The DFL House caucus met on Tuesday to prep for the upcoming legislative session. The primary agenda: restoring General Assistance Medical Care and passing a bonding bill. But some members wonder whether House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher's gubernatorial campaign will interfere with her ability to be an effective leader.
As a companion to our forthcoming Capitol Report story on the biggest Minnesota political donations of last year (I’ll post a link when it’s available), here’s a quick snapshot of some of 2008’s top donors to Republican and DFL party units in the Minnesota House. (Since there were no Senate races in 2008, the $$ [...]
After another fruitless meeting between legislative leaders and Gov. Tim Pawlenty this morning, it seems almost inconceivable that there will be any last-minute quid pro quo involving new streams of revenue for the state. That means the only question left is where the cuts will fall to bridge the remaining $1.2 billion budget gap, and [...]
The final vote, taken around 7:15, was 86-45, four votes short of the number House DFLers would need to override the veto that Tim Pawlenty has already promised.
The voting was almost identical to the roll call on the earlier motion to adopt the conference committee report [previous item]. Rep. Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona) was again the [...]
In our earlier post about the tax deal cut last night in conference committee, I indicated that the $500 million difference between the House DFL’s $1.5 billion target for new revenue and the $1 billion package conferees passed might be made up by a combination of additonal taxes and spending cuts. We’re now hearing from [...]
When HF885, the surprise legislative tax package, came before the House yesterday for a vote on forming a conference committee, Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) was one of the loudest GOP voices to cry foul. Garofalo sneered to his fellow House members that "you are voting to ride shotgun on the Pogiemobile," and his implication was [...]
Following Saturday night’s close 68-65 passage of the House omnibus tax bill, there wasn’t much doubt as to who was the least popular Democrat among colleagues in the House DFL caucus: Rep. John Lesch (St. Paul), who was MIA for the entire Saturday floor session. On Monday, a number of House DFLers privately vented their [...]
Following thepost-1 a.m. conclusion of last night’s House floor session, Rep. Jean Wagenius (DFL-Minneapolis) was injured in a car crash with an apparent drunk driver near the I-94 and I-35 junction. Wagenius was taken to the hospital and later released, but she is not expected at the Legislature today.
According to the House DFL public affairs [...]
This afternoon’s pre-break House DFL press conference was a 20-minute testament to the political heat that DFL legislative leaders are starting to feel as the deadline for passing budgets through committee draws near. As legislators prepared to depart on a week-long holiday break, DFL media people prefaced the event by passing around a one-page [...]
This afternoon’s pre-break House DFL press conference was a 20-minute testament to the political heat that DFL legislative leaders are starting to feel as the deadline for passing budgets through committee draws near. As legislators prepared to depart on a week-long holiday break, DFL media people prefaced the event by passing around a one-page [...]
