Political Party

Coleman will help fight Farm Bill veto

posted by Edward Felker, P-B Washington Bureau

Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn. and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, told reporters Thursday that he backs the Farm Bill emerging from talks between the House and Senate and will work to see the Senate override a threatened Bush veto.

"The president has indicated today he will veto the Farm Bill. That would be a terrible mistake," Coleman said in his weekly press call. "The president's wrong if he vetoes the Farm Bill. I will work hard to override that veto. Perhaps it won't get to that point."

Both he and Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato, who sits on the House Agriculture Committee, on Thursday defended the bill against claims by Bush and the Environmental Working Group, among others, that the proposed final bill does too little to curtail payouts to wealthy farmers and wealthy farm owners who make significant non-farm income.

Walz, in his own conference call with reporters Thursday, said he believes the final product, though not yet published, will be "good bill for Minnesota."  He said the president is holding up the bill over what Walz characterized as the relatively narrow area of direct subsidies, which are paid no matter what the market price of the crop. Walz noted that while they could come down more, they are being cut by $313 million over five years.

The president is also reportedly balking at higher income limits than he proposed, with farmers making up to $1.9 million a year in combined farm and non-farm income still able to receive subsidies, well above the $200,000 annual limit Bush sought and near the $2.5 million current limit.

Walz thinks the votes are there to override a veto, at least in the Senate, based on what he's heard. But in the House? "I think we're getting them over here," Walz ventured.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who also sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee, was largely quiet about the bill on Thursday. She put out a statement in support of the tentative House-Senate deal on Saturday did not react to the president's veto threat.

Coleman is running for a second six year term in the Senate, while Walz is seeking his second two-year term in the House.

Stevenson decides not to run

After a public, two-month decision-making process, Mitch Stevenson, a well-known former movie theater manager, announced this morning that he would not be running for the state House of Representatives — at least this year.
State GOP leaders had aggressively recruited the Rochester resident and saw the combination of his name recognition and business credentials as an ideal political resume. They had in fact called him their “dream candidate” and had hoped to run him in House District 30A, a seat currently held by Rep. Tina Liebling.
But Stevenson said he could never really convince himself that he was right for the GOP Party — either major party for that matter.
“I told (GOP House Minority Leader Marty Seifert) a number of times that I kept waiting for that Eureka moment that would really put me over the 95 percent mark. But to me, there are still too many questions out there about the party — about both parties,” Stevenson said.

"Leadership" PACs preferred by six of 10 MN lawmakers

posted by Edward Felker, P-B Washington Bureau

By no means new, so-called "leadership" political action committees formed by members of Congress to raise and spend money on other politicians have become common on Capitol Hill. A new roundup of members who run the PACs was published on Wednesday  by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The group found at least 232 members of the 435-member House have the committtees.

Among the eight-member Minnesota House delegation, freshman Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato, has not formed a leadership PAC, and has no plans to do so, his political director Richard Carlbom said today. The others without the committees are Republicans Michele Bachmann and Jim Ramstad and Democrat Keith Ellison.

The four Minnesota House lawmakers with leadership PACs are Democrats James Oberstar (The Mesabi Fund), Betty McCollum (Betty PAC), Collin Peterson (Valley PAC) and Republican John Kline (Freedom and Security PAC).

Both Minnesota senators have leadership PACs: Republican Norm Coleman has his Northstar PAC, and Democrat Amy Klobuchar has the similarly named Follow the North Star Fund.

PACs have to file their own fundraising and expense reports to the Federal Election Commission. Check them out at the FEC's search page.

CREW is not a fan of leadership PACs,  because donors can use them to shower much more money on a lawmaker beyond the amounts they can give to their election campaigns. While individuals can only give $4,600 per election cycle and other political action committees can give $10,000 per election cycle to a candidate's campaign, those same donors, both individuals and PACs, can give another $5,000 per year to the leadership PAC.

The FEC has posted a handy donation limits chart  on its web site. A list of current donations to candidates by leadership PACs, is up at the Center for Responsive Politics site. Click through to see the overall fundraising and spending by the committees.

Leadership PACs are largely unregulated in how they spend that money, as long as they adhere to the limits in donations to candidates. That means they can pay for travel, dinners, staff, offices and the like.

CREW's Executive Director Melanie Sloan told me this week leadership PACs are a concern for just that reason.  "The problem with them is that people use them like slush funds," she said.

Franken launches "green" Senate campaign swing in Faribault

posted by Edward Felker, P-B Washington Bureau

DFL Senate candidate  Al Franken, who hopes to knock off incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., this fall, was to kick off an Earth Day-themed  "Green Jobs" campaign swing today in Faribault. The weeklong tour, featuring Al in his hybrid Ford SUV, was to feature stops for meetings and roundtable events in Faribault, Zimmerman, and locations in the Twin Ciites, his campaign said in an announcement.

