News Cut Category Archive: Politics

Tim Pawlenty's XFL moment

Posted at 1:16 PM on February 9, 2010 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

In the wake of MPR reporter Tom Scheck's story that Gov. Tim Pawlenty acted as the delivery man for a big campaign contribution from a Texas Republican to someone in Alabama, it's possible that some Jesse Ventura-style attention will now be focused on where/when a sitting governor stops being a governor during the course of a week.

Up until now, Pawlenty's role as both a governor and a likely presidential candidate/courier have gone largely unexamined from an ethical/appropriateness standpoint.

Why is a governor from Minnesota, picking up a check from a donor in Texas, and delivering it to someone in Alabama? Pawlenty told Scheck that he was acting in his capacity as vice chairman of the Republican Governor's Association.

Can you be both? Is it unseemly to have a state's governor being a courier for campaign donations?

When Jesse Ventura was in office, Republicans and Democrats upbraided him for spending weekend time as a broadcaster of the XFL football games.

Former congressman Tim Penny, who was a Ventura ally, tried to alert us to the double standard in a September article in his hometown paper:

In contrast, the media was routinely and extremely tough on Governor Jesse Ventura for his out-of-state trips. For example, Ventura left the state - only occasionally - to show up on the David Letterman or Jay Leno shows (and for a few Saturdays to announce games for the fated and short-lived XFL football league). But without exception on each of these occasions, the Minnesota media loudly blasted Ventura!

My question is this: How are Ventura's out-of-state excursions any different - or any worse - than Pawlenty's purely political travels? In both cases these trips have NOTHING to do with our state's business. Yet, the Minnesota media seem to write only glowingly about Pawlenty's trips (apparently because they believe the trips are evidence that he is a contender on the national scene). Whether he has the potential to be a presidential contender (a disputable assumption), is also largely beside the point.

What matters is this: There are serious challenges to be dealt with here at home (like honestly balancing the state budget rather than burdening the next Governor with cleaning up the budget mess). Yet, Pawlenty, instead of providing leadership and solutions, is essentially using the time remaining in his current job to seek another job. Most people would at the least have their pay deducted for the days they don't show up for work. In contrast, the Minnesota media provide Pawlenty with flattering headlines. Go figure.

Let's go to the Wayback Machine. It's March 2001, and not-yet-governor Tim Pawlenty is on CNN talking about Jesse Ventura's extracurricular activities.

Well, I think that our governor is a media supernova, and I think when people elected him, they knew they were signing up for something unusual. The moonlighting, though, perhaps was a step over the line, and I think it's not a technical conflict of interest or anything like that, but it is bad judgment. I think when people elect a governor, they more or less expect him or her to be around full-time.

... as a general proposition, if you're going to be governor, it's probably a full-time job, and we think you should full-time time and energy to it.

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Tempest in a Tea Party

Posted at 9:06 AM on February 7, 2010 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Sarah Palin gave a speech to the Tea Party convention on Saturday.



The day-after analysis is focusing on allegations she read notes written on her hand.



This Web site has put together the evidence. But it's evidence of what, exactly? That politicians' answers aren't spontaneous and unrehearsed?

Oh.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Obama Speaks to a Sixth-Grade Classroom
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

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The case for a Vikings stadium discussion

Posted at 10:37 AM on February 4, 2010 by Bob Collins (24 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Sports

The Minnesota Legislature begins its 2010 session today (MPR's Midday is originating its entire show from the Capitol today) and the chief topic is how to to close the state's budget deficit.

But the slightly smaller gorilla in the room is a stadium for the Minnesota Vikings. Still, it has no significant chance of coming up for discussion this year.

Gov. Pawlenty tried to put the discussion in play yesterday during his appearance on MPR's Midday when he offered several possible ways to raise some revenue for the Vikings, whose lease at the Metrodome expires at the end of next season.

Sooner or later, the issue has to come up for discussion. The question is: Should it be sooner? Or later?

Minnesota politicians specialize in waiting until the last minute to solve problems and make decisions, and from the pre-session talk, they're likely to put off a stadium discussion until next year. Part of that is a hope something will change between now and then. But all of the economic reports say nothing will likely change.

"As soon as the topic comes up, it sucks the air out of the room," my colleague, Kerri Miller, a former Capitol reporter, said to me this morning while we were arguing about whether the issue should be discussed this session.

She's probably right; legislating is hard, especially in an election year.

Why should the topic come up? Two reasons. One, is someone -- somewhere -- has to have a long-range vision for Minnesota. What exactly do you want Minnesota to look like in five years? And, once we settle on that, how do we get there? Is an NFL team part of that vision? What's the dropout rate in Minnesota in 2015 (A proposal is to increase the age at which we let kids drop out)? What industry -- bioscience, for example -- do you think Minnesota should try to attract as a dominant industry?

This is not an entirely foreign concept at the Capitol. In one of the few bipartisan efforts on major legislation, lawmakers and the governor set benchmarks for reducing greenhouse gasses in the state by 2015. They didn't wait until 2014 to do it; they did it in 2007.

Reason two: If you're not talking about solutions, you don't generally find them. There are, of course, the obvious and longstanding opinions on whether the state should have any role in keeping an NFL team in Minnesota. "Why should taxpayers have to pay to have an NFL team?" is one. The answer is simple: Whether we like it or not, that's the way it is. If someone else is willing to build them a stadium, NFL teams move. Whatever Minnesota decides, it has to understand the reality of sports economics.

It's true that the Legislature has big issues that need to be discussed that may have more priority than deciding the fate of the Minnesota Vikings. But legislators in the House today filed 337 more bills for consideration, most of which are far less significant, that also get to the issue of how the state spends its money: A pedestrian walkway at Minnetonka Beach, an airport hangar for Thief River Falls, a campground in Two Harbors, and renovation of Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis among them.

Someone must think a pedestrian walkway, an airport hangar, a campground, and an orchestra are part of a vision and are prepared to discuss it in this session. Why not add the Vikings' stadium to the debate?

"People need jobs in this state; it's an important part of what's going on in the economy," House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher said last month. "However, public money going towards this is a very difficult sell in a budget crisis."

She's right. It will be. But talking about it and considering solutions doesn't preclude saying "no" to any of them. Otherwise, the state is dealing with a problem by ignoring it. How's that strategy worked out in the past?

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Live-blogging: The people who would be governor

Posted at 11:03 AM on February 1, 2010 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

MPR's Midday with Gary Eichten is hosted a gubernatorial candidate forum from the UBS Forum at News Cut's World Headquarters today. The DFLers are up first, then the GOP. Republican candidate Tom Emmer pulled out of today's forum two hours before it was to start.

Can we learn much about candidates in these sorts of forums when there are so many candidates? Let's find out as I live blog both hours.

Here's Gary's introduction:

Tomorrow night, all three of Minnesota's major political parties hold neighborhood meetings -- or caucuses -- around the state to begin the process of selecting each party's candidate for governor. Tim Pawlenty is not running for re-election this year so the field is wide open and there is no shortage of men and women who want to succeed him. Today, to help you get ready for the caucuses tomorrow night, we've been joined here in Minnesota Public Radio's UBS Forum by all of the DFL and Republican Party candidates. We'll hear from the DFL candidates this hour, the Republicans at noon. And we should note that even if you aren't a party activist, you can still stop by your caucus tomorrow night, cast a ballot for governor in your party's straw ballot, and leave. So, stay tuned. We might be able to help you decide who you want to vote for tomorrow night.

The format for the hour is pretty simple. No stopwatches or formal statements. But we have encouraged the candidates to keep their comments relatively short so everyone gets a chance to speak, we've encouraged the candidates to talk with each other as we go along, and we've also encouraged the candidates to identify themselves before they speak so you folks listening on the radio know who is speaking. It sounds a little stilted but it makes it easier to follow and I'll also try to do a play-by-play as we go along.

One more note before we get started. There are three major political parties in Minnesota, and the Independence Party is also holding precinct caucuses tomorrow night. There is also a contest for the IP Party endorsement, but there wasn't a contest when we set up this program so we weren't able to incorporate them into the program today. However: if you go to your IP Party caucus tomorrow night, you now have a choice of five candidates. In alphabetical order, the IP candidates for governor are: Rob Hahn, Tom Horner, John Uldrich, Joe Repya, and Rahn Workuff. We'll hear from them as the campaign goes along. We don't want to give anyone short shrift.

THE DEMOCRATS

These are the candidates: Tom Bakk, Mark Dayton, Matt Entenza, Susan Gaertner (no show), Steve Kelley, Margaret Anderson Kelliher, John Marty, Felix Montez (no show), Tom Rukavina, R.T. Rybak, Ole Savior, Paul Thissen.

Q: Why should Democrats pick you?

Entenza: People are tired of not seeing things accomplished. We need a leader to stand up for core principles. I've got a proven track record who'll put white-collar criminals in jail. We saved MinnesotaCare.

Thissen: Health care is a huge issue; it's the thing that's going to bankrupt Minnesota and I don't think there's anybody in the race with as much knowledge to solve that problem. We've fallen into a routine of looking to the past for our candidates and our ideas.

Rybak: I'll support whoever gets the nomination but we have to remember what the governor's job is. It's to be chief executive of a multi-billion dollar corporation. It's a job similar to mine. I walked into a city in a mess and showed you can have strong management.

Kelliher: Our economy is on the ropes and we don't need someone who has to learn the ropes. I've put together three consecutive state budgets. The next governor will have 12 weeks to put the budget together and six of those weeks you're not the governor.

Dayton: I offer 35 years of public service. I'm the only DFL candidate who's headed a state agency and I've headed three of them.

Rukavina: I've walked the walk. I've done a lot of innovative things at the Capitol. I have a proven track record.

Savior: Republicans want to cut the budget and affect poor people. They don't care about that. My idea is to bring more money into the state. A lot of Democrats want to raise our taxes and I don't. It's not necessary.

Marty: I have the vision to put together a health care plan that covers every Minnesotan and gives health care as a right to people.

Bakk: My theme is jobs, jobs, jobs. I'm the candidate with the most believable message. Spent my entire working career as a carpenter. In the '80s, I ran out of unemployment. I know what it's like not to have a paycheck.

Kelley: I'm the candidate who can win in November. I won five teams in a swing suburban district. I had opponents, but not enemies and that's the leadership we need in the governor's office.

Q: Should it matter to DFLers whether you honor the endorsement?

Thissen: Yes. I'm going to honor the endorsement.

Rukavina: I've been going to precinct caucus since 1972. It's very important we have an endorsement process. I can't run against my good friends who got a million bucks in this race.

Rybak: With this crop of candidates, whoever comes out of that endorsement, I'm going to support.

Dayton: The delegates at state convention comprise less than 1/3 of one percent of DFL primary voters want not to just recommend who the candidate should be, they want to dictate who the candidate should be. I'm running in the primary.

Bakk: I intend to abide by the endorsement. Both parties should pick their candidates by the first of May.

Savior: My views are similar to Mark Dayton's. I will be in the primary. The Star Tribune and Pioneer Press have excluded me.

Kelley: Sen. Dayton has too narrow a view of what democracy is.

Marty: It matters some.

Kelliher: It matters. An endorsement process is important to have a diversity of candidates. The Republicans are not going to have a primary.

(Susan Gaertner has arrived. Describes why she should the choice. "I have executive experience and lots of experience making tough decisions.")

Q: Many people would like to see an end to partisan gridlock. Is there an idea that Republicans have been promoting that's a good idea?

Kelliher: An angel investor tax credit to promote biosciences. It attracts private capital.

Rybak: (Talks about what he's done in Minneapolis, but doesn't really answer the question other than to says both parties should "invest in Main Street.")

Entenza: Says he'd get rid of No Child Left Behind. (Cleverly notes that some Republicans agree)

Savior: None.

Dayton: Says he worked with Sen. McCain on "Beyond the Yellow Ribbon," to provide services to Iraqi war veterans.

Bakk: We have to look at regulatory environment. Taxes matter but every year we pile more rules on business community and if Minnesota is going to grow jobs, we have to look at environmental regulations.

Rukavina: Republicans have a lot of good ideas and I vote with them on a number of bills. We have different philosophies and we shouldn't be ashamed of that.

Gaertner: Says she's heard Republicans embrace consumption-based taxes. And use of ignition locks for drunk drivers.

Thissen: Says he's been working with Republicans on initiatives to help people save for retirement.

[ Rybak just tweeted: Listen to me right now on MPR 91.1. Last debate before Caucuses!!] Does he tweet his own material or does someone else?

Kelley: Talks about high-speed Internet and a metro-wide public radio system.

Marty: Republicans have come to me to carry bills for consumer protection. Says the Republican who asked me said "it doesn't really fit with my philosophy of government." (Names, senator, give us a name!)

Rybak: I spend a lot of time talking to mayors. We have too much government in the state of Minnesota. Government needs to get back to basic: Police, fire, roads etc. (Well, that does get to the issue, doesn't it. Since the bulk of the state budget is human services, how does that square with "getting back to basics"? Is that code?)

Kelliher: I respect people as individuals. That's where that bipartisanship can start again. "We've seen too much name calling out of the governor's office."

Q: Should teacher pay be tied to student performance/test scores?

Kelley: There should be a team approach in schools. Music can contribute to a student's learning of mathematics. Radically connecting test scores to teacher pay wouldn't incorporate role that music teacher plays.

Entenza: The obsession with tests is completely nuts.

(Let's go back to this item from today's Five at 8: One of every four graduating high school boys can't understand a newspaper article)

Rukavina: 99% of our teachers do a good-excellent job in our state. We should just let teachers teach again.

Gaertner: The teacher is held accountable for the student no matter what his/her background. But we need to come up with a way to evaluate project. The method needs to come from teachers themselves.

Dayton: We need to give teachers more tools.

Savior: You can't always blame the governor. Between the governor and legislature, they're against poor people. (Didn't answer question)

Kelliher: Stresses need for early childhood education.

Thissen: This points out the need for experience.

Rybak: I don't know a parent, teacher, or student who's afraid of being measured. The challenge is we're measuring too narrow and we're not measuring community.

Dayton: The tests aren't fair.

REPUBLICANS

Robert Carney, Leslie Davis, Bill Haas, David Hann, Phil Herwig, Marty Seifert.

Q: Why should caucus-goers choose you?

Haas: Because I have experience and knowledge of state budgeting process. I've got the energy it will take to get the job done.

Seifert: I have experience, knowledge and vision to lead this state. I downsized government.

Davis: People are tired of the misery. People who support me support the history of Minnesota. Vote for someone else and you support the misery.

Carney: I want to work with people of all party or no party who are independent minded. We have to talk about how to restrain growth of government, but governor can't act as the third house of the Legislature.

Herwig: When the party was founded, they decided to call it Republican because it best expressed the idea of equality. For years, I've been active in the party. Heard people say they'd reduce government, do something about Pro Life issues... and I haven't seen anything yet.

Hann: I've demonstrated my interest in voting for conservative principles. Have a strong commitment to education and reform of education.

Q: Do you see yourself as a Tea Party conservative or traditional Republican conservative?

Hann: I'm a traditional Republican with a commitment to limited government. Focus on doing the right thing.

Seifert: Says government shouldn't spend more than it takes in. That resonates with both. A lot of it is about putting a demonstrable movement together.

Herwig: I started out demonstrating and protesting back in 1963 when I was on a Freedom March with Martin Luther King Jr. I protested Obama health care bill. The Tea Party has an open letter to Republicans. We are conservatives, capitalists, and political people. I see myself as a freedom fighter.

Hass: Tea Party people are good people. People want their voice heard.

Davis: Tea Party people are the guns and rumbling crowd.

Carney: Moderate, progressive candidate. I'm the MPR candidate. (huh? MPR has no horse in the race.) Republican Party is rooted in local government.

Herwig: It bothers me to hear Republican Party is rooted in federal and local government. The Republican Party is rooted in freedom (I don't think Carney mentioned "federal")

Q: Will you sign a "no new taxes" pledge?

Davis: Yes.

Carney: No

Hann: Yes

Herwig: Yes (and feeds)

Seifert: I haven't been offered one. I've signed on in the past.

Haas: I'm not real high on signing pledges. I stand on my integrity that I won't raise taxes.

(This brings up an interesting point. If a matter of integrity is saying you won't do something, what does signing a pledge matter?)

Q: Can you name a good idea that Democrats have?

Seifert: We're all for jobs. But we're for less government and less welfare. Democrats are interested in some reforms. I want to be more aggressive.

Hann: Cites a John Brandl book and says there must be other Democrats who believe that money isn't the answer to everything. Says Democrats have too strong an allegiance to government employee groups.

Hass: Elderly care, as cited by Paul Thissen. We've got baby boomers coming through the system and our elderly care system is not prepared for it. Also cites health insurance costs.

Davis: Just naming problems isn't an idea. I didn't hear them outline any solutions. Talk about pie-in-the-sky ideas. Jobs don't grow. You can't create jobs without money; none of them indicate where we're going to make the money. You can't cut and tax.

Carney: Sen. Bakk talked about deregulation; that's something we want to look toward. He talked about ethanol plants getting built in Iowa because of regulations here. (Side note: Minnesota has a producer payment program for ethanol producers, however. How does that square with less government?)

Herwig: The question gets back to Republicans and Democrats working together. Because of the times we're in, both will be more interested in working together.

Q: Should federal government spend more money on education?

Hann: No, there's nothing in the Constitution that authorizes the federal government to set education.

Davis: He's right. The idea of putting more money into it. In Minneapolis they convinced voters to approve a bill that would give them another half-billion dollars. If you look at math, reading, science scores, in both of those cities, they're "F" in every category.

Haas: Too many strings attached. Outcome-based education, Profiles of Learning, all failed programs. We have to have more control at the local level with parents having a voice in the education of their children.

Seifert: It's a local responsibility. 20-30 percent of children in Minneapolis drop out. We have old laws that allow 16 year olds to drop out.

(Seifert just pointed out that he voted to withdraw from No Child Left Behind. He did. I wonder if he brought it up because his perceived main competition -- Tom Emmer -- was one of 9 legislators who voted against it. Here's the roll call.)

Q: Give one area where you could see the state making a substantial savings by cutting the budget?

Davis: Get rid of all the PR people at the Dept. of Commerce. There'd be some trimming. I'd trim the Judiciary staff.

Hann: You have to look where the money is. Half the money is in education. Another 20 percent is in human services and health care. We could look at meeting education objectives at a lower cost.

Seifert: Contract out administrative functions like MinnesotaCare. There's hundreds of millions to be saved by cutting entitlement programs. Wants crackdown on people who move to Minnesota for social service programs.

Carney: If you set budget caps and provide stability, organizations will adjust to the budget. (Didn't really hear an answer there).

Herwig: Pawlenty administration doesn't have any ideas; they're busy running for another office. Recommends fewer school districts. Would save $600 million per biennium.

Haas: Why is health and human services going up $2.5 billion? You can't say you're go after just one program?

End of the program.

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American politics UK style

Posted at 4:30 PM on January 29, 2010 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Fresh Eye on the Radio (with Mary Lucia), Politics

I've long wondered what it would be like if debate among American political leaders was more like that in Britain...



Today we got a glimpse of what that might be like. It's a long way away from the UK style of conversation, but it's also a long way from what we're used to hearing.



Meanwhile, here's today's Fresh Eye on the Radio, more calmly delivered:

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Minnesota comes up short in high-speed rail program

Posted at 11:45 AM on January 28, 2010 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Minnesota hasn't been able to make a decision on a route for high-speed rail service to Chicago. Today the federal government gave it the equivalent of the home version of its "let's build high-speed rail" game: $1 million to "study" the situation. It put itself in a position to do little else, and got a little less than what it had asked.

"I have always advocated for a data driven process to determine the route for high-speed rail that's in Minnesota's long term best interests," Congressman Tim Walz, vice chair of the House Transportation Committees Subcommittee on Pipelines, Railroads and Hazardous Materials said in a press release. "This funding will be used to study possible routes that Minnesota outlined in its recent Statewide Rail Plan - including the River Route and the Rochester Route and put Minnesota in the running for future rail construction funding that will create jobs across our state."

Other politicians said the usual things, but advocates of high-speed rail in these parts can't be too happy, not when they've seen how other regions got a big chunk of cash for routes elsewhere.

Even Maine -- Maine! -- got $30 million -- to extend service from Portland to Brunswick.

"We're thrilled," said Patricia Quinn, the executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority that operates the service. "It's a great thing for tourism to be able to take a train to the doorstop of LL Bean without having to add any cars and congestion."

Missouri got about the same amount for service between St. Louis and Kansas City. Washington state got $590 million. Wisconsin received over $800 billion million for service between Milwaukee and Madison.

Comparatively, Minnesota has stumbled on this effort. The big players in this drama are Rochester and the Mayo Clinic. They favor a route that takes it through Rochester. State officials favor a route along the Mississippi through Winona, mostly because it's more direct and there are already tracks (though it's anybody's guess how a train is supposed to zoom through downtown Red Wing at 90 miles per hour).

It's not clear how $1 million for a study will settle a standoff here. But one thing is clear: When it comes to competitive funding: You snooze, you lose. It's true, as my colleague Dan Olson (who's covered this issue) reminds me, the Minnesota-to-Madison portion of the plan was a low priority anyway (compared to, say, Chicago to Milwaukee to Madison), But today's comparative shutout comes with a free dose of reality: You've got a far better chance of getting to Brunswick, Maine by high-speed rail in your lifetime than Chicago.

Here's the full list of projects.

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State of the Union guests

Posted at 11:17 AM on January 27, 2010 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The stories of the people invited to sit with the First Lady at the State of the Union speech are usually more interesting than the speech itself. The White House has just released the list:

Clayton Armstrong (Washington, DC)
Clayton was a DC Scholar with the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs during the summer of 2009. He is currently a freshman at the University of Arizona. Clayton grew up in Southeast Washington, DC and graduated from Ballou High School where he was the captain of the football team.

Li Boynton (Bellaire, TX)
Li is a 18-year-old senior from Bellaire, Texas whose passion for science and global health has led her to new and potentially ground-breaking methods for testing the quality of drinking water. Almost one billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and 3.5 million people die each year from water-related diseases. Observing the limitations and significant expense of conventional chemical-specific tests, Boynton saw a need for a broader, more efficient assay for testing - and developed a bacteria bio-sensor. Li's work, which has the potential to be significant in improving public health worldwide, received the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair award for 2009.

Li has always had a passion for science and invention: in 5th grade, she designed a solar-distillation device after reading Life of Pi in case she ever got stranded in the middle of the ocean. Li is also an avid painter and participates in high school debate, which is where she originally developed her environmental interests.

Jeffrey Brown (Philadelphia, PA)
Jeffrey Brown is the founder, President and CEO of Brown's Super Stores, Inc., a growing ten-store supermarket chain trading under the ShopRite banner. As one of the leading supermarkets in the Philadelphia area, the company employs 2,300 associates who are committed to making a difference for their customers and the local communities they serve.

(Here's his story)

Mayor Mick Cornett (Oklahoma City, OK)
Mick Cornett became Oklahoma City's 35th mayor on March 2, 2004, and was re-elected on March 7, 2006. In 2007, he was elected as a Trustee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Cornett is also the national President of the organization representing Republican Mayors and Local Officials.

Cornett is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where he earned a degree in journalism, and after graduation embarked on a 20 year career in broadcast journalism. In 2001, Cornett was elected to City Council, where he served until becoming mayor.

Cornett was born and raised in Oklahoma City, and together, he and his wife Lisa have raised three sons - Michael, Casey and Tristan.

He's there to highlight his city's anti-obesity program.

Tina Dixon (Allentown, PA)
Tina is currently employed by Lehigh Valley Health Network as a Technical Partner Trainee, a job that she was able to secure through the EARN program (Employment Advancement and Retention Network - a program focused primarily on Paid Work Experience placement) at the Allentown, Pennsylvania CareerLink in preparation to re-enter the workforce after years as a stay-at-home mother to three girls, Olivia, Allison, and Lauren.

It was at CareerLink that Tina met President Obama on the first White House to Main Street Tour in December 2009.

Gabriela Farfan (Madison, WI)
Gabriela is a 19-year old from Madison, Wisconsin whose passion for geology started at a young age - collecting rocks as a seven-year old with her father. In 2009, as a senior in high school, her hard-work and research won her one of the top awards in the Intel Science Talent Search, winning a scholarship for her independent research describing why certain gemstones appear to change color when viewed from different angles--a finding that directly affects the gemstone industry and may have applications in the nano and materials sciences. Gabriela is now in college as a freshman at Stanford University, and a declared geology major.

Gabriela is also a National Hispanic Scholar awardee, has two very proud parents, Abigail Farfan and Carlos Peralta, and has a real dedication to the arts: singing, drawing, painting, speaking French and Spanish, and following operas and musicals.

Julia Frost (Jacksonville, NC)
Julia is a former Marine bandsman trumpeter, a wife of an active duty Marine, and current student at Coastal Carolina Community College. She served a four year term with the United States Marine Corps stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Her husband, Sergeant Ryan Frost, is also a Marine bandsman, stationed at Camp Lejeune North Carolina.

With the aid of the GI Bill, Julia is currently enrolled in the Elementary Education program through a partnership between Coastal Carolina Community College and the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Julia hopes to complete her associate degree this summer and bachelors in the spring of 2012.

Dr. Biden, a community college professor, first met Julia when she visited her campus last October as part of the Administration's ongoing efforts to support America's community colleges and their students.

Ping Fu (Chapel Hill, NC)
Ping Fu co-founded Geomagic, a company which pioneers technologies that fundamentally change the way products are designed, engineered and manufactured around the world from automobiles to medical devices. Geomagic, under her leadership, has been an active participant in the SBA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Fu has led Geomagic to deliver broad-based economic impact to the US economy with tangible results - the company tripled its customer base and employment while achieving high growth and profitability. As such, the NSF awarded Geomagic the prestigious Tibbetts Award for exemplifying the very best in SBIR.

Fu has more than 25 years of software industry experience in database, internet technology, and visual computing. Before Geomagic, she was the Director of Visualization at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and is also, actively involved in promoting entrepreneurship and women in mathematics and sciences.

Janell Holloway (Washington, DC)
Janell was a DC Scholar with the White House Domestic Policy Council during the summer of 2009. She is currently a freshman at Harvard University where she is a member of the Harvard College chapter of the American Red Cross, dances with the CityStep dance troupe, and is active in the Black Student Association. Janell is interested in the connection between child abuse and youth violence and has served as a volunteer at Safe Shores: DC Children's Advocacy Center for more than three years. She is a native of Washington, DC and graduated from Benjamin Banneker Academic High School.

Ambassador Raymond Joseph
In 1990 Raymond Joseph was called to be Haiti's Chargé d'Affaires in Washington and his country's representative at the Organization of American States. After helping with the first democratic elections in December 1990, he returned to the Haiti Observateur where he remained until he was called back to Washington in March 2004, where he is currently the Ambassador.

Joseph is a graduate pastor from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, a B. A. holder in Anthropology from Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois. He also has a Master's degree in Social Anthropology/Linguistics from the University of Chicago.

Don Karner (Phoenix, AZ)
Don Karner is the President, CEO, and Co-Founder of eTec (Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation). As President of eTec, Don provides strategic direction, conducts research and leads the company's development of new products and services.

eTec received $99.8 million from the Recovery Act's Battery and Electric Vehicle Grant program, which the company will match with another $99.8 million in locally raised funds. The funding will be used to manufacture and implement the charging infrastructure for an 11 city pilot program intended to research electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Cities involved are Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego, Salem, Portland, Eugene, Seattle, Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The award will create at least 50 new permanent clean economy jobs working directly at eTec, has already saved numerous positions, and will require construction workers across the country to implement the project.

Don participated in a Recovery Act roundtable discussion with Vice President Biden in Phoenix in November 2009 where they discussed the importance of the public/private partnership to a green economy.

Janell Kellett (Sun Prairie, WI)
Janell has served as a lead volunteer within the Wisconsin Army National Guard for approximately six years, including during her husband's fifteen month deployment from 2005-2006 and recent twelve month deployment from 2009-2010. Janell's husband, Major Michael Hanson, serves with the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team and recently returned home to Wisconsin. During Major Hanson's deployment, Janell served the 3,200 families of the 32nd Brigade and over 50 volunteers of the 32nd Brigade with dedication. Janell was honored for her service with a 2009 Wisconsin National Guard Volunteer of the Year award by the Wisconsin State Family Program. Under Janell's leadership, the 32nd Brigade was selected for the prestigious Department of Defense Reserve Family Readiness Award in December 2009 for the Army National Guard. Additionally, Janell served as the Battalion Volunteer for the 2nd Battalion, 128th Infantry when it received the same award, the Department of Defense Reserve Family Readiness Award, in 2006.

Janell and Michael have two children, Jaclene and Lucas.

Rebecca Knerr (Chantilly, VA)
Rebecca is representing her husband, Captain II Joseph Knerr, the Task Force Leader of Fairfax County's Virginia Task Force 1 serving in Haiti. Having worked as a Fairfax County Firefighter for 15 years, Joe currently serves as Station Commander at Fairfax Fire and Rescue Station 18. He initially joined the USAR team in 1998 serving in a variety of operational capacities and now in leadership positions. Joe is also involved in the coordination, teaching and training of other international rescue teams. A former Fairfax County Firefighter and Paramedic herself, Rebecca works as an Emergency Physician's Assistant in a Northern Virginia Hospital and for Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department developing and delivering emergency medical services education to uniformed personnel. Rebecca, 24 month old son Jackson, and 12 week old daughter Grace are eager to welcome Joe home.

Chris Lardner (Albuquerque, NM)
Chris Lardner is a patient service manager at the New Mexico Heart Institute and her husband, Scott, owns a small family business. Together they have three children, two daughters in college at Regis University in Denver, Danielle and Caitlin, and a son in 7th grade, Sean. As a result of the economic downturn they resorted to paying for some of their daughters' education with a credit card. Lardner realized she was close to reaching the card limit, so she contacted the college to change the card on file. The school mistakenly charged another payment to the original card, which then put her above the limit. In response, the credit card company more than tripled her rate to nearly 30 percent, despite of record of responsibility with her finances and payments. Lardner submitted a letter to the President online expressing her frustration with the rate hikes leveled as a result of the mistaken charge.

Chris shared her story when she introduced the President at a Town Hall in May 2009 - since that time her issue with the credit card company was eventually resolved; their rate was lowered to 7 percent and the company returned the over-the-limit fees that had been charged.

Anita Maltbia (Kansas City, MO)
Anita Maltbia is a native of Kansas City, Missouri, and has over 30 years experience in city government, and community activism. In August 2009, at the request of Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II, Anita assumed the director position of the Green Impact Zone. This initiative works with the residents of a 150 square-block area in the urban core of Kansas City to raise the quality of life environmentally, economically and socially. Energy efficiency and environmental conservation, including home weatherization and energy upgrades are critical goals as is job training and acquisition.

The Green Impact Zone in Kansas City, Missouri is an urban success story that reflects President Obama's national urban policy vision of breaking down silos and building strong communities of opportunity that will, in turn, contribute to the economic prosperity and the sustainability of cities and metropolitan areas.

Kimberly Munley (Killeen, TX)
Kimberly was born and raised in North Carolina. In 1999, she completed Basic Law Enforcement Training and began her career in law enforcement. Kimberly spent the next 11 years working as a University of North Carolina, Wilmington undercover vice/narcotics agent, a Wrightsville Beach uniformed patrol officer and beach patrol officer, a Special Police Officer for New Hanover County Regional Medical Center, a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Operations Specialist Soldier in the United States Army, and is currently a federal police officer serving on the Special Reaction Team for the Fort Hood Police Department in Fort Hood, Texas.

Cindy Parker-Martinez (Belle Isle, FL)
Cindy is a mother of two young children, who shared her story of the problems her family faces with the current health care system at a Health Care Community Discussion held at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, one of thousands of discussions held nationwide in December 2008. In April 2008, Cindy, her husband, and her son were all denied insurance coverage on the individual insurance market because of pre-existing conditions. Her 11-month old daughter was also denied coverage due to an insurance company age requirement of 12 months. Both Cindy and her husband are currently uninsured because they cannot afford the insurance offered at her husband's employer. Although they previously paid their premium, they could not afford to keep up the monthly payments after receiving thousands of dollars in medical bills from her husband's unexpected 6-day hospital stay for pneumonia. Their family's income is too high for them to qualify for Medicaid. Cindy and her husband currently have no insurance and have thousands of dollars in medical debt.

Deborah Powell (Hugo, OK)
Deborah Powell is a Native American Development Specialist for the Housing Authority of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Having earned only a high school diploma, Powell built her experience outside of college and soon became interested in accounting and finance. After spending 43 years of her life in her hometown of Flagstaff, Arizona, she moved to Oklahoma in April 2004 for a change of pace and is currently working on a project funded by the Recovery Act. A member of the Choctaw Nation, she is currently helping to track budgets and ensure bids for independent elderly homes. This project, which is still under construction, will provide homes for more than 86 elderly people in the Choctaw Nation. Powell is recently remarried, and enjoys hunting, fishing, and spending time with her family.

Sergeant First Class Andrew Rubin (Savannah, GA)
Sergeant First Class Andrew Rubin entered the Army in 1997 from Boston, Massachusetts and completed One Station Unit Training, Airborne Training and Ranger Assessment and Selection at Fort Benning, Georgia before becoming a Ranger assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment.

Andrew has spent his entire military career serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment in positions of increasing responsibility. He is currently assigned to 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, which recently redeployed from a combat tour supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in December 2009.

SFC Rubin currently leads 45 Rangers as a Rifle Company Platoon Sergeant. In the Regiment, he has also served as an anti-tank gunner, sniper, sniper team leader, sniper section leader, and rifle squad leader, Ranger Assessment and Selection Instructor, and Rifle Platoon Sergeant.

SFC Rubin has served four combat tours in Iraq and two combat tours in Afghanistan. He has been involved in countless fire fights, was wounded on two separate occasions and has received two awards for Valor. During his recent deployment to Iraq, he was shot by enemy forces while risking his life to save one of his Rangers who lay wounded and immobilized in the streets of As Sadiyah, Iraq during an intense firefight. For that action, he received the Bronze Star with Valor and the Purple Heart. Previously, he was wounded in Afghanistan when he was hit by a rocket propelled grenade during an enemy ambush.

SFC Rubin and his wife Megan have three children, Michael, Joseph and Kendal.

Mark Todd (Killeen, TX)
Mark Todd was born and raised in San Diego, California. Todd enlisted in the United States Army as a Military Policeman in 1985. He was selected to attend Military Working Dog Handlers Course and later assigned as a K-9 handler at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, Fort Polk, Louisiana, and Wurezburg, Germany. Later he was assigned as a K-9 Trainer and Instructor at Lackland Air Force Base Texas. Todd earned an Associate in Applied Science - Instructor of Technology and Military Science from the Community College of the Air Force in 1997. His last two assignments were Grafenwoehr, Germany and Fort Hood, Texas. In 2007, he joined the Directorate of Emergency Services and is currently the Lead Police Officer, Military Working Dog Branch - Acting Chief at Fort Hood Texas. Todd is married to Lisa Dalton and together they have three children; Jennifer, Mark Jr., and Kristyn; and two grandsons.

Army Specialist (ret.) Scott Vycital (Ft. Collins, CO)
Specialist Scott Vycital served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. Vycital spent 8 months deployed in Iraq as a Specialist with 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 3-505 Parachute Infantry Regiment and was medically retired due to injuries received in defense of Operation Iraqi Freedom. On February 15, 2004, while on patrol of suspected mortar sites, his fire team was engaged by enemy fire and he sustained gunshot wounds on the right side of the face, neck, and shoulder. As a result of his injuries, the right side of SPC Vycital's face has been paralyzed and he lost the hearing in his right ear. After spending some time rehabilitating from injuries, SPC Vycital returned to school and with the assistance of the VA and the Army Wounded Warrior (AW2) program. He completed his degree in Business Administration with an Accounting concentration from Colorado State University in December 2008. Following graduation, with the help of his AW2 advocates SPC Vycital landed a position within the Federal Highway Administration. He has since been promoted to the position of Programs & Planning Financial Specialist and will have been with the Agency for one year in March. The President's executive order on employing Veterans in the Federal Government has made employing Veterans like Vycital a priority. Vycital resides in Fort Collins, CO with his wife of 7 years, Jarah, and has a 4 year old son, Breccan, and a 17 month old daughter, Micah.

Trevor Yager (Indianapolis, IN)
Trevor Yager began his career in 1995 while in college by founding TrendyMinds, a full-service advertising/public relations firm. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Anderson University and went on to work with various motor sports sponsors, team owners and sanctioning bodies. Today, at TrendyMinds, Yager provides strategic planning, business development, marketing and technology guidance and support to various local, national and international clients. In 2009 the agency grew by more than 200 percent, doubled the number of employees and gained 15 new accounts. Yager credits President Obama's welcoming climate for small businesses, including the many initiatives under the Recovery Act, for this success.

He is also passionate about helping non-profits and TrendyMinds is committed to giving back to the community by donating in-kind services to organizations throughout Indiana.

Yager resides in Indianapolis with his partner of seven years, Tyler Murray. The two have recently started the process of adoption and look forward to adding a new member to their family.

Juan Yépez (Lawrence, MA)
Juan Yépez, and his brother Luis, are Ecuadorian-natives, who in ten short years, have built a successful and growing commercial real estate company in addition to growing Mainstream Global, a worldwide distributor of computer products, consumer electronics, and electronic components, in mills once inhabited by earlier generations of immigrants.

The Yépez brothers were the recipients of the 2009 Small Business Administration Phoenix award for recovering from a major flood that destroyed almost $400,000 of inventory while still managing to flourish in the midst of an economic downturn. They believe that doing business in an area hit by 17 percent unemployment is more than just giving back and that hiring first generation Americans like themselves who want to work and contribute to society is the cornerstone of long-term success.

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Change meets its match

Posted at 9:34 AM on January 21, 2010 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

A funny thing happened to the concept of 'reform' in Washington. Health care is headed for the status quo, and now so is the idea of campaign reform.

In the most awaited decision in this term, the Supreme Court ruled this morning that corporations (and unions) may spend freely to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress. Here's the full opinion. Warning: It's 183 pages long.

No surprise here. The court's decision came on a 5-to-4 vote.

But the court did uphold a few provisions of the campaign contribution law. If a corporation spends more than $10,000 a year for a campaign ad, the names and addresses of anyone contributed $1,000 must be revealed.

And the court upheld that provision that requires non-candidate organizations to identify that they are the ones who paid for the ad.

This case stems from an organization called "Citizens United," which produced a "movie" called "Hillary: The movie." But opponents claimed it amounted to a campaign advertisement, and was subject to the expenditure limits. A campaign ad by any other name is still a campaign ad.

The court said "First Amendment standards, however, 'must give the benefit of any doubt to protecting rather than stifling speech.'

"The censorship we now confront is vast in its reach," Justice Anthony Kennedy said in his majority opinion.

The more liberal wing of the court, headed by Justice John Paul Stevens said, in effect, "nonsense."

Neither Citizens United's nor any other corporation's speech has been "banned." All that the parties dispute is whether Citizens United had a right to use the funds in its general treasury to pay for broadcasts during the 30-day period. The notion that the First Amendment dictates an affirmative answer to that question is, in my judgment, profoundly misguided. Even more misguided is the notion that the Court must rewrite the law relating to campaign expenditures by for-profit corporations and unions to decide this case.

If that sounds like someone criticizing "activist judges," it is.

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Sen. Franken on Midday

Posted at 11:56 AM on January 18, 2010 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Sen. Al Franken was on MPR's Midday with Gary Eichten today.

The highlights:

Massachusetts Senate election

Passage of the health care bill will be more complicated if/when a Republican is elected. "The House would have to vote for the Senate bill," Franken says.

What is likely to cause Martha Coakley's defeat? "(She) took it for granted. A lot of misinformation has been put out there" on health care. "It's not going to add to the deficit," Franken insisted. "People are dissatisfied with the way things are up there." (A little Washington perspective there. Massachusetts is "up there" there; not here)

Health care

Q: Is there anything in health bill that holds people accountable for their lifestyle decisions?

"Smoking... an insurance company is allowed to charge you extra if you smoke. We're not going to say 'if you're obese, you're going to be charged more.' There's going to be preventive care and chronic care. Doctors will be paid for that and they haven't been." He credits programs like Allina's Heart of New Ulm.

Q: Do you support Senate tax on union health plans? How can they be exempted?

"They're exempted until 2018. Cadillac plans are very high cost... luxurious health care plans. In some cases they aren't. Many unions had negotiated their contracts by negotiating away salary increases... for health care plans."

"I went to bat for medical device companies. They were to pay a $40 billion tax over 10 years. We have one of the largest medical device industries here. They create good jobs. They're a job creator."

(But doesn't this confirm that taxes to pay for health care will end up costing jobs?)

Q: Why aren't health care discussions taking place in public?

"A lot of it was... I watched five days of hearings (mark-up) on C-SPAN. I don't imagine many Minnesotans watched it, but it was there. And so was the Finance Committee. With 60 Democratic senators, we had a blessing and a burden. The blessing was you need 60. You also need every one of them. Every one had a veto. As a result Harry Reid had to deal with a number of individuals who were willing to scuttle this thing... what would have happened is you would have had kabuki theater on C-SPAN."

Q: (Caller) If there's so many people opposed to health care plans... when you see polls, people are against it... why you're voting for something when you're supposed to represent the people?

"I do represent the people of Minnesota so by your line of logic, I should vote for the bill. But this is a good bill. A lot of people really don't understand what's in the bill. We could elect pollster and just have them... someone to vote for whichever the wind is blowing. Forty-four percent of Americans favor this bill. "

Q: Are there sufficient health care cost containment provisions in the bill?

"I think there is... any kind of thing that you can do to contain costs is included in this bill," Franken said, quoting an MIT analysis from Jonathan Gruber. He's been the subject of some controversy when it was alleged he's on the government payroll.

Q:Should the president have set aside health care to work on jobs.

"He 'misunderestimated' how long this would take."

Q: (Caller) How will self-employed people be affected?

"You will be able to join the 'exchange,' in which you can change your risk pool from one person to several hundred thousand or million people. It doesn't get up until 2014 so you're going to have to wait for that. That will work for all small business, too. If you work for a small business and one person gets sick, your premiums go way up."

Afghanistan

Acknowledges there's a possibility of the U.S. getting into a Vietnam-style open-ended war. He just returned from the region and says he came back more optimistic "about where we are." He says there was a spike in recruitment after President Obama's West Point speech.

"We're paying for 8 years of neglect in this place," he said.

Franken said "we shouldn't take anything off the table" when asked whether the U.S. should send troops to Yemen.

Terrorism

Q: Should we be conducting full-body scans at airports?

"I don't think we should be doing that routinely." He says it's easier to Google Gary Eichten and get immediate results than it is to search the U.S. no-fly list. He believes those on the watch or no-fly lists should get the full body scans.

Q: Should terrorists be tried in U.S. courts?

"The guys who bombed the World Trade Center the first time were tried and convicted in U.S. courts. We can do this."

Economy

Q: When will there be a jobs bill?

"There was a Minnesota Emergency Employment Department in the '80s. The government would pay for -- through tax credit -- any new employee. If we do that with $10 million, this will pay half the salary and jump-start.... people are waiting to hire. It was very successful. We need to be spending money on infrastructure."

Q: At a time when the government is in such dire straights should we put more money into a failed approach?

"Some of the TARP money can be lent to small businesses. Part of it is the banks on Wall Street aren't lending, and they should be required to. They're making money by borrowing money from the government at no interest and investing it in very safe bonds. They should be lending it to Main Street and it has nothing to do with the deficit."

"If you look at the money that's come to Minnesota, so much has been used to keep police and keep teachers. If we didn't have the stimulus package, I believe we would have gone into a depression."

Politics

Q: Who should be elected governor?

"I'm staying out of that and so many of my friends are running that it'd be ridiculous..."

Q: What about Norm Coleman's decision not to run?

Not surprised. "I saw him this morning at the Martin Luther King breakfast and we had a couple of nice exchanges. That's his choice."

Q: Are you expecting Republican gains in November?

"I'm not a prognosticator. My job is to go to Washington and represent Minnesota... I've got way, way too much work to do to be a prognosticator."

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The press and private lives

Posted at 9:05 AM on January 13, 2010 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

MPR's Midmorning is exploring where to draw the line between the public's right to know and a political candidate's private life. The show is motivated by the Star Tribune's questioning of all gubernatorial candidates about their substance abuse and mental health, which followed and acknowledgment by Mark Dayton that he suffers from alcoholism and depression. (I've written about this issue here)



The guests are:
Carol Dahmen: Political strategist who worked for former California Gov. Gray Davis. She also advised Gary Condit and the California secretary of state Kevin Smalley, who resigned in 2005 amidst charges of sexual harrassment.
Florence Graves: Founding Director, Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University.
Frank Farley: Psychology professor at Temple University. He studies risk taking and mental health issues.
Bob Shrum: Longtime Democratic political strategist. He's now retired and teaches at New York University. He has worked with many campaigns including John Kerry's presidential bid and Sen. George McGovern's in 1972. He also advised Mark Dayton's first Senate campaign.

LIVE BLOG
Graves: "It's a legitimate query. It might affect his right to govern and the public has the right to know." She says the question should be directed at whether or not there's been treatment. She says Bush acknowledged being close to being an alcoholic. If he had not addressed it, she thinks it would've become a bigger issue. "The fact he did address it allows people to move on."

