Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report - Vol. 3, Issue 42 - 5/2/2008
Running On Gas
House Republicans are energized by the amount of media coverage their 15-second "blame the DFL for raising the gas tax" ads have attracted. KSTP's Tom Hauser has the video here.
The ads have or will run in districts where the GOP thinks they can knock out DFL incumbents. That list, as we understand it includes Reps. John Benson (DFL-Minnetonka), Karla Bigham (DFL-Cottage Grove), David Bly (DFL-Northfield), Julie Bunn (DFL-Lake Elmo), Patti Fritz (DFL-Faribault), Paul Gardner (DFL-Shoreview), Kate Knuth (DFL-New Brighton), Scott Kranz (DFL-Blaine), Shelley Madore (DFL-Apple Valley), Sandra Masin (DFL-Eagen), Will Morgan (DFL-Burnsville), Kim Norton (DFL-Rochester), Marsha Swails (DFL-Woodbury), Ken Tschumper (DFL-La Crescent), Andy Welti (DFL-Plainview) and Sandy Wollschlager (DFL-Cannon Falls).
Several GOP insiders we talked to think the most important thing the media attention did was to make GOP House campaign donors happy...and hopefully, willing to write more checks. GOP donors are particularly pleased with how targeted the ad is: It was designed to run on screens above gas pumps in ads interspersed in KSTP newscasts. To date, Holiday Station stores are still refusing to run the ads. The official Holiday line is "no political advertising, period." House GOPers think otherwise: Does a gas station want to run ads reminding people about the high price of gas? Probably not.
There's been a big shift in House GOP attitudes about this fall's election. After months of resigning themselves to another bad GOP year, the House GOPers think the tide may be turning because of the Clinton/Obama battle and DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, who is now referred to as the "GOP gift that keeps on giving," with story after story highlighting new and different taxes Franken didn't pay.
One measure of the new electoral optimism is this weekend's GOP House campaign manager school. About 120 people are registered for the workshops which will be held in Blaine.
Running On Numbers
Meanwhile, Democrats are enjoying comparable optimism about their prospects against incumbent U.S. Rep. John Kline (R-MN2). The DFL endorsing convention is tomorrow, and Iraqi war veteran and three-term Watertown Mayor Steve Sarvi is expected to win the endorsement. What has the DFL jazzed are the numbers. Consider:
- DFL U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar bested GOPer Mark Kennedy by 10 percentage points (in turf that Kennedy represented as a Congressman in the old Second Congressional District before redistricting).
- DFLers now hold just over half (17 of 34) of all the legislative seats in the district.
- Democrats have picked up 11 legislative seats in the district since 2004, including the dramatic January 2008 special election win by Rep. Kevin Dahle (DFL-Northfield).
- In 2004, John Kerry beat George Bush in Eagan, once solid GOP turf (albeit very narrowly, by 598 votes out of 36,618 total votes cast).
Michel Brings Out The DFL
Talk about starting early. Bloomington City Councilman Steve Elkins has announced he will challenge Sen. Geoff Michel (R-Edina) in the state Senate 2010 election. We are hard-pressed to recall any legislative candidate starting to campaign three years before an election. As a sitting councilman, Elkins' early move puts every move he makes in the spotlight as motivated by politics as opposed to policy. As Bloomington resident John Heiutmaker wrote in a letter to the editor in the Bloomington Sun Current, "Steve, please put away the lawn signs and bumper stickers and get back to work on city issues...We need less campaigning and more governing."
Michel is no stranger to tough elections. In 2006, he faced a tough opponent in Andrew Borene, an articulate Iraq War veteran. Fortunately for Michel, Borene withdrew from the race in a somewhat spectacular fashion after charges of domestic abuse were published.
Getting To Know The Campaigners: MN's First Congressional District
Here's part one of a series we're running on who the top dogs are in each of MN's major campaigns. Up first is the First Congressional District, which promises to be one of the state's and country's most hotly contested races, with two Republican candidates looking to give incumbent freshman U.S. Rep. Tim Walz (MN-1) a serious challenge.
