Minnesota Legislature

Two Minnesota DFL lawmakers are planning to introduce legislation that would give Minnesota voters the power to appoint U.S. senators in the event of an unexpected Senate vacancy.

The bill, proposed by State Rep. Ryan Winkler of Golden Valley and Sen. Ann Rest of New Hope, would require a special statewide election to fill such a vacant seat. Current law calls for the governor to appoint a replacement.

The proposed legislation comes in the midst of an ongoing recount in Minnesota for GOP Sen. Norm Coleman's seat (at last count, Coleman's DFL challenger, Al Franken, led the recount by 50 votes) and in the wake of an ongoing controversy in Illinois, where embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested earlier this month on federal corruption charges for trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.

Blagojevich defied officials Tuesday and appointed former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to replace Obama.

Former Minnesota Rep. Irv Anderson, DFL-International Falls, who served almost a quarter-century in the state House, died Monday. He was 85.

Anderson, a former speaker of the House, retired from the Legislature following the 2006 legislative session.

"Irv Anderson lived a life dedicated to service, whether as a decorated Navy pilot in World War II, a concerned citizen or as a state leader," current Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher said. "Throughout his legislative career, he remained a forceful voice for his consituents and working Minnesotans across the state."

Anderson, who first ran for office in 1964, began serving in the Legislature in the 1960s.

"It is hard to imagine a time or an issue in our state's recent history that did not benefit from Irv Anderson's leadership," House Majority Leader Tony Sertich said. "While he was known as a leader on the outdoors and tax policy, he was also extremely proud of his recent work to help create a state memorial to his fellow World War II veterans."

Anderson worked as a paper inspector at a paper mill in International Falls, and was an avid fisherman and hunter. He is survived by his wife, Phyllis, and two children.

A proposed initiative to create "clean and green" energy-related jobs throughout Minnesota, partially modeled after the state's sometimes controversial JOBZ program, was introduced Monday by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

"The development of green jobs will be one of the biggest changes in our economy since the industrial revolution," Pawlenty said at the Capitol in the first of five Monday press conferences around the state to announce the plan, which will be presented to the 2009 Legislature. "Green jobs will be an entirely new economic sector, and we want Minnesota to be in the forefront."

Although DFLers failed to achieve a 90-seat supermajority in the Minnesota House in last week's election, at least one analyst expects the party to be in a much stronger position two years from now than it was going into this election.

The bottom line, says Eric Ostermeier, who writes for SmartPolitics, the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs blog, is that it will be difficult for Republicans to regain control of the House in the 2010 election.

Ostermeier broke down the numbers in a post-election blog post last week.

"Perhaps more important than netting two additional seats (which would have given the DFL a veto-proof majority in the House), the DFL deepened (its) support in districts throughout the state," Ostermeier wrote.

The DFL and the GOP continued to exchange Minnesota House seats as the election results trickled in early Wednesday morning.

The DFL House Caucus is poised to add two seats to its majority, said caucus communications director Andrew Wittenborg. That would give DFLers 87 out of 134 House seats. But that’s short of the 90 seats they need in order to have a veto-proof majority.

Rep. Sondra Erickson, R-Princeton, was narrowly defeated with all precincts reporting by the early morning hours. Erickson, the lead Republican on the House Education Finance Committee, lost to Gail Jackson by a difference of 50.12 percent to 49.67 percent.

In District 41B, a seat held by Rep. Neil Peterson, R-Bloomington, DFLer Paul Rosenthal beat Jan Schneider 52.56 percent to 47.01 percent. Peterson lost in the September primary to Schneider. Peterson drew criticism from his own party after he voted to override Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s veto of this year’s transportation finance bill.

A Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs/Minnesota Public Radio poll over the weekend found that state Democrats have increased their edge over Republicans as they try to expand their majority in the state House of Representatives in Tuesday’s election.

Forty-nine percent of likely voters in Minnesota told the survey they prefer Democratic candidates in state legislative races. Thirty-three percent surveyed said they prefer Republicans.

The 16-point lead for DFLers is a “slight increase” from their 11-point lead on Oct. 4, according to the poll’s findings.

The poll doesn’t predict how particular districts will be decided. But Lawrence Jacobs, director of the Humphrey’s Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, said the results indicate that broad, unrelated events like President Bush’s approval ratings and the economic downturn are hurting Republicans’ chances in down-ballot contests.

DFL state House leaders don’t know right now what the state’s financial situation will be when they debate the next two-year general fund budget during the 2009 legislative session.

But John McCain’s vice presidential selection on Friday gave them one of the biggest indicators of what the political reality will be when lawmakers convene in St. Paul in January. Minnesota GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty had been rumored for months to be on Arizona U.S. Sen. McCain’s short list of possible running mates. But McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin instead of picking Pawlenty, preventing the DFL legislators’ budgetary adversary from joining the presidential ticket.

House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, said at a State Fair press conference Friday that Pawlenty’s presence in the western wing of the state Capitol rather than the White House will mean little chance that tax increases will advance when lawmakers tackle a potential multi-billion dollar general fund deficit.

“Obviously with the news today that Governor Pawlenty was not named to the Republican ticket is a certainty that we are going to be having Governor Pawlenty (in 2009) and we know his strong feelings about general taxes. …We’re going to have to work with him as we’ve done the past two years to figure out our very significant budget issues,” Kelliher said.

In front of the DFL tent at the State Fair, Kelliher, House Majority Leader Tony Sertich, DFL-Chisholm, and other House DFLers discussed their priorities for 2009.

Kelliher said a “more fair school funding formula all around the state” needs to be addressed. Kelliher said they will try to increase early childhood education options in Minnesota. Kelliher also said more health care reform will be introduced.
“(The cost of health care) is something that is breaking the budgets of families all over the state. It’s breaking the back of businesses all around the state as well,” Kelliher said.

With the Republican National Convention set to begin in St. Paul on Monday, House DFLers grabbed some attention at a time when Republicans are the main political attraction. Kelliher said, however, that the Fair was all the reason she needed to discuss her caucus’ legislative priorities.

“We love to be able to present our agenda to Minnesotans at the Fair. The fact that the RNC is in town, that’s a matter of every four years, the candidates get nominated. It really has to with the fact that we enjoy being out here and being able to present the agenda directly to Minnesotans,” Kelliher said.