What if Republicans repealed Minnesota's campaign finance reforms and nobody knew about it? Unfortunately, that is happening right now.
Both the Minnesota House and Senate recently passed legislation to repeal the heart of Minnesota's campaign finance reform laws. These were major reforms adopted on a bipartisan basis forty years ago in the wake of the Watergate scandal and were strengthened after an ethics scandal in the early 1990s.
Despite widespread disgust at the corruption of our democracy from powerful special interests and deep frustration at the Citizens' United ruling which allowed more big money into politics, there has been no public outcry about this effort to repeal Minnesota's reforms, even though this will make the situation worse.
Why the lack of outcry? Simply put, the public doesn't know about it. I have not seen a single news report about the issue, perhaps because the repeal is buried in the large budget bill that funds state agencies. It takes just 4 lines hidden in a lengthy 56-page bill to destroy four decades of campaign financing reform.
The law being repealed established campaign spending limits for candidates. Those spending limits are tied to public financing to help give new candidates and those without a lot of money a chance to compete without relying on wealthy interests to fund their campaigns.
Virtually all candidates for the Minnesota legislature and constitutional offices currently abide by the spending limits. If this repeal is signed into law, in 2018 there won't be any restriction on how much a candidate can spend.
People who care about the future of our democracy should be outraged. Year after year, politicians and the courts have been steadily turning our democracy over to the highest bidders, turning our elections into auctions. Well-funded interests can win enough close races to determine who controls government.
As a candidate who has rejected all PAC and lobbyist money, I am concerned that candidates who reject special interest money will have no chance of winning, and that legislators will become even more beholden to the interests of the big donors who fund their campaigns.
Major changes in state policy such as this should not be buried in budget bills. Senate File 605, the State Government Appropriations Bill that contains the repeal of the campaign finance reforms, is in conference committee to work out differences between the House and Senate language. The one conferee fighting to block it is Sen. Carolyn Laine, the only DFL member of the committee. Unless the Republican conference committee members have a change of heart, or unless the Governor vetoes the bill, Minnesota's campaign finance reforms will be gone.
If we believe that our state should be governed by the will of the voters, not the desires of wealthy donors and powerful interests, we need to speak out now. For the sake of our democracy, we need the legislature to remove the repeal language or for Governor Dayton to veto the bill.
Note:To the Point! is published and distributed by the Apple Pie Alliance.
Photo: The Money Barn. It may become a campaign cash CAFO if Republicans in the Minnesota legislature get their way.
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Olmsted County spent more than $84,000 on lobbying last year. That is a drop from previous years. In 2014, Olmsted County spent nearly $145,000. In 2015, the county spent nearly $92,000.
Olmsted County Administrator Richard Devlin said one reason the county's lobbying bills have dropped is that the county is no longer lobbying in support of a proposed high-speed rail line between Rochester and the Twin Cities at the Capitol. Last year, the Minnesota Department of Transportation announced it suspending work on the proposed Zip Rail line due to a lack of money and political support. The county had also spent money in the past lobbying for road and bridge funding.
Photo: Protest signs like this are unlikely to go away soon.
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John Linc Stine, commissioner of the Pollution Control Agency, highlighted a policy concern with the House bill, which would prohibit spending money from the Clean Air Act settlement with Volkswagen without legislative approval. He said the provision puts Minnesota’s $47 million share of the national settlement at risk.
As Minnesota lawmakers seek more oversight over how $47 million in Volkswagen settlement funds are spent, advocates warn bills in the legislature could cause the state to lose the money altogether.
Attorney Leili Fatehi, owner and principal of the nonprofit Apparatus, says the consent decree requires that states follow a certain process in distributing money from the settlement and several proposed bills could negate the settlement.
“It’s pretty reckless legislation,” said Fatehi, who would like to see some of the money spent on environmental justice initiatives to help clean up disadvantaged neighborhoods.
The debate over who gets to hold the purse strings of the settlement money pits the governor’s office and executive branch against legislators who firmly believe they should – and will – have a say in which projects receive money.
Fatehi said the tussle is being watched closely by the Great Plains Institute, Fresh Energy (which publishes Midwest Energy News) and other organizations in the energy field.
“The big concern is making sure that there aren’t bills that prevent Minnesota getting funding,” said Brendan Jordan, who helps lead the Great Plain Institute’s Drive Electric Minnesota initiative.
“The settlement is very specific how the money can be spent and what it can be spent on in a very specific time frame. There are things the Legislature could do on appropriating the money that could result in the state not getting anything.”
Oops. Read the rest at Midwest Energy News. It does sound like the eagerness of Minnesota House Republicans to get their mitts on this "pot o' money" could leave Minnesotans with all of the emissions and none of the cash from the private settlement.
Here's Commissioner John Linc Stine's letter to the conference committee members:
Key to the 225-page consent decree is that a government agency with full legal authority must be appointed to receive payments that will then be directed to projects, Fatehi said.
The money is being managed by the Wilmington Trust and it will approve every project submitted by every state. The process of certifying states to receive settlement funds is expected to begin in May.
In Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton selected the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which already has had three public meetings focused on the settlement money and plans for four or five more around the state.
Lawmakers, however, wants a say in what the MPCA uses the consent decree money for. They want to have the power to appropriate the money that will go for projects, rather than the MPCA. . . .
That might cost us.
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Dear Answer Man, will you answer this once and for all: Is Zip Rail dead or is it not dead?
It's dead.
But what if Zip Rail just looks dead and is a zombie, just waiting for the right moment to get back on track?
At some point down the road, some brave souls may try another plan for a high-speed passenger train between Rochester and the Twin Cities. But I guarantee you that if they do, it won't be called Zip Rail. That name has been rendered unusable by opponents of the project. Its only value now is as a political bogeyman. . . .
One year ago, Olmsted County and the Minnesota Department of Transportation suspended work on Zip Rail, a proposed publicly funded high-speed rail line from Rochester to the Twin Cities. A private company — North American High Speed Rail Group — announced plans to privately fund a $4.2 billion high-speed rail line between Rochester and Bloomington. But the status of the project is unclear, with the rail group's website suddenly gone and replaced with one for a group called Minnesota Corridor. Records show the website domain was purchased by Wendy Meadley, former chief strategist for the North American High Speed Rail Group.
Former Minn. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, at podium, lead an announcement at a press conference in St. Paul on April 10, 2015, that backers have formed a formal committee to bid for an off-year World's Fair exposition in 2023. The effort is co-chaired by hotel executive Marilyn Carlson Nelson and Nature Conservancy executive Lois Quam, at right. They were joined by officials from Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Metropolitan Council and the North American High Speed Rail Group.
