Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report - Vol. 3, Issue 41 - 4/25/2008
In this issue: No More Moe...For Now; Bully For Bob; "I'm Tired Of Being A Criminal": Can Cannabis Break Crushing Cop Countermeasures In Coup For Cooped Up Cancer Crusaders?; The Biofuels Battle: Biodiesel Edition; Legislative Legwork; PIM Blogger Q&A: King Banaian, Of SCSU Scholars; Bits & Pieces; Lobbyist Watch.
No More Moe...For Now
Rare is the two-term legislator who is well-liked, well-respected--and thus assumed safe in future elections in a swing district--who decides to call it quits.
Rare is Rep. Frank Moe (DFL-Bemidji).
Moe shocked both his district and the Capitol crowd by announcing to DFL endorsing delegates last week that he's done. Moe was candidly cool about the major reason he's retiring to the Park Rapids Enterprise's Lou Ann Hurd-Lof, "Moe said the reason for his decision was to keep his marriage strong. 'My parents were divorced four times,' Moe said, talking about how difficult it has been to leave his wife, Sherri, every week and drive to St. Paul."
PIM Publisher Sarah Janecek enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation with Moe in his office this week. When Moe was first elected, he and his wife, Sherri Moe, had eight sled dogs (a wide mix of breeds from a shelter where they were abandoned). Now they have 22 sled dogs, along with eight acres to keep both the couple and the dogs happy. The Moes also bought a floral shop in Walker, Grey's Floral Shop, where business is much better than they expected. Moe concluded that it simply wasn't fair to Sherri to be down in St. Paul so much, along with running around the district he loves so much when he is home.
Typically, legislators announce their retirements on the floor in the waning days of the legislative session. That was Moe's plan, as well (he had made the decision to retire months ago). But then, after the nominating speeches were given, when Moe was expected to accept the nomination, he got to the podium and looked out at all the faces who worked so hard to elect him. "I simply had to come clean," he says.
Asked what the worst part is about serving in the Legislature, Moe quickly answered, "Long floor debates and amendment after amendment." But when Moe is feeling cynical about the process, he checks himself by remembering Winston Churchill's words, "Democracy is the worst form of government except all others." Moe adds, "You can't stop the debate...People have the right to be as stupid or as brilliant as they want, and you never know whether stupid or brilliant will happen."
The worst vote he ever took? In 2005, post-Dru Sjodin's abduction and murder, there were many amendments on legislation increasing penalties for sex offenders. One amendment would have required sex offender identification on license plates. Moe voted for it, for political reasons (who wanted to be known as being easy on sex offenders?). "I felt gross, like I had to take a shower." Moe says that vote taught him to vote on an issue thinking how it will play, politically.
That conversation sidetracked into the difference in prevailing political winds in the northern part of the state, "People where I live just want to be left alone," notes Moe, and that has driven a lot of his thinking on issues where he's not toeing the DFL party line.
The legislator who has been most important to him in his four-year career? Moe declined to single out any one legislator, but the question did flag a moment Moe found particularly gratifying. Tiny Cass Lake (population 860 in the 2000 U.S. Census) was having a crime problem. Moe brought the city's crime blotter to then-House Tax Chair Republican Ron Abrams, who said the blotter looked like it was from Minneapolis. Abrams made sure that $100,000 in a local government aid cut was restored to Cass Lake in that year's tax bill.
Moe's retirement highlights a serious problem Politics in Minnesota has a long history of flagging: Serving in the Legislature is extremely difficult for younger legislators with families. How to solve the problem? Moe thinks the interim hearing schedule was "too aggressive," and that the Legislature should conduct its business Monday through Thursday, which would build in one full day to be with constituents and at least one full day for family only.
Moe, 42, and Sherri don't have any children "yet........but that was simply out of the question serving in the Legislature and trying to run our businesses." Congrats to Moe on being awarded a Bush Fellowship. He's completed all the coursework required for a PhD in Education at the U of M and now will have the time and means to focus on the written exam and his dissertation.