Chris Johnson, a 32-year-old attorney, is working as Sen. Dick Day's (R-Owatonna) campaign manager. Johnson, who has been involved in politics since he was in high school, worked for the Senate Republican Caucus, and also ran President George W. Bush's campaign in SE Minnesota. Upon hearing Sen. Day was running for congress, Johnson "wholeheartedly wanted to be involved in the campaign." Johnson realizes that defeating an incumbent is going to be tough, Walz has a huge fundraising lead, and a lot of out-of-state help. He knows public opinion can change quickly and realizes "national issues will play a huge role for the Republicans this year."
Dr. Brian Davis
has procured the services of Brad Biers
as campaign manager for his run for Congress. Biers is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas who has been involved in politics for 12 years working on campaigns for Gil Gutknecht, Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty. Biers was drawn to Davis because he sees him "as a conservative who can win" adding "Brian is a better fit (than Day) and a more reliable conservative." Biers, like Davis, is from the district's most populous city (Rochester) and is employed at the district's biggest employer (The Mayo Clinic). Both will be important assets in garnering GOP support to take on Walz in November. Like Johnson, Biers sees fundraising as the main hurdle in besting Walz whose
cash on hand exceeds $1.5 million.
Congressman Walz has 24-year-old Chris Schmitter running his campaign. Growing up in a political family Schmitter has been discussing politics all his life. A graduate of Georgetown University, Schmitter first met Walz in 2004 while working on John Kerry's campaign. Schmitter was immediately taken by Walz' excitement and commitment. He began working for Walz as his field director in 2006, and then as his legislative assistant following Walz's unexpected victory over six term incumbent Gil Gutknecht. "Walz is very positive and is doing great work in Washington," Schmitter said, attributing "the large grassroots movement in southwest Minnesota" to Walz's positive attitude. With Walz way ahead in fundraising numbers, Schmitter sees "getting the message out" as the campaign's largest obstacle.
DFL Sticks Up For Their Property Tax Proposal
DFLers led by Reps. Ann Lenczewski (DFL-Bloomington) and Paul Marquart (DFL-Dilworth) laid out their property tax reform proposal this week, and challenged GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty's claims about how their proposal would actually work. Lenczewski maintains that it's "impossible" to predict precisely what will happen to each individual when taxes change, but progressively directed changes will have a progressive outcome, and it's important to implement a philosophy that improves fairness. If nothing is done, one involved DFLer told PIM, 1.5 million homeowners will suffer raised property taxes.
As tax policy DFLers are fond of pointing out, those Minnesotans in the top tax bracket pay about 9% of their income to taxes, compared to approximately 12% for the bracket below. In their view, the property tax system is too unrelated to income; their rearranging of the available buckets would increase the total tax burden for the wealthiest, while providing direct relief to everyone else. Pawlenty demanded "more direct relief" along with two of his vetoes last year, and that's just what the DFL is offering this time around.
While Pawlenty says this would really increase property taxes, DFLers say it provides direct, progressive relief; on the contrary, the governor's proposed cut of $34 million from the renters credit could theoretically be called a tax increase. As an aside, 82,000 filers who receive the renter's credit are seniors.
The GOP, led by Pawlenty, criticized the program because it would eliminate the itemized deduction for property taxes on the state income tax. Pawlenty claimed this would effectively increase taxes for 2/3rds of households. The GOP said that 800,000 Minnesotans would lose "deductibility," a clever word which isn't the same as deductions: DFLers fired back to PIM that since so many Minnesotans don't itemize their deductions, this change wouldn't affect them at all. While 844,000 files who do itemize would lose that itemization, 600,000 would qualify for the homestead credit refund. 244,000, or 16%, would lose the deduction but also not qualify for the homestead credit.