But the effort has met with strong resistance from residents and farmers in Goodhue, Dakota and Olmsted counties. Legislators from those areas have introduced three bills in the House and Senate this session that could hamper efforts to build it.
Although the status of the project is unclear, "there are still some strong elements of concern in my district," said Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, lead author of a bill in the House.
His bill would require the project's developers to post a security bond or a financial guarantee if they use any state land or negotiate air rights above the highway for the train. This would permit taxpayers to recoup some costs if the project fails, Drazkowski said.
Drazkowski's measure also would require the developer to secure environmental insurance, and it would prevent the use of eminent domain laws to take private land for the project. A bill in the House, introduced by Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, has similar spending restrictions. Sen. Michael Goggin, R-Red Wing, introduced a version of that bill in the Senate.
A similar measure was introduced at the Legislature last year but didn't pass muster in the DFL-controlled Senate. However, with both the House and Senate now controlled by Republicans, there's hope among rail opponents this year. . . .
Wendy Meadley, who has served as chief strategy officer and spokeswoman for the project, could not be reached for comment last week. According to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, Meadley's status as a lobbyist for the project was terminated Nov. 2.
Late last year, the name of the initiative was changed to the Minnesota Corridor Project. While its website declares that it's "Actualizing the Twin Cities to Rochester Connection," no further information is available. This comes after representatives from China Railway International visited Minnesota last fall to discuss the project in private meetings.
That group came together last year after MnDOT formally abandoned the project, then known as the Zip Rail, due to a dearth of funds. . . .
Heather Arndt, co-founder of the group Citizens Concerned About Rail Line (CCARL), says legislative protections aimed at blocking the project are needed — whether the project is moving forward or not. "The people living down here are standing firm," Arndt said.
For now, a measure that is part of the House Republicans' tax bill calls for a rail funding ban. That measure has advanced through the House and was halted in the Senate. This legislation prohibits use of any public funds on the rail project. Its author is Rep. Steve Drazkowski, a Mazeppa Republican.
The measure also prohibits use of eminent domain for the rail line, and requires developers of projects estimated to cost more than $1 billion to purchase environmental insurance.
Drazkowski championed a proposal to block the state or local governments from using public money to study or fund a new high-speed rail line between Rochester and the Twin Cities — a project once called ZIP Rail. His proposal might become law this spring. It made it into a “miscellaneous” section of the House of Representatives’ tax bill, and, Drazkowski hopes, will be added to the Senate’s version. Senator Mike Goggin (R-Red Wing) has championed the proposal in the Senate. . . .
Drazkowski’s proposal would prohibit state or local governments — or Rochester’s Destination Medical Center project — from spending any public money on passenger rail between Rochester and the Twin Cities. In recent years, Mn/DOT worked on a couple different proposals for high-speed rail from med city to the Twin Cities that would have cut through private land in Drazkowski’s district. He said that people living along Highway 52 would have been subject to having their land seized for a train that would not serve them — there would have been no stops between Rochester and the Twin Cities. . . .
[Question:] As a sponsor for Minnesota’s bid for the World’s Fair, does NAHSR have an ulterior motive for building Zip Rail? Can Minnesotans afford the permanent impacts to agriculture and the economy for a 3 month event? What does history tell us about the economic fortunes of past host cities?
[Answer:] A project of this scale could not be financed based on a singular 3 month event. Potential impacts to agriculture and the economy have not been established. Development of the project within the existing highway right of way could have a minimal impact on the agricultural community. Questions regarding the World’s Fair are not relevant to NAHSR's Preliminary Study effort.
Now it looks as though hitching itself to the World's Fair is this project's last best hope. Perhaps those considering investing in this rolling dead project should do a bit more due diligence beyond seeing a shiny thing.
Sadly for Minnesota, having a representative of the semi-moribund North American High Speed Rail Group up front with the Met Council at the World' Fair press conference will do absolutely nothing to make sure that public transit for ordinary working people, senior and students will be funded. Some elites have no shame in promoting vanity projects and no understanding of the political consequences of their own vanity.
Photo: Protest signs like this are unlikely to go away soon.
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. . . An existing lead shot ban in waterfowl hunting was legislated by state lawmakers in 1987 but the DNR wanted to expand that ban unilaterally, he said. And if the lead shot ban were to come before the Legislature, it would be voted down, he said.
"I don't think there's any support for it," he said. "I don't think even a lot of (DFL legislators) would be interested in that, if it came down to a vote."
"Lead is a naturally occurring mineral, it's in the soil, it's mined just like anything else," he added later.
The DNR's proposed non-toxic shot rule would expand the ban to all small-game hunting, but it would count only for shotgun shells with shot in them, not single-projectile loads—so rifle bullets and shotgun slugs could still be made of lead. It would also be limited to Minnesota wildlife management lands from Highway 210 in Brainerd to the southern border.
Note how Heintzeman frames the issue as a complete ban on lead shot, but the proposed restrictions are limited to Minnesota wildlife management lands in part of the state. Heintzeman fears the talking point, but not the well-known problems of lead poisoning. Kayser continues:
Animals like eagles and loons can be poisoned if they ingest lead shot, the DNR said.
Radon gas in your basement? Don't worry. Be happy. It's naturally occurring and it comes from the soil around you. Poisonous ivy? Don't sweat it; it's natural.
[Senator Carrie] Ruud[, R-Breezy Point] also had strong words for her Senate colleagues regarding a provision that would bar the Department of Natural Resources from issuing new rules restricting lead shot. Ruud chairs the Senate's environmental policy committee, and the lead shot bill never was run through her committee to receive scrutiny and discussion in a hearing. She said the "trickery" of fellow senators resulted in an end run around her committee.
"I think that's very dishonest," she said.
Another part of the bill appropriates $20,000 for a study on the effects of lead shot on wildlife that live in state lands. While Ruud supported the study—she said the existing data on lead shot is outdated—she opposed the Legislature banning the DNR from banning lead shot before the study was implemented.
Here are the members of the conference committee for HF888/SF0723. Click through on the hot links and let the members know your thoughts about lead policy. Be civil--no cussing or spitting on the floor:
If you need motivation to contact them, here's a short Youtube of an eagle afflicted with lead poisoning, via the Raptor Center's page on Lead Poisoning which notes "For the past 40 years lead exposure and lead poisoning have been major health issues for bald eagles received by or admitted to our clinic::
Let's hope that the guys will listen to the woman on the committee, and follow her lead on this issue. Quote the Brainerd Dispatch article--which frames the differences nicely--and mention the bills by name.
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In a guest column in the Waseca Daily News, Keep rural Minnesota strong, Goodhue County farmer and Land Stewardship Project member Dale Post writes:
In rural Minnesota, we want a say in what goes on in our community.