Should politicians ask whether candidates have ever had sex with a woman not the wife? "No," she says. "That's over the line."

Dahmen: "Once they (politicians) drink the Kool Aid of the power, they become cloaked in invincibility and they don't recognize the behavior they're engaging in is bad." Do more mainstream media organizations feel more compelled to ask these questions? "Mainstream media ... is no longer around," she says. Oh. I thought this show was based on the actions of a mainstream media organization.

Dahmen says "everything is on the table." Graves nodded (verbally), but didn't Graves just say asking a candidate whether they've had an affair is "over the line?" If everything is on the table, there isn't a line.

9:18 a.m. - One of the guests just repeated that the stigma of alcoholism and mental health disorder isn't what it was. I hear this a lot but few people ever offer any evidence to prove it. And Kerri Miller points out that a recent survey said at least half of those surveyed would hold it against a candidate.

Caller:: If a candidate can't abstain from these things, how would they be able to govern? (Not sure how one abstains from mental illness)

Online comment: Just knowing whether a person has depression doesn't say anything about a person's ability to governor.

9:23 a.m. - Miller says there's a perception to facing down cancer and beating it. But there's not the same perception about alcoholism. Guest notes that certain conditions have been hidden from the public, such as FDR having "paralysis issues." And JFK was on many drugs. Did we have a right to know that? She says we did. She says people need to be educated to know that people need to be educated.

9:26 a.m. - Caller Sarah notes that JFK was blackmailed by J. Edgar Hoover because of an affair he had. "If this is not public information, then this is information that can be used against certain politicians."

Carol Dahmen acknowledges it's a concern but "we may be missing a larger piece when it comes to politicians. There needs to be more research done on narcissistic personality disorder. Seventy-five percent of men suffer from it," she says. Here's the Wikipedia entry on that.

9:28 a.m. - Online comment: "The only thing that matters is can they do their job."

Right, Graves says. "Can they do their job in light of these things." She says Justice Brandeis said politicians have renounced their right to privacy.

Graves, who broke the Robert Packwood story, says "you could not have gotten the story into the Washington Post pre-Anita Hill.... Times have changed."

(News break. Then Farley and Shrum)

9:36 a.m. - We're bringing up the Sen. Tom Eagleton situation in which Eagleton, the VP pick of George McGovern in 1972, was dumped after he acknowledged treatment for depression. "We need to grow up as a society," Shrum says. "We need to understand that mental illness is an illness."

9:37 a.m. - Miller says that implies there's still a stigma associated with that. Could a candidate today disclose what Eagleton did and stay on the ticket? "It'd be difficult for the presidency and vice presidency," Shrum says. "For other offices, the problem would've been much different today than a generation ago."

Farley: "We're becoming more sophisticated about mental health and mental illness." (Bob: If that's true, why did the Star Tribune separate mental health from "normal" health and associate it with substance abuse?).

"Fifty percent of Americans would be nervous about someone who might be bipolar," Farley says. "If someone has been treated in the past, it's in the past. Treating mental illness as other illnesses, if the candidate says 'I've been successfully treated for more illness, the electorate should move on."

Shrum says if a candidate discloses the information, it shows they're honest. "We wouldn't elect a candidate who has a debilitating physical illness that could result in incapacitation or death."

(Bob notes: By the way, several guests here have indicated Bush acknowledged alcoholism. Technically, he didn't. He insisted he wasn't an alcoholic, only that he "drank too much' before a religious conversion).

9:42 a.m. - What would happen if we asked a woman candidate if they'd had an abortion?

This brings up an ethical situation in the past. When Alan Quist was running for governor, his wife acknowledged she had had an abortion many years ago. Was that relevant to the campaign?

Farley and Shrum disagree. "Abortion is off the table," Farley says. Again, this brings up the question: Why?

"You may have changed your views," Farley says.

"Then you state that," Shrum replies. "If rank hypocrisy is involved, things that aren't relevant become relevant."

9:45 a.m. A fascinating observation in the comments section:

As a psychologist who often has to write evaluations of people for work or disability applications, I can tell you that there is almost no diagnosis that makes a prima facie case for disability. Churchill led the British through WWII on two quarts of brandy, several martinis and a bottle of champagne per day. Lincoln's depression was extremely severe but didn't keep him from leading the country with wisdom, grace and beauty. I thinbk perhaps the best contribution of your guests this morning is to light a fire under the mental health professions to do a much better job of educating people about the meaning of these diagnoses.

9:47 a.m. - This e-mail just arrived:

The Midmorning guest's comment that 75% of men had Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) was grossly in error. Presumably the guest was mislead by a published estimate that as many as 75% of the sufferers of NPD might be men, which is quite a different thing. Even that estimate may be too high, though the evidence does indicate a higher prevalence among men than women:

"Prevalence of lifetime NPD was 6.2%, with rates greater for men (7.7%) than for women (4.8%)."

(Stinson FS, Dawson DA, Goldstein RB, Chou SP, Huang B, Smith SM, Ruan WJ, Pulay AJ, Saha TD, Pickering RP, Grant BF. Prevalence, correlates, disability, and comorbidity of DSM-IV narcissistic personality disorder: results from the wave 2 national epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions. J Clin Psychiatry. 2008 Jul;69(7):1033-45.)

9:48 a.m. - A caller with bipolar disorder asks, "If all things are equal, why would you pick the candidate with a mental illness?"

Farley says mental health is directly related to decisions in an emergency situation, "so you want a clear mind and a rational thinker."

Bob notes: But that's the problem, the fact someone acknowledges he/she has had a mental illness, doesn't really tell you anything about that ability. We've got a lot of people coming home from war who are now getting into politics. If they answer "yes," to the question the Star Tribune posed, how is the distinction made about counseling they had for their war experiences, and any number of other mental health issues?

-- End of show -- 11:11 a.m. - An e-mail from Eden Prairie:

I was so offended by Kerri Miller's coverage of this topic that I had to turn off the radio. Although it is very common and highly treatable, depression still has a stigma which prevents many from seeking treatment. I see Mark Dayton's openness as a role model. Yet Kerri and her guests aligned this with infidelity - "Do we have the right to know if someone has suffered from depression? How about if they lack integrity and ethics?" Wow! I see this more as akin to FDR and the press hiding the fact that he was in a wheel chair. Today we wouldn't do that with a physical disability, but we feel the need to shame someone for having a very common illness like depression.

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Why Norm Coleman is running for governor

Posted at 3:28 PM on January 12, 2010 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Norm Coleman is going to run for governor. The signs are almost as obvious as the ones that say Tim Pawlenty is running for president.

There's no greater indication of what a political insider is planning to do, than other political insiders getting out of his/her way, and today gubernatorial candidate Pat Anderson became, instead, a candidate for state auditor, 24 hours after she talked to Coleman.

But Coleman had already given indications he'll get into the race. A few days ago, he went on the defensive when a man told him to stay out of the governor's race:

"The beauty of democracy is that one person doesn't decide. The public decides," said Coleman. "Right now I'm not a candidate. I'm thinking about it. A lot of people, unlike you, but a lot of people have come to me and knocked on my door."

Look at his statement today:

In the near future, my decision about which path I intend to pursue to help Minnesota and its citizens address our state's challenges and opportunities will become clear.

Refreshing as it might be, a politician doesn't announce his intention "to help Minnesota and its citizens..." by not running for office.

Coleman automatically becomes the favorite to win the Republican nomination and enters the general election with 1,211,590 votes, the number he picked up in his race for U.S. Senate against Al Franken. The bitterness escalated during the protracted recount with Franken, but it's unlikely Coleman supporters defected to the DFL side because of it.

Keep that vote number in mind because it's almost 200,000 more than Tim Pawlenty got in 2008, and 300,000 more than Pawlenty got in 2002. In both cases, the Independence Party (previously the Reform Party) fielded a strong candidate. That isn't the case this year. It's also true, of course, that those Independent votes don't automatically go to a Republican.

On the other hand, look at Barack Obama's win in Minnesota last year. A lot of Republican districts voted Democrat at the top of the ticket, and Republican in the Senate race.

Coleman has the ability to raise cash (Anderson had previously indicated the big money is sitting on the sidelines until Coleman indicates whether he's in the race), name recognition, and one poll already showed he's the Republican front-runner if he gets in the race.

But whether he'd win a head-to-head race with a DFLer is another matter entirely. A poll last summer showed he wouldn't, but that was also at the height of the Senate recount.

Coleman's biggest challenge is his own party. Former party chair Ron Eibensteiner, in a commentary for the Star Tribune, said winning the endorsement "is a virtual impossibility." He's not far enough to the right.

We've been here before, Minnesota. In the '90s, Republican power brokers regularly turned their backs on then Gov. Arne Carlson -- a Republican -- in favor of farther-right candidates like Alan Quist. All Carlson did was win general elections. Easily.

So that's what the situation comes down to. Is Norm Coleman willing to buck the Republican core and run in a primary? That'd be a great way to woo independent voters.

But Coleman is in a position to satisfy disgruntled party insiders. He could add Rep. Laura Brod, a rising star in Republican circles who has been mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate, to the ticket.

Much can -- and perhaps, should -- be made about the fact Coleman has lost two statewide races in his career. That might be a factor. But Democrats running for governor haven't been appealing to the voters since the last time one was elected... in 1986.

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A second take on a government bailout

Posted at 1:42 PM on January 11, 2010 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Politics

The opening of the Detroit Auto Show put some members of the Tea Party in a bad spot today: reconciling the political philosophy with hometown reality. Few people showed up to protest the government intervention in the auto business, apparently after a Tea Party leader urged them to stay away because the government intervention helped Michigan and Michiganders, according to the Associated Press.

Joan Fabiano, who has organized several Tea Party events in Michigan called the protest "ill conceived."

"Why must some Americans boycott G.M. and throw innocent people, such as myself, out on the street trying to find another job in this economy? Did I do something wrong? Would you like to see yourself out of a job if your company's leadership made the errors and you had nothing to do with it?" she said in a statement urging the Tea Party to stay away.

Counter-protesters, made up mainly of auto workers, outnumbered the Tea Party groups, the Detroit Free Press reports.

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Is there a double standard in the Reid reaction?

Posted at 10:11 AM on January 10, 2010 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

U.S. Senate Majority Leaders seem given to racist comments. Here's Trent Lott, a Republican, in 2002, embracing segregationist policies:

"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

This is an account of current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid during the presidential campaign of 2008, detailed in a new book:

He was wowed by Obama's oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama -- a "light-skinned" African American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one," as he said privately. Reid was convinced, in fact, that Obama's race would help him more than hurt him in a bid for the Democratic nomination.

Reid, like Lott, has apologized for his comments. Lott then resigned his post. Reid hasn't. Should he?

GOP chairman Michael Steele said if it had happened to a Republican, Democrats would "call for his head." Democratic Party chairman Tim Kaine says the remarks should not affect Reid's leadership position.

During an appearance on WCCO on Sunday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., agreed. "Sen. Reid has put it out there, he's apologized, and he called President Obama," she told WCCO's Esme Murphy. "I think it's significant since the president is the one he was talking about, I think it's significant that the president said the book was closed. I know Sen. Reid has also caused over 30 African American leaders and has apologized to them."

Is there a double-standard here? It's an answer the Democrats have yet to perfect.

When a politician begins an answer to a question with, "Let me respond to that this way...", they're buying time and searching for an answer. It's also a flag that they're about to say something spectacularly wrong. Sen. Diane Feinstein did not disappoint during an appearance this morning on CBS' Face the Nation, when she was asked if Reid, like Lott, should resign.

"I don't think so. First of all, all of us are imperfect," Sen. Feinstein said. "The president has accepted the apology and the matter should be closed." She then said when Lott's controversy raged, "I saw no Democrats jumping out there and condemning Senator Lott."

Sounds like an invitation to head for the News Cut Wayback Machine. We'll set it for 2002.

"Trent Lott made a statement that I think is a racist statement, yes. That's why I think he should withdraw those comments or I think the United States Senate should undertake a censure of those comments." --Al Gore

"I could not believe he was saying what he said. StromThurmond was one of the best-known segregationists. Is Lott saying the country should have voted to continue segregation, for segregated schools, 'white' and 'colored' restrooms? . . . That is what Strom Thurmond stood for in 1948."-- Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia.

"It is profoundly disturbing that Sen. Lott's statement last week was not an isolated incident. Such statements were unacceptable in 1980, and they are no less so today," - Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle.

''I simply do not believe the country can today afford to have someone who has made these statements again and again be the leader of the United States Senate.'' Sen. John Kerry.

"When connected to past comments and votes, this statement casts a dark shadow over Sen. Lott's ability to be a credible party leader." - Sen. Diane Feinstein.

Not the same thing, argues Joe Klein at "the Swampland."

But it is just so much baloney to find moral equivalency between Reid's support of a black man for President (in large part because Obama--light-skinned, militantly middle class--defied the racial caricature) and Trent Lott's wistful regret that Strom Thurmond, a stone segregationist for most of his career, hadn't been elected President. These sentiments, both crude, are at the opposite ends of the political spectrum: Reid stands for the ultimate symbol of racial equality, a black man as President; Lott would have voted for a candidate who wanted black people at the back of the bus.

Reid's comments were documented in a book, "Game Change," by Time Magazine's Mark Halperin and New York magazine's John Heilemann. The book is to be released on Monday. In it, Reid's comments overshadowed those of former President Bill Clinton. According to the authors, Clinton tried to convince Ted Kennedy to support his wife's presidential campaign. Kennedy recoiled when Clinton told him that if it had been a few years earlier, Obama would be serving the pair coffee.

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NPR's Tea Party cartoon

Posted at 3:14 PM on January 8, 2010 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Media, Politics

In the last few days, some of my conservative online friends have sent me the link to a cartoon on the npr.org Web site as proof of the anti-conservative nature of National Public Radio.

I don't work for NPR, and I don't spent much time reading the opinion/editorial sections of most online news sites, so I wasn't aware of "Learn to Speak Teabag" and, having read it, didn't think it was funny and reinforced my belief that most political discourse in America isn't going to be mistaken for challenging intellectual endeavors.

Today, NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard gave her colleagues the chance to explain how it got on the npr.org site, and then noted the obvious:

That said, there are problems with the Tea Bag animation. Chief among them is it doesn't fit with NPR values, one of which is a belief in civility and civil discourse.

Fiore is talented, but this cartoon is just a mean-spirited attack on people who think differently than he does and doesn't broaden the debate. It engages in the same kind of name-calling the cartoon supposedly mocks.

And why is NPR running a cartoon from just one perspective?

NPR is a lightning rod in the ongoing political struggle. But it's a credit to that organization -- and others -- that in a time of big cutbacks, they employ someone to answer complaints from the audience and hold people accountable to explain editorial decisions to the people who matter most -- the readers and listeners.

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The art of negotiation

Posted at 1:27 PM on January 8, 2010 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The leaders of the Minnesota Legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty are doing something they rarely did in last year's stalemate at the Capitol: talking to each other. But Republican leaders told MPR's Midday today that nothing much has changed.

"I don't think so," Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem said. "As we go home and as we survey the landscape, from our position we want to see jobs and we want to see prosperity in Minnesota and that's a question of how you get there," Sen. Senjem said.

"The $1.2 billion (deficit) ... 70 percent came from personal income. That means someone lost their job or they took a big cut," Rep. Kurt Zellers, the House minority leader, said.

Host Gary Eichten asked whether there are enough spending and service cuts to balance the budget. "I'm not going to suggest it's going to be easy, but I think we have to," he said, naming human services and -- possibly -- K-12 as targets.

Last week, DFL leaders suggested cutting the number of political appointees in the administration as an area to cut. "It's cheap political shots," Zellers said.

Zellers and Senjem disagreed on wheether a "budget gimmick" of delaying payments in state aid to schools will be eventually repaid. Senjem there's a chance that won't be. Zellers said schools shouldn't have to "eat" the cut.

Today's meeting comes on a day of poor economic reports, leading more analysts to suggest we've ended one recession, and are about to head into another.

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Giuliani's war on the facts

Posted at 11:37 AM on January 8, 2010 by Bob Collins (14 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

How does the man who was mayor of New York on September 11, 2001 forget September 11, 2001?

Rudy Giuliani was on ABC's Good Morning America this morning when he compared the war-on-terror records of George Bush and Barack Obama, noting there's been one terrorist attack on Obama's watch.

"What he [Obama] should be doing is following the right things that Bush did -- one of the right things he did was treat this as a war on terror. We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We've had one under Obama," Giuliani said.

Another question worth considering. How does a news interviewer not call Guiliani on his statement?

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Where's the governor?

Posted at 11:33 AM on January 4, 2010 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The DFL leaders at the Minnesota Legislature are scheduled to be on Midday today. House Speaker Margaret Kelliher and Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller will discuss the upcoming session as well as the unallotment case.

A third member of the process is missing, however. Gov. Tim Pawlenty is not appearing on the program.

That set off this message on Twitter from Rep. Laura Brod.



As I've pointed out here several times, however, the story is in the details where Pawlenty's involvement with MPR is concerned. Both Gov. Arne Carlson and Gov. Jesse Ventura made it a point to appear once a month with Gary Eichten on Miday. Ventura, you may recall, made his announcement that he would not run for governor again on Gary's show, mostly because -- he said at the time -- that he realized how fair Eichten had been during his term, his preconceptions notwithstanding.

Pawlenty isn't in a position to make that discovery. He hasn't been on Minnesota Public Radio to take questions from the audience since last April, and his handlers have rejected regular requests for his time since.

Here's his last appearance.



He also appeared on Midday several months earlier, just before he was to announce his budget. Some of the callers were pretty supportive of the gov.



But at the traditional live Midday broadcast from the Capitol on the first day of the session, Pawlenty did not appear. Governors traditionally have

The program did run a speech that Pawlenty gave to Republicans last summer. That prompted cries that Midday was favoring Pawlenty.

I've sent an e-mail to Brian McClung, the governor's staffer who subs for Pawlenty on several interview shows, for his take on the situation.

Update 12:23 p.m. Here's the response from Mr. McClung:

Governor Pawlenty has appeared on Minnesota Public Radio several times during the past seven years and previously as a legislator. As you can imagine, our office receives many interview requests that we are not able to accept. The Governor continues to be frequently interviewed by MPR reporters.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BROADCAST

11:15 a.m. - Both Kelliher and Pogemiller dismiss the idea of a special session to deal with delayed payments to schools. Pogemiller says if the state were to delay payments, he sees nothing coming in the future that would allow the state to catch up on the payments. "Even under the best scenario, it might take us 6, to 8, to 10 years to pay this back," Kelliher said.

11:18 a.m. - Pogemiller says the state is coming out of recession earlier than the rest of the nation and the Legislature should "reformulate our entire job creation strategy that has not been working well in the last 5, 7, 8 years." He didn't say what the strategy should entail.

11:20 a.m. - What about extending the sales tax to food and clothing? . "It's not where we're going to start," Pogemiller said. He indicated he'd start with spending cuts. Kelliher says she's not a fan of extending the sales tax but thinks the liquor tax should be increased.

11:25 a.m. - Nothing has changed at the Capitol since last year, Eichten notes. Won't you end up in the same place this spring as last spring? Kelliher says lawmakers of both parties don't like to see what's happening. "We know we have to come together and work is being done bipartisanly on creating jobs, basic health care. We are going to work our hardest to both do what Sen. Pogemiller is talking about...."

11:27 a.m. - Pogemiller says he intends to ask Gov. Pawlenty to give a budget address to the Legislature.

11:29 a.m. - Pogemiller: We have an $8.3 billion problem in the state. You can't just manage that; you have to make tough decisions. The three plan to meet with the governor "some time this week."

Eichten: "We've invited the governor to come by, but so far no luck on that front."

11:34 a.m. - Should there be a tax increase? "The 'no-no-no' part sounds like what I've been hearing out of the minority caucus... I hope the minority caucus is not taking a page out of the national playbook (of obstructionism)."

11:41 a.m. - On governor's plan for a constitutional amendment to limit spending. Pogemiller: "It has been tried...in Colorado and they suspended it after awhile... Gov. Pawlenty has never submitted a budget that would accomplish what he's proposing."

Kelliher: "Our constitution already requires us not to spend money we don't have."

11:48 a.m. Eichten: Can you give us one area where the state might've spent money but now we can't afford it anymore?

Kelliher: Confirmation authority is "a little out of whack" with other organizations.

Pogemiller: "We're talking about the professionalization of departments. There's been an overpoliticization of the agencies."

11:55 a.m. - Will money be used for a Vikings stadium? Kelliher: "There's no plan out there that does that; It's very hard to justify public dollars at this point. Can we attract more private dollars. I'd like to see the Vikings stay, but when you look at what we've been talking about, it's a difficulut sell."

Pogemiller: "Without the governor leading and dragging the Legislature to a solution, I don't see it happening."

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A news release from the White House

Posted at 2:44 PM on December 31, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The White House released a statement from President Obama today on the investigation into how the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 could have happened.

It reads...

This morning, I spoke with John Brennan about preliminary assessments from the ongoing consultations I have ordered into the human and systemic failures that occurred leading up to the attempted act of terrorism on Christmas Day and about our government-wide efforts at continued vigilance on homeland security and counterterrorism efforts. In a separate call, I spoke with Sec. Napolitano to receive an update on both the Department of Homeland Security review of detection capabilities and the enhanced security measures in place since the Christmas Day incident.

I anticipate receiving assessments from several agencies this evening and will review those tonight and over the course of the weekend. On Tuesday, in Washington, I will meet personally with relevant agency heads to discuss our ongoing reviews as well as security enhancements and intelligence-sharing improvements in our homeland security and counterterrorism operations.

It's an odd statement designed not so much to tell us anything other than "I'm working." It's not unusual to have press releases that don't really say anything, of course. But it does raise the question of what exactly is the issue that concerns the White House most?

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Illinois politics

Posted at 10:36 AM on December 29, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Media, Politics

The Republican Party of Illinois has condemned one of its own for running a radio ad suggesting the candidate's Republican opponent is gay .

Candidate Andy Martin's defense is particularly stunning:

Martin says his ad is based on a "solid rumor on the Internet," CBS 2 reports. The attack is the latest of many over-the-top claims from Martin, yet WBBM Newsradio 780 is required to run the ad because it cannot censor political advertising.

A "solid rumor on the Internet"?

Martin knows something about Internet rumors. He started the "Obama is a Muslim" rumor on the Internet.

Back to the radio ad. Why can politicians get on the air and assassinate a person's character on the basis only of an "Internet rumor?" Because politicians changed the law in 1978. Under a 1971 law, radio stations were given the the responsibility for determining when a political commercial was unacceptable. That was taken away in 1978, despite objections by broadcasters that it was an unwarranted government intrusion. Now, radio stations can lose their license for refusing to air a commercial like Martin's.

Former presidential candidate Barry Commoner exploited the law two years later by purchasing political ads for his campaign that started with an obscenity.

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Depression and the art of honesty

Posted at 3:47 PM on December 27, 2009 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Former Sen. Mark Dayton revealed in a Sunday column that he's suffered from alcoholism and depression. It's now an issue in his quest to become governor. In politics, there's often a price to be paid for honesty.

On Sunday afternoon, a Star Tribune reporter asked Dayton for more details of his admission, but Dayton reportedly said such details are "private."

Few afflictions can kill a candidacy faster than mental illness. In many ways, it's still 1972, when Missouri Sen. Tom Eagleton was whisked off the ticket with George McGovern after he acknowledged he suffered from depression and had undergone shock therapy.

John Hottinger, the former president of the Senate, confided after he left office that he suffered from clinical depression. He now speaks occasionally on the topic, "Mental Illness is a Disease Not a Character Defect."

Lawton Chiles retired from the Senate, and then announced he was suffering from depression. Patrick Kennedy was treated in Rochester for depression.

In 2002, an advocacy group called the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance released a poll that showed that 24 percent of all Americans would not vote for a political candidate with a mood disorder, according to the Washington Post. An equal percentage said they "might not vote" for such a candidate.

The Star Tribune's following up on Dayton's acknowledgment, however, now raises another question in the governor's race. Should all current candidates now be asked if they're being treated for any illness or have ever been diagnosed for it?

If people believe that it's none of our business, then Dayton's mistake -- politically speaking -- was in being honest.

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Presidential election shows little impact on gun registrations in Minnesota

Posted at 2:20 PM on December 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Worried that the Obama administration would stage an assault on the 2nd Amendment, people around the country have been rushing to stock up on guns and ammunition. That's the narrative from several stories by the national media in recent months.

"Gun permits surge in state," the Boston Globe reported this week, as a "steady decline" in gun permits ended after a decade. There, however, the economy was cited as the primary reason.

"I think it's a sign of the times,'' said Mike Burchman, who teaches gun courses in Hopkinton, where the number of permits rose 25 percent. "There's a general insecurity, and people are looking for personal protection. In the past two years, I've seen a real shift.''

What about Minnesota? The number of concealed carry (handgun) permits in the state is up only 9.2%. 22,697 "permit to carry" permits have been issued through yesterday. The number includes people renewing their five-year permits. New gun-carrying permits accounted for 17,000 of that figure, an increase of 24.2%.

But, as the chart below show, 24.2% is not a significant increase in the year-to-year growth of gun permits in the state. The largest one-year jump was 2006, a year of relatively comfortable economic news during the Bush administration.

Year	Permits Issued	Change
2009	17,000	24.2%
2008	13,687	54.2%
2007	8,877	-2.1%
2006	9,064	26.8%
2005	7,148	-54.4%
2003	15,677

The large jump in 2008 is mostly attributed to the expiration of the initial five-year permits issued in 2003, after the Legislature approved the concealed carry legislation.

With just a few days to go in the year, 22 of Minnesota's 87 counties have recorded a drop in gun permits, including the state's largest counties. Hennepin has recorded the same number as last year. St. Louis and Ramsey counties have recorded declines.

The relationship between politics and guns may be further diluted by comparing the counties to the 2008 election for president. Of the counties carried by President Obama in 2008, 69% reported an increase in the number of gun permits issued this year. Of the counties carried by Sen. John McCain in 2008, 68% reported an increase in the number of gun permits issued this year.

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The effect of health care reform on small business

Posted at 12:26 PM on December 22, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

MPR's Elizabeth Stawicki has a short series this week explaining the effect of health care reform on small business. She visits several small businesses and analyzes the two health care reform plans -- House and Senate versions -- and their impact.

As part of the effort, we've created this element to help small business owners gauge whether and to what extent the legislation will affect them.

---

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Assessing Obama

Posted at 11:59 AM on December 18, 2009 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

"Better than average for a president." That was the assessment of Barack Obama by NPR commentator Juan Williams during today's Midday on MPR. The show analyzed the performance of Obama in his first year in office. That's also code for "if the election were held today, could he win again?"

A Rasmussen poll last month suggested 49% of those surveyed said they were not likely to vote Obama for re-election if the election were held today. But those polls are usually pretty inaccurate until you start adding the names of opponents to the question.

Clearly, the enthusiasm for Obama has waned. But that was "irrational exuberance," according to Williams.

"There will be a greal deal of exultation, especially among Democrats, if you get a health care bill passed," Williams said, predicting passage of "something" by the State of the Union. But then the question is whether the American people. "That could be a huge problem," he said.

"Independents are moving away from Obama on two issues: health care and stimulus. When people hear about limits on Medicare spending, people say, 'No, we don't want that,'" he said.

Eichten asked Williams if perhaps Obama should be a little tougher on Democrats in Congress, invoking the legend of Lyndon Johnson, who took no prisoners. "There's no reason to be afraid of him," Williams said. "People don't fear this White House because they realize ever vote is so critical if you're going to hold that 60-vote majority in the Senate. Every senator is king so it's less about punishment than inducing carrots. He's going to have to break some legs at some point; the famous LBJ response."

"Who's to blame for the lack of bipartisan cooperation?" host Gary Eichten asked.

"It's fair to say Republicans came to the conclusion that there's very little in their self interest in working with the president," Williams said. "It would just guarantee that President Obama would be re-elected. Now, as we see some of the difficulties on the Democratic side, they've been able to point out the flaws. The other side of this is you have people like Rahm Emanuel, who is a hardball player, and not willing to compromise." Williams said Emanuel has made clear that by compromising, nothing will be done and people will vote Republican in the next election.

That's a response that's worth considering further, of course, because it concludes that's what's in the best interest of the people in Washington, is politicians getting re-elected. That may be the only bipartisanship happening.

Williams also noted that the people who supported Obama a year ago, have disappeared from elections since.

What does the electorate say? Here's a sample of some of the callers' opinions.

"One year? This is nothing."

"I don't think this guy has really done anything that he said he was going to do. He came out on a theory of change; nothing has changed."

"The Republicans have abdicated their duty and aren't interested in the political process; they're just interested in preventing Obama from getting any victories."

"The Senate reworked their rules so that it would be more divisive. Americans are fickle. They say they're for family values, but they're only interested in the almighty dollar."

"I think he's had an exceptional year given the circumstances... the financial markets have rebounded, unemployment claims are down, retail's expecting a higher volume."

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Spinning the marijuana story

Posted at 3:39 PM on December 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Science

If you didn't know any better, you'd think marijuana is making a big comeback among teenagers.

Study shows pot more popular among teenagers, the headline on the Associated Press story (on the MPR Web site) says today. The story claims "smoking marijuana is becoming even more popular among U.S. teens." It cites a news conference held by the National Institutes of Health, based on research from the University of Michigan.

But is marijuana use really on the upswing? It depends on whom you listen to.

According to the NIH news release, "no."

Marijuana use across the three grades has shown a consistent downward trend since the mid- 1990s, however, the decline has stalled, with rates at the same level as five years ago. In the 2009 survey, reported past year marijuana use was about the same as the previous year: 32.8 percent of 12th graders, 26.7 percent of 10th graders, and 11.8 percent of eighth graders. However, marijuana use is still down significantly from its peak in the mid-late 1990s.

But the University of Michigan news release suggests otherwise:

Marijuana use among American adolescents has increased gradually over the past two years (three years among 12th-graders) following years of declining use, according to the latest Monitoring the Future study, which has tracked drug use among U.S. teens since 1975.

Two agencies, same data, two different headlines. Which is it?

It's all in how you characterize things. The "increase" cited by the Michigan researchers was only for two or three years, and it averaged a 2-3 percent increase over that time. That may be statistically insignificant, so the NIH compared the current results to five years ago and found a less troubling trend.

Both, however, acknowledge that marijuana use by teenagers is well off the highs -- so to speak -- of the '90s.

Keep in mind that these sorts of studies can be 'spun" to accomplish political goals. Take the AP story, for example:

"The increase of teens smoking pot is partly because the national debate over medical use of marijuana can make the drugs seem safer to teenagers, researchers said."

Researchers said that? What researchers? The University of Michigan news release mentions nothing about the effects of the debate over medical marijuana. And the data it provides indicates no such research took place.

Today, Dr. Lloyd Johnston, the principal researcher for the study, told me in an e-mail:

The issue you mention came up in answer to a question at today's press conference. We know that there has been a decline in the degree to which young people see marijuana use as involving a risk to the user, what we have called "perceived risk". I was asked why I thought the change in this belief has taken place. I said that one possible explanation is that the widespread debate about the desirability of medical marijuana use may well have led some teens to think that is is not as dangerous as their predecessors did, since it is now being portrayed as a medicine. It's a conjecture on my part.

That's something to keep in mind if debate over the issue resurfaces when the Minnesota Legislature resumes its work in February. Medical marijuana has been an issue in the last several sessions and last spring Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed a measure that would have allowed it in Minnesota.

The other thing to keep in mind is we're not necessarily talking about the same kids here. Since the surveys don't appear to track the same kids from year to year (I couldn't find the actual methodology), we don't really know whether the individual opinions and attitudes toward pot have changed. We only know that the kids surveyed last year may have had different attitudes than the kids who were surveyed this year. That doesn't mean that individual attitudes have shifted.

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A senator's Hanukkah gift

Posted at 8:28 PM on December 8, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, tonight unveiled his latest work, and it's not legislation. It's a song called Eight Days of Hanukkah.

Eight Days of Hanukkah from Tablet Magazine on Vimeo.

He wrote the song at the request of Jeffrey Goldberg, who writes for The Atlantic.
"I am willing to serve as a Semitic song muse for any United States senator," Mr. Goldberg told the New York Times. "God forbid any of the Jewish senators write a Hanukkah song."

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Should there be a restriction on lobbying by ex-lawmakers?

Posted at 4:29 PM on December 8, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Sen. Dick Day, R-Owatonna, announced today he's leaving the Senate to become a lobbyist for the group trying to bring a "racino" -- a horse track and gambling casino -- to the Twin Cities.

Minnesota doesn't have a law -- as Congress does -- banning legislators from lobbying activities for a year after they leave office.

The Star Tribune's Capitol expert, Lori Sturdevant, thinks it might be time to consider the idea:

Day is by no means the first legislator to leave office at midterm and take a lobbying job. But as a former minority leader, he is making a particularly visible move -- one that's sure to renew calls for restrictions on lawmakers' ability to abruptly become pleaders among their former colleagues. The ability of interest groups to dangle offers of lucrative positions in front of the legislators whose votes they are soliciting has come under fire from reformers both in St. Paul and in Washington.

But the lobbying world is not of much interest to former lawmakers, judging by the relatively few who are registered lobbyists. A very quick glance today revealed:

Kevin Goodno (91-02)
John Hottinger (91-02)
Phil Krinkie (91-06)
Gary Laidig (73-82)
Bert McKasy (83-88)
Mary Joe McGuire (89-02)
Roger Moe (71-02)
Steve Novak (75-00)
Douglas Peterson (91-92)
Leonard Price (83-02)
Julie Sabo (01-02)
Russ Standon (73-78)
Robert Vanasek (83-92)
Charles Weaver (89-98)
Tim Wilkin (99-06)
Tom Workman (93-02)

A 2005 Center for Public Integrity survey put the number at 50, but very few had gone directly from legislating to lobbying.

Could some organization dangle a job in front of a legislator in exchange for favorable action on legislation? Sure, but why would you make it obvious by taking a lobbyist position, where your ties are right out there in the open under current Minnesota law?

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Do taxes kill jobs?

Posted at 10:02 AM on December 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Politics

In the aftermath of Wednesday's announcement that the state is again facing a massive budget deficit, it's clear that the debate over taxes is going to be repeated, with little chance that either side is going to cave.

Gov. Pawlenty said he's prepared to work with the DFL-controlled Legislature, but made it clear it's conditioned on the Legislature doing it his way.

"State government needs to live within its means," Pawlenty said. "We must also take steps to make Minnesota more competitive for private sector jobs, not just government jobs. That includes holding the line on taxes."

"We can't solve the whole problem by raising revenues, but it is unsustainable to continue to address budget deficits almost entirely by relying on one-time resources, spending cuts and budget gimmicks," counters the Minnesota Budget Project.

How are states with lower taxes doing in this economy? Not very well. Here's a comparison based on their tax rank and their current unemployment rate. Those rows in orange are states with unemployment rates higher than Minnesota's. (Update: I should've added: "and a lower tax collection per person.")

State	Total Taxes	Population	Taxes per person	Unempl.
South Dakota	$1,321,368,000	804,194	$1,643	5
New Hampshire	$2,251,179,000	1,315,809	$1,711	6.8
Texas	$44,675,953,000	24,326,974	$1,836	8.3
Missouri	$10,965,171,000	5,911,605	$1,855	9.3
Tennessee	$11,538,430,000	6,214,888	$1,857	10.5
Georgia	$18,183,117,000	9,685,744	$1,877	10.2
South Carolina	$8,455,463,000	4,479,800	$1,887	12.1
Oregon	$7,250,033,000	3,790,060	$1,913	11.3
Alabama	$9,070,530,000	4,661,900	$1,946	10.9
Colorado	$9,624,636,000	4,939,456	$1,949	6.9
Florida	$35,849,998,000	18,328,340	$1,956	11.2
Arizona	$13,705,901,000	6,500,180	$2,109	9.3
Utah	$5,944,879,000	2,736,424	$2,172	6.5
Mississippi	$6,618,349,000	2,938,618	$2,252	9.8
Iowa	$6,892,026,000	3,002,555	$2,295	6.7
Ohio	$26,373,813,000	11,485,910	$2,296	10.5
Oklahoma	$8,484,227,000	3,642,361	$2,329	7.1
Indiana	$14,916,295,000	6,376,792	$2,339	9.8
Nebraska	$4,175,471,000	1,783,432	$2,341	4.9
Nevada	$6,115,584,000	2,600,167	$2,352	13
Kentucky	$10,056,293,000	4,269,245	$2,356	11.2
Virginia	$18,408,276,000	7,769,089	$2,369	6.6
Idaho	$3,651,917,000	1,523,816	$2,397	9
North Carolina	$22,781,199,000	9,222,414	$2,470	11
Illinois	$31,890,597,000	12,901,563	$2,472	11
Michigan	$24,781,626,000	10,003,422	$2,477	15.1
Louisiana	$11,003,870,000	4,410,796	$2,495	7.4
Montana	$2,457,929,000	967,440	$2,541	6.4
Kansas	$7,159,748,000	2,802,134	$2,555	6.8
Pennsylvania	$32,123,740,000	12,448,279	$2,581	8.8
Rhode Island	$2,761,356,000	1,050,788	$2,628	12.9
Arkansas	$7,530,504,000	2,855,390	$2,637	7.6
Wisconsin	$15,088,662,000	5,627,967	$2,681	8.4
West Virginia	$4,879,151,000	1,814,468	$2,689	8.5
Washington	$17,944,925,000	6,549,224	$2,740	9.3
Maine	$3,681,614,000	1,316,456	$2,797	8.2
New Mexico	$5,674,530,000	1,984,356	$2,860	7.9
Maryland	$16,605,830,000	5,633,597	$2,948	7.3
California	$117,361,976,000	36,756,666	$3,193	12.5
New York	$65,400,355,000	19,490,297	$3,356	9
Delaware	$2,930,955,000	873,092	$3,357	8.7
Massachusetts	$21,836,357,000	6,497,967	$3,360	8.9
Minnesota	$18,320,891,000	5,220,393	$3,509	7.6
New Jersey	$30,616,510,000	8,682,661	$3,526	9.7
North Dakota	$2,312,056,000	641,481	$3,604	4.2
Connecticut	$13,367,631,000	3,501,252	$3,818	8.8
Hawaii	$5,147,480,000	1,288,198	$3,996	7.2
Wyoming	$2,168,016,000	532,668	$4,070	7.4
Vermont	$2,544,163,000	621,270	$4,095	6.5
Alaska	$8,424,714,000	686,293	$12,276	8.9

Tax data is for 2008 and it comes from the Census Bureau. Unemployment rates are through October and come via the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Is that the end of the argument? Of course not. There are any number of ways to break down taxes and tax burdens. There's obviously an argument to be made -- though it requires some proof -- that lower taxes in a state might bring down unemployment in that state. And, besides, all states aren't created equal. Some are agrarian states, some are sitting on piles of oil, and some make cars. Some states' economies are more diverse than others. By the way, I can't explain Alaska's figures, but I suspect it has something to do with oil revenue. The tax-per-person figure isn't the same as the tax burden per person. But it does show that -- at least for this narrow amount of data -- a low per-person tax total -- isn't any guarantee that your state's economy will be better than a high per-person tax total.

In other words, it's part of the discussion on the philosophies which will be at the heart of the coming debate.

So, go ahead! Discuss!

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Live-blog: The health care debate

Posted at 2:58 PM on November 30, 2009 by Bob Collins
Filed under: Health, Politics

The Senate is taking up the health care bill today. The session will last longer than my ability to follow it for the duration, but I'll be following it nonetheless.

What's going on behind the debate? The Wall St. Journal has interesting analysis:

What's happening on the floor may not bear much resemblance to the ideas being discussed privately, and the bill could take a sudden shift if the private ideas become part of Reid's official plan. Case in point: On Feb. 6, the Senate spent most of the day debating a $930 billion stimulus package. But that night, Senate Democratic leaders reached a deal with three Republicans on a leaner package that ultimately was valued at $787 billion. That's the one that passed the Senate.

So the floor session today may be being held primarily for the benefit of The Daily Show?

1:56 p.m. - Sen. John Kyl says Republicans will try to amend the bill, otherwise they'll vote against it.

2:00 p.m. - The Senate is still working on morning business. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (DFL-Minn.) is making a statement on three Americans -- including a Minnesotan -- being held in Iran.

2:05 p.m. - Debate has begun. Sen. Harry Reid speaking. In the typical style of Congress, the description of HR 3590 gives no indication of what's actually in the bill:

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the first-time homebuyers credit in the case of members of the Armed Forces and certain other Federal employees, and for other purposes.

Here's the full text of the bill. Don't try to print it.

It's always hard to tell on CSPAN, but it appears few senators are in the Senate chamber at the moment.

2:14 p.m. - Reid says "each and every American has had the opportunity" to read the bill online. He then offers an amendment to require amendments to be available on the senator's Web site before it is considered. It's worth pointing out that, at least in comparison to the Minnesota House and Senate Web sites, the congressional Web sites are a joke when it comes to following legislation as it's offered and debate.

2:19 p.m. - A CSPAN wide shot reveals an empty chamber. We're not likely to get any interesting debate anytime soon.

2:20 p.m. - One of Reid's amendments would have prevented money set aside from Social Security from being used for anything but Social Security. Sen. Mike Enzi says the one program that needed to be protected from siphoning funds wasn't in the amendment -- Medicare.

2:24 p.m. - The Congressional Budget Office today released a report on what will happen to health insurance premiums if the health care bill passes. Here's the full report. Premiums on non-group policies would increase by an average of 10 percent to 13 percent before figuring in the federal subsidies that are designed to defray the cost, the report said. Once the government aid is included in the calculations, average premiums would be as much as 59 percent lower than is now the case.

2:26 p.m. - Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-MD: "Simply being a woman is a pre-existing condition." She's offering an amendment requiring access to screening by eliminating copays and deductibles. "Women will have access to the same preventive health services as women in Congress have," she said. She cited mammograms, screening for cervical cancer, and diabetes checks. She said the current bill does not provide for these preventive services.

2:34 p.m. - Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., says 80 percent of the health care decisions in families are made by women. "Women themselves are often discriminated against," he says.

Baucus says every 30 seconds, another American files for medical bankruptcy. FACT CHECK: Not likely true, at least as far as a medical reason. The number is actually for total personal bankruptcies. It was much higher in 2005.

Baucus wrote the Senate version of the health care reform legislation. He's describing the highlights of the package. He says the bill prevents insurance companies from raising rates for an entire small business just because one employee got sick. He says the legislation repeals the "hidden cost" of treating the uninsured in hospital emergency rooms. He pegs the cost at $1,000 per year per family.

Tangent time: Six hospitals sue Massachusetts over that state's universal health care law. They say the state is shortchanging them for treating patients with public insurance.

2:54 p.m. - Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, leads the opposition. Calls the Democrats' amendments "a stunt." I should point out that none of the amendments have been posted on the Democratic Senate sponsors' Web sites.

3:03 p.m. - Enzi says nobody will see any benefit from the bill until 2014. "The Reid bill mandates that Washington bureaucrats ration care," he said. Mikulski admitted as much, he suggested, by offering an amendment that clearly was a response to the government's medical panel that recommended women not have mammograms as part of routine screening until age 50.

3:10 p.m. - Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Ct., invokes Ted Kennedy. "The idea that this is being jammed down peoples' throats... is not born out by the facts."

Tangent time: 7 Things You Didn't Know About Senate Health Bill (NPR)

3:21 p.m. - Dodd relays tale of a youngster in Connecticut who needed a medical device but couldn't get it. "That won't happen under our bill," he shouts. "Millions of Americans go to bed knowing that if they wake up sick, they might not be able to get care."

3:42 p.m. - Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. Says the health care plan as a "revenue neutral" bill requires 10 years of taxes for 6 years of program.

3:46 p.m. - We have the first chart of the debate: Grassley's graph of the federal debt. Grassley says the CBO report -- referenced above -- "confirms our worst fears." He points out the part that says premiums will go up, but he leaves out the part about premium subsidies from the government.

Grassley says the government shouldn't force people to buy insurance. "Never in the 200-plus years of our country has the government forced you to buy anything," he said. He also called for medical malpractice reform, and a denial of benefits to undocumented workers.

Tangent time: Illegal immigrants becoming a flashpoint in health care reform (Christian Science Monitor)

4:05 p.m. - Sen. John McCain, R-AZ., says Democrats are asking "us to commit to cuts that are unspecificed." He says hospice care funding is also being cut under Medicare. He calls on Democrats to explain how "half a trillion" in cuts can be implemented without removing programs under Medicare.

"Seniors all over America... are outraged and the more they find out about it the more angry they've become," Sen. McCain said.

4:11 p.m. - McCain cites this story via the Associated Press:

President Barack Obama's top aides met frequently with lobbyists and health care industry heavyweights as his administration pieced together a national health care overhaul, according to White House visitor records obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

The records disclose visits by a broad cross-section of the people most involved in the health care debate, weighted heavily toward those who want to overhaul the system.

"Health care reform should've been about both sides sitting down and fixing what's broken," McCain said. "Somewhere we've lost sight of what's wrong with health care in America and that's the cost of health care in America."

McCain says when the bill is signed, "immediately programs start being cut... and you don't get any benefits of the program for three years."

4:34 p.m. McCain: "I don't think the American people want their health care decisions coming from a panel in Washington." He's pushing the impact on senior citizens hard.

