Why? Gubernatorial politics, of course.

The thinking is that gubernatorial candidate and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis)
has set the tone in the House for the free-for-all: Why tick off key
DFL constituencies by failing to at least hear their bills? One of the
worst “no discipline” committee chairs, from what we’re hearing, is
another gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Paul Thissen
(DFL-Minneapolis), who is particularly under the gun to hear liberal
bills as chair of the Health Care and Human Services Policy and
Oversight Committee. His committee, for example, started at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday night and didn’t finish until around midnight. 

The other major gubernatorial candidate offender is candidate Sen. John Marty (DFL-Roseville).
This week the committee he chairs–the Health, Housing and Family
Security Committee–took up precious deadline crunch week time to hear
an hour-long overview on a report about the state of dentristy in
Minnesota. 

Expect a budget stall-out for a few weeks

Last
week we wrote that the Senate and House were in unprecedented budgetary
territory, putting many of their major budget bills together months
before usual. This week the new buzz is that no one should expect the
Legislature to put together the rest of the bills until the last week
of April.

Why? Gubernatorial politics, of course.

The DFL
state convention is April 23-25. Both the House and the Senate have yet
to specify budget cuts in human services, and Capitol insiders don’t
expect them until after the DFL convention. The thinking is that the
last thing Kelliher wants is to appear before that convention after
having overseen big human services cuts. 

The debate on the right (and the meandering moderator)

Last night, Reps. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) and Marty Seifert (R-Marshall),
the two top GOP contenders for governor, squared off at Armstrong High
School for one of the three last debates currently scheduled before the
GOP state convention begins April 29.

Summaries of what transpired are available from two highly respected political reporters: the Star Tribune’s Rachel Stassen-Berger (“Emmer, Seifert face off in GOP governor’s race”) and MPR’s Tom Scheck (”Two candidates for Minn. governor exchange fire in debate“).

Stassen-Berger references the moderator, Bill Butler,
whom the crowd “loudly criticized” during the debate. The crowd
definitely did. Butler is a local attorney who named his firm, “Libertas Lex,”
which is “devoted to protecting liberty and property interests.”
Weirdly, Butler ventured off the roster of questions submitted by the
audience to ask whether the candidates thought the Federal Reserve was
constitutional and then, in a throwback to the debate that happened
early in the Bush Administration, whether the war in Iraq was constitutional.

Seifert’s
answer was a ramble, but Emmer tacitly chastised Butler: “I am not
running for president.” The crowd, understandably, became quite unruly.
Someone yelled, “State issues!” and the crowd worked itself up into a
chant of “Minnesota! Minnesota!”

Both Emmer and Seifert got loud
applause when delivering classic GOP ideological lines, and one could
conclude the debate was a draw.

The interesting part of the
debate is what’s become clear about the two campaign’s strategies.
Seifert, in a move that’s usually deemed a sign of weakness, has gone
on the attack, challenging Emmer’s record, particularly on campaign
finance, a Twins stadium vote and a tort reform bill. The Emmer
campaign has responded with EmmerTruth, with answers to campaign finance here, Twins stadium here and tort reform here.

As
an aside, we can’t help but note that as soon as the public gets a
taste of outdoor baseball at the new stadium, compliments of taxes paid
only by Hennepin county residents, attacking a procedural vote on the
stadium becomes a loser issue.

In discussing the Emmer campaign
finance bill in question, Seifert — in what’s sure to become a heavier
hit before and during the GOP convention — referenced that “the MCCL
in the City Pages article” opposed Emmer’s plan.

Here’s that 2005 City Pages article, and it was written by Paul Demko, who now writes for PIM and Capitol Report. It’s worth a careful read because what’s in it matters in 2010.

First
the MCCL angle. Emmer, a solid-prolifer, was indeed heavily criticized
by the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL), a group that had
endorsed him in 2004. In our view, Emmer’s championing of campaign
finance reform at the time despite the opposition of the MCCL speaks to
Emmer being his own man, and not a pawn of an extremely powerful
interest group.

Second, Emmer’s bill that year was in response
to the conduct of one of the DFL’s 2010 gubernatorial roster, former
House Min. Leader Matt Entenza.  As Demko elucidates, Entenza
lost all interest in campaign finance reform when reports filed after
an election showed that Entenza and his wife, former UnitedHealth’s Lois Quam, had donated $600,000 to DFL causes that election cycle.

August Angst

We’re
in uncharted territory having a primary in August, and nowhere is that
scenario more feared than in DFL gubernatorial campaigns. To date, DFL
gubernatorial candidates expected to run in the primary include Ramsey
County Attorney Susan Gaertner (who has formally announced a primary run), Mark Dayton (ditto), and Matt Entenza (who
has said he’ll run in the primary if others do), and, of course, the
endorsee from the DFL state convention. While that person is widely
expected to be either House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) or Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak,
there’s a credible case to be made that, should the Kelliher and Rybak
campaigns become interminably entrenched against each other, Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis) is perfectly positioned to become the compromise candidate.

Then
there’s the small matter of whether the DFL endorsement matters. As the
charts below show, in 1998, the last time the Democrats had a heated
primary for governor, Skip Humphrey got twice the number of votes as Mike Freeman, the DFL endorsee. In 2000, Dayton did the same thing in that year’s U.S. Senate race, beating DFL endorsee Jerry Janezich by a similar margin.

At
best, DFL strategists say, they expect about half a million voters to
decide on a candidate on August 10. And perhaps even less, considering
all the family vacations and extended lake-side sojourns that will be
happening then.

Those low-turnout expectations, coupled with a
field of at least four candidates, means the DFL primary is wide open.
One could argue that even an Iron Ranger like Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) or Rep. Tom Rukavina
(DFL-Virginia) could win the primary, if either chose to enter it and
rounded up every living Iron Ranger (along with any dead ones they can
scare up). (Kidding.) A mere plurality will elect the DFL victor. That
also means that key union endorsements like AFSCME Council 5 (which has
endorsed Dayton) and Education Minnesota (which has yet to endorse,
though it’s not clear when that will happen) could matter greatly. 

The illustrative numbers:

[A little Friday afternoon trivia game for you. Can you fill in the lt. gov. candidate names? Answers at the end of this issue.]

Extreme Makeover Edition: Dayton Campaign Headquarters

We’re betting the other DFL candidates for governor might find Mark Dayton’s
new campaign digs a bit intimidating. Last week, Dayton vacated his
1,000-square-foot space in downtown Minneapolis for a St. Paul HQ with
five times that much space. That’s room for an awful lot of phones and
volunteers. Dayton campaign manager Dana Anderson reports that
she looked at about a dozen places; besides adequate space, she says,
the campaign needed ample free parking and accommodations that were
ADA-compliant (of course!). As soon as the new space is built out,
we’ll run an “after” picture. 

Bits & Pieces

GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall) released his budget plan this week.

Well-known conservative pundit David Strom’s better half, Margaret Martin (pronounced mar-TEEN), is getting a taste for life at the state Legislature this session. Martin, who earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan, is a session-only research consultant for the House GOP Caucus.  She is working on veterans affairs, pensions and state government finance issues.

The latest issue of the highly respected Rothenberg Political Report (no link, paid subscription) continues to characterize the Minnesota gubernatorial race as a toss-up. Thirty-seven states have gubernatorial contests this fall; 18 of those seats are currently held by Republicans, 19 by Democrats. (Unfortunately, Rothenberg still thinks our primary is September 14.) But the report also lists Rasmussen polling results from January that strike us as worth remembering: Mark Dayton got 34 percent; R.T. Rybak 25 percent; Margaret Anderson Kelliher 12 percent; and Matt Entenza 5 percent.  Rasmussen did not include the other DFLers running for governor in the poll.

The Hubert H. Humphrey Public Leadership Awards dinner will be held on April 21 at the U of M’s McNamara Alumni Center. This year’s award recipients are Frank Fahrenkopf, Jr., Paul Kirk, Jr., David B. Laird, Jr., John M. Harrington, and Barbara Sigford, M.D. Reception begins at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and program. RSVP at the HHH Institute site, tickets are $125.

Social media-ista Dusty Trice wants to help you avoid the common pitfalls that can wreck a campaign. Read his Top 5 Twitter Mistakes for political campaigns so you don’t get mistaken for an amateur.

Politicos were buzzing this week at the news that King Banaian, SCSU scholar and blogger—as well as radio commentator—will be running for the House in 15B. Larry Haws (DFL-St. Cloud) holds the seat now, and should be prepared for a tough re-election against the well-liked Banaian. Here’s a bit from our April 2008 interview with him:

Watch the video here!

—–

DFL Lt. Gov. candidate names on 1998 primary ballot

Skip Humphrey - Roger Moe

Mike Freeman - Ruth Johnson

Doug Johnson - Tom Foley

Mark Dayton - Julie Jansen (an environmental activist from Olivia who was 36 that year)

Ted Mondale - Deanna Weiner

Ole Savior - Ron Moseng

From the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board:

• Recently Registered Lobbyists
• Recently Terminated Lobbyists

Nothing beats the last floor session for full-court press, last minute lobbying:  the view outside the House chamber during Thursday’s bonding bill debate.

Session Check: The ‘Creature’ is in control

Today marks the first policy committee deadline, which is always a good place from which to view the legislative session’s big picture.

Today’s big picture is an historic one, but it can be viewed with clarity only by Capitol veterans. It’s policy deadline day, and yet, incredibly, the Senate has been plowing through finance bills and, to date, has passed eight of them out of finance divisions. The House has passed 10 of same. Both bodies are shy of a third of what will be needed to be cut to solve the current $990 million problem. Both bodies have yet to make cuts in the two biggest budget consumers — education and health and human services.

We all know the big-pic politics: GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s annual call for DFL budget fixes early in the session, and the DFL’s repeated failures to provide them, providing Pawlenty with GOP political ammo and DFLers outside the Capitol scratching their heads wondering why the Democrats in the Legislature keep giving Pawlenty all the ammo.

Not so this year. Given the scheduling — the timing of the last forecast and when the Legislature got the actual Pawlenty budget bills — what Democrats have accomplished is truly extraordinary.

Democrats seemed to have borrowed the recovery slogan, “Acceptance is the answer to our problems today.” Democratic leadership won’t be holding out trying to force tax increases. That game is over. Some observers say the game ended when House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) filed for governor and remembered what happened to Walter Mondale when he stood at a podium and said he’d raise taxes.

We think otherwise. We think it’s the work of the “creature.”

Many times the master of good old-fashioned and deeply partisan “gotcha” politics, Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller (DFL-Minneapolis) has evolved to a different place this year. Pogemiller won’t be pushing any tax increases. [He's letting Senate Tax Chair and gubernatorial candidate  Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) do his own thing on tax increases, but won't make that the Senate DFL Caucus position.]

Rather, he’s doing the hard, unglamorous, painful work of corralling longtime Senate champions of do-good spending to make cuts. “Creature,” of course, refers to what Pogemiller once described himself as: “a creature of the Senate.”

To that we say, hallelujah. If ever there was a time to have a legislative leader who has no other political ambition but to make the state run, who has the institutional knowledge to get the job done, it’s now and in the tough years ahead.

Long live the creature.

[Don't miss our first committee deadline pics after Bits & Pieces.]

The enigma that is the DFL guber race

Several readers wrote to complain that we’ve spent much more time and energy on the GOP gubernatorial race than the DFL one.

The complaints have merit. We have. We apologize. And offer this as an explanation: The DFL race is so much more complicated that it’s hard to figure out. Also, the DFL campaigns themselves are acting like their DFL endorsement strategies are super state secrets.

The conventional wisdom — OK, our conventional wisdom — has been that Mark Dayton will be the DFLer on the ballot in November. How did we get there? Assume that either Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) or Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak gets the DFL endorsement. One of the two then faces Dayton and former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza in a primary. In our view, Dayton wins no matter how much Entenza spends. And, as we’ve noted before, Entenza plans to spend at least $8 million, if what he’s told several prominent DFLers privately is true. Why Dayton?

On a podium between all of the DFLers left standing, Dayton should come across as the adult in the room, the one who can shepherd the state through difficult times. The mystery here is what, exactly, will Entenza run on? House minority leadership? [OK, GOP Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall) is running on that, but he has the same problem.] Running a think tank? [MN 2020.] The content of what Entenza puts in millions of dollars worth of advertising should be fascinating.

But screwing up the conventional-wisdom thinking is how well Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook), Sen. John Marty (DFL-Roseville), Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia) and Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis) are doing. Our Paul Demko has that analysis here: How well the candidates other than Kelliher and Rybak are doing in delegate counts makes the race incredibly fluid. DFL endorsing conventions are mysterious things. For example, no one could have predicted that then-Secretary of State Joan Growe would best the odds-on favorite, U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, to win the DFL endorsement in 1984. But the fluidity of the supporters of other candidates in the race made all the difference.

Two more things. One: Yes, we’ve left out Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner in this discussion. That’s because we’ve yet to hear one person create a possible scenario where Gaertner could win the primary battle that she’s vowed to fight.

Two, our original conventional wisdom? The only thing that’s changed is that Rybak is coming on surprisingly strong against Kelliher.

MarkKennedy.com

Here’s a fascinating new website: markkennedy.com. Is it a campaign placeholder or a speech fee generator?

A good time-waster on a Friday afternoon is to watch the montage of pics on the homepage. It’s a weird mix of official political photos and buinsess ones. Others might say it’s brilliant.

In GOP circles, the buzz is that Kennedy is laying the groundwork to run, once again, against DFL U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in 2012.

Education Minnesota endorsement in question

Some DFLers we greatly respect greatly surprised us this week by noting that Education Minnesota’s gubernatorial endorsement could be a tarnished trophy.

Their thinking is that support of the teachers now comes with possible backlash from the black community. In one of the most provocative Star Tribune commentary pieces we’ve read in months, Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, Pillsbury United Communities’ Chanda Baker and Peace Foundation president Sondra Samuels call Education Minnesota to task for dismal black student achievement compared to the same measures for white students. The three don’t mince words, and they are not shy about taking direct aim at Education Minnesota president Tom Dooher:

“Education Minnesota’s hollow defense of the status quo is a cynical, morally bankrupt agenda, which focuses more on protecting the adult members of teacher unions than protecting the interests of the state’s most vulnerable children. Dooher has become the last holdout for the failed status quo, one that has yielded no significant change to the achievement gap over the last three decades. His commitment to thwarting real reform has blocked every bridge that spans the racial and socioeconomic performance gap.”

