Political Notebook

Liebling considering run for the Senate

DFL Rep. Tina Liebling said today she is seriously considering a run for the Minnesota Senate.

If redistricting results in a Senate district that is mostly contained within the city of Rochester and she lives within the district, Liebling said she plans to run for the seat.

"I feel that Rochester needs strong, effective representation in the Senate," she said. "The GOP has not been strong and out front working for Rochester, and we really need that."

This sets up the potential for a DFL endorsement battle. Rochester attorney Ken Moen announced last fall he was running for the Senate seat. Moen said he has no plans to drop out of the race if Liebling decides to run.

"It's not changing anything I do," he said. "My hope would have been that she would use her seniority and stay in the House. If she chooses not to that it is her choice and may be our loss as a party."

Depending on the new Senate district boundaries, the Democrats  would likely be taking on Republican Sen. Carla Nelson. If Liebling did win the party's endorsement, this would be the fourth-time the two had faced off. In 2002, Nelson defeated Liebling and Independence Party candidate Joe Duffy to win the House District 30A seat. Two years later, Liebling beat Nelson. The two faced off again in 2006 and Liebling beat Nelson again.

Nelson won election to the Senate in 2010 after deating DFL Sen. Ann Lynch. She said she would welcome another match up with Liebling.

"Voters will have a great choice before them. There's one person who has solved budget deficits without increasing taxes and another who I think has supported every tax increase that has come before her," Nelson said.

 

 

Redistricting complicating candidate recruitment

Republicans and Democrats are already hard at work trying to recruit candidates to run for the legislature in 2012. Complicating those efforts are uncertainty about where the political boundaries for the 2012 race will be drawn.

Tony Sutton, chairman of the state Republican Party, said the prospect of redistricting has some potential candidates hanging back until they know for sure what the districts will look like.

"It does create the unknown. We talk to people about running, and they say, 'We're interested in running, but we don't know where the lines are,'" he said. 

Every 10 years, after the U.S. Census, states are required to change congressional and legislative districts to recognize population shifts. The courts are expected to determine where those lines will be drawn, and that process likely won't be completed until late February.

One candidate is jumping in without waiting for the lines to be drawn. Rochester DFL trial attorney Ken Moen is expected to announce this afternoon he will challenge GOP Sen. Carla Nelson. Moen said he lives within six blocks of Nelson so he the odds of not being in her Senate district are slim.

Minnesota DFL Chairman Ken Martin said his party is urging candidates not to wait until the final lines are drawn.

"We don't want to lose any time or energy over the next five or six months as we wait until those maps come out," Martin said. "So we highly encourage people to get in now and start running."

Want to weigh in on redistricting? Get ready for a drive

The State of Minnesota's Special Redistricting Panel announced it will host eight statewide public meetings to get feedback on how to redraw the state's political boundaries. But if you want to weigh in get ready for a drive. There are no meetings scheduled in southeast Minnesota. Instead there are three in the Twin Cities area and one in Mankato. Interesting that the state's third largest city — Rochester — is not included.

It looks like redistricting will be headed to the courts. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed the GOP-led legislature's redistricting plan. That plan faced fierce criticism from Democrats who charged the boundaries were redrawn to benefit Republicans. GOP leaders disputed that arguing the new districts reflected changing demographics.

For a list of the public hearings, go here.

 

House GOP redistricting map means changes for Walz and Kline

The Minnesota House GOP unveiled its congressional redistricting map today. And while the most sweeping changes would be in the northern half of the state, there would be some notable changes in southern Minnesota.You can check out the new map by clicking here.

The First Congressional District, represented by DFL Congressman Tim Walz, would no longer include Wabasha county or Nicollet County. The district, which runs from the South Dakota border to Wisconsin, would also gain a large swath of counties in southwestern Minnesota that traditional are more conservative. New cities added to the district would include Redwood Falls, Marshall and Granite Falls.

I put a call into Walz's office to get the congressman's view on the new map. I have not heard back yet. Walz's spokeswoman Sara Severs said Walz has "no comment" at this time on the proposal.

The Second Congressional District, represented by GOP Congressman John Kline, would become much more rural. Due to rapid growth, the district needed to shed nearly 70,000 residents. As a result, Kline's district would no longer include Carver County — home to Chaska and Chanhassan. He would gain Sibley, Nicollet and Wabasha counties. That means residents living in Lake City, Wabasha, Zumbro Falls and Mazeppa would become part of the 2nd Congressional District.

Kline's spokesman Troy Young offered this reaction to the new map. 

"Minnesotans expect the fair and accurate approach they deserve and Congrssman Kline hopes the final proposal reflects the population trends appropriately," Young said.

 The Senate GOP has said they are going with the same congressional redistricting map. Any such plan would need DFL Gov. Mark Dayton's signature, which at this point seems unlikely. If a deal can't be reached the plan would end up in the courts.

New redistricting map would pit Liebling against Benson

 

The House Republicans unveiled their proposed redistricting map late yesterday. Under the plan, two Rochester lawmakers with very different political philosophies would find themselves in the same House district.

DFL Rep. Tina Liebling and GOP Rep. Mike Benson would both be in the new House District 24B, which includes southern Rochester and Olmsted County along with Stewartville, High Forest Township, Marion Township and Pleasant Grove Township. You can check out the new maps here.

Liebling's current district is almost entirely within the Rochester city limits. Benson's district includes a small part of southern Rochester and several other area communities including Chatfield, Dover, Eyota and Stewartville. Under the new plan, Chatfield, Dover and Eyota would now be in GOP Rep. Steve Drazkowski's district.

Click here to Download Current House boundaries

Mondale leads tripartisan group calling for independent redistricting commission

Former Vice President Walter Mondale will be joined by a well-known Republican, Democrat and Independent tomorrow calling for an independent commission to draw Minnesota's congressional and legislative districts.

Joining Mondale will be former DFL Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe, former 1st District Congressman and IP candidate for governor Tim Penny and former GOP Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum. Every 10 years, the legislature is tasked with redrawing the political boundaries. In years past, these redistricting plans have ended up in the courts. Often the charge is that political parties draw the boundaries to benefit their candidates.

Right now the GOP-led Legislature is in charge of coming up with a plan. It would need to be signed off on by DFL Gov. Mark Dayton.

The press conference will be at 10 a.m. at the state Capitol. Participants are expected to argue it is an inherent conflict of interest for legislators to be choosing their own voters by drawing their own district lines. Related to this, the League of Women Voters Rochester on Thursday is hosting a screening of a documentary film called "Gerrymandering," which looks at when politicians abuse the redistricting process.

New Census numbers mean Minnesota avoids the 'really ugly battle'

Good news for Minnesota in today's 2010 Census announcement. The North Star state will keep all eight of its congressional seats. Why does it matter? It means billions of extra dollars flowing into the state over the next decade, according to Hamline University professor David Schultz.

In addition to more money, keeping the seats spares the state from what could have been a particularly nasty round of redistricting.

"By keeping the seat we avoid the really ugly battle," Schultz said.

Still, that doesn't mean it will be easy. The Republican-controlled House and Senate legislature will draft their own redistricting plan. The temptation will be to redraw the lines to benefit Republicans. That could include trying to put Minneapolis and St. Paul into one congressional district. They could also reconfigure the 1st Congressional District lines — perhaps putting more of GOP 2nd District Rep. John Kline's area into DFL Rep. Tim Walz's district. But with Democrat Mark Dayton in the governor's office, odds are he will not agree with the work of Republican lawmakers. That would send the issue to the courts. The new map must be done by Feb. 12, 2012.

For more detailed numbers from the 2010 census, go here.