The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled a Republican state House incumbent ineligible for November's election amid questions about his residency.
Justices ordered a February special election for that seat after accepting the findings of a court-appointed referee that Rep. Bob Barrett doesn't live in the Chisago County district northeast of St. Paul that he now represents. Barrett is who owns a home in a nearby district but rented a property in the one he ran in.
The decision means the Minnesota House will start its next session with 133 members, down one, which could be pivotal if the split between parties is close. Republicans are currently in the majority.
Barrett, a three-term lawmaker, owns a home in Shafer, Minn., where his wife resides, but insists he spends sufficient time and has taken enough steps to qualify as a resident of Taylors Falls, Minn.
The distinction matters because Minnesota legislators must live in the district they represent at least six months before the election.
Rather than remove Barrett from the ballot, the court said no winner should be declared in November. Justices turned to a new state law that triggers a special election the following February.
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen at gmail.com as recipient.
Those who follow the public relations charm offensive (is there anything else?) pushed by the North American High Speed Rail Group know to look for the changes that magically appear in different press accounts.
There's a fun contrast in reports of next week's Chinese rail delegation visiting next week.
That’s the question a group of Chinese investors and technical advisers visiting the state next week will discuss before deciding whether to back a proposed privately funded $4.2 billion high-speed passenger rail line linking the two metropolitan hubs.
The Bloomington-based North American High Speed Rail Group is currently doing a preliminary study of the proposed route along Highway 52. The group will host at least three people — investors and technical advisers from China — for seven or eight private meetings with local business leaders and community stakeholders along the 77-mile route.
The delegation will include six to 10 individuals from China, including representatives of the China-owned rail corporation. Also with company leaders will be technical experts and individuals responsible for overseeing sovereign funds. The group is slated to arrive on Monday and will spend the week attending private meetings with business and civic leaders, along with possible investors, according to Wang. Those meetings will happen in locations from the Twin Cities to Rochester.
Maybe air fares went up and so the visitors will each be doing triple duty.
But company officials are first trying to figure out whether there are enough investors to support the build-out and enough support from community leaders and local officials to follow through. They won’t be meeting with state legislators yet.
“Those meetings are not published; we don’t have public leaders in general coming,” said Wendy Meadley, chief strategy officer, North American High Speed Rail Group. “It’s business people coming together and ensuring that it makes sense to go forward.”
We have to wonder why she's so insistent on the notion of skirting public meeting laws, since at least one elected official does plan to meet with the delegation: the mayor of Rochester. Again, one has to read both news articles to put the pieces together. Carlson reports in the Post Bulletin:
Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede said he will have a chance to meet with the representatives from China. He added that figuring out how to improve transportation between Rochester and the Twin Cities is critical as DMC advances.
Perhaps Brede isn't a public leader in general. But since the meetings aren't "published," we'll never know who shows up.
Photo: Chinese visitors may not know that the peasants aren't happy about this project (something about losing their property through eminent domain to private investors). Here's a reminder.
Eminent domain may factor into the passenger rail line, Wang acknowledged in an interview Wednesday.
Parts of the route have curves that won’t work for a train traveling between 200 and 230 miles per hour. The company doesn’t know where or how much private land would be needed for the project, but Wang said it would be a small amount and that the Rail Group would aim to affect local landowners as little as possible.
Heather Arndt, a leader of Citizens Concerned About Rail Line, a group formed in opposition to high-speed rail in the area, is skeptical of that claim.
“It’s not negligible if you’re the farmer that has lost that land [that is] taken out of production,” she said. “It’s not negligible if it’s your house.”
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen at gmail.com as recipient.
Here in rural Minnesota, Bluestem finds that many of our neighbors are concerned about the decline of pollinators. One action that helps bees and other pollinators is to provide habitat (though this in itself doesn't solve the complex matrix of habitat, parasites, pesticides and fodder that factors into the problem).
A storm-damaged area of Loren Thompson Park will soon see new life with the planting of a pollinator garden.
The Baxter City Council learned about plans for the garden—which represents a partnership between the city's parks and trails department, the Crow Wing Power Green Touch program and Crow Wing County Master Gardener Ken Lueken—at its Tuesday work session.
Rick Pederson of Crow Wing Power said the park seemed a good fit for the program, which recently wrapped up a three-year project in Berrywood Park. The program provides funding up to $1,000 per year toward improving parks. . . .