Bully For Bob
We're fond of noting that the true measure of a politician's character can be measured by the content and delivery of a concession speech after losing an election. Now there's a new measure for public servants. How they handle "losing" a job. This week Acting MnDOT Commissioner Bob McFarlin set the gold standard for that measure.
When GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced that Tom Sorel was his pick to be Commissioner, McFarlin stood behind Pawlenty at the press conference and during the somewhat personal and grueling Q&A from reporters about why Sorel, and not McFarlin (or the third candidate, Robert Johns from the U of M's Center for Transportation Studies), got the job. McFarlin endured all with grace and dignity. Pawlenty and Senate Transportation Chair Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing) singled out McFarlin for his fine service to the Department both as Acting Commissioner and as an assistant to now deposed former Commissioner Carol Molnau. As well they should.
As an assistant commissioner, McFarlin rose to the challenge of providing stable, steady information when the state was in a crisis mode after the bridge fell. [Arguably, Molnau's repeated deference to McFarlin because of his knowledge before television cameras was part of her undoing.] McFarlin accomplished much in his two-month stint as acting commissioner. He met with dozens of legislators to try to restore trust, and continually reminded people about the fine work that MnDOT employees do beyond the purview of the political spot light. He oversaw the closing of the bridge in St. Cloud.
But the most important thing McFarlin did, without anyone yet actually recognizing it, is that McFarlin took the animosity out of the debate.
We're betting McFarlin didn't get the permanent job in large part because of his public relations/public affairs practice resume. Outsiders were clamoring for a "transportation professional." In McFarlin's case, that's a shame. He would have been a good commissioner. We wish him well whether he stays at the department (Sorel should definitely try to keep McFarlin) or if he decides to move on. If McFarlin leaves, let no one forget he moved the Department on.
"I'm Tired Of Being A Criminal": Can Cannabis Break Crushing Cop Countermeasures In Coup For Cooped Up Cancer Crusaders?
The medical marijuana bill (SF 345/HF 655) has been generating a great deal of public debate. With television ads, editorials and opinion pieces, gravely dissimilar claims about the legislation are being circulated. PIM has checked into the language of the bill, examined claims in the debate, and studied the public relations strategies employed by both sides. A House vote on the bill is expected next week, and the result on the board promises to be surprising.
The Minnesota bill is quite restricted and specific, compared to the 12 other states that have legalized the use of medical marijuana. It regulates every stage of usage: Patients would be required to hold a unique registration card for a fee of $100, which would exempt them from arrest and prosecution for possession or use; the card is valid for one year; patients are limited to 2.5 ounces of cannabis per two-week period. The marijuana would come exclusively from registered, vetted organizations. Patients would need to have defined debilitating diseases, which are named in the bill (including multiple sclerosis, cancers, and certain severe injuries) as well as conditions the Commissioner of Health deems acceptable.
Letters published in major papers that oppose the movement for medical marijuana, often authored by law enforcement officers and county attorneys, predict dire consequences that seem unrelated to the actual bill. For example, Nicholas O'Hara, a Ramsey County inspector, framed the legislation as a part of "the fight against drug abuse," implying that medical legalization would increase violent crimes, child abuse and, of course, the traditional "gateway" bridge-to-other-drugs claim. He also claimed that teen pot smoking has increased in the medical marijuana states, while the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) says this is provably false.
James Backstrom, Dakota County attorney, writes to the Star Tribune with similar concerns. He claims that medical marijuana would "clearly lead to the perception that marijuana is harmless" and the same old doom and gloom about violent crime. Neal Levine, MPP's state campaign director, shot back that the Minnesota Nurses Association, the Minnesota Public Health Association and the Minnesota AIDS Project all support the bill, and nearly 3,000 medical professionals have signed a statement in its favor.
