failed partisan effort that defied compromise.
We can't make this up--but can take some joy that this is what MJC is investing its money "on."
(Update: a friend notes that since the mail pieces don't say, "vote for" the legislators, no disclosure of the funding is required. Former Representative Ryan Winkler's legislation would have changed that situation).
Photo: The other side of the transportation mailer, as sent to voters in Representative Knoblach's district (above); the Miller education postcard, front and back (middle); the Baker transportation mailer (below).
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