According to Education Minnesota spokesman Lonnie Hartley, the group found the piece “disappointing,” and believe that it was caused by misplaced frustration. The group also finds the achievement gap appalling, but believes that blaming teachers isn’t the solution. Education Minnesota says it supports a series of initiatives to get class sizes down, get more resources into the hands of classroom teachers, get parents more involved, and address the “complex socioeconomic issues that play a major role in the achievement gap.”
As for the gubernatorial endorsement being tarnished … hmmm. We can’t imagine any of the DFL candidates not salivating over Education Minnesota’s endorsement and its power in delivering serious campaign help at many levels.

AFSCME after Anderson … and what about Swanson?

As usual, AFSCME Council 5 endorsed DFL statewide officeholders: State Auditor Rebecca Otto and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. The group is particularly looking forward to trying to help Otto. Director Eliot Seide said in the endorsement press release, “Otto has a solid record of working for innovations that make government more efficient. All her opponent Pat Anderson does is bash government, and that gets us nowhere.”

Turns out AFSCME Council 5 has been dogging Anderson in her previous job of running the notoriously anti-tax Taxpayers League. According to the group’s communications director, Jennifer Munt, AFSCME members have been attending Minnesota Tea Party rallies, firing a few questions at what they call the “Tea Baggers.” Here’s the Q & A they try to engage in:

“Do you like to breathe? Well, public employees help clean the air. Do you like to eat? We keep the food you buy safe. Do you like to drink? We clean your tap water. Do you like to drive? We pave and plow your roads. Do you like to learn? We make schools and colleges happen.”

Compliments of AFSCME, here’s the group’s pictorial essay on the subject:

Anderson does have a contest for the GOP endorsement, but we hear she’s the odds-on favorite. The other candidates are former St. Paul School Board member Tom Conlin, Long Lake Mayor Randy Gilbert and Jeffrey Witta, who works in Otto’s office. [Go figure.]

As an aside, AFSCME Council 5 did not endorse the other DFL statewide officeholder, Attorney General Lori Swanson. No surprise there. Munt confirmed that AFSCME “will not be endorsing Swanson.”

Seifert lands Senjem and staffs up

Apparently there was quite a brouhaha in the Senate GOP Caucus when members learned that Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem (R-Rochester) was to be featured as GOP candidate Rep. Marty Seifert’s (R-Marshall) next big endorsement. Some GOP senators tried to talk Senjem out of it, arguing that it was inappropriate for a legislative leader to pick a side in a heated endorsement battle with Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano).

In the end, Senjem stuck to his guns and endorsed Seifert. While landing the endorsement of a legislative leader is not to be dismissed, we’re not sure what Senjem adds to the Seifert endorsing convention roster. Seifert already has the “rural” or “greater Minnesota” vote, which is also what Senjem brings to the table. Emmer’s big endorsement this week was from Taxpayers League founder Mike Wigley. In GOP inside-baseball politics, Wigley could be a significant endorsement, opening money doors for the Emmer campaign that had previously been closed.

Seifert’s much bigger news this week is that he is seriously staffing up. Make that “paid” staffing up. Kurt Daudt, a longtime GOP activist and Isanti County commissioner, is now the campaign manager. The move makes Ben Zierke, the first Seifert staffer and veteran of other campaigns, political director. Andy Eilers, who was Sen. David Hann’s (R-Eden Prairie) campaign manager when Hann was a gubernatorial contender, is a new field staffer (a job he held in the First Congressional District for GOP candidate Brian Davis). Other new field staffers are Abdul Rahman Magba-Kamara, who just completed a two-year term as chair of the Minnesota College Republicans; Andy Post, who worked as field staff for the House Republican Caucus in the 2008 cycle; and Nick Sherlock, who also worked for the House GOP Caucus campaigns in 2008. Brittni Palke will be the scheduler and finance assistant. She worked as the office manager of the John McCain campaign in Minnesota.

Last but definitely not least, veteran political strategist Ben Golnik is now the official general campaign consultant and will oversee communications and overall campaign strategy.

Public Affairs Company pushing its stars

Before session started, we noted that Public Affairs Company (Pubco) was holding a fundraiser to help a select group of GOP legislative candidates that it calls “Rising Stars.” This week, Pubco’s Noah Rouen sent a detailed e-mail on the progress of each of its stars and promised to send further monthly updates on their progress.

As best we can tell, this level of support for GOP party candidates by a public affairs firm is a “first” in Minnesota politics. Should be fun to watch — and then measure the results of — the effort. Here are Pubco’s current star candidates (and Rouen tells us more will be added):

State House

Roger Crawford - 8B [Rep. Tim Faust (DFL- Hinckley)]

Mike LeMieur - 12B [Rep. Al Doty (DFL-Royalton)]

Russ Goudge - 17B [Rep. Jeremy Kalin (DFL-North Branch)]

Sheldon Anderson - 17B [Rep. Jeremy Kalin (DFL-North Branch)]

PIM comment: Lucky break for Anderson and Goudge in Kalin’s recent retirement. The GOP endorsing convention in this district is April 17.

Mike Benson - 30B [Rep. Andy Welti (DFL-Plainview)]

Kurt Bills - 37B [Rep. Phillip Sterner (DFL-Rosemount)]

Pam Myhre - 40A [Rep. Will Morgan (DFL-Burnsville)]

Pat Mazorol - 41B [Rep. Paul Rosenthal (DFL-Edina)]

Kathy Lohmer - 56A [Rep. Julie Bunn (DFL-Lake Elmo)]

Andrea Kieffer - 56B [Rep. Marsha Swails (DFL-Woodbury)]

State Senate

Gretchen Hoffman - 10 [Sen. Dan Skogen (DFL-Hewitt)]

Sean Nienow - 17 [Sen. Rick Olseen (DFL)]

Jim Gander - 30 [Sen. Ann Lynch (DFL-Rochester)]

Jeremy Miller – 31 [Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes (DFL-Winona)]

Ted Lilly- 56 [Sen. Kathy Saltzman (DFL-Woodbury)]
Karin Housley - 57 [Sen. Katie Sieben (DFL-Cottage Grove)]

Bits & Pieces

The celebration of WCCO reporter extraordinaire Darcy Pohland this morning at the Guthrie Theater was a spectacular celebration of a life truly lived despite enormous challenges. Many people who know Darcy are unaware that her first internship (before ‘CCO) in Washington was with then-GOP U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz.

Some rumors are so funny yet untrue that they warrant repeating anyway. Here’s one from a usually great source: After GOPer Scott Brown won the U.S. Senate seat held by Edward Kennedy and shocked the national political establishment, DFL Secretary of State Mark Ritchie dumped his Prius and “got an old pickup truck and started driving it to work at the Capitol.” Natch, we checked immediately with Ritchie, who reports that he’s still driving the Prius and offered us a ride to prove it.

At noon this Saturday, Tea Party Patriots, Minnesota Majority, Citizens Council on Health Care and other concerned citizens will rally on the Capitol Steps to “Kill the Bill.” The bill in question is the effort in Washington to increase health care coverage nationwide. The event is headlined by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN6). The forecast says rain, but participants should expect the most fiery rhetoric.

Speaking of Bachmann, details were released this week about an April 7 fundraiser for her congressional campaign, at which the special guest will be ex-Alaska gov and former VP candidate Sarah Palin. The downtown Minneapolis Hilton will be the location. Pawlenty is also said to be a guest, and there are the typical levels of tickets with reception and photo-op included. We’d like to take this moment to propose an end to blog posts and commenters who criticize candidates for holding fundraisers outside their own districts. (A few murmurs on that topic accompanied the Bachmann/Palin news.) Every major candidate does it, it’s totally normal and does not indicate whatever nebulous ill behavior is implied by bringing it up. People from all parts of the political spectrum are guilty of this; let’s just drop it.

An excellent post from Dusty Trice this week on the first step to launching a social media campaign on Twitter: You gotta have a catchy name! He promises to address the specter of name squatting/hijacking in a later post.
Josh Gackle, a senior aide on energy and environment policy to Gov. Tim Pawlenty, is leaving his post to take a new job at Wind on the Wires. Gackle will be the St. Paul-based nonprofit group’s western regional policy manager. He will handle issues in Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Wisconsin. Wind on the Wires, which is led by executive director Beth Soholt, was formed in 2001 to “overcome the barriers to bringing wind power to market.” Gackle’s grandfather has five FPL wind turbines on the family’s North Dakota farm. Gackle has spent four years in Pawlenty’s office working on energy, environment and agriculture, telecommunications and veterans’ affairs. Prior to that, he was a committee administrator for the state House Environment and Natural Resources Policy Committee and was an assistant press secretary to former GOP U.S. Sen. Rod Grams.
Communities United Against Police Brutality celebrated a victory this week as HF 2609 was removed from the agenda in Rep. Joe Mullery’s (DFL-Minneapolis) Civil Justice Committee. CUAPB said the Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis)-sponsored bill would “effectively [wipe] out access to the complaint histories of prison guards and [bring] us one step closer to losing access to complaints against police.”

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce had its annual day at the Capitol this week, and the Minnesota AFL-CIO soon will have its event, on April 7. More information here.

Former Sen. Steve Kelley testified in favor of Sen. Terri Bonoff’s bill for a constitutional amendment allowing bonding for tech infrastructure

Insurance Federation’s Mark Kulda sending out one of his infamous email blasts and contract lobbyist John Tuma reading a bill

Novartis’ Vaun Olhausen and Messerli and Kramer’s Ross Kramer

Lobbyist rules posted in Room 315 at the Capitol

MN Trucking Association’s Amber Backhaus and Leonard Street and Deinard’s Paul Cassidy

From the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board:

• Recently Registered Lobbyists
• Recently Terminated Lobbyists

Most people would think the future of the state is being decided at the Capitol, where the approach of committee deadlines makes it the busiest
time of year. But a better case could be made that the real action is
on the stump. The weekend ahead, which represents the last big round of
local delegate-picking conventions, matters enormously to both GOP and
DFL gubernatorial candidates. On the Republican side, look for this
weekend to clarify whether Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) or Rep. Marty Seifert
(R-Marshall) is in the lead; to date, the pair is virtually tied. The
DFL side is much more murky. As noted here last week, we sure wish the
Democrats had someone like Luke Hellier over at Minnesota Democrats Exposed (MDE), who’s been keeping a GOP delegate tally.

The
available delegate counts are hardly carved in stone, to be sure.
Candidates are reporting their supporters in different ways, for one
thing, and delegates can always change their minds. But the tallies do
add up to the best available snapshot of the race so far.

As Hellier notes,
he was able to get information from 69 of the 79 GOP conventions held
so far, involving a total of 1,256 delegates. (In the end, the GOP will
have 2,000-plus delegates at its state conventions.) Hellier is
offering up two counts:
Count 1

Seifert – 583

Emmer – 559

Undecided – 114

Count 2

Emmer – 594

Seifert – 554

Undecided – 108

Why
two counts? We asked Hellier and he answered, “There are two separate
counts because some of the results are disputed. There are a handful of
districts that either had delegates listed on both slates, delegates
that are publicly undecided but appeared on a candidate’s slate, or
simply misidentified delegates by the people who report the results.”

We
can’t help noting that the Seifert campaign is running a paid ad on the
the MDE site. Hellier confirmed that Seifert is a paid advertiser,
adding that “The ad space was offered up to the Emmer campaign as well,
and they passed on advertising.”
On the road with the Emmer team on Super Saturday

A typical 2010 GOP convention scene
There’s
no better way to get a real feel for a campaign than to spend a day
with the candidate, particularly a grueling day. That’s exactly what I
did with GOP hopeful Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) and his team
this past Super Saturday, when 43 BPOUs (basic political organizational
units) held their conventions, selecting about 25 percent of the
delegates who will vote to endorse in the state GOP party convention.

Emmer is in an incredibly heated contest for the GOP endorsement with Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall). The only other candidate remaining in the race is former GOP Rep. Bill Haas, who is far behind the other two.

Joining Emmer on the trail were his wife, Jacquie Emmer, along with Ben Harper (campaign finance director and, last Saturday at least, designated driver) and Benjamin Kruse (media director and photographer).

The
game plan was to hit as many BPOUs as possible before votes were taken
on delegates. The targeted BPOUs were picked on the basis of total
delegates at stake and timing/logistics. But the plan was fluid and
always changing based on how quickly each BPOU was proceeding with its
convention business. As the campaign had tweeted early in the day, the
plan was to make at least eight conventions, and hopefully, ten. But
Team Emmer eventually hit 12 conventions before stopping, and would
have visited more if the clock had not run out on convention business.

Since
I’m burying the rightful lede in all this — which is that Emmer had an
outstanding, and perhaps pivotal, day on Super Saturday  — let me
compound that sin by digressing.

First, regarding Emmer’s two
Bens. I’ve met hundreds of campaign staffers over the years, and it’s
no exaggeration to say that Harper and Kruse are two of the very best.
Kruse (pronounced CREW-zee) fell into political work when Rod Grams‘
2000 U.S. Senate campaign hired his family’s printing company. Besides
taking dozens of photos at each stop and along the way, Kruse was also
chief “Twitter reporter,” distilling the day’s tweets on what was
happening elsewhere for the Emmer team in the car. Kruse also has one
hell of a sense of humor, and he kept a potentially tense carload of
campaigners chortling all day long.

[Note: About 20 minutes
into the day's proceedings, I realized Kruse's photos were putting my
cell phone snapshots to shame, so I turned off my camera. All the
photos here were taken by Kruse, and are reproduced with his kind
permission.]

Benjamin Kruse with another Republican card

Ben Harper, fresh out of St. John’s University, cut his political teeth on Michele Bachmann’s
first U.S. House campaign. Having the finance director serve as
campaign driver is a, well, unusual move. Most campaign finance
directors would deem driving duties beneath them. Not Harper. As a
result, his subsequent fundraising calls can report–and sell–what he
saw firsthand over the weekend. Much of the day’s logistical success
can be directly attributed to Harper, who, armed with cell phone
numbers and text contacts at each BPOU, adjusted the schedule on the
fly to make the most of the time Emmer and company had. Harper had the
steering wheel of the Suburban covered with post-it notes and the GPS
locator on the right side of the dash.

