Polinaut: May 16, 2007 Archive

The Daily Digest: 5-16-07

Posted at 10:11 AM on May 16, 2007 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Daily Digest

DFLers drop permanent property tax relief and appear to drop income tax increase. MPR, the Star Tribune, Forum Communications, AP and the Pi Press have stories.

Pawlenty vetoed the gas tax.

I'm linking to this Star Tribune story because GOP Rep. Dean Urdahl says he won't vote to override the governor's veto on the gas tax but he says he's not happy about it. So he voted for it before he voted against it.

Car Buyer's Bill of Rights passes the House.

Forum Communications wonders if there will be a lights on transportation bill if the gas tax bill isn't overridden.

The constitutional amendment that dedicates some sales tax money to the environment and cultural programs stalls in the House.

The gift card bill gets preliminary approval in the Senate.

The Pi Press takes a look at a new law that targets predatory lenders.

The Crow Wing County Republican Party Chair criticizesGOP Sen. Paul Koering on some of his votes.

Attorney General Lori Swanson settles a lawsuit with Capella over student loans. No news conference to announce the settlement. Someone tell Swanson she'll need to talk about Mike Hatch at some point. The press corps has a long memory.

Congress

The Senate GOP crafts a proposal for the Iraq war bill. GOP Sen. Norm Coleman is expected to support it.

DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar backs a plan that gives farmers an incentive to produce prairie grass and other plants to boost ethanol production.

Klobuchar and Coleman say they want a plan for the Duluth fighter wing.

Education Week says House freshman like DFL Rep. Tim Walz and DFL Rep. Keith Ellison could be pivotal in the decision to renew No Child Left Behind (subscription required).

The St. Cloud Times says GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann is learning on the job.

Farm groups are calling for U.S. funds for food safety. DFL Rep. Collin Peterson is mentioned.

2008

A USA Today column examines the money game in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race and says it's not easy for just anyone to run for office.

Two GOP candidates who are either running on thinking about running for Congress in Minnesota's 1st Congressional District attend candidate school. State Rep. Randy Demmer is one. The other (drumroll please) is Brian Davis of Rochester, who says he is close to a decision. The GOP winner would run against DFL Rep. Tim Walz.

The Senjem Agreement?

Posted at 1:58 PM on May 16, 2007 by Mike Mulcahy

No, it's not a new Robert Ludlum novel. It's what could happen today at the Capitol.

It all started when the DFL-controlled Senate was all set to begin debating a new round of budget bills. They had come up with a new K-12 plan, a higher ed bill, a health and human services funding bill, a plan for state agencies and one for economic development. The idea was to pass them all by midnight and send them to the House for agreement, and let the governor decide whether to sign or veto them.

Gov. Pawlenty was upset. At an Eagan restaurant where he signed the smoking ban bill he vented his frustration.

"No governor in my memory has been asked by the Legislature to veto one set of omnibus bills, much less two, as a way to negotiate an end to session. I think that's unprecedented. And it's a very troubling and disturbing set of actions from my standpoint," he said.

But then Senate Minority Leader David Senjem stood up and called for Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller to meet with the governor to try to avoid a standoff.

"We're not going to get this resolved by dancing through the exercise on the floor, taking the votes. That is absolutely not the way this thing is going to work. Unless we come together in a negotiation rather than a floor vote we are never going to get out of this place. And we're going to see special session and who knows what else," he said.

Pogemiller agreed to try a meething with the governor and that's what he and DFL House speaker Margaret Kelliher are doing now.

It reads like a public policy thriller (well, sort of). Will it lead to a session-ending agreement? Stay tuned.

UPDATE: The meeting in the governor's office is over. They all left without talking to reporters. The word is they don't want to negotiate in the media. The Senate is back on the floor and has begun debating its budget bills.

Media blackout

Posted at 5:41 PM on May 16, 2007 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

Governor Pawlenty and legislative leaders met this afternoon to discuss the budget. I wish we could tell you what they did but we're told there's a self imposed media blackout even though these are discussions dealing with taxpayer money.

So I figured I would give you a session recap of where we are at this point in the session:

Governor Pawlenty released a budget in January that increases spending 9% but the 9% isn't an across the board increase since schools aren't getting a 9% increase in revenue. Since then, Pawlenty has called for the Legislature to compromise with him even though he hasn't moved an inch on revenue in public discussions.

Meanwhile DFLers in control of the House and Senate have decided to send Governor Pawlenty an income tax increase even though he has repeatedly said he would veto it. They said they were optimistic he would sign it. Now they're sending him another slate of budget bills that Pawlenty didn't agree to and may be veto bait.

Republicans in the House have spent the last five months doing everything they can to make the DFL majority look bad. Most noticeably are the multi-hour floor debates on bills that pass with 120 or more votes.

Republicans in the Senate can't decide if they want to vote with the DFL majority or the Governor. In fact, some members speak at length on how bad the DFL budget bills are but then vote for them.

Now back to regularly scheduled programming...

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