4:42 p.m. - Sen. Bob Casey, D-PA., is up. He says Medicare will go broke in 8 years "if we don't take action." He asks why the GOP hasn't proposed its own health care reform bill.

The debate continues. Not a lot of new content is being provided, so I'll discontinue the live blog for now.

Apples-to-oranges polling

Posted at 7:49 AM on November 27, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

Quick! What do the latest polls show about Americans' attitudes toward health care reform?

Pollster Scott Rasmussen doesn't blame you if they've provided no clarity. The commentary surrounding the polls is to blame, according to Rasmussen, who writes a treatise today explaining why one of his and one from the Kaiser Foundation appear to show two entirely different results.

For example, the Rasmussen Reports poll found that in late November 38% favored the plan working its way through Congress and 56% are opposed. At the same time, a majority of Americans say that major changes are needed in the health care system.

The Kaiser Foundation poll found that 35% want reform and like what they hear about the current proposals in Congress. Fifty-nine percent (59%) either don't like the current proposals (33%) or don't want Congress to pass health care reform at all.

The difference between 35% who like the current plans in the Kaiser poll is essentially the same as the 38% who favor it in the Rasmussen poll. So is the opposite--59% in the Kaiser poll and 56% in the Rasmussen poll. Both polls show a majority desire to pass some kind of reform.

So, how did the blog posting conclude that the results were so different? Because they compared a Kaiser question about health care reform in general to a Rasmussen question about the plan working its way through Congress. At a time when people want reform but don't like what they're hearing about the Congressional plan, that's a pretty big difference. Compare apples to oranges and you make a mess.

Here's Rasmussen's post.

Meanwhile, a poll out today shows 57 percent said their access to health care would stay the same under the reform plans. And 61 percent said their personal financial situation would stay about the same

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Should Sarah Palin have a platform?

Posted at 1:03 PM on November 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

MPR Midday featured a fascinating -- if slightly uncomfortable -- moment today when the question came up of whether news organizations who talk about Sarah Palin are being irresponsible.

The question also revealed that the Tim Pawlenty vs. Sarah Palin camps may already be forming.

National Public Radio national political correspondent Mara Liasson was Gary Eichten's guest to talk about Palin's new book, "Going Rogue: An American Life."

It started when a caller to the show made this point:

"Aren't you by giving this person and this book the kind of coverage that you're giving right now on this program and consulting a national correspondent and so on, aren't you lending a cachet to this sort of mental lightweight that she doesn't deserve? We have... there are very good people on all sides of issues -- qualified people; Tim Pawlenty is one of them. Tim Pawlenty is a guy I don't agree with very often, but he's served many terms in office. He's knowledgeable. He's well spoken. He's well traveled. He understands gray matters and complicated issues. This person does not deserve a national spotlight or the limelight. This is showbiz. This is not how we need to be conducting national politics."

It brings up an interesting question: Do listeners learn more by hearing about people in the news? Or should it be filtered and should someone decide which political players -- we're not seriously arguing that Palin isn't a political player, right? -- deserve to be heard? Are we interested only in hearing our own views reflected back at us?

It's bait that Eichten usually doesn't take. And he didn't.

"Well, obviously Willie is not going to be supporting Sarah Palin."

But Mara Liasson specializes in this sort of thing:

"Well, no, but that's a good question for you. By doing this aren't you giving her a platform... by doing an hour-long show about her?"

Eichten still didn't take the bait:

"No, I'm quizzing a national political correspondent... who covers national politics why Sarah Palin is such a polarizing and interesting figure to America?"

The answer to the caller's question seems obvious. Palin is going to run for president, and Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com today explains why.

But the original point sets up an either/or scenario. You can either talk about Palin or you can talk about Pawlenty. To the extent that's true -- and for the most part, it's not -- the blame has to go to Pawlenty. He rejects most every request from Midday for an interview. The last time he accepted was April 13, 2009.

But both Pawlenty and Palin have similarities. Both claim not to be thinking about being president, even as the actions of both clearly suggest they are:

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The presidential bow

Posted at 1:05 PM on November 16, 2009 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

You knew this was going to get folks going, didn't you? President Obama bowed when greeting Japanese Emperor Akihito with Empress Michiko over the weekend.

True, it might be an act of tradition and manners but there are two long-standing tenets of protocol in America: The flag never flies lower than any other country's and the president bows to no one. Others disagree, of course.

The usual suspects said the usual things, according to AFP:

The gesture appears to have touched a particularly raw nerve among Obama critics who said the president has hastened America's decline as a world superpower by being too apologetic and too deferential in his dealings with other world leaders.

While most of the commentary about the bow in Japan was decidedly negative, some political observers, like longtime Democratic activist Donna Brazile, came to the president's defense.

"I think it's a gesture of kindness," she told CNN, adding that the bow appeared intended to show "goodwill between two nations that respect each other."

Both comments pretty much mirror those uttered last spring when the president appeared to bow to a Saudi king:

And some even said he showed too much deference to Queen Elizabeth:

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Health care: Better than nothing?

Posted at 11:40 AM on November 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

The health care reform effort at the Capitol is raising an old dilemma for some politicians: Is a bill always "better than nothing"?

North Dakota Nebraska Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson is the latest facing the issue, and he's decided it's not.

"Faced with a decision about whether or not to move a bill that is bad, I won't vote to move it," Nelson told ABC News.

Nelson is opposed to a public option.

Minnesota politicians may be faced with the same dilemma, only this one is over a tax on the medical device industry that's in the House bill, according to MPR's Elizabeth Stawicki.

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Bucks for the buck

Posted at 5:54 PM on November 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Minnesota's deer hunt is big business for the state, but promoting it doesn't come all that cheap.

It creates 5,300 jobs and $260 million in retails sales according to the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

Last weekend, Gov. Tim Pawlenty held his 7th Governor's Deer Opener. He took the state airplane to Thief River Falls, where he attended the Friday luncheon, went out and shot -- maybe -- a buck on Saturday, then left on another plane (paid for by Iowa Republicans) to make a speech to Republicans in Iowa, home of the first-in-the nation test for would-be presidents.

The $3,144 tab for the state plane to ferry the Pawlenty party to the hunt wasn't charged to Pawlenty's budget, but to the Minnesota Department of Tourism and the Department of Natural Resources. The flight took only an hour but the plane and pilots had to stay for a day in case an emergency required the governor to fly back to St. Paul. The cost of their time, hotel, and meals isn't known.

But the plane didn't fly back empty after the governor left. Deputy Chief of Staff Paul Anderson, Greater Minnesota Press Secretary Alex Carey, the governor's security personnel, a representative from the Office of Tourism, and one from the DNR hitched a ride back.

The cost is likely a wash over commercial air service to Thief River Falls from the Twin Cities, which costs $500 round trip. But you have a 15-minute layover in Chisholm/Hibbing.

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Behind the health care vote

Posted at 8:46 AM on November 8, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

The House last night voted 220-to-215 to pass the health care bill. The vote was not surprising. All but one Republican voted against it, joined by mostly conservative Democrats, including 7th District Rep. Colin Peterson of Minnesota.

The New York Times, however, has a fascinating graphic showing the "no" Democrats. Peterson had the 4th largest margin of victory in his last election of those who voted no (and weren't unopposed).

Not far behind was Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of South Dakota.

Eight of the Democrats represented districts carried by Barack Obama in the last election, an increasingly questionable yardstick for political punditry, since the presidential election is at least as much about the opponent who's running (and his vice presidential pick, occasionally) as it is about the candidate who carried the district.

The Times attempted to link the percentage of uninsured residents of each district (who weren't elderly) with the "no" vote. In Peterson's district, for example, only 11% of non-elderly residents don't have insurance.

The intent of the graphic appears to be to show the factors that went into the "no" vote besides the bill itself. But it actually suggests that most of the "no" votes among Democrats had more to do with their opinion that it's a bad bill.

The Washington Post, meanwhile, took a different approach to linking external factors to the votes. It provides a graphic showing campaign contributions from the health care industry. Curiously, however, it shows that most of the lawmakers with the biggest war chests from the health care industry voted "yes."

And with all of the votes displayed, rather than just the Democrat "no" votes, the Post does a better job of relating the percentage of uninsured in a district, with the representative's vote.

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The "awesome" candidate

Posted at 2:33 PM on November 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The state that gave us the Lizard People has done it again. At the bottom of the Minneapolis mayoral ballot, we learn that there is an "Is Awesome" political party.

Here's Joey's Web site statement:

Unlike other politicians, Joey has no experience and is thus unable to have become corrupted. Furthermore, Joey has a proven record of awesomeness that can be counted on should the city face natural disaster, war, famine, Act of God, or any of a hundred other things that other candiates aren't busy thinking about.
Should Joey be elected this year, he will be sure to express his gratitude by humbly taking office and putting his years of playing Sim City to use. He'll not only improve the city but will do so with a smile.

But he gets serious on his blog describing his party choice:

What if we just got rid of the party system? Everyone runs independently, based on what they think will be best for the district they will be representing. And those constituents could vote for the person they think will do the best job for their district. And everything would probably work out a whole lot better I think. But that's just my opinion, maybe I'm just off in my own world, but I'm really sick of having 2 main parties and a couple ones that no one listens to. Let's scrap it entirely. George Washington didn't need to be party-endorsed to be a great leader...

(h/t: Derek Schille)

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Should presidents salute?

Posted at 12:07 PM on November 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

No presidential deed goes unpunished anymore. The latest controversy appears to be whether President Barack Obama should have saluted when he went to Dover Air Force Base to meet the "transport cases" of dead soldiers and DEA agents arriving home.

Carey Winfrey, the editor of Smithsonian magazine, says Obama's salute was impeccable, but he's discomforted with the act. He says it was President Reagan who started the practice:

"He had sought advice on the matter from Gen. Robert Barrow, commandant of the Marine Corps. According to John Kline, then Mr. Reagan's military aide and today a member of Congress from Minnesota, General Barrow told the president that as commander in chief he could salute anybody he wished. And so it began."

A few years ago, Garry Wills, then a professor at Northwestern, suggested presidential saluting reinforces that the president is commander in chief of everyone.

The glorification of the president as a war leader is registered in numerous and substantial executive aggrandizements; but it is symbolized in other ways that, while small in themselves, dispose the citizenry to accept those aggrandizements. We are reminded, for instance, of the expanded commander in chief status every time a modern president gets off the White House helicopter and returns the salute of marines.

We used to take pride in civilian leadership of the military under the Constitution, a principle that George Washington embraced when he avoided military symbols at Mount Vernon. We are not led -- or were not in the past -- by caudillos.

Presidential salutes range "from halfhearted to jaunty," according to Winfrey.

Let's see:

Perhaps no president saluted more than Billl Clinton.

To the untrained eye -- mine -- none of those look particularly unappealing. But maybe the key is not in the show of a salute but in the sincerity of what's behind it. Jack Lucas' salute here is pretty pitiful, by the standards Winfrey described. He was the nation's youngest Medal of Honor winner. He lied his way into the military at age 17, then jumped on a grenade on Iwo Jima to save the lives of three others.

"I hollered to my pals to get out and did a Superman dive at the grenades. I wasn't a Superman after I got hit. I let out one helluva scream when that thing went off," he recalled in 2008, shortly before he died. How should he have saluted? Any way he wanted to.

Political arsonist Rush Limbaugh is behind this latest "controversy" with his comments on Sunday about Obama. He said Obama's salute was "a photo op precisely because he's having big-time trouble on this whole Afghanistan dithering situation," Limbaugh told "Fox News Sunday."

Then again, Limbaugh once proclaimed that Michael J. Fox was faking his Parkinson's.

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How much will health care cost you?

Posted at 3:29 PM on November 2, 2009 by Bob Collins (20 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

How much will the middle class pay for health care under the House bill being considered in Washington?

The Congressional Budget Office today released its assessment of how much you and your family will pay for health insurance under the various plans being considered in Congress. You can read the entire letter to Rep. Charles Rangel, the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee here, but here are the major examples it gives under the House bill:

♦ A single person with income of $26,500 in 2016 (225 percent of the FPL) would pay a premium of about $1,900 (after getting a premium subsidy of 64 percent) and could expect to pay another $900 in cost sharing (net of federal subsidies); thus, the average payment by such a person for the premium and cost sharing combined is projected to be $2,800, or about 11 percent of income.

♦ A family of four with income of about $54,000 (also 225 percent of the FPL in 2016) could expect to pay about the same share of its income for premiums and cost sharing.

♦ The average premium for a family policy would be $15,000 -- $9,500 after subsidies.

♦ A family of four making $102,500 (four times the current federal poverty level) would pay $15,000 a year plus $5,500 in "cost sharing" (such as co-pays and percentages not covered by insurance) for a total of $20,500 per year.

Question: How many of you keep track of what your health care is costing you now? If so, would you care to share? I'll be happy to go first. It's about half of these numbers, but my plan is shared by my employer).

Meanwhile, a North Carolina congresswoman had an interesting take on this today. Rep. Virginia Foxx said health care reform is a greater threat to the country than any terrorist in any country.

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Live-blogging Midday: Mayoral debates

Posted at 11:48 AM on November 2, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

This is, of course, the last full day of campaigning for mayoral candidates in both St. Paul and Minneapolis (Not sure where to vote? Go here.) and MPR's Midday is hosting a mini-debate for each city.

Up first is St. Paul, where DFL-endorsed incumbent Chris Coleman is being challenged by Republican-endorsed Eva Ng. Then, it's Minneapolis' turn with incumbent DFLer R.T. Rybak is being challenged by Papa John Kolstad, who has both the Independence Party and Republican Party endorsements.

I'm live blogging (starting at noon) and you can listen to the debate here.

COLEMAN VS. NG

12:07 p.m.- Coleman introductory. Says "we've done a good job" getting through the worst economic times in the country.

Ng introductory. Says she found she could not make a living as an engineer during the oil bust. Became a business consultant, turning businesses around.

12:09 p.m. - Q: If elected, can residents expect tax and fee increases?

Coleman: The challenge we've had is since 2003, we've lost over $160 million in local government aid. "If the state continues to balance the budget on the backs of the cities, it'll be hard to do that (not raise taxes)"

Ng: Says she'd freeze raises and budget. "LGA is not a fixed number. It's a false thing to say we lost $160 million; it's a variable number every year."

Q: Where would you cut city budget?

Ng: This is what consultants do. They look for efficiencies and look to grow the revenue. "Properties and assets need to produce income." (Didn't really answer the question)

Coleman: If you're going to say you're going to freeze/cut taxes, you have to have a specific program. Are you prepared to close libraries, cut firefighters, police? In a business you can close unprofitable businesses. But you can't get out of the firefighting or snowplowing business.

12:14 p.m. Q: Is Central Corridor light rail line good for the city?

Coleman: It's the most important project that the city has ever seen. "It puts the East Metro on a part with what's happening in Minneapolis. If St. Paul is going to continue to thrive, we have to be part of a first-class transportation network.

Ng: This plan that we have is not the best one I've ever seen. We're taking an existing system, compromising it -- safety, cost, businesses losing parking. I project it will cost $2 billion by the time we finish. We should consider it doing north of there.

Q: Is the project so far down the tracks that you can't make those kind of changes?

Ng: We talked to Ray Lahood, the Transportation Secretary, and he says it's not too far down the road.

Coleman: The project has to have enough weight behind it that President Obama puts it in the budget. Says it won't cost more than $914 million.

12:17 p.m. Q: You (Coleman) made education a top priority when you ran four years ago. Had education improved in the last four years?

Coleman: We've received national recognition for the out-of-school programs. We've seen growth of new daycare facilities. We've opened college-access centers in libraries and have been able to leverage a network to provide out-of-school time for our children. We have made significant progress in helping people understand that one of the most important things we can do is provide quality out-of-school time.

Ng: The mayor's role is an advisory one. The mayor is saying he has funded three, four and five-year olds and that program is an overreach because the school department controls that budget; we shouldn't be spending city budget money. It's good to take kids off the street, but that program is not well administered. People on the East Side watch empty buses going up and down the street every hour. Our kids have a bigger achievement gap than ever. We have a 62% graduation rate.

Coleman: The money we spent on out-of-school programs is out of parks and recreation and library budget. The mayor has to be a critical and integral partner with the school district.

Ng: The mayor needs to convene the resources, but spending the city's money as opposed to the school board... there is budget in there to take care of the children.

12:22 p.m. Q: Should garbage collection be operated by city or individual contracting?

Ng: Residents like having choice. But they don't want to see wear-and-tear in their alleys. But they like their freedom of choice. The mayor should do listening and arrive at a solution.

Coleman: The city got out of the garbage business in the mid-'70s. You don't put that back in the box. Where people don't have garbage service, though, it impacts the neighborhood. We've tried to be aggressive on garbage cleanup.

12:25 p.m. Q: GOP National Convention. Success, failure or in-between?

Coleman: In between. There was a regional impact. Let's remember why we asked both parties to bid on it. If someone has been here, they rate is as one they want to come back to. If they've never been here, they rate it as one they don't want to come to.

Ng: Abysmal failure. To this day a lot of St. Paulites won't forgive the fact the banner at Xcel Center put Minneapolis on top of St. Paul. Guests were bused out of here.

12:27 p.m. Q: What the biggest challenge?

Ng: Taxes

Coleman: Transportation and Central Corridor.

Q: Your opinion of instant runoff voting.

Coleman: No opinion.

Ng: "We can chill on that for awhile."

RYBAK VS. KOLSTAD



There are 11 candidates, Gary Eichten says, but "this being radio, we couldn't feature all 11 candidates so we chose the two endorsed by the major parties."

12:35 p.m. Introductory statements

Kolstad: I'm president of Mill City Music. I've done A Prairie Home Companion show when it was a morning show. The last 20 years I've been more active in civic life.

Rybak: When I ran for office, I said we'd be very focused, and we have been. We've had lower juvenile crime, we've created jobs, and we've created systems to help our young people for out-of-school time.

12:36 p.m. Q: What are the major issues:

Rybak: Public safety and job creation.

Kolstad: Increasing business, and the cost of a special election if Rybak runs for governor.

12:36p.m. How much of the lower crime rate is because of mayoral policies?

Kolstad: It's a national trend; it's not something controlled by what's going on in Minneapolis. This happened during the Great Depression. The most important thing to do to prevent crime is to have good jobs available. If you have that, they're not going to get involved with crime.

Rybak: If you ask the citizens of Chicago if it's a national trend, they'd say absolutely not. Minneapolis has led the nation in so many areas. We put 100 more police officers on the street. "They took down some key gangs." Launched youth violence prevention initiative.

12:38 p.m. Q: What would you do about complaints about the relationship between police and minority communities.

Rybak: We've made tremendous progress, but when police officers step over the line, they have to be accountable. Chief Timothy Dolan has removed three times as many police officers as any recent police chief. We'll continue to diversity police force, which is 18.6 officers of color. The recruit class is 50 percent officers of color.

Kolstad: There's mismanagement going on. The police are not being held accountable. There's a track record of the Minneapolis police ... there's serious cases of police violating civil rights, using excessive force, being absusive. If an officer does that, it's a criminal act and they should be held accountable. Too often, it's dealt as an internal affair.

12:41 p.m. How would you increase business?

Kolstad: Ninety percent of new jobs come from small business. They're being so burdened with taxes and fees and penalties. Their biggest problem is capital and when you rob them of that capital,you're harming business.

Rybak: John is wrong. Small business has a lobbyist in city hall and it's me. My parents ran a corner drug store. The first thing I did was to make it more efficient to get a business opened in Minneapolis. Before I took office, it took 37 days to get a permit. Today, it takes about nine days. We've done a tremendous amount for small business.

12:44 p.m. What would you do to make unemployment situation better?

Rybak: When I came into office, we merged programs and it's worked. The Sears building has 1,400 jobs for Allina. We've done things for smaller businesses. Standard Heating was thinking about moving out of the city; now we have 80 news jobs for Minneapolis. Wants more attention on job centers. Will continue to look at green and clean energy and medical technology.

Kolstad: He says small business has declined in the city. "I wish what he was saying was true, but East Lake St., looks like Detroit in the '70s. Things are not going well."

We have to find ways to support businesses. Green jobs is a great opportunity for the city. I'd like to turn it into a center for green technology. If I become mayor, I'd want to have an empowerment zone just for cities doing that and focus on small and independent businesses.

12:47 p.m. Can we assume taxes will go up?

Kolstad: Some people are hurting very badly. It's taking almost all of my capital to pay taxes, fees, and fines. They just started a new 20 percent penalty for fees that aren't paid on time. There are non-essential things; there hasn't been an internal audit in more than three years.

Rybak: The city is audited every year by the state auditor. Over the last eight years, I've made a series of tough choices and significant cuts. We cut $1.4 million out of budget last year. The city has navigated through incredibly difficult time. When I came into office, the city's debt rating was going down. First thing we said is we'd cut spending, then reform services and lay out a five year plan that would require people to put more money in. I'm very concerned about property taxes. Part of this issue rests on my shoulders. People who want property taxes should propose any cut they want to make, but we're not going to retreat on the process we've made. Not going to take cops off the street, or cut job creation strategies.

12:51 p.m. Why should people vote for you if you're going to run for governor?

Rybak: They knew three years ago when I became first mayor to endorse Obama that I would spend a lot of time campaigning for Obama. The years when we lowered unemployment, I was campaigning for Obama, but I was also working hard as mayor. The only thing I don't love about my job is the fiscal chaos.

Kolstad: He's appeared at three governor forums already. It's clear from what he's doing that he'll run. We've tried to get him to mayoral debates and he hasn't attended a single one. In 2001, there were 20 debates, in 2005 there were 10 debates for mayor. This year there were none. The mayor should make a choice.

12:54 p.m. Q: Do you support Republican and Independent Party platforms?

Kolstad: I'm endorsed by the GOP of Minneapolis, which is a little different than the statewide party.

FINAL STATEMENTS

Kolstad: I'm heading up a broad coalition across the political spectrum. These people are tired of mismanagement in Minneapolis. Are we better off than we were eight years ago? Most of us are not and it has to do with mismanagement by mayor and city council. Will remove regulatory burden on small business. I have 30 years of experience.

Rybak: I walked into our workforce center at Chicago and Lake and found something in short supply: hope. If that was the only sign of hope, I'd say our work has been successful. But then you look at Allina in the old Sears building, the streets are cleaner, in North Minneapolis you see crime dramatically down and improvements on West Broadway. There's been strong fiscal management. When a bridge collapses, when a tornado goes through a neighborhood, I've been a mayor who shows up.

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For many in Congress, it's not the economy

Posted at 9:24 AM on October 29, 2009 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Politics

At this hour, an utterly amazing exchange is taking place on Capitol Hill on an issue that is clearly the most important and fundamental issue facing the nation.

It's a brutally honest discussion between Tim Geithner, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the few members of the House Financial Services Committee who showed up for work today.

Geithner is, basically, calling out Congress for its inaction on closing loopholes that led to financial meltdown in the first place

It's a rare honest debate in which both sides are speaking frankly.

For example, Geithner was incredulous when one member of the committee suggested the "too-big-to-fail" banks should not be subject to the same regulation that smaller, community banks are.

"The important thing to recognize is -- and it's just worth going back to what it was like last fall -- without the ability for the government to step in and manage the failure of a large firm, to contain the risk of the fire spreading, we will be consigned to repeat the experience of last fall. It's a stark, simple thing. And there is no... I know of no person who has stood in my seat -- this is true of (Fed) Chairman Paulson -- in any central bank in any major country that would say the country should be run with no authority to step in and act in that case."

"They are getting into the fundamental issue of regulatory reform and that is the issue of pre-emption by the authority; do they have the right to go in and tell a bank they can't do a certain business, what is the right to take over a certain company if there's deemed to be a systemic risk?" a CNBC analyst noted. "This whole concept of prevention has been out there for, really, decades, that Congress has decided not to do because of these issues that have just been brought up."

Is that an important discussion -- the fundamental philosophical on the role of government -- for the people who were elected to Congress to hear? Not for many of them.

I count at least seven empty chairs. Even the committee chair, Rep. Barney Frank, left after his opening statement, in which he defended Congress by saying the committee has passed legislation that further regulates the banking industry. In fact, however, that legislation has not become law.

Three Minnesotans -- Rep. Michele Bachmann, Rep. Keith Ellison, and Rep. Erik Paulsen -- sit on the committee.

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Was Rudin wrong?

Posted at 1:32 PM on October 27, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

NPR "Political Junkie" Ken Rudin has apologized for comparing Barack Obama to Richard Nixon.

NPR ombudsman Alica Shepard calls attention (via Twitter) to her column today, in which she says what Rudin said "was a dumb thing to say."

Here's what Rudin said about the Obama administration's spat with Fox News.

"Well, it's not only aggressive, it's almost Nixonesque. I mean, you think of what Nixon and Agnew did with their enemies list and their attacks on the media; certainly Vice President Agnew's constant denunciation of the media. Of course, then it was a conservative president denouncing a liberal media, and of course, a lot of good liberals said, 'Oh, that's ridiculous. That's an infringement on the freedom of press.' And now you see a lot of liberals almost kind of applauding what the White House is doing to Fox News, which I think is distressing."

Rudin caught it pretty quickly, and apologized:

"Comparing the tactics of the Nixon administration --which bugged and intimidated and harassed journalists -- to that of the Obama administration was foolish, facile, ridiculous and, ultimately embarrassing to me."

Rudin played it well to settle the matter quickly, but it's worth pointing out he didn't compare Obama's tactics with Nixon's intimidation of the media via illegal means. He compared it to Nixon's "enemies" list and their (presumably rhetorical) "attacks on the media."

It was Steve Benen of Washington Monthly who extended the meaning of Rudin's comments:

Now would be an excellent time for a reality break. Has the Obama White House ordered the Justice Department to spy on Fox News employees? Has the administration ordered the IRS to start digging through Fox News' books, hunting for irregularities and auditing on-air personalities? Has the president directed thugs to break into Glenn Beck's psychiatrist's office?

"As he noted in his apology, what the Obama administration is doing is a "far cry from illegal and unconstitutional activities," Shepard wrote. She said "it was a dumb thing to say." But what was dumb? What he said as fact, or saying it imprecisely so that it could be misinterpeted?

Back to Benen:

And what as (sic) the Obama team done? They've dared to point out a simple reality: an obviously-partisan propaganda outlet in (sic) not a legitimate news organization. That's it. That's the totality of the White House's efforts -- criticizing a network that operates as an arm of a political party. There's no boycott, no punishment, no vendetta. All we have here are some White House aides who've criticized a network.

Not exactly. The White House has also frozen out Fox News whenever it could. That's their right.

"We're going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent," Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, told the New York Times. "As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don't need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave."

Regardless of whether you like or hate Fox News (and you either like or hate it; there's no middle ground), you have to at least consider the comment from Tom Edsall, the author of Building Red America:

"Reacting to criticism is a very dangerous thing for any kind of publication to get involved in, especially when the criticism is ideological... I do think that Fox has often been tilted to the right, but if they're now inhibiting their coverage - if these Tea Parties [that they didn't cover] were newsworthy - that's not good."

Curiously, the director of the First Amendment Center at the University of Kentucky, Mike Farrell, invoked the same language that Rudin did:

"The White House has basically said that they don't believe in the marketplace of ideas, they're not willing to engage in debate, and they are going to be associated with John Adams and the Sedition Act and Richard Nixon and his 'enemies' list - is that the company they want to be in?"

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Patients or prisoners?

Posted at 3:08 PM on October 20, 2009 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's reaction to a Star Tribune story on TVs for sex offenders confirms the reality of Minnesota's "treatment program" for sex offenders -- it's really just a jail for people who haven't been charged or convicted of crimes they might commit in the future.

"They don't need 50-inch, flat-screen plasma televisions for sex offenders," Pawlenty said today of the $1,576 TVs in the Moose Lake facility."Clearly, somebody just made a bonehead decision, and I'm going to reverse it."

The reversal comes over the objection of some of the staff at the facility who say there is a clinical benefit to the TVs. Indeed, the Associated Press refers to the people housed in the facility as "patients," not inmates.

"Patients" in Minnesota's sex offender "treatment" program have already served their jail time. They're housed under the guise of being in treatment, even though experts say there is no evidence that there's a treatment for sex offenders, and nobody who was committed under state law has ever come out of the program.

Dennis Linehan came closest. In 1965, Linehan kidnapped, raped, and killed a Minnesota teenager, was sentenced to 40 years in prison, escaped and was captured after sexually molesting a 12-year-old in Michigan. When he was scheduled for supervised release in 1994, then Gov. Arne Carlson ordered him held until he could get the Legislature to enact the Sexually Dangerous Persons Law, which allows Minnesota to lock up people who haven't been charged, under the theory -- upheld by the courts -- that the rights of the public outweigh the rights of the individual.

The Moose Lake "treatment" facility is, in fact, a wing of a prison. Whether the "patients" are pampered -- as suggested by the Star Tribune's TV story -- is a matter of some dispute, especially considering a complaint from the ACLU earlier this year:

* Detainees are subjected to strip searches and are handcuffed and shackled as part of standard operating procedure whenever detainees are transported (for example, to attend patient advisory committee meetings at the MSOP facility) and after contact visits in violation of their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.

* Detainees' incoming legal mail has, on numerous occasions, been opened outside the presence of the detainee in violation of their Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

* Detainees allege that they are not allowed incoming calls and that their calls are monitored in violation of their First Amendment right to telephone access.

* Detainees are denied their right to Procedural Due Process by being deprived of their access to freely move around the Annex without escorts, and, consequently, access to the privileges afforded to all other civilly committed detainees including daily access to the gym, access to library services, the ability to communicate with other Annex detainees, and free access to outside activities. The conditions imposed on Detainees are similar to what the Minnesota Department of Corrections imposes on inmates who are in Administrative Segregation. Inmates in A-Seg are entitled to procedural due process before being housed in that restrictive setting.

* Detainees are subjected to potentially severe health risks due to inadequate sanitation in violation of their Eighth Amendment rights includinng:

1. Communal showers and bathrooms are only cleaned once a day;
2. Urine and fecal matter are frequently found on the bathroom floor or toilet seats;
3. No sanitizer is readily available to disinfect the floors and toilet seats;
4. Dining room tables are not adequately sanitized prior to serving each meal;
5. Mops and brooms used to clean the bathrooms and showers are also used to clean cells, thereby spreading germs to their cells;
6. Towels, blankets and cleaning rags are washed in one unit washer and the water does not reach a temperature needed to properly sanitize them.

* Detainees who had purchased 20 inch televisions at the Annex had their property seized and were forced to send them out of the facility at their own expense to comply with a MNDOC rule allowing only 13 inch clear televisions on the Moose Lake prison property.

* MSOP retaliated against two of the plaintiffs (Beaulieu and Yazzie) for their participation in litigation challenging their access to religious activities while civilly committed to the MSOP. The retaliation took the form of a reduction in their access to religious services, attorneys, the court and visitation by family; unreasonable restraint of Yazzie leading to injury; unreasonable searches of Beaulieu's property; and the seizure and copying of Beaulieu's legal papers.

"It has to be treated like a hospital -- it is not a prison," said Rep. Thomas Huntley, DFL-Duluth.

Wink.

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Wither Vermilion

Posted at 12:03 PM on October 13, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

A little more than 2 years ago, Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced a plan to create a state park at Lake Vermilion, about 90 miles north of Duluth. By May 2008, the governor had secured $20 million from the Minnesota Legislature to pay for the park, all 3,000 acres and five miles of shoreline.

Except that price wasn't good enough for U.S. Steel, the current owner of the land, and since then, Britt Robson reports for the Capitol Report, not much has been done.

Yet even now, the proposed state park has its die-hard supporters, and they remain convinced that the land sale can eventually be completed. They are heartened by the fact that, nearly six months after getting the bureaucratic green light to develop the site, U.S. Steel has not turned a shovel's full of dirt to further the project.

"I drive by it at least 10 times a week, and I haven't seen any improvements on the road going in, or any other activity," reports Mike Forsman, one of the St. Louis County commissioners who voted for the development last spring. "My own suspicion is that the downturn in the economy has made it harder to buy and build housing up here. It certainly is not like it was three years ago. I imagine [U.S. Steel] will wait for the market to improve."

It was poor market timing by U.S. Steel, but they have time on their side. Gov. Pawlenty will likely have other things on his hands this legislative session. The state's revenues are running millions of dollars short and Pawlenty seems intent on running a practice presidential campaign.

In short, unless the market for high-value lakeshore developments makes a spectacular recovery in the near future or Pawlenty reopens negotiations, it will likely mean little closure to the state park question until after the next governor of Minnesota is seated in 2011.

Despite the political gamesmanship, or lack thereof, this never addresses the fundamental question: Do we need a new state park on Lake Vermilion?

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Capitol showbiz

Posted at 10:05 AM on October 1, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Politics

Congress hasn't done much in the last year to close some of the loopholes in the nation's banking system that led to the worst economic crisis in America since the Great Depression, and it's not hard to figure out why. They're not that interested in the subject.

Today, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before the House Financial Services Committee, which is "considering" changes in regulations.

Bernanke did something, however, that a lot of members of the committee didn't do: He showed up. Here's the revealing image off CNBC this morning:

What's the point of being on an important committee, if you don't show up -- preferably for the entire hearing -- to listen and participate in the discussion?

But discussions are rarely part of these hearings. Congresspeople show up for a few minutes when it's their turn to ask questions, then use most of their time to make a speech, and leave.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., for example, had five minutes to quiz Bernanke this morning, but used all but 3 seconds of her time to read a statement criticizing the possibility of the dollar not being the international standard, criticizing President Obama for saying he 'inherited' the financial mess, and wondering whether a new regulatory agency would regulate funding to ACORN. She then invited Bernanke to respond.

That earned her a rebuke from committee chair Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. "I've asked you before... there's only 3 seconds left in your time.... This practice of going right up to the end and then taking another minute or two is unfair to the other members."

Frank gave Bernanke 30 seconds to answer Bachmann's "questions," and said the dollar is in danger and punted on the question of funding for ACORN.

People watching on TV tend to get more information about the state of the economy and the options for fixing it than people who are elected to fix it. That might explain why it's broken.

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Did money talk?

Posted at 2:04 PM on September 29, 2009 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

The so-called "public option" component of health care reform died today when the Senate Finance Committee's Health Care Subdivision (essentially the entire committee) rejected an attempt to include it in legislation the panel is considering. Other bills circulating at the Capitol still have "public option," but Sen. Max Baucus removed it from his bill under pressure from Republicans, who considered it Socialist. The number of Democrats refusing to support the idea pretty much sinks it.

The vote was 15-to-8, with Democrats Baucus, Sen. Tom Carper, Sen. Kent Conrad, Sen. Blanche Lincoln, and Sen. Bill Nelson joining all of the committee's Republicans with "no" votes.

Most of the Democrats voting against the bill, were among the biggest Democratic recipients of health care cash in campaign fundraising. Coincidence? Who can say? The campaign finance system is such that one can only speculate what role it plays when legislation is considered that affects the campaign contributors. So you have to decide.

Here's the breakdown by committee members. The numbers in parentheses represents its rank for that senator in the grouping of contributions by industry. Keep in mind, these numbers are the amount raised through the end of June, well before the health care issue dominated the national dialogue.

DEMOCRATS

John D. Rockefeller, West Virginia (Chairman) - $255,950 from health professionals (2nd),

Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico - $210,563 from health professionals (3rd) and $92,000 from pharmaceutical industry (7th).

Sen. Kent Conrad, North Dakota - $239,533 from health professionals (3rd), $233,625 from the insurance industry (4th).

John Kerry, Massachusetts - $91,036 from insurance industry (7th). $64,948 from health professionals (13th)

Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas - $298,700 from health professionals (2nd), $153,304 from pharmaceutical industry (5th) and $131,850 from insurance industry (8th).

Ron Wyden, Oregon - $173,475 from health professionals (1st), $83,299 from insurance industry (7th).

Charles Schumer, New York - $155,300 from insurance industry (5th) , $108,650 from health professionals (9th).

Debbie Stabenow, Michigan - $338,455 from health professionals (4th). Second-biggest contributor was Blue Cross Blue Shield ($59,700)

Maria Cantwell, Washington - $206,001 from health professionals (11th).

Bill Nelson, Florida - $332,179 from health professionals (6th)

Robert Menendez, New Jersey - $256,950 from health professionals (7th)

Thomas Carper, Delaware - $238,680 from insurance industry (2nd), $139,520 from pharmaceutical industry (7th).

REPUBLICANS

Sen. Charles Grassley, Iowa - $241,856 from health professionals (1st), $201,148 from insurance industry (2nd), $152,650 from pharmaceutical industry (3rd), $139,137 from hospitals and nursing homes (4th). Blue Cross Blue Shield ($26,750) is second-largest contributor. Select Medical Group is third-largest contributor ($23,000).

Orrin G. Hatch, Utah. Ranking member - $481,081 from insurance industry (1st), $242,550 from health professionals. Blue Cross Blue Shield is second-largest contributor ($45,603)

Olympia Snowe, Maine - $174,074 from health professionals (2nd), $163,585 from insurance industry (3rd). Aetna Inc., is second-biggest contributor.

John Ensign, Nevada - $269,325 from health professionals (3rd), $211,462 from insurance industry (7th).

Michael Enzi, Wyoming - $218,700 from pharmaceutical industry (1st), $144,049 from health professionals (2nd), $124,250 from insurance industry (4th). Blue Cross Blue Shield is fifth-largest contributor ($15,000).

John Cornyn, Texas - $759,113 from health professionals (4th), $350,294 from insurance industry (9th).

John Kyl, Arizona - $649,383 from health professionals (4th).

Jim Bunning, Kentucky - $86,433 from insurance industry (1st), $63,650 from health care (3rd). Kindred Healthcare is fourth-largest contributor ( $12,100).

Pat Roberts, Kansas - $178,299 from pharmaceutical industry (9th).

(Source: OpenSecrets.org)

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Creative writing, politics style

Posted at 1:19 PM on September 29, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Tomorrow marks the end of the quarter for politicians to report their campaign contributions, so today their fundraisers are sending out solicitation letters to try to pry money out of some wallets by creating straw men and challenges.

Rep. Keith Ellison raised the specter of "special interests."

"Special interests," of course, are in the eye of the beholder. This summer, Ellison was in the spotlight for accepting a privately-funded gift of a trip to Mecca.

Rep. Michele Bachmann meanwhile is using Nancy Pelosi as the "boogeyman" in her fundraising letter.

"I must show a solid bank account to keep the Democrats from pouring millions into my opponents' campaigns," Bachmann said in her letter, as if anything could prevent Democrats from pouring millions into the 6th District race.

If you've gotten a fundraising e-mail today, please forward it to me.

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A tax to love?

Posted at 2:17 PM on September 28, 2009 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The great thing about being governor is you can vehemently oppose a bill, and then take credit for its accomplishments later.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's office sent out a news release today with a fair amount of back-patting for traffic congestion-relieving projects:

Motorists and transit riders in the south Twin Cities metro area will have an improved commute as several key components of a traffic congestion relief initiative open this week.

Governor Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Tom Sorel, Metropolitan Council Chair Peter Bell, and Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez celebrated the opening today of two new transit stations in Lakeville and the launch of a new MnPASS Express Lane on I-35W.

"Moving people and goods efficiently around the Twin Cities is important for our economy and our quality of life," Governor Pawlenty said. "Over the past several years we've made significant investments to improve our transportation system, including an additional lane on 494/694, MnPASS on I-394, the 'Unweave the Weave' project and many more improvements around the metro area. Now, thousands of people who use I-35W will have additional options to get to work or home faster."

Let's hit the Wayback Machine to find out where many of these projects came from.

What we have here is one example of what can happen when you raise taxes, for many of these projects came from the most contentious issue of the 2008 legislative session: The gax tax increase. You may recall Gov. Pawlenty vetoed the bill and it was one of the few times he lost a showdown with the Legislature.

Pawlenty called the bill "ridiculous."

Update 4:18 p.m. Here's the press release list of projects being cited by Pawlenty:

Express Bus Service

Lakeville residents now have new commuting options to downtown Minneapolis as Metro Transit began service today on I-35 from the new 750-space park-and-ride ramp at Kenrick Avenue in Lakeville, and Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MTVA) also began offering express bus service today. MTVA began service this morning from a temporary park-and-ride at Crossroads United Methodist Church until the Cedar Avenue park-and-ride lot opens in two to four weeks.

"The UPA grant allowed us to accelerate the debut of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in the metro area, helping to grow transit ridership, ease congestion and improve mobility. We also welcome the City of Lakeville to metro-area transit services," said Council Chair Bell

Metro Transit express route 467 will offer nonstop service, with six morning trips to downtown and six return trips in the afternoon. Buses will travel on the new I-35W MnPASS lanes. New coach buses, which seat 57 customers, will be used on the route, featuring high back chairs, reading lights and overhead storage compartments. Travel time to downtown Minneapolis is about 30 minutes.

MVTA Route 477V offers five morning and five afternoon trips each weekday, also on coach buses.

MnPASS on I-35W


On Wednesday, almost 12 miles of a new MnPASS Express Lane will allow solo drivers the option to pay a toll to use the high occupancy vehicle lane on I-35W. Car pools with two or more occupants, motorcycles and transit buses will still use the Express Lanes free of charge. Similar lanes are in operation on I-394 and have proven popular with commuters with up to 150,000 vehicles a day driving on some portion of the 11 miles of roadway that runs from downtown Minneapolis to the western suburbs.

"The I-35W MnPASS Express Lanes will provide commuters with a more reliable commute between the south Twin Cities metro area and downtown Minneapolis," said Commissioner Sorel

The new I-35W MnPASS Express Lanes include two segments: from Highway 13 in Burnsville to I-494 and from I-494 to downtown Minneapolis.

On the segment from I-494 to downtown, transit vehicles, carpools and MnPASS customers will be able to use a converted shoulder lane north of 42nd Street during certain times when traffic is congested. Electronic signs will alert drivers when the shoulder is open or closed. Construction on the Crosstown project continues, and the MnPASS Express Lane segment between I-494 and 42nd Street will open in fall 2010.

MnPASS drivers lease a small electronic transponder that attaches to their windshield behind the rear view mirror. The toll is automatically deducted from their pre-paid MnPASS account by toll recording equipment located on the road. Fees vary in amount by the level of traffic congestion in the MnPASS lanes. Commuters can open a prepaid MnPASS account in less than 10 minutes online at www.mnpass.net or by calling the MnPASS Customer Service Center at 1-866-EZ-RIDE4

Urban Partnership Agreement


The Urban Partnership Agreement is a series of transportation projects aimed at improving traffic conditions by reducing congestion on Interstate 35W, Highway 77/Cedar Avenue and in downtown Minneapolis. Through a combination of transit, road pricing, technology and telecommuting, project partners anticipate that commuters will experience more transportation choices, less traffic congestion and reduced commute times on some of Minnesota's busiest roads.

Minnesota's UPA partnership includes Mn/DOT, the Metropolitan Council/Metro Transit, Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, University of Minnesota; Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin and Ramsey counties; the city of Minneapolis, and Transportation Management Organizations. This innovative partnership allows Minnesota to leverage federal dollars and keep project costs low while pioneering new ways to move traffic. Project components include:

Transit

· Expansion of the single-bus lanes to two-bus lanes on both Marquette Avenue and 2nd Avenue in downtown Minneapolis will nearly triple the capacity for the number of buses while reducing bus travel time by up to 10 minutes through the 16-block downtown area.

· Construction of nearly 2,700 new parking spaces at six new or expanded park and ride facilities along the Highway 77/Cedar Avenue and I-35W corridors north and south of downtown Minneapolis.

· Purchase of 27 new buses for new or expanded express service from the Highway 77/Cedar Avenue and I-35W corridors to downtown Minneapolis.

· Construction of a transit-only left turn lane at Highway 62/Crosstown and Highway 77/Cedar Avenue, completed in November 2008, is resulting in more predictable and quicker rides.

Road Pricing

· Existing high occupancy vehicle lanes on I-35W from Burnsville Parkway to I-494 are being converted to MnPASS Express lanes.

· Upon completion of the Crosstown project, a new I-35W MnPASS Express lane from I-494 to 46th Street will be opened.

· From 46th Street to downtown Minneapolis on northbound 35W, current bus-only shoulders are being replaced with priced dynamic shoulder lanes. Buses travel at free-flow freeway speeds instead of the current 35 mph limit on bus-only shoulders. The priced dynamic shoulder lanes will be used during peak periods and will operate as shared rapid transit lanes for buses and carpoolers and MnPASS express lanes for single occupancy vehicles.

Technology

· Electronic signage above the lanes on I-35W that provides real-time information that improves safety and keeps traffic moving to avoid congestion.

· Lane guidance technology using global positioning satellites and other techniques will be installed on ten buses to keep transit vehicles centered in narrow shoulder lanes, ensuring safe and fast operations on highway shoulders.

· Real-time electronic commuter information signage is being used at select locations along the I-35W corridor to alert motorists about the estimated time of the trip by auto and bus, and how many parking spots are still available at the nearest park and ride.

· Real-time bus arrival and departure signage will be used on Marquette and 2nd Avenues and at select transit facilities along the Cedar Avenue/Highway 77 and I-35W corridors to alert transit customers about arriving and departing buses.

· Transit signal priority on Central Avenue from 2nd Street to 53rd Avenue will provide an advantage for transit and help maintain transit schedules.

· Cameras and instrumentation on Highway 13 connecting to the I-35W and Cedar Avenue/Highway 77 corridors will provide traveler information for motorists and improve traffic flow.