Ben Harper, on left, and the rest of us moving at lightning speed

Let
me now describe what can only be called the Harper Ballet. It consists
of 1) talking on one cell phone; 2) reading a text message from
another; 3) continuously consulting a GPS navigational device; 4)
reading and shuffling the post-its on the steering wheel; (4) talking
and joking with the rest of the Emmer team in the car; and 5) driving
without incident. You have to see it to believe it. Amazingly, I never
once feared for my life–despite riding shotgun in the front
passenger’s seat the whole day.

The other key player on the Emmer team is Dave FitzSimmons,
his campaign manager, who traveled a different convention circuit while
on the phone with the two Bens throughout the day. A hog farmer from
Cokato, FitzSimmons is a first-timer in the campaign game, although he
has served as Sixth District GOP party chair. Given the success of the
Emmer effort so far, FitzSimmons may find he’s better with delegates
than pigs.

End of digression except to say that the caliber of
a campaign team generally speaks volumes about the candidate. Emmer has
built about as strong a campaign team as possible and he lets the team
be the team. Many of the campaign’s decisions are jointly made. And
need I add that how a campaign is run usually speaks volumes about how
someone will govern?

Emmer campaign manager Dave FitzSimmons
On
to Emmer. And 12 BPOUs in 8 hours. [Delegate counts at the end of the
day for each BPOU are in brackets. These counts are from "Count 2" on Minnesota Democrats Exposed.]

On the road with Emmer continues, with sketches of some of the stops along the way, after Bits & Pieces.

New law means new dates

Now that Gov. Tim Pawlenty has signed the early primary bill into law, it’s time to examine our new calendar.

DFL Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s office compiled a handy list of the new key dates in the 2010 election cycle. Here’s the whole list. What follows are the dates we deemed worthy of MN politico calendar status:

Bits & Pieces

Ron Carey, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann
(R MN-6) and former GOP state party chair, continues to make staffing
changes. We noted last week that Carey had fired long-time Bachmann
loyalist and campaign manager Jack Tomczak. That job now goes to Gina Countryman,
a former GOP staffer under Carey. Tim Gould, another former GOP
staffer, has also joined the campaign. As one GOP operative said,
Bachmann’s staff now resembles the state GOP staff circa 2008.

Several weeks ago, we noted that Sen. Linda Scheid (DFL-Brooklyn Park) was being challenged for the DFL endorsement by Democratic National Committee member Bill Davis. Scheid was endorsed last weekend on the first ballot. As Sen. Linda Higgins (DFL-Minneapolis) noted to PIM in the Capitol Cafeteria lunchline this week, “All the Lindas were endorsed.” Both Higgins and Sen. Linda Berglin (DFL-Minneapolis) also faced nominal DFL endorsement challenges, which were likewise beaten back on first ballots.

Minnesota Growth & Justice has hired another overqualified intern in Heidi Hope,
who earned a BA in political science from Gustavus and a master’s in international & European politics from the the University of
Edinburgh. The group’s president, Dane Smith, tells us Hope will be working on education, investment and transportation issues.

At this week’s budget forecast presser, state economist Tom Stinson
told members of the media that the headlines have as much to do with
public perception of the economy as do the numbers. So what were the
headlines? The Star Tribune went ambivalent with “Jobs up, deficit down, worries remain,” while the Pioneer Press looked on the bright side with “First, the good news about the deficit.”

An
eight-session course called “Rethinking State Government” is being
organized by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the U of M for
this spring. The sessions take place at the St. Paul Jewish Community
Center on Thursdays from late March through late May and will be led by
luminaries of Minnesota public affairs the likes of John Gunyou, Dee Long, Roger Moe, Cyndy Brucato, John Marty, Tom Berkelman, and Curt Johnson. Admission is free and open to the public, register by email or at 612-624-7847. First, though, the kickoff event is next Wednesday, March 10, and features none other than Governor Arne Carlson and Vice President Walter Mondale
at an open house and discussion on public service. That event begins at
1 p.m., at Roseville Lutheran Church. We’re betting Arne and Fritz
won’t be shy with their opinions, as topics range from special
interests at the Capitol to revenue and taxes, to “what both see as a
continuous preoccupation with trivial issues that allow important
problems to remain unresolved.”

Time to save the date for
womenwinning’s 28th annual luncheon. June 7, the pro-choice campaign
fund will celebrate the success of female political candidates at the
Milwaukee Depot in Minneapolis. See womenwinning.org for seating reservations and sponsorship opportunities.

On the road with Emmer, continued

Stop one:  Lakeville.

We
began the day at Lakeville Senior High School where SD (Senate
District) 36 was holding its convention. At 8:15 a.m., the convention
had not yet started, so Emmer and his wife wisely decided to stand
outside the doors and greet people. The GOP gubernatorial candidate as Carleton the Doorman
was a good schtick. When the convention opened, Emmer gave his speech.
He stayed surprisingly on message all day, warming up every crowd with
this joke:

“I was on a two-seat plan coming back from Thief
River [Falls] the other day. I’ve been so busy campaigning that I’m a
bit behind on my sports news. The pilot told me that the Olympic
Committee had taken away Lindsay Vonn’s gold medal. They gave it to…Obama because he’s going downhill faster than she can.”

In Lakeville, as everywhere, the joke was a hit with the GOP crowd — and it became Mitt Romney’s joke this week, as well.

Tom and Jacquie Emmer at the start of Super Saturday
[Delegate count:  Emmer (20), Seifert (22), Undecided (2)]

Stop four:  Eden Prairie.

SD
42 convened in Grace Church. Here’s where things got interesting. The
previous week, Seifert had received the endorsement of former GOP
gubernatorial candidate and SD 42 Sen. David Hann (R-Eden
Prairie). The expectation was that Hann would help deliver a good
portion of the SD 42 delegates to Seifert; Hann had enjoyed much SD 42
support in his subsequently abandoned bid for governor.

The
Emmer group arrived when Seifert was at the podium. It was the first
encounter with Seifert that day, and it certainly got Emmer’s juices
flowing. Seifert’s speech was his usual resume backgrounder — grew up
on a farm, learned those values, served as minority leader, followed by
standard GOP red meat shots at ACORN and funding for Minnesota Public
Radio; talk about downsizing and right-sizing government; and a passing
quotation of Ronald Reagan’s “a rising tide lifts all boats.”  Seifert finished and his supporters gave him a standing ovation.

Next up was Emmer. Much to his surprise, his supporters gave him a standing ovation before he
said a word. By now you know Emmer’s drill: Obama joke, Jacquie
appreciation, seven kids are why he’s running, and then on to the meat
of the speech.

For Emmer, that can be summed up in two main
points. One, he’s run a business, met a payroll and spent most of his
working life outside of government. That’s the difference between
himself and his opponent, he said, and why delegates should support
him. Two, Emmer employed a good rap on “negotiating from principles” as
opposed to “compromise,” clearly another jab at Seifert, the more
institutional legislative player in the race.

For readers who
think both candidates are talking in generalities, bingo. Emmer and
Seifert hold almost identical views on the key GOP issues. That means
both are selling themselves on leadership, vision, experience and
general electability.

Given their identical ideologies, strange,
indeed, was a hit piece distributed at all the conventions we
attended. The piece, paid for by the Seifert for Governor Committee,
seems to function as an “answer” to a previous attack, though none was
made by the Emmer campaign. Emmer deemed it quite offensive, and in
Eden Prairie, he held the piece of paper up to the crowd  and said, in
essence, enough already on the dirty tricks and distorted records.

Emmer talking about the Seifert campaign hit piece
[Delegate count:  Emmer (33), Seifert (2), Undecided (0)]

Stop seven:  South St. Paul High School.

The
SD 57 convention at South St. Paul High School was the other pivotal
stop of the day. We got there noon-ish when the convention was in
recess so Emmer worked the crowd. But also working the crowd was Rep. Denny McNamara (R-Hastings), who is a key Seifert supporter, and Ben Golnik, who is a key consultant for Seifert.

Just
before the convention reconvened, Seifert arrived. Emmer was the first
to hit the podium. It’s tough not to read great meaning into how
political candidates channel negative energy. In this case, Emmer took
all that negative, pro-Seifert energy in the crowd and flipped it. With Seifert seated in the audience, Emmer called out Seifert by first
name when referring to Seifert’s hit piece, “Clean it up,
Marty…you will be called out.”

Marty Seifert and advisor Ben Golnik at South St. Paul High School
It
was unclear what effect, if any, this had on Seifert (we left as soon
as Emmer left the podium), but the impromptu move made by Emmer
definitely energized him.

[Delegate count:  Emmer (5), Seifert (20), Undecided (6)]

Stop nine:  New Brighton

HD
50B at Christ the King Lutheran Church was not on the planned
itinerary, but Harper learned the convention had not yet voted and that
voting was not going to happen for a while at the next planned stop, so
there was time to make an appearance.

We arrived just as Seifert’s running mate, Anoka County Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah, was taking the podium.  Sivarajah’s speech consisted mostly of running through her resume to
a crowd who didn’t know her, followed by a run through her conservative
bona fides, noting that she was a pro-life, limited government,
personal responsibility kind of gal. Weirdly, though, she ended with a
digression on the DFL’s alleged abuse of the single-subject bill rule.

Her most memorable line?  “Global warming is a bunch of hooey.”

We also ran into former U.S. Sen. Rod Grams, who is surrogate-speaking for Emmer at BPOU conventions, and former GOP gubernatorial candidate Sue Jeffers, who is also an Emmer supporter.

Emmer and Rod Grams chat in New Brighton

[Delegate count: no results reported by MDE]

Stop twelve:  Elk River

Now
it was almost 3 p.m. The only convention likely to still be in
progress that Team Emmer could get to in time was that of HD 16B at the
Gateway Church. There the entourage ran into former Rep. Jim Knoblach, who is managing Seifert’s campaign. One last pleasant surprise for Emmer was that Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer (R-Big Lake) had announced to the crowd earlier that day that she was endorsing Emmer.

FitzSimmons also made Elk River his last stop to briefly celebrate the day’s victories.

Tom and Jacquie Emmer happy at the end of Super Saturday
[Delegate count:  Emmer (), Seifert (), Undecided ()]  no results reported on MDE]

And then, since no one had eaten a thing all day, the final stop was in Plymouth, at Cowboy Jack’s, a great choice, given the free peanuts and (alas, not-free) beer. The day ended at 6:32 p.m.

The gang at the end of Super Saturday at Cowboy Jack’s

The Minnesota GOP is calling this Saturday “Super Saturday” because 43 BPOUs (basic political organization units) are holding their conventions. About 40 percent of the state convention delegates will be elected this weekend.

It’s a high stakes weekend for DFLers, too. Thirty-two BPOUs will hold conventions over the weekend, and about 25 percent of state convention delegates will be elected.

On the GOP side, Reps. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) and Marty Seifert (R-Marshall) are in a virtual dead heat in electing their people to be delegates to the state convention. Luke Hellier over at Minnesota Democrats Exposed is doing terrific work tabulating the results.

[Note to Democratic bloggers: As best we can tell, no one is trying to do a similar statewide count for the DFL. If we're wrong about that, please let us know.]

It appears the Emmer campaign believes that Super Saturday calls for “super” endorsements. Earlier today Emmer announced big endorsements from State GOP party National Committeeman Brian Sullivan and former GOP Congressman and Washington lobbyist Vin Weber. More here. The Seifert campaign counters these endorsements with that of Sen. David Hann (R-Eden Prairie), and contends that Hann will mean more to GOP endorsing types. 

Ban the Ban supports the Toms

When it comes to non-partisan interest groups or political orgs, usually the issues they choose to highlight allow for pretty good guesses as to which side they really support. Well, from the strange bedfellows department, check out Ban the Ban, a non-profit org dedicated to fighting the smoking ban in Minnesota. The scope and commitment to their cause is impressive: They’ve got extensive information debunking claims on the dangers of secondhand smoke and showing the deleterious economic impact of the ban on small businesses. And like any good political org, they’ve endorsed candidates who share their views. Ban the Ban points to the Tea Party movement as evidence for a “pro-liberty” groundswell that can only help their cause. Now for the interesting twist: For governor, Ban the Ban has endorsed Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) and Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia). We can’t think of another group that would find common ground between these two lawmakers and candidates, both known for fervid speech in the Legislature but from very different viewpoints. (Unless someone founds an organization dedicated to electing someone named Tom, you aren’t likely to see this pair sharing any further endorsements in 2010.) Good stuff from Ban the Ban, sticking to their guns regardless of the party labels.

Gambling issues: The first hand is played

On Thursday the House Commerce Committee held the first hearing on gambling bills this year. Billed as an “informational” hearing, no votes were taken. That’s because, according to the status quo/tribal gaming lobbying faction, there aren’t the votes in that committee to pass out any gambling expansion legislation. 

Weirdly absent was the racino bill being authored by Rep. Al Juhnke (DFL-Willmar). House Commerce Chair Rep. Joe Atkins (DFL-South St. Paul) announced that the bill was still in the Revisor’s office. Also weird was the roster of bills chosen to be heard. Three DFL bills and one GOP one:

1.  Electronic pull tabs. HF 2034 [Reps. Robin Brown (DFL-Moscow Township), Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia), Mary Ellen Otremba (DFL-Long Prairie)] / SF 1644 [Sen. Dan Sparks (DFL-Austin)]

2.   Sports bookmaking. HF 2984 [Reps. Phyllis Kahn (DFL-Minneapolis), Al Juhnke (DFL-Willmar), Rukavina, Joe Atkins (DFL-South St. Paul), Leon Lillie (DFL-North St. Paul), Bev Scalze (DFL-Little Canada), Loren Solberg (DFL-Bovey)] / No SF

3.  Slot machines at the airport. HF 2354 [Rep. Kahn, Juhnke, Solberg, Larry Hawes (DFL-St. Cloud)] / No SF

4.  Racino by constitutional amendment to build a Vikings stadium. HF 2578 [Reps. Tom Hackbarth (R-Cedar), Mike Beard (R-Shakopee), Morrie Lanning (R-Moorhead), Bob Gunther (R-Fairmont)] / SF 2810 [Sen. Debbie Johnson (R-Ham Lake)]

House Minority Leader Rep. Kurt Zellers (R-Maplewood) told us he declined to co-author any of the DFL bills, and that he’d met individually with all the tribes. He described all the meetings as “cordial.”