Pederson said the goal of the garden is to introduce a more natural environment for pollinators while restoring the landscape from the storm damage. Attracting butterflies and bees offers an opportunity to educate the public about their importance, Pederson noted.
"I didn't realize how big of a deal pollinators actually are, in terms of our food stocks," Pederson said.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, pollinating animals assist in pollinating more than 75 percent of flowering plants and almost 75 percent of all crops.
"Often we may not notice the hummingbirds, bats, bees, beetles, butterflies and flies that carry pollen from one plant to another as they collect nectar," the FWS website states. "Yet without them, wildlife would have fewer nutritious berries and seeds, and we would miss many fruits, vegetables, and nuts, like blueberries, squash, and almonds, not to mention chocolate and coffee, all of which depend on pollinators."
Recent studies on the populations of pollinators indicates a precipitous decline for a multitude of reasons, including habitat loss and disease. The FWS notes planting pollinator gardens, which offers a variety of nectar and pollen sources, is one way to help.
The educational aspect of a garden like this meant encouraging people to install gardens like this one at their homes, he said.
"It's a living classroom for the public in general," Lueken said, noting youth projects in the past have resulted in young people encouraging their parents to plant pollinator gardens. . . .
We're happy that the project has already educated Otter Tail Power's Green Touch coordinator about the value of pollinators. If the company ever gets around to developing solar gardens, perhaps it would consider planting pollinator habitat around them. All the cool kids are doing it.
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen at gmail.com as recipient.
Because of the effects on bees and other pollinators, which of the following should the legislature enact to restrict the use of pesticides containing neonicotinoids?
A) Totally ban the use of neonicotinoids for home and agriculture use 50.30% (2572)
B) Ban the use of neonicotinoids at the consumer level (home use and pretreating plants purchased for the home), while still allowing neonicotinoids to be used for agriculture purposes by those who are trained in their use 22.65% (1,158)
C) Maintain the current law requiring the proper labeling of neonicotinoid use on plants, but do not regulate the use of specific insecticides or products 14.73% (753)
D) Undecided/No opinion 12.32% (630)
We're talking the State Fair here, not a dirty hippie convention, so it's astonishing that so many poll takers at the Great Minnesota Get Together are willing to entertain complete or partial bans on neonic use in the North Star State.
Indeed, that slightly over half of those answering the question favor a complete ban of neonics puts the Ag Mafia's whining about Governor Mark's executive order in an entirely different light. Using the findings of a pollinators summit and a subsequent scientific study, the administration came to a more moderate conclusion and policy.
We learned today that the House Ag Policy committee plans an "Informational Hearing" on Tuesday, September 13 on Dayton's executive order. While the committee has posted the order and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's summary of the study, it hasn't posted the list of those who attended the pollinators summit last February. The list of participants is included at the end of the MDA Pollinators Summit Outcomes report. Representatives from the Minnesota Corn Growers, Farm Bureau and other farm groups were there.
Perhaps this absence will make it easier for the Ag Mafia to whine about not being consulted about the policy making. If some members of the ag community couldn't bother to attend the summit, why are they to be afforded a special place at the table outside of the process? If they did attend, what's the basis of the claim that ag wasn't in the loop?
Or are they simply more equal than the rest of the stakeholders in pollinator policy?
For more information, check out our earlier posts:
Image: A poster about native bees. Bee City posts: "This poster from the Pollinator Partnership is one our best teaching tools. It illustrates some of the 4000 species of native bees in the United States."
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen at gmail.com as recipient.
Joseph Wang, CEO of the North American High Speed Group, tells Heather Carlson at the Rochester Post Bulletin that he was "shocked" that America had no high speed rail system when he moved to the United State in 1991.
Bluestem thinks the bigger shocker here is Wang's claim that the Chinese high-speed rail system was built and operational when he lived in China until 1991.
In an interview, Wang said he understands that many Americans are skeptical of high-speed rail. But he said he has seen firsthand the benefit of such projects. Wang was born in Taizhou, China. He worked for China National Technical Import and Export Corp., overseeing construction of massive infrastructure projects financed with foreign dollars. He also did a lot of traveling in China, Japan and Taiwan and saw the impact high-speed rail projects had a region.