Earth Day is tomorrow, April 22. Franken is to talk about his support for a carbon  cap-and-trade system to reduce emissions 80 percent by 2050, the scaling back of tax incentives to oil producers, and increased government spending on research and development of renewable fuels, transit, and so-called "green buildings."

Campaign cash totals emerge in Walz, Kline races

posted by Edward Felker, P-B Washington Bureau

First quarter congressional campaign finance reports are starting to roll in, and not surprisingly, incumbent Reps. Tim Walz, D-Mankato, and John Kline, R-Lakeville, hold big cash cushions.

Walz, a freshman elected in 2006 in the 1st Congressional District, topped the $1.5 million mark in cash raised for his re-election campaign. His latest report to the Federal Election Commission shows  donations of $352,044 for the first three months of the year. He reported $1,024,333 in cash on hand and no debts.

Walz said in a news release that his first quarter results were based on 1,200 new donors and 5,300 individual donors for the campaign to date. Overall, individual donors have given about 60 percent of his receipts, with special-interest political action committees giving most of the balance, with the rest from party committees.

Walz' two GOP challengers, who will meet in a September primary, had yet to file with the agency in advance of the 1st quarter reporting deadline next Tuesday. They are physician Brian Davis of Rochester, who won the party endorsement last month, and state Sen. Dick Day of Owatonna.

Day said he raised about $25,000 for the first quarter but did not pursue donors aggressively because the state Senate is still in session. He said he was uncomfortable meeting with donors before adjournment in mid-May.

Davis left a voice mail message yesterday evening, saying he raised about $59,000 in the first quarter and had about $50,000 in cash on hand.

Kline, who is running for a fourth term in the south-suburban 2nd Congressional District, reported  donations of $194,106 for the first quarter and had $509,926 in cash on hand. His total donations for the campaign were $833,985, of which individuals gave 64 percent.

His leading DFL challenger, Iraq war veteran Steve Sarvi of Watertown, had not yet filed but expects to report overall donations of $114,946, including $42,111 raised in March, his spokeswoman Bridget Cusick said. He ended the quarter with $38,672  in cash on hand, subject to last minute revisions.

Cusick said she expects fundraising to quicken after Sarvi steps down from his job as the city administrator in Victoria effective May 9, just after the district nominating convention on May 3. He will keep his position as a sergeant in the Minnesota National Guard, but reaches the retirement-eligible 20 year service milestone this summer.

Sarvi said in an interview that fundraising is coming along slower than he would like, but that recent endorsements helped bring in cash, as did a fundraiser with former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D. in Minneapolis. He was also planning a fundraiser tomorrow evening at the Rochester home of DFL activist Mary Moen with former Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., as the headliner.

Walz seeks $211.5 million for 47 projects

posted by Edward Felker, P-B Washington Bureau

(UPDATED: Late in the day, Rep. Walz reversed course and opted to disclose the amount he requested for each project, after a conference call with reporters in which he was asked to disclose the information and explain why he was withholding it. The post below has been edited to include the numbers issued by Walz both to reporters and on his official web site, and an explanation of the move by his spokeswoman.)

Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato, today issued a list of 47 "earmark" requests for 2009 appropriations totaling $211,509, 561. Some are repeats from last year, such as $20 million for improvements to Highway 14, and some new ones, including $4 million sought for the four-lane expansion of 55th Street in Rochester,  and $4.5 million for the dredging and restoration of Lake Zumbro. 

Walz initially did not reveal how much he asked for each project. He said in a conference call today that he did not want to affect fundraising by non-profit groups by raising expectations of congressional funding, because few will get any money at all and those that get money will likely not get funding at the level requested by Walz. He said, however, that he will release his requested amounts for public works projects on a case-by-case basis. Later in the day, he opted to release requested totals for each project.

His spokeswoman Meredith Salsbery said Walz did so to emphasize his commitment to transparency in seeking the projects.

Other Rochester projects Walz backs include:

-- the Incredible Years curriculum at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, $100,000;
-- Bolder Options youth mentorship program, to extend its services to Rochester, $250,000;

-- Sheriff's Youth Program in Rochester and Dodge County, $750,000;

-- Rochester Transit Operations Center 60-bus garage, $2.1 million.

Walz, who represents the southern 1st Congressional District, acknowledged that the climate is not good in Washington for earmark projects and Congress may end the year this fall in a budget stalemate without approving local money. "We're still optimistic, but we tell people not to count on it. They're going to have to do their budgeting accordingly without this ability to be there (for them)," he said.

