Capitol View: April 13, 2009 Archive

Marty makes it official

Posted at 2:15 PM on April 13, 2009 by Tom Scheck

DFL Sen. John Marty formally announced his campaign for governor today.

You can listen to his speech and news conference below:

Listen

Listen

Thanks to MPR's Tim Post for supplying the photo and audio.

Pawlenty on the election certificate

Posted at 5:14 PM on April 13, 2009 by Tom Scheck

Gov. Pawlenty hedged a bit today on MPR's Midday on if/when he would issue an election certificate in Minnesota's long-running U.S. Senate race. I followed up with him on those comments after the show. You can listen to the interview here:

Listen

The campaigns for Al Franken and Norm Coleman also weighed in on Pawlenty's recent comments. You can see those comments here.

McCollum in tax trouble?

Posted at 5:26 PM on April 13, 2009 by Tom Scheck

Roll Call (subscription required) is reporting that DFL Congresswoman Betty McCollum appears to owe taxes on her Washington D.C. home. The story focuses on several members of Congress who inadvertently received a property tax break intended for Washington D.C. residents. Here's the blurb on McCollum:

District officials also confirmed Thursday that Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum (Minn.), who purchased a Dupont Circle condominium in 2003, had received the homestead tax break but had similarly not applied for it.

District officials have previously stated that such mistakes are the likely result of a now-defunct policy of automatically applying the tax benefit to new homeowners based on the tax status of the previous owner.

McCollum will be removed from the program, but tax records have not been updated to reflect how much she will be billed in back taxes. According to tax records, the Minnesotan's home had been assessed at $253,000 but taxed at only $115,000.

Under the District's homestead program, a taxpayer who owns a home in the city and uses it as the principal residence receives a reduction of $67,500 on its assessed value, or a savings of $573.75 off the 2009 tax bill.

In addition, properties that qualify for the homestead deduction are also protected from considerable jumps in assessed value. The District caps those increases at 10 percent above the previous year's tax assessment. Individuals who do not qualify for the homestead program are taxed on the full value of the home.

Pawlenty's take on term limits

Posted at 5:45 PM on April 13, 2009 by Tom Scheck

Several bloggers (most notably Dusty Trice) have pointed out in recent weeks that Gov. Pawlenty supported term limits during his time in the Minnesota Legislature. Pawlenty commented more broadly on whether he plans on running for reelection during today's appearance on MPR's Midday (not much new there - keeping options open).

I asked him after the show about his past support for term limits and if he's changed his mind on the issue now that he's thinking about running for reelection. You can listen here:

Listen

Update: I forgot to note that MPR's Bob Collins live-blogged Pawlenty's appearance on Midday.

Court: Franken got more votes

Posted at 6:13 PM on April 13, 2009 by Tom Scheck (3 Comments)

The three-judge panel just issued the final order in the recount trial. It declared that Democrat Al Franken got more votes than Republican Norm Coleman. The panel also ruled that Republican Norm Coleman has to pay some of Al Franken's court costs.

Coleman's lawyers have already promised an appeal.

You can read it here. UPDATE: Page 27 is the key page.

UPDATE TO UPDATE: Franken to make a comment at 8 pm Central.

We're still going through it.

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Franken: I would urge Coleman not to appeal

Posted at 9:02 PM on April 13, 2009 by Tom Scheck

Democrat Al Franken declared victory in Minnesota's long-running U.S. Senate race. He briefly addressed reporters tonight outside of his townhouse in Minneapolis. Here's the audio:

Listen

Coleman's campaign attorney, Ben Ginsberg, promised an appeal. Here's his statement on the decision:

"More than 4,400 Minnesotans remain wrongly disenfranchised by this court's order. The court's ruling tonight is consistent with how they've ruled throughout this case but inconsistent with the Minnesota tradition of enfranchising voters. This order ignores the reality of what happened in the counties and cities on Election Day in terms of counting the votes. By its own terms, the court has included votes it has found to be 'illegal' in the contest to remain included in the final counts from Election Day, and equal protection and due process concerns have been ignored. For these reasons, we must appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court so that no voter is left behind."