Arguably, these letters miss the point of the legislation and only address vague hypothetical scenarios, while ignoring the bill's language and experiences in the other states. The only way opponents can frame the debate is by deliberately ignoring when marijuana entered the medical lexicon in ancient Greece and China: for them, reality begins in 1937, and everything outside the last century is strictly out-of-bounds. [Consult the 1972 report of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse for more background. The report concluded: "Marihuana should be accorded the medical status it once had in this country as a legitimate prescription item."]
In a PR coup for bill proponents, the Strib and Pioneer Press editorialized in favor of it, focusing on strong bipartisan support and the paramount importance of providing effective medical care to Minnesotans. Hoping to seal the deal, MPP has made a six-figure ad buy on local TV, with stories from real Minnesotans. The first featuring chronic pain sufferer Lynn Rubenstein Nicholson of Minneapolis, is also on YouTube. She concludes, "I'm tired of being a criminal." Two more ads will feature one patient's kitchen counter, covered with toxic painkillers, and another with a suffering former law enforcement officer. The ads were put together by Levine.
Battling rebellious state legislatures, the federal government is intervening via advertising in Michigan. With cash from the Department of Justice, the Drug Free America Foundation produced an ad campaign promoting TrueCompassion.org, which falsely claims that "every major health organization rejects smoked marijuana," while in fact national groups like the American College of Physicians, the American Nurses Association and many others actually support medical marijuana reform.
On Almanac at the Capitol [video], Rep. Chris DeLaForest (R-Andover) said the MN bill puts licensed doctors and patients in control, which is in agreement with his Republican principles. He squared off with Police Officer Association chief Bill Gillespie, who claimed erroneously that it has "narcotic" chemical components. Mainly it's a "terrible message" to send to the public, Gillespie said. Reducing the numbers of harmless, sick people among the 700,000+ annual marijuana arrests nationwide was another benefit for DeLaForest. Gillespie said that "marijuana cures nothing," and people should take the less effective THC-laden Marinol pills anyway. Gillespie said that "funny scrips" empower people to grow and sell marijuana in other states, even though nothing in the Minnesota bill allows anyone besides registered growers to grow. "This thing is an idea... The hardest thing in law enforcement is to fight an idea, anywhere in the world. We cannot, will not, agree to this idea," he said. DeLaForest added that it permits the smallest amount nationwide, and explicitly requires upholding the federal policies of the FDA and DEA.
While Gillespie assured Almanac viewers that GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty intends to veto the bill, the governor might want to take note of his friend U.S. Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) hedged statements. When McCain launched his presidential campaign on April 25, 2007, he said that "I will let states decide that issue," though he has also provided the usual Republican anti-drug hawk messages, as well.
The reality is that marijuana has been known for well over a thousand years to relieve certain types of pain, and the Legislature has crafted a tight, bipartisan bill that is congruent with federal law. If we can create jobs by generating biodiesel and ethanol from industrial hemp, then Minnesota will once more be making proper use of this versatile plant.
The Biofuels Battle: Biodiesel Edition
With the somewhat unwieldy ag and vets omnibus supplemental budget bill (HF 1812/SF 3813) getting finalized, the hard work of amending it has been spun out into topical, bicameral working groups. PIM sat in on the House and Senate Agriculture & Veterans Working Group chaired by Rep. Al Juhnke (DFL-Willmar) and Sen. Jim Vickerman (DFL-Tracy), and the result was an amiable deal with a hefty slice of barnyard humor. Steve Dille (R-Dassel) wondered why mule and llama producers would be eligible for investment grants (we learned that llamas are aggressive defenders of livestock against coyotes!). Rep. Brad Finstad (R-Comfrey) threw in: "Now I can tell my wife in all honesty I dealt with asses today," which brought the house down.
