Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report - Vol. 2, Issue 48 - 6/14/2007
The Politics In Minnesota 2007 Legislator Of The Year
Many thanks to all of our readers who
wrote in with such thoughtful
nominations. One big surprise this year from
our nominators was how many DFLers
wrote to nominate GOPers and vice versa. We
think that speaks volumes about the
unsung story of the semi-return of civility
to the legislative process. That
makes us happy. There were lots of stars this
year and we'll get to the winner,
but only after we review--in alphabetical
order--the primary contenders:
Sen. Ellen Anderson (DFL-St. Paul). A
long-time environmental player who
cut her green teeth on the Prairie Island dry
cask storage issue in the
mid-1990s, Anderson has become the
Senate's chief environmentalist. This year,
she successfully shepherded through the
Senate the nation-leading renewable
fuels standard.
Sen. Tarryl Clark (DFL-St. Cloud). Not
only was Clark the competent
public face of the Sen. DFL Caucus in press
conferences, she also ably led the
E-12 conference committee in Sen. LeRoy
Stumpf's (DFL-Plummer) heart
attack-related absence.
Sen. Maj. Leader Larry Pogemiller
(DFL-Minneapolis). We've written a lot
about the bombastic Pogey, but when all was
said and done this session, he
earned some gold stars. Pogemiller remained
true to his plan and word and stayed
out of the media spotlight, smartly
delegating the public face his caucus to
Sen. Tarryl Clark (DFL-St. Cloud). And
despite all the gossip and backstabbing
about Pogemiller being ousted, he remains,
Senate Majority Leader.
Sen. Min. Leader David Senjem
(R-Rochester). Senjem provided a much
quieter style of leadership than his
predecessor, Sen. Dick Day
(R-Owatonna). Senjem proved quite effective
in working with the Senate DFL
Majority and making his caucus matter,
despite that caucus' super minority
status (with only 23 members to the DFL's
44). In the next few years,
Republicans think Senjem can truly
distinguish himself in finding good
candidates to run against some of the
vulnerable DFL frosh.
Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon
(DFL-Duluth). One high level Republican
Senator nominated her because she
"brought common-sense and strong
leadership to proposed
energy bills that desperately needed a longer
look."
Rep. Steve Sviggum (R-Kenyon). Losing
the GOP House
Majority was extremely painful for Sviggum.
Two notes here, even most Democrats
agree the war in Iraq hurt Republicans
everywhere, and Sviggum toiled for years
in the trenches to bring House Republicans to
the majority dance in the first
place. It would have been easy for Sviggum to
mentally pack up and phone it in,
which he simply did not do. Rather, Sviggum
flourished as a regular
Representative, applying what he learned as
Speaker to puncture DFL balloons on
the floor. He also championed politically
risky and cutting edge causes like
legalizing marijuana for medical
purposes.
Before we get to the winner, more about the
closest runner up: House Minority
Leader Marty Seifert (R-Marshall). As
we've written before, Seifert had
the unenviable job of trying to restore
morale after the 2006 election's
devastating loss of the majority. He did that
and structured awesome staff and
leadership teams, while at the same time
humanely managing a 50% staff reduction
(and Seifert saw almost every displaced
staffer into a new job by the end of
January). On the House floor, Seifert
organized great debates and offered solid
and attractive amendments that forced
vulnerable DFLers to take bad votes (more
on that in a future issue). In the
super-inside-baseball-but-significant
category, Seifert won important items in the
debate on the House's Permanent
Rules. House Republicans prevailed on the
one-year ban on lobbying and
continuing to prohibit fundraising during
special sessions.
But most important of all, Seifert kept his
caucus together on veto overrides,
culminating in the closing moments of the
session when all seven Republicans who
had voted for the gas tax increase and
transportation funding package cast their
votes in support of the Governor's veto.
Keeping the caucus together gave GOP
Gov. Tim Pawlenty the bulwark he
needed to be tough in budget
negotiations with the DFL. Finally, as we and
many others have noted, Seifert is
simply, smartly, deliciously wicked when it
comes to good quotes. [He works on
ideas on the long drive back and forth from
Marshall to St. Paul.]
And The Winner Is...
House Speaker Rep.
