UPDATE March 11: As per twitter, Representative Pat Garofalo has postponed this event as a precautionary step for slowing the community spread of novel coronavirus. We applaud his stepping up and being responsible during these trying times. We'll let readers know when the event is rescheduled. [end update]
A couple of readers have brought an event in Farmington to our attention. Republican state representative Pat Garofalo to host DFL Senators For Listening Session on Mining at the Bourbon Butcher in his hometown of Farmington, a Dakota County suburb in the Evil Metro.
The press release sent out from Rep. Garofalo:
Representative Patrick Garofalo, R-Farmington, announced a community listening session that will take place on Tuesday, March 31st.The session will involve a panel discussion with two of Minnesota’s most respected legislators on mining: DFL Senators Tom Bakk and David Tomassoni. The session will be hosted in Farmington and be focused on the importance and future of mining in Minnesota.
“The future of mining in Minnesota is essential to the economic diversification of our entire state,” said Rep. Garofalo. “This meeting will give local residents the opportunity to learn how mining helps maintain a high quality of life for Minnesotans. I urge citizens of the district I represent to attend and learn about this important issue.”
Here are the details:
When: Tuesday, March 31st
Time: An informal social time will begin at 7:00 pm followed by the listening session at 7:30 pm.
Location: Bourbon Butcher, 20700 Chippendale Ave, Farmington, MN 55024The event is free of charge and open to the public with priority given to citizens of House District 58B.
For more information, contact Rep. Garofalo at [email protected] or by phone at 651-296-1069.
A couple of observations
Is listening session a miscalculation of mining's attraction?
The listening session, news of which was posted to Garofalo's official web page on February 19, is framed as staunchly pro-mining. This is an interesting tact given recent polling on the issue by the Star Tribune's Minnesota Poll. Jennifer Bjorhus reported on February 25 in Minnesotans opposed to new mining near Boundary Waters, poll shows:
Minnesota voters overwhelmingly oppose new mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, according to a new Star Tribune/MPR News Minnesota Poll.
Statewide, 60% of registered Minnesota voters said they oppose building new mines near the federally protected wilderness, while 22% support it.
The level of opposition did not change greatly by region, age, income or education, with opposition ranging from 54% to 69% in different parts of the state. However, there was a sharp divide along party lines. Among Democratic voters, 80% were opposed, while only 37% of Republican voters said they were opposed.
Voters also prioritized the environment when asked if providing jobs or protecting the environment was more important when it comes to mining. Statewide, 66% said the environment was a higher priority, while 19% said jobs were.
That changed only somewhat in northern Minnesota, home to the Boundary Waters and the state's taconite mining industry. There, 60% said the environment was more important, while 23% said jobs were.
The Editorial Board of the paper noted in Heed Minnesotans, not special interests, on new mining operations:
In the decadeslong debate over copper mining in Minnesota, conventional political wisdom has been that the issue is an easy one for Republicans and a balancing act fraught with peril for Democrats.
The reasoning: The GOP can embrace the promise of new jobs while Democrats must balance the party base’s environmental concerns with presumed support for mining among voters in northern Minnesota. “It’s a nightmare for us,” a congressional staffer confessed to an editorial writer years ago.
But new data from a recently conducted Minnesota Poll turns these staid assumptions on their head, suggesting that state politicians most at risk are those who don’t do enough to protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA). Twin Metals Minnesota, one of two major copper-nickel mines proposed in Minnesota, intends to operate on the beloved preserve’s doorstep and is the only project within its watershed, putting the BWCA’s fragile ecosystem downstream of potential mine pollution.
The new poll, conducted by the Star Tribune and MPR News, found that Minnesotans understand the risks and overwhelmingly want to protect the BWCA from an industry with an abysmal environmental track record. Sixty percent of those polled overall opposed building new mines near the BWCA. Just 22% support doing so.
Opposition to new mines near the BWCA was consistent across the state. While the highest percentage of those opposed live in urban Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, strong majorities in the rest of the state shared their concern. That includes northern Minnesota, where the new mines are proposed. Fifty-seven percent of those polled there opposed mining near the BWCA, with 56% opposed in the Twin Cities suburbs and 54% in southern Minnesota.