Informational hearings with public testimony tend to be highly orchestrated affairs, so it was interesting to see who testified for and against the bills. Worth noting here is that lobbyists working both sides of the gambling expansion issue say the same thing. Some of the faces change, but the arguments are the same as they were 20 years ago. 

The roster and a summary of their testimony:

Jim Ausmus, city administrator, Hinckley. Pointed to all of the attendant growth in city, commercial and municipal infrastructure. Do no harm to Grand Casino Hinckley! 

Dan O’Gara, O’Gara’s Bar & Grill, current president of the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association. Importance of charitable gambling, wants “updating” of charitable gambling, industry in trouble, some of which is the Legislature’s fault. He didn’t mention it, but he was certainly referring to the smoking ban. O’Gara’s, by the way, long a GOP fundraiser venue, is going on its 70th year.

John McCarthy, Minnesota Indian Gaming Association. Zero net gain in job creation. Slots in bars, by definition, are not labor-intensive. Argued that revenue assumptions of gaming proponents are over the top. Sees no growth in gambling the next few years. 

Annette Meeks, Freedom Foundation. Gambling is a form of regressive taxation. 

Cathie Perrault, Northstar Problem Gambling Alliance. A “gambling neutral organization.” Whatever state does on gambling, a larger percentage of the dollars at stake should be allocated for treatment.

Tom Prichard, Minnesota Family Council. Opposes any expansion of gambling, calling it a vote to raise taxes.

Cory Merrifield, SavetheVikes.org. Wants any kind of gambling expansion that could be used to pay for a Vikings stadium.

Victoria Winfrey, president of Prairie Island and Allan Childs, vice president of Prairie Island. Opposed to any expansion of gambling. Won’t generate new income, will only shift resources. Will reverse progress on the reservations. (Supported in a letter from John Houe, mayor of Red Wing.)

New high profile Racino Now! lobbyist Dick Day made a brief appearance at the hearing. 

The exit interview:  Jim Mulder

The Association of Minnesota Counties (AMC) president Jim Mulder, 59, surprised many this week by announcing his retirement after 21 years in the job. Mulder, known for his wit and fine sense of humor, earned a reputation for being thoughtful on public policy. PIM sat down with Mulder this week to review his career.

PIM: Highlight the road you traveled to the AMC job, please.

JM: I grew up on farm outside of Renville and I went to the University of Minnesota - Morris. I was assigned draft number 33, so I enlisted in the Naval officer candidate program. After my junior year, I served my country a grand total of 10 days. I wanted to fly planes but when I got to Pensacola I had a severe allergic reaction. Not allowed to fly, I was told my options were enrolling in a Marine officer program, the Navy, Quantico or an honorable discharge. I took the discharge. 

PIM: Then what?

JM: I came home and bought a restaurant and catering operation in Renville and kind of went broke. They closed the road in front of my restaurant for a year and a half. I sold the business and went back to Morris and finished a degree in social sciences. Then I went to HHH [the Hubert Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs at the U of M] and got a masters in public administration.

While at HHH, I met two of the most important people in my career, professors John Brandl [who became a state senator] and Jim Jernberg, who were both focused on local government. Brandl helped me get an internship with [former GOP Rep.] Bill Schreiber, who was then the lead on taxes, so I did a bunch of work designing property tax and local aid programs.

I got a full-time job in caucus research, and when the GOP took the majority, Schreiber became tax chair and I was his CA [committee administrator] in 1985. Then I took the job of county administrator with McLeod County.

I was hired by AMC to be its executive director. At the same time, [Ramsey County lobbyist] Tom Ryan was hired to be president. Incredibly, Ryan died the first day on the job. [He suffered a groin injury that became infected with a staph strain.] They asked me to apply for the president’s job, I did, and they hired me. Twenty-one years passed, and here I am.

PIM: What are you most proud of accomplishing at AMC?

JM: One, building people’s confidence in the organization and demonstrating that it could be effective. Getting it to think more about vision and trying to raise the level of discourse. Two, the redesign work we’ve done the last few years. We’ve started changing the culture in the counties. The language is changing. 

[Mulder exit interview, continued, after Bits & Pieces.]

Met Council under the gun in LAC meeting

A meeting of the Legislative Advisory Commission Tuesday convened to hear testimony from project representatives for the Met Council. The terse agenda—”Testimony, as required under M.S. 473.915, on proposed procurement by the Metropolitan Council exceeding $125,000,000″—suggested a token check-in on the Central Corridor project, but the meeting turned into a much more fierce inquiry from legislators on the state of the project and the Council’s relationship with the Legislature.  

At issue was the approximately $200 million that the Council had requested  for “Civic East,” the project designation for the section of the Central Corridor light rail east of Emerald Street SE in Minneapolis (basically, the seven-mile St. Paul section of the route). Sen. Larry Pogemiller (DFL-Minneapolis) and Rep. Loren Solberg (DFL-Grand Rapids) led the questioning. Solberg was dissatisfied with answers from the Met Council on whether the pending litigation and possible design changes would delay the timeline of Central Corridor funding from the feds. He vowed to take up the matter at another time, but Sen. Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing) came to the defense of the Council, asserting to the committee that the project planners had always been forthcoming with these details. When Sen. Pogemiller pursued the issue, Murphy got up from the table and left the meeting.

The second phase of the light rail, “Civil West,” travels right through Pogemiller’s Minneapolis district, so he promised a future meeting on that topic. (It’s similarly required by statute.)

The presentation continued under the skeptical eye of Pogemiller, who listened before delivering his advice to the Met Council: in his opinion, the Met Council had not resolved the issues around the Capitol, and found it “a curiosity” that three new stations were planned without changing the timetable. He warned that on the Civil West issue he might not be “limited to advice,” and that

“someone might want to talk to the Majority Leader before [the Council] is here for $130 million… and I would advise that it’s a decision maker. Is there anything not clear about what I just said? I don’t think you’re ready on East. I think you’ve told the Legislature you don’t care… but that’s not my issue. On the second $130 [million, for the West section] that is my issue.”

Bits & Pieces

We just noticed a cool new feature on the House of Representatives website—a truly handy pop-up menu now appears when you mouse your cursor over a bill number in a committee schedule. The pop-up shows quick links to the House and Senate statuses, fiscal notes, the bill short description, and more. Great not to have to click through to find out what a bill is all about. We talked to Mike Speiker, web manager in the Chief Clerk’s office, who told us he rolled out the new feature a few weeks ago, just before the session got under way. He was inspired, he told PIM, by the familiar interface on Netflix, which also includes informative pop-ups on movies. Speiker is planning to add this tool to other parts of the House website in the near future. Terrific stuff for those of us who use the legislative sites heavily to keep track of the action at the Capitol.

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual “Business Day at the Capitol” March 10. The group is hoping to have more than 1,000 people come to the Capitol that day.

Interesting program at the Humphrey Institute on March 11: The Humphrey’s Center for Science, Technology & Public Policy and the Institute on the Environment will host a discussion on the film Garbage Dreams, which will be screened as part of the sixth annual Arab Film Festival. The “balance between sustainability and modernization” is the theme. Admission is free but registration is a must. 

Where the party at? Hard to believe it’s only been a year since the Tea Party movement began to pick up steam. Events are scheduled for this weekend and beyond, notably on tax day (April 15). The Minnesota Tea Party Patriots site has details.

Our neighbors to the north will celebrate a diplomatic milestone next week. March 1 marks the 40th anniversary of Canada’s diplomatic office in Minnesota. Canada’s Counsel General, Martin Loken, has distributed invitations to a special reception at the James J. Hill House on Summit Avenue to celebrate Canada Day at the Capitol.

Mark Ritchie has signed a proclamation from the governor designating the month of March as “Southwest Minnesota Honor Flight Initiative Month.” The Honor Flight refers to a journey to the World War II Memorial in Washington, to be undertaken by WWII vets from Southwest MN. A nonprofit fundraising campaign collected the money to send 110 veterans, along with 40 guardians (of which Ritchie has been one) to assist and attend to the vets during travel. More info, including donation details, at Freedom Veterans Memorial.

As the news and media world changes at a dizzying rate, it can be tough to figure out how to organize your life around the torrent of information. One way we’d argue not to do it has been adopted by Andy A. Aplikowski, CD 6 GOPer and blogger at Residual Forces. Yep, it’s his personal blog and he can do what he wishes, but including the Twitter stream as one flow with the blog posts makes it much more difficult to sift through to meaningful bits (we link to Andy often in The Morning Report). Let’s move toward strategies to increase clarity and quality of content!

The exit interview:  Jim Mulder, continued

PIM: Examples?

JM: We used to always push the [evil state] “mandate” and “schools are a black hole” hot buttons. For years, Jim Miller [League of Minnesota Cities], Bob Meeks [Minnesota School Boards Association] and I have had monthly breakfast meetings and we made a pact that we weren’t going to do that anymore. Now “mandates” doesn’t come up in the restructuring conversation, and we’re focused on what decisions to make today to be in the right position tomorrow. The legislature is at the edge of getting it right. A top-down mechanical system isn’t how it works anymore.

PIM: [Interrupting.] Before we get to the big picture, what’s the funniest thing that’s happened?

JM: Remember Phyllis’s 10-county bill?  [He's talking about Rep. Phyllis Kahn (DFL-Minneapolis), who authored a bill reducing the number of counties from 87 to 10.]  When she introduced it, Frank Swedzinski, a Lincoln County commissioner who was then president of the AMC, and I went to see her. Swedzinski said, “We support the 10-county idea but we’re not sure how the other nine counties feel about it.”

PIM: What’s the worst thing?

JM: What’s happened to the legislature. Instead of being a legislative democracy, they’re acting more like a parliament. But a parliamentary system doesn’t have a governor. [In a parliamentary system, the prime minister is elected by from his party, creating an accountable chain of command.] There’s been a terrible breakdown in the ability to govern. 

PIM: What are the other significant changes over the years, from your perspective?

JM: The Marty laws. [Sen. John Marty (DFL-Roseville)] The year before the gift ban was passed, we had 112 legislators who came to our annual conference. The year after, only 12 legislators. In some ways, AMC was more of a social club than a public policy organization before the Marty laws. Also, the campaign finance laws. The big money goes to the caucuses, and legislators become beholden to caucus leadership because of that. 

PIM: [Laughing] Yes, indeed, those county annual meetings up north were legendary drinking parties. Which reminds me, many county commissioners seem to be much more flamboyant than other local elected officials and legislators. Why is that?

JM: When you get on the stage of being a county commissioner, one of the challenges is that it’s a hidden level of government. You almost have to be more flamboyant. You work harder and want a higher profile.

PIM: Twenty-one years is a long time to hold an incredibly political job. How did you do that?

JM: Lots of people say that it’s a miracle I’ve survived. A couple of times some commissioners have tried to fire me. The hardest part of the job is trying to keep the metro and the rural interests balanced. I’ve always figured if both the metro and the rural commissioners think I’m favoring the other, I must be doing something right. 

PIM: Most important issue counties faced during your tenure?

JM:  [Without hesitation] The transportation funding package that included gas tax increase and the veto override. That question reminds me about the silliest part of the job: responding to legislators who want a list of mandates to eliminate. That’s happened about ten times over the years. What happens is that the Legislature studies the list, eliminates a few, but meanwhile, another 15 to 20 mandates are being passed elsewhere in the process. The impact is cumulative and it’s huge.

PIM: What’s next for you?

JM: The first thing is to spend more time with my wife, Carmen. We’ve been married for 18 years. The first 10 she lived in McLeod County, where she was the elected county recorder, and I lived in Roseville. I’m in the doctorate program in public administration at Hamline. I’ll take the comprehensive in June and then work on my dissertation.

PIM: Subject of that dissertation?

JM: The multiple levels of regressivity in state-mandated programs in local governments. We know property taxes are regressive, with the poorest places least able to pay. But the policy and spending committees [at the Legislature] are silos unto themselves, making decisions that affect regressivity without realizing it…leads to committees treating [the funds] as “their money,” and not looking at the big picture.

As is often the case with Mulder, the conversation wandered far and wide. One of the theories Mulder espoused in an aside is very much worth noting because it’s not often discussed. In Mulder’s view, basic current government structure is based on the belief in the 1960s that we would always grow. He thinks of it as a pyramid in which the base is always supposed to grow to support the growing weight above it. If the base doesn’t grow, the whole thing falls down. “We need to figure out what weight needs to come off that pyramid,” he says.

Everyone at PIM and the Capitol Report wishes Mulder and his wife, Carmen, the very best. And before too long, look for a fresh-minted Dr. Mulder to resurface someplace in the Minnesota public policy world. 

From the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board:

• Recently Registered Lobbyists
• Recently Terminated Lobbyists

Tim Pawlenty’s budget and the big picture

GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty released his budget this week, demonstrating once again, that, yes, he can solve another huge budget deficit (this one at $1.2 billion) without raising taxes. As expected, an avalanche of criticism ensued, generating headlines like these: Pawlenty’s critics decry use of federal funds as hypocrisy, Counties fume over governor’s proposed cuts and Arts supporters see end-run in governor’s budget cutting plan.

The basic framework of the governor’s budget was also expected. K-12 education was held harmless, and the cuts proposed are for human services, local government aid (LGA) and myriad state programs. Why expected?

As Minnesota Management & Budget Commissioner Tom Hanson so concisely distills down the Minnesota budget, “There are generally only six things you need to look at. On the revenue side, the three are income taxes, sales taxes and corporate taxes. On the spending side, the three are education, human services and LGA, which, together, comprise 86 percent of the budget.”

For legislative Democrats, the governor’s budget is a nightmare, because it was cleverly crafted to be politically palatable. Any public opinion poll would likely show that the majority of people don’t want cuts in K-12…and they don’t want to pay more taxes for human services and local government.

Perhaps that’s what generated strange fixations, like Sen. Maj. Leader Sen. Larry Pogemiller’s (DFL-Minneapolis) obsession with the governor’s inclusion of federal Medical Assistance money that Congress has not yet appropriated. Strangely, Pogemiller’s claim that including unallocated federal money in Pawlenty’s budget is “unprecedented,” that’s simply not the case. Many states routinely include Medical Assistance type projections (known federally as Medicaid) in their budgets, according to Hanson. In fact, Hanson notes, the whole budgeting process is built on projections. And privately, key Democrats have said they would have included the federal Medicaid money in the budget, too.