Additionally, capping the property tax increases (at 3% or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is smaller) of the levy, as the Governor proposed, doesn't address the reasons why property taxes have been going up in the first place, and won't deal with the root of the problem, a DFLer told us. Besides, capping increases at 3% of the tax levy while ignoring local government aid (LGA) distorts the reality of government budgets: the levy plus the aid equals the "true budget." It's "unfair" because it suggests "we don't believe in equalization." It's a "Band-Aid" approach that doesn't work: 27 of the last 37 years had levy limits, the increases were "still about the same" the entire time.
Lenczewski and Marquart refuted the Department of Revenue presentation at Taxes this week; they disagreed with how the market value homestead credit (MVHC) phase-out was modeled. "Their scenario had more money going out than in," and thus the DFL plan's burden appeared worse. "We had an amendment to make it revenue neutral," but that wasn't modeled. It was "disappointing": their assumptions were "shaky at best," we were told.
The pace picked up this week at the Capitol, as the clock runs toward May 19, the constitutionally set deadline. Today, as we go to press, the Legislature is chewing through a variety of bills in conference committees. Legislators gave us snapshots of where their conference committees are heading, but all of them were quite hurried, and thus quite terse, this week. [We'll add that it's a bit tricky to catch the committees unfolding: sometimes they whir into action during floor sessions with little notice.] Here are some of the bills getting resolved:
Omnibus Agriculture and Veterans Policy: (SF3683/HF3902) Conferees agreed on a bill today, mostly adopting Senate language. The new biodiesel mandate features: 75% of feedstock must come from North America; importing palm oil for feedstock is prohibited; 5% should come from non-agricultural bio-resources like algae and wood pulp. There will also be a study on the carbon impact of biofuels as well as petroleum-based fuels in general. Just in case, the executive branch gets "off ramp" authority to scale back the biodiesel mandate if it gets too expensive because of events like flooding or a bad crop season. Investment grants for livestock were another major item, and counties wanted a waste pesticide collection program to get sorted out.
Catastrophe Survivor Compensation Fund: (HF2553/SF2824) One DFL Senator on the committee is concerned that the House's version would create a bad precedent and allow greatly expanded liability awards. This could mess up Minnesota's existing tort liability rules; the Senator didn't want to see the "blowing up" of the liability caps for all types of accidents.
Metropolitan Council Terms: (SF2605 /HF2662) The effective dates for when Met Council member terms end differ between House (after the next round of redistricting) and Senate (2009). With GOP backers in the Senate but not the House, the GOP might be indicating which terms they like more.
Dangerous Dog Bill: (SF2876/HF2906) Featuring penalties and provisions for dangerous dogs' owners, the bill has taken a turn towards food service concerns. The hold-up is an amendment rolled into the Senate side, backed by the Minneapolis tag team of Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis) and Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis), wherein patrons of outdoor dining establishments would be allowed to dine with their pets. Apparently this was the brainchild of Minneapolis City Council member Lisa Goodman, who knows a restaurant marketing move when she sees one. Besides obvious health concerns, our DFL source has serious reservations about the correlation between dangerous Cujos and al fresco dining Pomeranians. Acknowledging no real partisan divide, they were confident the bill would move along smoothly.
Omnibus Higher Education Policy Bill (SF2942) The DFL-controlled House and Senate are in general agreement on the language and it should easily pass. A House DFLer let us know that they expected the Governor would object to aspects of the bill. DFLers are skeptical about the governor's ACHIEVE program, which is a merit-based rather than need-based scholarship program. Also, the Legislature wants a seat formally allocated to a union member on the board of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, while Pawlenty might not.
Minneapolis Riverfront Revitalization: (SF3303 /HF3692) This bill, the product of a year-long consultative process, would create an umbrella non-profit organization oriented towards building a healthy river ecosystem, improved communities, parks and trails, while coordinating the many interested groups. This framework would likely streamline fundraising and keep otherwise independent projects within a common vision. It's targeted above the Mississippi Falls area. The difference between the houses lay in its local approval deadline, which was set to August 1, 2008. The Republicans were concerned about how much public funding could go into it, and the bill authorizes $50,000 in city funds with no future limits. Foundation and private funding will also be sought. It passed the House with 99 votes across party lines. The conference committee report was signed yesterday and awaits final approval.