Notably, support did not top 26% anywhere in the state. The well-funded special interests promoting the industry here may be loud, but their message is falling short of representing what Minnesotans want. That reality ought to embolden Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota’s congressional delegation.
Planned before the release of the poll, will the listening session be a dog-and-pony show packed house of the special kind meant only for public relations purposes? Jeepers, let's hope that a range of constituents gain admittance to the listening session.
Whether they'll be listened to--or if they'll just be asked to listen to Bakk and Tomassoni panel discussion, as the press release implies--remains to be seen.
To paraphrase one journalist's framing of the poll: the BWCA is more popular than Governor Walz (56 percent approval), who is more popular than pot (51 percent of those polled favored legalization of recreational marijuana).
Control of the Minnesota Senate/ control of the DFL Caucus
Several readers connected this event to the decision of the DFL Senate Caucus to dethrone Bakk as minority leader; one suggested that it might signal that Bakk and Tomassoni will be switching parties soon. We don't agree with the later assessment, but we do see a possible connection to Senate politics.
On February 1, Tom Bakk lost leadership of the DFL Senate Caucus, Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Nelson reported in Minnesota Senate DFLers pick new leader:
Democrats in the Minnesota State Senate have picked a new leader.
On Saturday the Senate DFL caucus selected Sen. Susan Kent of Woodbury to serve as minority leader, replacing Sen. Tom Bakk of Cook. Kent is the first woman to lead the caucus. It’s also a major shift from Bakk, who represents a rural district in northern Minnesota, to Kent, whose district is in the eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities. . . .
The DFL caucus announced the decision after a marathon six-hour meeting Saturday at a carpenters’ union hall on St. Paul’s east side, not far from the Capitol, where they were meeting behind closed doors.
Senators declined to offer a vote total or characterize the margin of the election as they walked out. Bakk left the meeting without comment about the change or his political future. . . .
While it’s been controlled by Republicans in recent years, the Minnesota Senate has long been a DFL stronghold; it’s known for the relative longevity of its leadership. The Minnesota Senate has had only six DFL caucus leaders in its history, most of them majority leaders.
Bakk, from Cook, had led Senate DFLers, in the majority and minority, since 2011. He’s been the minority leader for the last four years. Republicans hold a 35-32 majority in the Senate, led by Paul Gazelka, a three-term GOPer from Nisswa.
Bakk has been in the Legislature since 1994, and was elected to the Senate in 2002.
Kent was first elected to the Senate in 2012, beating incumbent Ted Lillie by a 1,924-vote margin. She narrowly beat Republican Sharna Wahlgren in 2016, by just 399 votes — less than 1 percent.
She announced her challenge to Bakk in December. Earlier this week, Kent drew another potentially strong Republican challenge in her own district — from former Woodbury City Council member and Mayor Mary Giuliani Stephens.
Let's suggest another reading of Bakk's manifestation in Farmington: does this event spell some sort of payback for suburban DFL state senators? Two days before Garofalo sent out the announcement, Associated Press reporter Steve Karnowski filed this report, Top Minnesota Republican optimistic about keeping majority:
The top Republican in the Minnesota Senate said Monday that he’s optimistic about his party’s chances for maintaining and even expanding its narrow control over the Senate despite the impending retirements of a couple prominent lawmakers.
Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, of Nisswa, acknowledged that it came as a “big surprise” and “huge loss” when Sen. Paul Anderson, of Plymouth, announced on Friday that he won’t run again this fall.
Republicans hold just a slim three-vote majority in the Senate, 35-32. Democrats could regain control of the Senate with a net pickup of two seats in November. So Gazelka can ill-afford to lose any seats. Democrats retook the Minnesota House in 2018 thanks to a surge in the Twin Cities suburbs and now hold a comfortable 75-59 edge. No Senate seats were up for election then. . . .
Gazelka said he expects in the next few days to announce a strong candidate to replace Anderson and ensure a competitive race in the western suburban district, which swung Democratic in 2018.