Telecommuting

· Partnerships with major employers along the I-35W corridor and in downtown Minneapolis will be established to promote flex-time and telecommuting programs with a goal to increase the number of telecommuting workers by 500 individuals by 2011.

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What do you want?

Posted at 8:42 AM on September 27, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Republicans in Minnesota have long criticized the Star Tribune's Minnesota poll for inaccuracy -- against the protestations of DFLers and the Star Tribune -- but we're wondering today how they feel about this headline:

Obama's support declines sharply

Accurate? Inaccurate? Who knows? But at the very least it's somewhat misleading. Why? Because the high point of the Obama presidency was in April, according to the poll, when Obama's popularity hit 63%. How hard is it to have high popularity in your first months in office? Not hard at all, assuming tanks aren't involved.

But last November, Obama's popularity rating -- as measured by election results -- was only 53% in Minnesota.

Disappointingly -- and, really, unacceptably -- the Minnesota Poll doesn't make the questions asked or the breakdown available online. Heck, even the methodology of the poll isn't provided.

We know, for example, that health care insurance reform -- it's not really health care reform -- is the main reason for the decline in popularity. But we don't know what Minnesotans expected. Obama ran on several platforms, including health care insurance reform. What did people think that meant way back then?

People are funny -- and fickle.

For example, President George Bush's job approval rating -- as measured by an MPR poll -- six months after he took office -- was 53 percent, statistically equal to Obama's current rating. But an October 2001 survey showed his job approval rating at 76 percent.

What changed? He launched attacks on Afghanistan in response to 9/11.

The poll showed people also favored expanding federal powers to wiretap, significant support for detaining Muslims without charges, and support for requiring us all to carry national ID cards. All things that would sink a job approval rating now. And the very thing that propelled Bush's job approval numbers then, is an anchor on Obama's now.

So perhaps the most important question in these polls of Minnesotans is: What do you want? Job approval ratings reflect a politician's ability to (a) figure it out and (b) adjust their actions to give it to you.

Clearly, Obama's concept of change is that (b) isn't part of his game. And while people might nod their heads that they want leaders not to bend to the polls, in practice that's exactly what we want.

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History or politics

Posted at 1:40 PM on September 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Schools

You let the president of the United States speak to school children and the next thing you know they're singing about him.

The school in New Jersey says the kids were learning a song for Black History Month last winter.

It's become a YouTube sensation in the last few days, even though it was uploaded in June.

New Jersey's education commissioner today ordered a review of the teaching of the song, and wants to find ways to celebrate Black History Month without "inappropriate partisan politics in the classroom."

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Action figures then and now

Posted at 2:52 PM on September 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Politics

Today's first look at the Michele Bachmann action figure...

... has me wistful for the time when the idea of action figures in politics was fresh and new:

It was also a time when the action figure even looked something like the person it was supposed to portray. Rep. Bachmann's action figure looks more like Gladys Knight.

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Obama on racism

Posted at 8:30 AM on September 22, 2009 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

If President Barack Obama doesn't think racism plays a significant role in opposition to his policies, why do so many people think it does?

Obama appeared on David Letterman's show last night and delivered the money quote when asked about racism. "It's important to realize that I was actually black before the election," he said.

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I see your 'dumb,' and I raise you an 'elitist'

Posted at 10:24 AM on September 21, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The latest debate on the ability of America to hold a political conversation was on display on today's first hour of Midmorning.

The show purported to ask, "Is racism fueling criticism of the president?" But the fix was in on the answer because both guests had the same perspective: "Yes."

That's not to say they didn't make good points in rebutting David Brooks' column last week, "No, it's not about race."

Given all of this, it was guaranteed that he would spark a populist backlash, regardless of his skin color. And it was guaranteed that this backlash would be ill mannered, conspiratorial and over the top -- since these movements always are, whether they were led by Huey Long, Father Coughlin or anybody else.

A pretty poor example, said Jack White, who writes about politics for The Root. Father Couglin was an anti-Semite, he said.



The discussion intertwined with the "lack of civility" angle right up until it got hit in the kisser with an irony pie.

"The problem is, what is the Republican Party doing to make a bigger space for people like himself?" he said, addressing a caller who said he was a moderate Republican. People who have a disagreement with the president's policies but don't want to fall into this trap of falling back on fear and prejudice to move their party forward. You have a handicap, it seems to me, even though you have someone like Michael Steele, who is black, as Republican Party chairman, I would argue that Michael Steele is exactly the wrong kind of person to have?"

"Why? Kerri Miller asked.

"Because Michael Steel is dumb," White said.

Caller Tim from Minneapolis provided the other side of the discussion.

"Thank you for calling another Republican dumb," he said. "Ronald Reagan was portrayed on the one hand as being a tired, pre-senile old fool who, nonetheless, stayed up late at night masterminding the Iran contra deal. We still hear jokes about Dan Quayle misspelling potato. Bush was consistently portrayed -- hammered, hammered, hammered -- on late night comedy shows, everybody that he was dumb. And yet he was also an evil genius who masterminded -- in the eyes of some admittedly paranoid people -- that he masterminded the 9/11 tragedy."

"Are you saying there has long been disrespect towards...." Kerri Miller asked.

"What I'm saying is disrespect... has been going on consistently from the left and you mentioned populism and populism is the response to political elitism and I think what you fail to recognize is that the Democratic Washington power circle, as well as the liberal side of the media, is viewed as being highly elitist and certainly Barack Obama did not help his case anywhere along the line when during the election, for example, when he made the comment about the price of irrugula arugula, You've assembled a nice panel of people that all seem to see things only one way," he said.

And that brings us back to Brooks:

What we're seeing is the latest iteration of that populist tendency and the militant progressive reaction to it. We now have a populist news media that exaggerates the importance of the Van Jones and Acorn stories to prove the elites are decadent and un-American, and we have a progressive news media that exaggerates stories like the Joe Wilson shout and the opposition to the Obama schools speech to show that small-town folks are dumb wackos.

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Ramstad for governor?

Posted at 11:31 AM on September 18, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Former Third District congressman Jim Ramstad dropped a little bit of a bombshell -- for now, we'll call it a firecracker -- when he told Gary Eichten a few minutes ago that he's leaving the door on the possibility of his running for governor "open just a crack."

A few minutes later, however, he said there's a 99 percent chance he wouldn't run.

Ramstad, a moderate by any definition, has no shot at winning a Republican state convention, but in his scenario he made it clear he'd do what former Gov. Arne Carlson did and run in a primary.

The former congressman had announced earlier this summer that he would not run.

Ramstad made his comments during the early part of MPR's Midday show, when he strongly criticized "the hard core right wing Republicans who are in charge of the Republican House caucus."

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Health care debate has been polite for some, survey says

Posted at 3:42 PM on September 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Surveys and trivia

We love surveys. We love to give them attention they don't deserve and this week, two surveys from the same organization caught our attention.

The first, which I won't belabor, was a Pew survey that said "the public's assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of Pew Research surveys, and Americans' views of media bias and independence now match previous lows." Sounds interesting, but I posit that it doesn't necessarily mean stories are (or aren't) more inaccurate these days. It only means that people think so.

But perhaps it's more a reflection on people who turn increasingly to news sources that they think will report stories the way they want to hear them (Let me save you the trouble of posting the predictable comment: Yes, I know some people think this is why liberals tend to listen to Public Radio).

The other day we got an e-mail from someone who claimed we were covering up the story that global warming was created in a conspiracy between the liberal media and the United Nations in order to effect a redistribution of wealth. To prove it, he noted that he read about it on the Internet, not in the liberal media.

Well, OK, that's one for the power of the Internet.

Today's survey is even more puzzling. The headline:

Health Care Debate Seen as "Rude and Disrespectful"

So far, so good. According to Pew, 53% of those surveyed said the health care debate has been rude and disrespectful. Sixteen percent said they didn't know how to characterize it.

Thirty-one percent said the debate has been polite and respectful. That should be the takeaway. It's true, those most likely to be accused of being rude and disrespectful -- in this case, Republicans -- are also the most likely to disagree. And the survey showed that, indeed, 44 percent of them said the debate has been polite and respectful. But 24% of Democrats agreed with the assessment.

Democrats, however, are much more likely to put the blame for the lack of civility on opponents of health care legislation. Forty-five percent of Republicans say they're at fault.

Who are these people? Pew doesn't say. But we can deduce that 17% of those surveyed weren't paying any attention to what was going on. Only eighty-three percent said they'd heard "a little or a lot" about Rep. Joe Wilson's "you lie" moment, a news story that was nearly impossible to miss.

(Photo: A driver shows his polite side on Robert St. in West St. Paul on Wednesday. Click the image for a larger view).

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Too late for ACORN?

Posted at 1:47 PM on September 16, 2009 by Bob Collins (27 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The ACORN scandal is mushrooming.

It started after BigGovernment.com, a site run by commentator Andrew Breitbart, sent a couple of kids into an ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) office to try to get funding for a prostitution ring. Hidden video revealed an intake worker ready to help.

For conservatives, it was proof of a story they claim mainstream media has been ignoring: that of a fraudulent organization tied to the president.

ACORN's response has been -- charitably put -- uneven. At first, according to a press release, the group said an intake worker was just kidding:

When the actors approached Ms. Kaelke with their provocative costuming and outlandish scenario, she could not take them seriously. So she met their outrageousness with her own personal style of outrageousness. She matched their false scenario with her own false scenarios.

But another press release today from ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis suggests now that they weren't:

"As a result of the indefensible action of a handful of our employees, I am, in consultation with ACORN's Executive Committee , immediately ordering a halt to any new intakes into ACORN's service programs until completion of an independent review. I have also communicated with ACORN's independent Advisory Council, and they will assist ACORN in naming an independent auditor and investigator to conduct a thorough review of all of the organizations relevant systems and processes. That reviewer, to be named within 48 hours, will make recommendations directly to me and to the full ACORN Board. We enter this process with a commitment that all recommendations will be implemented."

Said Ms. Lewis: "We have all been deeply disturbed by what we've seen in some of these videos. I must say, on behalf of ACORN's Board and our Advisory Council, that we will go to whatever lengths necessary to reestablish the public trust. For nearly forty years, ACORN has given voice to communities, and gotten results. Right now, our nearly 500,000 member are working their hearts out for quality, affordable healthcare for every American and to help stop the foreclosure crisis. We must get this process right, so the good work can go forward."

It may be too late. Earlier this week, the Senate voted to prevent the organization from getting -- and distributing -- any housing money. When Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken line up against you, it's over.



And today, according to MPR's Tom Scheck, Gov. Pawlenty has ordered a halt to any state money going to the group, if any.

(Update 4:47 p.m. MPR's Tom Scheck reports Pawlenty appears to have put a halt to something that didn't exist in the first place.)

Conservatives, meanwhile, are claiming the mainstream media are ignoring the story, which puts it squarely in the lap of comedians to figure out:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Audacity of Hos
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

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Political lightning round

Posted at 1:01 PM on September 15, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

There's a period at the beginning of session of the U.S. House when members make one-minute speeches to a near-empty chamber. It's the daily "lightning round" of American issues.

Here's today's:

Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., objects to what Hamas is teaching in its schools.

Rep. Steven Kagen, D-Wisc., advocates reform in health care.

Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., congratulates a teenage tennis player at the U.S. Open.

Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Co., congratulates Congress for passing an economic stimulus

Rep. Christopher Lee, R-NY, pays tribute to a soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Rep. John Yarmuth, D-KY, says people are frustrated that they're not being heard and says it's because of campaign contributions from big money.

Rep. Ted Poe, R-TX, notes the high attendance of people protesting Obama's health care "These people don't like the attitude that disagreement with government is frowned upon." He says people object to the characterization of "these people as unAmerican."

Speaking of viral:

Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-NC, says people with health care coverage don't know what they've got.

Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mon., says Congress should adjourn for 30 days so the reps can "listen to real Americans" on health care.

Rep. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, says people need health insurance.

Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., says the administration raised taxes by adding tariffs on tires from China.

Rep. John Hall, D-NY (former lead singer of Orleans) says health care must pass.

Rep. John Boozman, R-Ark., says proposed health care bill will force small businesses to close.

Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-NJ, says surging health care costs slow job growth.

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-TX., says 40 percent of medical practice suits are without merit.

Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., says people are mostly worked up over things that aren't in the health care bill. He calls them "hallucinations."

Rep. John Fleming, R-La., says health care reform plan will increase national debt.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Tex., says it's time for insurance companies "to come to the table, spending the millions they're spending to spread falsehoods" and work out a plan on health care.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV, who honors a police officer who was killed in the line of duty.

Rep. Steve Driehaus, D-Ohio, honors the late Cincinnati Pops conductor Erich Kunze.

Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., advocates public option in health care reform.

Rep. Paul Tonko, D-NY, pats himself on the back for passage of a wind energy bill.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., says Democrats are calling everything a crisis. "We still don't get it; the crisis is here in Washington," he says.

Rep. Michael Arcuri, D-NY, recounts stories of problems with people who have pre-existing conditions.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, says 1 of 5 adults lacks health insurance.

Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis. recognizes 15th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act.

Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, D-Ohio, says a woman who worked for GM and took early retirement, has found she's lost her health care and her retirement savings.

Rep. Rush Holt, D-NY, says Americans are living sicker and dying younger.

And that's today's lightning round.

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Jody Powell, 1943-2009

Posted at 4:30 PM on September 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The news today that Jody Powell died has sent us scurrying for the News Cut Wayback Machine.

It's 1977. And Time Magazine hates the new administration in town, and the new press secretary, a Mr. Jody Powell:

Jody Powell, the other principal staff strategist in the Lance affair, turned out to have some of the Machiavellian instincts of Nixon's Ziegler--and about the same skill --when he tried to send newsmen chasing after Chuck Percy on a provably false charge. Surely there have been times in the past when presidential press secretaries have called up newsmen and suggested they check out rumors of wrong-doing by Senators. But that sort of thing is probably done less in reality than in the Washington novels.

Looking back at that story, it's almost laughable to note that people once believed that White House officials didn't orchestrate media assaults on political opponents. And Time's observation came after experiencing the Nixon administration.

Powell was also responsible for leaking the one presidential story that should have died : The one about the "killer rabbit."

Although an experienced reporter, Brooks also failed to appreciate the significance of what he had heard. He did not rush to file an "urgent" story. In fact, he continued the conversation for some period of time and several more cups of tea. Not until the next day did he get around to sending this gripping account out over the wires to a waiting public. And even then it was a pleasant, lighthearted piece. Although he may not admit it now, I had the definite impression at the time that Brooks thought it was nothing more than a mildly amusing incident, too.

We were soon corrected. The Washington Post, exercising the news judgement (sic) that we in the White House had come to appreciate so keenly, headed the piece President Attacked by Rabbit and ran it on the front page. The more cautious New York Times boxed it on page A-12. That night, all three networks found time to report the amazing incident. But that was just the beginning.

In one of Powell's last "appearances," he talked to NPR in January about what it's like to move out of the White House.

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Checking the speech

Posted at 5:52 PM on September 12, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

As Larry Jacobs told Gary Eichten after Saturday's speech at Target Center by President Barack Obama, it was a rally speech, not a policy speech. By design, it should have capitalized on the momentum from his speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, except that most of the discussion afterwards was about a guy who yelled something stupid, rather than the issue. So the president needed to use Saturday's speech to jumpstart things... again.

There usually isn't a great deal of meat in a rally speech, but that's not to say there weren't many interesting parts. Let's look at a few segments of his speech.

In the last twelve months alone, six million more Americans lost their health insurance. And today, we received more disturbing news. A new report from the Treasury Department found that nearly half of all Americans under 65 will lose their health coverage at some point over the next ten years. More than one-third will go without coverage for longer than one year. In other words, it can happen to anyone. There but for the grace of God go I.

The president used this on his Saturday radio address. We'll have to take his word for it; the report isn't online. But it makes sense because health insurance is tied to employment in this country and we know in the last 12 months, people have lost their jobs. It's interesting that only 6 million lost their health insurance, because nearly 15 million are currently unemployed. COBRA allows people to keep health insurance for a few months -- until they can figure out how to pay for private insurance when they don't have income.

At some point, opponents are going to have to acknowledge the validity of this aspect of the problem. Many of them did in the last campaign.

Another woman from Texas was about to get a double mastectomy when her insurance company canceled her policy because she forgot to declare a case of acne. By the time she had her insurance reinstated, her breast cancer more than doubled in size.

Her name is Robin Beaton of Waxahachie, Texas. Obama mentioned her situation in his speech on Wednesday.

It has now been nearly a century since Teddy Roosevelt first called for health care reform.

I was alive during the debate over Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. Trust me, plenty has been done to help provide it since Teddy Roosevelt. The suggestion that nothing has been done since Teddy Roosevelt is, of course, wrong.

If we do nothing, we will eventually spend more on Medicare and Medicaid than every other government program combined. That is not an option for the United States of America.

On this Republicans agree. The comment mirrors Gov. Tim Pawlenty's comments in recent years about health care in Minnesota. His view is the state shouldn't provide health care to the extent it does. Obama's is that someone should. That's really the issue here.

First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.

This, of course, is the "money quote" and has been for some time. But the concern of opponents is that employers -- if there is a cheaper option available via public option -- will drop their private-insurer coverage and force their employees to go on whatever public "exchange" is available. Why should employers pay for something that would be provided directly to their employees via this option?

We will do this by creating a new insurance exchange - a marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for an affordable health insurance plan that works for them.

Lacking details as almost every plan does, what would you consider affordable when it comes to health insurance premiums?

And it would require changes for those who have Medicare. The Congressional Budget Office says the provisions currently in the House version of the health care bill will add 5 percent to Medicare premiums in 2001 and 20 percent in 2019 (although spending on prescriptions would fall. Is this a wash? It depends on whether you buy a lot of prescriptions).

Now, if you still cannot afford the lower-priced insurance available in the exchange, we will provide tax credits so that you can. And in the few years it takes us to set up the exchange, we will immediately offer Americans with pre-existing conditions low-cost coverage that will protect you from financial ruin if you become seriously ill.

Again, these are the details we don't have. What does low cost mean?

I have also said that one of the options in the insurance exchange should be a public insurance option. Let me be clear - it would only be an option. No one would be forced to choose it, and no one with insurance would be affected by it. What it would do is provide more choice and more competition. It would keep pressure on private insurers to keep their policies affordable and treat their customers better, the same way public colleges and universities provide additional choice and competition to students without in any way inhibiting private colleges and universities.

We know by experience how insurance companies lower their costs. So if the public option is intended to apply pressure on private insurers to keep their policies affordable, how does that likely square with the claim that having such a public option wouldn't affect anyone with insurance now? I'm not saying it will. I'm not saying it won't. I'm not inviting another round of T-shirt slogans. I'm asking how the theory works in detail?

And I will make sure that no government bureaucrat or insurance company bureaucrat gets between you and the coverage that you need.

There seems to be almost no way to provide a public option without a bureaucrat working on administering it. But giving Obama the benefit of the doubt that what he means is a bureaucrat won't deny "the coverage you need," it invites the question, "who decides what coverage you need?" We know who does now. The insurance companies. But the promise is a bureaucrat won't be involved in this. Suppose your health care provider -- however you define that -- suggests laetrile to treat cancer. Who's going to be the one to say that's not an acceptable treatment?

First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits - either now or in the future.

According to the "Congressional Budget Office":http://cboblog.cbo.gov/?p=332" target="_blank:

According to CBO's and JCT's assessment, enacting H.R. 3200 would result in a net increase in the federal budget deficit of $239 billion over the 2010-2019 period. That estimate reflects a projected 10-year cost of the bill's insurance coverage provisions of $1,042 billion, partly offset by net spending changes that CBO estimates would save $219 billion over the same period, and by revenue provisions that JCT estimates would increase federal revenues by about $583 billion over those 10 years.

By the end of the 10-year period, in 2019, the coverage provisions would add $202 billion to the federal deficit, CBO and JCT estimate. That increase would be partially offset by net cost savings of $50 billion and additional revenues of $86 billion, resulting in a net increase in the deficit of an estimated $65 billion.

Keep in mind, that refers to the House version of the bill, which nobody thinks is ever going to be enacted in its present form.

Right now, too much of the hard-earned savings and tax dollars we spend on health care doesn't make us healthier. That's not my judgment - it's the judgment of medical professionals across this country.

And it's also true that this isn't a serious point of debate.

The only thing this plan would eliminate is the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud, as well as unwarranted subsidies in Medicare that go to insurance companies - subsidies that do everything to pad their profits and nothing to improve your care. And we will also create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts charged with identifying more waste in the years ahead.

This also mirrors what the president said Wednesday. The New York Times said the president overreached.

Critics of the president's plan have said Americans ages 65 and over could find their Medicare benefits reduced as a result of the health care overhaul. Congressional Democrats certainly do not intend to cut benefits, but they are proposing big cuts in government spending on Medicare and not all of it would come from eliminating waste. The legislation seeks to trim Medicare payments for most services, as an incentive for hospitals and other health care providers to become more efficient. Other cuts would come from reduced payments to drug makers. Such cutbacks could inadvertently reduce access to some types of care.

The changes could also create new co-payments for services, including some laboratory tests that are now provided without charge.

So don't pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut. That will never happen on my watch. I will protect Medicare.

Even if he's re-elected president, Medicare isn't expected to run out of money until 2017, right after his term would expire.

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Can undocumented immigrants get government subsidized health care?

Posted at 9:34 AM on September 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (23 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.

That was the point at which Rep. Joe Wilson shouted, "you lie," and led to today's national dialog about whether people who are here illegally will have access to health care. Notice, however, that the president didn't say they would. He didn't say they wouldn't. He said "the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally."

That's different than saying government won't pay for access to health care for people who are in the United States illegally. It already is. Technically.

Take Minnesota, for example.

Technically, "Nonimmigrants" and "undocumented persons" are not eligible for General Assistance, welfare, Minnesota Supplemental Aid, SSI, Food Support, Emergency General Assistance, and MinnesotaCare. But, again technically, they have access to government-subsidized health care even though they don't. How can both be true?

The 2003 Legislature eliminated GAMC coverage (General Assistance Medical Care) for nonimmigrants and undocumented persons who are under age 18, age 65 or older, blind, or disabled. It also eliminated GAMC coverage for all other nonimmigrants and undocumented persons.

But, according to the Minnesota House of Representatives Research Department, "Nonimmigrants and undocumented persons who meet MA eligibility criteria, such as children under age 21, parents of children under age 18, people who are age 65 or older, blind, or disabled, may be eligible for treatment of emergency medical conditions (including labor and delivery costs for pregnant women) under Emergency MA." That's federally funded.

In Minnesota and the U.S., SCHIP, the children's health insurance program, provides undocumented and nonimmigrants prenatal and delivery care through the end of the month in which the child is born.

Technically, that's government-subsidized health care.

So who's right? That's the problem. Technically both sides are. Especially when it's boiled down to sound bites and talk show rhetoric. That's why there needs to be more attention to the details of the various plans being discussed. The "immigrant issue" is a technicality being used to sway people who can't be bothered with such things.

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USA the Franken Way

Posted at 8:57 PM on September 4, 2009 by Bob Collins (17 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

If you listened to Midday via the radio on Friday -- MPR Day at the State Fair -- the whole "Al draws the USA thing" might not have been that impressive. So ... here:



Here's Gary Eichten's full interview with the senator. Health care, of course, was the big topic. Franken would not commit to an answer on the question of whether he'd support a health care bill without the "public option."

"I'm not going to negotiate with myself at the State Fair," he said.

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Senator Schilling?

Posted at 2:41 PM on September 2, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Minnesotans are familiar with the odd backgrounds of its political candidates. See Ventura, Jesse and Franken, Al.

But what would it say about the U.S. Senate if someone can go from the starting rotation for the Boston Red Sox to the United States Senate?

In an interview with New England Cable News, Curt Schilling -- a Republican -- says he's considering running for the seat vacated by the death of Ted Kennedy.

Republicans had Stuart Smalley to use to undercut Al Franken's candidacy. Is this enough for Massachusetts Democrats?

Prepare your Massachusetts jokes, Minnesota!

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Live-blogging: The Gang Strike Force hearing

Posted at 5:15 PM on August 26, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

A joint legislative committee got a first-hand look at wrongdoing in the Metro Gang Strike Force on Wednesday, although there was disagreement over whether it constitutes "corruption." According to an independent review issued last week, members of the gang unit confiscated property from people who often had nothing to do with gangs, and brought the property home. Other property simply disappeared. (Read the report here)

The hearing also touched on a question of the disproportionate targeting of communities of color by the Gang Strike Force. This morning, MPR's Cathy Wurzer talked with Rep. Michael Paymar, DFL-St. Paul, who chairs the House Public Safety Finance Committee.



Here's the live blog of the hearing. Please join the discussion below.

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The health care debate: Marginal treatments

Posted at 2:00 PM on August 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

Sen. John McCain is back on the stump with a "town meeting" style event for health care today.

"You know in England, the NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) has denied treatment for women with breast cancer, and people with Alzheimer's, and denied life-saving drugs for people with MS," the former presidential candidate said to a group of mostly senior citizens, the one demographic he won in last year's election.

True?

Apparently so. And it comes directly from a briefing paper prepared by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which said:

* NICE restricted access to two drugs for Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Britain's leading cause of blindness.[6] The first drug, Macugen, was completely blocked, while the second, Lucentis, was limited to the approximately one in five disease sufferers who have a specific type of the disorder.[7] Even then, Lucentis was restricted to patients with that type of the disorder in both eyes--and could only be used in the less-diseased eye. In the words of Tom Bremridge, chief executive of the Macular Disease Society, "allowing one eye to go blind before treating the second eye is cruel and totally unacceptable." Winfried Amoaku of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists explained, "There are differences in action between these two drugs, which may be important in individual cases, and so we do not wish to be limited in our treatment options in this way."

* NICE limited several Alzheimer's drugs to use in patients whose disease had advanced from early to middle-stage. Even though doctors argued that starting treatment at the onset of dementia would be most effective in slowing the progression of the disease,[8] NICE decided that patients would have to wait until they became sick enough for the treatments to meet the cost-effectiveness threshold. A charity has taken legal action, accusing NICE of "ignoring totally the proven benefits of the drugs for careers of those with mild symptoms, and grossly underestimating the savings they bring to the state by enabling suffers to remain in their own homes longer. [The charity] accused NICE of implying careers are far better off when the condition of their sick relative deteriorates so much that they are forced to move into a residential home."[9]

* NICE blocked access to Glivec, a leukemia treatment. Ann Tittley, a 55-year-old patient, was being treated for breast cancer when she was diagnosed with leukemia. After realizing she would be denied access to Glivec even though her physician had recommended she start it immediately, Ms. Tittley wrote a letter to then-Prime Minister Tony Blair. "Glivec was my lifeline, at least it would give me a chance of beating this disease," wrote Ms. Tittley. "Life is precious.... I appreciate that cost is important, but to deny patients this potentially life-saving treatment on this basis is totally unforgivable and criminal."[10]

In a June article, the Economist noted the concerns and suggested, however, there are provisions which could prevent them in a reformed health care system:

In America, the drugs and devices lobbies are violently opposed to a NICE-style agency that could issue mandatory rulings. They paint a scary picture of Americans being denied access to life-saving new drugs by faceless bureaucrats. In Britain NICE has come under fire for rulings that limited access to expensive drugs for Alzheimer's and cancer on the NHS. America could get around this problem by requiring and perhaps even funding studies, but leaving insurers and individuals to decide whether to pay for treatments.

As with many aspects of the health care debate, there's more to the story. Aricept is the drug NICE originally kept off its formulary, according to the New York Times. It costs about $2,200 a year and some Medicare drug plans pay for it; some don't, says The Times' Caring and Coping blog.

Daniel Callahan, a bioethicist at the Hastings Center, says the drug -- and several others that are linked to the anecdotes above, can slow the progression of a disease, but only for a short time and have only marginal benefits given their cost. It's a question, he says, Americans don't want to ask or discuss.

The most generic way this is done is to declare that life is priceless and even to pose such a question is immoral; and so also with the idea of rationing beneficial treatments. Considerations of cost should simply have no place in our reform calculus.

But there are more subtle ways that cost are sidelined in the reform debate. One of them is the powerful role of the pharmaceutical industry, also taken up in the New Old Age. By treating any consideration of cost as a threat to innovation, both the profit motive is protected (patents run out), and the American romance with endless medical progress is pandered to.

At the end of the debate where McCain traveled today, each side -- proponents and opponents -- can approach the same issue with two different questions.

(1) Why should the government tell me what drugs I can have when it should be my choice?

- or -

(2) Why should taxpayers -- or the other members of your insurance pool -- pay for a drug for you that has little value?

Pick your poison.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

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Transportation funding: How much do you need?

Posted at 3:40 PM on August 24, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

There was a reason why transportation advocates were relatively quiet last spring when just about everyone else who gets money from the state was decrying the fallout from the economic crisis, the massive state budget shortfall, and then Gov. Pawlenty's unallotment.

Over the objections of Gov. Pawlenty, the Legislature increased the state's gas tax in 2008 to pay for maintaining and upgrading the system.

"Transportation one exception to funding crisis," the headline on Dan Olson's story read last January.

The increased revenue means the Minnesota Department of Transportation construction budget for this year over last rises by more than half. In two years, spending will more than double from last year's.

Good times? Apparently not. Today, the Minnesota Department of Transportation released its spending outlook for the next 20 years and found it's $50 billion short, more than twice the projected gap cited in its previous report, issued five years ago. And that was before the Legislature approved the additional $6.6 billion funding plan.

The problem, aside from inflation, is that people are driving more fuel-efficient cars, using less gasoline.

"If we continue to let our roads deteriorate the cost is going to be exponential," said Murphy, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, echoing virtually the same argument he applied in the legislative debate over the gas tax. "Instead of building new roads, we're going to have to tear up all of our old roads and build them again.

One idea: A program for people with fuel-efficient vehicles whereby the government gives them money to buy more gas guzzlers.

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Health care rationing?

Posted at 9:53 AM on August 19, 2009 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

At the same time MPR's Kerri Miller was hosting a discussion today on where the money goes that's dumped into health care, and why health care costs so much, a Harvard professor was sounding an alarm that health care reform will lead to rationing, and getting significant pushback from an unlikely source.

"The best solution to this problem of private overconsumption of health services would be to eliminate the tax rule that is causing the excessive insurance and the resulting rise in health spending, Martin Feldstein wrote in a Wall St. Journal column today called ObamaCare is all About Rationing." Alternatively, Congress could strengthen the incentives in the existing law for health savings accounts with high insurance copayments. Either way, the result would be more cost-conscious behavior that would lower health-care spending."

Feldstein went on CNBC this morning, where anchor Mark Haines found his view objectionable.

Haines: Why would that lead to rationing?

Feldstein: Because that's what the administration strategy is. They've said they're going to cut the projected rate of growth on health care spending by 30 percent over the next two decades. That came from a White House study released in June. And the way they're going to do that is by setting rules for doctors and hospitals, what they call 'cost effective forms of treatment' that will limit the kinds of things that can be done.

Haines: And we don't have rationing now?

Feldstein: We have some of it, but this...

Haines: You bet your bippy we've got it. C'mon. You have profit-motivated bureaucrats making rationing decisions.

Feldstein: But I can talk to my doctor. I can talk to my hospital and say, 'should we do this or not do that?' And people with private insurance today have those kinds of options.

Haines: And then the insurance company has the final say on whether it actually happens, right? Rationing care.

Feldstein: They turn down very, very few things and, again, it is not the government that's doing it. So if my insurance company doesn't allow certain drugs, or doesn't allow certain kinds of treatment, I can choose a different kind of policy. And the idea as I see it in the Obama proposal is to force us all into a certain kind of spending pattern because the government is concerned -- the administration is concerned -- about how much the government is spending on health care, and Medicare, and Medicaid, but in order to control that, they want to change the kind of treatments that you and I -- outside the Medicare and Medicaid system -- can get on our own.

Haines. I'm sorry, but how are you being... how are we being forced into anything? You will be allowed to keep your private insurance.

Feldstein: Yes, but what the administration is talking about, what they describe in this White House report, is what they call 'comparative effectiveness research.' In other words: Their studies will say whether a particular kind of treatment is worth the money. And that's what concerns me.

Haines: Wait a minute! You want to be able to have anything regardless of its cost vs. its effectiveness?

Feldstein: No, I want to make that decision.

Haines: How are you qualified to make that decision?

Feldstein: I and my physician together will talk about whether something is worse spending the money to do. Whether the risks associated with not doing this test or that test are risks that we want to take. And I think that individuals who want to pay out of pocket, there ought to be higher co-payments. But I think individuals and their physicians rather than a bureaucratic process should be making the choice.

Haines: First of all, the private insurance companies are a bureaucracy, so this bureaucrat argument is nonsense. And, second, you'll pardon me sir, but your argument is a very easy one to make by someone who has money.

Feldstein: But 85 percent of Americans have insurance. So it's not that we're talking about a small handful of people who have insurance. And one of the nice things is there's choice. I can, here in Boston, I can join any of a number of plans and they're going to differ (Bob notes: He didn't mention that Massachusetts has universal health care) in the kinds of hospitals I would have access to and the kinds of limits on various things. So there's choice and it seems to me that's one of the things that's made the American health care system so good. That it has stimulated research. It has stimulated new technologies...

Haines: Well I'll say, again, sir, you have these choices because you can afford them. A lot of people can't afford them. And we're 29th in the industrial world in infant mortality. We spend two-and-a-half times what Britain spends for worse outcomes...I'm sorry.

Haines got so worked up, he turned the interview over to his co-anchor.

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Barney Frank opens new front in health care debate

Posted at 8:18 AM on August 19, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Opponents of President Obama's health care plan are never going to vote for Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., so that gives him the luxury of telling them off.

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Picket-line politics

Posted at 12:10 PM on August 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Today, President Obama was in Phoenix, speaking to the VFW about his health care plan. Then it's on to Colorado.

Both sides in the debate were out in force early.

If we didn't have their signs, could we still tell which side they're on? Why? Or why not?

Here's one side:

Here's the other:

Click on the image for a larger version.

Think it's easy? Maybe. Maybe not.

Charles Quimby at Across the Great Divide had a great question on this picture.

Can you guess who stands for what in whatever this disagreement is about?

Answer later on the photos above.

1:38 p.m. Answers -

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Live-blogging Midday: St. Paul and Minneapolis budgets

Posted at 11:04 AM on August 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Politics

Both Minneapolis and St. Paul mayors have released their budget updates. Both call for increases in property taxes and reductions in some services. Mayor R.T. Rybak and Mayor Chris Coleman are Gary Eichten's guests on Midday. Listen to the program here. React below.

11:07 a.m. - Coleman says the city is "relatively strong," and looking at doing things "more efficiently." Says the city is focusing on "what really matters," which brings up the obvious question: "What doesn't matter?"

11:09 a.m. - You can watch Rybak's budget message here.

11:10 a.m. - Coleman says St. Paul is "down 40 officers." Gives props to Obama for stimulus. Rybak gives props too, and criticizes state cuts to cities and says stimulus money will go away. "Every budget I've presented in five years has been balanced, which is in sharp contrast to the state."

Rybak says more than 100 positions were eliminated yesterday.

11:12 a.m. - Gary plays sound bite of Pawlenty says some good things in Minneapolis wouldn't have happened without him. He cites Guthrie, Northstar, Twins stadium, light rail, and "all of the money pumped into the University of Minnesota."

11:14 a.m. - "I wish he'd stick around because I'd love to have him come on this program,' Rybak countered. He says spending in Minneapolis increased 1 percent, during Pawlenty's term, state spending jumped 12 percent. "I don't need a lecture." He says Pawlenty sat on his hands for Twins stadium. Rybak says he led initiatives and Pawlenty 'was there for the signing.'

11:17 a.m. - Coleman says Pawlenty did not solve budget problems this year. "He just pushed it into the future."

"This whole country has been engulfed in this negative tone where people get up and scream. I wish we could have a dialog about where we need to go and stop blaming everyone for our problems," Coleman said.

Q: Are you running for governor?

A: Coleman: I've made no secret I'm exploring that?
A: Rybak: "I'm likely to do that."

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q: Have you laid off more firefighters? (Question from wife of firefighter)

A: Everyone is taking a cut, public safety taking less of a cut. Didn't accept grant for firefighters because it required us to spend more money.

Q: To Coleman: How can you call a 6 percent hike in property tax, "more service at a better price"?

A: We have merged departments, invested up-front money to save money in the long run. We're making long-term investments in which we'll see huge paybacks. We're asking employees to do more with less. Layoffs after the first of the year.

Q: Caller: In 1967 the Legislature passed first sales tax. 100% were to go to reduce property taxes. That was the purpose. Now the state is fighting increases in sales tax and has no regard for local property taxes.

A: Rybak: Correct. We should say "let's have the sales tax but earmark it for property tax relief."

Q: Without Gang Strike Force, will gang activity increase?

A: Coleman; We have great anti-gang cops. "Unfortunate that the sideshow has taken away from what our officers are doing."

Rybak: "Doesn't have a significant impact on what we're doing in the city." Says Minneapolis cops have lots of intelligence (informers?)

11:29 a.m. - Coleman just mentioned the Harlem Children's Zone as a model. Here's the Web site.

Q: (Caller to Coleman) I live in Highland Park. We can save money by not cleaning the streets in the summer. They're not dirty.

A: Coleman: You're going to get your wish; it's one of the things we're going to have to clean the streets (Ah, but will there be towing on days you're not going to clean anymore?). It's not all about aesthetics; it ends up in the river.

11:36 a.m. - Why do the cities have different policies on things like trash collection?

Rybak: There's a whole long history of garbage in Minneapolis. It works well for us. St. Paul's works well for them. Same with snow plowing.

(Of course, this brings up an old question: Why do we need two big cities? Why not just be like businesses and merge)

Q: Does downtown St. Paul have a future?

A: Coleman: "It's unbelievable. I'm so excited it's impossible to contain (bob: Is a lunch joint staying open after 2 p.m. downtown?). Cray is coming downtown. Microsoft wants to be a part of downtown. Light rail is a critical piece of that. High-speed rail is a critical part of that.

Q: Block E has reputation for intimidation and violence. When is the mayor going to do something?

A: Crime in downtown is dramatically down, Rybak says. Putting more people on the street -- via the Twins ballpark -- will help. So does all the residential properties "we've built."

Q: Re: Central Corridor light-rail. There are still a lot of critics. Businesses are worried on University Ave., etc. Are these problems going to be resolved?

A: Coleman: "This line is going to be built. We've all but begun construction. I've sat through mitigation meetings at the University of Minnesota. Communities along the corridor have deep concerns and we are taking proactive steps -- adding money for parking mitigation and beautification of University Ave., and another stop on Western Avenue. How we get there is an open question.

It's like the 7 minute blackout when a rocket ship is coming back from space.

Rybak: We have to figure out how to get Uptown connected. We're doing bus rapid transit on 35W. None of these will be easy. Everyone needs to bring their points to the table, but stay at the table.

Wrapping up, Gary asked how they thought Obama is doing. Surprisingly, they both think he's doing great.

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How much attention should Obama opponents get?

Posted at 1:13 PM on August 12, 2009 by Bob Collins (12 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Why wasn't President Obama's health care town hall forum in New Hampshire yesterday as raucous as some of the video clips we've seen at forums around the country recently?

"I doubt we're seeing a representative sample of any series of town hall meetings despite the food fight on cable every day," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said at his daily briefing today. The Boston Globe reports:

"People want to take the opportunity to find out from the president -- to have him answer their questions about why he's doing what he's doing and the concerns they may have on the legislation," he added. "I think most people took that opportunity as something that was positive.

"I think some of you were disappointed yesterday that the president didn't get yelled at," Gibbs told reporters, chiding them for paying too much attention to the back-and-forth between protestors outside."

"A bunch of your stories had more to do with the fact that the -- the sideshow on each side of the street outside than what was actually going on inside of the town hall," he said.

Nothing in politics happens in a vacuum, of course. Presidential town hall forums are staged affairs with attention to detail about how it'll play on the TV screen in the evening.

They're not inherently phony, of course, and provide a piece of a larger contextual story. But so do the sometimes staged affairs going on outside, too.

Meanwhile, the White House is pushing back in the public-relations war, creating a Health Insurance Reform Reality Check page.

Conservative sites are already setting up a Health Insurance Reform Reality Check reality checks.

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People-watching politics

Posted at 2:05 PM on August 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

For pure theater, the growing protests over President Obama's health care initiative makes for a compelling people-watching moment or two. The scene today shifted to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in a state that knows how to make life miserable for visiting Democrats.

Pixelating of the image above (you can click for a larger version) makes some of the material difficult to read, so let's take a closer look:

We've got the woman with the bad grammar:

The always lame attempt to turn a name into an acronym:

Irony, anyone? The flag-waving American with the foreign-automaker (BMW) hat, holding a sign about fascism. BMW, the company whose largest shareholder family allegedly had a Nazi past:

And the tourist-town T-shirt shop's best-seller:

Across the street we have an entirely different looking crowd. This is the side that says the other side isn't "grassroots" because they're coordinated in their demonstrations. Note the coordination.

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Stuck in the middle

Posted at 12:21 PM on August 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

By now, you've no doubt been following the controversy surrounding protests breaking out at political town halls. I mean, everyone's doing the story:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Healther Skelter
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

(If the video doesn't load, try here)

Us against them. Good vs. evil. You're either for us or agin' us. The perfect scenario for our let's not scratch the depth too much society.

Today, the story moves to Portsmouth, New Hampshire where President Obama gets to experience the love firsthand (live blog)

With supporters of Obama on one side of the street, and opponents of Obama on the other side of the street, Greg Meyer, 39, of Hampton Falls, N.H., was able to get a mention in Boston Globe coverage by standing in the middle of the street.

"If we did not believe in that separation, maybe we'd find a way to work together," Meyer said. "I'm on the side of the dialogue."

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Protesters and protests

Posted at 12:09 PM on August 7, 2009 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Depending on your party persuasion, there are two narratives going on today regarding political discourse and the apparent backlash against Democratic policies.

If you're a Democrat: There's an incivility from Republicans that's impinging intelligent discussions.

If you're a Republican: Funny, but dissent was patriotic when Democrats were doing it.

Regardless of which camp you're in, a confrontation in St. Louis County was the predictable progression. Warning: There are obscenities in this video.

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Drops in a very big bucket

Posted at 2:08 PM on July 29, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (9 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Remember when President Obama ordered federal agencies to shave $100 million from their budgets? Well, The Wall Street Journal reports they did it with $2 million extra on top.

With the budget deficit soaring toward $2 trillion, the Department of Justice has figured out how to play its part: double-sided photocopying.

There are other acts of national sacrifice. The Forest Service will no longer repaint its new, white vehicles green immediately upon purchase. The Army will start packing more soldiers onto R&R flights. The Navy will delete unused email accounts.

The Journal, it seems, could barely hide its contempt for the initiative, calling it a “savings shocker” in the headline and calling out “Front-and-Back Copies, Other Wonders” in the subhead.

That is 0.006% of the estimated federal deficit.

Still, a penny saved is a penny earned, right?

Update: It seems the Minnesota Senate is getting into the cost-cutting act as well. The AP says the Senate is cutting $2.2 million from its budget by spending “less on everything from employees to Kleenex.”

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Keeping up with Congress

Posted at 5:00 PM on July 28, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

It's 5 o'clock. Do you know where your Congressional representatives are?

Sen. Al Franken (D) railed on "judicial activism" today as the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to confirm Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) said she was "irritated" by "mostly anonymous" critiques of Sotomayor's judicial temperament.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) yesterday briefly held up a House resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of Hawaii's statehood. The resolution was ostensibly designed to pinch Republican lawmakers who have skirted the edge of the "birther" movement by noting in the text that President Barack Obama was indeed born in Hawaii.

Salon reports that the resolution later passed the House unanimously with Bachmann voting "yea."

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The revolving school superintendent door

Posted at 2:45 PM on July 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Schools

The Minneapolis school system, it seems, has tried everything. But, like so many other metro school districts nationwide, it can't keep a school superintendent in office for more than a few years; barely long enough to make a difference.

Bill Green announced on Thursday that he will not seek another contract as the superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools. He has been the district's interim and permanent leader since 2006. He said he plans to return to teaching and writing as a history professor at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.

Here's a timeline of the last 15 years in the city:

1993 - The school board turns over the schools to a for-profit private firm. Peter Hutchinson and his three-person Public Strategies Group operate the schools on a performance-based contract. "We need to make whatever changes are necessary to see all children learn and see that the gap between children of color and white children closes," Hutchinson says. It's the first time a private company took over an entire school district.

1997 - Hutchinson leaves. Some minority groups didn't want Hutchinson as superintendent, and charged him with failing to meet minority students' needs," MPR's Laura McCallum reported.

1997 - Carol Johnson is hired

2003 - Carol Johnson leaves. She became superintendent of schools in Memphis, and superintendent in Boston

2003 (September) - The Minneapolis School Board taps Dave Jennings as new superintendent. "I have confidence because he's shown to be a warrior for public education in the city of Minneapolis. And I think that's what we need," Board member Audrey Johnson says of the ex-legislator.

2003 (October) - Jennings quits after "some African American leaders, who claimed the search process was flawed and Jennings lacked the necessary qualifications," MPR's Tim Pugmire reported. "While the noise is coming from a small group of folks, it is beginning to get in the way of the work, and time is short," Jennings said.

