Political Notebook

Dayton becoming "less optimistic" about a budget deal by deadline

During an interview with the Post-Bulletin today, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton said he is getting "less confident" that a budget deal can be reached by the May 23 deadline given the dispute over the basic budget numbers.

Earlier this week during a visit to Rochester, Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, R-Buffalo, said she does not consider the state's fiscal analysis of the GOP's budget being $1 billion out of balance to be nonpartisan.

"First of all, they are not nonpartisan analysts that have said that there is a billion dollar (gap). That's the governor's appointees who are saying that," Koch said.

Commissioners for Minnesota Management and Budget and the Minnesota Department of Revenue sent the letter to Republicans voicing their concerns with the Republican's budget based on fiscal analysis done by state staff.

Dayton's response?

"I am just really shocked that she would say that because it basically means we are running a political shop that doesn't have integrity to it," Dayton said.

He added he is "less optimstic" about getting a budget deal by the end of session "when I hear comments like that."

Dayton said one of the reasons he chose Jim Schowalter as MMB commissioner is because he had served during Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's administration. He added that except for one staff member who left because she was pregnant, the staff doing the fiscal notes for bills has not changed since Pawlenty was governor.

"If we can't agree to those two (agencies) as the arbiters of revenue and spending, I have said they are speaking Latin and I am speaking Greek," he said.

 

Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage surfaces at Capitol

A group of House and Senate Republican lawmakers announced Tuesday they are introducing a constitutional amendment that would prohibit same-sex marriage. If passed, the measure would go to the voters in November 2012.

One of the bill sponsors, Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, said they want Minnesotans to have plenty of time to consider the amendment, which would define marriage as between a man and a woman.

"Allowing a number of politicians or heaven forbid activists judges to define marriage to us would simply not be acceptable," Limmer said.

Democrats blasted Republicans for pushing a divisive social issue at a time when they say the GOP's focus needs to be on solving the state's $5 billion budget deficit by the May 23 deadline.

"This does nothing to set our economy on the right track and in fact.there is evidence that shows that those places that do not embrace diversity, that don't embrace all people and the kinds of contributions they make, don't do as well economically," said Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis.

Republicans said they expect there will be legislative hearings this week on the proposal. The legislature has a self-imposed deadline of Friday to pass policy-related bills through key committees. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday reiterated his oppose to a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. He also added that the state law already defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

"Denying future generations from making their own reasoned decisions about what they think is appropriate is a big mistake," Dayton said. But in the end the governor has no say on what happens with the bill. Proposed constitutional amendments do not need the governor's signature before heading to the voters.

Senate vote on Voter ID bill could come this week

GOP legislative leaders said during a press conference this morning in Rochester they are planning to move aggressively to get a bill passed that would require voters to show photo ID in order to vote.

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on the bill tomorrow. Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch said the Senate could take up the bill this week. A similar measure is also working its way through the House.

Legislative leaders said they were pleased to hear DFL Gov. Mark Dayton say he might be willing to consider signing a Voter ID bill. DFLers in the legislature have been strongly opposed to such a measure arguing it would create major burdens for some legal voters from casting their ballots. But Republicans say photo ID is needed to protect against voter fraud. Rep. Mike Benson, R-Rochester, is sponsoring a voter ID bill in the House.

Dayton has said in order to consider such a bill it would have to include a requirement for quarterly campaign finance reporting in order to improve disclosure about campaign spending. Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers said during the press conference that the GOP is willing to consider including that in order to make a deal. Koch said lawmakers plan to work closely with the governor and his staff on the bill.

"The question is will the governor sign it and we are going to be working very hard to get a signature on that," she said.

Drazkowski says Best Villain Award a "badge of honor"

City Pages recently announced its best of awards and GOP Rep. Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa won the title of "Best Villain of 2011."

Why Drazkowski? According to the City Pages article, "Drazkowski first made waves last year by calling for an Arizona-style immigration law in Minnesota. Since then he's shown the kind of hustle you'd expect from our best villain, sponsoring laws that would make English the only official language, require welfare recipients to submit to humiliating drug tests, and repeal the Pay Equity Act, which makes sure local governments don't pay women less than men for the same work. He's no Bachmann, but the kid is just getting started."

