Political Notebook

Senjem urges support for a special session on Vikes stadium

Rochester GOP Sen. Dave Senjem sent out an email this afternoon responding to news that Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers had sent an email to his caucus saying he does not support a special session. Here is Senjem's response:

"To Speaker Zellar's comment about not calling a special session to deal up or down with the Vikings. I respectfully disagree. I support the Governor's intent to call a special session. Let's find out if a viable proposal can emerge through the legislative process. Let's give the Vikings some sense as to where the people of Minnesota are with respect to their desired new stadium."

Despite 'a change of clothes and toothbrush,' special session appears likely

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Republican Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers vowed that he and other legislative leaders were willing to work day and night to reach a deal with DFL Gov. Mark Dayton before the midnight Monday deadline.

"We're going to keep working through the night tonight, through the night tomorrow night," he said.

Zellers added, "We've all got a change of clothes and a toothbrush."

But as the hours countdown, little progress apears to have been made on how to solve the state's projected $5 billion. Since Monday, legislative leaders and Dayton have been engaged in a budget standoff. That's when Dayton announced he was scaling back his tax proposal to $1.8 billion — down from $3.3 billion — in order to reach a deal with Republicans. He said he was willing to do $1.8 billion in cuts.

But Republicans have said they are not willing to consider any tax increases to balance the budget Dayton has said he is open to other forms of revenue like gambling, but GOP legislative leaders have been cool to that idea. Instead, Republicans argue they have already compromised by agreeing to increase the state's budget by $3 billion for the upcoming biennium because of additional revenue that came into the state.

"If we raise taxes during this economic recovery and squelch whatever growth we have, the next two years are going to be even worse," Zellers said.

Democrats blasted Republicans saying they are unwilling to take any steps towards a compromise with the governor.

The Republicans' "refusal is based on the fact that they are unwilling to ask the richest 2 percent of Minnesotans to pay a single penny more in order to avoid the devestating cuts they have proposed," said House Minority Leader Paul Thissen.

As a Capitol reporter, I am preparing for the inevitable stakeout of the governor's office, where we bring our camping chairs and wait until the clock strikes midnight awaiting news of a budget deal. But at this point, a special session seems likley.

 

Outrage erupts over pastor's prayer in the House

As opponents of a same-sex marriage ban chanted outside the chamber, a pastor who has made statements about jailing gays led the Minnesota House in the daily prayer.

Bradlee Dean with Old Path Church in Minneapolis violated the House Chamber's long-standing policy that the prayer be nondenominational. He also took a swipe at President Obama implying he is not a Christian.

"It's not about the Baptists. It's not about the Catholics alone or the Lutherans or the Wesleyians or the Presbyterians, evangelicals or any other denomination but rather the head of the denomination, and his name is Jesus as every president up until 2008 has acknowledged," Dean said.

You can watch the video here.

According to the Minnesota Independent, Dean has made statements in support of jailing gays and also said that Muslim nations who execute gays are more moral than American Christians.

Rep. Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester, said it was "the most divisive prayer I have ever heard in the chamber."

She said she tried to catch Dean to tell him that herself, but he had already left the floor. Beyond that, Liebling said she cannot believe Dean was allowed to speak on a day when the House could potentially be voting on a proposed Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

"Here is a person who is the most hateful person you could find giving the so-called prayer on this day of all days is beyond the pale," she said.

House GOP leadership quickly realized they had a problem. They started the session over again with the House chaplain offering the prayer and then did the Pledge of Allegiance again and the roll call. Liebling said she appreciated that Republicans did start over.

In a statement, Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers apologized for the incident and denounced Dean.

"I respectfully apologize to all members in the Minnesota House of Representatives and all citizens of this state for today’s morning prayer. As Speaker of the House, I take responsibility for this mistake. I am offended at the presence of Bradlee Dean on the floor of the Minnesota House of Representatives. I denounce him, his actions and his words. He does not represent my values or the values of this state."

 

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.

Zellers: Metrodome roof collapse doesn't change stadium debate

In Rochester this morning, I asked Republican Speaker of the House designate Kurt Zellers whether the collapse of the Metrodome roof adds to the urgency to get a new stadium deal passed this session. Zellers said this is the fourth or fifth time such a roof collapse has happened and its not going to change the situation.

"That was a design problem from 30 years ago," he said.

Zellers said lawmakers have already indicated they are willing to consider a stadium deal. But he made it clear that the budget discussions will take priority.

"It's not going to be the very first thing out of the gate. We are not going to start Jan. 4  with this," he said.

So what's it going to take to get a deal?

"It has to be a creative solution. It has to be something tied to the game and then I think personally there needs to be some sort of fan involvement as well," he said.

That could include selling bricks or other items that fans could buy to support building a new stadium.

Senjem, Davids score key committee chairmanships

Republican leaders announced this morning in Rochester that two southeast Minnesota lawmakers will chair among the most powerful committees at the Capitol. Sen. Dave Senjem of Rochester has been named chair of the Capital Investment Committee, which is responsible for putting together the bonding bill which funds construction projects across the state. That's good news for Rochester, which has been pushing several projects including seeking $34 million to expand the Mayo Civic Center.

"It's a big important committee and Sen. Senjem is going to do a wonderful job," said incoming Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch of Buffalo.

Rep. Greg Davids of Preston will head the House Taxes Committee, which wields considerable power since virtually ever bill must go through his committee. At the news conference, Davids said he is honored to have been chosen for that post.

"My goal will be to make sure that Minnesotans keep more of what they earn. I believe that wealth is created throught the private sector, not the public sector," Davids said.

Republicans to unveil new committee structures today

Incoming Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch have scheduled a press conference for 2 p.m. today to unveil the new committee structures. The Republicans have vowed that they are going to cut down on the number of committees in the Minnesota Legislature.

I talked with Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem last week and he said Republicans have been hard at work on designing the structure. One challenge on the Senate side is that there are only 16 incumbent Republicans leaving a limited number of senators who could chair committees. Even more important than the new committee structure will be the announcement of the new committee chairs. Senjem said he is expecting to get a key committee chairmanship. He has his eyes on finance, taxes, capital investments and higher education. Meanwhile on the House side, Rep. Greg Davids will also likely get a key committee assignment since he ranks second in seniority among the House GOP.