Margaret Anderson Kelliher
(DFL-Minneapolis). Like most Capitol
insiders, we
thought Kelliher was nuts to name 40
committee chairs after she assumed the
Speakership. But, given the rich tradition of
granting them based on seniority
and the fact that so many DFLers had so much
seniority, she almost had no
choice. Sometimes it wasn't pretty, but
her committee structure worked...and
those chairs owe her for their jobs. The
public seldom saw any cracks in the
85-member caucus, demonstrating that Kelliher
did a masterful job herding her
members. She closed the deal and got the job
done on time, even though she had
to jettison most of the House DFL agenda
including all-day Kindergarten, "Cover
All Kids," health care cost containment
and property tax relief.
If we didn't know better, we'd write
that Kelliher and Sen. Maj. Leader Larry
Pogemiller (DFL-Minneapolis) organized a
good cop/bad cop strategy.
Pogemiller was the bad cop, beating up GOP
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and touting
the need for massive tax increases. Good cop
Kelliher, for the most part,
refrained from bashing Pawlenty and did not
put herself front and center in
front of the tax increases proposed by some
of her members and fervently sought
by the DFL Senate. While there was a meltdown
on the House floor in the final
hours of session, as a general rule, Kelliher
ran a composed chamber.
Not bad for a former dairy princess. One
other thing. Kelliher never lets the
political become personal. She's very
well-liked at the Capitol by everyone we
know.
As an aside, we'd be remiss in not noting
the contributions to Kelliher's
speakership made by House Maj. Leader Rep.
Tony Sertich (DFL-Chisholm).
We think they were huge but we don't know
exactly what they were because even
though your GOP publisher was constantly
pushing for details, Sertich wouldn't
spill any beans. That speaks volumes
about Sertich as a class act making sure
his work to make Kelliher look good remained
behind the curtain.
PIM's 2007 Freshman Of The
Year
Making the frosh choice this year is tough.
That's because there are 53 new
people since the last election. In the House,
DFL leadership was in no position
to hand the frosh any official plums because
there were so many senior DFL
members hungry for significant roles after
eight years in the minority desert.
Subsequently, most of the DFL freshmen laid
low and learned the ropes (as did
the GOP frosh).
The Senate was a different story. Senate
leadership was thrilled to win seats in
traditionally GOP districts. DFL frosh
Senators were given significant jobs.
Nominations were all over the map from
readers, so we'll just get right to the
point and name Sen. Kathy Sheran
(DFL-Mankato) as the 2007 PIM Freshman
of the Year. A nurse and professor of nursing
at Minnesota State University,
Mankato, Sheran was the obvious choice when
picking a freshman to carry the
statewide smoking ban. She did the job well
and it's worth noting that of all
the laws passed this year (including the big
budget ones), no other law will
have such a profound impact on the daily life
of Minnesota's five million
citizens.
But a round of applause for all the freshmen
this year. Individually, they
comprise the most interesting class with the
most eclectic backgrounds we've
seen in years. That bodes well for the
way we still try to characterize our
lawmakers--as citizen legislators.
DFL Takes First Step To Move The Caucus In
2008
The DFL doesn't think it takes legislative
action to move the caucuses. Last
weekend, the DFL Executive Committee passed a
resolution recommending that the
DFL State Central committee move the caucus
date up from March 4 to February 5,
2008. That date has become the new
"Super Tuesday," on which 24 states
currently
plan to hold their primaries, including the
all-important states like
California, Texas and New York. The DFL will
make the move official at the
party's August 25th meeting and invite
the Republican Party of Minnesota and the
Independence Party to do the same.
The action, led by former party chair and
current National Committeeman Rick
Stafford, is not unprecedented. When
Mike Erlandson was the DFL
chair, he held the caucuses on the weekend in
an attempt to boost turn-out. This
past legislative session a tripartisan group,
the Council for Electoral
Leadership, tried to pass legislation moving
the primary from September to June
and the caucuses to February from March. That
failed, in large part because
incumbent legislators were concerned that
they would be challenged in a June
primary while they were in St. Paul for the
legislative session and would be
unable to begin campaigning in earnest or
raising money during the session,
which is a challenge anyway.
Moving the caucus is, obviously, an attempt
to make Minnesota relevant on the
national presidential-picking stage next
year. To do that, the DFL will also
hold a straw ballot so that Minnesota's
choice can be observed on lit boards on
all the networks. The move will obviously
entail some candidate advertising, and
will likely mean a few more visits by
contenders (and that is a few more than we
would have otherwise).