Omnibus Transportation Policy Bill: (HF3800 /SF3223) The biggest item left to work out is the new primary seat belt violation rule, which the Senate added. Bits & Pieces
Long-time Senate DFL staffer (now retired) Tom Sand is recovering nicely, although slowly, from a major surgery. Sand is taking visitors and appreciates cards at Bethesda Hospital.
Growth & Justice is putting together an intriguing (and hopefully high profile) symposium during the Republican National Convention, titled, "Celebrating Minnesota's Progressive Republican Tradition." Former GOP Govs. Al Quie and Arne Carlson have agreed to speak at the event,which will include a historical exhibit featuring such leaders as former Govs. Harold Stassen, Luther Youngdahl and Elmer L. Andersen. The September 3rd event is still in the planning stages and anyone interested (including potential sponsors) are encouraged to provide "input, advice, inspiration or any kind of feedback on the content or focus of the event to make it a success" to Dane Smith, president of the group.
Over 10,000 volunteers are needed to support the coming Republican National Convention and Monster has been given the task of placing the army of kind hearted Minnesotans to their various positions. If you would like to volunteer visit the msp2008 website. Also, a few weeks ago, PIM mentioned the essay contest "Wave the Stars and Stripes" which encourages students to share what the American Flag means to them. The judging panel has been named, and it includes Saint Paul Pioneer Press political reporter Rachel Stassen-Berger, Director of Federal Government Affairs for Microsoft Corporation John Sampson, Qwest President John Stanoch, Brig. Gen. and former Minneapolis City Councilman Denny Schulstad, Deputy Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Education Chas Anderson, KSTP news anchor Leah McClain, and Chairman of the 2008 Republican National Convention Jo Ann Davidson.
The House floor was littered with male members wearing bowties on Thursday. Turns out that Rep. Neil Peterson (R-Bloomington), always known to rock a bowtie, brought in a good chunk of his collection for everyone, and "at least" ten legislators put 'em on, across the aisle.
6th District congressional candidate Elwyn Tinklenberg, fresh off his DFL endorsement victory, received the endorsement of the Blue Dog Coalition. The Blue Dog Coalition is a comprised of 37 conservative and moderate Democrats who look to promote fiscal responsibility, and common sense government. They're well known for playing the all-important U.S. House 'swing vote' role on many issues.
Congratulation to Saint Paul Pioneer Press political reporter Bill Salisbury, who was honored this week for his "consistent, accurate, thorough, and tenacious" commitment to public affairs journalism by the Premack Board. The award was named in honor of Frank Premack, a Minneapolis Tribune reporter, whose own commitment to public affairs journalism was the inspiration for the annual awards ceremony. Others recognized were; Kerry Ashmore of the Northeaster, Nancy Barnes and David Shaffer of the Star Tribune, Paul Schmelzer of Minnesota Monitor, Myron Schober of the TriCounty Record, and Christine Killion Valdez of the Rochester Post Bulletin.
The Citizens League is conducting a poll to compare the views of the general public to that of public officials. The survey, which has been ongoing for the past 18 months is being done to coincide with Minnesota's Sesquicentennial. To partake in the poll visit the Citizens League website.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced the appointments to the Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans. The council will consist of new appointees, Venora Hung, U of M law student, Tran Nhon, a management consultant serving minority clients, Tricia Perez of UCare Minnesota, Mechelle Severson an independent diversity consultant, and Wilfred Tun Baw, a Burmese refugee who works as a project manager for the Karen Support Project at Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota. Returning appointments include Bee Lee, program manager for English Language learners for the St. Paul Public Schools, Jodie Tanka, CEO of Tempo Creative Consultants, and Mukhtar Thakur, civil engineer for the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Jane Goodall, renowned primatologist and chimpanzee expert, will give the commencement address at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine Commencement Ceremony. Along with the commencement address, Goodall will be giving a public lecture and holding a news conference. The public lecture begins at 11 a.m followed at 12 p.m. by the news conference. The commencement begins at 7 p.m. All events are open to the public with no reservations required.