To Pogemiller’s credit, he also said that Pawlenty’s level of human services cuts “is a number we have to hit.”

The other strange fixation for Democrats this week is on what will happen “when” the Minnesota Supreme Court rules on Pawlenty’s unallotments. DFL thinking is that the governor’s budget goes out the window. Democrats may want to think again. We’re in uncharted territory. If the Supremes throw out the unallotments, there’s nothing requiring Pawlenty to craft a new budget. That will be the Democrats’ problem.

And that’s a big “if.” Everyone in the Pawlenty administration is supremely confident the Supremes will side with Pawlenty. Ramsey County District Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin’s opinion ruling the unallotments unconstitutional is deemed to be “C grade law review article,” at best. [Quote is not Hanson's.]

On the unallotments, some of the wisest Democrats we know are cautioning their fellow DFLers to be careful what they wish for. If the Supremes void the unallotments, that’s a DFL legislative problem, not Pawlenty’s.

But whether the unallotments prevail or not, the DFL finds itself in the position noted earlier: trying to raise taxes on the middle class to feed human services programs at their current levels. That’s unsustainable, as Pawlenty noted earlier this week. General Assistance Medical Care grows about 30 percent in every budget cycle.

Finally, the most interesting part of Pawlenty’s long budget press conference was toward the end, when the conversation turned to paying for Minnesota’s quality of life.

For those listening carefully, the debate on Minnesota’s quality of life and how to create jobs — which is everyone’s answer to getting out of this mess — is not so much about “no new taxes.”  It’s about two competing world views. For the Democrats, it’s raising taxes to get back to that much ballyhooed but ill-defined place, the 1970s, 80s or 90s, when Minnesota was a high tax state with a commensurately high level of government services. But that was a place where there was no 30 percent biennial growth in human services.

For Republicans, it’s not raising taxes because government can no longer deliver everything it delivered last century. To be sure, one failure for Republicans, including Pawlenty, on this point is more clearly defining what and how much government should be in the 21st century.

On the two competing views, as Pawlenty noted, “ultimately the market will decide.” That market is the voters, but also the most important political market in the country: the job generators.

Job generators…or not

All this talk about the need for more jobs got us to thinking about which gubernatorial candidates — and legislators — have any experience creating jobs. Here’s our list. [PDF]

Our conclusions?  Res ipsa loquitur…”the thing speaks for itself.”

No unallotting this marriage

We’re very happy to report that Kirsten Libby and Bill Strusinski quietly made their well-established coupledom legal. Libby, an attorney and one-time House GOP researcher, and Strusinski, a well-respected lobbyist, got married last December 30. Strusinski happily reports, “Kirsten married well and I married even better.”

Performing the ceremony was Ramsey County Chief Judge Kathy Gearin…15 minutes after she’d issued her opinion finding GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s unallotments to be unconstitutional. Apparently Guerin was a bit wired after the opinion was released to the public and she wanted to discuss it with the soon-to-be married and in-the-political-know couple. As we understand it, after about 20 minutes of unallotment chit chat, Libby had to tell Judge Gearin, “Hey, I’m just here to get married.” Congratulations to two of St. Paul’s finest!

Intra-party challenges, continued…and the list of 2012 retirees begins

Last week we listed and noted the high number of intra-party challenges for House and Senate seats.

One race we highlighted was that between Sen. Debbie Johnson (R-Ham Lake) and GOP challenger Michelle Benson, also of Ham Lake. Last weekend, Benson defeated Johnson for the endorsement on the second ballot. Insight into what transpired at the endorsing convention can be found in the comments posted to the story by Charley Shaw published online earlier this week.

One race we didn’t flag because the challenger has not yet filed a committee with the Campaign Finance Board is the one between Sen. Linda Scheid (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and DFL challenger Bill Davis, also from Brooklyn Park. He’s a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC; see next story) and a co-chair of the DFL’s African American Caucus. We checked with Scheid (pictured) and she was a bit taken aback that a DNC member would run against a sitting DFL senator. “We should be helping fellow Democrats, not running against each other,” she said. We tried to track down Davis but to no avail.

We reported last week that Sen. David Hann (R-Eden Prairie) faced a GOP challenger in Eden Prairie City Council member Ron Case. That’s not correct. Case filed to run as a DFLer, although he was once a Republican. We hear mixed reports on whether Hann will have a serious contest on his hands. Shaw summarizes the current politics of this once staunch GOP but changing turf here. We hear Case is telling folks he’s really a moderate Republican who is “willing to look at tax increases.” Not unexpectedly, Case is concentrating on the A side of Senate District 42 which is represented by Rep. Maria Ruud (DFL-Minnetonka), and less so on the B side, represented by Rep. Jennifer Loon (R-Eden Prairie).

Finally, as for GOPer David Osmek’s filing a committee to run for the seat held by Rep. Steve Smith (R-Mound), Osmek wrote us to let us know he’s ending his House seat committee and opening a new committee for the Senate, in the seat held by Sen. Gen Olson (R-Minnetrista). Olson has held the seat since 1983. Osmek writes that he’s “preparing for 2012, when Gen is planning to retire.” True? We checked with Olson and she confirms that she sent a letter to be read to all the precinct caucuses in her district that says she will be running in 2010 for the two-year term and “does not plan to run in 2012 in a newly drawn district.”

Who serves on the national committees?

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Bill Davis‘ challenge to Sen. Linda Scheid (DFL-Brooklyn Park) presents this question: Who serves on the DNC and its GOP equivalent, the Republican National Committee (RNC), representing Minnesota?

The DNC has seven DFL members: four who are elected at the DFL state convention level, the chair and associate chair because of the party leadership positions, and one member appointed by the DNC chair, which is currently Virginia Dem. Gov Tim Kaine.

Current members are:

Elected:

Bill Davis (Brooklyn Park)

Nancy Larson (Dassel)

Rick Stafford (Minneapolis)

Luchelle Stevens (Apple Valley)

Automatic:

Brian Melendez, DFL state party chair

Donna Cassutt, DFL state party associate chair

Appointed:

Sen. Patricia Torres Ray (DFL-Minneapolis)

The GOP’s MN delegation to the RNC is much smaller: GOP state party chair Tony Sutton, National Committeeman Brian Sullivan and National Committeewoman Evie Axdahl.

No bull haircut

Rep. John Lesch (DFL-St. Paul) has just returned from his Army Basic Training at Ft. Benning, Georgia with a crew cut. Friday morning, he chaired his first meeting of the year of the Crime Victims Division in the Minnesota House. Noting that Lesch is now a member of the Red Bulls infantry division of the Minnesota National Guard, Rep. Ron Shimanski (R-Silver Lake) presented Lesch with a can of Red Bull energy drink. Rep. Paul Gardner (DFL-Shoreview), who has a very high hairline, said that he was glad that Lesch has copied his haircut. Lesch replied, “I asked the Army for a ‘Gardner’ cut.”

Broadband stimulus update: the correspondences

Last week, we brought you the story of legislators frustrated with the secrecy with which the Department of Commerce was handling broadband stimulus project requests in Minnesota, which is the only U.S. state in which the details of broadband proposals and selection processes are confidential. The chair of the Tech and Communications committee in which lawmakers made their feelings heard, Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon (DFL-Duluth), was in her district and unavailable by publication time last week—but now we’ve caught up with her at her Capitol office for an update on the issue. Sen. Prettner Solon echoed the sentiments of her colleague Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis), declaring it unbelievable that the applications to the NTIA (National Telecom and Information Administration, the federal body dishing out broadband dollars) would be kept secret. When asked to theorize on the motivation behind the Department of Commerce and the Executive Branch’s stance, she replied with a shake of her head: “It blows my mind.”

Her committee administrator, Will Seuffert, supplied us with the paper trail: a series of letters showing that Sen. Prettner Solon and her House counterpart, Rep. Sheldon Johnson (DFL-St. Paul), who chairs the House Telecom and Infrastructure division, have indeed been pursuing the issue and have been repelled by the opinions of Dept. of Commerce attorneys. (A new letter on the issue penned by Prettner Solon’s office this week hasn’t yet been signed by Johnson, so we don’t have it at present.)

Here are those communiques:

Letter to Gov. Tim Pawlenty from Prettner Solon and Johnson, requesting the participation of the governor’s office in their committees on the broadband stimulus issue

Letter to Commerce Commissioner Glenn Wilson requesting that broadband recommendations be made public in the committees

Letter to Prettner Solon and Johnson from Commerce attorney Alberto Quintela explaining the department’s reasoning and its decision to make the process confidential

Health care lobby shuffle

Health care lobbyist Sara Noznesky has decided to leave her job as manager of legislative affairs at the Minnesota Medical Association (MMA) to lobby for Children’s Hospitals & Clinics. Dave Renner will continue to lead MMA’s lobbying effort at the Capitol this session. And Noznesky is not the only significant hire Children’s has made in recent months.

Last October, the hospital group hired Scott Leitz as director of health policy and advocacy. Leitz had been assistant commissioner for policy, quality and compliance at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). While at MDH, Leitz worked on the major health care reform bill that Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed at the end of the 2008 legislative session. MDH hasn’t advertised to fill Leitz’s position, according to a MDH spokesman. Children’s is the seventh largest pediatric health care organization in the U.S.

Almanac at 25

More than 900 people packed the Pantages Theater and Seven The Steakhouse last night to celebrate TPT’s Almanac’s 25th anniversary year.  Here are some highlights.

• Former Almanac host Jan Smaby, looking simply smashing, grabbing her wig and tossing it in the air to a rousing standing ovation. Smaby is successfully battling breast cancer.

• Retired U of M political science professor and long-time Almanac guest Hy Berman doing an impression of Jesse Ventura.

• A montage of host Cathy Wurzer’s many beautifully coiffed hairstyles over the years.

Congratulations to Bill Hanley, now Executive Vice President, Minnesota Productions, and Brendan Henehan, executive producer, who were charged with livening up a public affairs program 25 years ago that’s still going strong today. Almanac is the country’s longest-running public affairs program.

Bits & Pieces

Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall) made a solid conservative lieutenant governor choice in Anoka County Board Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah. More here. What most people don’t know is that Sivarajah has made a quite a name for herself challenging one of the last good old boys’ clubs in the state, Anoka County.

When former GOP party chair Ron Carey was named U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN6) chief of staff, one of his first acts was to fire Jack Tomczak. To party insiders that’s a seemingly bizarre move. Tomczak enjoys a reputation of being extremely loyal and aggressive, attributes highly valued by Bachmann. Neither Carey nor Tomczak returned our calls.

Education Minnesota has named Kari Aaro to be its executive director and chief of staff. Aaro was vice president of government affairs for the St. Paul Companies from 1997 to 2004. He led the government affairs unit there, coordinating all company contact with lawmakers, regulators and Congress. Aaro spent 18 years at the St. Paul Companies, also serving as assistant vice president and senior corporate counsel, as well as government affairs attorney.

DEED Commissioner Dan McElroy has named Ed Dieter to acting executive director of the Minnesota Trade Office. Dieter had served as deputy director, and has been at the office since September 2008.

This early in the legislative session, there are lots of fresh faces around the Capitol, like new aides and assistants who might not know all the names and faces. PIM staff’s near-encyclopedic knowledge of the legislature came in handy when we saw a committee staffer not sure of a member’s name. A time-consuming flip through the “Green Book”— the state legislative directory—was prevented with a whispered name. Happy to help, and glad the member got her committee materials that much quicker.

In case you didn’t see it in our Morning Report or elsewhere, the Minnesota political process was featured in the satirical news site The Onion this week. Onion News Network’s all-too-real production values are always a hoot, and Pawlenty gets mentioned by name in this piece on a decidedly unorthodox piece of new legislation. We just wish they could have shot the video at the real Minnesota Capitol steps for that authentic touch! [Note that this feature is safe for work, but other stuff on the site is "not intended for readers under 18 years of age."]

Crocuses blooming, bears emerging from their caves, love in the air… and fundraisers for independent local new media journalism. A new spring tradition continues this year at the third annual MinnRoast, the “gentle skewering” of media and politics types that’s a fundraiser for the beloved MinnPost. The 2010 edition will be held Monday, April 26 at the Pantages Theater, with a reception at Seven (the steakhouse, at 5:30 p.m.). As always, expect a who’s who roster; Chris Coleman, Don Shelby, Jason DeRusha, Mark Dayton, Rob Hahn, Paul Thissen, and “as many more Governor Candidates as we can squeeze in” are already mentioned. Silent auction, food and drink (looking forward to MinnRoast Martinis with MN-made Prairie vodka) and of course an outrageous program are all on tap. More info and ticketing here.

From the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board:

• Recently Registered Lobbyists
• Recently Terminated Lobbyists

Presidents Day is a working holiday at the Legislature, and there’s a big event under the Capitol dome in its honor: The House bonding bill will be on the floor. And for your Presidents Day pleasure, a bit of history.

John F. Kennedy, at 43 years old, was the youngest elected president and 69-year-old Ronald Reagan was the oldest elected president. But the youngest president to ever serve was Theodore Roosevelt (42 years old), who assumed the presidency following William McKinley’s assassination.

This bit of presidential trivia was sent to PIM by the Government Relations Group at Fredrikson & Byron. The group consists of Kevin Goodno, Shep Harris, Becky Girvan, Melissa Parker and Leia Christoffer. More info about U.S. Presidents and their ages here.

They’re in the money…and they’re not

Continuing our analysis of the 2009 end-of-year Campaign Finance Board (CFB) reports, we turn now to the Senate. For Minnesota senators, this is the grueling part of the decade. They run for reelection this year, and then again just two years later, after redistricting is complete.

Here’s a chart of all the Senators’ numbers. [.pdf] The only Senator who has not yet filed a 2009 CFB report is Sen. Kevin Dahle (DFL-Northfield).

The 10 Senators with the most cash on hand

The 10 Senators with the least cash on hand

Dill battling kidney illness, slated for transplant

Several people have commented and expressed their concern to us about the appearance of Rep. David Dill (DFL-Crane Lake). We checked in with Dill, first asking if his preference was for us to butt out or to write him up so there would be no more clueless speculation.

He chose the latter. Here’s the deal. Dill had a gastric bypass 15 months ago and he’s lost 140 pounds. Dill also continues to work through his chronic kidney disease and hopes to have a kidney transplant sometime next month. He almost sheepishly reported that four donors had come forward, and that preliminary testing has seemed to indicate that his sister is a very good match.