See all of Walz's projects at his official web site. The biggest requests were for the Lewis and Clark Water System in southwestern Minnesota, at $35 million, Minnesota National Guard Mankato field maintenance facility, $16.6 million, and a combined $70 million for the Upper Mississippi River navigation and restoration programs that will be part of joint requests with lawmakers along the river.

Chatfield brass band lending library

Out of literally hundreds of projects, a proposal to build a brass band music lending library has suddenly taken on symbolic status in the debate between Gov. Tim Palwney and DFL-led Legislature over the state's spending priorities. Pawlenty used his line-item veto to eliminate the $400,000 project in the $925 million bonding bill, one of 52 projects that the governor axed from the bill. Pawlenty said DFL legislative leaders' decision to fund the sheet music library while refusing to fund a veterans home in Minneapolis reflected their "misplaced priorities."

Today Rep. Ken Tschumper, a Democrat from La Crescent, sent out a press statement deploring the govenor's decision as "shortsighted. Here's portion of the statement.

GOVERNOR PAWLENTY USES CHATFIELD BRASS AS POLITICAL PINCUSHION
Sound the trumpets and bring in the brass band - the Governor's at it again

"For unexplainable reasons, this governor used his line-item veto power to cancel support for an internationally renowned treasure."

"The Republican governor added insult to injury when he referred to the Legislature's funding of the project as 'inconceivable,' and discounted the project's legitimacy. To me, what is inconceivable is that Governor Pawlenty could be so shortsighted. This relatively small investment would have been extremely beneficial to the Chatfield area. Instead, the governor decided to play politics with the interests of Chatfield."

To run or not to run

The Mitch Stevenson watch continues. The former director of entertainment marketing for CineMagic Theatres in Rochester said this morning that he's still mulling a run for the state House of Representatives, but hasn't made up his mind.
"The jury is still out. Still have no answer for you," Stevenson said this morning.
Repubicans have aggressively sought to recruit the 42-year-old Stevenson to run against DFL Rep. Tina Liebling, who represents House District 30A. Republicans have referred to him as their "dream candidate," because of his engaging personal style, strong name recognition within the community, and business background.
Stevenson, an African American, made clear, as he has in previous interviews, that he is still studying whether he would be a good fit in the GOP Party, which has no black legislators in St. Paul (There is only one African American in the state legislature).
Stevenson promised this reporter that I would be first to know once his decision is made, behind his wife and GOP House Minority Leader Marty Seifart.
"We still have time we feel. We still want to line up some more ducks," Stevenson said.

Walz brings Pelosi to hear local vets

posted by Edward Felker, P-B Washington Bureau

Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato, has won a visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on April 21 for a meeting with 1st Congressional District veterans, but they'll have to drive to the Twin Cities.

Walz's spokeswoman Meredith Salsbery said Pelosi, D-Calif., cannot travel to the district, which stretches along southern Minnesota and includes Rochester, Winona, and Mankato. The place and exact time of the meeting will be announced later, and attendees will be included by invitation. The size of the gathering has yet to be determined, but attendees will include representatives of veterans service organizations, she said.

Walz, who is a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, has held six veterans town hall meetings this year with a seventh planned this weekend, Salsbery said.

She released a letter Walz sent to Pelosi on Feb. 28 praising her handling of veterans issues and outlining southern Minnesota veterans priorities. They include, as one might expect, what's known as "full funding" for veterans benefits and health care. The Veterans Administration is subject to annual appropriations and its budget often falls billions of dollars short of veterans needs as projected by  veterans organizations. Walz said veterans also want more extensive rural services and better mileage reimbursement rates, among other issues.

Normally a national party leader such as Pelosi will help raise money when they visit the rank-and-file in their home states. Earlier today I said in in this blog that the Walz campaign was unsure if a fundraiser could be held given the speaker's schedule; now that's changed. Richard Carlbom, Walz's political director, said this evening that Pelosi will appear at a fundraising event with Walz in the Twin Cities as part of her visit.

GOP First District Convention, Davis wins

Yesterday's GOP First Congressional District Convention on Saturday in which Mayo Clinic physician Brian Davis was endorsed was surprising in several ways. Never have I been to a convention where the business of endorsing a candidate was wrapped up so quickly. It perhaps wasn't shocking, but it was surprising.
Talking with state Rep. Randy Dammer afterwards, it was clear they had intended to win the endorsement and move forward into the primary and general election.
When Demmer made his speech to the convention, there was a lot of excitement on the stage with the boom sticks and people wearing "Demmer for Congress" hats. But it was all confined to the stage. The response from the convention was flat, with only a few people rising up to applaud Demmer. On the other hand, when Davis gave his speech, surrounded by a lot less paraphernalia, he obviously struck a chord with the audience. Most rose up in a standing ovation. It was the biggest clue that the months of work Davis had spent in cultivating delegates had apparently paid off.