Political Notebook

Dayton's bonding bill proposal gets chilly reception from GOP

This morning, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton unveiled plans for a $1 billion construction borrowing bill. He specifically identifies $531 million worth of bonding projects to fund — including $28 million for the Rochester Mayo Civic Center expansion. Joining him for the big announcement was Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede who praised the governor for including the Rochester priority in the bonding proposal.

He said the project would have a $44 million impact and create 400 construction jobs and 800 permanent jobs.

"It's new money, it helps the hospitality industry again not only for the city of Rochester but for the entire state," Brede said.

Dayton's plan leaves it up to the legislature to determine how the other $469 million are spent.

But GOP-leaders made clear in a news conference following the governor's announcement that they have no interest in a large bonding bill. They said they are not willing to support any bonding bill except one for emergency items such as flooding. Senate Capital Investment Chair Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, joined his GOP colleagues in saying now is not the time to borrow money for construction projects.

"Now I think the emergency obviously is our budget deficit, the emergency is getting jobs going in Minnesota and that needs to be our focus and our priority," he said.

When asked by a reporter if Rochester should wait for the Mayo Civic Center expansion, "Senjem replied, "Given what I said, yes."

Click here to Download 2011 Dayton bonding proposal

Roch mayor to join Dayton for bonding bill announcement

Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede is slated to join DFL Gov. Mark Dayton at an 11:15 a.m. news conference at the state Capitol. Dayton is expected to unveil his $1 billion bonding bill proposal. If I were a betting person, I would put money down that the $34 million the city of Rochester has been seeking to expand the Mayo Civic Center is in that bill.

Dayton has said he will put forward $500 million in projects he supports funding and will allow the legislature to determine where the other $500 million should be spent. He argues this is a great way to create needed jobs in the private sector. But Republican legislative leaders have made it clear they are not interested in a large construction borrowing bill this session.

Senate Capital Investment Chair Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, said last week that he doubts there will be any kind of bonding bill this session. He has said he will not introduce the Mayo Civic Center funding bill this session and questions whether he will bring it up next year — a traditional bonding bill year.

The Mayo Civic Center has been a major priority for the city, the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce and the Rochester Convention and Visitors Bureau. It was vetoed from the bonding bill last session by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Walz rips Bachmann's budget plan for proposing cuts to veterans

News that Minnesota GOP Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has issued a budget-cutting proposal that includes cuts to veterans' disability benefits drew a quick response from 1st District DFL Rep. Tim Walz who served 24 years in the National Guard.

The Mankato Democrat issued the following statement:

“We have to have an aggressive, long-term plan to tackle our nation’s debt, but attempting to balance the budget on the backs of veterans who have risked life and limb in service of our country is unacceptable. I believe we can and should work together to find reasonable and common-sense cuts that will reduce our debt, but as a generation of warriors returns from two wars, our most solemn responsibility is to make sure they have the care and benefits they have earned.”

Bachmann posted on her website a proposal to trim $400 billion in federal spending. That includes $4.5 billion in savings by freezing Department of Veterans Affairs heath care spending and reducing veterans' disability benefits. The proposal is also getting criticized by some veterans groups.

On her website, Bachmann writes, "I’m calling for Congress to do the hard work of making real and necessary cuts in federal spending. I have put the following list on the table for discussion and I’m calling on other members of Congress to do the same." 

And the hotdish winner is.....Klobuchar!

DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar today won the first "Hot Dish Off" among members of the Minnesota Congressional delegation. In a blind taste test, Klobuchar's Taconite Tater Tot Hot Dish beat out the other competitors.

"Given the fine quality of the other hot dishes, this is truly an honor. I think the combination of the tater tots, pepper jack cheese, and unique taconite hot dish name gave us the edge," Klobuchar said in a statement.

Yesterday, DFL Sen. Al Franken announced he would host the bipartisan, bicameral hot dish showdown as a way to bring Minnesota's members of Congress together at th start of the session.

1st District DFL Rep. Tim Walz netted the second place spot with his Chicken Mushroom Wild Rice Hot Dish. Asking him about the competition yesterday, Walz said the secret weapon in his dish was a homemade cream of mushroom sauce.

"Last night, we focused on what unites us, what issues we can work together on and spent time with friends from across the political aisle," said Rep. Walz in a statement. "Today we'll share our hot dish recipes and I hope we'll continue in that tradition in this next Congress by sharing our ideas and working together to get things done for all Minnesotans."

Also competing were Franken with his Wild Rice and Turkey Hot Dish; DFL Rep. Betty McCollum with a Pork, Cranberry & Wild Rice Hot Dish; GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann with her Minnesota Oktoberfeast Hot Dish; and DFL Rep. Ellison with his Tuna Noodle Hot Dish.

Getting hungry? You can get the recipes here.

State of the Union, followed by hot dish showdown!

DFL Sen. Al Franken is sponsoring the first ever hotdish competition among Minnesota's Congressional delegation tomorrow in the wake of tonight's State of the Union by the president. The bipartisan, bicameral "Hot  Dish Off" gives members of Congress the chance to show off their Minnesota culinary skills. In a news release, Franken said the goal is to bring together all members of the delegation to celebrate Minnesota before getting down to the hard legislative work ahead. He said he is hoping to make this an annual event.

