Capitol View: March 31, 2009 Archive

Pawlenty's state park plan on the rocks

Posted at 12:05 PM on March 31, 2009 by Tom Scheck

Negotiations between the State of Minnesota and U.S. Steel over land for a new park on Lake Vermilion appear to be at a standstill. The Mesabi Daily News said the state appraisal of the land is much lower than what U.S. Steel wants for the land.

WI and MN: Won't you be my neighbor?

Posted at 12:21 PM on March 31, 2009 by Tom Scheck

Gov. Pawlenty and Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle had a bit of a Mr. Rogers moment today. In other words, they are working to share. Doyle and Pawlenty held a news conference this morning to discuss some of the services that they could share (and save money on). The complete report can be found here.

Not so sure the late, great Mr. Rogers would appreciate the sharing of ammunition, however.

Pawlenty gets some friends for 2012

Posted at 12:50 PM on March 31, 2009 by Tom Scheck

A Facebook group has been created to convince Gov. Pawlenty to run for President in 2012. I sent a note to Benjamin Simon, the site's administator to see why he created the site.

One side note, Trisha Hamm, Pawlenty's political director, is listed as a member.

Update: Here's Simon's response on why he created the site:

"I freely admit that I was not much of a fan of President Bush; I felt like his administration hijacked the traditional notions of a conservative party. I became even less enthused about the direction (or lack thereof) of the GOP leading up to the election, and that was solidified when the Dems swept both houses of Congress and the White House. I am very nervous for my generation about inheriting the damage of the current bailout and the over-regulatory tax-and-spend approach President Obama is taking. So, I subsequently created the facebook group. I believe the GOP as a party needs to do some serious soul searching and figure out how to get back in independent voters' good graces. That includes not only a new platform, but some fresh faces to lead the party (and NOT Gov. Palin). What attracted me to Gov. Pawlenty is that he is a young, energetic politician who was elected governor twice in a typically left-leaning state. Although his approval ratings have slipped some over the past couple months, I think that could be more of a reflection of the economic downturn than the policies and leadership of Gov. Pawlenty. I also think that many of Gov. Pawlenty's major domestic issues are things that most Americans would agree with - things like a balanced budget, increasing funding for education, a sustainable energy policy, a new approach to healthcare reform, etc.

While I admire how President Obama has been a "game changer" in electoral politics, I disagree with a number of his policies. The same backroom tactics that may have worked for the GOP before are no longer going to work - conservatives and libertarians need to adapt to the game, not try and force the game to regress to the same old school mentality of thirty, forty, fifty years ago. "

Seifert to speak at U of M

Posted at 1:28 PM on March 31, 2009 by Tom Scheck

GOP House Minority Leader Marty Seifert will speak before the Humphrey Institute's Center for the Study of Politics and Governance tomorrow. Here are the details.

Bachmann on Beck tonight, Fox and Friends tomorrow

Posted at 2:54 PM on March 31, 2009 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann says she'll be on Glenn Beck's show tonight at 4:40. She will also appear on Fox and Friends tomorrow morning at 6:15. Her office says she'll talk about global currency and President Obama's budget.

Update: Bachmann also has two public forums scheduled for next week.

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More on the digital download tax

Posted at 3:17 PM on March 31, 2009 by Tom Scheck

The Minnesota Budget Project posted an interesting item on taxing music, video and other downloads. For those not closely watching the debate over Minnesota tax policy, DFL Sen. Tom Bakk suggested that he is considering a plan that would tax digital downloads.

The post answers an interesting question that has been circulating around the Capitol: Can the state tax digital downloads? The answer is yes:

"The biggest sellers of downloaded music - Itunes and Wal-Mart - have said they are willing to collect state sales tax because they in fact have a physical presence in most states. Instead, the issue is simply that digital downloads are not in the definition of goods subject to the state sales tax. The Legislature certainly has the power to change that."

What isn't posted is that Gov. Pawlenty says he has no appetite to agree to this tax or any other tax.

As many as 17 states tax digital downloads.

3 judge panel wants to review 400 rejected absentee ballots

Posted at 3:41 PM on March 31, 2009 by Tom Scheck

The 3 judge panel released two orders today. The panel wants to to review 400 rejected absentee ballots and will later determine which of those ballots "shall be opened, sorted and counted in open court" by April 7, 2009.

We're tearing through them right now. In the meantime you can view them yourself.

Here's the first order:

Order 1

Here's the second order:

Order 2

Tick tock on the Senate clock...

Posted at 5:55 PM on March 31, 2009 by Tom Scheck

It looks like Minnesota's long-running U.S. Senate race will continue to run.

Attorneys for Republican Norm Coleman say an appeal of the election contest is likely now that the three judge panel has ordered the review of just a third of the ballots Coleman's camp was seeking. The panel wants to review and possibly open 400 ballots next Tuesday (read the ruling here). Coleman attorney Ben Ginsberg said an appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court is likely and argued that valid votes aren't being counted. He said it would be difficult for Coleman to make up Democrat Al Franken's 225 vote lead.

"You never give up hope. It becomes a much longer shot. We were pretty confident with the 1,358 ballots, that if they would have been opened that we would have prevailed. The odds get a little longer this way but it's still a mathematical possibility."

Ginsberg would not say whether the Coleman campaign intends to appeal in federal court. While Coleman's team isn't confident that the ballot review will work in their favor, Franken attorney Marc Elias is playing it cool.

"We feel pretty good about where we stand but we're going to wait until Tuesday for these ballots to be opened and counted because we don't know what's in the envelopes."

No one is certain how long it will take for the court to issue its final ruling. Some are speculating that an appeal to the MN Supreme Court could run into May.