He plans to have the transplant at Hennepin County Medical Center and expects to be away from the Capitol for at least a month.

Here’s hoping that all goes extremely well and we look forward to seeing Dill back at the Capitol — and in great health — in April or May.

The Walz way

One of the more intriguing invitations your publisher has received the last few years was to come to Mankato to meet with U.S. Rep. Tim Walz (D MN 1) and his staff, and so she did.

Turns out Walz brings his entire staff out from Washington every year for a retreat with his district staff back home. (The Walz campaign staff does the same thing, albeit separately.)

As you might expect from a Congressman who was a high school teacher (not to mention Josh Syrjamaki, his top-notch, policy wonkish chief of staff) the retreat was prefaced by no small amount of assigned reading. This year the books were Good to Great…Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t by Jim Collins and Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations by Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs Professor John Bryson.

The retreat also included presentations and conversations about the latest public opinion issue polls, public policy trends, constituent service matters and local issue briefings. Besides your publisher, other speakers included Art Rolnick, the retiring senior vice president and director of research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and Minnesota state economist Tom Stinson.

To ensure a frank, freewheeling conversation, all parties present agreed to stay mum about the particulars of what we discussed. But suffice it to say that your GOP publisher was extremely impressed with Walz’s staff and the amount of energy they devote to their jobs — and to getting better at those jobs as time passes.

The intra-party challenger phenomenon

As we peruse the legislative candidate campaign filings on a regular basis, we can’t help but notice the unusually large number of incumbents who have opponents from their own parties who have filed committees to run against them. Here’s the list and what we know about each race so far.

GOP Incumbent Challenges

Sen. David Hann (R-Eden Prairie) has a GOP challenger in Ron Case, of Eden Prairie. Hann’s Senate District (SD) will hold its convention after the state convention, so it’s assumed Hann runs again for the Senate and Case drops out.

Sen. Paul Koering (R-Fort Ripley) has a GOP challenger in one-term former GOP Rep. Paul Gazelka, who lost to Rep. John Ward (DFL-Brainerd) in 2006. Koering is apparently in serious trouble. He was not even elected to be a delegate from his own precinct on caucus night.

Sen. Pat Pariseau (R-Farmington) has a GOP challenger in Theresa Stokes, also from Farmington. More about Stokes here. If, as the Hampton News portrays it, Stokes is running on conservatism, we find it difficult to fathom that one could “out-conservative” Pariseau, who has been a senator since 1988 and held various party jobs for decades before that. Could be an interesting challenge of old conservative guard v. the new conservative guard (whatever that is).

Rep. Dan Severson (R-Sauk Rapids) has a GOP challenger in Tim O’Driscoll of Sartell. Severson is running for secretary of state.

Rep. Steve Smith (R-Mound) has a GOP challenger in David Osmek, also from Mound, who serves on the Mound City Council. Osmek has apparently filed as “conservative insurance” to keep Smith in line not voting to raise taxes and sustaining all GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s vetoes.

DFL Incumbent Challenges

Sen. Dick Cohen (DFL-St. Paul) has a DFL challenger in Don Arnosti, a long-time environmental advocate currently with the Institute for Agriculture and trade policy.

Sen. Linda Higgins (DFL-Minneapolis) has a DFL challenger named Raymond Dehn.

Sen. Mary Olson (DFL-Bemidgi) has a DFL challenger in Gregory Pacquin, from Brainerd.

Rep. Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona) has a DFL challenger in Debbie White, also from Winona. We understand that Pelowski has quite a race on his hands.

Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis) has a DFL challenger in Charles Miller. It’s widely assumed that Thissen will run for the House again if he drops out of the governor’s race, and in that case Miller is expected to withdraw his candidacy.

The streets must be complete

A bill that’s currently moving through the Legislature would direct future MnDOT planning efforts to take into account cyclists and pedestrians as well as motor vehicles. Known as the Complete Streets Bill (SF 2461; HF 2801), it’s intended as a multipronged effort to make transportation routes safer and to encourage non-motorized transit. A sizable coalition is building around the measure; orgs like Blue Cross and the American Heart Association, Transit for Livable Communities and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits have signed on. Tony Lourey (DFL-Kerrick) has the bill in the Senate; the House author is Rep. Mike Obermueller (DFL-Eagan).

The interesting angle to this legislation is how the different interests have taken hold of the idea. For the health companies, it’s all about getting people walking and biking. For environmental orgs like Minnesota Environmental Partnership, the measure can be seen as protecting Minnesota water and air quality.

According to the text of the bill, “complete streets” refers to the “planning, scoping, design, implementation, operation, and maintenance of roads in order to reasonably address the safety and accessibility needs of users of all ages and abilities.” Similar policies have been enacted in 18 states and by numerous municipalities, including the likes of the City of Rochester and Hennepin County.

Faceoff in Energy, Utilities, Technology and Communications Committee

The agenda of Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon’s (DFL-Duluth) Energy, Utilities, Technology and Communications Committee on Thursday included the presentation of the senator’s bill for realizing the state’s high-speed broadband goals (as developed by the MN Ultra High Speed Broadband Task Force). But the first order of business was the progress report on ARRA expenditures from Diane Wells, Manager of the Department of Commerce’s Telecom Division.

Back in October, the Minnesota Independent reported that the watchdog group Stimulating Broadband had called out Minnesota for its secrecy regarding use of ARRA funds—essentially complaining that the Pawlenty administration did not consider the proposals or the selection process for these broadband projects to be public information. Frustration over this point bubbled to the surface in committee, as legislators expressed real concern at Wells’ presentation. Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis) told PIM that what Commerce is engaged in is “upsetting,” particularly because Minnesota is the only state, to the knowledge of anyone present, which treats the ARRA broadband grant process in this fashion. “No one knows who’s on the committee, or what projects are proposed,” Dibble said. “This should not continue.”

The Department of Commerce’s position is that the broadband grant process should follow the guidelines that the state has in place for reviewing Minnesota RFPs—an assertion Dibble calls “ridiculous on its face.” In that model, the state keeps the parties confidential until a bid has been awarded (as it does for other types of project bids). In Dibble’s view—and seemingly that of other legislators on the committee—the entire process raises major questions about the Pawlenty administration’s handling of federal stimulus dollars in general and of this highly visible (and heavily lobbied) issue in particular. In other words, this fight isn’t over yet.

Bits & Pieces

The Senate GOP Caucus continues to add talent to its roster. Mike Campbell has been named the group’s finance director; Campbell has an extensive political resume that includes stints as director of intergovernmental relations for former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, finance director for former U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht, and executive director of George Bush’s 2000 Minnesota campaign.

Veteran state Capitol lobbyist Kathleen Micheletti has joined the government relations team at Cook Hill Girard Associates as a part-time contract lobbyist for the 2010 session. She’ll be filling in for John Kavanagh, who left to become U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s state director. Micheletti remains a VP for government relations at Excelsior Energy. Before lobbying for Excelsior, Micheletti was a contract lobbyist at Lockridge Grindal Nauen.

We ran into GOP perennial candidate Leslie Davis this week in the Governor’s Reception Room. According to one of the loveliest people at the Capitol, Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s receptionist Carol Ness, Davis is a frequent visitor to the governor’s office, often leaving notes and hand-outs. (Hey–wonder what happens to those missives after he leaves…)

The big-sounding laugh is back at the Capitol. Former GOP Sen. Brian LeClair, whose high-pitched laugh used to echo through Capitol halls when he served in the state Senate, is now working as a senior policy adviser for Gov. Tim Pawlenty. LeClair was defeated in 2006 by Sen. Kathy Saltzman (DFL-Woodbury). LeClair covers health and human services issues in Pawlenty’s office, where he’s been on staff since September.

The MN AFL CIO named Chris Shields to be the group’s new communications director. Shields comes from DFL gubernatorial candidate Matt Entenza’s MN 2020. He previously worked in media relations at the House.

Spotted displayed prominently on GOP Senate Caucus chief of staff Cullen Sheehan’s desk: A framed quotation engraved in leather, with the words, “It CAN be done.” Does that apply to the GOP taking the majority next election? Sheehan’s answer: “It applies to everything, and it’s a Ronald Reagan quote.”

It’s that time of year again. And no, we’re not talking about snow blindness. When you’ve got some big idea to push through the Legislature, you better know how much it’s going to cost. It’s time to request a fiscal note from the Fiscal Analysis Department. Luckily, the department has a very readable document [.pdf] explaining the notes and the procedure for requesting them.
By Ricé Davis

On Friday, February 5, 2010, I was privileged to attend a farewell and dedication ceremony for the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment (out of TN) at Camp Shelby, MS. This National Guard unit is being deployed to Iraq for their 2nd tour of duty.

While jockeying for the best view (I ended up standing next to where D-TN Governor Phil Bredesen was sitting) a rather tall man moved in and stood in front of me. After several minutes, probably seeing me moving around [a lot] out of the corner of his eye, he turned and asked if I could see. I told him yes, but that he was going to have to stay a little bit more to the left. He laughed and indicated that I should move in front of him because I was shorter and wouldn’t be in his way.

After the dedication of the momument honoring 14 fallen and now memorialized soldiers out of the 278th - where the National Anthem was beautifully sung a cappella by 2nd Lt. Tracie Muñiz, my niece, the man, who had introduced himself as Congressman Lincoln Davis (D-TN4), said, “I’ll bet you are a Republican.” I laughed and said yes I was and asked why he had said that. He quite nicely and with a smail replied: “Oh, you Republican women are always so pushy.”

Well, maybe so, but I got to see everything!

From the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board:

• Recently Registered Lobbyists
• Recently Terminated Lobbyists

• The release of 2009 year-end campaign finance reports for the gubernatorial candidates.
• Precinct caucus straw polls that provided momentum to the two top vote getters on each side: Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall) and Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis).
• The beginning of the 2010 legislative session.  We start with the reports.

Legislature to the rescue: Lobbyists savor reprieve from the big gubernatorial candidate squeeze

For many a lobbyist, the beginning of the legislative session — and its attendant ban on fundraising from lobbyists — inspired the biggest sighs of relief of their professional lives.

A record sum of nine sitting legislators has been running for governor, along with several former legislators who know how the game is played. Every legislator asking for money and every lobbyist deciding if and how much to give knows this much: The unspoken threat behind every such solicitation is that failure to make a contribution will be remembered at some key decision-making point in the legislative process. For the lobbyist, the perceived danger of not giving is measured against the power of the legislator asking. So, when the Senate Tax Chair (Bakk), or the House Health Care & Human Services Committee (Thissen), let alone the House speaker (Kelliher) or former House minority Leader (Seifert) come calling, it’s very tough to say no.

And call they did. Many an exasperated lobbyist told us that legislators-cum-gubernatorial candidates called their offices, their homes and their mobile phones. One lobbyist told us that his checkbook register looks like a legislative roll call. (Click to enlarge)

So how much did gubernatorial aspirations cost key lobbyists and lobbying firms? The following chart highlights the donation activity of key lobbying firms and a few solo practitioners. The numbers represent the total of contributions given to gubernatorial candidates by both individual staffers and a firm’s PAC. (Click to enlarge)

Do note that much of the candidate squeezing happened in January and the first few days of February. We won’t have those numbers until the next reports have to be filed, before the primary, in August (or sooner, if the legislature moves the primary to August).

Analyzing all the contributions…

We pored through all of the 2009 candidate reports and broke out all the registered lobbyist contributions, along with most of the political funds and PACs. We wanted a clearer picture of the dynamics mentioned in the previous item — i.e., who got squeezed the most and how much juice did they have to produce?

Another reason requires more explanation. Those of us at PIM believe lobbying is a noble profession, since everyone does have the right to organize and petition the government for a redress of grievances. But, too often, lobbying gets slammed by a public who doesn’t understand it (and doesn’t recognize that every profession and hobby is well-represented by lobbyists in both the state Capitols and Washington).

But since “lobbyist” remains a popular devil-term, many a candidate tries to have it both ways: Slam the lobbyists on the stump and call them ad nauseam in private. In the 2010 gubernatorial election, the worst offender was Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall).  More about his conduct here.

Other candidates aren’t the least bit gun-shy about courting lobbyist dollars (think Bakk and Rukavina). They don’t slam lobbyists — and even sing their praises — and work every angle to get them to contribute.

Finally, as you peruse our breakdown, there’s another strain of anti-lobbyist and anti-lobbyist money thinking to sort through. Call it the  Sen. John Marty (DFL-Roseville) line of thinking: All lobbyist money is bad and you can track why special interests give to which candidate(s). Marty is right about the latter: You can track giving by specific interest groups and their lobbyists to the candidates with power over their issues.

Here’s the chart (PDF). Some notes. We excluded all registered labor lobbyists and their PACs. Lining up union support has been job one for many of DFL candidates and much has already been written about it. A great deal of  “special interest” influence buying is hidden in the reports under individual contributions, and is not reflected in our tally. Perhaps the best example of this is one we’ve analyzed before — Dr. Robert Haselow and the company he founded, Minneapolis Radiation Oncology. Haselow and his wife made a number of individual contributions to 2010 gubernatorial candidates, yet they are not, and never have been, registered to lobby. We’ll have more on Haselow when the Campaign Finance Board completes its entry of individual contributions into searchable databases. We’re told that will take at least a month or two.

MAK v. R.T.

One of the more intriguing battles in the DFL gubernatorial contest is the one between House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. Given their photo-finish in Tuesday’s Democratic straw ballot vote (Rybak bested Kelliher by about 400 votes out of more than 22,000 cast), key DFL insiders tell us to watch closely now as the gloves come off. Others said to take another look at the 2009 year-end campaign reports, so we did:

Sen. Satveer Chaudhary (DFL-New Brighton) has a private word with a colleague in Senate Capital Investment Thursday.

Bits & Pieces

Spotted in Maple Plain: The dean of Minnesota “moderate” Republicans, George Pillsbury, caucusing for Independent Party gubernatorial candidate Tom Horner.

Lockridge Grindal Nauen has stocked up on health care lobbying talent for this year’s session. Nate Mussell joined the firm last year and registered several health-care associations and Fairview Health Services as clients. Mussell’s health care experience includes working in the general counsel’s office at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. He also worked in Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s constituent services office, and in Washington for former GOP U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad.

Speaking of Lockridge, Reid LeBeau, who has practiced with the firm as partner for some years, will be spending more time with the Lockridge Grindal team in St. Paul.