That is why the very largest factory farms must do environmental review before they are built. I know firsthand how important this is because outside interests are trying to push a factory hog farm into my township in Goodhue County. The proposers didn’t want to listen to me or my neighbors or give us details. But because of environmental review they had to.
But at the Minnesota State Capitol, corporate interests are pushing a law that would double the size factory farms can be before environmental review is required.
This would mean more and larger factory farms in our rural communities. Right now, proposed feedlots over 1,000 animal units must do an environmental review before being built. This is the largest 7 percent of feedlots in our state and is equal to 3,333 hogs. The overwhelming majority of family run livestock farms in our state are well below this size.
As a lifelong farmer, I know this legislation is wrong for rural Minnesota and family farmers.
Environmental review is about making sure neighbors know what is being proposed and have a say. It’s about getting it right and keeping rural Minnesota strong.
We can’t let corporate interests set the agenda for rural Minnesota. Speak up now and let your legislators and the governor know you oppose legislation.
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Governor Dayton has made clear his preference for "clean" budget bills, and the provision in the House Public Safety bill for leasing or buying the CoreCivic (the human traffickers formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America/CCA) private, for-profit prison in Appleton illustrates the merit for this concern.
A closed western Minnesota private prison would be allowed to take state prisoners under a proposal in front of legislative budget negotiators, but there would be no money to open it.
"We still plan on Appleton, full speed ahead," House Public Safety Chairman Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, said, although there would be no money to open it.
He said on Thursday, April 20, as public safety and courts funding negotiations began that money to open the prison would need to come from a future legislature.
But, first, he and fellow House Republicans who back the plan must convince senators. While the House folded a prison provision into an overall funding bill, the Senate did not.
Senate Public Safety Chairman Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, said his committee did not even take up the prison bill because it had no money to open it. The House plan, which would allow private ownership but give the state control, would cost millions of dollars, Cornish said.
Limmer authored a bill years ago to allow state prisoners in the facility. State and federal prisoners were housed there, but the Prairie Correctional Facility closed in 2010. It has been empty since then, although the owners maintain it and keep its license current for 1,640 prisoners.
Sen. Ron Latz, D-St. Louis Park, said that even if negotiators approve the Appleton provision, it never will become law. He called the Republican plan "veto bait" for Gov. Mark Dayton. . . .
It isn't just the hypothetical prison that isn't being funded, it turns out. In an email from the Governor's Office, we found this item (see screenshot at the top of this post):
There are several items in each public safety omnibus bill that are troublesome. But most concerning is that each bill underfunds the compensation requests of the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC). Under these budgets, the DOC would need to lay off staff.
DOC employees play a critical role in improving public safety for Minnesotans and they need to be paid according to their contracts. The Senate funding level of only $6.812 million is $41 million less than the Governor’s request. The House bill at $16 million is $30 million less.
So not only is no funding provided for Appleton in the House bill, both bills don't pay for DOC staff at current levels. In a letter (pages 92-93) to Senate and House public safety chair, Department of Corrections Commission Tom Roy writes:
There are several items in each bill that are troublesome, but the underfunding of the compensation request is the most concerning. The DOC will need to lay off staff without the Governor’s request of $47.6 million for compensation. DOC employees play a critical role in improving public safety for Minnesotans and they need to be paid according to their contracts. The Senate funding level of only $6.812 million, is $41 million less than the Governor. The House bill at $16 million is $30 million less.
The DOC also has other requests in the Governor’s proposal that without funding will mean cuts in the base, leaving many recidivism reducing programs vulnerable to being reduced or eliminated.
The department must have the following Governor’s requests:
Compensation contracted obligations at Governor’s level $47.6 million
Health care contract FY17 $9.2 million and FY18-19 $22.4 million
Technology modernization and paying for MNIT rates $9.9 million ($3 million for staffing need and $6.9 million for rates to MNIT)
Prison Rape Elimination Act $2 million
Utilities, food and lease inflation $4.9 million
Operating costs for MCF-St. Cloud and MCF-Shakopee expansions $524,000
Community supervision and sex offender treatment at $10 million (DOC – $2.080 million; CCA – $4.410 million; CPO – $484,000; SO treatment - $744,000)
DOC – $2.080 million
Mental health at $3.150 million
Restrictive housing at $3.7 million
Security staffing and upgrades at $6 million
Medical and nursing services $2 million
Offender case management staff $3.456 million
No supplanting with MINNCOR funding
The House omnibus bill includes a number of very problematic language items, but Article 2, section 2 regarding the purchasing, leasing or operating of Prairie Correctional Facility is the most concerning. I have testified and provided solutions to the department's capacity issues. The request for an additional 75 Challenge Incarceration Program beds at MCF-Willow River and MCF-Togo, and the remodeling of a vacant building at MCF-Lino Lakes -adding 60 beds - are solutions proven to reduce recidivism and provide a return on taxpayer investment. Using current prison locations for small additions is a much more cost effective approach than purchasing a large abandoned property.
Let's review. The bills don't adequately fund the corrections system we already maintain, while sending the State of Minnesota down the path of leasing or buying a large facility (that's also not funded), while snubbing the Challenge Incarceration ("boot camp") Program that's proven effective at turning lives around.
This is why we can't have nice things. Chair Cornish and his pals want Big Prison. They just don't seem willing to pay for it--just like they're not willing to pay for cost-effective alternates.
Screenshot: From an email from the governor's office.
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U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson will host a bipartisan legislative forum to discuss the opioid crisis at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at the Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center in rural Spicer.
State legislators, Sen. Andrew Lang, R-Olivia, and Rep. Dave Baker, R-Willmar, will also be at the session.
“With partisanship at an all-time high, it’s more important now than ever to reach across the aisle,” said the DFL’er Peterson in a news release.
“In the spirit of bipartisanship, I am encouraging folks to visit with State Representative Baker, State Senator Lang, and myself to discuss the opioid crisis and healthcare concerns facing Minnesota.”
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Bluestem received a press release from the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, "a coalition of more than 70 environmental, conservation, and civic organizations working together for clean water, clean energy and protection of our Great Outdoors."
The Minnesota Environmental Partnership "engages state leaders, unites environmental efforts and helps citizens take action for the Minnesota they love." We'll be on the bus coming from Western Minnesota tomorrow, secretly hoping to engage Representative Backer in our plot to start a high-stakes ladies-only game of Hearts in Minnesota House retiring room.
Here's the press release:
A coalition of over forty Minnesota organizations will host a day of action and advocacy to protect Minnesota’s clean water at the Minnesota State Capitol from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Wednesday, April 19. Over 600 Minnesota residents have registered to attend the day from across the state.
Water Action Day includes workshops on clean water issues, meetings with lawmakers, and a Capitol Rotunda rally featuring Governor Mark Dayton and Winona LaDuke.