Yesterday, the Omnibus Agriculture and Veterans policy bill (SF 3683/HF 3902) hit the House floor, and it got quite a bit of flak. Some Democrats were concerned that the proposed policy would simply extend the rapidly worsening global food price crisis, as biofuel production displaces consumer food production. Most Republicans were generally skeptical.
Juhnke drew a distinction between corn-based ethanol, which consumes the starchy part of the plant via current technology, and the often soy-based biodiesel production, which consumes non-edible extracted oils. [Recycled animal fats are another source of biodiesel.] Juhnke's ag policy bill would increase the biodiesel fuel mandate over the next few years, and Juhnke says that new technologies like oil-producing algae (which could feed upon wastewater) will be able to cover the increased mandate.
Additionally, there are biodiesel off-ramps which suspend the high blend requirement if prices get too high in the future. Biodiesel is supported by truckers, Juhnke said, because it lubricates engines and provides higher fuel economy. There is some concern that it may be too viscous at low temperatures, so the biodiesel blend mandate would not be boosted during the winter until there's proof it's smooth enough.
Many people say that increased ethanol blend mandates are spiking global food prices, but it's important to realize the price of oil has never been higher, which pushes up food prices at many stages of production. While working on the PIM Directory, many legislators told us that new cellulosic ethanol production technologies are functioning in various labs, but are not yet commercially viable. Meanwhile, we must remember that the Chinese are working furiously on ethanol at state-funded labs, and Brazil has led sugarcane-based ethanol production to incredibly low prices. [There's a whopping $.54/gallon federal ethanol tariff to keep out the cheap Brazilian stuff.]
We are concerned that the ethanol mandates have come in a few years too early: with cellulosic ethanol, a much wider variety of plants can be turned into ethanol, but it's still difficult to crack the cellulose molecules cheaply. Basic research is paying off here, and biofuel advances are coming from unlikely sectors: Brian Krohn, an undergrad at Augsburg College helped figure out how to use metal oxide catalysts to sidestep the toxic acidic catalyst cracking stage of biodiesel. This trick has been integrated into the new "Mcgyan Process," which will be commercially implemented by Anoka-based Ever Cat Fuels at a new facility in Isanti. The Mcgyan Process, developed by Dr. Clayton McNeff, Dr. Arlin Gyberg and Dr. Bingwen Yan, can use a variety of feedstocks, doesn't require much water, creates virtually no waste, and can potentially operate at farms without large amounts of acids or bases.
There's also a provision to start industrial hemp production as soon as the DEA approves it, and there was a full day of committee hemp testimony earlier in the session. North Dakota is demanding hemp rights and the Canadians are all over it. Biodiesel can be produced from it, Juhnke said, as well as high-quality textile materials [this PIM writer can testify to the crisp toughness of an indestructible green hemp t-shirt]. The exceptionally long cellulose molecules can also produce ethanol. Hemp would "enhance" anti-pot law enforcement efforts by genetically degrading the THC level in illegally grown marijuana, Juhnke offered, implicitly via pollination. He sees it as an alternative rotational crop for northern/northwestern Minnesota. It's one of the best cash crops there is, said Rep. Bob Gunther (R-Fairmont). "A lot of our Chinese silk ties" are made out of hemp, he added.
Legislative Legwork
House DFLers are feeling pretty good about their proposed property tax reforms. While it's a proposal for a progressive shift in the taxation system, there are important points of agreement with the governor: it's revenue-neutral (total property tax receipts won't change), and will direct property tax relief directly to individuals through rebate checks, as he'd wanted. But who has to pay more? People with high incomes and low property tax burdens will get a bigger bite, which won't include "95%" of the state's taxpayers, we were told.