2004 - Thandiwe Peebles is introduced as the new Minneapolis school superintendent, telling people she didn't think things in Minneapolis are as tough as people said they were.

2006 (January) - Peebles resigns, embroiled in controversies over her management style and over allegations that she used district employees to conduct personal business for her.

2007 - Green, an African American, is named interim superintendent. "I would not do this if I felt that we were in a death spiral," Green said. "I do feel we can turn this around."

St. Paul has spun through a few superintendents, too, but they tend to stay longer. Meria Carstarphen left in February after a short tenure. But her predecessors -- Pat Harvey and Curman Gaines -- stayed for a combined 13 years.

Johnson, by all accounts, was brilliant and in great demand. And that's part of the problem. There are apparently so few game-changing school superintendents available, that a small-market city can't keep them.

The average lifespan of a superintendent is three years.

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The hidden issue of health care

Posted at 11:55 AM on July 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

When I checked a few minutes ago, of the few dozen people who answered the question posed in this morning's Five at 8, 83% said they knew little to nothing about the specifics of the health care debate taking place in Washington.

How could that be? Because it's happening in Washington where process is most important.

Example. Read this article from the Associated Press. I'll wait right here.

Welcome back. Did you notice something about the article? There wasn't a single word about what's in the legislation or what the major points of contention are. Not one word. There is a reference to the Blue Dogs -- conservative Democrats -- being concerned about "tax increases and the impact on rural health care and small businesses." That's it. So what's in the House bill that specifically has them concerned?

It's no wonder that talk shows -- which boil legislation down to small talking points, some of which are occasionally in context and accurate -- steer the political debate.

But what if you want to be informed about the specific issues?

For the most part, it's piecemeal. Pick an editorial here or there, read a blog and piece it together.

Here are a few salient points.

Des Moines Register editorial

Democrats propose increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans - about 2 million taxpayers - to help pay for reform. The surtax would be imposed on families earning more than $350,000 a year and individuals earning more than $280,000 a year. The tax rate would range from 1 percent to 5.4 percent.

The New York Times provided separate views of this proposal in a blog post here. "Should the Rich Pay for the Uninsured?" Included were these details.

Doctors' reimbursements:

The baseline budget calls for large cuts over the next decade in doctors' reimbursements under Medicare. Congress has always voted to waive these cuts. The health care reform bill will make this waiver permanent at a cost of more than $200 billion. It is disingenuous to get outraged over this expense, since we always knew that Congress would not allow the baseline cuts to go into effect.

Capping health insurance premiums:

Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, wants to cap the tax exclusion to put a lid on inflationary health insurance and restore fairness to the tax code. Workers could still keep their health insurance at work, but they would have a new incentive to stay under an annual cap of, say, $15,000 for a family policy.The company could still deduct any amount it spends on insurance, but employees would be motivated to stay under the cap.

Maggie Mahar, who writes the Health Beat blog for the Century Foundation, says misinformation is growing. She took apart a Wall Street Journal editorial which, she says, are full of falsehoods. She provides a few more details of what's actually in the bill.

The House bill actually protects and increases employer-sponsored insurance. According to official CBO numbers, 2 million more people would be covered under employer-sponsored insurance than is projected to be the case today - 164 million compared to 162 under current law.

But the best analysis of what's in the House bill -- which is H.R. 3200, by the way -- may be the Congressional Budget Office:

The legislation would establish a mandate to have health insurance, expand eligibility for Medicaid, and establish new health insurance exchanges through which some people could purchase subsidized coverage. The options available in the insurance exchange would include private health insurance plans as well as a public plan that would be administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The specifications would also require payments of penalties by uninsured individuals, firms that did not provide qualified health insurance, and other firms whose employees would receive subsidized coverage through the exchanges. The plan would also provide tax credits to small employers that contribute toward the cost of health insurance for their workers.

... and ...

Changes to the Medicare Part D program... would establish a new prescription drug rebate program for some people who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare, while expanding drug coverage to beneficiaries that are currently subject to a gap in coverage (often referred to as the Part D "doughnut hole"), saving $30 billion over the 2010-2019 period.

A read of the actual bill shows a few other provisions: >> A grant to train more nurses, and to provide more diversity in the nursing profession.
>> Health clinics in schools
>> Low-interest student loans for primary care students.
>> Home visitation programs for families expecting children.
>> Optional Medicaid coverage for low-income HIV individuals.

It's not a perfect way to get up to speed on the actual issue of health care, but it's better than what we've had so far.

As for the politics of the debate, which are getting the lion's share of coverage, a guest on this morning's Midmorning program succinctly told us all we needed to know about that:

"Every dollar in the health care system is someone's income."

It was good listening.

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Live-blogging Obama's news conference

Posted at 8:13 PM on July 22, 2009 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

5:47 p.m. - David Kurtz at Talking Points Memo suggests health care is to the Obama White House what oil and energy was to the Bush-Cheney White House.

6:59 p.m. - NPR ran an excellent piece on All Things Considered tonight, documented how health care interests have access to the chair of the Senate Finance Committee. If you make more than $7 million from PACs, and a little more than $650,000 from your own state, who are you most beholden to?

7:00 p.m. - We're underway. Here are his opening remarks.

If you already have health insurance, the reform we're proposing will provide you with more security and more stability. It will keep government out of health care decisions, giving you the option to keep your insurance if you're happy with it. It will prevent insurance companies from dropping your coverage if you get too sick. It will give you the security of knowing that if you lose your job, move, or change your job, you will still be able to have coverage. It will limit the amount your insurance company can force you to pay for your medical costs out of your own pocket. And it will cover preventive care like check-ups and mammograms that save lives and money.

If you don't have health insurance, or are a small business looking to cover your employees, you'll be able to choose a quality, affordable health plan through a health insurance exchange - a marketplace that promotes choice and competition Finally, no insurance company will be allowed to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition.

His opening statements didn't say specifically how we'll pay for this. If my out-of-pocket costs are limited, what's to stop my premiums from going up? "It will be paid for," he said, "while reallocating money being wasted." Is there that much waste out there? This thing has a $1 trillion price tag.

7:08 p.m. - "Not all of the cost containment was included in Congress's initial bill," he said. That reminds me of Jon Stewart's chronicle of the climate change bill.

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QUESTIONS

Q: Have you told Congress how you want this paid for?

A: Obama initially ignores question and talks about the problem of rising premiums. "That's what reform is all about." He then says "the entire thing has to be paid for." He says taxpayers are already putting money into the kitty. Through eliminating waste, he says two-thirds of it are already being paid for. He wants to limit itemized deductions for wealthiest Americans. That, he says, would raise sufficient funds for the remaining one-third. None of the bills include that provision. "I don't want that final one-third of the cost of health care to be completely shouldered on the backs of middle class families who are already struggling in a difficult economy.

He says he's opposed to tax on middle class. Didn't say he'd veto that.

"If someone told you there is a plan out there that is guaranteed to double your health care costs... and is the biggest contributor to the national deficit, I think most people would be opposed to that. That's what we have right now," he said.

7:17 p.m. - A CBS poll last month showed the president's problem. Most say health care is a big problem. But no solution has much support.

Q: Why the rush?

A: "I get letters every day from people," the president says. "If you don't set deadlines in this town, nothing happens. The default setting is inertia." He says it's important to "get it right" and "if at the end of the day I see we do not have it right, I'm not going to sign a bill that doesn't reduce health care inflation... that I don't think will work."

Q: Will all uninsured Americans be insured under your bill?

A: I want to cover everybody. Unless you have a single payer system, there's always going to be someone that's not covered. He says his plan would cover 98 percent of Americans.

Q: You mentioned two Republicans in your opening statement. But you have 60 seats. Isn't this a fight in the Democratic Party?

A: "You haven't seen me out there blaming Republicans. I'm frustrated with some of the misinformation coming from Republicans. That's politics." Gave props to Chuck Grassley. Says even if "you don't see Republican votes, you see Republican ideas."

Says some Democrats are opposed to low reimbursement rates for Medicare. (This is the concern of the Minnesota congressional delegation)

Q: What sacrifices will Americans have to make?

A: "They're going to have to give up paying for things that don't make them healthier. That's the kind of change you want. If hospitals and doctors aren't coordinating enough... and nobody's bother to send the last test you took to the next doctor, you're wasting money."

7:29 p.m. - Personal story time: I needed a painkiller shot in a shoulder last year. I had to go to four different doctors who did four different tests -- many of them the same. Total cost of one shot: $6,000. He's got a point. It's pretty silly. Share your horror story below.

"It will (force) people to be better consumers," the president said. (See my post earlier today. How can this possibly be anything more than you'll decide to do without some health care you need? In the above example, I could've been a better consumer -- which insurance companies say they want me to do -- and I wouldn't have gotten treatment for an injured shoulder. I had to go to doctor I had a referral to go to, in the order I had to go to them, paying every step of the way.)

Q: When you talk about bending the long term costs downward, you talk about cuts in Medicare but there are never many specifics. What kind of sacrifice are you calling on beneficiaries to make?

A: Obama talks about the MEDPAC program to cut Medicare costs. Here's the report.

"It's not going to change Medicare benefits, it's going to change how efficiently those benefits are delivered," he said.

Q: Your administration turned down a request for a list of health care execs who've visited the White House (see link at top of this ost), you promised to hold health care negotiations on C-SPAN, an agency said it's not getting enough information on TARP. Are you fulfilling your promise of transparency in the White House?

A: "You guys have been in there taking pictures, so it hasn't been a secret who's in there. You'll recall ... our kickoff event was here on C-SPAN and at a certain point you start getting into all kinds of different meetings. If they wanted those to be on C-SPAN, I would welcome it."

"Let me take a look at what they say we haven't provided (TARP). I think we've provided much greater transparency than the previous administration. I'll find out and I'll have an answer for you."

Q: Do you think your administration should take a harder line with Wall St? Would you support a fee on risky activities that go beyond traditional lending?

A: "We were on the verge of a complete financial meltdown. Wall St. took extraordinary risk with other people's money." (aside: Be sure to catch the first 5 minutes of John Hope Bryant on Midmorning this morning discussing this)

"We've stepped away from the brink. Now, banks are starting to make profits again. Some have paid back the TARP money they received. That's a good thing. What we haven't seen is the kind of change in practices on Wall Street."

Obama said financial regulatory reform must be passed.

7:47 p.m. Speaking of TARP repayments. From Marketplace:

As banks start paying back TARP funds, taxpayers are getting about 12.4% return on their investment. Now lawmakers are trying to decide whether to spend that money to help the housing market or to pay down the national debt. Steve Henn reports.

Q: Can you guarantee the government will not deny (health care) coverage?

A: "We want a public option to keep the insurance companies honest... having a public plan that also shows that if you take the profit motive out, reduce administrative costs, that's going to incentivize the private sector to do even better."

"There've been reports of insurance companies making record profits.

"Can I guarantee that there are going to be no changes in the health care delivery system? No. The whole point of this is to try to encourage changes that work."

7:52 p.m.: Note that he changed the question. Then answered his. We all know what "deny coverage" means. It means coverage the consumer needs, but can't get funding for. The president could've ended the fear about government involvement here by answering the question asked. He didn't. So now we can expect even more analysis not only about whether the government would lead to less quality health care, but why he didn't choose to end the fear.

7:55 p.m. - Obama is told the guy he called on for the last question isn't the guy who stood up and asked one. It was supposed to be a reporter from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Q: You cited the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic as models. The Mayo Clinic has problems with the House proposal (way ahead of you, Steve)

A: "The Mayo Clinic was initially concerned about whether there were enough cost-saving measures. After they found out we put forward specific criticisms, they wrote in their blog the next day, this would make a difference."

8:02 p.m. - Fact Check: If the goal was to imply that Mayo is on board, that's not even close to true. Here's what the blog said:

Although there are some positive provisions in the current House Tri-Committee bill - including insurance for all and payment reform demonstration projects - the proposed legislation misses the opportunity to help create higher-quality, more affordable health care for patients. In fact, it will do the opposite.

And today, Mayo sent this letter to Congress

Q: What does the arrest of Prof. Gates (Harvard) say about race relations in America.

A: "Skip Gates is a friend so I may be biased. If I were trying to jigger into my house -- well, this is my house now, let's say my old house in Chicago. Here, I'd get shot. (laughter). My understanding is at that point, Prof. Gates is already in his house. The police officer comes in, and my understand is he showed his ID to show this was his house. At that point he's arrested for disorderly conduct."

"Not having been there, I don't know what role race played in that but it's fair to say any of us would be angry. The Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting someone when there was already proof he was in his own home."

"There's a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by police disproportionately. That's a fact. This still haunts us. The fact that blacks and Hispanics are picked up frequently -- and often times for no cause -- casts suspicion."

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Gun bill fails

Posted at 2:24 PM on July 22, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

South Dakota Sen. John Thune's attempt to expand the boundaries of concealed carry gun laws has failed.

Thune attached an amendment to a defense appropriations bill that would allow people in states that have concealed carry laws -- like Minnesota -- to continue to carry in other states whose residents don't enjoy the same privilege.

A majority of the Senate voted for the measure, but it fell two votes short of the 60 needed.

The vote also showed the deep divisions within the Democratic Party on the issue, the Washington Post notes:

Democrats, who have traditionally championed gun control as a way to reduce crime, are suffering from their own political success of the past two elections. Schumer served as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2006 and 2008 election cycles, specifically recruiting supporters of the Second Amendment to run in states where gun ownership is common. Going from 45 seats in the fall of 2006 to 60 seats this summer, Democrats now have about 25 senators who are strong supporters of gun rights.

Minnesota's senators -- Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken -- voted against the amendment. Wisconsin's Russ Feingold and North Dakota's Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad were among the Democrats who voted for it. (See roll call vote here)

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The health care debate

Posted at 1:01 PM on July 22, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

Rochester's Mayo Clinic is getting plenty of attention as the health care debate has eclipsed the economy as the number one domestic issue.

President Obama holds a news conference tonight (7 p.m. CT with live-blogging here) to try to win support for his proposals, amid growing punditry that his entire presidency is on the line.

Mayo Clinic, and particularly its CEO Denis Cortese, doesn't like the president's proposals. In a story on National Public Radio on Tuesday's All Things Considered, it was described as "one of the health-care industry's great bargains, with costs 28 percent below the national average."

So when Mayo speaks, people in high places tend to listen. Here's the clinic's blog speaking:

"The proposed legislation misses the opportunity to help create higher-quality, more affordable health care for patients. In fact, it will do the opposite."

... and ...

"Unless legislators create payment systems that pay for good patient results at reasonable costs, the promise of transformation in American health care will wither. The real losers will be the citizens of the United States."

Dr. Cortese told NPR further that "by higher value, we mean better outcomes, better results, better safety, better service -- at lower cost over time."

How to do that isn't exactly spelled out. But in a response to a New York Times blog post on how much health care really costs ($15,000 a year per family), a Mayo physician, Randall Walker, offered his idea.

It's a lengthy comment that deserves a full reading (several times, in my case. Such is the nature of the health care debate).

The government simply needs to do what it has always done best: to obtain money from those who have more to help those who have less.

The key is to structure this within a frame-work that nonetheless gives everyone, across all levels of income and employment conditions, more first-dollar responsibility for health care expenses, with the opportunity that comes with it to directly retain the savings of their wiser health care choices.

Dr. Walker says later in life, health savings accounts could be tax-free gifts to heirs...

In this way, many consumers would forgo a lot of the futile, expensive medical interventions toward the end of life that do not significantly improve the quality or duration of one's life -- knowing they and their heirs can directly enjoy the financial benefits of these choices.

It all starts, quite simply, with comprehensive means-adjustment -- for both the below-deductible payments to providers and the premiums to insurers that consumers would pay in relatively high-deductible / low-premium insurance policies.

At the heart of much of the health care debate, it seems to me, is the notion that people are simply wasting the health industry's time by seeking treatment without regard for its true cost. Perhaps, but is that what you"re seeing at the end of the health care food chain?

I don't dismiss the logic, but I also don't see how it meets the intent to raise the quality of care. There are plenty of stories about people who die of heart attacks because they didn't choose to go to the ER when the chest got tight.

The other day, a family member told me the story about getting hit in the head during an athletic contest. His head hurt and his vision was blurry and common sense dictated a trip to the doctor was in order. But he didn't go because he knew a CT-scan would be prescribed and those cost too much.

I fell off a roof last year and didn't go to the doctor for exactly the same reason. That might make financial sense, but it doesn't make medical sense.

And that's the issue that's making everyone's head hurt in the health care debate. How can a system do both?

Writing on the Health Care Blog, Matthew Holt suggests the question doesn't matter, because the legislation being considered doesn't do either.

Of course we'll be back here in a few years because the fundamental problems of the health care system--employment-based insurance & fee-for-service medicine--will remain whatever happens this summer. And they continue to be a recipe for disaster. Although of course it's a disaster that has lots of supporters.

It's almost enough to make you tune out and turn on Fox. Almost.

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Report: More whites stayed home on Election Day

Posted at 12:19 PM on July 20, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The Census Bureau sure knows how to ruin a good narrative.

The bureau released figures today showing a smaller percentage of registered voters went to the polls last November than in 2004. Even in voting-intensive Minnesota, more whites stayed home.

According to the national data, more older whites opted to stay home compared with 2004, citing little interest in supporting either Barack Obama or John McCain.

By race, the percentage of registered voters in Minnesota who voted was higher for whites (71.6%) than blacks (69%). In 2004, 78% of registered white voters showed up. Among black voters , 64.7% voted.

"The 2008 presidential election saw a significant increase in voter turnout among young people, blacks and Hispanics," said Thom File, a voting analyst with the Census Bureau's Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division said in a news release. "But as turnout among some other demographic groups either decreased or remained unchanged, the overall 2008 voter turnout rate was not statistically different from 2004."

The study also reaffirmed an existing maxim: Generally speaking, young people couldn't care less about voting. Among whites, the smallest turnout was among 18-to-24 year olds (43.8%). Among blacks, this age group also had the lowest turnout (52.3%).

But for all of the jokes about Minnesota in the wake of the Coleman-Franken race, one fact remains: Minnesotans vote. The state had the highest turnout (75%). Hawaii (51.8%), Utah (53.1%), West Virginia (53.4%), and Arkansas (53.8%) brought up the rear.

The Census Bureau data also showed -- again -- that the higher your income, the more likely you are to vote.

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Pawlenty in Iraq

Posted at 11:51 AM on July 20, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, War

Minnesota's commander-in-chief of the National Guard looked soldier-like in the U.S. Army images of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's meeting with the troops in a surprise visit to Iraq over the weekend. The governor wore an Army-olive t-shirt and blended in with the troops.

Pawlenty is traveling with Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon who went with khaki:

And Gov. Jim Gibbons of Nevada, who went with the golf shirt and jeans look:

(Above photo from Red Bulls south newsletter)

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Romney makes money, political friends

Posted at 12:51 PM on July 16, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Today's Gallup Poll makes clear the size of the task Gov. Tim Pawlenty has of getting the Republican nomination for president in 2012 (assuming he wants it). The big green bar up there (click for a larger image)? That's former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The little one? That's Tim Pawlenty.

It's not an impossible task, of course, but Romney is making powerful friends the old-fashioned way. He's giving them money. The Boston Globe reports Romney's political action committee has taken in $1.6 million so far in 2009, and given away thousands of dollars to state and federal candidates (none from Minnesota).

Romney also has another advantage over Pawlenty. When his gubernatorial term ended, his state wasn't an economic basket case.

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Little substance at Sotomayor hearings

Posted at 1:37 PM on July 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

Some senators at the Supreme Court nomination hearings of Sonia Sotomayor seemed to chafe a bit today because the answers seemed evasive. Now they know how voters feel when the politicians provide vague and evasive answers at debates around election time.

Their goal is to get re-elected. Her goal is to get the Supreme Court job, and weighty political and judicial discourse will have to wait for the lecture circuit.

If there was ever a subject that could have led to a wonderful discussion on the Constitution, it was the one asked by Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., on whether Sotomayor had any constitutional qualms in the days after 9/11.

Oh, gosh, where to begin? Eavesdropping of conversations and e-mail, the Patriot Act, government snooping on library records, arresting people without pressing charges? Are we too quick to throw the Constitution under the bus when we're scared?

Sotomayor's answer made it abundantly clear that she had been well coached to say nothing interesting, let alone controversial.

Of course, Feingold's question may well have been an attempt to draw the judge into the brewing controversy over a reported hit squad program in the CIA in the days after 9/11. But she did not take the bait.

Still, it's becoming clear that a Supreme Court nomination hearing is not the time for honest dialog about the law. Again.

Tom Goldstein, who is live-blogging the hearings on ScotusBlog, says he's not surprised.

"She's following the tradition of saying very little. Ideologically, I'd say the hearings so far have confirmed to me that she's on the middle left. Intellectually, she does seem quite well informed and very capable of covering a lot of complicated topics without difficulty. So, she's quite smart," he said.

Certainly smart enough not to say anything that will get her nomination in trouble.

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Franken's first comments

Posted at 1:31 PM on July 13, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

Sen. Al Franken made his first prepared remarks in a Senate hearing this afternoon when he got to read his remarks at the nomination hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

"I may not be a lawyer but neither are the overwhelming majority of Americans. Yet all of us, regardless of our backgrounds and professions, have a huge stake in who sits on the Supreme Court," he said, invoking Winona, Duluth, and the Twin Cities in his remarks.

Franken turned the tables on Republicans by saying, "I am wary of judicial activism. The judicial branch is supposed to show deep deference to Congress." It's a key Republican point. But then Franken used several Supreme Court decisions applauded by Republicans as examples. "Looking at voter rights, appropriate deference may not have been shown in the past few years and there are ominous signs that judicial activism is on the rise in these areas."

I posted Sen. Amy Klobuchar's comments here earlier. Here's the audio from Klobuchar:

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Doc in the house

Posted at 12:36 PM on July 13, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

Say whatever you want about President Obama's selections to the cabinet and courts, but you can't deny they often have fascinating personal journeys.

Sonia Sotomayor? No. Regina Benjamin. She has been selected to be the next surgeon general.

She founded the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic, then rebuilt it when Hurricane Katrina destroyed it. Then had to rebuild it again, according to President Barack Obama.

When Hurricane George destroyed the clinic in 1998, she made house calls to all her patients while it was rebuilt. When Hurricane Katrina destroyed it again and left most of her town homeless, she mortgaged her house and maxed out her credit cards to rebuild that clinic for a second time. She tended to those who had been wounded in the storm, and when folks needed medicine, she asked the pharmacist to send the bill her way.

And when Regina's clinic was about to open for the third time, and a fire burned it to the ground before it could serve the first patient, well, you can guess what Dr. Benjamin did. With help from her community, she is rebuilding it again. One disabled patient brought her an envelope with $20 inside. Another elderly man said simply, "Maybe I can help. I got a hammer."

She's not it in for the money. There are only 2,500 residents in the town where it's located.

She was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 2008:

She has established a family practice that allows her to treat all incoming patients, many of whom are uninsured, and frequently travels by pickup truck to care for the most isolated and immobile in her region. Benjamin is skilled, as well, in translating research on preventive health measures into accessible, community-based interventions to decrease the disease burdens of her diverse patient base, which includes immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, who comprise a third of Bayou La Batre's population. A committed local physician, she also plays key roles statewide and nationally, helping others establish clinics in remote areas of the country and serving in leadership positions in such health-related organizations as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians. With a deep, firsthand knowledge of the pressing needs and health disparities afflicting rural, high-poverty communities, Benjamin is ensuring that the most vulnerable among us have access to high-quality care.

She had big plans for the money: Expanding the clinic:

She's also the first African American woman to serve on the American Medical Association's board of trustees.

Back in 1995, she was named Person of the Week on the late Peter Jennings' nightly news program.

It's not clear now, however, what happens to the clinic when she leaves town.

(h/t: Chris Worthington)

Here are her remarks today:

Continue reading "Doc in the house"

Klobuchar on Sotomayor

Posted at 10:49 AM on July 13, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

Here's Sen. Amy Klobuchar's opening statement as written for the Sonia Sotomayor hearings(you can listen to the hearing here), as provided by her office:

Welcome, Judge Sotomayor.

It's a pleasure to see you again today, and I enjoyed the meeting we had in my office a few weeks ago. We had a good conversation - although you did confess to me that when you once visited Minnesota in June, you felt the need to bring a winter parka. I'll try not to hold that against you this week!

I know you have lots of family and friends with you today, supporting you during this important hearing, and we welcome them too. In particular, it's been an honor for me to see your mom here.

When President Obama first announced your nomination, I loved the story about how your mom had saved up money to buy you and your brother the only set of encyclopedias in the neighborhood. It reminded me of when my parents bought a set of Encyclopedia Britannicas in the seventies that always occupied a hallowed place in our hallway. For me, those encyclopedias were a window on the world and a gateway to learning, as they clearly were for you.

From the time you were nine years old, your mom raised you and your brother on her own. She struggled to buy those encyclopedias on her nurse's salary, but she did it because she believed deeply in the value of education.

You went on to be the valedictorian of your high school class, to graduate at the top of your class in college and to attend law school.

After that - and this is an experience we have in common - you became a local prosecutor. Most of my questions during this hearing will be about opinions you've authored and work you've done in the criminal area. I believe having judges with real world, frontline experience as a prosecutor is a good thing.

Continue reading "Klobuchar on Sotomayor"

Who's in charge?

Posted at 7:04 PM on July 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, War

If there's one story that's yet to strike a significant nerve with folks outside of Washington, it's the revelation that the Central Intelligence Agency had a secret counterterrorism program that it didn't tell Congress about.

Oh, and it didn't tell Leon Panetta, who is director of the Central Intelligence Agency, according to Panetta, who says he ended the program when he heard about it on June 23 after he heard about.

As befits Washington, it's Republicans on one side; Democrats on the other, according to National Public Radio's All Things Considered on Saturday..

Details of the program have not been released. Some Republicans say the revelation is no big deal, and that Democrats are playing politics. A man at the center of the controversy -- Democrat Silvestre Reyes of Texas, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee -- tells NPR's Guy Raz that his committee has pinpointed numerous instances where it was not given "full and complete information" and in at least one case, "we were deliberately lied to."

But wait, there's more, according to the New York Times, which cites its sources claiming it was under orders from former VP Dick Cheney that withheld information about the program from Congress:

The disclosure about Mr. Cheney's role in the unidentified C.I.A. program comes a day after an inspector general's report underscored the central role of the former vice president's office in restricting to a small circle of officials knowledge of the National Security Agency's program of eavesdropping without warrants, a degree of secrecy that the report concluded had hurt the effectiveness of the counterterrorism surveillance effort.

Amid all the controversy over who knew what, we still don't know what the counterterrorism program was. The Times says it didn't involve domestic spying, or waterboarding and that it never became fully operational.

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Sotomayor's rulings

Posted at 3:43 PM on July 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

Minnesota Public Radio will be providing live coverage of the nomination hearings for Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Minnesota's two senators -- Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken -- sit on the Judiciary Committee.

Perhaps you'll want to get started reading some of the newly released papers about her nomination. The New York Times forced the release of more than 5,000 pages of White House documents on Sotomayor.

The documents are now available online at the National Archives Web site. There are also links to Sotomayor documents in the archives of President Bill Clinton and President George H.W. Bush.

Several news organizations today provided analysis of her Appeals Court record. The Times has just posted an article claiming he was tougher on criminals than her colleagues. The Washington Post's Jerry Markon held an online chat today on his analysis of her rulings.

The hearings start on Monday

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Brod suspends gubernatorial aspirations

Posted at 10:39 AM on July 8, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

State Rep. Laura Brod has suspended her exploratory campaign for governor, according to Gary Miller, who writes at Truth vs. the Machine and helped spearhead a Draft Brod movement.

Miller posted a letter from Brod which said some undisclosed health problems prevent her from running at the moment:

Recently I went in to the doctor for a yearly check up, and unfortunately, found that I had some results from routine diagnostic tests which were concerning. Last week, a second opinion confirmed what I originally learned and set forth a treatment plan, after which I am certain I will get a clean bill of health. Over the holiday weekend, my family and I decided right now is not the right time to begin a campaign for the Governor so we are suspending the conversations I have been having related to the potential of my candidacy so we can focus our energy where it needs to be and will evaluate where things are at in late summer.

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A look at congressional office expenses

Posted at 12:07 PM on July 7, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The U.S. Senate is following the lead of the U.S. House and is entering the 21st century soon. On Monday, the Senate passed an appropriations bill funding Congress' own budget. The bill would provide senators with office budgets of $3.1 million to $4.9 million next year, depending on the population of their state and other factors. It included a provision requiring Congress to post their office expenses online. Currently, they're kept only in paper records.

But the data is already available online thanks to LegisStorm.

I've put together Minnesota's congressional delegation spending up to the latest full year available. Where possible, I compared it to the same office's spending back to 2004.

	FY 2008	FY2007	FY2006	FY2005	FY2004	Increase
Klobuchar	$2,455,415	$1,599,638
Walz	$777,158
Ellison	$878,792
Bachmann	$754,929
Oberstar	$1,153,911	$1,029,835	$1,056,817	$1,046,012	$921,187	25.3%
McCollum	$1,004,280	$892,103	$849,939	$871,002	$813,563	23.4%
Coleman	$2,288,895	$2,162,587	$2,138,923	$1,955,451	$1,889,943	21.1%
Sabo			$966,036	$836,820	$800,529	20.7%
Kline	$836,655	$815,467	$846,007	$821,164	$696,507	20.1%
Dayton			$2,508,160	$2,339,313	$2,174,434	15.3%
Peterson	$1,005,940	$1,005,239	$954,052	$943,859	$886,238	13.5%
Ramstad	$861,371	$865,602	$865,980	$859,810	$797,103	8.1%
Gutknecht			$720,731	$783,798	$688,906	4.6%
Kennedy			$733,192	$809,807	$767,066	-4.4%

In most cases, the biggest expense -- aside from the congressional salary -- is the salary for the lawmaker's chief of staff or administrative assistant. These numbers are not necessarily the annual salary, because they may include bonuses and they don't include time a person may have split with a campaign committee.

In the last full fiscal year, these were the top earners in the position per congressional office:

Aide	Assigned to	Disbursement
Lee Sheehy	Klobuchar	$160,692.60
Mark Brownell	Peterson	$158,940.97
Bill Richard	Oberstar	$155,837.02
Kari Moe	Ellison	$155,434.75
Jean Hinz	Kline	$119,883.33
Joshua Syrjamaki	Walz	$104,166.70
Michelle Marston	Bachmann	$103,804.67*
William Harper	McCollum	$22,459.35

* - Includes salary of previous chief of staff.

Meanwhile, the Center for Public Integrity has drilled down the political food chain and examined financial disclosure requirements for state lawmakers around the country. Minnesota was ranked one of the worst.

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On the attack against Franken

Posted at 10:33 AM on July 7, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The end is near now that Al Franken is in the Senate, according to the latest video from the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Perhaps you recognize the images of Franken from an anti-Franken ad that showed him screaming during some sort of speech. You can't see the ad anymore because the NRSC has made it "private" on YouTube.

That ad prompted the Franken campaign to reveal where the video came from:

It will be interesting to see if Franken becomes the Republican poster child for the Democratic majority in the Senate.

Here's the oath being administered to Franken today by Joe Biden:

(h/t: Eric Ringham)

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The health care bills

Posted at 12:02 PM on July 2, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

As the economy continues to collapse, it appears health care has overtaken it as the most important issue facing Washington politicians.

The Senate's giant health care bill has been posted here. It's 615 pages long. The chairman's amendments are another 175 pages.

How many people who boil the characterization of the bill down to talk-show-sized bites will actually read it? How politicians will actually read it? And this is just the Senate version.

Most people won't. But that won't stop them from having an opinion.

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Is a marital affair worse for Republican politicians?

Posted at 9:01 AM on July 2, 2009 by Bob Collins (52 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

I'm live blogging Midmorning's first hour on Thursday, a discussion about politicians and their affairs. Over our neighboring cubicles on Wednesday, I gave Kerri Miller my view: marriage is about as serious as a commitment as there is, and if you're willing to sell it out, the chances are pretty good you'd think nothing of taking a lesser route on the road of ethics. It's more a question of character than a matter of hypocrisy.

But is it a more egregious violation if it's a Republican who walks the Appalachian Trail?

"This is a very disturbing trend that some of their leaders can't abide by some of the values they as a party used to esteem, or should esteem," David Woodard, a Republican consultant and political science professor at South Carolina's Clemson University told the Los Angeles Times last week.

"As other Republicans come up for consideration, this is certainly one of the first things they'll have to address," Woodard said. "Voters will be looking at their private lives much more than before."

Fine. But does that mean a Democrat who admits to an affair gets a pass?

"The American public is often forgiving of personal mistakes," Julian Zelizer, a political science professor at Princeton University, wrote in the New York Times. "There have been many instances when voters re-elect politicians who have suffered through damaging events. But voters don't like it when a politician does something that directly contradicts the core arguments that they or their party have been making in the public arena."

Both Zilizer and Woodard are the guests during the hour (starting at 9:06 a.m.), and I'd like to have a corresponding discussion here to share during the hour. So please share your thoughts below.

LIVE BLOGGING

9:02 a.m. - Let's start by trying to separate the political from the moral. Take this poll.

9:04 a.m. - Some of the comments are getting mailed in. Just got this one:

"We are born with two innate urges. One is to eat, the other is to reproduce. There should be no surprise that infidelity is part of the human condition."

9:07 a.m. - Here's Kerri's intro she read just now:

There are new calls this morning for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford to resign--A dozen Republican state senators have asked Sanford to step down...and a handful of county GOP chairs are calling for him to quit. One of the largest newspapers in the state has also editorialized that Sanford should tender his resignation.

The chorus for the governor to leave office grew louder this week....after he disclosed more details about his extra-marital affair. In a lengthy interview with the Associated Press... Sanford said he was no longer in love with his wife...that his Argentinian mistress was his "soul mate"...and that he'd had other encounters with women during trips with friends. At one point he told the journalists: "I will be able to die knowing that I had met my soul mate."

Attorney General Henry McMaster has asked the State Law Enforcement Division to review all of Sanford's travel records to determine whether he broke state laws.
So far, Sanford has said he will fulfill the remaining 18 months of his term...but there are diverging opinions on whether he can still be effective.... There are also differing perspectives on whether marital fidelity tells us anything about the kind of leader someone can be?

And that's where you, our audience, comes in this morning.

9:09 a.m. - We're starting with Woodard. "I feel like I'm watching a marital autopsy," he says. We're all still trying to figure out why Sanford felt the need to make matters worse by saying he doesn't love his wife anymore, has found his soulmate and still hopes to reconcile.

9:10 a.m. "Do Men See Mark Sanford in the Mirror?" the Los Angeles Times asks this morning.

Call me crazy, but amid all this finger-wagging, am I detecting just a little bit of -- gasp -- empathy? Is there something about Sanford's puppyish comportment, not to mention the fact that, unlike many adulterous politicos, he seems to be truly in love with his mistress (or at least truly convinced that he is) that's making him less a pariah and more a symbol of the male midlife crisis? For all his duplicity and entitlement, are some Americans -- particularly men -- feeling as much pity as outrage? Consider this small sample:

You can read the rest for yourself but it seems to me the suggestion is most men are doing this. Quite a generalization. Does Mark Sanford represent you, gentlemen?

9:13 a.m. - "There's a few people on the Democratic side enjoying this," Woodard says.

9:14 a.m. - Can you be an effective leader after having admitted to an affair? "Yeah, I think you can," Julian Zelizer says. He uses the fact Wilbur Mills got re-elected. But lots of crooked politicians have been re-elected. Does that make them good leaders, or just good crooks?

9:18 a.m. - Chuck (caller): "He seems to be extremely selfish and putting himself in front of everything else and these aren't the times for that." Zelizer says bad economic times can make people angrier. The condition of the Republican Party could make people shakier about "having someone like this in the spotlight." On the other hand, the Great Depression involved FDR having some behavior issues, and yet is considered one of the greatest presidents.

9:21 a.m. - Katherine (callers) says the issue isn't personal transgressions but incompetence to govern.

9:23 a.m. - "He's telling us much more than any of us need to know," Zelizer says. "People don't understand why he can't stop himself." Dave Woodard reacts to my comment so the air just now that 100% of the people taking the News Cut poll says the crime here is "being a hypocrite." "I think that's accurate," he said.

9:25 a.m. - Thelma of Minneapolis writes:

"It matters very much when it takes a hypocritical stance. Didn't Gov Sanford publicly reprehended Pres Clintion for his indiscretions? "

Why, yes, that's true. And funny you should mention that:

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9:28 a.m. - Woodard says Sanford makes it hard to attract candidates to run for office. He says since Watergate, we're telling people more than they want to know. It's an interesting comment because very little about Watergate coverage had anything to do with personal lives.

9:30 a.m. - A revelation that everyone knows but few acknowledge. Woodard says bill and proposals such as Defense of Marriage are designed more to increase voter turnout than actually "defend marriage."

9:35 a.m. - We're back after the break. Kerri and I have been talking about what great guests Woodard and Zelizer are.

9:36 a.m. - Caller says it's not about hypocrisy etc. It's about whether or not "you're lying to me. If you're lying to me or the voters, you're out, bucko, because lying means I can't trust you about anything else." Kerri asks if he holds his politicians to 100% truthfulness. He says a broken promise well explained isn't lying. But "if you ask where are you and I lie about that, that's deceit. That's just bald-faced lying."

9:38 a.m. - Responding to that, Dave Woodard said, "I did not have sex with that woman." He says you can lie and get away with it in office. But, for the record, Clinton never came up for a vote after lying to the American people.

9:40 a.m. - The Digitel in Charleston, SC:

The point here is, yes, flay Sanford for his marital indiscretions, but we've got to recognize the real problem is how South Carolina has been starved in education -- and that's the real root of our job problems.

9:41 a.m. - Zelizer: "We don't elect angels, we elect politicians. Ideally we'd love a government full of truth-tellers but I'm not sure we're ever going to have that and I think most voters know that."

9:43 a.m. - Talk shifts a bit to Sanford's presidential aspirations. "Mitt Romney is smiling," Woodard says. "If after a big-spending administration like the Obama administration and you want to cut taxes, I think Gov. Sanford could've stood very tall. But it's a moot point now."

What about Tim Pawlenty?

"There's a lack of a clear farm team of leaders not only to run for president, but to define what the party is all about. In 2004, people said the Democrats were done. Parties can remake themselves very quickly. It's too early and the loss of Sanford isn't a huge detriment.... it's not a sign the party can't rebound. These scandals happen. We hear that these are the people who are natural leaders, but nobody had ever heard of them until then. Pawlenty and Romney are two of the leaders still standing. Romney is more formidable."

9:47 a.m. - I thinking maybe I should add a poll question: Is it wrong to have an affair?

9:49 a.m. "I factor in hypocrisy, don't we expect it?" Kerri asks. "Yeah, but we don't like to see it in our face," Zelizer says.

9:51 a.m. - "People will give politicians give and take if they make a position and they can't take it later on because of the circumstances. What they can't seem to accept is when they take an oath or a vow," says Woodard. "When they violate those kind of things (marriage vows), they violate something in a serious situation and they're on record as being hypocrites and that's why hypocrisy is winning." (He's referring to the poll posted above)

9:52 a.m. - Time to turn this hypocrisy thing around. Suppose a governor spends two terms telling you taxes are wrong. Is he a hypocrite if he raises taxes? Would we hold that against a governor?

9:54 a.m. - Caller's observation: "If the governor were a woman, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"The images of politics is smoking, drinking, and fooling around," Zelizer says. "It's hard to see a woman candidate surviving thise."

It's not much of an issue in South Carolina, Woodard notes, because the state has the lowest number of elected female politicians.

9:57 a.m. - Gail Collins in the New York Times today

Talking about money was familiar ground for South Carolina conservatives, and for a while it looked as if they might settle on a rule that sex is irrelevant unless it leads to a tax increase.

This was a great hour. I hope you continue the discussion down below in the comments section!

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Franken faces

Posted at 1:01 PM on July 1, 2009 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Faces in the crowd at today's rally for Sen.-elect Al Franken. You'll need to click the image to enlarge it.

It's near impossible to keep that Election Night excitement alive for 8 months.

11/4/08

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Coleman-Franken: The reaction

Posted at 5:13 PM on June 30, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

MPR has been getting plenty of comments in the wake of the end of the Minnesota Senate race. Our Public Insight Network has been posting them here. You can also find reaction on the Polinaut blog.

The Network's Michael Caputo and I were on All Things Considered with Tom Crann on Tuesday evening. Listen in:

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Q&A on the Franken-Coleman fight

Posted at 2:19 PM on June 30, 2009 by Bob Collins (18 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Q: What happens now?

A: Al Franken needs an election certificate before he can enter the Senate. It has to be signed by the Secretary of State and the Governor.

Update 3:57 p.m. - Coleman has conceded the election. "I have always believed you do the best you can and leave the results up to a higher authority. I'm at peace with
that," Coleman said. "It's time to move forward."

Listen

Q: Where's the governor and what's his plan?

A: He's in Washington and released this statement shortly after Coleman conceded:

The Minnesota Supreme Court has today addressed the issues surrounding the accuracy and integrity of our election system during the 2008 U.S. Senate race in Minnesota. In light of that decision and Senator Coleman's announcement that he will not be pursuing an appeal, I will be signing the election certificate today as directed by the court and applicable law.

"I would like to thank Senator Coleman for his service. As state solicitor general, Mayor of Saint Paul and United States Senator, he has been an extraordinary leader and public servant for Minnesota.

"I also want to congratulate Al Franken and wish him well as he serves the people of Minnesota."

Sen. Harry Reid issued the following statement:

"I congratulate Senator-elect Al Franken, the next Senator from the state of Minnesota. The people of Minnesota will now finally get the brilliant and hardworking new senator they elected in November and the full representation they deserve. After all the votes have been counted and recounted, the Minnesota Supreme Court has made the final determination that Minnesotans have chosen Al Franken to help their state and our country get back on track. "The Senate looks forward to welcoming Senator-elect Franken as soon as possible. He will play a crucial role as we work to strengthen our economy, ensure all Americans can access and afford quality health care, make our country more energy independent, confirm the President's outstanding nominee to the Supreme Court, and tackle the many other challenges we face. "I once again encourage Governor Pawlenty to respect the votes of his constituents and the decisions of his state's highest court. He should put politics aside, follow his state's laws and finally sign the certificate that will bring this episode to an end."

The Senate is not currently in Washington. It's on its July 4th break.

Franken told reporters today he's "going up to the Range to do some parades." So it'll be a few days before he's sworn in. Listen

Q: Did judges on the Supreme Court all agree?

A: Yes. The decision was unanimous -- per curiam, in legal speak. Two members of the court abstained because they served on a panel that considered the issue earlier.

"Whatever your political point of view, you had someone on the court from your perspective, who from a political perspective would share your point of view. And yet, given that diversity, they all saw the law the same way. That's significant," Ned Foley said.

Q: Why did it take so long?

A: "One of the things that's always on the mind of judges and justices is not wanting to be reversed," said Prof. Rick Hasen of Loyola Law School, who also writes the Election Law blog. He says the decision was intended to keep Coleman from winning had he attempted to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.

Q: Could Coleman have continued the fight?

Yes, according to Hasen. He had two options. "One is an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court , the other is federal appeals court. He certainly has federal and constitutional issues, "and the Supreme Court is open for business to hear those."

A lawsuit to the federal appeals court would likely not have been successful, the professor said, because the court was likely to say the issues had already been decided at state court.

Q: Why didn't Coleman continue the fight?

A: Larry Jacobs at the University of Minnesota says Coleman is "busted" and also has to pay some of Al Franken's legal bills. Jacobs says Coleman also has his eyes on running for governor in 2010.

There was also little chance of success. Realistically, the federal options are only a few days' delay, Ned Foley of Ohio State told MPR's Gary Eichten this afternoon. "It's not going to delay it much further," he said.

Q: Will Coleman run for governor?
A: Not saying "no" when asked that question is saying "maybe." Coleman said he's more concerned with catching fish.

Q: How does this affect Washington?

A: Franken becomes the Democrats' 60th vote. That's the number required to avert filibusters. "...with both Senators Edward M. Kennedy and Robert C. Byrd absent due to illness, the Democrats have sometimes scrambled to make sure they had lined up enough votes," the New York Times notes.

Closer to home, we will likely start hearing opinions on critical issues from Sen.-elect Franken.

Q: So that's it, then? The Democrats get everything they want?

A: These are the Democrats. In-fighting is part of the party DNA. Just look at the veiled shots President Obama has sent Congress' way in the last month. As Forbes noted on Tuesday:

... rifts over climate change and energy policy tend to be more regional than partisan. Last week, a sweeping bill that addresses both issues barely squeaked by in the House. Even before the Minnesota court's ruling, the bill's future in the Senate was in doubt. Opponents worry that it would lead to rising energy costs and is too watered-down to be meaningful anyway.

The Democrats' biggest foe in climate change legislation last week wasn't a Republican. It was a Democratic congressman. From Minnesota.

"I'm not going to Washington to be the 60th Democratic senator. I'm going to be the second senator from Minnesota," he said on Tuesday.

Q: What committees will Franken serve on in the Senate?

The Health Education, Pension and Labor Committee; the Judiciary Committee; the Committee on Indian Affairs, and the Committee on Aging.