Water Action Day begins at 8:00 AM at Christ Lutheran Church (105 University Ave W, St. Paul, MN 55103) before moving to the grounds of the Capitol. In the morning, attendees will participate in workshops to help them effectively work with their legislators to protect clean water and learn more about specific issues that threaten clean water in Minnesota.
There will be a water ceremony at 12:45 pm in Leif Erickson Park, located between the State Office Building and the Capitol-Rice Street LRT station. At 1:30 PM, attendees will rally in the Capitol Rotunda. The rally will feature speakers Governor Mark Dayton, activist Winona LaDuke, explorer Ann Bancroft, youth activist Brandon Williams, and farmers Audrey Arner and Julie Arnold.
Registered participants will meet individually with their legislators throughout the day to advocate for clean water issues important to them. Governor Dayton’s 25% improvement in water quality by 2025 goal and the impact of budget provisions that impact clean water will be a key topic of these conversations.
Water Action Day is organized by Minnesota Environmental Partnership, and these organizations from across Minnesota are participating in the event:
1 Mississippi, Anglers for Habitat, Audubon Minnesota, Clean Water Action, Coalition for a Clean Minnesota River, CURE, Duluth for Clean Water, Fish and Wildlife Legislative Alliance, Friends of Pool 2, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, Friends of the Mississippi River, Honor the Earth, Izaak Walton League, Land Stewardship Project, League of Women Voters, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Minnesota Environmental Partnership, MN350, MN Interfaith Power and Light, MN River Congress, New Ulm Area Sports Fishermen, Save Our Sky Blue Waters, Save the Boundary Waters, Sierra Club North Star Chapter, St. Croix River Association, Sunnyside Marina (St. Croix River), WaterLegacy, Alliance for Sustainability, Bob Mitchell's Fly Shop, Conservation Minnesota, Cool Planet MN, Duluth for Clean Water, Environment Minnesota, Fly Fishing Women of Minnesota, Friends of the Headwaters, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Minnesota Trout Unlimited, MN Conservation Federation, Native Lives Matter, Powershift Network, and Voyageurs National Park Association.
Here in the headwaters of the Minnesota River, we should be mindful of what enters our streams. It's not just a value--it's also the science of hydrology. Policy should reflect the intersection of values and science.
Photo: A boat on Big Stone Lake, headwaters of the Minnesota River. This would be a much more fun way to get to St. Paul. Alas, there are some dams to portage, so we'll be on a bus.
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Much of Mullen's fodder was provided by Shelby Lindrud's article in the West Central Tribune, Willmar conservatives rally for President Trump. Mullen's piece make it easy to understand why representative Dave Baker and senator Andrew Lang, Republicans who actually represent Willmar in the state legislature, stayed the heck away from this event.
But he misses the gloom and doom one speaker thought a former MNGOP deputy chair would rain down on conservatives' head (and we're not talking Michael Brodkorb here). Lindrud reports:
Andy Cilek, of the Minnesota Voting Alliance, said his group is working to make Minnesota's voting system more secure.
"Our system is absolutely backward. We worry about ineligible voters being allowed to vote," Cilek said.
"I think it would destroy the Republican party if that happens," Cilek said.
The bill would allow for easier absentee voting, which Cilek believes would benefit the Democrats. The bill was authored by Representative Kelly Fenton, a Republican from District 53B.
Who is this Evil Metro dirty hippie, anyway, who would destroy the Republican Party of Minnesota? According to her campaign website bio, Kelly Fenton, Wife, Mother, Teacher:
. . . Kelly has dedicated many years to serving her community, including:
♦ Former Deputy Chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota ♦ Current Board Member (2009 – Present) and Past President of Minnesota Excellence in Public Service, a nine-month series, leadership and political training institute for women [conservative ones] ♦ Member of the Philanthropic Educational Organization (1998-Present), an organization focused on providing scholarships for women’s education ♦ Board Member and Director of Tournaments (2006-2010) of the Woodbury Athletic Association and Traveling Baseball program ♦ Sustainer and Active Member (1993-Present) of the Junior League of St. Paul ♦ Confirmation Catechist at St. Ambrose of Woodbury Catholic Community ♦ Graduate: Emerging Leaders Program; Darden School of Business University of Virginia ♦ Graduate: Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development ; University of Wisconsin-Madison
Be afraid, conservative Willmarites! Be very afraid! Unless you've lived in rural Arkansas, as Bluestem's editor did while attending the Ozarks Famous Writers School, you have no idea of the power of the Junior League, even if this bill never made it out of committee.
The author of the Senate companion bill is state senator Karin Housley. R-St. Mary's Point, who was businessman Scott Honour's running mate in his 2014 bid for the Republican gubernatorial slot. Honour and Housley received 20.84 percent of the vote, finishing fourth in a five-ticket contest.
Photo: State Representative Kelly Fenton (second from left), former RPM deputy chair and the author of the bill that would cause the death of the Republican Party as we know it. Or something. Via her campaign website.
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Two news items from across the state catch Bluestem's eye today. They're both instructive about what Republican control of the Minnesota legislature means.
Sometimes it’s money straight from state coffers. Other times it’s a tweak to a narrowly focused regulation. With Republicans in charge of the Minnesota Legislature, their allies are seeing priorities elevated at the Capitol.
Republicans are trying to use their state House and Senate majorities to re-engineer Minnesota government in a cheaper, leaner, more business-friendly direction. But they are also pushing for a host of policy changes — tax cuts and credits, subsidies and regulatory relief — that would benefit traditionally GOP-aligned sectors like insurance, energy, agribusiness, homebuilding and other industries.
In some cases, the help extends to a single company. Like a manufacturer in northwestern Minnesota, or a shrimp farm in the southwest. . . .
Read the article at the Star Tribune. In the Rochester Post Bulletin, Brian Todd reports in Lawmakers question spending priorities, at the dam in Lanesboro:
The environment, health care, and a dam in danger. All were connected Wednesday night as a handful of DFL representatives talked about where they differed on the legislative agenda with Republicans.
Reps. David Bly, DFL-Northfield, and Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, led a discussion with about 20 people who came to talk about the dam but turned to a wide range of issues.
Hansen began by discussing the environmental bill, focusing more on what is not in the bill than what is. For starters, he said, there is a lot less money in the bill for 2018. "The goal for this bill was to cut $94 million from existing spending," he said.
That means less service for both businesses and the public who are looking for answers, he said. "If you're going to call in to seek a permit, you want clear information that you can follow if you're on the business side," Hansen said. "If you're on the public side, you want clear information you can follow. That takes people."