The entries will be judged in a blind taste test by former Minnesota GOP Congressmen Vin Weber, Democratic Congressman Gerry Sikorski and MinnPost reporter Derek Wallbank. Minnesota State Society member Megan Ivory Carr will tally the votes and announce the winner.

Now word yet on what hot dishes will be presented. I'm guessing someone goes for the classic tater tot hotdish.

Senjem willing to sponsor Mayo Civic Center bill

I wrote a story for Saturday's newspaper about the reluctance of some  Rochester area Republican lawmakers to support a bill seeking $34 million from the state to expand the city's Mayo Civic Center. Two newly-elected GOP House members — Rep. Mike Benson of Rochester and Rep. Duane Quam of Byron — declined to co-sponsor the bill arguing that given the state's financial situation now is not the time to be putting forward these kinds of projects. DFL Rochester Rep. Tina Liebling, sponsor of the bill in the House, was trying to find someone to carry the bill in the Senate. Rochester GOP Sen. Carla Nelson deferred to Senjem, who chairs the Capital Investment Committee.

In a voicemail message, Senjem said he has not had a chance to talk to Nelson about who is going to sponsor the bill. But if Nelson is not interested, Senjem said "I will certainly introduce it on behalf of the city putting the bill in play."

But when it comes to the prospects this year for the civic center bill, Senjem is not optimistic. He said even though  DFL Gov. Mark Dayton will put forward a $1 billion bonding bill proposal, Republicans are not willing to go along with that.

"I would not expect that we would have anything close to a significant bonding bill this year if we have one at all," he said.

That means Rochester's civic center requests likely would not make the cut this year. But Senjem said it should be considered for next year's bonding bill, which is traditonally much larger.

Dayton issues order to speed up environmental permitting

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton announced today he is signing an executive order aimed at speeding up the environmental permitting process in the state. In a nutshell, the order requires both the Pollution Control Agency and the Department of Natural Resources to decide within 150 days whether to issue an environmental or natural resources permit. Right now, the PCA is averaging 180 days.

The order also requires the commissioners to set a goal for their agencies to decide within 30 days after an environmental impact statement is finally approved  whether to issue the permit. The PCA commissioner will also be required to report to the governor within 60 days any recommendations for making Minnesota rules more consistent with federal regulations so that, under certain conditions, construction could begin before a water discharge permit is issued. The PCAs commissioner would also be required to explain the logic behind any air quality or hazardous waste or water quality standards that are more stringent than the federal standards.

Dayton said he believes these changes can be made without hurting the environment.

"I've viewed this as an opportunity to support both sound economic growth and create additional jobs and protect the environment," he said.

The executive order implements several proposals in bills introduced by the Republican-led Legislature. Dayton said he moved ahead with all the items he could do by executive order. That leaves two other GOP proposals. The first would eliminate district court review of environmental review decisions and send all appeals directly to the Court of Appeals. The second would allow a project proposer the option to prepare the draft Environmental Impact Statement.

Dayton said he does not have a position on those two proposals at this time but is open to studying them.

 

Mayor personally lobbies president on visiting Rochester

Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede this morning got a chance to personally pitch to President Obama the idea of visiting Rochester.

Brede is in Washington, D.C. attending a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting. The president addressed the group this morning and afterwards Brede got a chance to speak to the president.

"I did get to shake his hand and told him he’s got to get to Rochester and we’ve got to show him how medicine is paid for based on value — not other things," Brede said.

The Rochester mayor also made his pitch about Obama visiting the home of Mayo Clinic to a presidential aide and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. He said Sebelius told him "we're working on it."

Brede added, "We’ll see. You never know. It’s all networking."

The mayor also joined all the other mayors at the conference in signing a "Civility Accord" in the wake of the attempted assassination of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. You can read more about that here.

 

Mayo Clinic applauds pushed up timeline for Medicaid expansion

Mayo Clinic welcomed Gov. Mark Dayton's announcement on Thursday morning that early enrollment in Medicaid will begin March 1. Officials with former GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty had said the transition would take until Oct. 1.

"Mayo Clinic supports early enrollment in Medicaid to help serve the most vulnerable among us, and we applaud Gov. Dayton for expediting this process. Public policy should be patient-centered, and early enrollment will help people get the care they need," Mayo Clinic spokesman Bryan Anderson said in a written statement.

For Mayo Clinic, the early enrollment is good news for the bottom line. It means that $1.3 billion in federal money will be available for health care providers. Anderson said he could not estimate how much the clinic expects to save in uncompensated care costs by the enrollment timeline being pushed up by seven months. But officials had estimated not doing the early enrollment would cost Mayo Clinic and Mayo Health System between $15 million to $25 million through October 2013.

But expect plenty more debate on the Medicaid expansion. Republicans who oppose the expansion have vowed to push through a bill repealing Dayton's decision. Meanwhile, Dayton has vowed to veto any such measure.

 

Nelson hosts 'listen-in' meeting on Saturday

Newly-elected Republican Sen. Carla Nelson of Rochester announced she will host a "listen-in" meeting at a local grocery store.

The meeting will be from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Hy-Vee South, 500 Crossroads Dr. S.W., in Rochester. The goal of the event is to get public input on the legislative session. Residents are encouraged to turn out and share their thoughts.