But perhaps most important of all, is making
Minnesota matter on the day that is
likely to determine both GOP and Democratic
presidential nominees. The
twenty-four other states currently scheduled
to have presidential primaries or
caucuses on February 5: Alabama, Arizona,
Arkansas, California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois,
Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Montana,
New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North
Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.
On the GOP side, newly reelected GOP Party
Chair Ron Carey wants his
party to follow suit on the February 5 move.
But the Republicans are being a bit
less bold than the DFL. The GOP is having
outside counsel determine if the party
can move its caucus without any legislative
action. [Strikes us that any special
session should include resolving any
ambiguity on the issue.]
Keith Full Of Color
Tongues are wagging in Minneapolis about U.S.
Rep. Keith Ellison's
(D-MN5) first franked newsletter. Unlike
former DFL Cong. Marty Sabo's
dry black and white newsletters, the Ellison
piece is a four-color glossy
affair. Paid for at taxpayer expense (and
presumably mailed to all households),
PIM wondered how much it cost,
however, a call to his office was not
returned. The Ellison "newsletter"
looks much more like a piece of campaign
literature than an attempt to keep
constituents informed. It includes four
pictures of Ellison, "Keith with labor
leaders, Keith in the classroom," etc.
Those pictures are notable because Congress
cracked down on this practice and
it's our understanding that any franked
mailing must be approved by the
Committee on House Administration,
better known as the Franking
Commission.
Several prominent Republicans are talking
about filing a complaint...the exact
venue of which is a bit unclear. And, talk
about irony, Ellison, who campaigned
on change and a do-nothing Congress titled
his "community
newsletter"...."Making
Congress Work for You Again."
Right.
A Bakk-Pawlenty Special Session
We have it on the authority of three Capitol
insiders that if there is a special
session, the agenda will have been negotiated
by Senate Tax Chairman Tom Bakk
(DFL-Cook) and GOP Governor Tim
Pawlenty. Due to the long-term
adversarial relationship between Senate
Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller
(DFL-Minneapolis) and Pawlenty, the inside
buzz is that the Governor trusts Bakk
more than Pogemiller to negotiate a deal and
stick to it. Not to mention that
Bakk was the chief author of the tax bill
that Pawlenty vetoed and perhaps the
only bill that the Governor or the
Republicans could use, politically, next
year.
If the Governor doesn't call them back and
there is no tax bill, the most damage
could be to House Republicans because DFLers
could campaign loudly that the
Governor vetoed property tax relief. A
property tax relief vs. inflation debate
favors the DFL; privately, many Republicans,
including Minority Leader Marty
Seifert (R-Marshall), know it.
Therefore, the Governor's best chance to sign
property tax relief and get a
compromise on the "calculation inflation"
(sounds like a School House Rock
rhyme) provision would be during the special
session, which would also put back
in play two major job creating projects at
the Mall of America and Thomson West,
not to mention the very-coveted local
government aid and, of course, the funding
for the Republican National Convention in St.
Paul.
The quieter chatter is that there will be a
DFL Senate Caucus the day before the
special session and that there may be an
attempt to replace Senate Majority
leader Pogemiller with Bakk. That would make
the usually less-than-special
special session a lot more special.
Swanson Finding Her Voice
After a minor speed bump from the political
dust-up over the departure of former
Attorney General Mike Hatch, Attorney
General Lori Swanson is
beginning to emerge as the legal leader that
many knew she could become. Her
announcement two weeks ago requesting the
MySpace records of sex offenders was a
swift and quick show of a strong political
gut feeling. She was second only to
rising national star Illinois Attorney
General Lisa Madigan in making the
request. The headlines will make great
campaign commercials but more importantly
she acted quickly to do the right thing.
She also immediately stands out nationally on
predatory lending. Calling on the
Fed to investigate was brilliant, not just
because it put Minnesota at the
forefront of this house of cards that is
mortgage fraud, but also because she
previously chaired the Consumer Advisory
Council to the Federal Reserve Board of
Governors. As chair, she advised the Fed
Chairman on consumer matters including
mortgage fraud and predatory lending. She has
national credentials on this
emerging issue that is sure to be the subject
of many congressional hearings and
state legislative efforts.