Cutting $94 million from the environmental budget will affect staffing at places like the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, he said, meaning a slow down for businesses looking to get environmental permits. "The environmental review strengthens the end product, and that takes people," he said. "When you're cutting the budgets, you're actually going to be delaying the permits." . . .
Read the rest at the Post Bulletin, and ask yourself whether Representative Greg Davids, R-Preston understands the old political maxim, "If you're explaining, you ain't gaining."
Gaining? That would be for the GOP's allies reaping the benefits.
Photo: The DFL lawmakers at the press conference. Photo by Thomas Trehus, via Facebook.
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In regards to one question on the state's new measures aimed at toughening laws against demonstrators — which was also introduced in North Dakota — [Paul] Marquart, [DFL-Dilworth] favored the law and said blocking busy airports and roadways was "not a peaceful demonstration." [Ben] Lien, DFL-Moorhead] however, said the measure is a "terrible idea."
"People don't take to the streets when everything is fine and getting good wages. People take to the streets when there's unrest and dissatisfaction," Lien said, referencing the Tea Party demonstrations in 2010, the recent Women's March on Washington and the Black Lives Matter movement. He said the law gives people the impression that legislators "don't want to be bothered with our concerns [and] that's just flat out the wrong approach. We need to bring people in the conversation."
We have to side with Lien on that one.
Photo: Ben Lien, via WDAY.
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Our friend Patrick Moore at Pioneer Public Television sent a reminder today about U.S. Representative Collin Peterson's appearance today on Pioneer Public Television.
Seventh District Congressman Collin Peterson is scheduled to be the guest on the live broadcast "Your Legislators" at 8 p.m. today on Pioneer Public Television. The program also can be viewed via Facebook Live on the Pioneer Public TV Facebook page.
Viewers will be able to call 1-800-726-3178, email questions to [email protected] or tweet @YourLegislators during the hour-long program.
Host Barry Anderson will moderate as Peterson fields questions from viewers representing more than 500 communities throughout Minnesota who regularly interact with the program. Republican Congressmen have also been invited to appear with Peterson on the show, but as of this morning, no other guests had confirmed their participation on the show.
In addition to Greater Minnesota public television station broadcasts, "Your Legislators" is carried live on cable networks and community access stations such as SPNN and Town Square TV.
"Your Legislators" broadcasts are repeated every Sunday on the Minnesota Channel at 4 a.m., 10 a.m., 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. through the end of the legislative session.
Each episode of the program is made available for viewing online at www.pioneer.org/your-legislators. Short video segments covering the issues that are discussed in each program can also be viewed online.
We strongly encourage readers to send in questions; those from Minnesota's Seventh District residents are likely to be given priority. Questions should be civil; those that stick to issues and policy, however controversial, are more likely to be incorporated into the show than personal jabs.
Curious about Peterson's take on healthcare, the next farm bill (Peterson is the ranking Democrat of the House Ag Committee, the bombing of Syria, the opioid epidemic, the proposed border wall? Here's the chance to ask him and get a public answer.
Photo: Rep. Collin Peterson, who likes to play guitar when he's not crafting American ag policy.
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. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
A call to Congressman Collin Peterson's office confirmed that the April 22 public meeting about the opioid crisis and healthcare is indeed in the works, though the time and place have yet to be announced. The staff person to whom we spoke noted that it's the office of state representative Dave Baker, R-Willmar (not Jeff Backer, R-Browns Valley, as was first reported) that is working with Peterson to set up the meeting.
Since the Minnesota House is on recess, we couldn't get more information from Baker's office or the Republican communications staff. We'll update this post when we have more information.
While it's surprising to see a bi-partisan open meeting these days, it should be no surprise to anyone to learn of Representative Baker's leadership in putting aside the current political climate to work on the former issue. Minnesota Public Radio's Jon Collins reported in Son's overdose death drives this Minnesota legislator's work:
Dan Baker had just been kicked out of a drug treatment program for sharing medication with a roommate. With his family out of town on vacation, the 25-year-old took a TV from his parents' empty house in Willmar and headed to Minneapolis in search of heroin.
"We'd been trying to call Dan all morning because we knew he was home. And he would never answer, never answer the phone," said his father, Dave Baker.
"My wife was really worried," he said. "'Something's not right.'"
Dave and the rest of his family flew back from their California vacation that next morning, still unable to reach their son.
When they landed, there was a message on Dave's phone to call one of the restaurants they own. The urgency of the message, he said, felt "odd."
Dave called as soon as the plane landed. He was told that Dan had died of a heroin overdose that morning in a Maplewood home. . . .
In statehouses across the country, lawmakers with loved ones who fell victim to drugs are leading the fight against the nation’s deadly opioid-abuse crisis, drawing on tragic personal experience to attack the problem.
A Minnesota state senator whose daughter died of a heroin overdose in a Burger King parking lot — a friend hid the needles instead of calling for help — spearheaded a law that grants immunity to 911 callers. In Wisconsin, a state representative has introduced more than a dozen opioid-related bills in the years since his daughter went from painkillers to heroin to prison. A Pennsylvania lawmaker whose son is a recovering heroin addict championed a state law that expanded availability of an antidote that can reverse an overdose.
“We’re all here because we have this empty void in our lives,” said Minnesota state Rep. Dave Baker, a Republican from Willmar whose son started taking prescription drugs for back pain and died of a heroin overdose in 2011. . . .
It's good to see even more bi-partisan cooperation on the federal and state level in West Central Minnesota. A recovering alcoholic himself, Peterson is a member of the distinctly Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus, which describes itself in these words:
The Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus educates and raises awareness among lawmakers about addiction prevention and treatment and substance abuse. Opioid deaths have surpassed 30,000 for the first time in history, while nearly 88,000 people die from alcohol-related causes each year. Substance abuse costs our nation $600 billion in health care, criminal justice, and lost productivity costs, but that is nothing compared to the toll it takes on our families and friends. Preventing the further spread of this epidemic is essential to our nation’s complete recovery. The Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus aims to stop these devastating trends by bringing awareness to this cause and changing the stigma associated with addiction and mental illness.
Minnesota health care professionals dispensed about 9 percent fewer prescriptions for controlled opioid painkillers in 2016 than they did in 2015, according to the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy.
The data comes amid an opioid epidemic that continues to crescendo in Minnesota and the U.S. Between 2000 and 2015, opioid overdoses killed 2,273 Minnesotans, and nationally, they have contributed to more than 200,000 deaths since 1999.
For most drugs, the state wouldn’t expect to see a decline in prescriptions: Minnesota’s population is growing and getting older, which generally means a steady rise in drugs dispensed over time, said Cody Wiberg, the executive director of Minnesota’s Board of Pharmacy. . . .