And besides his politics, City Pages notes Drazkowski's nickname of Draz "has great villain potential."

So what does Drazkowski think about all this? He said some people sent him a link to the story and he considers his best villain title "a badge of honor."

He added, "If it makes me a villain to point out the fact that fiscal responsibility is not happening in areas of government and identify and suggest models of government that aren't working, I guess that's a good title."

He said he is also happy to join previous Best Villain winners former GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty and GOP Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

Walz to present medals to WWII veteran in Roch tomorrow

1st District DFL Rep. Tim Walz will be in Rochester tomorrow morning to present a set of replacement medals to local World War II veteran Dr. Robert Sabbann. The veteran will get his medals as he prepares to head out on an honor flight to see the World War II Memorial in Washington  D.C. next week. Walz's office helped make sure Sabbann received his medals.

The congressman will present those medals to Sabbann at Soldiers Field Memorial in Rochester. Joining him will be Pete Mathias, Southeast Minnesota Honor Flight treasurer.

Olmsted GOP blast RCTC leaders for attending DFL fundraiser

The Republican Party of Olmsted County sent out a press release this morning blasting Rochester Community and Technical College President Don Suppala and other college leaders for hosting a House DFL Caucus fundraiser tonight. They cite a flier sent out by the Minnesota House DFL Caucus that lists Supalla, RCTC Vice President Michael Bequette and RCTC Faculty President Chad Israelson as hosts for the fundraiser. The event will be at Bequette's Rochester home.

Republican Party of Olmsted County Chair Bruce Kaskubar issued the following statement: “I am extremely disappointed that the RCTC leaders — whose institution and individual jobs are supported by state taxpayers whether Democratic, Republican, or independent — are lending their names and titles to assist partisan fund-raising.”

He adds that by using their official positions to raise money for a political party, these individuals are violating MnSCU policies. You can see the full press release here.

Republicans are calling on the three RCTC employees to cancel their participation in the event and move it to a different venue. I have a call into RCTC President Don Suppala to get his side of the story, but have not heard back yet. I'll update the blog after I talk to him.

Carrie Lucking, director of public affairs for the House DFL Caucus, said this amounts to a mistake by a young DFL campaign employee who included the college officials' titles in the flier without their permission. This employee also did not ask their permission to list them as co-hosts for the event. She issued the following statement:

"This is the House DFL Caucus' flier and was not endorsed or approved by any MnSCU employees including President Supalla in any way.
 
The DFL campaign employees who created the flier did not know about MnSCU policy nor did they intend to include titles.  Apparently there were working drafts of the flier and the one with titles was accidentally given to someone to distribute. It was an honest, young employee mistake on their part to put titles on the flier and to allow the flier to be handed out without approval from President Supalla or the other hosts."

Lucking said the first she had heard about the problem was when I contacted her. She said no corrected flier was sent out.

 

Suburbs vs. Greater Minnesota?

A group of 16 Twin Cities suburbs have banded together arguing that their residents are the ones shouldering the greatest property tax burden — not residents in Greater Minnesota. The Municipal Legislative Commission has launched a new website called PropertyTaxFairness.com that says a recent report by the Minnesota Department of Revenue found that Twin Cities metro area homeowners paid a 39 percent higher share of their income to property taxes than their Greater Minnesota counterpart.

The group is also urging residents in these cities to contact their lawmakers to make sure that any changes to the property tax system do not disproportionately hurt suburban taxpayers.

This push comes as lawmakers are considering steep cuts in Local Government Aid to cities. The Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities has been vocal in its opposition to these cuts with their own website, ThankLGA.org. A House Republican proposal initial called for deep cuts in aid to Twin Cities suburbs, but later backed off that proposal. The GOP-backed House Tax Bill would phase out LGA for Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth, all cities of the first class, by 2015. It's important to note that Rochester officially became a city of the first class in the wake of the recent 2010 census, but it would be excluded from those cuts. And both Republicans and Democrats do not seem eager to bring up any efforts to include the Med City, a swing district that both the GOP and DFLers are eagerly courting. Democrats did not offer any amendment to add Rochester to the list of first-class cities getting cut.