Tom Dicklich is the new committee administrator for House Majority Leader Tony Sertich’s Rules and Legislative Administration Committee. Dicklich takes over for Lisa Radzak, who left Sertich’s office last year to become Minnesota Public Radio’s community engagement manager. Radzak works on MPR’s government relations and public policy efforts at the local, state and federal levels. Long-time Capitol hand Joan Harrison, who worked for former House speakers Irv Anderson and Martin Sabo, is Sertich’s legislative assistant for this session.

The pro-choice PAC womenwinning is holding an event February 18 at Minneapolis’ Varsity Theater. Wine, Chocolate, and Choice will be a fun, laid-back evening of networking and dialogue among politically involved Minnesota women. The org will also unveil its documentary on women political leaders in Minnesota. A silent auction will be held, and there will be confections from Chocolat Celeste in addition to Loring Pasta Bar appetizers and wine. Tickets start at $25 (the “Chardonnay” level) and go up from there (through “Cabernet,” “Bordeaux,” and “Champagne”). Registry and more information are online.

The Minnesota Nurses’ Association will hold a ribbon-cutting for their new headquarters on Tuesday, February 11 from 4:30-7:30 p.m. Tours of the new eco-friendly digs, at 345 Randolph Avenue, Suite 200 will be offered along with beverages and snacks. Check it out!

From the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board:

• Recently Registered Lobbyists
• Recently Terminated Lobbyists

Next week marks the official kickoff the of the 2010 political season, with precinct caucuses on Tuesday and the legislative session gaveling to a start on Thursday.

Most of our readers need no reminder, but the precinct caucuses define the pool of who gets elected to the Senate district and county party conventions — which, in turn, elect those who go to the all-important state endorsing convention.

For several of the gubernatorial candidates, it’s a make-or-break week.

What to watch on caucus night

As we’ve written before, both the DFL and the GOP have gubernatorial candidates who must have decent straw poll showings to stay viable. For others, the so-called top-tier candidates, it’s about meeting the expectations that they have set for themselves.

On the GOP side, the expectation is that Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall) and Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) will finish first and second, respectively. Sen. David Hann (R-Eden Prairie) and former Rep. Bill Haas are expected to come in third and fourth. And make that a distant third and fourth, which will likely provide enough impetus to push them both from the race. Worth noting is that the GOP straw poll ballot has a line for write-in candidates, but not for “none of the above.” We’re picking up nothing in terms of anyone trying to orchestrate a different name for a write-in campaign.

The DFL straw ballot outlook is much murkier. First, it’s complicated by the fact that Mark Dayton will be left off the ballot by his own choice. Next, there are candidates who have to have some sort of showing in the caucuses to stay viable. Those include Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook), Sen. John Marty (DFL-Roseville), former Sen. Steve Kelley, and Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia). If any of those  candidates don’t make a significant showing in the DFL straw poll, we have to assume that their days are numbered as well.

The most curious part is the roster of candidates presumed by most DFLers to be headed for the state convention. These are former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, House Speaker Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis), Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis). Of these, perhaps Thissen has the most at stake. If he doesn’t do well, he’s probably out.

If Entenza doesn’t do well … well, we’re not sure what that means. Entenza hired 15 people to work the caucus circuit, but he’s made no bones about the fact that he’ll be in the DFL primary. Kelliher and Rybak? The fun part to watch is who does well in Minneapolis — and in greater Minnesota. Geography matters hugely for those two.

Where to watch on caucus night

The plan is that all political parties will report their results to Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s office, which will then report the results on the SoS website. We checked in with Ritchie’s communications director, John Aiken, and he told us that details were still being worked out. The various parties — DFL, GOP, Constitution, Green, Independent — have various different “units” (precinct chairs, congressional district chairs, etc.) in charge of reporting. Aiken wasn’t sure how it all was going to work when we spoke with him, but clearly the latest “official” info should show up on the SoS website.

As for reporting, we’ve got the whole Capitol Report/Politics in Minnesota team scattered throughout the metro. Of particular interest: We’ve got two reporters scheduled to ride along with a pair of major candidates (one GOP, one DFL) and file reports.

Check the website for our firsthand reports, both Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Brod says no to Seifert

Gubernatorial candidate Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall) asked Rep. Laura Brod (R-New Prague) to be “considered on his short list” to be his lieutenant governor running mate.

Brod said no, according to several impeccable sources. That’s a big blow to Seifert, and a possible indication that Brod might be supporting the other unabashed conservative in the race for the GOP endorsement: Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano).

Actually, that’s a pretty good indication, given the general consensus in GOP circles that Brod is a great choice for a solid running mate, that there could be an Emmer-Brod ticket in the not-so-distant future.

These same sources also say that Seifert has approached several others — all women — and they have said no.

Parry win bigger than his Senate district

As we wrote last week, the special election to replace retiring Sen. Dick Day (R-Owatonna) was an important one for state Republicans, given that the GOP Senate Caucus was on a five-year special election losing streak. Particularly gratifying for Republicans was the margin of victory: Mike Parry (R), 43 percent; DFLer Jason Engbrecht, 36.5 percent; and Independent Roy Srp, 20 percent.

Both the GOP and DFL (and partisan independent groups) sent lots of mailings and ran radio and television spots in the district. Both parties brought in big party guns: for the GOP, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and for the DFL, U.S. Sen. Al Franken, U.S. Rep. Tim Walz (MN 1), Assistant Senate Majority Leader and Sixth District congressional candidate Tarryl Clark (DFL-St. Cloud) and gubernatorial candidates Mark Dayton, Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis), House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

For GOP state party chair Tony Sutton and Deputy Party Chair Michael Brodkorb, it was a “critical win,” according to Brodkorb. “We consider special elections to be a referendum on state party leadership. To lose would have been a disaster,” he told PIM.

Brodkorb, of course, is also communications director for the Senate GOP Caucus. Winning a special election is one of the benefits of the synergy created by Brodkorb holding both jobs, and the setup is likely to draw criticism from DFLers. Brodkorb says he keeps meticulous track of his time on state business, anticipating some DFL jabs.

Politico correction has GOP buzzing

For a few hours yesterday, state Republicans thought they had tumbled onto political gold. Politico was reporting that DFL Secretary of State Mark Ritchie was U.S. Sen. Al Franken’s guest at President Obama’s State of the Union address. That would have been huge news, given that many Republicans maintain that Ritchie was in cahoots with the Franken campaign during the recount.

But we talked to Politico’s deputy managing editor Tim Grieve, who said it was a simple mistake of one person misconstruing an e-mail as confirmation. Politico posted this correction after our conversation:
“Franni Franken, wife of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), confirms to Politico that she was her husband’s guest tonight. Update: It appears that Franni Franken gave her up highly coveted aisle seat to a very grateful wounded veteran.

“CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported that Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie was the senator’s SOTU guest.”

SoS communications director John Aiken confirmed that Ritchie was not in the U.S. Capitol complex. Rather, he watched the speech from his hotel room in D.C., where he was attending a National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) meeting. One of the most significant events at the NASS meeting is the presentation of the Margaret Chase Smith American Democracy Award. Ritichie was chosen to present the award because his nominee is the winner: former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Ritchie nominated O’Connor last July for her “leadership in addressing threats to the independence of the judicial branch of state and federal governments.”

Wind turbine annoyances gaining attention

So you’ve retired to a nice home in rural Minnesota, to enjoy the rolling hills and quiet birdsong — only to find your peace shattered by the whine of a colossal wind turbine and the flickering shadow that its blades cast over your home. That’s the scene postulated by a series of pieces in the Star Tribune recently, in which the paper examines the serious public health and aesthetic consequences of Minnesota’s investment in wind energy: In November, Katie Humphrey examined an 11-turbine Dakota County wind project facing a “barrage” of critical comments, and a couple of weeks ago Tom Meersman looked at the growing catalog of complaints from concerned citizens statewide. [Also included was a cool infographic about the mechanics of noise pollution.] The Strib editorial board chimed in last Wednesday, with a call to reconsider the minimum setback for turbines in response to public safety concerns.

The deleterious effects of living near a turbine have been documented extensively, including in a Minnesota Department of Health white paper “Public Health Impacts of Wind Turbines” [.pdf, 900K] To summarize, the low-frequency noise produced by turbines seems to be a possible cause of such ailments as sleep disturbances, migraines and depression, according to studies in Sweden, Netherlands and the UK. See the stark image reproduced in the report for proof of the “annoyance” factor.

We caught up with Rep. Andrew Falk (DFL-Murdock) to talk about the legislative prospects of wind turbine permits. Falk’s District 20A has major installations in windy Lincoln County. He’s in favor of keeping local governments in charge of regulating turbine setbacks. The counties, in his mind, understand how to permit properly and with attention to the concerns of residents.

As far as the public health risks are concerned, Falk just doesn’t know. He’s read the literature, but says there have been “few if any” complaints from Lincoln County, an area notable for its high density of turbines. “There can be shadowing,” he admitted, referring to the areas of shade cast by turbine blades, but it was his opinion that the benefits of wind energy outweigh the possible negatives, and he says his constituents haven’t given him any reason to think otherwise.

The other angle that the Strib approached was the idea of rural aesthetics; wind turbines can be seen as destructive to the visual appeal of the landscape. [Nantucket has been engaged in a protracted debate about the visual impact of an offshore turbine project; a recently permitted machine will be colored gray and located farther away than originally planned. An opposing view here.] Those concerns, too, didn’t really sound the alarm for Falk. “Most people think they’re neat-looking,” he said. Falk pointed to Lake Benton, which bills itself as “the Original Wind Power Capital of the Midwest,” as an example of a community that has excelled at turning the energy project into a site for tourism, with bed-and-breakfast-type accommodations and tours of museums and exhibits related to wind power. Falk suggested that some criticism may just stem from the major changes that wind energy represents. Wind will supplant other forms of energy production like coal and natural gas, he said, and there are a lot of entrenched habits — and dollars — on the other side of the issue. We wouldn’t expect the Legislature to take control of the setback issue any time soon.

And then there were six … and counting

Sen. Steve Murphy’s (DFL-Red Wing) surprise retirement announcement last week makes for a total of six legislators who have officially announced that they won’t be seeking re-election. Two more are Sen. Steve Dille (R-Litchfield) and Rep. Karla Bigham (DFL-Cottage Grove). [See Bigham exit interview, after Bits & Pieces.] In addition, Reps. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall) and Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) and Sen. Tarryl Clark (DFL-St. Cloud) have all announced that this session will be their last in the Legislature, as they seek higher office (although Clark’s spokeswoman said she will run again for the Legislature if she doesn’t get the DFL’s endorsement to run against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN6).

Two other senators are widely rumored to also be retiring. They are Sen. Leo Foley (DFL-Coon Rapids) and Sen. Jim Vickerman (DFL-Tracy). Legislative junkies assume that precinct caucuses will bring more retirement announcements.

Bits & Pieces

Congratulations to Capitol Report’s Betsy Sundquist: She won a first-place award from the Minnesota Newspaper Association this week in the “local spot news story” category for a wrap-up story about the Republican National Convention in September 2008. Capitol Report freelance writer Kevin Featherly also won a first-place award in the “human interest story” category for his profile of St. Paul poet laureate Carol Connolly.

Those of us who live and breathe politics are sometimes too close to recognize slices of insanity. One big piece this week was the gubernatorial debate sponsored Wednesday night by the League of Women Voters and the Minnesota News Council. Twenty candidates participated. MPR ran parts of it on “Midday.” We dare anyone to derive something useful from the conversation. Count us among those who are grateful that the field will soon be winnowed.

Obama on Demand. Comcast is offering “special political programming” that will be available to all Minnesota and western Wisconsin Comcast digital cable customers at no additional cost starting today. “Obama: Year One” is the current offering and includes the president’s remarks at the 2009 White House Correspondents dinner, his inaugural address and the State of the Union speech. The channel is in the “Top Picks” section listed on the On Demand channel.

The Citizens League has scheduled an Impartial Courts event for Feb. 2 at Macalester College. G. Barry Anderson, associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, and Leo Brisbois, president of the Minnesota State Bar Association, will talk about the current legislative initiative to adopt merit selection, performance appraisal and retention election for Minnesota judicial office.

TakeAction Minnesota will not be constrained by endorsing just one candidate for governor this year. The progressive org, which has been engaged in the gubernatorial race with its reNEW MN initiative, will select three preferred candidates at its annual meeting Sunday. What do these guys think we have here, instant runoff voting?

The PIM exit interview:  Karla Bigham

Recently we sat down over soup at Eddington’s in downtown Minneapolis with Rep. Karla Bigham (DFL-Cottage Grove) to discuss her retirement.

PIM: You’ve only served three terms. We had you pegged as a legislative lifer. What gives?

KB: I’ve spent six years in office, six years in the Hennepin County attorney’s office [where she works as a paralegal]. Time for me to go to either law or graduate school.

PIM: Was serving as a legislator what you expected?

KB: I kind of knew what I was getting into, because I worked as a research assistant and “floater” legislative assistant in the House DFL Caucus for two years before running for the House.

PIM: What were your favorite parts of the job?

KB: I loved helping constituents and was honored they elected me to serve in St. Paul.

PIM: Least favorite?

KB: Some of the late nights.

PIM: What are you most proud of?

KB: Some of the public safety bills I worked on and passed. The town hall meetings we have in the district. And the annual spring meeting we started where we bring in all the different higher education institutions to the district to meet with prospective students and parents.

PIM: Did you have a legislative mentor, and if so, who?

KB: Rep. Deb Hilstrom (DFL-Brooklyn Center). We have a common interest in public safety and she gave me the opportunity to take the lead on key bills, like the predator offender legislation [which expanded centralizing information about them and prevented them from accessing social media sites].

PIM: You’re a big Vikings fan — what about a new stadium?

KB: I’m very much hoping that something gets worked out. [She declined to offer any funding source(s).]

PIM: We noted in your last bio in “PIM: The Directory” that you’re single. That still true?

KB: Yes, I’m still single. My future husband will look like Tom Cruise circa 1986 … the Top Gun era.

PIM: Any pets?

KB: Two cats. Wait! Don’t use that, or I’ll never find the Tom Cruise lookalike. [Oops.]