This PIM writer has to wonder whether the GOP is making effective use of its time on the House floor. Perhaps it takes more experience to appreciate the subtlety of the kabuki dance, but it often appears that the GOP mainly is interested in staging somewhat convoluted amendment votes that really don't matter at all. On Monday, a colossal amount of legislative time got burned off debating a Minneapolis riverfront development corporation bill (SF 3303/ HF 3692 ), which the GOP leadership thought an opportune venue to make a stand against the policy of sanctuary cities. They offered an amendment making it illegal for a sanctuary city to set up a riverfront development corporation, and the debate that turned to forcing cities to enforce federal immigration policy seemed pretty much endless and irrelevant.
While the DFL leadership seems amenable to letting the GOP run their available course, it just doesn't feel like an effective use of everyone's limited time. Additionally, a handful of loquacious GOP members [one of them no longer within the caucus] seem to consume a huge proportion of the GOP's floor time. In the interest of fairness, the GOP and DFL leadership ought to work on sharing the time out to more members, so the 'talky caucus' doesn't seize the floor so much.
There are strong prospects for a bill (SF 1128/HF 219) which lets private-sector employees use their sick leave to care for the "illness of or injury to the employee's child, spouse, sibling, parent, grandparent or stepparent." It's backed by the AARP and the Alzheimer's Association. That association said that unpaid Alzheimer's caregiving provided by Minnesotans is equivalent to more than $1.5 million a year, and the AARP said that 80 to 90 percent of long-term care is provided by unpaid family members; AARP estimates that nearly one-quarter of U.S. household are involved with caring for relatives and friends over 50. Thirty-two other states have laws letting employees apply sick time to care for adult family members. Without programs like this, the burden of caring for chronically ill adults would lean even further on Medicaid, the Alzheimer's Association warns.
PIM Blogger Q&A: King Banaian, Of SCSU Scholars
By Peter Bartz-Gallagher
This week we feature another interview with a political blogger. King Banaian, who writes at SCSU Scholars. He is a professor and chair of the economics department at St. Cloud State University. Banaian's work is routinely linked to in our our Morning Reports, as he brings a thoughtful focus on economics to the conservative conversation in Minnesota.
Politics in Minnesota: Your blog is unique on the Minnesota scene in that it comes out of an academic institution. What do you, as a self-identified scholar, add to the conservative conversation in Minnesota or nationwide? Do you strive for a specifically intellectual or academic approach in your writing or selection of topics?
King Banaian: When the blog started in 2002, the idea was to give conservatives outside of academia a view of topics happening on campuses that would be of interest to those off our campus. We had four authors then -- I'm the only one left. We focused at first on issues in higher education.
When I ended up alone on the blog, I decided to bring more economics to it, and when I eventually started doing the Final Word on AM 1280 I added state politics to the mix of issues. That actually feels now like a very natural niche for me, though my training is as a monetary economist. I should add that I'm not the only blogging academic economist in Minnesota. Phil Miller is a professor at MSU Mankato and writes a good blog called Market Power. There may be others.
PIM: What about economics and politics inspires you?
KB: My fields in graduate school were monetary economics and public economics. My teachers were heavily influenced by the public choice school, and that has stuck with me. I'm inspired to teach young people how to see the world in a way that makes mundane things a lesson in something more profound. I love teaching, and that is part of what makes blogging a great outlet for academics. It's access to more students, which a good teacher is always looking for.
I'm an admirer of Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek. I grew up in New Hampshire, so national politics is in my blood from the first primaries. I dropped literature for [George] McGovern as a teen, and drove a Congressional candidate as a Young Republican. One of my teachers, for whom I worked as a research assistant in grad school, Craig Stubblebine, was working while I was there on tax limitation legislation and the consequences of Proposition 13, which had passed two years before I started studying with him. So I've always had the interest in politics.
PIM: What do you think of the economics coverage in major media? Does your blog fill a gap in political-economic coverage in Minnesota? Specifically, do you act as a conservative counterpoint in the news commentary world?
KB: That's interesting. I know I'm seen as a conservative writer and when I wrote about higher education more that made sense to me. But when I write about economics I'm trying to speak from a more professional position. My area of economics, such as my use of public choice to explain political behavior, probably sounds conservative to non-economists, but I don't know that it does to economists. I'm perhaps unaware of my own politics here.