Rep. David Baker, R-Willmar, one of the most vocal legislators on the subject of opioids at the capitol, says he’s encouraged that the number of opioid painkiller prescriptions appear to be dropping. For him, the issue is personal. His son Dan was prescribed Vicodin for a back pain when he was a junior at St. Thomas University. He became addicted to painkillers and died of a heroin overdose in 2011 at age 25. . . .
Read the rest of Kaul's data-driven analysis at MinnPost.
Photo: Dave Baker. Photo swiped from the West Central Tribune. Bluestem isn't often a fan of Baker, but working together with Peterson's office on this issue is a sign of leadership.
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While congressional town hall meetings elsewhere in the country--even just across the Red River in South Fargo--have been rowdy, Collin Peterson's first town hall since 2009 was as mild as Norwegian-American chili, The Fargo Forum reports in Constituents talk Medicare for all at town hall with Congressman Peterson:
A calm, collected line formed in the middle of the room as people waited to propose their solutions or express concerns, with many comments receiving applause. There was little to no negativity presented by Peterson or the crowd.
About half of the room raised their hands when Peterson asked for a show of hands how many were on Medicare.
"I'm on Medicare. It works," Peterson said.
Several people suggested the most "magical" health care solution of them all: Medicare for all.
This seems to be the template for Peterson's town hall meetings. Back in 2009, Bob Von Sternberg reported in A kinder, gentler town hall meeting at the Star Tribune:
Rep. Collin Peterson pulled off a downright kinder and gentler town hall meeting Friday on health care.
The 10-term congressman opened the 2 1/2-hour session by telling nearly 400 constituents that "I'm fair game here. I don't have any problem if you give me hell here, but be respectful of each other."
For the most part, they were (and didn't give Peterson much hell), engaging in little of the shouting, sign-waving and catcalling that has marked similar Democratic town halls across the country. . . .
Bluestem has no explanation for this, other than the tendency of prairie people to present an affect as flat as our landscapes.
Photo: Minnesota Seventh District's Congressman Collin Peterson, a-pickin' and a-grinnin'. Ranking Democrat on the Ag Committee, the man loves farm policy.
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Cornish consistently votes against regulating lethal body grip traps that are killing our dogs. He paints it as poor trappers fighting for their heritage against antis who are trying to destroy their way of life. (Fact: our organization has never taken the position of banning trapping or even the traps that are killing dogs. Our goal is to regulate them so that dogs cannot reach them.) He recently voted against an amendment (A33) to the environment omnibus bill that would require trappers to get permission before trapping on unposted [private] land. He said our current system of allowing trappers to set traps including dog killing traps on unposted land is working well. He has also told dog owners that they need to accept their dogs being killed in recklessly set (but legal) body grip traps.
While the A33 amendment to HF888 (the Omnibus Environmental and Natural Resources Budget bill) might have failed in roll call vote in the Minnesota House after Representative Peter Fischer, DFL-Maplewood, introduced it in the lower chamber on March 30, the proposal experience a much differ fate in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Sec. 58. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 97B.001, is amended by adding a subdivision to read: Subd. 9. Placing traps or snares on private land; written permission required. A person may not set or place a trap or snare on private property that is not subject to a requirement to be open to the public, other than property owned or occupied by the person, unless the person has the written permission of the owner, occupant, or lessee of the private property. This subdivision includes, but is not limited to, written permission to access private property from waters of the state when the trap or snare is placed or staked in the water.
Many Minnesotans are surprised to learn that trappers are able to enter and set traps on unposted, private land, but such is the law. Unlike ethical hunters, who shoot only game animals they positively identify, trappers' tools are a bit more indiscriminate. Requiring written permission from landowners would respect property rights while letting pet owners know that traps are set on the land.
The bills are likely conference committee bound, so we recommend readers contact their legislators, requesting that the Senate language be included in the conference report.
Photo: A dog killed in a body grip (conibear) trap.
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In a 2013 profile, State Rep. Cornish shoots straight from the hip, Dennis Anderson wrote that the Vernon Center-area Republican worked as a conservation officer in northern Minnesota for years and now "owns 70 acres of good wildlife habitat literally out his back door" in what's left of the Cornish family farm.
That pretty much squares with the 70 acres of land Cornish reports in his Economic Interest Statement (EIS) that's online at the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, and Blue Earth County land records (enter Section 24/106/28), that indicate he retained about 70 acres of rural vacant, nonproductive land of the Cornish Family farm, sold the family farmstead to his brother in 2009, and sold the remaining Cornish Family ag land to farming neighbors by 2012.
But that's not the picture Cornish painted in floor speeches on Wednesday, April 5, and Thursday, April 6.
On Wednesday, Cornish scolded state representative Rick Hansen, DFL-S. St. Paul, for leaving the farm in southeastern Minnesota where the Democrat was raised, while claiming he himself never left the farm:
Cornish: Mr. Speaker and members, Representative Hansen, yes, we both did come from the farm, but the difference is I didn't move away. I stayed there and I bought the farm and the pigs still go oink-oink and the cows still go moo. You should get back there.
Here's the video (the YouTube is mislabeled as 4/4/17, but the original video shows the correct date in the footer):
Cornish lives in a charming modern log house in the woods where he hunts; photos in the public record of the old Cornish farmstead--now owned by the brother--show buildings that are home to weeds, rather than to livestock with anything to say:
Representative Hansen's EIS, on the other hand, reveals that he owns 643.9 acres in Fillmore and Freeborn Counties.
You can go home again, Angel, but your home isn't in Mankato
But there's that other bit: straight-shooting Cornish's claim Tuesday that he never left home. Anderson's profile notes Cornish's many years as a conservation officer in northern Minnesota. Perhaps he stayed in Vernon Center and farmed, with the second job (so many farmers hold one) in the north woods, but that's one heck of a commute.
Unfortunately, on Thursday, Cornish changed his life story in order to convey what he considered to be his great respect for "the native people" even though he planned to vote to allow Enbridge to go ahead with a pipeline without PUC oversight that DFL native lawmakers sought to retain.
In the new Cornish nativity, he must have left the farm, since his children attended school with native children in the community of Squaw Lake. Moreover, Cornish told the body that he lives in Mankato, which is important to native people because of the execution of Dakota prisoners of war on the day after Christmas 1862.
Cornish: . . .I've harvested rice with the native people. I've taught the native people in the Squaw Lake school--firearm safety. My kids have gone to school with them. For 20 years I worked the Red Lake, the Net Lake, the Leech Lake and White Earth Reservation[s] at different times in my career, got along well with the native people, worked together. Watched each other's back, answered calls, went on to the Red Lake Reservation on calls, which you know that has to be with permission of the reservation police there because it's a closed reservation.