The McKnight Foundation is seeking nominations for the 2008 Virginia McKnight Binger Awards in Human Services. The Virginia McKnight Binger Awards will honor up to six Minnesotans for their commitment to the homeless, immigrants, refugees, victims of domestic abuse, and affordable housing advocates. The Six winners will receive $10,000 and will be honored at a fall ceremony. Nominations are due by July 7th and can be sent here.
Blogger Q&A: Dave Mindeman of mnpACT!
by Peter Bartz-Gallagher
This week we continue our series of interviews exploring the backgrounds of some of the bloggers we cover in our Morning Reports. We're pleased to welcome Dave Mindeman, whose voice lends a pragmatic and progressive take on public policy to the political sphere.
Politics in Minnesota: First, what's your background and that of mnpACT!?
Dave Mindeman: I, personally, have been a political activist since the '70's. I have been through many of the political wars with the Democrats -- but I consider myself a liberal or progressive more than a Democrat. My wife and I have worked on a variety of projects over the years -- Roxanne, my wife, even ran for the legislature as the DFL candidate when we lived in Rochester (unfortunately, she ran in 1994 -- the "Contract With (or on) America" year and lost). Motivated by a combination of our past activism, the obvious dishonesty of the Bush administration about the Iraq war, and the horrifying Wellstone plane crash, I and Roxanne made a commitment to do everything in our power to “elect just one progressive legislator from the south metro.”
Which brings us to mnpACT!, "a nonpartisan, nonprofit Registered Political Committee working for a more progressive government." Born in 2004 as the Minnesota Network for Progressive Action, mnpACT! filled a progressive organizational vacuum in the south metro. We had, in 2003 organized a small activist group that focused first, on a “Letters to the Editor” campaign designed to create a previously nonexistent progressive presence in the south metro weekly newspapers. That small activist group of about 20 people quickly grew into something of an informal “incubator,” which has to date produced at least a half dozen prolific letter writers, 2 legislative candidates, 4 campaign managers, and all of the rest, effective organizers and loyal volunteers. Then mnpACT! began to build connections.
When, in December of 2003, MoveOn produced “Uncovered – The Whole Truth about the Iraq War,” and invited activists across the country to host house parties to screen the movie, Roxanne and I hosted 1 of 3 parties in the south metro. Approximately 180 progressive suburbanites – virtually every one exclaiming “I thought I was the only one!,” showed up for the 3 parties, and became the core out of which mnpACT! grew. Though inspired by MoveOn, we decided to move forward without any organizational affiliation. We wanted the independence and latitude to do what we thought was most productive, without butting heads with MoveOn, the DFL or any other existing organization. Our initial focus was on organizing events conspicuously missing from the south metro political landscape. We continued to promote letter writing. We began inviting progressive officeholders and candidates to speak – candidates for Congress, Governor, Senate, etc. We began to host gatherings for south metro legislative candidates – reaching as far out as Red Wing and Northfield - to practice their stump speeches and build connections with each other. We published an extensive online newsletter with information about progressive events, as well as details on opportunities to help progressive candidates across the South metro.
When mnpACT! began in 2004, the south metro had 19 state legislative positions that were all held by Republicans – most of them very conservative. By 2006, 9 of them had turned over in an area given up for "dead red." Now that certainly wasn't all mnpACT!'s doing... we had a lot of good candidates, anti-Bush sentiment helped, and once the political conversation began to change, many new activists began to get involved.... but I think we played a role. We keep evolving, but we also keep on working on that all important goal of “changing the conversation." That is one of the primary reasons for the blog.
PIM: Unlike some political blogs, this one is part of an organization. Is the blog an extension of the org, or do you see it as more of a personal outlet for your writing and politics?
DM: The blog has kind of evolved into my own "rant" if you will. Others occasionally contribute...but we try to make it clear that blog posts are the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of mnpACT! itself. For a while, Chris Truscott was our other lead blogger but he moved on to become communications director for the Madia Campaign. We do keep a clear line between mnpACT! and party politics. Volunteers will overlap but official policy and events are ours and ours alone.
