Capitol View: April 13, 2007 Archive

Tax cuts and global warming?

Posted at 7:26 AM on April 13, 2007 by Mike Mulcahy

In what on first glance looks like a scheduling mixup, two rallies are set for Saturday at the Capitol.

The Libertarian Party of Minnesota and a group calling itself the Tax Cut Coalition are sponsoring a tax cut rally that starts at 11.

And the Sierra Club is holding what it calls a global warming day of action from noon to four p.m.

That should make for an interesting mix of people.

Walz speech on Midday

Posted at 10:17 AM on April 13, 2007 by Mike Mulcahy

Rep. Tim Walz talked about foreign policy yesterday at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute. Midday is playing the speech today at noon. At 11 Mr. Eichten is talking with Jerry Bell and others about the design for the new Twins stadium.

Ciresi to make it official?

Posted at 2:36 PM on April 13, 2007 by Mike Mulcahy

Minneapolis Attorney Mike Ciresi is expected to make an important political announcement next week.

Three Ciresi representatives told MPR's Tim Pugmire the Democrat plans an announcement Wednesday morning at a St. Paul public school. The time and location have not been determined.

Ciresi said in February he was laying the foundation for another U.S. Senate campaign. He lost the DFL primary in 2000 to Mark Dayton.

If he makes it offical, Ciresi would join comedian Al Franken in the field of candidates seeking the DFL endorsement to run in 2008 against incumbent Republican Norm Coleman.

Ciresi is known for handling several high-profile legal cases, including the State of Minnesota's successful lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

Elephants don't like mice

Posted at 6:27 PM on April 13, 2007 by Tim Pugmire

Elephants don't like mice

As the minority leader in the Minnesota House, Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, is used to lodging complaints to Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis.

Near the end of a routine floor session Friday, Seifert let DFL leaders know he's growing impatient with the mice roaming through Republican areas of the State Office Building. Seifert listed several recent GOP kills. One rodent apparently met its doom this week under Seifert's office dictionary.

Seifert suggested a catch and release program might now be in order, with the releases occuring on the DFL floors.

"I'm not sure why these critters are coming down to our floor," Seifert said. "I thought perhaps you were going to tax cheese, and so they sought refuge."

Democrats were quick to offer help and advice.

"Any varment you want off the second or third floor, we'll find a way to get rid of them," said Majority Leader Tony Sertich, DFL-Chisholm. "We might have a different definition of what that word means though."

Sertich then suggested Seifert's cheesy one-liners might be what's attracting the mice.