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The money quotes in the Coleman-Franken decision

Posted at 1:11 PM on June 30, 2009 by Bob Collins
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

Here are the money quotes from today's Minnesota Supreme Court decision confirming Al Franken as Minnesota's junior U.S. Senator:

On absentee ballots:

The distinction between errors by voters and errors by election officials is an important one. We have drawn "a clear distinction between the provisions and prohibitions in the election laws which are personal to the elector and those which apply to election officials over whose conduct he has no control."...Fitzgerald v. Morlock, 264 Minn. 520, 524, 120 N.W.2d 339, 345 (1963). We have said that "any reasonable regulations of the statute as to the conduct of the voter himself" are mandatory, and a vote is properly rejected if the voter fails to comply with the law. Id. at 524, 120 N.W.2d at 345. But if a voter complies with the law, his vote should not be rejected because of "irregularities, ignorance, inadvertence, or mistake, or even intentional wrong on the part of the election officers."

We conclude that our existing case law requires strict compliance by voters with the requirements for absentee voting. Thus, we reject Coleman‟s argument that only substantial compliance by voters is required. Having rejected this argument, we also conclude that the trial court‟s February 13 order requiring strict compliance with the statutory requirements for absentee voting was not a deviation from our well-established precedent.

Is absentee voting a right or a privilege?

At oral argument, Coleman posited that because of the increased use of the absentee voting method, it should now be treated as a right, not a privilege. But that is a policy determination for the legislature, not this court, to make.

On the differing standards from county to county for how absentee ballots were judged:

Coleman was required to prove either that local jurisdictions ‟differences in application or the trial court‟s application of the requirements for absentee voting was the product of intentional discrimination. Coleman neither claims nor produced any evidence that the differing treatment of absentee ballots among jurisdictions during the election was the result of intentional or purposeful discrimination against individuals or classes. Nor does Coleman claim that the trial court‟s February 13 order, establishing certain categories of ballots as not legally cast, was the product of an intent to discriminate against any individual or class.

On Coleman's claim that some ballots were counted twice:

Coleman called no witnesses with direct knowledge of the handling of duplicate ballots in the relevant precincts, but he did introduce at trial voter rosters, envelopes from accepted absentee ballots, copies of ballots challenged during the manual recount, and machine tapes from the identified precincts in which he alleges double-counting of absentee ballots occurred. On appeal, Coleman has identified nothing additional that an inspection of ballots under section 209.06 would have produced.We therefore hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the petition for inspection.

On missing ballots in Minneapolis:

The ballots are missing, but Coleman introduced no evidence of foul play or misconduct, and the election day precinct returns are available to give effect to those votes.

The Supreme Court did not order Gov. Pawlenty to sign an election certificate.

Fact-checking Bachmann

Posted at 5:15 PM on July 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (12 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Rep. Michele Bachmann overreached today when she delivered her latest salvo against the U.S. census. Bachmann proposed allowing people the option not to answer questions on the census.

ASSERTION: "Beginning last weekend, the Pentagon was broken into, its computers, as well as Homeland Security's computers, and North Korea may be the culprit," she said. "What we know is that the government's computer systems are not hacker proof."

FACT: According to the Associated Press, "Treasury Department and Federal Trade Commission Web sites were knocked out by the blizzard of digital requests, while others such as the Pentagon and the White House were able to fend it off with little disruption." No one has been "hacked" in this cyberattack from -- reportedly -- North Korea. Instead, access to a computer service is blocked through "denial of service" attacks. No information actually is pried from a targeted computer. And no computer was "broken into."

As the AP report characterized it:

Denial of service attacks against Web sites are not uncommon, and are usually caused when sites are deluged with Internet traffic so as to effectively take them off-line. Mounting such an attack can be relatively easy using widely available hacking programs, and they can be made far more serious if hackers infect and use thousands of computers tied together into "botnets."

ASSERTION: "And so American's private information, including their home telephone numbers..."

FACT: But you can get people's home telephone numbers from a telephone book.

ASSERTION: ".. and very private information about their personal lives could be subject to a hacker."

FACT: True, a computer could be hacked into. But that doesn't stop Bachmann from accepting donations on her Web site that require you to reveal your credit card number, your occupation, your address and your email address. One has to calculate the risks and evaluate the return.

A couple of weeks ago, Bachmann said the census data might be used to round Americans up, making a connection to Japanese internment in World War II.

If Bachmann is worried about what the government might do, it's not as if it hasn't given some reason to be. In 2004, the Electronic Privacy Information Center said it obtained documents to show that data "on people who identified themselves on the 2000 census as being of Arab ancestry" had been given to the Department of Homeland Security. But the DHS said that was to figure out what language to use on signs at airports.

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I have a confession to make. I can't remember ever filling out a census form. I can't remember anyone coming to the door and asking me questions. A young man stopped by a month or so ago to confirm that my address is correct, apparently to be sure I didn't put four large numbers on the post by the garage to fool the Census people.

"I know for my family the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home," Rep. Bachmann told the Washington Times last month. "We won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that."

That, of course, is wrong, according to Census officials. It also ignores the reality that the Constitution provides a framework for laws. There's nothing in the Constitution, for example, about a 55 mph speed limit, but my argument fell on deaf ears in White Bear Lake not long ago.

What's the point of the census? Let's look at a couple of the questions.

Question: How old are you?
Reason for asking: The voting age population census could help Minnesota lawmakers decide, for example, which House district could be eliminated if, as reported, the state loses a congressional seat.

Question: Last week did this person work for either pay or profit?
Reason for asking: Helps to identify the impact of immigration and job markets, according to the Census Bureau. It's an issue that's been important to some representatives like Bachmann and could provide facts to back up assertions, should that ever comes back into style in Washington.

None of this is new. The census people have been making this point for decades:

Many of the questions claimed as "personal" are actually on the American Community Survey, rather than the Census short form that most people will get.

Bachmann is making the claim that government intrusion by way of the Census is an expanding universe. But there's evidence that the opposite is true. Past census records, for example, reveal that Clark Haley of Anoka County got $18 a month in a government pension for having a "diseased lung" in 1869. George Fairbanks, also of Anoka County, got $4 a month for chronic diarrhea.

Let the record show, there are no questions planned in the '10 Census about diarrhea.

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Dishonorable mention

Posted at 4:02 PM on June 24, 2009 by Bob Collins (26 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

It's not the heat; it's the hypocrisy.

Maybe Mark Sanford had a real shot at presidential politics; maybe he didn't. It's all over now that he's admitted he was having an affair with a woman in Argentina (See emails) and that's why he disappeared for several days and nobody -- including his wife -- knew where he was. The fact his wife said she wasn't concerned told me everything I need to know about the Sanford marriage.

Why do politicians have affairs? Perhaps for the same reasons everyone else who's running around has one: they don't think they're going to get caught, ego, and, sex; -- not necessarily in that order.

Twenty-two percent of adults in monogamous relationships have cheated on their current partner. The rate is even higher among married men, according to a recent survey. If politicians cheat at the same clip, 91 members of Congress are fooling around.

"We think everybody is out there doing it," says Janet Lever, a sociologist at California State University, Los Angeles, and the study's lead researcher told MSNBC. "Well, they're not."

Our reaction -- usually disappointment -- reveals our basic idealism toward politics. "I think why this gets so much attention in the news is because these are people we want to trust - they are people who make important decisions that affect our lives. When they turn out to be dishonest, we are not only disappointed, but we can't trust them at all," Emily Brown, a marriage counselor, told the Washington Post after one politician's fling went public.

The list of pols getting caught, though, seems endless. My ranking of the top 10 political "affairs."

10. Gov. James E. McGreevey - With his wife standing by his side, the New Jersey governor acknowledged he had an affair, then admitted he was gay.

9. Gov. David Patterson - One day after replacing the philandering Elliot Spitzer, Patterson admitted that he also had an affair... or two, causing a communal forehead slap among New York residents.

8. Rep. Vito Fossella - The New York congressman broke down on the House floor last May after acknowledging his arrest for drunk driving and admitting he had a daughter with a woman who wasn't his wife.

7. Sen. John Ensign - It was just last Tuesday -- two days before Sanford took off for Argentina -- that Ensign admitted he had an affair with a family friend. "I take full responsibility for my actions," reading from the first chapter of the "Politician's Guide to Admitting Your Affair."

6. Rep. Newt Gingrich - One of President Clinton's biggest critics during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Gingrich admitted he was fooling around, too, around the same time. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards," he said, while insisting he wasn't a hypocrite. Gingrich, considered a potential presidential contender, may end up proving that having an affair isn't a political death sentence.

5. Sen. David Vitter -- The Louisiana senator was all about family values, as long as you don't define family values as "eschewing the DC Madam." "This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible," he said, with his wife standing nearby.

4. Sen. Larry Craig - The Idaho senator was arrested at the Minneapolis St. Paul airport Concourse C men's room after apparently soliciting an undercover cop for sex. His defense? "I am not gay," he insisted. His wife joined him at his side for his press conference.

3. John Edwards - The former presidential candidate proved there really are two Americas: the men who cheat on their wives and the men who don't. "I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices," he said of his affair with the campaign's filmmaker. His wife, battling breast cancer, stood beside him. It was an uncomfortable moment, though, when she appeared on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me last Saturday, only to be asked by Peter Sagal, "how big is the doghouse your husband lives in now?"

2. Eliot Spitzer - The New York governor with a squeaky clean reputation, tossed it away for a romp with high-priced hookers. "I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself," he said, with his wife standing at his side.

1. Bill Clinton - Still the mother of all political affairs. "I did not have sex with that woman" is as big a part of presidential history as "I am not a crook." Both were lies. (Zip ahead to 6:18 here). Well-delivered lies.

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News conference choreography

Posted at 3:06 PM on June 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Media, News, Politics

The very tail end of President Obama's news conference today provided the best glimpse into the workings of the White House press corps.

Listen to the comment shouted at the end of the president's remarks. (Listen)

After Obama had bid everyone "adieu," an unidentified reporter whined "No questions about Iraq?" It seemed an odd complaint to a president, coming from someone responsible for asking the questions, one of which, by the way, included "how many cigarettes do you smoke a day?"

I wondered about that on Twitter, when Kevin Watterson, the Minnesota House Republican Caucus' communications boss, suggested coordination between Obama and the press corps over what questions would be asked.

He wasn't the only one. Writing on the Politico blog, Michael Calderone noted that Obama invited a question on Iran from Huffington Post's Nico Pitney.

Reporters typically don't coordinate their questions for the president before press conferences, so it seemed odd that Obama might have an idea what the question would be. Also, it was a departure from White House protocol by calling on The Huffington Post second, in between the AP and Reuters.

CBS Radio's Mark Knoller, a veteran White House correspondent, said over Twitter it was "very unusual that Obama called on Huffington Post second, appearing to know the issue the reporter would ask about."

Knoller says a news conference shouldn't "be choreographed," although presidents historically have had a "go-to" reporter to call on when questioning gets tough -- the kind of reporter who might ask about, for example, a new dog or the number of cigarettes he smokes a day.

Most of the questions asked today seemed to follow the issues that currently have our attention -- Iran and health care. It's not clear what question about Iraq the lonely reporter with the complaint would have asked had he been given the chance.

On that subject -- the news agenda -- a survey of what we're interested in (by way of the news media) speaks to our short attention spans.

Here's the graph for the last week, compiled by Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism:

And the week before that:

And the one before that:

Iraq hasn't registered on the PEJ's news coverage index since the third week in February.

(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Politics South Carolina style

Posted at 4:28 PM on June 22, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

It was an odd few hours in South Carolina on Monday when nobody could figure out where the state's governor was. Gov. Mark Sanford disappeared last Thursday. But TheState.com reports his cellphone signal was picked up in Atlanta.

Adding weirdness to the situation was this reaction from the governor's wife, as reported by the newspaper.

First lady Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press earlier Monday her husband has been gone for several days and she did not know where.

Wait for it.

She said she was not concerned.

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Politicization of the language

Posted at 11:57 AM on June 19, 2009 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

"It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes. Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes."
-- George Orwell

Is it torture or harsh interrogation tactics? National Public Radio ombudsman Alicia Shepard told MPR Midmorning host Kerri Miller she'll have a piece on her online column later today because "NPR listeners are furious that we're not calling a spade a spade."

So the timing was perfect for today's Midmorning hour on how our language has been politicized, and how a point of view creeps into the journalism.

At MPR, for example, pro-choice and pro-life and no-no's. Instead, we use phrases such as legalized abortion. Of more recent vintage is the controversy over the use partial birth abortion. It is a virtually endless debate.

That said, here's a list of the words or phrases that came up in this morning's broadcast, either from the guests -- Shepard and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell from the University of Minnesota -- or callers. Add your own below.

Public plan vs. government plan
Death tax
Public option vs. government takeover
Waterboarding
Disabled person vs. Person with disabilities
Enhanced interrogation technique
Fee vs. tax
Break news
Abortion doctor
Latino
Collateral damage
Regime vs. government

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The Renter's Credit impact

Posted at 10:30 AM on June 19, 2009 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

MPR's Jessica Mador provides some insight into the impact of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's trimming of the Minnesota Renter's Credit as part of the effort to balance the state budget without raising taxes.

That's Robert Zozaski, who lives in subsidized rental housing in Breckenridge. He's 80 years old, a veteran of the Korean War and he's thinning his packaged soup to help make ends meet. The credit goes to about 270,000 low- and moderate-income Minnesotans.

Here's what Jess wrote:

The credit is essentially a tax refund intended to offset renters' share of property taxes. (Many) homeowners get one, too but the governor's proposed cuts would only affect renters.

The refund goes to people who earn about $50,000 or less, but more than half of the households make less than $20,000 a year. An estimated 28 percent are seniors and people with disabilities.

Eighty-year old Korean War veteran Robert Zozaski lives in subsidized rental housing in Breckenridge. Between his Social Security check and his pension from the VA, he gets by on about $930 a month. He says he saves money by eating lots of ramen noodles.

"The ramen noodles and chicken flavor, I like. One package of that, I double the water so I make two meals out of it. What I do is I buy them by the case when they are a dime a pack. That's $2.40 a case. That's quite a few meals," he says.

Zozaski has a heart condition. Luckily, his medications are paid for by the VA, but he worries about the sodium in the ramen and other cheap foods he relies on but says it's all he can really afford.

He'll have to figure out a way to save even more money if he loses his Renter's Credit, which usually puts a few hundred dollars extra in his pocket. He uses it to buy new clothes and pay a county home health aide, who comes twice a month to help with laundry and chores.

Zozaski says he doubts the governor and lawmakers know what it's like to live on ramen.

The governor's budget would cut the Renter's Credit by more than a quarter - about $51 million a year, a deeper cut than he has proposed in the past.

Stay tuned

Are you receiving the Renter's Credit? Tell us about your budget.

On his weekly radio show today, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the cut that his fellow politicians have been most vocal about, is the end of the rebate for political contributions, according to the Pioneer Press' Rachel Stassen-Berger.

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How unallotment affects your city

Posted at 11:35 AM on June 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

On MPR's Midday this afternoon, Rep. Loren Solberg predicted massive property tax increases because of Gov. Pawlenty's "unallotment."

At the same time, the League of Minnesota Cities has just posted a Department of Revenue spreadsheet showing the impact on each city in the state. Find it here.

The League makes clear that pushing many of the cuts to the second year of the state's two-year budget gives officials some flexibility...

For cities, approximately one-third of the reduction will occur in 2009 and two-thirds will occur in 2010. This "backloading" of the cuts will allow cities the most flexibility and longest time frame to make budgetary adjustments.

How familiar are you with how your city spends tax money? What would you be willing to do without if you were given a choice? (Update: Mitch Berg has an impressive list here)

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If

Posted at 2:06 PM on June 16, 2009 by Bob Collins (76 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

A few ways the governor's unallotment may impact you.

If you're a politician:

You'll have to find another way to convince people to contribute to your campaign. The political contribution refund is eliminated through June 30, 2011. It reimburses Minnesotans for contributions to candidates.

If you're a renter:

Your renter's refund would be reduced from 19% of rent paid to 15%.

If you're a personal care attendant:

The most hours you can work in a month are being reduced by 45.

If you work for the Department of Public Safety, Military and Veterans Affairs, Corrections, or State Operated Services Division of the Department of Human Services:

Relax. The 2.25 percent reduction in the state agencies budget doesn't apply to you.

If you invested in capital equipment:

You won't be getting your sales tax refund payment for up to 3 months.

If you need help applying for public health care programs:

You're on your own. The money to fund it from the state is being suspended. Parts of the program paid for by the tax on health care providers will continue.

If you live in Albertville, Andover, Arden Hills, Baxter, Blaine, Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Burnsville, Champlin, Chanhassen, Circle Pines, Corcoran, Cottage Grove, Dayton, Eagan, East Bethel, Edina, Farmington,Forest Lake, Golden Valley, Ham Lake, Hugo, Inver Grove Heights, Lake Elmo,Lakeville, Lino Lakes, Mahtomedi, Maple Grove Maplewood, Mendota Heights, Minnetonka, Minnestrista, Monticello, Mound, New Brighton, Oakdale, Orono, Otsego, Plymouth, Prior Lake, Ramsey, Rogers, Rosemount, Roseville, Sartell, Savage, Shakopee, Shoreview, Shorewood, Spring Lake Park, St. Anthony, St. Louis Park, St. Michael, Vadnais Heights, Victoria, or Woodbury:

You may not feel the impact as deeply. Your city doesn't get local government aid (LGA) from the state. Other cities will feel it, city officials say. "It could be in the form of no cop in their kid's school, higher property taxes, or a local library that is no longer open," according to St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman.

If you're Wisconsin:

Send that check! Minnesota will require payments under the reciprocity agreement that allows Wisconsin students who attend Minnesota public colleges to pay the same tuition they would at a comparable Wisconsin school, and vice versa. This is wrong. You still have to pay up, Wisconsin, but it's the income tax reciprocity agreement that allows residents of one state to file income taxes only in the state in which he/she lives when he/she works across the border.

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Throwing the book at politicians

Posted at 12:00 PM on June 16, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Within the last week, Minnesota legislators began receiving copies of the book, "48 Liberal Lies About American History," written by a University of Dayton professor, and sent to them by the chairman of the Montgomery County (Ohio) Republican Party. They weren't the only ones, however. Over 7,000 politicians across the country are getting the book.

"It's been very fun, the responses that I've gotten," according to Attorney Greg Gantt, the party chairman in the Ohio county. "The speaker of the Ohio House actually returned a bunch of the books and said that the suggested $25.95 cover price exceeded the amount the gift could be. But it only cost us $7. But they took the time and money to send them back," he said. "That sparked some lively debate around town." (Note: The gift ban in Minnesota is $50).

Twenty volunteers worked for two weeks in Gantt's law firm to get the books out. The effort was bankrolled by Harlan Crow, the Texas real estate mogul and Republican benefactor and frequent contributor to Minnesota Republican pols.

"I just loved it, just from someone taking an event in history," Gantt said. "Many times, as a party chairman, I'll be a part of something and the story comes out and everybody (who knows) realizes that's not exactly how it happened."

Gantt says he hasn't heard anything back from Minnesota politicians, yet. "I got a thank-you note from Sarah Palin yesterday," he said.

Palin and Dayton, Ohio are well linked. It was the city chosen by Sen. John McCain to announce her as his vice presidential running mate. Gantt says Montgomery County is representative of Ohio as a whole. "We've got all the different socio-economic subsets in our county here," Gantt said.

So I had to ask whether Gov. Tim Pawlenty's rumored entrance into the presidential race has got people stirred up in Montgomery County? "Not really, yet," he said. "I think everybody just needed a break from presidential politics."

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Googling Pawlenty

Posted at 11:01 AM on June 12, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

I stumbled across this while doing some Google searches this morning. The governor is buying ads on Google to tout his Web site, which asks for political contributions, even though he's already announced he's not running again.

Apparently they've been running for at least a week.

Based on our own knowledge of Googleads, playing around with various keywords (even if you just Google "governor," you get Pawlenty) and seeing various versions of the Pawlenty ad suggests it's a pretty extensive ad buy.

President Pawlenty, however are not one of the keywords for the ad. "Sarah Palin Tim Pawlenty" and "Mitt Romney Tim Pawlenty" are. "Barack Obama Tim Pawlenty" are not. "Minnesota budget" are.

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Fact checking: Income vs. property taxes

Posted at 1:17 PM on June 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Taryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, today claimed that for the first time, collections from the property tax will be greater than collections from the income tax.

Is this true?

We turn to veteran political calculator Mike Mulcahy.

This does appear to be true if you're talking individual income taxes. House research made this handy chart.

But there are also some caveats. It looks like income tax collections took a big drop because of the recession. Handy chart here on page 3

Also worth noting that the property tax figures include the statewide property tax on businesses but the individual income tax totals do not include the corporate tax, which raises $792 million this year...a little more than the statewide business property tax.

Also not sure if it's fair to say this is the first time ever. The state had no individual income tax before 1933.

Update 5:33 p.m. (From Mulcahy)

According to information Tom Scheck just got from the Revenue Department, the state collected more in property taxes than income taxes from 1962 to 1978 (the year of the Minnesota Miracle) and fiscal years 91-96. (The records they gave us only go back to '62). It also looks like there were a few years in the early 1980s when property tax revenues where higher than income taxes (that may have been due to the recession then, but it's a little hard to read their chart).

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How blue is Minnesota?

Posted at 11:40 AM on June 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Chris Cillizza, who writes The Fix political blog for the Washington Post today handicapped the characteristics of those who would be king, injecting an assertion about Minnesota voters designed to impress those outside of flyover country.

Pawlenty, as we have written before, is the leading populist in the party at the moment. (Apologies to Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels but his pledge not to run in 2012 limits his reach within the GOP.) Pawlenty's personal story -- first in his family to go to college, a truck driver father etc. -- is at the heart of his appeal in Minnesota, a state not particularly inclined to support Republicans in statewide elections.

How to measure that? Let's look at the statewide races.

Governor - Minnesota hasn't been particularly inclined to support Democrats in the race for governor. It's elected one -- Rudy Perpich -- in the last 28 years. There have only been 9 Democrat governors in the state's history, and that's counting Perpich twice. There have been 26 Republican governors. So getting elected governor of Minnesota as a Republican isn't such a big deal.

Senator - Norm Coleman was the sitting Republican in the Senate before he lost last year's election to Al Franken. Out of three million votes cast, only a handful separates the two. Suggesting the state isn't inclined to support Republicans for the seat is a tough sell, especially when the seat has been held by two Republicans since the 1978, and only one Democrat. Similarly, the seat held by Amy Klobuchar has been split by Republicans and Democrats since 1977 (two apiece).

Secretary of State - Since 1858, there have been only five Democrat secretaries of state, although DFLer Joan Growe sailed through every election to serve from 1975 to 1999.

Attorney General - A Republican hasn't been elected attorney general in Minnesota since 1966. Even when Republicans were sweeping to victory in most statewide offices in 2002, DFLer Mike Hatch was the only one to buck the trend.

Cillizza may be hanging his hat on presidential contests in the state, but that's a thin peg in evaluating Pawlenty's history as a state candidate.

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The domain game

Posted at 4:36 PM on June 2, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The Web intentions of politicians can tell us whether someone is thinking about running for another office. Or it can tell us whether someone is thinking about making money by registering a domain and then hoping to sell it to a candidate thinking about running for another office. Or it can tell us a political party is reserving the domains. In other words: It's not a reliable political yardstick.

On the other hand, it can be fun to poke around.

Seifertforgovernor.com (Rep. Marty Seifert), brodforgovernor.com (Rep. Laura Brod), and sullivanforgovernor.com (former gubernatorial candidate Brian Sullivan) are taken. They were registered on the same day in April 2008.

Kohlsforgovernor.com (Rep. Paul Kohls), Hannforgovernor.com (Sen. David Hann), Michelforgovernor.com (Sen. Geoff Michel), Weaverforgovernor.com (Former Pawlenty chief of staff Charlie Weaver), Gramsforgovernor.com (former Sen. Rod Grams) and Ramstadforgovernor.com (Former congressman Jim Ramstad) are available.

Pawlentyforpresident.com was registered by Rep. Pat Garofolo, R-Farmington.

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On Pawlenty's future

Posted at 10:48 AM on June 2, 2009 by Bob Collins (17 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Tim Pawlenty is holding a 2 p.m. news conference "regarding his future plans," which gives us a little more time to engage in the national pastime for political types who have nothing else to write about: Tim Pawlenty's future plans. MPR's Tom Scheck is citing a source saying the governor won't run. (Update: He won't run.)

Even before that, however, the betting line -- mine -- said he'll announce he's not running for a third term. Reasons: Why should he? He's wanted to be more than a governor since before he was a governor. The governor's office was the consolation prize for getting out of Norm Coleman's way -- at the behest of Dick Cheney -- in 2001.

Second, it's never too early to start raising money for a national campaign, but it can be too late. The 2012 presidential campaign -- at least from the Republican point of view -- started the minute John McCain declared he had enough delegates for the Republican nomination. Mitt Romney has been raising money. Newt Gingrich has been raising money, and Mike Huckabee has a daily radio show. And while Tim Pawlenty has a few bucks in the campaign accounts, it's hard to raise money when there's still a chance you'll run for governor again.

Which brings up the new big question. What's he raising money for? The odds say Tim Pawlenty is not going to be the next Republican nominee for president. But if he can make a healthy showing in the primaries, he can be a #2 spot. He'll be only 52 in 2012 -- pretty wet behind the ears in the presidential game (note: Obama was 51 47 when elected.) But the game of a presidential ticket -- like TV anchor teams -- has changed. His chances at a spot on the ticket would depend on whomever gets the top spot not being a white guy and especially not being a white guy former governor.

Pawlenty's announcement also puts pressure on Sarah Palin, still the darling of many Republican mainstreeters, to make a move of some sort.

Those aren't the only two jobs available, however. There's still the U.S. Senate. Sen. Amy Klobuchar's seat is up in 2012 and while her job approval ratings are pretty high, the Senate makes a nice place to plot a political future and make a ton of cash.

An even more compelling "what if" scenario is what happens to Al Franken's election certificate if the Minnesota Supreme Court turns aside Norm Coleman's appeal of Franken's apparent election victory? Pawlenty has yet to say if he'd sign the certificate. Would not having a statewide election to worry about influence his decision? Few Republicans are going to hold not sending Al Franken to Washington against a future candidate for, well, whatever.

NPR's "Political Junkie" Ken Rudin analyzes it:

Assuming a White House bid is in his plans, Pawlenty's decision probably makes sense. It frees him to plot a more conservative course than he would have had he intended to run again back home.

What was your favorite Tim Pawlenty moment? Here's mine.

The next political game will be who do the Republicans turn to in the 2010 race for governor? A possible bet is Brian Sullivan, the man who turned Gov. Pawlenty into a more conservative conservative at the Republican State Convention in 2002.

Here's the full press release from the governor's office:

"I am incredibly grateful for the support and trust the people of Minnesota have given me during my two terms as Governor," Governor Pawlenty said. "From providing the best support programs in the country for veterans and their families, to moving Minnesota out of the top ten highest taxed states, to sparking economic development in Greater Minnesota, to strengthening our K-12 education standards and implementing performance pay for teachers, much has been accomplished for our state."

Governor Pawlenty said being governor should not be a permanent position for anyone.

"When it comes to how long someone should stay in an elected position, a little less is better than too much," Governor Pawlenty said. "It's a lesson I learned spending time in places like the Croatian Hall in South Saint Paul, where there is inevitably less joy and more trouble in too much pizza or too much beer. We don't have term limits in Minnesota, but we do have good judgment and common sense. We are a government of laws and ideas, not personalities."

Governor Pawlenty noted that during the past six and a half years, his administration has continued to improve Minnesota's quality of life. The state ranks:

1st in the region in annual per capita income (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis)
1st in the county in Fortune 500 companies per capita (2009 Fortune 500 list, U.S. Census)
1st in the nation in average ACT test scores (2008 ACT, Inc.)

"Healthiest state in the nation" according to the CQ Press study Health Care State Rankings 2008: Health Care Across America

Accomplishments during the past six and a half years include:

Proposing and creating the nation's most comprehensive programs for veterans, military members and their families, including enhancing state G.I. Bill benefits, funding a memorial to Minnesota's World War II veterans, beginning the Military and Veterans

Support Cabinet, and starting the LinkVet program to connect veterans with assistance.

Keeping Minnesota competitive by requiring state government to live within its means and not raise taxes, especially during this period of economic uncertainty.
Balancing the state budget four times without raising taxes, including eliminating a $4.5 billion deficit in 2003 and a $4.8 billion deficit in 2009.
Moving Minnesota out of the top ten highest taxed states, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, a goal of every Governor from all three political parties dating back to Governor Rudy Perpich.
Signing into law nearly $800 million in total tax reductions and a three-year local property tax cap, projected to save taxpayers $78.5 million in 2009 and $460.5 million over the next three years.
Reducing state government growth to average two-year budget increases of less than six percent during the past six years, the lowest budget increases under any Minnesota Governor in at least the past 40 years.
Developing the nation-leading teacher performance pay reform, Q Comp, which links teacher compensation to classroom and student achievement, rather than just seniority.
Creating the Minnesota Academic Standards - new, more rigorous high school graduation requirements.
Establishing Minnesota as the Renewable Fuels Capital of the United States by doubling the amount of renewable fuel used in gasoline, implementing the use of biodiesel and enhancing Minnesota's role as a top wind energy producing state.
Proposing and signing into law Minnesota's nation-leading 25 x 25 renewable energy standard, establishing a benchmark of 25 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2025.
Creating the Job Opportunity Building Zone (JOBZ) program to stimulate economic activity in Greater Minnesota. JOBZ has been involved in 323 deals, resulting in commitments of 5,169 jobs, helping to retain 9,743 jobs and producing more than $580 million in new capital investments.
Proposing and establishing a new higher education institution in Rochester, the University of Minnesota-Rochester, with an emphasis on medicine, business and technology.
Reorganizing and consolidating state government agencies including eliminating Minnesota Planning by combining it with the Department of Administration, merging the Departments of Economic Security and Trade and Economic Development, and merging the Department of Employee Relations into the Departments of Finance and Administration, reducing overhead and saving taxpayer resources.
Proposing and signing into law longer sentences for all categories of sex offenders, including life in prison without release.
Implementing health care payment reform based on incentives to improve quality, reduce costs, engage consumers in decision making and encourage more competition - expected to have the potential for approximately $6.9 billion in cost savings by 2015.

Governor Pawlenty also told Minnesotans that he continues to be honored and humbled by the opportunity to serve and will work energetically during his remaining 19 months in office.

"I've run a few marathons and I believe in finishing strong," Governor Pawlenty said. "Minnesotans will get my very best until I'm done."

Governor Pawenty is serving his second term as the 39th governor of Minnesota. During his time in office, he has served as Chair of the National Governors Association, Chair of the Midwestern Governors Association, and on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, the Achieve Inc. Board of Directors and the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute Board of Directors. He is currently Chair of the Education Commission of the States.

And the DFL's response:

The Minnesota DFL Party released this statement from Chair Brian Melendez regarding Governor Tim Pawlenty's announcement that he will not seek another term:

"While we thank Governor Pawlenty for his service to our state, his retirement as governor is an opportunity to move Minnesota forward.

"Governor Pawlenty's 'no new taxes' ideology plays well to Republican special interests and the dinner circuits from Iowa to New Hampshire, but it has hurt Minnesota and Minnesotans. The divisive politics of ideology and calculation have done enough damage.

"Minnesota faces incredible challenges: a historic multi-billion-dollar deficit, disappearing jobs, skyrocketing health-care costs and rising property taxes. We need a leader who will face these problems with courage and honesty, and won't hide behind clever word games, accounting shifts and budget tricks. We need a leader who understands Minnesota values: accountability, opportunity, prosperity and fair play.

"Today is a day to thank Governor Pawlenty for his service. Starting tomorrow, it will be time to bring Minnesota values back to the Governor's Mansion. We look forward with hope. We look forward to electing a DFL governor."

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Coleman-Franken: Last stop?

Posted at 10:22 AM on June 1, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The Minnesota Supreme Court holds its hearing into Norm Coleman's appeal of Al Franken's apparent victory in the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota, starting at 9 a.m. on Monday. I hope you'll join me here for the hearing, and then we'll live-blog the follow-up analysis with Kerri Miller and guests.

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Sotomayor's Minnesota connection

Posted at 5:41 PM on May 26, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

The conservatives' rallying cry against Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor uses a 2001 speech with this quote as its underpinning:

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

The meaning seems clear: It is easier to relate to something you know, than something you don't. What involvement that fact plays with the matter of jurisprudence is for the politicians to debate and decide.

But Sotomayor used the women of the Minnesota Supreme Court to make her point in the same speech:

...three women on the Minnesota (Supreme) Court with two men dissenting agreed to grant a protective order against a father's visitation rights when the father abused his child. The Judicature Journal has at least two excellent studies on how women on the courts of appeal and state supreme courts have tended to vote more often than their male counterpart to uphold women's claims in sex discrimination cases and criminal defendants' claims in search and seizure cases. As recognized by legal scholars, whatever the reason, not one woman or person of color in any one position but as a group we will have an effect on the development of the law and on judging.

Sotomayor's observations aren't that different from those expressed many times in Minnesota, where women have been appointed to the state Supreme Court with fair regularity since Rosalie Wahl was first appointed by Gov. Rudy Perpich..

Squint your eyes a little bit and the reaction to Sotomayer's eight-year-old speech could be Minnesota in the '70s reacting to Wahl.

In a 1991 New York Times article, justices Wahl and Esther Tomljanovich acknowledge the value of a different prospective on the bench.

"I don't think men are going to have to run for the hills, but there is definitely a woman's perspective," said Justice Tomljanovich, recalling past humiliations she had experienced as a woman in her personal life.

Is that sexist? Or reality?

The view that a woman's perspective has a place on the bench is no longer seriously debated.

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The Sotomayor saga

Posted at 11:10 AM on May 26, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

MPR's Midmorning has done a great job lining up a program reacting to the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court justice. I won't wade into the politics of her nomination nor the analysis of her judicial record because they're available there.

I am interested in her journey from the south Bronx to an appointment with the president in the East Room. How is it that one person can make such a journey, and not most others? Nature or nurture?

Regardless of how you feel about the politics, there's no denying she's a story of success from hard times. Her father, who had only a third-grade education, died when she was 9. Her mother, a nurse, took a second job to support her family. True, this sort of thing happens to people all of the time, but most don't go on to be Supreme Court justices.

Here are a few links with background:

The Chicago Tribune calls her "plucky." "Sotomayor immersed herself in Nancy Drew books and spent hours watching Perry Mason on television, and knew she wanted to be a judge by the age of 10 after being inspired by a Perry Mason episode that ended with the camera settling on the robed sage," it says.

The New York Daily News adds that she made a heck of a jump from a housing project to Princeton, but doesn't answer the question: "how is that possible? What -- other than Perry Mason -- allowed her to escape the Bronx (Six Degrees of Aerosmith: Steven Tyler of Aerosmith went to the same high school)? Is she a fluke or is she an example of what hard work and some breaks can do? "Born in the Bronx in 1954 to parents from Puerto Rico, she was diagnosed with diabetes at 8. Her father, a factory worker, died when she was 9. Her mother supported Sotomayor and her brother, now a doctor, by working at methadone clinics," it says.

"Like Sonia's mother, he had a willingness to work hard, a strong sense of family, and a belief in the American Dream," President Obama said this morning. How much of achieving success consists of those traits?

In an interview with the Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, she outlined the criteria that makes poor Latinos successful. "This is the pathology of successful Latinos and other successful individuals who come from economically deprived populations. It is hard to enjoy your success and wear it comfortably when the world we have grown up in is filled with friends and sometimes relatives who don't make it in our society at all."

In this 2004 video from the Law School Admission Council in 2004., posted today, Sotomayor describes more about her upbringing:

Her comments refute some of the descriptions of her housing project-apartment. One account today called it "drab." She called it "pristine" and "wonderful."

"My mom believed that education was the key to everything in the world. If you became educated, you could do whatever you wanted, and accomplish whatever dreams you had," she said, adding she didn't think of herself as a "minority" in the environment she was in.

From the looks of things today, the kids at Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx might have seen the message firsthand that anything is still possible.

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Listening to the whole story

Posted at 3:44 PM on May 22, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

"These are extraordinary times for our country," President Barack Obama repeated yesterday in his Washington speech outlining his national security philosophy and vision. A few minutes after that, former Vice President Dick Cheney delivered an equally strong and eloquent response. Extraordinary, indeed. We rarely have had the opportunity to hear such gripping and passionate speeches on a major issue in such a closely-timed way.

What's been fascinating in the 24 hours since both speeches, is how little of the analysis has been about the substance contained in each. Bob Schieffer on CBS this morning declared that -- politically -- Dick Cheney was the winner. "Cheney's Compelling, Human Speech Was Better Than Obama's Boring Legal Seminar," Mary Kate Cary wrote this afternoon. A local TV political reporter declared Cheney "the winner" during a radio appearance on Thursday afternoon in which the politics, not the merits, of the arguments, was the focus. The Associated Press, in its analysis this afternoon, headlined "Analysis: Obama debating Cheney is a plus for GOP."

So that's it, then? One of the most compelling days for substantive debate on one of the ost important issues facing the country is settled on the basis of style and political gamesmanship and not on the substance of the argument?

This is why Jon Stewart, who at least listened to what was in the speeches, is doing some of the best journalism in the country. The bar is low.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
American Idealogues
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

So here are the entire speeches from both. Watch Obama's, then Cheney's.

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Six degrees of medical marijuana

Posted at 11:40 AM on May 22, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

A few political analysts have pointed to a conflict former state Rep. Chris DeLaForest has with his new boss, Gov. Tim Pawlenty. They needn't bother. DeLaForest, a former state rep who gave up his House seat last year, is Pawlenty's new director of legislative affairs. He's also a lobbyist who pushed legislators to pass a medical marijuana bill that Pawlenty is going to veto.

But a glance at the MPR Votetracker (a neat app that I wish we'd kept in service) shows a clearer picture. DeLaForest and Pawlenty are politically joined at the hip.

A look at his votes on major issues during his legislative career reveals that.

FOR

Charging 13 year olds as adults
Preventing local government grants from going to organizations that provide abortions
Requiring voters to show ID
Banning public funding of abortions
Welfare limits for newcomers
Defining marriage as between one man and one woman
A metro-area casino

AGAINST
Embryonic stem cell research
Gas tax
Dedicated outdoors and arts funding
Studying cancer among Iron Range miners
Expanding health care coverage

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Editorial assessments on the budget: Lose-lose

Posted at 3:37 PM on May 20, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Lawmakers and the governor spent much of Tuesday trying to spin the just-concluded legislative session. For the most part, newspaper editorial boards weren't buying it. The DFL legislators, the Republican minority and Gov. Tim Pawlenty all received failing grades.

A look at some of today's judgments:

The St. Cloud Times:

Of course, he's successful with it thanks largely to just enough Republican legislators who either are so enamored with "no new taxes" they don't read their own local property tax bills, or they are politically fearful of what Pawlenty will do to them should they vote against his fiscal wishes.

Either way, they failed to do their jobs.

And then there is the DFL and its leadership.

From the day he delivered his State of the State speech, they were incessantly critical of the governor's budgeting plans, but noticeably short on their own detailed solutions. Beyond across-the-board cuts, they seemed to offer few ideas that truly reformed how the state does business.

Marshall Independent:

Minnesotans deserve better than a DFL-controlled House and Senate jamming a tax bill through the Legislature late Monday and Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who threatens to make cuts on his own, on budget and the DFL tax bill.

In a time when the state needed leaders with vision and the ability to have spirited, healthy debate on issues which will shape our state for years to come, we got partisan bickering, stubbornness and, it seems, no one with an ability or voice strong enough to ask the Legislature to think beyond the next year or two.

Fargo Forum:

The governor might think he's won because he will exercise his constitutional authority to cut and modify the budget to his liking, and will do so without going along with Democratic tax increases. But Democrats also are smiling because they believe they can blame the governor, not their own legislative failure, for the deep cuts in vital funding that will be felt in every city, school district and college campus in the state.

If the governor and his Democratic antagonists see the legislative stalemate as a win-win situation in political terms, they should understand that the people of Minnesota are the losers. The governor and Democratic leaders should be embarrassed not only by wasting 19 weeks in St. Paul, but also by engaging in a dizzying, post-session spin cycle regarding their culpability.

Albert Lea Tribune:

How state funding is distributed is now in the hands of one person, rather than determined through a series of compromises by many leaders.

Good? Bad? That's up to you, but most people vote for legislators because they want representation. For a Republican Party worrying a lot lately about disenfranchised voters, it sure seems to be a move that will disenfranchise voters.

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Jesse being Jesse

Posted at 5:02 PM on May 19, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Former Gov. Jesse Ventura is continuing his book-selling tour (but not in Minnesota) and on Monday he appeared on the Sean Hannity program on Fox. Ventura was typical outspoken but also fell into the mistake of discussing the John McCain - Osama bin Laden race for president. Whoops.

Ventura patted himself on the back for talking about the U.S. budget deficit "before the election," and says the topic never came up in the campaign. He's wrong, of course, and it came up in the presidential debates.

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Honor amid the gathering gloom

Posted at 2:10 PM on May 19, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

A ceremony to honor emergency medical services personnel couldn't escape the long shadows cast by the nearby Capitol and the looming gubernatorial race today.

On the former helipad of Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Mayor Chris Coleman, a possible gubernatorial candidate, said, "We all need to stand up... to protect people who don't have the ability to provide for themselves," referring to Gov. Pawlenty's promise to cut medical care for the poor and mentally ill. "Let's not lose what we have here," he said outside a new wing of the trauma hospital.

Hospitals have started -- or are expected to start -- laying off people in anticipation of the cuts. "I'm humbled in light of what all of you are facing in the next few months," Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, (on the right in the photo below) told the crowd of mostly hospital employees. He has announced plans to run for governor.

Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, (on the left in the photo above) who is also a candidate for governor, claimed some victory in the tax bill sent to Gov. Pawlenty; a provision that extends the ability of communities to increase the property tax for emergency medical services. "It was one line in a 300 page tax bill," he said.

By the time the ceremony got around to the people who provide those services, however, most of the politicians had disappeared.

While the Capitol's eight-month summer vacation is underway, the EMS people have gone back to work, stopping long enough for a rare moment in the spotlight.

Moses Alejado, Scott Swenson, Tony Vanneli, and Michael McGaene - St. Paul's Medic 23 C Shift unit -- responded when Mike Popovich felt his chest tighten during a post-bike-ride shower. They treated him, and took him to Regions, where the cardiac team performed an angioplasty. It took all of 31 minutes.

"There was a time, there, that I thought I might, perhaps, die," Popovich told them today, shortly before asking them to sign a picture he took of them.

A helicopter medical team was also honored for rescuing a young girl in Baldwin, Wisconsin.

And representatives of Hennepin County Medical Center EMS, Allina Transportration, North Memorial Hospital, Lakes Region EMS and Kannebec County EMS were acknowledged for their works at the I-35W bridge collapse.

"In one hour and 35 minutes, they had cleared all four sections of the bridge and treated and transferred over 50 patients," Minneapolis Fire Chief Alex Jackson said. "By the time the national media flew in to see the rescue, it was over."

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Live-blogging Midmorning: Taxes

Posted at 9:00 AM on May 19, 2009 by Bob Collins (12 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Now that we've heard from lawmakers for the past five months, it's your turn. On Midmorning , Kerri Miller is discussing taxes with Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhasen, and Rep. Diane Loeffler.

News Cut is live blogging and awaiting your comments.

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Live-blogging: Midday at the Capitol

Posted at 10:44 AM on May 18, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

So here we are, hours away from the end of a legislative session that appears to be ending in chaos. Let's talk about it as we listen to Gary Eichten on Midday talking to most of the principals involved.

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Obama at Notre Dame

Posted at 7:39 PM on May 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Religion

He came. He spoke. He got heckled. Months of controversy over Notre Dame's decision to invite Barack Obama as its commencement speaker ended today with a small group of hecklers interrupting the president.

He then asked a good question.

Is it possible for us to join hands in common effort? As citizens of a vibrant and varied democracy, how do we engage in vigorous debate? How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we consider right, without demonizing those with just as strongly held convictions on the other side?

For the most, we don't. But that's beside the point of the protest, according to John Kass of the Chicago Tribune, for the problem wasn't that Obama was asked to speak, it was that he was given an honorary degree, he says.

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Warfare at the Capitol

Posted at 10:05 PM on May 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The governor and the DFL-controlled Legislature are now at full-scale war. Judging by some of the comments at the Capitol, the situation is being met with shock and surprise. Outside the Capitol, it's something we could see coming a mile away.

They didn't talk much -- at least face-to-face -- and it always seemed as though each was trying to navigate the other into a political corner. Watching some of the Capitol press corps' Twitter feeds on Thursday night, it appears the discussion is more about who this "plays" better for politically, rather than what's in the best interest of Minnesotans who don't make their living by getting elected or appointred to state government gigs.

Politics in Minnesota's Steve Perry provided a transcript of an exchange between the combatants that does not inspire confidence on Main St., Minnesota.

Hanson: "Rep. Sertich, if you have another idea, we're listening."