Another emerging opinion from businesses
facing legal actions or investigations
is that Swanson is balanced in trying to
solve problems, and in many cases is
not out to get headlines, as much as she is
trying to seek a fair and balanced
settlement for the state. Swanson, without
Hatch around to give political
enemies fodder, will certainly continue to
attract political shots but she has
proven that she is capable of leading an
office that demands leadership.
Blue Book Blues
Several weeks ago (5/23 issue not yet posted
online) we heralded the publication
of the 2007-2008 official Legislative Manual
of the
State of Minnesota (a.k.a. the Blue Book).
Secretary of State Mark Ritchie (DFL)
made this
edition a celebration of Minnesota's
150th birthday in 2008 and officially
dubbed it the Sesquicentennial Edition.
Unfortunately, the information we provided on
how to get the free book is no
longer valid because the SOS' office has
run out of copies. That got us to
thinking, how many books does the state
publish and who gets them?
Turns out the
Legislature decided these issues. During
the budget deficit earlier this decade, the
Legislature reduced the number of copies
printed from 15,000 to 10,000. The
majority of the copies go to libraries and
educational institutions. Each
legislator gets 20 copies (legislators give
them to family and campaign friends
-- proudly given, we might add, because they
are featured in the book). The
House's Chief Clerk's Office gets 500
and the Secretary of the Senate gets about
200. By the time the official distribution
list requirements are fulfilled, the
SOS Office is left with only a few hundred or
so books. So, if you still want
one, try the aforementioned places...and, of
course, you can always
buy
the 2007-2008 edition of Politics In
Minnesota: The Directory via our
website. True Minnesota political junkies
will want
both books.
2008 Presidential Campaign Updates
Another Presidential candidate is coming to
Minnesota to raise money before the
FEC's second quarter deadline, which ends
on June 30. Democratic Presidential
candidate and New Mexico Governor
Bill Richardson will be at
the Minneapolis Club on Friday, June 15 at
10:30 a.m. Richardson's visit follows
Senator Hillary
Clinton's successful
fundraising event earlier
this month. Also this month, Senator
Barak Obama has scheduled
a fundraiser in Minneapolis at Sylvia
and Sam Kaplan's
house. That event is scheduled for June 29.
Gov.
Pawlenty will again cruise around the Iowa
scene next week, campaigning for
Sen. John McCain in the northern part
of the state. Pawlenty is a
national co-chair of McCain's campaign.
Laura Nevitt, the volunteer leader of
the John Edwards Minnesota
campaign, provided us with more information
about the campaign here. The main
volunteer organization is called
"Edward's OneCorps Chapters," with
26 across the state. Also there's a
Minnesota Google Group for Edwards.
Ted Mondale, Minneapolis City
Councilman Scott Benson and U.S. Rep.
Jim Oberstar (DFL MN8) are
chairing the state campaign. More
DFL endorsements of Edwards are here.
Nevitt's email address is
lnevitt@gmail.com
and her public phone number is
612-708-4644.
Last week, volunteer organizer Corey
Stern formally announced the
Minnesota U.S. Rep.
Ron
Paul 2008 MeetUp Group, which has
quickly gained members (currently 122)
since mid-May. On June 5, they cheered
Paul's (R-TX14) GOP debate performance at
the East Bank's Stub & Herbs (a good
venue, since it's owned by former
Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Sue
Jeffers). They plan to
meet next on June 14th at the Hard Rock
Cafe. Stern's email address is
corey@coreystern.com and his public phone
number is 612-804-9486. Please
keep sending presidential campaign news to
newsletter@politicsinminnesota.com!
Politics In Minnesota: Bits &
Pieces...
Congratulations, Minneapolis Public Schools.
Government communications maven
Becky Christenson has been hired as the
district's executive director for
communications and public affairs. She'll
be working with Minneapolis' Chief
Financial Officer Peggy Ingison. The
two go way back....Christenson was a
policy aide to former DFL Sen. Maj. Leader
Roger Moe at the same time
that Ingison worked as a fiscal analyst for
the Sen. DFL Caucus.
News of the U.S. Attorney firing scandal, and
specifically former Minnesota U.S.
