Steve Simon

The St. Paul Pioneer Press Capitol press corps team has launched a new blog, "The Political Animal." Veteran political reporters Bill Salisbury, Rachel Stassen-Berger and Dennis Lien "will cover the ins and outs of Minnesota politics from the legislative session to the political races to Republican National Convention." So far, so good. A post about which legislators accept the lowest per diems of the bunch. Answers: Sen. Tony Lourey (DFL-Kerrick) in the Senate and Rep. Steve Simon (DFL-St. Louis Park) in the House. Another about Republican legislators sporting new "I Support Molnau" buttons. And, a post about Rep. Dennis Ozment (R-Rosemount) arriving at the Capitol direct from Ecuador a mere 20 minutes before yesterday's opening gavel. All posts telling us something we didn't know. Good on Salisbury, Stassen-Berger and Lien.

The 3rd: Ramstad Retires

In re U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN 3) and his retirement announcement this week, D.J. Leary, one of Politics In Minnesota's founders and editors (now retired) perfectly captured our thoughts and thus we'll repeat verbatim his letter published this week in the Star Tribune:

One of the tiny slivers of civility remaining in American politics is leaving with U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad's retirement from the U.S. House. He was an extraordinary example of public restraint and personal responsibility when it came to partisan matters. Sadly, there are very few similar gentle people in the public arena today and Ramstad's departure is truly a loss for those of us longing for common decency in a world of public policy overrun with verbal thugs.

While we're extremely happy for Jim, his wife, Kathryn Ramstad and their daughter, in their newly found and well-earned freedom post-Congress, we're sad for the political process. An era in Minnesota politics, if not American politics, is over. That era was one in which Democrats routinely publicly outed themselves as having voted for Ramstad over the DFL sacrificial lamb candidate du jour, and perhaps more significantly, an era in which hard core conservatives also touted themselves as Ramstad supporters -- without reservation or fear of retribution from other conservative Republicans.

Ramstad, of course, is one of the soon-to-be extinct elected Republicans who consider themselves fiscally conservative and socially moderate (read: pro choice on abortion).

Ain't no way around it: As Ramstad retires, so does, in D.J.'s words, a "tiny sliver of civility remaining in American politics."

A sliver of that sliver of civility gets obliterated by national forces. National Democrats and liberal groups will now descend en masse...what could be better than taking a seat the Republicans have held for decades? Likewise, national Republicans and conservative groups will descend en masse...what could be worse than losing a seat the Republicans have held for decades?

But we're betting the bulk of the sliver of civility gets wiped out by Minnesota Republicans, themselves.
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