So at any rate. . . and I live in Mankato, which is very special to the memory of the native people because of the hangings that happened there . . .
Here's the video:
So let's recap: On Wednesday, Cornish scolded a white male colleague for leaving the farm. Cornish had never done such a thing, but still lives on a Blue Earth County farm with talkative livestock. By the next day, in a statement to "the native people" (we'll let native lawmakers evaluate its quality), he had lived and worked near reservations in Northern Minnesota and now lives in Mankato.
Not that Mankato is in the district he represents. (Or that he lives in Mankato).
UPDATE: Bluestem had to check on the history of the "Winnebago"/Ho-Chunk reservation that was once within Representative Cornish's district (see the square just southeast of the bend in the Minnesota River in Blue Earth and Waseca County in the map above).
As we suspected, the Vernon Center conservative didn't have to relocate himself to Mankato is he wished to somehow connect himself geographically with the suffering native people experienced following the 1862 US-Dakota War. MNOpedia author Matt Reichel wrote in Ho-Chunk and Blue Earth, 1855–1863:
In 1859 the Ho-Chunk looked for a new source of income. Their old annuities had expired, and they needed money to pay off their debts, improve their farms, and buy equipment and stock. Continued immigration to Minnesota had raised the value of the Blue Earth land. With this in mind, the Ho-Chunk signed a new treaty with the government relinquishing the western part of their reservation.
The people of Mankato and surrounding communities were jubilant over the treaty and welcomed the opportunity to move onto the ceded land. However, they felt that the government had not gone far enough. They called for the complete removal of the Ho-Chunk from Minnesota. Articles in local newspapers pushed for drastic action.
The 1859 treaty superseded all previous agreements between the Ho-Chunk and the government. By 1861, however, it had not yet been ratified. White farmers and developers began to move onto the land. Frustrated by the incursions and lacking the money needed to continue to support their farms, many Ho-Chunk suffered.
On August 18, 1862, a group of Dakota attacked the Lower Sioux Agency, beginning the U.S.-Dakota War. The Ho-Chunk did not participate and remained at Blue Earth. After the war, thirteen Ho-Chunk were tried for allegedly acting in concert with the Dakota. No evidence implicated them, and none were convicted. The angry and fearful white public, however, did not distinguish between American Indian groups. They demanded that the government remove the Ho-Chunk as well as the Dakota.
Later that year, a special session of the U.S. Congress was called to approve the exile of the Ho-Chunk from Minnesota. A federal act authorizing removal was passed on February 21, 1863.
On April 25, 1863, the Ho-Chunk were notified that they would be moved to a barren tract of land along the Missouri River in Crow Creek, South Dakota. A small group applied for citizenship to avoid removal but was denied. Many others resisted the government's orders and refused to leave. In early May, under threat of military force, over two thousand Ho-Chunk were moved to Camp Porter in Mankato and from there to Crow Creek. More than 550 Ho-Chunk died during their removal to South Dakota. . . . [end update]
Photos: As labeled. Note: Tony Cornish has lived in his district since running for office in 2002. He simply doesn't live in Mankato, nor has he "never left" the farm or area since childhood, as he alternatively claimed on Thursday and Wednesday in order to score talking points.
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Essentially, Draz's strategy would allow employers to offer health insurances that didn't cover cancer, mental health care, diabetes and the like. Get a disease your plan doesn't cover? Bankruptcy, illness and death, presumably.
Yesterday, The Draz shared a similar Grim Reaper worldview with regard to Minnesota's trees. Responding to an amendment to the Legacy bill that would put some money into fighting the invasion of Emerald Ash Borers, Draz suggested that those who want to put money into saving some ash trees live in La La Land and share a pipe dream.
More than 90 percent of the ash trees Naperville treated with chemicals to fight off the emerald ash borer show no signs of infestation three years later, city officials said.
As a result, the program has been deemed a success and Naperville plans to extend it through 2019 to continue fighting the invasive pest until the threat has completed passed, according to city documents.
"We were aggressive in the treatment and it really paid off for us," Naperville spokeswoman Linda LaCloche said.
Naperville launched a two-pronged approach to fight the invasive insect in 2012, four years after it was first found in the city, according to staff documents. Officials decided to chemically treat those trees that arborists believed could be saved and to simultaneously remove those believed to be too greatly infested to be salvaged. . . .
You know, Representative Hansen, Representative Schultz, Representative Mahoney, these trees are going to die and that's cold hard truth. And if we are going to be using state policy to further someone's pipedream that they're going to save the trees or, Representative Hansen, prevent the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer, that's not an approach that I want to be involved with because that's a waste of money.
Now, if we're going to use the money to provide an education program to say, "Homeowners, guess what? Your tree is going to die, dead, and let them know the realities of what's going to happen and how to plant around it and maybe plant some other trees, maybe some maples, maybe some burr oaks that aren't as susceptible to oak wilt or maybe some cottonwoods or you know, certainly black walnuts are always good trees until you get as far as the Twin Cities and Duluth.
Members, I think it's important as we set forth public policy in this area to be fiduciary stewards of the people's money. It's also in our best interest, in the people of Minnesota's best interest, to not mislead them to believe that something is going to happen that is not going to happen.
These trees are going to die. Dead. As they have in every other area that's been infested by the emerald ash borer. If we go out there and use millions and millions and millions of dollars of the people's money to do an injection program thinking we're going to save these trees when all it does is prolongs their life for another few years until they die dead, we're not doing a service to the people of the state of Minnesota.
So, Representative Hansen, if there was more specificity in your amendment, if we were going to do a public education program, maybe buy some seedlings for people to replace the trees that are going to be dying, maybe buy them a chainsaw, some pieces of reality, I'd support the amendment.
But if we are going to go off in a LaLa-Land belief that we're going to somehow save somebody's trees, mature trees that are going to die dead, we're not doing them a service. . . .
Hansen replied:
Wow. So by that logic, we should have let the turkeys die because they were going to die anyway. Right? With the avian flu, they were going to die anyway, so we shouldn't have used public money to go kill the ones that were going to spread the flu. We shouldn't have done that.
I guess we don't need to do health care, because we're all going to die anyway.
Stunning.
I think there's a lot of Minnesotans that remember Dutch Elm Disease. Think back. Now there's plenty that don't remember the elm, and in two or three generations they may not remember the ash.
But we know how to respond to diseases. We know how to respond to infestation. We know how to react. We have good people who can do this. And I think the $2 million we appropriated back in 2009 actually did delay the spread because local units of government were able to go out and check their trees--those that received the money.
So I don't think saving the trees is a pipedream. I think it's something Minnesotans value and treasure, and they're wanting us to do what we can to try to protect those trees.
