Early in 2015, Bluestem began to suspect that we were all The Onion now as politics in Minnesota began to grow increasingly absurd. We present a list of 15 bizarre moments we posted about in Minnesota politics in 2015. Some headlines speak for themselves, while some require a bit more explication.
15. Tim Miller assures colleagues he's not the king of Minnesota.
Remarks on the Minnesota House floor that prompted hard-boiled Pioneer Press political reporter Rachel Stassen Berger to tweet, "Freshman Rep. Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, just made the PiPress office go, "whoaaaaaa" as he spoke on the #mnleg House floor."
14. Gruenhagen wants sustainable & efficient roads that quit being layabouts & pay for themselves.
Welfare for asphalt has got to go. Also all that talk about climate change.
13. Grumpy cat Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen still grumpy about industrial hemp's infernal roots in Hell.
Nobody hates cannabis more than the Alexandria Republican. Not even a gift of hemp heart snacks from his district colleague in the House, Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, persuaded the former Douglas County sheriff to melt his heart of stone against the good weed.
12. Never mind per diem payments: Scott Newman totally not giving up his cheap parking spot
Senator Scott Newman whined about having to pay more for parking at the new senate office building, citing his tiny salary. No mention of his total compensation.
11.The Minnesota Seventh District Republican Party Facebook page
Long before the rest of the world got outraged by a language in a tweet and Facebook post, Bluestem had spotted the cray-cray at the Minnesota Seventh CD GOP's Facebook page in posts like Minnesota 7th Congressional District Republican Party Facebook page warns fans about cilantro and #MN07 GOP Party Facebook page deletes post calling George Soros a "Nazi National Socialist", as well as a number of other remarkable items shared by the since-fired social media volunteer.
10. MN Rep. Steve Drazkowski equates transgender kids to adult serial offender sex criminal
Speaks for itself.
9.Awkward: Erhardt's avian flu schtick fails
The Edina DFLer dressed in a lab coat and talked about getting the flu from eating turkey. Epic failure at stand-up comedy that drew immediate bi-partisan objections from his colleagues.
8. Shut down the train: Newberger's concerns about prison visitors and metro date back to 2008 and Mention St. Cloud & visions of prison & North Minneapolis pop into Jim Newberger's head
7. Minnesota Jobs Coalition's education postcards
Governor Mark Dayton veto of the K-12 education bill forced Minnesota House Republicans to agree to a $500+ million boost in education funding, far more than the majority caucus favored. The response of the GOP front group Minnesota Jobs Coalition? Send voters in swing Greater Minnesota districts captured by the GOP in the 2014 election that hailed the votes for the millions.
Rural Minnesotans responded with Appleton man flays Minnesota Jobs Coalition junk mail; BS blizzard buries Willmar mailboxes and Greater MN grandpa asks a truly interesting question about kids pictured riding on MJC bus. In the latter post, a grandfather of a child of color wondered how much the picture of only white children on a school bus reflected the school districts receiving the mail. As it turned out, not much.
See more in Peculiar postcards hit mailboxes in greater Minnesota House districts flipped in 2014 and Peculiar postcards II: MN Jobs Coalition doubles up in Willmar, heads west to praise Backer.
6. Special session revelations: Will MN taxpayers underwrite biofuels deal that's got nothing for improved water quality?
Advocates for a second generation bio-fuels bill thought they had a deal. They didn't.
5.End of Session:Epic Fail: MN House session ends in Kurt Daudt's legislature speed dating Jobs & Energy bill
An end of a session that was so chaotic, it later became the poster child for Minnesota's D- grade for government integrity.
4. Series of posts: partial funding of the private bullet train by EB-5 visas.
The Liberty Regional Center of Minnesota--owned by the principles of the North American High Speed Rail Group--was going to to partially fund part of the private high speed rail line by attracting Chinese investors. But the only thing on the center's no-defunct website was the long-abandoned EdCampus in Chaska. In a series of posts, Bluestem checked it out, starting with Roch high speed rail line: Chaska ghost campus already in pipeline for EB-5 visa center financing and Roch high speed rail line: Ghost campus building site on market as Chaska Creek Business Park then ending in Go Daddy Rail ultimate Friday news dump: North American High Speed Rail group drops EB-5 plan.
Just trust them.
3. MN Senate rolls back pollinator protections, makes bee losses to neonicitinoids a punchline
Because gutting protection for bees is so cute.
Okay then.
1. Merchants of Daudt: In a series of posts, we traced the energy industry money that helped flip the House:
- Merchants of Daudt I: flipping the MN house on the rising plume of North Dakota oil money
- Merchants of Daudt II: an oil train of cash
- Merchants of Daudt III: Today's energy bill vote & independent expenditures against Rep. Hortman
- Merchants of Daudt revisited: Republican State Leadership Committee now less transparent
Happy New Year! Whatever happens in 2016, we know that we couldn't make it up--even with our advanced graduate degree from the Ozarks Famous Writers School/
Photo: A classic manure spreader has nothing on Minnesota politics these days.
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