Sertich: "Commissioner Hanson, you use words like 'agreement' and 'mutual' as if you mean them, and I don't believe you, quite honestly. What I hear you say on agreement is, we want you to agree with what the governor says, and if you don't do that, we'll go it alone. I don't share the optimism from around this table. I don't think this is funny.... If the governor goes it alone and has it his way, 113,000 Minnesotans will lose health insurance. Sixteen thousand Minnesotans will lose their jobs, and there will be cuts in education and higher tuition. That's not funny. That's not an agreement. I'm not optimistic."

Hanson: "Well, Rep. Sertich, your version of agreement is us doing exactly what you want."

Sertich: "That's not true. We're looking for compromise. We have compromised in many of these bills to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. We've cut more than you've cut. We've lowered our revenue [proposal] down to the revenue that the governor has stated is needed to balance this budget."

And now the fallout comes, and it's hit the poor first. MPR's Tom Scheck reports the governor has removed $381,081,000 in general assistance, essentially rolling up the safety net for about 33,000 (number according to Rep. Paul Thissen via Twitter).

Let's talk about this but let's do it a little differently. Let's put aside the political sniping for a second and let's come up with a way to solve this problem.

Any ideas?

(Bob is not writing on Friday)

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A failure to communicate

Posted at 3:26 PM on May 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

At the Capitol today, Governor Tim Pawlenty offered some changes to his position on the state budget.

According to the Associated Press, "the governor offered to cut his borrowing plan in half and to agree to a larger amount of deferred education spending that wouldn't appear on the books during this budget period. He also said he would divert $250 million he wanted in a reserve account to the general budget." (More via Polinaut)

The governor offered the suggestion "in the spirit of compromise" by sending a letter to legislative leaders.

Let's look at the Capitol floor plan, again.

House leaders rejected the idea by posting it on Twitter.

From House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher:

Governor's letter a compromise? Compromise in word only, doesn't balance the budget. Not a responsible plan.

House Majority Leader Tony Sertich also used Twitter, but "retweeted" a reporter's "tweet" to reject the idea:

Agreed. RT @sturdevant: Gov's first end-of-session proposal is more of the same: loads of one-time money.

I don't think the governor is going to see it on Twitter. He only posts about once a day. His latest one is pretty old:

Fishing opener banquet last night; Then to Rochester for daughter's Vball tournament; mom's day lunch; mowed grass and now cooking dinner.

Meanwhile, aides are standing by in the event further negotiations are needed.

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Gas prices jumping

Posted at 1:24 PM on May 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Energy, Politics

Despite what the weather might suggest, there must be a summer coming. Gas prices are heading up in a hurry.

In the Twin Cities today, the price of a gallon jumped about 20-cents-a-gallon, to about $2.39 in some locations, still lower than the $3.61 of a year ago, but we might get back there soon enough.

It was July 2005, when we visited these levels for the first time. The state had shut down over a budget dispute between Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Legislature.

Coincidence?

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The most boring moment

Posted at 10:32 AM on May 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Sports

What's the most boring moment in baseball? Tom Scocca of the Boston Globe has spent considerable seconds thinking about this and has determined that's it ball two.

Ball two stands alone, above any of the other dull business on the diamond. The intentional walk at least adds a base runner to the game. The halfhearted throw to first to check the runner is a sign that the pitcher is feeling tension. But ball two signifies almost nothing.

I am now considering other most boring moments in other spectator sports -- the Minnesota Legislature, for example.

But I can't tell whether the most boring moment is on the first day of the session when everybody says they think there'll be cooperation and great progress or near the end of the session when they complain there wasn't.

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Pawlenty vetoes tax bill

Posted at 7:48 AM on May 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (18 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The governor vetoed the big tax bill early Saturday morning, shortly before the governor went fishing.

Under the Legislature's plan, taxes would rise on alcohol, credit card companies that charge high interest rates and couples earning more than $250,000.

The House can -- and will, probably -- try to override the veto and most of the media experts focus on the need to get three Republicans to defect to their side, presuming that all the DFLers vote for the override. But will they?

Here's the roll call (courtesy of the Associated Press)

SENATE

DEMOCRATS VOTING YES
Anderson (St. Paul); Bakk (Cook); Berglin (Minneapolis); Betzold
(Fridley); Bonoff (Minnetonka); Carlson (Eagan); Chaudhary
(Fridley); Clark (St. Cloud); Cohen (St. Paul); Dahle (Northfield);
Dibble (Minneapolis); Doll (Burnsville); Erickson Ropes (Winona);
Fobbe (Zimmerman); Foley (Coon Rapids); Higgins (Minneapolis);
Kelash (Minneapolis); Kubly (Granite Falls); Langseth (Glyndon);
Latz (St. Louis Park); Lourey (Kerrick); Lynch (Rochester); Marty
(Roseville); Metzen (South St. Paul); Moua (St. Paul); Murphy (Red
Wing); Olseen (Harris); Olson, M. (Bemidji); Pappas (St. Paul);
Pogemiller (Minneapolis); Prettner Solon (Duluth); Rest (New Hope);
Rummel (White Bear Lake); Saltzman (Woodbury); Saxhaug (Grand
Rapids); Scheid (Brooklyn Park); Sheran (Mankato); Sieben
(Newport); Skoe (Clearbrook); Skogen (Hewitt); Stumpf (Plummer);
Torres Ray (Minneapolis); Vickerman (Tracy); Wiger (Maplewood)

DEMOCRATS VOTING NO
Sparks (Austin); Tomassoni (Chisholm)

REPUBLICANS VOTING NO
Day (Owatonna); Fischbach (Paynesville); Frederickson (New Ulm);
Gerlach (Apple Valley); Gimse (Willmar); Hann (Eden Prairie);
Ingebrigtsen (Alexandria); Johnson (Ham Lake); Jungbauer (East
Bethel); Koch (Buffalo); Koering (Fort Ripley); Limmer (Maple
Grove); Michel (Edina); Olson, G. (Minnetrista); Ortman
(Chanhassen); Pariseau (Farmington); Senjem (Rochester); Vandeveer
(Forest Lake)

REPUBLICANS NOT VOTING
Dille (Dassel); Robling (Jordan); Rosen (Fairmont)

HOUSE

DEMOCRATS VOTING YES
Anzelc (Balsam Twp); Atkins (Inver Grove Heights); Benson
(Minnetonka); Bigham (Cottage Grove); Bly (Northfield); Brown
(Moscow Twp); Brynaert (Mankato); Bunn (Lake Elmo); Carlson
(Crystal); Champion (Minneapolis); Clark (Minneapolis); Davnie
(Minneapolis); Dill (Crane Lake); Dittrich (Champlin); Doty
(Royalton); Eken (Twin Valley); Falk (Murdock); Faust (Hinckley);
Fritz (Faribault); Gardner (Shoreview); Greiling (Roseville);
Hansen (South St. Paul); Hausman (St. Paul); Haws (St. Cloud);
Hayden (Minneapolis); Hilstrom (Brooklyn Center); Hilty
(Finlayson); Hornstein (Minneapolis); Hortman (Brooklyn Park);
Hosch (St. Joseph); Huntley (Duluth); Jackson (Milaca); Johnson
(St. Paul); Juhnke (Willmar); Kahn (Minneapolis); Kalin (North
Branch); Kath (Owatonna); Kelliher (Minneapolis); Knuth (New
Brighton); Koenen (Clara City); Laine (Columbia Heights);
Lenczewski (Bloomington); Lesch (St. Paul); Liebling (Rochester);
Lieder (Crookston); Lillie (North St. Paul); Loeffler
(Minneapolis); Mahoney (St. Paul); Mariani (St. Paul); Marquart
(Dilworth); Masin (Eagan); Morgan (Burnsville); Morrow (St. Peter);
Mullery (Minneapolis); Murphy, E. (St. Paul); Murphy, M.
(Hermantown); Nelson (Brooklyn Park); Newton (Coon Rapids); Norton
(Rochester); Obermueller (Eagan); Olin (Thief River Falls); Otremba
(Long Prairie); Paymar (St. Paul); Persell (Bemidji); Peterson (New
Hope); Poppe (Austin); Reinert (Duluth); Rosenthal (Edina);
Rukavina (Virginia); Ruud (Minnetonka); Sailer (Park Rapids);
Scalze (Little Canada); Sertich (Chisholm); Simon (St. Louis Park);
Slawik (Maplewood); Slocum (Richfield); Solberg (Grand Rapids);
Sterner (Rosemount); Swails (Woodbury); Thao (St. Paul); Thissen
(Minneapolis); Tillberry (Fridley); Wagenius (Minneapolis); Ward
(Brainerd); Welti (Plainview); Winkler (Golden Valley)

DEMOCRATS VOTING NO
Pelowski (Winona)

REPUBLICANS VOTING NO
Abeler (Anoka); Anderson, B. (Buffalo Twp); Anderson, P.
(Starbuck); Anderson, S. (Plymouth); Beard (Shakopee); Brod (New
Prague); Buesgens (Jordan); Cornish (Good Thunder); Davids
(Preston); Dean (Dellwood); Demmer (Hayfield); Dettmer (Forest
Lake); Doepke (Orono); Downey (Edina); Drazkowski (Wabasha);
Eastlund (Isanti); Emmer (Delano); Garofalo (Farmington); Gottwalt
(St. Cloud); Gunther (Fairmont); Hackbarth (Cedar); Hamilton
(Mountain Lake); Holberg (Lakeville); Hoppe (Chaska); Howes
(Walker); Kelly (Red Wing); Kiffmeyer (Big Lake); Kohls (Victoria);
Lanning (Moorhead); Loon (Eden Prairie); Mack (Apple Valley);
McNamara (Hastings); Murdock (Ottertail); Nornes (Fergus Falls);
Peppin (Rogers); Sanders (Blaine); Scott (Andover); Seifert
(Marshall); Severson (Sauk Rapids); Smith (Mound); Torkelson
(Nelson Twp); Urdahl (Grove City); Westrom (Elbow Lake); Zellers
(Maple Grove);

REPUBLICANS NOT VOTING
Magnus (Slayton); McFarlane (White Bear Lake); Shimanski (Silver
Lake);


Assuming the House doesn't override the veto, how far should the DFL go to stand on principle? Most of the Capitol press corps I've talked with say not far, since it could lead to a government shutdown, which would put state workers out of work and nobody in the DFL wants to anger the state workers.

But if we're talking about throwing 100,000 people off health care and closing hospitals, is that worth angering state workers? Or not?

What say you?

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Live-blogging: The Legislature's final days

Posted at 10:44 AM on May 6, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Senator Larry Pogemillers Senate Majority Leader, and Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Speaker of the Minnesota House are on Midday with Gary Eichten. The Legislature is down to its last few days and the annual stand-off with the governor is brewing.

Why not join in and discuss what you hear? Listen here.

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Is it a time to forgive?

Posted at 8:27 PM on May 5, 2009 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Politics

Should taxpayers pay for a hockey arena in St. Paul?

That's the question facing Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a professed hockey nut, now that the Legislature has sent him a political grenade -- a bill that forgives $33 million of a no-interest loan the city got from the state to lure professional hockey back to Minnesota by building the Xcel arena.

The city really doesn't need the money, except that it wants to build another hockey arena across the street for the benefit -- primarily -- of the Minnesota Wild, who need a hockey facility.

A hotel planned for the site has been dropped, according to St. Paul councilman Dave Thune on the the St. Paul Issues Forum. "The ice sheet would provide a base...(surrounded) by a really exciting retail component befitting historic seven corners. The pond would host world class figure skating, public skating, wild hockey practice, curling and youth hockey," he said.

Perhaps. But wasn't one benefit of the Xcel Center to be a boost to business in St. Paul? A few restaurants have benefited, there's more business for parking ramps, but other than that, not much. And while it attracted the Republican National Convention, that week was a disaster, even for businesses a teargas cannister's throw from the arena.

Back when then-mayor Norm Coleman was trying to cut the arena deal, some people in St. Paul objected to the city getting stuck with pricetag for an arena that would attract hockey-loving suburbanites. Perhaps this is one way they can pony up their share.

But what about people in Marshall, for example. Its representative, Marty Seifert, the House Minority Leader is, predictably, no fan of the bill. "Go back to your coffee shop. Go back to your hardware store ... and ask people if you think this is an opportune time for us to be forgiving over $30 million that's owed to the state of Minnesota, from a deal that was struck in the 1990s, when we are $6 billion in the hole," said he said.

What say you?

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The myth of the health care access fund

Posted at 5:14 PM on May 4, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

At the Capitol today, some health care advocates pushed for a higher "provider tax" to avoid health care cuts proposed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

The 2 percent tax -- known as a "sick tax" in health care provider circles -- is part of the funding mechanism for the Health Care Access Fund, which also uses premiums paid by enrollees of MinnesotaCare, the state-subsidized health care plan for low-income Minnesotans. The tax is levied on doctors, dentists, and other health care providers.

"MinnesotaCare is an excellent program providing coverage for the working poor in Minnesota and if it requires some additional tax on health care providers to keep those services in place, our members as a whole are willing to step forward and do that," said Lawrence Massa with the Minnesota Hospitals Association.

If you didn't know any better, you'd think the HCAF had run out of money, so the governor is imposing the cuts. You'd be wrong.

The Health Care Access Fund is one of the few dedicated taxes in Minnesota that actually works for the limited goal that spawned it. It works so well, in fact, that it often runs a surplus, which is why the governor and Legislature have regularly used it as a "slush fund" to balance shortfalls in the state budget, over the objection of the health care providers.

Last year, for example, the governor proposed pulling $149 million from the fund. Over his term, he's diverted more than $400 million from the fund.

Writing in the Spokesman Recorder last month, Rep. Bobby Joe Champion criticized the governor for proposing the HCAF money go directly into the General Fund.

The governor wants to keep collecting the Provider Tax while diverting it away from the people it was created to help. That's on top of the hundreds of millions of dollars that his administration has already shifted out of the fund to balance previous deficits. Those shifts have resulted in fewer people able to access MinnesotaCare and other programs.

Such a move would have allowed Pawlenty to spend the health care tax on anything but health care, and avoid the annual attention of raiding the fund. Tax bills emerging in the House and Senate, however, did not include Pawlenty's plan.

The people Massa represents -- hospitals -- have a serious problem, to be sure. The Bemidji Pioneer's Brad Swenson admirably describes the health care mess (registration required), partially created by years of shifting money from areas for which it was intended.

The situation is the underpinning of the coming showdown between the governor and Legislature. But its core is simple.

1. Health care providers pay a tax to provide health insurance for low-income Minnesotans.
2. The fund that provides the insurance often runs a surplus.
3. The governor diverts the surplus -- and more -- to other uses and notes the spiraling cost of health care, while cutting reimbursements to hospitals who end up providing care to those who can't afford to pay for it.
4. Pressure builds to remove more people from health insurance coverage.
5. Proposals surface to increase the tax to provide health insurance for low-income Minnesotans, even though it ends up being used for something else.

The problem, of course, is exacerbated by the reality of the economy and the state budget which -- even if the health care fund were used for other things -- is still going to lead to major cuts in Minnesota health care.

Does anybody see a solution here?

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Medical marijuana bill passes Minnesota Senate

Posted at 11:30 AM on May 4, 2009 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

The Minnesota Senate today has passed the bill legalizing the medical use of marijuana, but not without a brief rehash of arguments that haven't changed on either side over the last 10 years.

Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, says the bill is the first step in legalizing drugs, and says it'll be "a law enforcement nightmare."

The bill passed 35-to-29, picking up two more votes in the Senate than in 2007, the first time a medical marijuana bill survived a full vote in either the Senate or House, and one vote fewer than a preliminary vote last week.

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The flu formerly known as swine

Posted at 3:02 PM on April 30, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (6 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Media, Politics

What's in a name?

We've moved beyond the "panic" stories to the politically tinged debates over what to call that nasty virus traversing the globe.

World Health Organization officials today begin referring to the virus formerly known as swine flu as "influenza A (H1N1)." (Though the WHO has shown it isn't above industry meddling.)

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has this note posted on one of its flu pages:

This is a rapidly evolving situation and current guidance and other web content may contain variations in how this new H1N1 virus of swine origin is referred to.

Over the coming days and weeks, these inconsistencies will be addressed, but in the interests of meeting the agency's response goals, all guidance will remain posted and new guidance will continue to be issued.

But they might have trouble switching things up as they've been giving out cdc.gov/swineflu as the site for information.

The City of St. Paul just sent out a press release titled "Information available on H1N1 (swine) flu threat."

Then there's the World Organization for Animal Health which, so far, has the most novel approach:

No current information in influenza like animal disease in Mexico or the USA could support a link between human cases and possible animal cases including swine. The virus has not been isolated in animals to date. Therefore, it is not justified to name this disease swine influenza. In the past, many human influenza epidemics with animal origin have been named using geographic name, eg Spanish influenza or Asiatic influenza, thus it would be logical to call this disease "North-American influenza".

MPR received a letter from a pork producer representative that laid bare the industry's objections to calling it swine flu:

[Please] reference the present flu virus by its appropriate name, the 2009 N1H1 flu.

Referring to the present flu virus as "swine flu" is not only damaging to MN pork producers, but demonstrates an uneducated, reckless approach, which is undoubtedly uncharacteristic of MN Public Radio.

The negative connotations to swine, unfairly made and scientifically unsupported, affect consumer confidence and therefore have a significant negative impact on pork production.

There is scientific evidence that the virus is genetically connected to pigs, but you cannot get the flu by eating pork products. It's not like we're not calling it bacon flu, though. To be fair, when your industry is under sudden and near total onslaught, you have a right to be defensive.

When it comes down to it, the media, at least for now, will likely stick with swine flu.

Today on Talk of the Nation, host Neal Conan was asked by a caller why he was not using the term "correct" term of H1N1. Said Conan, "We call it swine flu because that's what people call it."

So... what do you call it?

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The Switch

Posted at 1:01 PM on April 28, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

If you were listening to the radio yesterday afternoon, you might recall Neal Conan's interview with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) (D-PA).

While the talk of the Specter's switch will certainly revolve around the national political ramifications — you know, what with Al Franken being the potential 60th vote for the Democrats if Norm Coleman loses his appeal at the Minnesota Supreme Court — NPR's reflection on the interview offers a different take.

All politics is local, and Sen. Specter was concerned about his ability to win a Republican primary in 2010, or so the subtext goes:

Specter: Well, it is true that the polls are bleak. When I voted for the stimulus package, one of just three, and was in position, along with Senator Snowe and Senator Collins, to provide the decisive votes, there was a very strong adverse reaction. There was a resolution filed in state committee to censure me. The state chairman and the national chairman said they didn't know if they could support me. My office was picketed. And it's a tough proposition. I've overcome some challenges before, and I'm working on a game plan.

The Atlantic's Mark Ambinder offers a Cliffs Notes analysis of the switch.

Time flies. Two weeks ago, Specter said he'd be a Republican forever.

Tom Scheck is running down the implications of Specter's change on Minnesota's Senate race. He's got the reactions from the Franken and Norm Coleman campaigns on Polinaut.

Now, imagine the onus on Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Democrats want Franken to have the election certificate, oh, yesterday, while there will no doubt be pressure from Republicans to a) find a way for Coleman to win or b) keep Franken out of the Senate for as long as possible. It's been clear for a while that the race would have to pivot around Pawlenty before it comes to a conclusion.

Update: Pawlenty says the switch won't affect the Minnesota Senate race. He wouldn't say when he'd issue the certificate, except to say he'll follow the court's direction.

"We're going to follow the law with respect to the Franken/Coleman litigation and when and how a certificate gets issued," Pawlenty said. "So again, the situation with Pennsylvania has no connection or impact on what's going to happen in Minnesota."

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History is history

Posted at 3:26 PM on April 16, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Politics

The Minnesota Historical Society is announcing huge proposed budget cuts. According to a news release, more than 90 people would lose their jobs, fewer books would be published and three sites would close.

You know my penchant for aviation, so I'll weep silently for the the Charles A. Lindbergh Historic Site in Little Falls. It, along with Historic Forestville in Preston, and North West Company Fur Post in Pine City would be closed to the public.

Lindbergh, for the record, was good enough for Gov. Pawlenty to invoke in his 2008 State of the State address. "When Charles Lindbergh emerged from the plane, he said just what you might expect a Minnesotan to say, 'Well ... I made it,'" It's easier to fly solo to Paris than it is to keep history alive in Minnesota, however.

Historic Fort Snelling would close for two days each week.

The Oliver H. Kelley Farm in Elk River, Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post in Onamia, Forest History Center in Grand Rapids, and Jeffers Petroglyphs in Comfrey would only be open weekends.

Maybe nobody cares about these particular cuts, the governor's spokesman suggests.

"If you weren't able to go to the Historical Society Library when you thought you' might be able to, some people might notice that. It doesn't seem like the Historical Society is trying to go overboard. I think their attempt here is one that presents a realistic approach as they seems like they look at the budget situation," said Brian McClung.

But wasn't the "Legacy Amendment" -- that's when you voted for a sales tax increase last fall -- supposed to be a boon to cultural programs in the state?

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How others see us

Posted at 12:40 PM on April 16, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The Norm Coleman - Al Franken recount story is a hit -- sort of -- in Europe.

On Wednesday, MPR's Mark Zdechlik was on the BBC's Up All Night. Once you get past the mangling of Mark's name, it's even more interesting to hear the questions. The host apparently thought the race between the two was over. But when you hear Mark explain the process, one wonders how anyone overseas can wonder what's wrong with Minnesota.

"Why didn't anyone weigh into this long before?" the commentator asked, referring to the Supreme Court ruling in the Gore-Bush clash in 2000 49 days after the election. "There is no sense of a clock running here at all," he said incredulously.

"We urge more patience on you," he said. Listen

Meanwhile, All Things Considered host Tom Crann was on the radio in Dublin. The host on RTE Radio 1wondered why a Democrat in "one of the bluest states in the union" couldn't easily win an election in which Barack Obama swept to victory.

Told by Crann that Coleman was appealing this week's decision, the host intoned, "Oh, good lord." Listen

Why does Europe care? Is it a fascination with the democratic process in the colonies? Or the fact it involves a former comedian?

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Live-blogging Midday: Gov. Tim Pawlenty

Posted at 10:38 AM on April 13, 2009 by Bob Collins (21 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Gov. Tim Pawlenty is on MPR's Midday today at 11. I'll be live-blogging his appearance, however I will not be in the studio so don't send questions to me. But do use the comments to section to discuss what he has to say.

I wonder if the question about higher political ambitions will come up?

11:06 a.m. - We're underway. Gary makes mention that people are betting against the Legislature finishing without a special session. A friend of mine, fairly well placed in a department agency, says they were planning for a special session even before the legislative session began.

11:07 a.m. - "The work always fills to expand the time," Gov. Pawlenty says.

11:08 a.m. - Gary suggests Pawlenty and Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller don't get along. "It's not personal," Pawlenty says.

11:09 a.m. - Pawlenty says he won't sign a bill with a tax increase but says it's not because of the "pledge" he took in 2002. Eichten notes that even though it's not called a tax increase, he is proposing additional revenue.

11:12 a.m. - "In the last 24 months, there have been the largest block of tax increases in the modern history of Minnesota," Pawlenty says.

11:13 a.m. - Governor says economic projections are not generally reliable. "Anyone who tells you they know what the state budget is going to look like four years out is not telling the whole story," he says.

11:14 a.m. - From photographer Tom Weber:

11:15 a.m. - The governor repeats his contention that Minnesota has one of the most generous health care programs in the country and it's suffocating us. It will overtake the budget within 15 years.

Wayback machine: Gubernatorial candidates debate health care -- 2002

11:19 a.m. - On permanent flood protection for Fargo-Moorhead. "The limiting factor isn't state money...Minnesota and North Dakota hasn't been the holdup." He also says some projects in the area will be fully funded in bonding bill this year.

Questions from the audience

Q: You've taken to chiding the federal government for deficit spending. You have a history of balancing the budget in the short run by pushing the problem into the future. How can you be taken seriously for criticizing a president who's showing leadership?

A: Minnesota has a legal requirement to balance its budget every two years. We have not been in deficit.

BTW, Pawlenty did the Republican response to Obama's weekly address this weekend.

Aside: Did the governor just hint at his future? He was referring to the budget proposal four years out and said, "The new four year requirement only applies to me... the next governor -- if it's me or somebody else -- won't have that requirement."

Q: Why are the roads so poor?
A: We're spending more money on road and bridge construction on my watch than in any other comparable time in the state. (We'll need to fact-check that and in doing so, remove the amount that was spent on the I-35W bridge.)

Q: Do you support that requires kids to be strapped into a seat (and making it a primary offense?)
A: I support it.

11:30 a.m. - Gary asks if he expects gay marriage to come up. "I don't think so. John Marty is the chief author of the bill and it'll take a super majority vote at the Legislature." He doesn't think the Legislature is interested in wading into it.

11:34 a.m. - The Franken-Coleman race. Says he doesn't know if he'd issue an election certificate after the state court's rule on the race. "We get asked, 'why don't you just sign it now?' Minnesota Supreme Court has said it shouldn't be issued until the state courts finish." If it goes to the federal court? "I'd want to look at what the courts did with the case, leaving issues for appeals. I just want to make sure I have all the facts in front of me. And a state or federal court could stay the issuing of the certificate".

He says having the ability to appoint a temporary senator would be "a good and helpful thing."

Pawlenty says some counties treated ballots differently. True, of course, but I continue to wonder why nobody is considering the idea of taking elections away from the counties and putting it in the hands of the state?

Pawlenty says both candidates have had a fair hearing.

Q: The Great Depression lasted 11-16 years depending on who you talk to. You said we have to count on a recovery and you've structured your budget as such, I'd like to hear specifics on why you think the economy will recover in four years?

A: Our own state economist, Federal Reserve, have said the economy is going to be in recessionary mode through 2009. But they suggest it will begin to recover in late 2009 or 2010. They don't see it as a Depression. They see a slow recovery.

Q: What are your plans for long-term care?

A: Everybody realizes the industry needs to change. It's old-style'50s nursing homes. A lot of seniors want to stay in their homes, so bringing help into their homes is one way to serve them. They don't want it to be old-style nursing homes, so the nursing home industry has to make that pivot. People aren't going into nursing homes and living for as long as they did.

Q: How can you call it no-tax increase when you cut funding to local governments and forced them to raise taxes? Elko just cut their police department.

A: "Some additional facts might be helpful to you: It's not written in a stone tablet that cities and counties have to raise taxes. Many have reserves." He says cities are making cuts more painful than they need to in order to "rile people up."

Pawlenty listed Waseca and Eagan as communities that do a good job.

"What about communities who've already cut to the bone," Eichten asks.

"There's a lot of data to look at. The mayor of the coalition of cities is the mayor of Wadena. He's got over a million dollars of reserves. Have they frozen salaries? In each case it's a little different," Pawlenty says.

11:47 a.m. - Should kids be allowed to graduate and the grad standards relaxed to allow them to? Pawlenty says "no." "We're in discussion with the legislators to give them a temporary reprieve if they agree to a fix.," he said.

Q: We had tax cuts in the Bush administration and economy is in the pits. What happened?

A: The housing "house of cards." People were allowed to buy houses without much money down. Financiers got their hands on mortgages and sliced them up and sold them around the world and then used that money to finance other arrangements. It's a story of greed; a story of reckless behavior. It started as a housing crisis and it's spread around the world..."

Pressed by Eichten on whether the tax cuts should have worked, Pawlenty said they'd run their course. "It doesn't exponentially grow." That would be an interesting discussion. Is there a limit on the benefit of a tax cut.

Q: Would you like to be president?

A: "I haven't given it any thought," Pawlenty says. Gary rightfully suggests that's baloney.

Q: If you had to choose today, would you run for re-election?

A: I'm keeping that to myself. He'll announce it late spring or summer.

Q: Does Rep. Bachmann speak for the Republican Party.

A: She's passionate. She's got strong views. She's unfairly criticized. She does speak for the mainstream conservative movement.

Q: Do you think young people will be sent off to re-education camps?

A: Members of Congress have said there should be forced service. Congresswoman Bachmann may have been referring to those kinds of proposals.

11:57 a.m. - When will you meet with legislative leaders? "I met with chairs of bonding committee last week. We have a lot of legislative meetings this week. I don't have anything scheduled with the two leaders. Part of the problem is we don't know what their proposals are. They don't even agree between the House and Senate. They need to finalize their work and agree with each other before they reconcile their differences with me," he said.

//end

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The Internet tax debate

Posted at 10:19 AM on April 8, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

(From this morning's Future Tense)

Cash-strapped states are targeting Internet merchants. Several are considering bills that would require merchants to collect sales taxes on digital downloads. Under a Supreme Court ruling, states can only require the merchants to collect the taxes online if they have a bricks-and-mortar presence in the state. In Minnesota, for example, a bill being considered by the Legislature would add a sales tax to downloads from iTunes and WalMart.

I talked first with Minneapolis representative Jim Davnie, the bill's author, and then to Steve DelBianco, the executive director of NetChoice, a coalition of some of the biggest online corporations.

MP3 - iTunes

TAKE THE SURVEY!

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Gay marriage - Vermont style

Posted at 4:42 PM on April 7, 2009 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The gay marriage issue is starting to feel like the collapse of the Eastern bloc. It's happening quickly and relatively quietly, without much of a fight. Today, Vermont became the latest state to legalize gay marriage when its legislature voted to override the governor's veto of a bill. It's the first time gay marriage was enacted via the legislature and not from the courts. The "activist judges" cries, which started when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court struck down laws to prevent gay marriage, don't work here.

Four states now allow gay marriage, and two of them have joined the ranks in the last week. On Friday, Iowa's Supreme Court cleared the way for same-sex marriage.

Iowa. The nation's heartland. You could almost hear conservative groups sigh, "If we've lost Iowa, we've lost America." But after last November's bruising, the reaction has been somewhat muted. Then again, it's not an election year.

"You cannot take marriage, a social institution that developed over a very, very long period of time, and redefine it out of existence, without taking an enormous risk," writes BeliefNet columnist Rod Dreher. "The agenda of some of these leaders is precisely to do that -- to rid marriage of anything normative, to make it a free-floating legal condition that has no meaning beyond whatever it is they want it to mean today."

But like the fall of the Eastern bloc, the effort to legalize same-sex marriage is picking up steam on a regional basis, and it's happening quickly. The chances are improving, the New York Times reported, that New England is the core of the movement, whose slogan is "Six by '12."

This map from the Human Rights Campaign reinforces the notion of a regional strategy:

What does this mean in Minnesota? Not much; at least not yet. Same-sex marriages from other states are not recognized in Minnesota. A bill to change that is -- so far -- going nowhere at the Capitol. Legislation to make Minnesota's marriage laws gender neutral is similarly stalled.

(Photo: Jordan Silverman/Getty Images)

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Taxes: It don't come easy

Posted at 12:18 PM on April 7, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The Minnesota Department of Revenue has sent out a news release today touting changes the Legislature has made in tax code to make it easier and less confusing for people to file their taxes.

Presumably, this will be the case once people who have already filed their taxes refile their taxes because of the new rules.

Confused? Well, yes.

Here's the release.

Some of the changes contained in the law resulted in the elimination of Department of Revenue Schedule M1NC, Federal Adjustments. As a result, some taxpayers who used this schedule in calculating their Minnesota taxable income will have to file an amended individual income tax return for 2008.

No further action is required for taxpayers who claimed federal deductions for higher education tuition and fees or for teacher classroom expenses, but who had no other adjustments on Schedule M1NC.

However, taxpayers with other adjustments on Schedule M1NC should re-file their Minnesota tax return as outlined below. This includes taxpayers aged 70 ½ or older who reported non-taxable direct transfers from IRA accounts to charitable organizations.

Taxpayers who have not yet filed their 2008 Form M1:
· Do not complete Schedule M1NC, since the schedule is now obsolete.
· Taxpayers claiming the college tuition and fees and/or educator expenses deduction on their federal returns must add back these deductions on line 12 of the newly revised Schedule M1M, Income Additions and Subtractions.
· Taxpayers who use tax software should be sure to download the latest program updates.

Taxpayers who have already filed their Minnesota return and included Schedule M1NC:
· File an amended return if you added back tax-free charitable transfers from IRA accounts or reported any federal adjustments other than tuition and fees and educator expenses. You must use Form M1X, Amended Minnesota Income Tax.
· Taxpayers who used tax preparers should contact those professionals for updated forms and information.

The legislation (HF 392) conforms Minnesota's income tax to most federal changes enacted through Dec. 31, 2008. It does not include any provisions of the recently passed federal stimulus law, which generally take effect with tax year 2009.

Conforming to federal tax law helps provide clear and consistent rules that help reduce taxpayer confusion and make it easier to calculate and file state taxes.

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Earmarks deadline

Posted at 3:49 PM on April 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Today is the deadline for members of Congress to post their 2010 "earmark" requests online. Under new House rules, members have to post their requests on their individual Web sites.

The Web sites, of course, are not standardized so it's not always easy to find a particular posting. But given a reasonable review of the Web sites, here's the ones that have been posted for the Minnesota delegation:

Rep. Tim Walz - Not found.
Rep. John Kline - Not found.
Rep. Erik Paulsen - Not found.
Rep. Betty McCollum - Not found
Rep. Keith Ellison - Not found
Rep. Michele Bachmann - Not found.
Colin Peterson - Includes flood protection for the Red River valley, barley research, ultra-light vehicles for the military.
Rep. James Oberstar - Not found

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There's something about Pawlenty

Posted at 12:15 PM on April 2, 2009 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

It's budget season and that's open season on politicians, but after six years on the job, most of which have been taken up by budget cutting, it may be time for DFLers to acknowledge that Tim Pawlenty's nickname should be be "Teflon Tim."

Eric Ostermeier, who writes the Smart Politics blog over at the Humphrey Institute has analyzed Pawlenty's latest approval ratings and pulls out this nugget:

In fact, Pawlenty is one of only three Governors in the 14 states polled by SurveyUSA who currently has an approval rating in excess of the vote received during the state's last gubernatorial election. And only Virginia's Democratic Governor Tim Kaine (+5) has a higher net favorability rating vis-à-vis vote percentage than Pawlenty (+4). The average gubernatorial job performance rating across the more than one dozen states polled is 11+ points south of the average election vote tally.

What Ostermeier doesn't mention in his list, however, is that only Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick had the third party competition (Christy Mihos - 6% of the vote) in the election in 2006 that Pawlenty had from Peter Hutchinson in the same election (6.4%).

In that context, it was actually easier for Pawlenty to have a higher approval rating than on election night than most any other governor.

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Legislature may close loophole on misusing funds

Posted at 2:53 PM on March 18, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

While Congress was busy sending journalists scurrying to the thesaurus to find words to replace "outrage," a Minnesota House committee was tightening a rather glaring loophole: it's not illegal to misuse taxpayer money (insert the predictable joke here).

According to the Legislature's Session Daily:

Following a rash of recent scandals involving fraud and financial mismanagement at state agencies, Winkler wondered why the state employees involved were being fired but not prosecuted. It turns out that knowingly misappropriating state money is not actually a crime.

Under Rep. Ryan Winkler's bill, anyone who intentionally misuses state funds could be charged with a gross misdemeanor.

The bill was inspired by the case of Sonia Pitt, the former director of homeland security planning for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, who was AWOL when the I-35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, who charged over $14,000 in personal travel expenses to the state, and caused the state to pay over $11,000 for her use of cellphones, hotels, airfare, and unnecessary business travel, according to an investigation by the Office of the Legislative Auditor.

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AIG's campaign contributions

Posted at 11:31 AM on March 18, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Earlier, I provided a link to a few news stories about AIG's campaign contributions, which is getting grilled today by many of the recipients over the millions paid out in bonuses.

According to the watchdog site, OpenSecrets.org, these Minnesota candidates have received campaign contributions by the AIG Group.

2008
Michele Bachmann $250
Norm Coleman $1,000
Elwyn Tinklenberg $750
Al Franken $400

2006
Amy Klobuchar $3,000
Mark Kennedy $1,250

2004
Jim Oberstar $3,000

2002
Norm Coleman $7,333
Paul Wellstone $1,100
Jim Oberstar $1,000

Update 3:23 p.m. From Dave Dziok, communications director for Rep. Michele Bachmann:

If you follow the link below you will see that an analyst for AIG in Houston, Texas, donated to Congresswoman Bachmann's campaign but not to the AIG PAC.

Here's the link for donors to AIG's PAC. Trevor Cox of Houston, TX doesn't appear on there at all.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgave.php?sort=A&cmte=C00097725&cycle=2008&Page=1

Here's the link to Trevor Cox's donations which are completely separate and independent from AIG. Simply because he is employed there does not mean he is associated with the PAC that is responsible for political contributions in any way. The names he contributed to, on his own, seem to be all pro-life heavy hitters.

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/donor_lookup.php?name=Cox,%20Trevor

Congresswoman Bachmann has not ever received donations from AIG. As we told the CRP, the way they report is misleading so I understand how the confusion was made, but the story as reported is misleading so I wanted to draw it your attention.

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Live-blogging Midday: The governor's budget

Posted at 10:58 AM on March 18, 2009 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

MPR's Midday is discussing Gov. Tim Pawlenty's reworked budget plan. I've live-blogging it in search of the salient nuggets.

Guests are Sen. Dick Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, chair of the Senate Finance Committee and Sen. Geoff Michel,, R-Edina, assistant minority leader.

I would anticipate some discussion of Tom Scheck's story that the governor's proposal assumes property tax increases.

11:07 a.m. - "The governor set an appropriate direction," Michel said. "We're starting to see specific proposals and we're starting to digest what the federal money means."

Cohen says Pawlenty uses one-time money and says in the next biennium, "the budget falls off the cliff."

11:10 a.m. - Sen. Michel, asked if one-time money is preferable to a state-wide tax increase, he said a recession is not the right time to raise $2 billion in taxes. "At a minimum we should expect state government should live within its means and set some priorities." That may be a shot against the Pogemiller budget proposal that called for an across-the-board cut.

Cohen says using one-time money for a secure budget "makes no sense." Michel says the DFL is saying "the governor should cut more, but he's cut too much."

11:16 a.m. - Cohen says he's prefer tax increases to the use of one-time money. He says to raises taxes on the wealthiest is preferable "to kicking people who are least able to take care of themselves off the programs they need."

11:19 a.m. - The tax incidence study is being kicked around.

Listener questions

Q: Why are human services the first to be cut?

A: "That's the portion of the budget which is racing away at an unsustainable rate -- 22% was the projected increase over the next two years," Michel said. "This is the PacMan of the state budget."

"If we cut everything in state budget by 5% that's $1.5 billion... you're still short of solving the problem," Cohen said. Pressed on the lack of priorities in the Senate budget, Cohen said "it's a work in progress."

11:25 a.m. - Could K-12 be cut to restore some human service cuts? "There's been a lot of trimming going on in K-12," Sen. Michel said. Cohen says "at the end of the day when we pass K-12 out of the Senate, we'll have a smaller cut than what we show now."

11:39 a.m. - Do business owners have to have $250,000 in profit in order not to be included in an income tax increase for people making more than $250,000

According to MIchel, "92% of small businesses report business income on personal income tax. To lay out this tax increase as just a tax increase on the rich is wrong." Cohen notes businesses can deduct expenses so the number reaching adjusted gross income of $250,000 is much smaller.

11:42 a.m. South Dakota caller cites the number of businesses moving to South Dakota and says "Sen. Cohen is the best politician South Dakota can hope for.

"South Dakota is a state losing population," Cohen said.

11:46 a.m. - Caller says the state's economy has been doing down since the state cut taxes. Proper application of cause-and-effect?

11:49 a.m. - For every wealthy taxpayer the state loses, according to Cohen, "we have to fill that hole with 86 middle-income taxpayer.

11:51 a.m. - "Republican governors throughout the country have attempted to have a mixture of budget cuts and tax increases to deal with budget problems. That's why Minnesota has fallen behind; Governor Pawlenty has refused to look at anything," Cohen said.

11:56 a.m. - Michel asks, "what is reasonable" in the size of the budget?

11:57 a.m. - "Why not just paper over the budget, avoid taxes, under the assumption the economy will get better?" Eichten asks.

"It's a false premise," Cohen says. "You can't have a budget of that sort and not continue to run a significant deficit over the next two years. There is no economic projection to say the economic problems won't continue."

Says Michel" "We've got to deal with the jobs deficit. It's the only thing we should be working on for the next two months.

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Shining a light on Capitol access

Posted at 1:02 PM on March 16, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Media, Politics

This is Freedom of Information Day and it's also Sunshine Week, the week where journalists advocate -- more forcefully than usual -- greater access to government data and the secrets that government tries to keep.

And yet, journalists still argue that some of them should have more access than others.

The question of who should be allowed on the floor of the Minnesota House of Representatives came up today during a discussion on MPR's Midday broadcast, featuring Rich Neumeister, a citizen lobbyist and winner of the 2009 John Finnegan Award (MPR story about him here), and Mark Anfinson, the longtime attorney for the Minnesota Newspaper Association.

The controversy, simmering for years, has percolated at the Capitol this session as online-only media (which on a national scale was joined today by the Seattle Post Intelligencer) has asked for, and been denied, the same access to the House floor as mainstream media.

Neumeister advocated for the online journalists today. "There was a bill introduced dealing with criminal intelligence gathering. Law enforcement could gather intelligence on people who may or may not be a terrorist," he said. "I called a number of these bloggers, one of them decided to print the the story. Then Politics in Minnesota picked it up.I approached other people (mainstream media) and it was, 'Well, we're doing this,' and they don't have as many reporters anymore."

"The bigger change and the thing that's driven the Capitol and hearings is not fewer reporters, it's many, many more journalists driven by the online community," Anfinson said. "This same issue popped up during the Republican National Convention when the local law enforcement had a tough time distinguishing between mainline and people who called themselves journalists."

Anfinson says the controversy at the Capitol arose because "practical applications went smack against the doorway and the echo is still reverberating. You can't have everybody who claims to be a journalist going on the House floor. You just can't. We need to come up with solutions, but we can't rush them."

"In the good old days," he said, "the number of credentialed reporters were fairly limited. That allowed some familiarity to develop. They were allowed. What if 500 people want access? I'm not saying they should be excluded, but you can't approach this in a simplistic way."

Neumeister's solution, however, was to start by granting access to the online organizations that everyone agrees should get access, citing Politics in Minnesota (which rarely has had a problem with access because it was started by prominent lobbyists) and Minnpost.

He also said bloggers and online journalists should get the same access at committee hearings that members of the public do, let alone other journalists.

"I think bloggers should be able to go to committee hearings without credentials and do what they need to do to get the message out," he said. "Citizens do this all the time."

"Whether you call them citizens, journalists or citizen-journalists, they're coming to the courtrooms, the committee rooms and the statehouse to report on the government," Jane Kirtley, the University of Minnesota professor of media ethics, wrote in the Pioneer Press on Sunday. They have every right to be there, because you have every right to be there. It's your government at work. It's your business."

And because it is, Neumeister, as MPR's Tim Nelson pointed out, is "one of the state's foremost authorities on what Minnesotans know about the government and what the government knows about them."

What's bad about that?

Listen

Recommended reading: The State of the News Media 2009 (just out today.)

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An outdoors fight brews

Posted at 12:06 PM on March 16, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Granted it's not a very good map I've posted, but if you can see the red dots, you get the picture. The Lessard Outdoors Heritage Council, the group of citizens that recommends to the Legislature how outdoors money from the increased sales tax should be spent, has spread the projects around, mostly outstate.

Let the debate begin! Should the money be spent in proportion to where people live? Or where the habitat is? The two are often not quite the same.

Oh, wait, it already has.

Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, sees this partially as an economic stimulus plan, and says restoration of land (and there's plenty of land to be restored in the metro) creates jobs. "If you're doing wetland restoration, you're hiring a local contractor, you're buying local seed. If you're planting trees, you're buying trees from a local nursery," said Hanson. "So there's work involved with that, rather than just the acquisition."

But Dennis Anderson, the outdoors columnist at the Star Tribune, warns the Legislature against messing with the Council's recommendations.

ither way, none of this is happening in a vacuum. The constitutional amendment raising the sales tax was approved by nearly 60 percent of voters, and many voters said "yes'' because the Lessard council had been established to sift through and recommend fish and wildlife habitat proposals. Succinctly put: No one trusted the Legislature to do this correctly, absent a citizen-dominated advisory group.

Now, should the Legislature mess significantly with the Lessard proposals -- and the House apparently will try -- a rally is being considered on the Capitol mall by supporters, a rally that will make the similar gatherings there in 2005 and 2006 that attracted some 10,000 conservationists (combined) look like practice.

Over the next few weeks, plenty of sound bites will describe what the 60-percent of those who voted for the sales tax increase intended. If you voted for the increase, what was your intention?

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Pawlenty on CNBC

Posted at 9:29 AM on March 16, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Keeping track of the locals on the national stage today. Gov. Tim Pawlenty went on CNBC today.

Highlights:

"(The Republican Party ) needs to be about adding some more people to the coalition because we can't win like we did in '06 and '08; in other words, we lost in those election cycles."

Asked about a specific pro-growth policy for the U.S., Pawlenty said Minnesota is proposing "cutting its business tax rates in half." Also highlighted "clean and green" tax breaks.

Asked about his two brothers who are union members (or were) and whether the Republican Party could ever be "pro-union," Pawlenty responded "it could be pro-jobs." Is that a "no"?

The CNBC anchor -- the same one who suggested waterboarding Bernie Madoff -- prefaced the interview by saying they were talking to Pawlenty "about whether bipartisanship is even a word anymore." She didn't ask any questions about bipartisanship.