The majority leader said Republicans already feel confident about their recruits to challenge two incumbent Democrats in other Senate districts that once were traditionally Republican: Mary Giuliani Stephens, who’s challenging Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent, of Woodbury, and Zach Duckworth, who’s challenging Sen. Matt Little, of Lakeville.
Little serves Senate District 58. Now, we've got no clue how Little voted in the leadership battle, and we haven't asked, but we wouldn't put it past Bakk to participate in a Republican's listening session in a district at risk.
Back in October, MinnPost's Peter Callaghan reported in The 2020 fight to control the Minnesota Senate will focus on just a few seats. And it’s already started:
After winning close races in difficult districts in 2016, two Minnesota state senators didn’t have long to celebrate. Almost immediately, they rose to the top of an unenviable list: opposing parties’ most prominent targets in the 2020 election.
DFL Sen. Matt Little of Lakeville is the No. 1 target for Republicans hoping to hang on to their narrow majority in the state Senate next year. And GOP Sen. Paul Anderson of Plymouth has the same distinction for DFLers hoping to retake the chamber. As a result, both freshmen spent their first terms knowing everything done by them — and to them — could be a factor in the 2020 campaign.
Since then, Anderson has decided not to run again. Callaghan continues:
Little, the former mayor Lakeville, is on the other side of that coin. Only one of his bills has been heard in three years, and that’s only if you count having two minutes to describe the legislation and no time for public testimony at a hearing. Little said he has been told by lobbyists that some GOP chairs have told them Little’s name can’t be anywhere near a bill if they want it to be considered.
During an April press conference, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk took time to plead Little’s case with Senate leadership. “We all have constituents to represent that have ideas,” Bakk said. “We ought to, with our election certificates, bring it to the table so people can testify as to why they think it’s a good idea.”
But Little’s bills don’t get a hearing, he said. “That’s just not the collegial nature of the Senate.”
That seems to have changed a bit. Little tweeted on March 3:
We broke a partisan wall! For three yrs, my constituents were denied bill hearings as part of a plan to beat me this November.
— Matt Little (@LittleSenator) March 3, 2020
But today, we were heard. The bill prohibits ins. cos. from changing the covered types of insulin, equipment, or supplies during a person’s contract yr! pic.twitter.com/4wUOFsq9Rb
Is Bakk playing Darth Vader here? We don't have enough news from inside the minority caucus.
If you go, tip the Bourbon Butcher staff well
We urge any reader who attends to be kind to the staff at the Bourbon Butcher. Tip well. They're working people doing their jobs. It's basic courtesy toward wait staff and bartenders.
Heed the City of Farmington's advice on COVID-19
See Bring Me the News report, Farmington's coronavirus advice campaign is all too real for Minnesota sports fans:
The City of Farmington is hoping that decades of crushing sporting disappointment will be enough to convince its residents to wash their hands to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The city published a memorable PSA on its social media pages on Thursday, urging Minnesotans to "Wash your hands like you're scrubbing away the disappointment of Minnesota sports."
Related posts:
- The hottest hotties of the Minnesota Legislature (City Pages includes Bakk and Garofalo)
Bakk
- In a hole, Bakk kinda tries to stop digging
- Tom Bakk nabs good conduct certificate from ND Industrial Commission coal marketing program
- Did thousands of people coming to Capitol to demand climate action change Bakk's heart?
- Is putting a smile on Tom Bakk's face the best thing ND lignite research fund has ever done?
- Range Trust? Baffling Senate Majority Leader Bakk blames IRRRB fund threats on Democrats
Garofalo
- LCCMR debate, part 2: Pat Garofalo trashes notion of solar and robotics in agriculture
- State Rep Garofalo spawns outrage with "with every DFL vote, somewhere a puppy dies" tweet
- Rural broadband blues: was 2016 provision a poison pill? Plus Pat Garofalo says funny things
- Snark Patrol launched in time to save Garofalo from F-bomb attack he shared with us all
- Captured on the Minnesota House floor: Pat Garofalo reacts to Jim Newberger
- A troll too far: Minnesota ALEC co-chair Rep. Pat Garofalo berated for viral racist sports tweet
Photo: A clip about the event sent by a generous reader.
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