"I saw how high-speed rail changed the human beings' lives. How high-speed rail improved the economy and created jobs," he said.
Wang moved to the U.S. in 1991 and became a U.S. citizen. He said he was shocked when he moved to America that there was no high-speed rail. [emphasis added]
That's a charming tale. But Bluestem struggles to understand how Wang could have been shocked at the absence of high-speed rail in the United States when at the time, high-speed rail in the People's Republic of China was only a glimmer in party officials' eyes.
Policy planners debated the necessity and economic viability of high-speed rail service. Supporters argued that high-speed rail would boost future economic growth. Opponents noted that high-speed rail in other countries were expensive and mostly unprofitable[citation needed]. Overcrowding on existing rail lines, they said, could be solved by expanding capacity through higher speed and frequency of service. In 1995, Premier Li Peng announced that preparatory work on the Beijing Shanghai HSR would begin in the 9th Five Year Plan (1996–2000), but construction was not scheduled until the first decade of the 21st century.
According to the entry, high-speed rail was launched in China in 2007. What Wang saw there in 1991 is anyone's guess, but whatever he and Carlson were smoking during that interview, they should learn to share.
The 2007 date is mentioned in Tom Zoellner's une 14, 2016 article in Foreign Affairs, China's High-Speed Rail Diplomacy. It's an interesting read, and includes news of the American regulation ( "a federal mandate that high-speed rail train sets must be manufactured domestically") that shut down the Xpress West proect from Vegas to Southern California. (North American High Speed Rail once claimed to be negotiating to operate that line).
Taiwan's high speed rail line dates from the same year. Time reported in A Brief History of High-Speed Rail that Japan built its first bullet train for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics; by 2009, 1,500 miles of high speed rail lines had been built on the island nation. The article noted:
The sobering expense of high-speed train travel has tempered the expectations of even the strongest rail advocates. "It sounds like a lot of money to Americans, but it's really just a start," James P. RePass of the National Corridors Initiative told the Washington Post. Some critics also predict a massive price tag to operate new rail lines, pointing to Amtrak's perennial shortfalls, and a proposed link between Anaheim and Las Vegas (in the home state of Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid) sparked outrage and derision among many Republicans.
In the seven years since, little headway has been made.
There also exists the strong possibility of a political backlash to the idea of Chinese-financed high-speed rail projects. In 2005, fears of growing Chinese influence—stoked by U.S. politicians and pundits—helped doom a bid by CNOOC, a Chinese firm, to acquire the U.S. oil producer Unocal. Today, anti-Chinese sentiment is running even higher than it was then, thanks in no small part the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who regularly berates Washington elites for not taking a tougher line on Beijing. And critics of Chinese involvement in U.S. rail will no doubt exploit public concerns over safety. In 2011, a malfunctioning signal box caused the collision of two Chinese-built high-speed rail trains near the city of Wenzhou, killing 40 and injuring almost 200 more. The Chinese government moved to squelch criticism, even though investigations found that the rail line had been built hastily with substandard materials amid an atmosphere of official corruption.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an arm of the Treasury Department designed to protect the nation from financial threats to its national security, would presumably review any large-scale involvement by Beijing in a critical piece of U.S. infrastructure. But the CFIUS approval process is somewhat opaque, and the committee’s decisions can apparently be swayed by high-priced lobbyists. When asked about their review process, a U.S. Treasury spokesman responded in email that the committee “does not comment on information relating to specific CFIUS cases, including whether or not certain parties have filed notices for review.”
Details, details.
Whatever the case, Bluestem thinks it's safe to bet that Wang, North American High Speed Rail Group's strategic communicator Wend Meadley and the rest of the gang are full capable of building the high speed rail that flourished in China and Taiwan over 25 years ago.
Perhaps they'll offer Mayor Brede a piece of the Brooklyn Bridge next or market vaporware to the DMC.
Photo: Maybe Wang was thinking of "theAsia Express steam locomotive, which operated commercially from 1934 to 1943 in Manchuria could reach 130 km/h (81 mph) and was one of the fastest trains in Asia" (Amtrak'sAcela Express on the east coast can reach 150 mph). Photo credits: This photographic image was published before December 31st 1956, or photographed before 1946, under the jurisdiction of the Government of Japan. Thus this photographic image is considered to be public domain according to article 23 of old copyright law of Japan (English translation) and article 2 of supplemental provision of copyright law of Japan.