Elsewhere, Politico guesses that Norm Coleman will be the next chairman of the Republican Party.

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The 'earmarks factory'

Posted at 10:44 AM on March 15, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

A rising controversy in Washington over a lobbying firm which specializes in securing earmarks for its clients is ensnaring every member of the Minnesota congressional delegation, including two representatives who have declared they are against inserting earmarks in legislation.

Rep. John Kline has accepted $129,174 from PMA group, second only in the state to Rep. Jim Oberstar ($153,600) in a list of campaign contributions to members of Congress released last week by the government watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics. The figures are accumulated as far back as the 1998 election cycle in the U.S.

The PMA Group was founded by an aide to powerful Democrat John Murtha. Its offices were raided by the FBI last month. The feds are reportedly investigating allegations that the firm funneled money to Congress by attributing contributions to individuals who were unaware that they were listed as making the contributions.

Last week, the political site Politico, reported Murtha used the operations of a Penn State University center as a "front for PMA and other lobbyists and contractors with ties to the Pennsylvania Democrat."

Minnesota received almost $200 million in earmarks in the latest spending bill, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense (see spreadsheet), although we can't find any corporations with significant Minnesota ties in the list of PMA Group clients. An Arizona congressman, one of the chief critics of earmarks, said he found 12 projects in the spending bill related to the earmark group, but none is attributed to Minnesota.

One hundred and four lawmakers added earmarks on behalf of the PMA Group. No Minnesotan is on the list, according to CQ Politics. (Hat tip: Bluestem Prairie)

The list of members of the Minnesota congressional delegation and the amount of PMA-connected campaign contributions, according to CRP.

James Oberstar	$153,600
John Kline	$129,174
Betty McCollum	$20,650
Collin Peterson	$15,500
Tim Walz	$9,000
Amy Klobuchar	$6,350
Michele Bachmann	$4,100
Keith Ellison	$2,350
Erik Paulsen	$1,250

Earlier this month, the House voted on a call for an ethics investigation into the relationship between PMA and the most powerful members of Congress. It was defeated along a mostly party-line vote. Rep. Tim Walz was the only DFLer in the Minnesota delegation to support the probe, by objecting to a motion to table it.

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Datagate redux

Posted at 9:14 PM on March 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

If you've been following old posts/comments (here and here), you know that I've been debating the release of the actual database that Norm Coleman's Web team apparently left exposed last January. Some people think exposing the private data of others is worth it in order to press the point that Coleman should've (a) locked down the data when local Web sleuths found it where it shouldn't have been and (b) should've followed state law by notifying people that their data had been exposed.

But did whoever leaked the database when it was discovered also contribute to the dangers that exposed data presents? InfoWorld's Robert X. Cringley gives the Coleman campaign the "what for," but reserves a small shot at the decision by wikileaks to post the data, even if part of it was removed.

Meanwhile, Wikileaks continues to walk a fine line between serving the public good and abetting private disasters. If my information were on either of those databases, I'd be unhappy with both Coleman and the whistle-blowers. They could have easily made their point and still redacted enough information to make it hard for thieves to get anything useful out of it.

Instead, it's party time for Net scammers, and Hell on earth for 50,000-plus Minnesotans who were just trying to support the candidate of their choice.

Not all are Minnesotans. Political blogger Eric Ostermeier has download the data and is using part of it to analyze Coleman's donors by occupation and geographic location and found most of them are out of state.

I asked Ostermeier on Friday whether he considered there to be an ethical considerations in using the leaked data, He responded that there are parts of the data that would be unethical to use, and parts that wouldn't.

Regarding the aggregated state-level data I analyzed on Thursday's blog, as well as the aggregated occupation-level data on today's blog, all of this information is publicly available through FEC Disclosure Reports (as well the amount contributed by each individual, and the city, zip code, and date of contribution).

What my blog did was simply report, at the aggregate level, on those 4,700+ compromised donors to Coleman's '08 campaign.

There is some data, obviously, that I consider "off-limits" and that is the data that is not publicly available - such as e-mail addresses, credit card information etc.

Your question gets to the 'fruits of the poison tree' dilemma, but, in my view, the ethical considerations are fairly black and white as to what can or should be analyzed.

(Update Sunday 10:41 p.m. - Eric provides a full post on the subject.)

Meanwhile, some criticism of Wikileaks may be coming after MinnPost reported that the site sent emails to everyone on the list looking for comment about the situation, and apparently claimed it was doing so on behalf of a pool of news organizations. Some news organizations have responded that they joined no such pool.

Update 9:27 a.m. Sun - Adria Richards, who found the database, was on MSNBC.

In other media interviews, and in her own video explaining how she found the data, she points out she did not download the database. "I won't download and acquire someone else's information without their permission even if it is legal to do so," she told me via Twitter.

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The new DFL

Posted at 10:51 AM on March 13, 2009 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Plenty of people, including some DFLers, are still shaking their head at the across-the-board cuts proposed by the Senate DFL caucus yesterday.

"The cuts fail to prioritize," Gov. Tim Pawlenty said on his radio show today. "Some things are more important than others."

Earlier this year, the architect of the DFL plan -- Sen. Larry Pogemiller -- agreed.

"If Minnesota wants to be on the cutting edge of educational achievement, investment in early childhood is essential. That's a fact; the research is overwhelming," Pogemiller told a summit on early childhood education "If we had $1 of new money, the best investment is education." Isn't that a priority? (Find the video on the Blandin Foundation Web site)

But just a few days later, Pogemiller said cuts to education would be required. "We are in a deteriorating situation," Pogemiller said. It is not in the long term interest of the state to try to do this with bubble gum and act like we're doing something," Polinaut's Tim Pugmire reported.

He didn't change his story earlier this month when he told TPT's Mary Lahammer that if education wasn't cut, "we'd have to cut everything else by 22 percent."

So Pogemiller's hatchet on the budget shouldn't have come as much of a surprise as it did. But it did.

DFLers proposing cuts to education -- especially early childhood education -- and Republicans proposing spending more on it is a paradigm shift that's going to take Minnesotans more than one legislative session to grasp.

The budget sets up a potential showdown between House and Senate DFLers. House members spent several days last month holding town meetings across the state to hear citizens' ideas on the state budget and the deficit and few recommended an across-the-board cut.

What do you think?

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The Obama Industrial Average?

Posted at 4:48 PM on March 12, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Politics

Last week, some of the partisan commentators were suggesting that the administration of Barack Obama was a failure in its first days, using the Dow closing average as one yardstick. When the Dow closed at its lowest level in 12 years, it had dropped 18% since the day of Obama's inauguration.

Today, the Dow closed at 7170, or 9.7 percent below Inauguration Day. Did Obama become an 8.3 percent better president in one week?

Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele picked a bad time to send out a fundraising letter:

President Obama and Liberal Democrats in Congress don't seem to grasp the fact that since the Democrats took total control in Washington, the stock market has lost over 20% of its value. And over 50 million middle class Americans have lost a huge amount of their life savings.

By the time it arrived, Steele's numbers were already wrong. Can you measure the performance of a president based on the stock market? The Associated Press tried on Monday.

Some investors blame the slow-motion crash on Wall Street's disappointment with the government's $787 billion stimulus plan, its seemingly endless bailouts and the lack of specifics on how to rid banks of toxic assets.

Others say Obama inherited a recession destined to become the worst since World War II. And they note that the market was already in awful shape at the tail end of the Bush administration, down 44 percent from the market's 2007 peak to Inauguration Day.

Here's recent Wall Street performance over the same period for other recent presidents:

George W. Bush - 2nd term	+2.8%
George W. Bush - 1st term	-3.5%
Bill Clinton - 2nd term	+2.8%
Bill Clinton - 1st term	+5.7%
George H.W. Bush	+2.1%
Ronald Reagan - 2nd term	+3.6%
Ronald Reagan - 1st term	+4.3%
Jimmy Carter	-1.2%
Richard Nixon (2nd term)	-5.5%
Richard Nixon (1st term)	-1.5%

Incidentally, with very little fanfare, MPR added some financial tools to its Web site not long ago. You can find some calculators and other things to play with here.

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Datagate

Posted at 1:51 PM on March 12, 2009 by Bob Collins (28 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Day 2 of the Coleman unsecured data controversy.

This afternoon, wikileaks, the whistleblower site that posted portions of the private data it downloaded from Norm Coleman's campaign Web site responded to some of the fallout from the release.

The highlights (I can't link to the page on which it's contained because the link is also on that page for the leaked data and I don't believe people's private information should be accessed.):

>> We don't just talk about neutrality--we practice it. Many of you have asked whether we would publish similar material from the Democrats. The answer is yes. All documents that fit our simple, transparent guidelines are released to the public. We are non-partisan and have published many documents considered to be supportive of Republican interests that have become major news items.

>> Coleman released full credit details, but Wikileaks did not.
Although the Coleman database contains full credit card numbers, security numbers and all personal necessary details needed to make a transaction. Wikileaks did not release these. Wikileaks released the last 4 digits and the security numbers only, and then only after notifying those concerned:

>> A number of people tried to raise the issue back in January, without releasing any information at all. There was no response from the Coleman Campaign and the material had been "floating around" the Internet for at least six weeks.

>>We would have liked donors to have had several days to digest the findings in private, but Senator Coleman decided to publicly "spin" the issue, forcing us to respond.

>>The database was made public by the Coleman Campaign.

>> There was no "hack".

Meanwhile, the Coleman campaign is waging its own campaign, setting up a page of allegations about the release of the data.

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Seeing the future

Posted at 1:07 PM on March 12, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

I don't pretend to understand all of the complexities of creating a budget for the state of Minnesota, but I can see the future.

Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller today unveiled his idea for balancing the state budget that includes spending cuts and unspecified "new revenue" (See Polinaut for more).

The future? In the next election, your mailbox will be flooded by the Republican Party with screenshots like this:

(MPR)

Which will be mixed in with a little story like this.

Minutes after the opening gavel, Senate Republicans proposed trimming travel and cutting their postage budgets by $56,000. In the House, Republicans tried to roll back per-diem payments to legislators and cut committees. The moves were symbolic, since DFL majorities in the House and Senate voted them down.

And then capped with a quote like this:

"What I sense is that there isn't a good understanding amongst the public that the negative fallout of trying to balance this budget is going to have an impact on every citizen in the state," said (Sen. Leroy) Stumpf. "And that's why E-12 and our education system will participate in that to some extent."

No matter how it's done, however lawmakers plug the budget deficit is going to come back to haunt them at election time.

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What state mandates should be eliminated?

Posted at 6:40 PM on March 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Question: Have you ever attended a Truth in Taxation hearing in Minnesota? Has it done any good?

Rep. Morrie Lanning of Moorhead thinks the state should get rid of the hearings, which are supposed to give the public a chance to comment on proposed budgets that are funded through the property tax.

They don't do any good, Lanning suggests in Tom Scheck's story about efforts to cut the number of state mandates on cities and counties:

Lanning is one of several lawmakers pushing mandate reform in the House. He said the hearings, which are required before a local government passes its budget, aren't useful because they come right before a budget is finalized.

"If you go back and look, I bet it would be rare to find any change in any budget anywhere that resulted from a truth in taxation hearing, simply because it came too late in the process," said Lanning.

Lanning said local governments would still have to notify people about the proposed budget, and the time and place when a budget hearing will take place.

Let's hear from you on this. Have you ever attended one of the hearings? Would you favor reducing state mandates on communities and, if so, which ones?

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Vets: Who pays for their treatment?

Posted at 3:21 PM on March 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

Veterans who are injured in battle would be required to pay for treatment of their injuries with private insurance under a plan being considered by the Obama administration, CNN reports. It says the idea has been confirmed by Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. Currently, vets' insurance companies are billed when they're treated for non-service-related injuries and illnesses.

It's also a plan that's dead on arrival if the president decides to propose it, according to some influential lawmakers and , as you might expect, veterans groups are vehemently opposed to the plan (See a letter sent to the president).

Even the usually Obama-friendly Talking Points Memo criticizes the plan, saying it would put Obama further to the right of John McCain.

The idea, not surprisingly, never came up during the campaign, particularly at a stop in Fargo last year when Obama outlined his veterans' policy. "Caring for our veterans," he said, "is one thing that we can still get right," and promised to "fully fund VA health care."

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In the public interest?

Posted at 10:52 AM on March 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (28 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

Contributors to Norm Coleman's election recount effort might want to cancel their credit cards, according to the campaign.

An e-mail circulated on Wednesday said the Web site, WikiLeaks, which specializes in providing an outlet for people who want to post secret information, has obtained private information from the campaign such as the credit card numbers of donors.

"Let me be very clear: At this point, we don't know if last evening's email is a political dirty trick or what the objective is of the person who sent the email," Campaign official Cullen Sheehan wrote in an e-mail to donors. "What we do know, however, is that there is a strong likelihood that these individuals have found a way to breach private and confidential information."

While the Coleman campaign e-mail notification might alert some of the donors, 1,500 of the nearly 5,000 people on the spreadsheet did not list an e-mail address.

Who's behind WikiLeaks? Julian Assange, an Australian living in Africa who was interviewed last summer (by email) by the Sydney Morning Herald. "In every negotiation, in every planning meeting and in every workplace dispute a perception is slowly building that the public interest may have a number of silent advocates in the room," Mr Assange said in an email interview. Wired.com published an extensive profile of him around the same time.

The question to ask, however, is whether there's a compelling "public interest" in releasing the (partial) credit card information of donors to a political campaign and, if so, what is it? The Coleman campaign may have violated several state privacy laws, but the punishment will be delivered to the innocent.

One of the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics is to "minimize harm," although it adds, "Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone's privacy." By providing links to the spreadsheet in question, have journalists overstepped their own code? Absolutely. Consider this item that's in the code: "Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others." One cannot criticize the Coleman campaign for not securing its data, while at the same time publishing -- or at least providing a direct link to -- that data.

Efforts to close the site down have failed, because of the nature of the Internet in the first place. The organization behind it registered its domain name in Nairobi, Kenya. Last month, a federal judge in San Francisco, citing 1st Amendment considerations, rescinded an order that disabled the Web site when it was registered through a California server. The original order stemmed from a Swiss bank's lawsuit against Wikileaks, which had posted 14 leaked documents about transactions at the bank.

It's also the site where a person who broke into then-VP candidate Sarah Palin's e-mail account posted the messages he retrieved.

Ironically, it also posted a leaked document containing the e-mail addresses of its own contributors.

There'll be plenty of questions for the Coleman's campaign alleged mishandling of data, but the story may also present a troubling picture of the collateral damage journalists' can inflict, too.

Update: MPR's Mark Zdechlik will update the story during this evening's All Things Considered.

Update 8:24 p.m. Twin Cities based computer consultant Adria Richards describes how she found the security breach.

This was really interesting. One key fact she dropped was "I didn't download anything; I just noticed that something wasn't right." I have found this to be a trait of I.T. professionals; they're not interested in spreading the information that they know should be locked down, they want the information locked down.

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Rediscovering Franken-Coleman

Posted at 4:13 PM on March 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The nation's heavyweight political bloggers have rediscovered the Minnesota Senate race for some reason this week. It comes on the day Al Franken took a semi-victory lap around the Capitol, and the day before Franken's team ends its case in the election trial.

The Hill reported that Sen. Harry Reid discussed committee assignments with Franken.

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, who writes The Fix says the average Minnesotans "wants to move on from this story, the better for Franken -- thanks to the fact that he currently leads the race. Voters pay only marginal attention to elections in the immediate run-up to an election, and generally see politics as tangential (at best) to their daily lives."

Maybe, but that's what people were saying a week after the election, too. But ask almost any Web editor how their Web traffic is for a Franken-Coleman story, compared to almost any other story, and it's almost certain that the Franken-Coleman race remains a high priority for news consumers, even though they are, indeed, sick of it.

The L.A. Times also weighed in on the race in its Top of the Ticket blog, taking a whack at Franken for sounding like a politician, and using this clip as evidence:

Franken, for the average Minnesotans back here, stopped being a comedian almost two years ago, and has been a politician ever since because, well, that's what people who run for political office are.

The Left Coast also makes a funny over an old-timer's observation that they should just flip a coin, oblivious to the fact that Minnesota law requires exactly that in the case of a tie.

And finally, Michael Barone has just posted a column on his US News & World Report page saying it's time to revote the race, apparently oblivious to the fact there's no provision in Minnesota law for such a thing, according to Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.

(MPR file photo/Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

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The big chill at the Capitol

Posted at 7:19 AM on March 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (23 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

DFLers at the Capitol are tackling a major problem that's developed during this session -- too many people want to tell Minnesotans what they're doing.

It started innocently enough. A few bloggers and online news organizations asked for the same access on the House and Senate floor as mainstream journalists.

That not only didn't happen, but yesterday, WCCO reported that the DFL cracked down on the filming of committee hearings. According to reporter Esme Murphy, the sergeant at arms has proposed a new sweeping set of restrictions that will prevent almost any TV coverage of hearings at the Capitol that the leadership doesn't want covered.

The apparent crackdown on coverage isn't just limited to TV reporters.

Don Davis, the Capitol reporter for Forum Communications' newspapers, says he was hassled while trying to cover a hearing.

Two hours after Wittenborg's meeting, I was trying to take a photo of Rep. Paul Marquart of Dilworth presenting a bill to a House committee. A page approached and asked to see my credentials before she would allow me to take photos. Recalling Wittenborg's assurances that no credentials were needed, I told her that I had just been told I did not need to present credentials (which, by the way, hung in plain sight from a lanyard around my neck) and I continued to photograph Marquart.

Soon after I returned to my seat in the back of the room, two state troopers approached me after the page had called them, apparently to kick out this photographer. Both had seen me plenty of times and knew I was legitimate, so gave me little hassle.

Not long after I returned to the office to write my story, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher called to apologize for the incident and promised it would be investigated. And Marquart called to apologize, even though he did not even know the troopers were talking to me at the time and had no knowledge of the proposed rule changes until I told him.

Earlier in the day, according to Marty Owings at the blog Radio Free Nation, reporters and bloggers gave House officials the "what for" over the issue:

Mary Lahammer of TPT's Almanac suggested that any lawyer who proposed these rules should be "disbarred". Tom Hauser from KSTP agreed and added that it was "absurd" that any Law Maker would even propose these rules. Jason Barnett of the Uptake.org asked what the real issue was. Mr. Whittenborg said it ran the gamut from "space concerns" to "security issues." He said some concerns were raised about who was filming Law Makers and that some of them were "weirded out" while others welcomed the cameras.

Mr. Whittenborg pointed out that Leadership was aware that there were cameras every where now and that they were looking at these issues. Everyone in the room, including Mr. Whittenborg agreed that restricting cameras was not a solution. What about space issues? Mr. Whittenborg mentioned that this could be a concern. Noah Kunin from the UpTake.org suggested that space be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

Minnesota's Society of Professional Journalists isn't happy either, according to a statement.

"If there is an issue of decorum, safety or logistical space, elected leaders have appropriate methods in place. Rather than create additional rules that imply a person's credentials will be issued based on where a person works or how long a person will be reporting at the Capitol, SPJ would encourage legislative leaders to lessen the rules to allow more people to report in new and innovative ways to reach more of the public. The Legislature should establish equitable rules for all media, with no bias awarded anyone based on medium, method or viewpoint. If this proposal reflects the Legislature's attempt to do that, they have missed the mark."

The action comes at a time when legislative coverage is at an ebb. News organizations have cut reporters and time for legislative coverage, and Channel 17's all-day live coverage of the Legislature has disappeared for many viewers in the metro area because of the switch to digital programming.

There's virtually no reasonable case to be made that inviting a few bloggers in to inspect the workings of elected officials would cause an undue burden on the lawmakers who, for the record, asked for the job. The third month of the legislative session has started and the Legislature still hasn't produced a major piece of legislation or even an alternative to the budget proposed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty. And most of the critical decisions of the session will continue to be made behind solidly closed -- and occasionally guarded -- doors by a small handful of people.

Of all the problems currently facing the people of the state of Minnesota, being too informed about what the pols are doing at the Capitol isn't one of them.

Update 3:28 p.m. - It's worth reading Mary Lahammer's blog today. It sounded like things were cordial, but tense at the House Taxes Committee hearing today.

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The Labor Day standard

Posted at 11:34 AM on March 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (15 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Schools

Go ahead and schedule your Labor Day vacation. A Minnesota House committee killed a bill late this morning that would've allowed schools to start classes before Labor Day.

It's not often that a one-sentence bill at the Legislature can get Minnesota worked up, but HF195, which went before the House Finance Committee today, is one such occasion.

Notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, section 120A.40, a school district may begin the school year on any day before Labor Day only for the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years.

Labor Day comes late this year (September 7), and some educators say that's too late. Graduations would be held in mid-June, proponents say. Besides, the kids in the band and football teams are already practicing by mid-August, according to Rep. Kim Norton, DFL-Rochester, who is sponsoring the bill and is also a substitute teacher.

But the underlying issue is the economy, specifically the resort industry. If kids are back in school before Labor Day, they and their parents can't be spending the week at a campground or resort. And young summer employees can't be working if they're in school.

"They'll have about a 45 percent decline in booking," Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker, said today. He said in 2004, the State Fair lost thousands of visitors because of an early school start date. He predicts the fair could lose up to $2.5 million in revenue if the bill becomes law.

"Labor Day is the largest vacation week in the state of Minnesota," he said. "It's not just the resorts, the airline industry loses bookings when school starts before Labor Day."

But Rep. Mark Buesgens, R-Jordan, says the economic argument is a shallow one. "It's a question of whether they're going to spend it at the end of the sumer, or at the beginning of the summer," he said.

"Rep. Norton picked the worst two years to try this," said Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia. "It's the worst years since the Depression. If you stop them from spending on Labor Day weekend, it's going to hurt those resorters. We don't need to put another nail in the coffin for rural Minnesota."

The not-until-Labor-Day policy of Minnesota schools -- Michigan and Virginia are the only two other states with the policy, according to Rep. Norton -- extends back to the state's agrarian history. The kids needed to help out on the farm.

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Transparency

Posted at 9:35 AM on March 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Politics

A year or so ago, I tried to find the number of people employed by the state of Minnesota. It took more than a dozen phone calls to find an agency of state government that knew, and even then the data was more than a year old.

So it's no surprise that Minnesota is one of the 19 states that hasn't set up a Web site to track how federal stimulus money is going to be spent, according to the Web site, ProPublica, which tracks these things.

At the same time, it's also not surprising to read in today's Star Tribune that one of the governor's policy advisors (why can't people who run the state agency's on behalf of the governor be his policy advisors?) is actually paid through the budget of seven state agencies.

What is surprising is that anyone could figure it out. Minnesota is not a candidate for "transparent state of the year."

The Minnesota Office and Management and Budget, formerly the Minnesota Department of Finance, posts -- for example -- salary information on its Web site, with information for eight different unions. As long as you're on the union's bargaining team and understand 11 different "step ranges" (or even know what a step range is) and 16 different "comp codes" (and what they are) you can figure out how much an information technology specialist makes. But you can't find out how many there, what they do, or whether we need so many of them.

A total compensation report is somewhat more illustrative of our budget dollars in the executive branch, but not for mere humans who want to figure out whether (a) money is being well spent and (b) how.

"Transparency" is the new buzz word in government. it's meant to provide all the details of where the money goes. It's mostly a dodge. Transparency isn't just throwing a blizzard of numbers at you for you to sort out, transparency is making it easy to sort out.

President Barack Obama's recovery.gov Web site is a good example. It intends to follow how the economic stimulus money is being spent, but there's no indication that it will. It's "news" section is simply puffed-up press releases to tout components of the plan. A section on "justice grants," for example, tells us about money being thrown at anti-crime programs, but it doesn't tell us that while the president promoted a graduating class of police recruits as evidence the stimulus plan is working, it doesn't mention that subsequent classes for potential recruits have been canceled.

A link on the page sends us to the Justice Department to find out how much each state will get. There, we download a spreadsheet for Minnesota and learn, for example, that $19,000 of the $2 billion is trickling down to South St. Paul. How is it going to be used? Call South St. Paul (Note: I did. I had to leave a message.). Now repeat that for every line item in the stimulus package and you've got your transparency. More likely? People trying to figure out will give up.

Is there a better way to do this? ProPublica thinks so; it points to Missouri's Web site to track how stimulus money will be spent. It lists only $223 million received for Medicare reimbursement, so far. But it provides e-mail alerts and RSS feeds as the money is spent.

It also has an area for people to make suggestions on how the money can be spent but, unfortunately, like the Minnesota Legislature's "submit your idea about the budget," it keeps the suggestions to themselves. Why?

How will we know whether the money is being spent correctly? The Boston Herald reports today that the feds are planning to go undercover to "monitor whether unqualified applicants try to obtain stimulus funds." That must be under the "spies" line-item.

Don't look for it on a Web site, though.

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Are voters smart enough to figure out election law on their own?

Posted at 9:21 AM on March 8, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Should election law be based on the presumption that voters are engaged and diligent?

University of Michigan Law School professor Ellen Katz has submitted a paper to the Minnesota Law Review contending that the Supreme Court under chief justice John Roberts is avoiding federal engagement in state voting rules, based on the presumption that voters are "both legally literate and diligent." You can download the paper from the Stanford Law School site.

But insofar as a new, unified approach to election law is emerging, last Term's decision suggest it has at least two prominent features. First, the approach makes meaningful political participation contingent on knowledge and skills that many voters simply lack. Legal literacy and diligence have become functional prerequisites to voting. The new approach, moreover, promises little and perhaps no federal assistance when voters fall short in what is required.

The Justices, of course, know that voters will fall short. The decisions allude to this circumstance and anticipate various actors will emerge to fill the void. The Court suggests that political parties have appropriate incentives to assist voters as they navigate the system--hence the standing granted to the Democratic Party in Crawford125--and to ensure that voters properly understand the legal regimes within which they act--by, for instance, making clear the significance of a candidate's party preference in Washington's top-two primary.

If I've read it correctly -- and there's no guarantee I have, being a non-lawyer -- Katz suggests that private individuals or organizations will spring forward to help the voter navigate the voting process that increasingly requires them to understand a byzantine process. What if they don't?

We are, of course, seeing the results of this process here in Minnesota. We're about to enter the seventh week of the election challenge trial of the U.S. Senate election, a process which itself is so complicated that more and more voters have disengaged from it, and just want to be told when Minnesota has a new senator.

When will that be? If you listen to the experts, it could be months as either side could appeal this "all the way to the Supreme Court." But if Katz is correct, the Senate is mess will be for Minnesota's Supreme Court to decide.

Most experts also predict changes in Minnesota's election law, especially in the area of absentee voting. If the Legislature tackles the issue, should it assume the voter is diligent and engaged? Or not?

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The budget turnaround

Posted at 5:30 AM on March 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

When Gov. Tim Pawlenty took office, he inherited a $4.5 billion two-year budget deficit. Four years later, he claimed some credit "for the biggest financial turnaround in state history." The occasion in November 2006 was a projected $2.2 billion surplus. "We just climbed out of a big hole, and I am going to make sure Minnesota doesn't get thrown back in by overspending," Governor Pawlenty said at the time.

If the projected budget deficit hits $7 billion when it's announced today -- and some legislative leaders say it likely will -- that previous "biggest financial turnaround in state history" will be replaced by a new "biggest financial turnaround in state history." In this case, a U-turn.

When the governor last had a huge budget deficit, it constitutes about 15 percent of the previously passed two-year budget. If the projected budget deficit for the next two-year cycle hits $7 billion, that will climb to 20% of the size of the previous budget.

This time, however, there are few accounting gimmicks and shifts left to use to erase it.

We will, of course, have coverage of the announcement during the day. Be sure to check the archive of Monday's Midday broadcast, during which former Republican Gov. Al Quie and former DFL Sen. Majority Leader Roger Moe offered their ideas of how to clean up the mess.

Though I haven't seen the show's plans for today, yet, I'm presuming they'll tackle the issue once again.

MPR will provide live coverage of the governor's news conference on Midday, followed by analysis with former lawmaker Phil Krinkie and former Capitol reporter -- now head of Growth & Justice Committee -- Dane Smith.

By the way, later today on All Things Considered, Marty Moylan looks at whether people are trying to gamble their way out of this. Are people gambling more?

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Bachmann: 'Democrats... will be coming after you, too.'

Posted at 10:36 PM on February 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

There's a seemingly endless political loop playing. Rep. Michele Bachmann says something controversial on one of her national media appearances. The Democrats send out a news release pointing out her statements and asking for cash. Rep. Bachmann counters with a fundraising e-mail letter.

Here's the version that just arrived:

The Democrats claim they just want the "rich" to pay their fair share. But, we all know their definition of rich includes more and more middle class Americans each year. Just ask any struggling family farmer who worries about the cost of the death tax. Or ask any middle class family that suddenly realizes it has to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

The Democrats' wealth redistribution scheme can't continue on this runaway path. Sooner or later, they'll be coming after you too.

And, because I dare to say so, they're targeting all their resources to defeat me. They'll stop at nothing to take your voice away in Congress.

On the AMT issue, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported last week that 18 percent more filers will escape the tax this year.

If some of the stopgaps from recent years hadn't been passed, according to Brookings, about 37 percent of households with adjusted gross incomes of $50,000 to $75,000 would have had to pay AMT in tax year 2010, as would 73 percent of those with incomes of $75,000 to $100,000.

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Body language

Posted at 6:17 PM on February 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Politics

It was another horrible day in the equity markets. The last time the market was this low -- 1997 -- Brad Radke was winning 20 games as a 24-year old for the Minnesota Twins. Yeah, that long ago.

Usually, stories about rough days on Wall Street are accompanied by the cliche picture of a stock exchange trader.

Today, however, let's look at the body language of the nation's governors and the president and vice president as they met in Washington.

Where have I seen this expression before?

(Photos via Getty Images)

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Find the Republican governors

Posted at 3:00 PM on February 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

From what we can tell, Gov. Tim Pawlenty didn't get a prime seat at the White House today when the nation's governors met with President Barack Obama. You'll have to click these to see the larger images.

We can't find him to Obama's right.

We don't see him to the left:

And he didn't make the photo op in front of the White House, which he's considering running for in 2012.

Truth be told, though, we don't see good seats being given to many of the Republican governors who aren't making their presidential aspirations a secret. But, Bobby Jindal got a corner seat (in the first image).

(Photos by Dennis Brack-Pool/Getty Images)

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Required reading: The Kennedy series

Posted at 1:35 PM on February 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The Boston Globe is running a series on the life of Ted Kennedy. Its online component should be a warning shot across the bow of the newfangled media that predicts the demise of the newspaper newsroom. People in the business are still kicking.

In the second chapter, there is a compelling segment when Minnesota's Walter Mondale recalls the funeral of Bobby Kennedy at about the 6 minute part of the Chapter 2 video.

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Waiting for instructions

Posted at 8:47 AM on February 22, 2009 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Politics

"I don't want to pretend that today marks the end of our economic problems. But today does mark the beginning of the end," President Barack Obama said on Tuesday when he signed the economic stimulus bill. It was a rare message of hope from a president who campaigned his way to the White House on the theme.

Has the president, who has got a big speech to give on Tuesday, become too much of a downer? Are we in such denial that we need to be told how bad things are... again?

Writing in the New York Times this weekend, Frank Rich chronicles Americans' ability to deny bad news and accept the enormity of the economic crisis. What is a president to do?

Pity our new president. As he rolls out one recovery package after another, he can't know for sure what will work. If he tells the whole story of what might be around the corner, he risks instilling fear itself among Americans who are already panicked. (Half the country, according to a new Associated Press poll, now fears unemployment.) But if the president airbrushes the picture too much, the country could be as angry about ensuing calamities as it was when the Bush administration's repeated assertion of "success" in Iraq proved a sham. Managing America's future shock is a task that will call for every last ounce of Obama's brains, temperament and oratorical gifts.

More than half of America now fears unemployment, one in 10 homes are in foreclosure, retirements are now unattainable. Minnesota courts are about to let scofflaws run amok, and the nation is running out of rich people. The economic recession was felt out here in the working world long before it reached the cubicles of the New York Times or, most certainly, the Oval office.

We get it. The economy is bad. Really bad.

While Rich wonders whether Americans will "get it," his op-ed page colleague, Maureen Dowd, wonders whether it's Washington that fails to grasp the reality of the situation.

President Obama disdains sound bites, and he does not have Bill Clinton's talent for reducing the abstruse to aperçus. We wanted someone smart to gather a bunch of smart people around him to get us out of this fix. But Mr. Obama's egghead manner has failed to soothe a nation with the jits. Maybe he has been so intent on avoiding the stereotype of the Angry Black Man, as he wrote in his memoir, that it's hard for him to connect with and articulate public anger about our diminishment.

Though he demonstrated in the campaign that he has a rare gift for inspiring the country with new belief in itself, Mr. Obama has not yet captured either the grit the moment requires or the fury it provokes. He has not explained in a compelling way why Americans who followed the rules need to sacrifice more to help those who flouted the rules.

Part of the problem, perhaps, is that politicians use speeches to us, not to talk to us, but to send messages to each other. When the president tells us how bad things are, he's talking to Republicans who don't support his proposed his solution. Here in Minnesota, the DFL, for example, is engaged in "listening sessions" around the state to come up with ideas for closing the state's budget gap. When they heard the first one the other night in St. Cloud, that was one more than the DFL has presented, since it's yet to propose an alternative to the governor's budget. Lawmakers, no doubt, have their own ideas how to do it, but the "inner cynic" can be forgiven for thinking they want the political cover of full meeting rooms in small towns across Minnesota first.

Meanwhile, Minnesotans -- and most Americans -- wait for instructions on what we are supposed to do now about the situation, the extent of which we know only too well.

What is the one message you want to hear from the politicians and pundits now?

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Goodbye, Legislature

Posted at 7:19 AM on February 20, 2009 by Bob Collins (16 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

This probably wasn't the best time to make the Minnesota Legislature invisible, but that's just what TPT-17 has done by eliminating daily coverage of the Minnesota Legislature on its main channel. Legislative coverage on free TV is one of the little facts of Minnesota life that made our political process so transparent.

TPT has substituted "lifestyle programming" instead. As I write this, we're all watching how to make equidistant, light hem stitching on Sewing with Nancy. It's fascinating, sure, but you can't close the big budget gap with pinking shears, except in a metaphor.

Granted, it's highly unlikely the calls are pouring into the TPT headquarters with people demanding access to the K-12 Mandate Reduction Work Group session, but it's rarely a good thing when fewer eyes have access to what politicians are doing.

TPT has moved the Legislature to its "digital tier," which you can get if you have the correct cable TV tier or have over-the-air access and you can perform the pat-your-head-rub-your-belly method of finding new channels. If you have Dish Network or DirectTV, you're out of luck.

You can still see the Legislature on its Web site.

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The veteran football

Posted at 12:58 PM on February 19, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Was a flap on the House floor about veterans, "gotcha" politics - Minnesota style?

Things got a little hot on the floor this afternoon when a lawmaker recommended pensions for retired military veterans be deductible from taxable income in the state. The amendment to a tax bill came from Rep. Dan Severson, a Sauk Rapids Republican and veteran. He said it would create jobs by attracting veterans to the state.

"There are a lot of veterans who will get this who were never in a combat zone," said Rep. Al Juhnke, a DFLer from Wilmar, whose son is in Iraq.

Rep. Bev Scalze noted there are other people from Minnesota in harm's way -- she cited police officers -- who aren't getting a tax break.

"Let's not just talk about them (veterans) being a priority, let's show them," countered Republican Tom Emmer.

House Minority Leader Marty Seifert said there are only six states that don't offer a tax break for military pension earnings. "We have ways to pay for this, we're just not voting for any of them," he said.

Rep. Ann Lenczewski, who chairs the Taxes Committee, said the Legislature has already doubled combat pay for active military, provided property tax relief for veterans, and "did things for the VFWs and American Legions." She said it was unfair to give breaks to career military members, and not to active members.

"The poor grunt who's coming back from Iraq is going to have his earnings taxed to pay for this," Rep. Tom Rukavinia, DFL-Virginia, said. "It doesn't seem fair that someone making $100,000 a year is going to get a $2,000 tax break while we raise taxes to help other veterans who don't get a tax break."

Some lawmakers contend the amendment was an attempt to get legislators on record "opposing veterans."

The amendment failed, mostly along party lines, 70-57.

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Interior design showdown

Posted at 1:51 PM on February 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

It's days like this when I wish the Minnesota Fantasy Legislature was still around. A bill that got a hearing in a Senate committee today is the type we used to sink our teeth into -- the kind that would get almost no coverage.

SF376 requires the licensing of interior designers:

Any person shall be deemed to be practicing licensed interior design within the meaning of sections 326.02 to 326.15 who holds out as being able to perform or does perform any professional service in connection with the planning, design, or administration of construction for the purpose of ensuring compliance with specifications and design of any private or public interior spaces, including preparation of documents relative to non-load-bearing interior construction, programming, space planning, finishes, materials, and furnishings where the safeguarding of the occupants' life, health, safety, welfare is concerned or involved, when the professional service requires the application of design theories related to human behavior and aesthetics, acquired by education and experience. Licensed interior designers are design professionals who are qualified by means of education, experience, and examination.

This is a legislative initiative of the International Interior Design Association Northland. It says licensing will make sure that poisonous toxins are kept out of your workplace, fire retardant substances are used, and more effort will be made toward using renewable materials. The group's top 10 list of reasons to support the bill includes, "to keep your wrists and backs in good health through the personal application of ergonomic standards."

Apparently, this is causing quite a stir nationwide between designers and remodelers. Other states have also moved to license interior designers, according to a blog called Interior Design Freedom Coalition.

"This bill will add nothing to the health, safety and welfare of the public. Rather, it will enable a handful of interior designers to corner the design market at the expense of our members and others in the design community who will essentially be barred from working. Study after study has shown no evidence to suggest that harm is occurring to the public as a result of the unregulated practice of interior designers," it said last year when a similar bill was filed.

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Next?

Posted at 3:22 PM on February 12, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The "bipartisan thing" didn't work for Judd Gregg, and it's not going so well for Barack Obama either..

Doomed from the start, the New Hampshire senator withdrew his nomination as Commerce Secretary over differences with the White House about who should oversee the Census.

Gregg's statement confirms this:

"However, it has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me. Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy."

Then, in the best traditions of politics, he then unsheathes the sword.

"Obviously the President requires a team that is fully supportive of all his initiative."

Ouch.

This makes two nominees for commerce secretary who have withdrawn their nominations.

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Pawlenty watching

Posted at 11:17 AM on February 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

After a two-and-a-half-month vacation from "does Pawlenty want to be president?" talk, the political wags are back at it because of the governor's trip to a security conference in Munich, following a trade mission to Israel.

Chris Cizzilla, who writes The Fix blog for the Washington Post says Pawlenty has "obvious national ambitions," but otherwise engages in the usual speculation that Pawlenty will run for president in 2012.

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Who needs bipartisanship?

Posted at 11:23 AM on February 7, 2009 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Nate Silver, the statistics guru who migrated from baseball to politics and runs the site FiveThirtyEight.com, notes that Barack Obama's approval ratings have dropped and comes up with three things the president appears to have learned.

It's #3 that may be the most signfiicant, because it's less about him and more about us:

3. The benefits of "bipartisanship" are dubious. The public says they want bipartisanship, and a large majority of the public believes that Obama acted in a bipartisan fashion during the stimulus debate. And yet, his approval ratings fell significantly during this period.

There are, obviously, a lot of factors to keep in balance here, but more than anything else the public seems to be seeking strong leadership from Obama; they don't want him to be deferential to either Congressional Democrats or Congressional Republicans.

So, are we done with the whole "working together" thing?

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Issues creep back into Senate race dialogue

Posted at 1:36 PM on February 6, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Here's something we haven't heard the two "finalists" for the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota talking about in months: Issues. Norm Coleman and Al Franken have come out of -- more or less -- hiding today. They're holding individual sessions with reporters.

Most of the talk, naturally, is about their continuing recount/court challenge to last November's vote, but MPR's Tom Crann pushed some issues during his interviews. Coleman said he does not support the Obama economic stimulus package.

"I'm trying to be ready; that's one of the challenges," Coleman said. "I've talked to Sen. Susan Collins. We need to move this economy forward, but on the other hand we can't be spending tens or hundreds of billions of dollars on things which have no impact on economic reform."

Coleman returned to the spotlight by attending several of the hearings in his lawsuit filed after the official recount showed him losing to Al Franken by a few hundred votes.

"I don't know if there is a next step," Coleman told Crann (Listen) when asked what the next step is if a count of additional absentee ballots shows him losing to Franken. Coleman said he's learned a lot about elections in Minnesota by sitting in the court and listening to election experts (one of whom was on MPR's Midday today).

Franken says he'd be a vote for Obama's stimulus package if he were in the Senate.

"I don't think there's too much in the bill," he said. " We need this and I believe most Americans want this but most Americans are skeptical about whether this is going to do the job and they deserve to know that this money is going to be spent wisely." (Listen)

"One of the things I've done to be ready is talk to Collin Peterson's staff about layoffs at the Polaris plant up in Roseau. There is a flood mitigation project there -- shovel ready -- in the stimulus package... and I think it would be good for us to have two votes. Same token: This buy-America provision that's in the package, that's a very good thing for the Iron Range ... that the stimulus projects have American steel in them, that's a huge boon for the Iron Range," he said. (Listen)

Franken acknowledged that waste and abuse of stimulus money is a possibility. He said he favored creation of a Truman Commission to find instances of fraud and abuse. As a senator, Harry Truman uncovered millions of dollars in waste in the prosecution of World War II.

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Pawlenty to Munich

Posted at 11:33 AM on February 6, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

When Gov. Tim Pawlenty flew to Germany last year to attend a conference on terrorism and security, there were a few suggestions that the governor was burnishing his credentials in the interest of ending up on the presidential ticket. At the time, the governor dismissed the suggestion, saying he was invited because he chaired the National Governors Association. But we were all in "he wants to be vice president" mode, despite his denials (at the time), and all of his moves were run through the VP aspirations filter.

As I pointed out last year, only one other governor with NGA connections had been invited in the previous nine years.

The governor is no longer head of the National Governors Association, and he's back in Munich as the conference opens its 2009 session.

This year's rationale: Minnesota is sending National Guard soldiers to Iraq, so "it's helpful to have a deep understanding of security issues," his spokesman said.

The federal government is paying the bill.

Aside: The U of M's Smart Politics blog does a nice analysis of Gov. Pawlenty's approval ratings and says anyone who thinks the governor will lose popularity in a budget showdown with the DFL should think again.

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Barack Obama's bad week

Posted at 10:13 AM on February 6, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Just a couple of days after Barack Obama nominated New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg to be the Secretary of Commerce, there's an indication the new president doesn't trust his new nominee, at least when it comes to the delicate matter of the U.S. Census.

According to Congressional Quarterly:

After black and Hispanic leaders raised concerns over Commerce Secretary-nominee Judd Gregg 's commitment to core functions of the Census Bureau, a senior White House official told CQ on Wednesday that the director would report directly to the White House.

That brought fire Thursday from Republicans, who accused the White House of attempting to gain advantage in the politically delicate process of counting Americans and of violating the law by circumventing the Commerce secretary. The decennial census is used to determine the apportionment of congressional districts among the states and federal funding for numerous programs.

Yesterday the New York Times criticized Obama's pick:

Mr. Gregg was never a friend of the census. As chairman of the Senate committee that oversees the Commerce Department's budget, he frequently tried to cut the bureau's financing. In 1999, he opposed emergency funds for the 2000 census requested by President Bill Clinton and the Republican-controlled House.

The census is used to allocate federal aid to states and draw electoral districts. Given all that, one would think that the White House would be paying more attention. It isn't. A director of the census, who must be confirmed by the Senate, has yet to be named.

And this all follows the fallout of two nominees who ended up having tax problems. And some Obama supporters are frustrated by the the attitude of the White House press corps.

President Obama is having a really terrible week.

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Lawmakers target ethanol subsidies

Posted at 5:10 PM on February 5, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Politics

As I mentioned at the time, one of the things that jumped out from Gov. Pawlenty's proposed budget is that he didn't touch the state subsidy to ethanol producers. In 2007, the state paid $15 million to ethanol producers, and in the last big budget deficit, the state delayed the payments. Pawlenty, who has become an evangelist for ethanol, tried to eliminate the then-$27 million subsidy in his first year in office.

Today, seven House DFLers -- mostly city slickers -- introduced a bill that would repeal the state subsidy. The state sends checks to farmers who own ethanol plants four times a year.

In a recent interview, legislative leaders didn't appear warm to repealing the subsidy:

As the session continues, the possibility increases of the city vs. rural legislative feuds reigniting. Within the last week some rural lawmakers filed legislative to divert transit funds to school transportation budgets.

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The most fascinating interview of the year

Posted at 10:22 AM on February 4, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (8 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

For my money, this was the most fascinating five minutes of video I've seen this year. Watch the body language as David Letterman turns the screws on Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

What's being said unsaid?

I am by no means a paralinguist, but surely you come away with some kind of conclusion watching Blago talk about his impeachment.

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The question

Posted at 5:57 AM on February 4, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

With several members of the Obama administration (or almost members of the Obama administration) caught up in ethics woes, we wondered aloud on The Current yesterday whether the exhaustive questionnaire that the Obama transition team used to check out potential candidates had any question on there like, "is there anything you don't want us to know about?"

It turns out, there was.

(h/t/ @vtuss via Twitter)

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