In Minnesota, and in particular in Central Minnesota, there is space for a public intellectual who is trained in economics. Economic change and economic stress (the result of change) is around us and I have found more people asking me very interesting questions about the local and state economy. There are demands of writers in the major media that I don't face, that I find are moving discussion in unfruitful directions, and I'm trying to get them back onto a better path. I get to talk to business writers and journalists who are wrestling with some serious questions by trying to learn just enough to get that story out by the deadline. I like a longer conversation where the reader and I are reframing questions to find answers that have broader application. I don't know that this is a counterpoint, but it is a conversation that has give-and-take. I can talk with data and display it in ways the journalist doesn't know how to do, but they know how to tell a story of a family that illustrates what I'm trying to say in a way that captures the imagination.
PIM: What role, if any, does your day-to-day scholarship play in your blogging? Do you get inspiration from students or from your coursework and research?
KB: I think my students know about the blog; they will tell me they are readers (or listeners to the radio show.) But otherwise the class doesn't play on the blog too often. I did blog a set of lectures for an introductory class once, because I thought it was the one case where the reader passing by might read.
My research plays a bigger role. When the Orange Revolution in Ukraine was ongoing, I was able to draw on my experience as an advisor at the National Bank of Ukraine (whose governor was Viktor Yuschenko, the current president). By blogging that experience and sharing it with some other blogs by mailing links, I could reach a larger audience. I've traveled to many other countries and been able to draw on those experiences too. Likewise, my writings on central banks make for good blogging on the Federal Reserve during the last two years of transition to Ben Bernanke and the mortgage crisis. So research and coursework come into it as events in the news provide a venue.
PIM: More about campus: Certainly the issue of free speech is important in the currency of conservative academia. How do you as a conservative scholar fit in at SCSU? What about St. Cloud State is appealing to you?
KB: I think people misunderstand my relationship with SCSU. It is a very liberal campus, once referred to as the Ground Zero of political correctness. But it's always been a reasonably good school to me. There are some who will complain about me, or about the blog, but there are many liberal academics here who enjoy debate, who I'm happy to consider friends. And I love my students, for whom the world is still something to be discovered when they come here. Most come from relatively modest backgrounds; the opportunity to present that discovery to them is fantastic.
The desire to suppress free speech happens here, but it's not unique to SCSU. It happens in many places. In the last year we've had a debate about our response to the use of swastikas as graffiti and what constitutes protected speech. Just this week we have a similar discussion around students wanting to protest their inability to carry concealed weapons on campus by wearing empty gun holsters. I would argue that after despairing for free speech here a few years ago, I've been surprised with the quality of debate here lately. It is tempting to say that the apparatus of higher education is broken and cannot be fixed, so let's abandon it. I do not believe this is at all necessary or desirable.
Bits & Pieces
Congratulations to the Star Tribune. The paper is one of only 11 in the country that showed an increase in the average amount of time spent on its Web site. In March 2007, the Strib averaged 25 minutes and 52 seconds and in March 2008, that number grew to 33 minutes and two seconds.
Rothenberg's latest House Race Ratings, which rate U.S. House races where the incumbent faces a challenge deemed legitimate, are in and three Minnesota districts make an appearance. The 1st (rated lean Democrat), and 6th (Republican favored) will see serious battles as two freshman incumbents battle for a second term, and the 3rd (pure toss-up) will see political newcomer Ashwin Madia battle Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Eden Prairie).
U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) gained the support of the National Federation of Independent Business, the nation's leading small business association. The NFIB cited Coleman's voting record with respect to small business as their reason for the endorsement.
DFL Congressional hopeful Steve Sarvi, challenging U.S. Rep. John Kline (R-MN2), received two additional endorsements. Two unions, AFL-CIO COPE and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have been added to an endorsement list which already includes five other unions.