PIM: Do you consider mnpACT! to be an explicitly DFL-oriented blog, or does it strive for a progressive viewpoint outside party politics? Is there room for both sides?
DM: We are neither sanctioned by nor affiliated with the DFL - and will never ask to be. We may share mutual goals but we often diverge on methodology. Quite frankly, it took a long time for it to become clear to many in the DFL that having mnpACT! locate, energize and organize potential progressive activists, would be of tremendous benefit to their local party units.
The blog perspective is definitely progressive, and therefore tilted toward the DFL positions. Still I have criticized the DFL many times for backing away from progressive principle – and will surely continue to do so. I try to keep a more pragmatic view on electoral politics but when it comes to policy, my views lean heavily to the liberal or progressive solutions. I am sure that people assume I support all things DFL, but the fact is there are no progressive Republicans in this state -- Jim Ramstad was the closest to that and he is leaving. My wife is always quick to point out that mnpACT! has also supported progressives from the Green and Independent parties – and that if we ever find any genuinely progressive Republicans, mnpACT! would support them too. So far, she observes, it appears that progressive Republicans have “gone the way of the 8 track tape.”
PIM: What issues do you consider to be your particular interests or strengths? What should progressive readers be concerned about?
DM: I feel particularly comfortable discussing transportation issues and I guess the blog reflects that. As a pharmacist, I feel qualified to discuss health care issues. I like to occasionally dabble in national election analysis -- although I predicted a protracted Republican nomination and a quick decision on the Democratic side -- can't get much more wrong than that. However, I feel like I have a pretty good handle on electoral politics in general. Let's just say I am not afraid of throwing out a little analytical BS sometimes. I have observed the Minnesota scene for almost 30 years and I think I can apply that experience pretty well. Now, as for what progressive readers should be concerned about? Number 1 -- a complacency about the Iraq War. The economy may be the focus of the American electorate right now, but the Iraq War goes on and it continues to cost us dearly in lives and treasure. In fact, I would argue that the economic woes and Iraq are intricately related. Democrats keep wringing their hands and seem content to wait and wait... the pressure needs to continue. Number 2 Health Care -- I do not believe that health care can ever be solved without a true single payer system. Getting there will be difficult, but it is the only true way to save money and cover everyone. Number 3 -- Immigration. Although illegal immigration is a problem, I don't like the underlying race issues that seem to always lie unspoken in the background. Conservative methods of rolling other problems into immigration and then broadly blaming a minority group is an all too familiar pattern. Number 4 -- Tax fairness. At some point, this State is going to have to fundamentally overhaul its tax system. The up and down budget cycle is too inefficient and has become a partisan point of contention. It needs to be re-examined; especially income tax and property tax.
PIM: Where does your blog fit into the political conversation in Minnesota? What unique perspective do you add?
DM: A lot of blogs like to get into the political "gotcha" stuff or try to be the "breaking news" leader. I stay away from that because I don't have the connections or the time and resources it would take to do it well. I read those blogs to keep up on current events, but that is not mnpACT!'s place at all. I try very hard to maintain a focus on policy and analysis. I offer a viewpoint from a liberal/progressive perspective. I don't consider it to be right or wrong -- it is just an opinion. If it can invite some thought and ideas on an important issue, I feel I have accomplished something.
PIM: What blogs do you read? What other writing inspires your work?
DM: I read a wide variety of blogs...both left and right...and there are a lot of really good ones out there. I think everyone needs to read viewpoints that they may not necessarily agree with. It helps to refine your own perspective and occasionally you may get an idea that never occurred to you before. As for writers... Paul Wellstone's books still inspire me. I look to Kip Sullivan for health care policy...his book on the Health Care Mess is a must read. Columnists that make me think include E.J. Dionne and David Brooks . I gobble up information from many sources; I'm afraid I am a hopeless news junkie.
Lobbyist Watch
From the Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board:
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