. . .Now, if we take the logic that those trees are going to die, Representative Mahoney, your city's paying for them already, right? Somebody's going to pay for them. Somebody's going to pay for them, to take them down.
Or maybe the insurance companies have to pay for them when they fall on your car.
So again I would ask, I know there are a number of members who want to speak, but Minnesotans, listen very carefully to what was just said. We need to vote for this amendment.
The amendment passed, and the bill as amended was passed unanimously. Here's the video of the exchange:
Photo: The Draz; or Winter is Coming, Dead.
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It is a melancholy object to those who drive on the Evil Metro's interstate system or travel on public transit, when they see the streets, the roads, and bus and light-rail doors, crowded with African-American protesters and their allies objecting to the deaths of their fellow citizens at the hands of law enforcement, followed by three, four, or six members of Unicorn Riot, all in video gear and importuning every passenger for an interview.
These protesters, instead of being able to work and cut a check to the Citizens League & The Current for a Policy and Pints evening of oh-so-civil chatter, or securing a place at the table with the Itasca Project, are forced to employ all their time in strolling the freeways to beg for attention for justice for their dead community members. As the protests grow, they become either excuses for shootings by random racists, or attract the attention of state representative Nick Zerwas, a simple fellow who believes the recourse for such behavior is a year's jail time. As ace reporter Andy Mannix tweeted during yesterday's consideration of Zerwas' vision:
Zerwas:"If youre on the freeway, if youre blocking an airport, if youre blocking a train, you deserve to go to jail. It’s just that simple.”
We think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of road, transit and mall shutdowns is in the present deplorable state of the State of Minnesota a very great additional grievance; and, therefore, whoever could find out a fair, cheap, and easy method of making protesters sound, useful and visible members of the Gopher State, would deserve so well of the public as to have her statue set up for a preserver of the North.
As a resident bucolic Greater Minnesota, we have often observed farmers mowing and haying publicly-owned right-of-ways along trunk highways in broad daylight, despite laws that prohibit mowing before late summer. And just last week, Chris Swedzinski’s ditch-mowing legislation passed in the Minnesota House, forbidding any rules to govern the gathering and selling of fodder taken off these roadside public(if narrow) lands.
A showdown over roadside mowing in rural Minnesota has unleashed a surprisingly passionate debate at the Legislature about the culture of farming, property rights and the desperate plight of bees and monarch butterflies.
It’s put wildlife in a fierce — but so far losing — competition with Minnesota farmers for the right to the increasingly valuable grass, flowers and other vegetation that grow along 175,000 acres of state-owned roads across the state.
A bill headed for a vote on the House floor would prevent the Minnesota Department of Transportation from asking landowners to get a permit before they mow roadside ditches and grassy shoulders . . .
In fact, a law on Minnesota’s books since 1985 prohibits roadside mowing before Aug. 1 and after Aug. 31 — a long-ago effort to protect nesting pheasants.
But it’s been widely ignored, transportation officials said; only about 40 permits a year have been issued for 12,000 miles of state-owned roadway. Officials said the agency has no power or penalties to enforce it.
In rural Minnesota, landowners adjacent to the roads largely believe they own the land to the centerline and the government has rights to use it, he said. While that’s largely true for county and township roads, it’s not so for the state.
That conflict--and the law-breaking behavior of the farmers--has earned both a lot of sympathy from Minnesota lawmakers and attention from the press.
Should Governor Dayton sign the omnibus public safety bill, Bluestem thinks that there's one easy way for BLM protestors to avoid arrest while gathering attention (and perhaps a little revenue). Don't break a Minnesota law by blocking traffic. Instead, pick up a few vintage tractors, mowers, and haying implements and head out to rural Minnesota's state highways before or after August. Make hay while the sun shines--and sell your hay bales to buy more farm equipment and a place at the table of policy making.
Since such law-breaking is deemed acceptable by the state legislature, the act of civil disobedience (and selling state property) won't be followed by the sort of draconian punishment Zerwas demands for blocking highways and transit without the chance of turning a dollar. It's an all-Minnesota win.
Bluestem professes, in the sincerity of our heart, that we have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the public good of our state, by advancing agriculture trade, providing for justice, relieving the equity gap, and giving some pleasure to the legislators eating, talking, sleeping, playing cards and lounging around looking pale in the Minnesota House retiring room while the body is in session.
Bluestem has no property beside a state highway from which we can propose to get a single bail, nor do we keep even a pygmy goat for which we need fodder. Indeed, we find fodder enough for our purposes simply by paying attention to the Minnesota House.
Photo: In July 2016, the shooting death of Philando Castile by police prompted community members to block part of I94 in St. Paul. Should increased penalties for this behavior become law, Bluestem recommends that future civil disobedience consist of mow-ins along state highways. Image by Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune.
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Bluestem isn't fond of headlines like Bald Eagles Keep Dying And No One's Talking About It, since we typically find the topic of such click bait actually is being discussed somewhere. Such a discussion took place last week on the floor of the Minnesota House over an amendment to HF888, the omnibus environment and natural resources budget bill.
Spoiler alert: the above-referenced article from The Dodo is about bald eagles dying from poisoning after ingesting lead from spent bullets:
. . . The lead gets into the bodies of bald eagles — as well as owls and other kinds of raptors — after they've eaten dead animals shot by hunters who use lead bullets. "Raptors are quite willing to be scavengers, so they scavenge," she said. "They eat things that have been shot. Lead ammunition is the biggest source." . . .
Birds with more severe poisoning who manage to survive take months to treat and fully rehabilitate. "We had one eagle whose lead level was relatively low, but she was paralyzed, she couldn't stand, she couldn't unclench her feet," Tomkins said. "It took several treatments to get the lead level down. It took several months for her to fly normally again. It took six months. That was a long time."
Even when bald eagles suffer from lower levels of lead exposure, their coordination and decision-making can be compromised. "This can put him in more dangerous positions, like scavenging along the road for roadkill and then he can be hit by a car," Tompkins explained.
As Tompkins' latest patient was struggling for his life, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, was overturning a ban on the use of lead ammunition in wildlife refuges. . . .
Read the rest in the article, but be forewarned: there aren't any pretty pictures. Not unlike much of the debate last Thursday when outdoorswoman and Roseville DFL state representative Jamie Becker-Finn introduced an amendment to remove language prohibiting the DNR Commissioner from adopting rules to prohibit the use of lead shot on some public lands.
Meanwhile, Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, claimed the amendment was part of a PETA plot, while Mary Franson tweeted about hair dye and lipstick containing lead. Okay then.
Here's the entire debate on the amendment:
Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) researchers examining 58 dead bald eagles in 2012. Sixty percent had detectable concentrations of lead; 38 percent had lethal lead concentrations. Credit: USFWS.
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