Attorney Tom Heffelfinger's work
on the Justice Department's Native
American Issues Subcommittee (NAIS), has
rippled deep into Indian Country (as we
have reported recently-not yet posted
online), prompting Indian Country
Today's
editors to state that "Justice
Department firing squad targets Indian
country":
Native people, and their votes, are among the main targets of one of the most brazen Republican cover-ups since Watergate. ...Unfortunately, the upward trend of the 'Native vote' has made it a prime target.... Essentially, voter fraud means voting while black, Indian, poor, imprisoned or gay. Voting - and having their votes count - has become increasingly difficult for these groups. This is the backdrop for the firing of seven U.S. Attorneys by the Justice Department in closely contested ('battleground') states: Arizona, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Washington, Michigan, California and Nevada. They are 'red' and 'blue' states, but look closer and see districts within them where the Indian and minority vote carry significant weight.... It is shameful that Indian country should lose several officials with records of protecting Indian rights. The fired attorneys served on the Justice Department's Native American Issues Subcommittee. They were Paul Charlton of Arizona, Margaret Chiara of Michigan, David Iglesias of New Mexico, John McKay of Washington and Daniel Bogden of Nevada. Carol Lam and Kevin Ryan served in California, a state with more than 100 tribes. Minnesota's Tom Heffelfinger, who devoted time to protecting Indian voting rights in the wake of the 2004 elections, was on the firing list before he resigned last year for personal reasons... 'The firing of certain attorneys and the testimony regarding Mr. Heffelfinger paint a glaring picture regarding how the DOJ is handling Indian country issues. And it is not a pretty one,' said National Congress of American Indians President Joe Garcia."
Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and Humphrey Institute Policy Fellows will talk about civic renewal at the Humphrey Institute Atrium on Monday, June 18 from 6 to 8 p.m. This is the first program in the Civic Minds series, co-sponsored by the Institute and the Citizens League. Register for the free event here.
The Center of the American Experiment's next event will feature Dr. Regina Herzlinger and her newest book, "Who Killed Health Care? America's $2 Trillion Medical Problem and the Consumer-Driven Cure" on Tuesday, June 19 at the Metropolitan Ballroom & Clubroom in Golden Valley. The event is $27.50 for Experiment members and $32.50 for non-members. Register online or contact Peter Zeller. Think tank president Mitch Pearlstein has an "unprecedented but confident offer: I've heard Professor Herzlinger speak twice... and came away each time raving that she was the best I've ever heard on [market health care solutions]. If you don't agree, we will be happy to refund the full price of your dinner -- and throw in a box of Band-Aids to boot."
Former Attorney General Mike Hatch has joined the well-respected law firm of Blackwell Burke. Blackwell Burke has been noted as one of the top minority-owned law firms in the country. Among the firm's clients are 3M, General Mills, and Northwest Airlines.
Former Congressman Bill Luther and Former Governor Wendy Anderson are hosting an event for DFL Senate Candidate Al Franken.
Congrats to newly-named President and CEO of Care Providers of Minnesota Patti Cullen. Cullen, a long-time fixture and well-respected lobbyist at the Capitol, succeeds Rick Carter who had been with Care Providers for 30 years. Best of luck as Carter makes the move to Las Vegas, where he will be playing poker and enjoying warm weather. [Publishers Note: Care Providers is a member of the Long Term Care Imperative, a client of New School Communications]
The St. Paul DFL narrowly approved support for Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), despite fears it would create voter confusion. Departing City Council member Jay Benanav pointed out that the city will need new voting tabulators around 2011, so waiting until then will negate any extra expense.
Politics In
Minnesota: Lobbyist Watch
--Who is working
what issues--
From the Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board:
Setting The Record Straight
We were egregiously wrong several issues back
in detailing the career background
of DFL U.S. Sen. candidate Bob
Olson's campaign manager, Eric
Mitchell.
He was not a former staffer for U.S. Sen.
Norm Coleman (R) and never
worked for Coleman. Mitchell was not a field
director for former DFL
gubernatorial candidate and Sen. Becky
Lourey, he was political director.
Other political experience on Mitchell's
resume: planning and executing voter
turn out for U.S. Rep. Keith
Ellison's (D-MN5) general election
campaign,
working Washington County for DFL U.S. Rep.
candidate Patty Wetterling in
the Sixth Congressional District, and working
for the John Kerry campaign
in the all-important state of Pennsylvania.
As always, we look forward to hearing what you like as well as what you don't about our new publication. Please, do send your thoughts to staff@politicsinminnesota.com or to the publishers, at blois@politicsinminnesota.com and/or sarah@politicsinminnesota.com. We'll keep your e-mails confidential, although we'd appreciate knowing what part of the state or the country you're from.
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