The Senate Tax bill does not single out the three cities. Lawmakers are working to reach a compromise tax bill.

Representatives from Greater Minnesota have been vocal in their opposition to any cuts in Local Government Aid. Most notably, the Albert Lea Chamber of Commerce has been very vocal in their concerns about cuts to LGA and successfully pressured Rep. Rich Murray, R-Albert Lea, to vote against bills that would cut aid.

 

 

Walz 'cautiously optimistic' about military action in Libya

In an interview yesterday, 1st District Rep. Tim Walz said he remains hopeful that the U.S.'s military action in Libya may soon come to an end. He said he has heard that a deal to remove Muammar Gaddafi as Libya's leader could come very soon.

In the meantime, he said it is critical that the U.S.'s involvement remain limited.

"This is going to be determined by the Libyan people themselves, and I think our engagement needs to be very narrow, it needs to be very defined and it needs to have a clear out time," he said.

Walz, the highest-ranking enlisted soldier to ever serve in Congress, said he has been attending classified briefings about America's support for the no-fly zone over Libya. He does not support the idea of arming rebels in the country. He said past wars have show that sometimes these rebels can later become your enemies.

 "I am very, very wary of arming these rebels, going any further than this. I think our ability to protect civilians, to provide some room in there to negotiate an end to this dictatorship and then to move forward is where it’s at," he said.

Dayton speaks out against bill backed by Senjem

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton made it clear today he is not a fan of one of Sen. Dave Senjem's bills.

Senjem's bill would require a state agency to determine whether a new rule would cost more than $10,000. An Administrative Law Judge would then review whether the agency's cost estimate appears accurate.If so, then these laws would have to get the OK of the Minnesota Legislature — except for a few exceptions.

Dayton sent a letter blasting the House version of the bill — HF 203. Senjem is the chief author of a companion bill in the Senate. In the letter, Dayton said he shares the concerns of former GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty that this change would shift responsibility for rulemaking from the executive to legislative branch and lead to major delays.

He then quotes Pawlenty, who vetoed a similar proposal in 2003.

"The changes proposed in this legislation would also add considerable delay and cost to Minnesota's rulemaking process, by requiring legislative approval of all major rulemaking. Major rulemaking in Minnesota already takes 18 to 24 months to complete, if everything goes smoothly. Requiring legislative approval as an additional stop at the end of the process would make implementation of state laws and policies very cumbersome."

I've got a call in to Senjem to get his reaction to this. I'll post it when I talk to him. Click here to Download Dayton letter

 

Does the math in GOP budget add up?

With less than six weeks left in the legislative session, disagreement continues over the math in GOP-led legislature's budget continues.

Yesterday, Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter and Minnesota Department of Revenue Commissioner Myron Frans sent a letter to Republican legislative leaders saying they believe their budget plans are are out of whack. Specifically, they say their analysis shows the House budget is $1.203 billion out of balance and the Senate bill is $1.164 billion out of balance.

"We are seriously concerned that the administration could be presented a budget that is predicated on incomplete information, unsubstantiated assumptions and inaccurate fiscal estimates," the commissioners write.

Click here to Download Revenue letter

That letter appeared to catch Republican leaders off guard who said they had just had a good meeting with the governor earlier that morning about the budget number dispute. Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch said her caucus believes the administration is failing to provide an accurate analysis when it comes to possible savings generated in their budgets.

"We believe there are significant savings to be found in the reforms that we are proposing," she said.

Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers said he has suggested that representatives from the administration and GOP meet, lock the doors and stay in until they hash out an agreement on what the budget numbers should be.

With lawmakers and the governor still facing the herculean task of agreeing on how to solve the state's $5 billion budget, the big question remains how long will it take to agree on the basic budget numbers so negotiations can move ahead?