Sixth Congressional District DFL candidate Elwyn Tinklenberg is having a breakfast with tasty local food for the party faithful at 8:30 a.m. this Saturday, April 26th, prior to the DFL nomination convention. Tinklenberg is thought to have the upper hand with delegates. The breakfast and convention are at the Bunker Hills Activity Center in Andover.
U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN8), upset over the National Transportation Safety Board's decision not to hold a public hearing on the I-35W Bridge collapse, dressed down NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker. The video is available at TheUptake.org website.
What is the worst political advertisement of the year? Well, you can find out at the "Second Quadrennial Worst Political Advertising in America Awards" sponsored by Growth & Justice. Hosted by former CNN correspondent Aaron Brown, featured guests include House Speaker Margaret Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis), Sen. Steve Dille (R-Dassel), Mayors R.T. Rybak and Chris Coleman, Mitch Pearlstein, and PIM publisher Sarah Janecek. The event is May 21st at the Pantages Theater at 8 p.m. For ticket information visit the Growth & Justice website.
In the State of the State address this past February, Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced the creation of a tax reform commission. The commission, consisting of 15 members, will examine ways to improve Minnesota's tax laws which the Governor sees as outdated. The members are; Michael Vekich, Philip Albert, David Beito, William Belanger, Danielle Buchberger, David Carlsen, Corey Haaland, Mark Haveman, Joy Lindsay, Wendell Maddox, Gerald Morris, Rebecca Paulsen, Kate Rubin, John Spry, and David Welliver. For bios see the Governor's press release.
The Governor also named eight to the State Rehabilitation Council. The new appointees are; Minneapolis attorney Anne Robertson, Governor's Workforce Development Council board member Terance Smith, Coordinator of disability services at Minnesota State University at Mankato Greg Toutges, and business owner Cindy Ulven. The four returning appointees are; social worker Kimberly Peck, Director of transition and workforce partnership for the PACER Center Sean Roy, executive director of the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota Ardis Sandstrom, and Director of development at Merrick Stephanie Morris. The State Rehabilitation Council assists the DEED in making decisions about the Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program. In more reappointment news, Louise Sudin and Dr. Daniel Sullivan were named to the Board of School Administrators. Sudin, a member of the Teacher Union Reform Network, and Sullivan, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, will serve four year terms which expire in January 2012.
This week Felicia Boyd and Hilda Betterman were confirmed to the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. Both were originally appointed to the board in 2004 and have current terms that will last until 2012.
"Decision 2008: An Insider's View of the Presidential Race" is the speech topic for Judy Woodruff, Senior Political Correspondent of PBS's News Hour with Jim Lehrer, presented by the Jewish Community Relations Council. The speech is June 1st, at 8:00 p.m. for ticket information click here.
The University of Minnesota Labor Education Service is sponsoring the conference "Crisis of Disinvestment: Organizing to Rebuild our Communities" to discuss the lagging investment in our state and country. The day-and-half long conference is May 30th and 31st. Register here.
Get ready to rumble. The title bout is May 7th at 8 p.m. at the Northland. Come and sit ringside as locally syndicated national radio talkers duke it out: AM 950 personality Ed Schultz battles AM 1280 personality Michael Medved in some fierce verbal sparring that is sure to entertain. Tickets are only $20 if purchased in advance, which can be done here.
The McKnight Foundation named Jane Maland Cady as international program director. Maland Cady has 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
Art Berman, an Executive Fellow at the University of St. Thomas' Opus School of Business, was named President and Chief Executive Office for Twin Cities RISE!
Congratulations to Leonard Street Deinard's Vicki Nielsen for astutely catching a glaring error in our last issue: Bob Vanasek was incorrectly referred to as Honorary Counsel, when in fact he is Honorary Consul.
Lobbyist Watch
From the Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board:
Morning Reports