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen at gmail.com as recipient.
At 11:00 a.m.Tuesday, Minnesota's Supreme Court hears oral arguments that could remove Rep. Bob Barrett (R-Taylors Falls) from the November election ballot. A District Court judge has found Barrett does not live in his 32B district as he claims.
The Uptake will live stream the hearing. Watch here by clicking on the Youtube:
If Barrett loses, not only would he not be on the ballot; the people who live in the Taylors Falls district of 32B could be without representation in the Minnesota House until after Valentine’s Day — more than a month after the 2017 legislature convenes.
Photo: A slightly rectified Bob Barrett campaign banner.
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen at gmail.com as recipient.
On August 22, Zach Kayser reported in the Brainerd Dispatch that Cruel words - and rocks - thrown at local legislative candidates. While the pelting of a DFL candidate with pebbles by onlookers and a threat made to a GOP candidate were not acceptable, the rudeness seemed random and freelance.
Not so an episode during the Raymond Harvest Fest parade last weekend, when a paid tracker aggressively inserted himself into a DFL parade unit for two House candidates, Andrew Falk, 17A and Mary Sawatzky, 17B. Both candidates served in the Minnesota House, but lost their seats in 2014 in races that were heavily targeted by independent political committees.
Shortly after the Raymond parade--we were packing for our move and therefore missed it--we started hearing about a rude tracker from friends who had walked with the candidates. Willmar labor activist Steve Pirsch's Facebook post is a mild reaction:
Walked with Andrew Falk and Mary Sawatzky in the Raymond Harvest Day parade we were joined by a photographer from the Jobs coalition he was taping and taking pictures I am sure they will be used as a negative towards our candidates. Pretty sad that the republicans waste their money on such dirty tactics.
I want to thank all of the people who helped to make the Raymond Harvest Fest a success. Thanks for the food, the kids’ games, and activities.
I also need to mention one thing. During the parade, there was a person with multiple cameras walking with our DFL entry. THIS PERSON WAS NOT WITH OUR ENTRY. His name is Kip Christianson and he is the treasurer of the Minnesota Young Republicans. He works for the MN Jobs Coalition, which is the negative attack group of the Republican Party and is working in support of Tim Miller.
During the parade, he rudely walked with our unit while filming, ran into and pushed our volunteers, stuck his camera in the window of our truck, walked right in front of our truck while it was moving causing a safety concern, and would not leave after being asked to repeatedly. These are the tactics being used to help Tim Miller. In all my years of campaigning, I have never experienced anything so rude.
The whole goal of these political stalkers is to antagonize and provoke candidates so they can use the footage in negative attack ads.
Two years ago, the MN Jobs Coalition spent hundreds of thousands of dollars running negative attack ads against me and in support of Tim Miller. We later found out that the MN Jobs Coalition had received corporate money via the Republican State Leadership Committee from Reynolds American and Altria (tobacco companies), Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Koch Industries, Las Vegas Sands, Pfizer (drug company), and many other corporations and special interests.
The next time you see or hear anything paid for by the MN Jobs Coalition, please remember whom they are working for, where they get their money, and how they operate.
Parades are supposed to be fun; Mr. Christianson and the MN Jobs Coalition crossed a line and made it obnoxious for a lot of people.
Respectfully,
Andrew Falk
DFL Candidate 17A State Representative
This behavior is unacceptable--and doesn't seem isolated, since we've heard from a DFL activist in the Second Congressional District that "Kip Charles" has been very aggressive to suburban candidates. He was "in her face" to Lindsey Port (56B) in a parade and shadowed Erin Maye Quade (57A) on a doorknock.
In all cases, the tracker--who is indeed the treasurer of the Minnesota Young Republicans--should respect local traditions like parades where people gather to have a good time. One of the best parades this year in MN17A was held in Prinsburg, Rep. Tim Miller's hometown; parade watchers cheered and waved to both candidates. At their best, small-town parades are about pride and appreciation--not partisan antics and Independent Political Fund fodder.
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen at gmail.com as recipient.
Readers who learn of additional speaking engagements by Dakdok in Minnesota in September and October are encouraged to note them in our comment section or email details to our editor at [email protected].
Photo: Usama Dakdok.
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen at gmail.com as recipient.
.jpg){kind=link}
Recent Comments