It’s been a long time since the Independence Party (IP) dominated a week’s worth of interesting political news. But dominate the IP did, with two prominent Republicans, Tom Horner and Joe Repya, filing to run for governor as IP candidates. They join the three IP candidates already in the race: author Rob Hahn and frequent candidates John Uldrich and Rahn Workcuff.
Repya’s announcement came as a huge surprise to us and somewhat of a mystery. How will “Mr. Republican” Repya run as an Independent? Check out his campaign website and you’ll find pictures of “Support our Troops” rallies with Repya, his wife, Debra Repya, and Laura and George Bush. Repya sports a solid GOP resume, including this notation: “Prior to returning to active duty, Joe Repya was a veterans and military advisor to Norm Coleman during the 2002 Senate campaign and a veterans spokesman for the 2002 and 2006 Governor’s campaign for Tim Pawlenty.”
We couldn’t think of a better person to opine on Repya’s candidacy than Sue Jeffers, who was one of the key people behind Repya’s race to become GOP party chair last June (he was soundly defeated by Tony Sutton). Jeffers described Repya’s candidacy in one word. “Crazy,” she said, and further, “He thinks he’s going to attract a lots of Republicans and that’s not going to happen.”

According to Jeffers, Repya’s been talking about running for months, and telling people that the biggest political mistake he ever made was not challenging Norm Coleman for the endorsement in the 2008 Senate contest. Huh?

On to the credible.

Tom Horner’s also been exploring a run for governor, particularly on Facebook, in the last six weeks or so. He’s wise to be very clear about the fact that he considers his candidacy “exploratory.” As Horner well knows — as anyone who has run for office knows — it’s one thing for people encouraging him to run say, “Great, Tom, I’m all behind you.” But it’s quite another thing for people to say, “Great, Tom, I’m all behind you, and here’s my check.”

Let us be the first to predict Horner will raise the necessary money. [Horner told the St. Paul Pioneer Press' Bill Salisbury that he expects to raise and spend about $2.5 million.] And while we’re at it, we also predict that Horner will be the IP candidate on the ballot in November. It will be fun to see whether Horner can galvanize the political middle where others before him have failed — the notable exception being Jesse Ventura. Last time we checked, Horner was not yet sporting a stringy beard or beads.

Horner a general election game changer

Assuming we’re right, and that Horner raises enough money to proceed and makes it to the general election ballot, the Republicans will find themselves in the unenviable position that Democrats have occupied in the last two gubernatorial elections: watching an IP candidate who will likely draw most of his/her support from the their side. This opens the possibility of a DFL win by a mere plurality of the vote, a luxury that was the exclusive domain of Republicans in the 2002 and 2006 races. Consider the vote percentages from the last two elections:

2006

Tim Pawlenty (R)            46.7 %
Mike Hatch (DFL)             45.7 %
Peter Hutchinson (IP)     6.4 %

2002

Tim Pawlenty (R)           44.4 %
Roger Moe (DFL)             36.5 %
Tim Penny (IP)                16.1 %

It’s much too early to tell how Horner will do, but the numbers show that a credible IP candidate can dramatically affect the outcome of the general election race, whether the IP candidate gets a low percentage (Hutchinson) or a higher one (Penny).

Engaging communications

Congratulations to Brian McClung and Kathleen Geiser! The two are engaged and plan to marry some time this fall. McClung is currently Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s deputy chief of staff and communications director, and before that, press secretary. Geiser is a communications specialist with Ameriprise Financial in downtown Minneapolis. The two first met when Geiser (a Rochester native) worked on Pawlenty’s 2006 reelection campaign but only started dating six months ago. McClung popped the question on the balcony of a resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, on a Saturday night. Who knew McClung was such a romantic?

A special special election for the GOP

Next Tuesday’s state Senate special election to replace retiring Sen. Dick Day (R-Owatonna) is an important one for state Republicans. The candidates are Jason Engbrecht (DFL), Mike Parry (R) and Roy Srp (IP). (Are we the only ones who want to buy Srp a vowel?)

For the GOP Senate caucus, it’s an opportunity to end a five-year special election losing streak. The last special won by the Senate Republicans was in 2005, when Sen. Amy Koch (R- Buffalo) beat DFLer John Deitering and Del Haag (IP) to replacing retiring GOP Sen. Mark Ourada. Since then, the Senate Republicans have lost three special elections:
(1) the 2005 special won by Sen.Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka), who defeated GOPer Judy Johnson to replace GOP Sen. David Gaither, who was leaving to become GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s chief of staff;
(2) the 2005 contest won by Sen. Tarryl Clark (DFL-St. Cloud), who defeated GOPer GOPer Dan Ochsner and IPer Dan Becker to replace Sen. Dave Kleis, who retired to run for mayor of St. Cloud; and
(3) the 2008 special election won by Sen. Kevin Dahle (DFL-Northfield), who defeated former GOP Rep. Ray Cox in his bid to replace retiring GOP Sen. Tom Neuville (appointed to the bench by Pawlenty).

People close to the race in both parties say the Engbrecht/Parry/Srp race is too close to call. Independent expenditures are being made by both DFL and GOP groups, and the pace of activity is expected to heat up from now through the election next Tuesday. State Republicans are hoping for a Parry win to add fuel to the anti-Democratic fire that everyone’s talking about after the U.S. Senate contest in Massachusetts. Whatever happens, it will be too early to attribute GOP success or failure to GOP Senate Caucus chief of staff Cullen Sheehan, who has only been on the job a few weeks. But many Republicans believe the election’s outcome will reflect very much on GOP state party chair Tony Sutton, who was elected in June on a platform that emphasized execution of the basics — like pulling out all stops to win special elections, something the GOP had done well until recent years.

Likely GOP legislative targets?

One of our favorite election-year pastimes is to compile the always-changing list of legislators and districts that both parties are targeting in the general election. Long-time GOP strategists Noah Rouen (now with Public Affairs Company) and Brian McClung (now GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s deputy chief of staff) have provided us with our first 2010 list.

The two are organizing a “Rising Stars” event at which House Minority Leader Republican Leader Rep. Kurt Zellers (R-Maple Grove) and about 15 Minnesota House and Senate GOP candidates are expected to appear. The “Rising Stars” program for GOP legislative candidates, modeled after the congressional Republican “Young Guns” program, is designed to bring early attention to some of the best candidates recruited to run for the Legislature in this November’s election.

Attendees are asked to contribute to individual candidates or to the House or Senate GOP campaign committees. The event will be held January 28 at the always-GOP-popular O’Gara’s Bar in St. Paul.

Here’s a list of GOP candidates planning to participate in the “Rising Stars” event, along with notations as to which DFLers they’re challenging.

State House

Roger Crawford - 8B  [Rep. Tim Faust (DFL- Hinckley)]

Mike LeMieur - 12B [Rep. Al Doty (DFL-Royalton)]

Russ Goudge - 17B [Rep. Jeremy Kalin (DFL-North Branch)]

Sheldon Anderson - 17B [Rep. Jeremy Kalin (DFL-North Branch)]

Mike Benson - 30B [Rep. Andy Welti (DFL-Plainview)]

Kurt Bills - 37B [Rep. Phillip Sterner (DFL-Rosemount)]

Pam Myhre - 40A [Rep. Will Morgan (DFL-Burnsville)]

Pat Mazorol - 41B [Rep. Paul Rosenthal (DFL-Edina)]

Kathy Lohmer - 56A [Rep. Julie Bunn (DFL-Lake Elmo)]

Erik Ogren - 56A [Rep. Julie Bunn (DFL-Lake Elmo)]

Andrea Kieffer - 56B [Rep. Marsha Swails (DFL-Woodbury)]

State Senate

Gretchen Hoffman - 10 [Sen. Dan Skogen (DFL-Hewitt)]

Sean Nienow - 17 [Sen. Rick Olseen (DFL)]

Jim Gander - 30 [Sen. Ann Lynch (DFL-Rochester)]

Jeremy Miller – 31 [Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes (DFL-Winona)]

Ted Lilly- 56 [Sen. Kathy Saltzman (DFL-Woodbury)]
Karin Housley - 57 [Sen. Katie Sieben (DFL-Cottage Grove)]

Does wine in grocery stores = more money in the general fund?

Regular readers of the PIM Morning Report know that we try to flag stories about issues in other states that mirror matters before the Minnesota Legislature. One of the phenomena we’ve noted in recent months is that groups pushing policy changes are trying to reconfigure those issues into fiscal ones. In other words, groups are trying to frame what would normally be termed policy changes as fiscal remedies for ailing state coffers.

Perhaps the most striking example of this phenomenon is what’s going on in New York concerning the sale of wine in grocery stores. Last year, New York grocers introduced a simple bill to allow them to sell wine, and it was soundly defeated by the state’s liquor stores. But the grocers of New York got busy, coming up with a comprehensive package that gives something to the liquor industry. This year’s proposed “Wine Industry and Liquor Store Revitalization Act” would eliminate Prohibition-era restrictions by allowing liquor store owners to expand their product offerings to such items as wine accessories and snack foods, which they’re currently prohibited from doing. (Minnesota, of course, has a similar law.) It would also allow wine to be sold in outlets that are currently licensed to sell beer.

Perhaps the biggest coup for the New York grocers was getting the buy-in from Democratic Gov. David Paterson, whose administration estimates the package would add $147 million annually to the state of New York. The bill is now part of Paterson’s proposed $1 billion package of new taxes and fees.

Certainly there are differences between how New York and Minnesota currently regulate liquor distribution and sales, but the key point they have in common is that Minnesota also has a liquor law framework predicated on a post-Prohibition market order. Proponents of the revision to New York law now include the New York Farm Bureau, the New York State Grape Growers Association, the New York Wine Industry Association, and the faction of liquor stores that stand to benefit. What percentage of the New York liquor store industry supports the bill is unclear. But the liquor stores that oppose it have taken to calling Wegman’s, a major regional grocery store chain, “greedy grocers.”

We’ll keep you posted on what happens in New York. Meanwhile, we checked with the Minnesota Grocers Association. The group does not plan to pursue wine in grocery stores this year, according to Jamie Pfuhl, the group’s executive director.

The big push in liquor policy this year is the bill to allow liquor stores to be open on Sundays. For more on this issue, check out Capitol Report’s Betsy Sundquist’s story here. And, do note that proponents of Sunday sales have also framed the issue in terms of increasing state revenues. They estimate that Sunday sales would add $7.6 million to $10.6 million a year to the general fund. As Sundquist writes, that’s a drop in the keg when it comes to our total deficit, but every million counts.

Triumvirate of talent for Seifert

A three-judge panel will hear the complaint filed by Minneapolis history school teacher Warren Kaari against DFL City Council President Barb Johnson next Tuesday. In filing his complaint, Kaari simply attached this City Pages story to the complaint form. Kaari, by the way, is the husband of three-term Minneapolis School Board chair Anne Kaari.

If you aren’t familiar with the City Pages story, here’s the gist: Johnson was reimbursed for some hair appointments and dry-cleaning she counted as campaign expenses.

What might make this hearing particularly amusing is that your GOP publisher, Sarah Janecek, will be testifying, generally, about the higher personal appearance standards women are held to on campaigns and in the media. As an “expert” on the importance of a decent hairstyle on the campaign trail and on television, Janecek is likely to venture into hairy territory, including her own notorious inability to successfully wield a hairdryer.

Bits & Pieces

Happy first birthday to the Goff & Howard blog, where the PR and public affairs pros at G&H put their spin on “the information we find most interesting – trends in the ever-changing media, the latest social media crazes, updates and insights from our State Capitol.” Check out their five tips for bloggers here. We’ll add one more: Don’t — like G&H — make your blog hard to read by using funky color combinations of type and text.

We’ve been remiss in not noting the marriage of of PR whiz Nate Dybvig and his new wife, Liz.

Mordecai Specktor, writing for the American Jewish World, has an interview with Sam Kaplan this week. The piece focuses on the DFL activist’s role as ambassador to Morocco—one of few Jews to serve as US ambassador to an Arab nation, Specktor notes. Sam and Sylvia seem to be doing well in their new home; read for yourself at AJW.

Lots of pols were in the mix at the MCCL pro-life rally at the Capitol today. Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Norm Coleman, Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN6) and  Erik Paulsen (R-MN3) were a few notable faces. Legislators from both houses (and both sides of the aisle) braved the cold, too.

Charley Shaw reported for PIM this week on the Minnesota reverberations of the US Supreme Court’s landmark campaign finance ruling. Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) has gotten specific about his legislative proposals to push back against the SCOTUS decision; look for this to be an interesting fight this session.

The National Legaue of Cities has appointed St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman to chair the 2010 Council on Youth, Education, and Families. Coleman has highlighted several St. Paul initiatives (in the realm of after-school programs, foreclosure assistance, and investment in historic neighborhoods) that he believes could be useful models for other cities.

A number of Hennepin County libraries are hosting workshops that could be invaluable to certain residents. Foreclosure information workshops are scheduled for three libraries, and will feature Q&As and free confidential counseling from the Minnesota Home Ownership Center. In a tough time for many homeowners, this is a great service from Hennepin County. Three sessions are planned; here’s the schedule. An informative document on foreclosure is also available for a reference.

Strictly for legislative wonks: the Legislative Reference Library has continued to expand its resources of Minnesota legislative history with a contribution from Secretary of the Senate Peter Wattson. They’ve posted a chart showing the legislative committee deadline dates ranging back to 1971, along with a little history about committee deadlines. We’re positive this is going to come in handy for a PIM story someday!

Center of the American Experiment is holding their second annual celebration of the late John Brandl, former dean of the Humphrey Institute. The keynote this year will be delivered by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Director of the John Templeton Center for Thrift and Generosity. The February 18 event is free and open to the public, and begins at 4 p.m. at the Humphrey Center. Registration is appreciated, online or by phone to Peter Zeller at 612-338-3605.

While hopping between committee meetings in the State Office Building Thursday, we saw an unfamiliar figure. Gov. Tim Pawlenty doesn’t often tread those halls, but we snapped him chatting with the Associated Press’ Brian Bakst at the stairs. Talk of “Facebook” could be overheard, so we’re betting the exchange was fodder for this AP story: Pawlenty has no plans to attend Vikings game against Saints.

File under Minneapolis Minutiae: We’re fairly sure we saw Rep. Karen Clark (DFL-Minneapolis) writing in committee this week with a clicky pen from Lowry Hill Liquors. The pens—free for the taking near the checkout line—are ubiquitous in homes and businesses around the nearby neighborhoods in Minneapolis.