Amazing - My fortune cookie from lunch today said:

"Compromise is always wrong if it means sacrificing a principle."

Maybe the GOP reps should have had Chinese food today as well.

Here are the GOP limp-wristed pussies that subverted YOUR statutory right to vote on the Twins referenDUMB. Note…all but TWO of this weasels are from OUTSIDE Hennepin county. I have a rotten egg for each of them, if I find them at the State Convention this year.

Abeler (Anoka County)
Blaine (Morrison County)
Bradley (Olmsted County)
Brod (Sibley/LeSueur Counties)
Charron (Washington County)
Cox (Scott/Goodhue Counties)
Cybart (Scott County)
Davids (Fillmore/Houston Counties)
Demmer (Dodge/Steele Counties)
Dempsey (Goodhue County)
Dorman (Freeborn County)
Finstad (Brown County)
Garofalo (Dakota County)
Gazelka (Crow Wing County)
Gunther (Martin County)
Hamilton (Cottonwood County)
Heidgerken (Stearns/Pope Counties)
Hoppe (Carver County)
Lanning (Clay County)
Magnus (Rock/Murray/Pipestone Counties)
McNamara (Washington County)
Meslow (Washington/Anoka Counties)
Peter Nelson (Chisago County)
Nornes (Ottertail County)
Ozment (Dakota County)
Penas (Roseau/Kittson)
Neil Peterson (HENNEPIN COUNTY)
Samuelson (Ramsey County)
Severson (Benton County)
Simpson (Wadena/Ottertail)
Sviggum (Wabasha/Rice)
Sykora (HENNEPIN COUNTY)
Tingelstad (Anoka County)
Urdahl (Meeker County)
Wardlow (Dakota County)
Westerberg (Anoka County)

Sviggum (Wabasha/Rice)

(Shakes head) Wonder why I've never given the GOP a dime?

Absolutely true. I e-mailed every GOP member of the Legislature and asked them, as a GOP activist, not to vote for any stadium package. I also made it clear that I was a financial supporter of the House Republican Campaign Committee.

Not any more though!

I'm writing Steve Sviggum (by the way, Mr Speaker, I'm still waiting for a reply to my e-mail of two weeks ago)and letting him know that I will not contribute one damn cent to the HRCC.

If I contribute, it'll be to candidates and incumbents ONLY who did not back public funding of a new stadium.

I also encourage other GOP activists to start withholding money from the HRCC too. It's time they got a clear and convincing message from us!

So in order to be a supporter of limited government, I have to support the notion of the state government denying a county government from taxing as it's duly elected offcials deem fit? When did the population of Hennepin County become unfit for self-government? As a supporter of limited government, must I support direct democracy, in the form of government by referendum?

Look, one can oppose all subsidies of private enterprises, while also concluding that government by referendum is a greater evil, and that the notion that the state government has the power to deny county governments their ability to tax as the counties' duly elected officials see fit is also a greater evil. How you achieve political goals is often as important as achieving a goal. If I have to sign on to direct democracy, or the principal that counties are no longer self-governing via elected representatives, then it isn't worth it, for then I'm sacrifcing principles which are more important to me.

The House bill allows representative self government to exist in Hennepin County, which is a principle worth fighting for. The Senate bill imposes the state government on seven counties, which is to be fought tooth and nail, even if it didn't involve subsidizing a private enterprise. Lumping them together as a betrayal of principle is not accurate unless one clearly illuminates what hierarchy of principles one has.

Will: Bless your heart -- it's in the right place but your brain, sadly, isn't. Is denying what you term 'direct democracy' worth the enormous pile of crap precedent that this sets? I believe in Federalism without a doubt, and I would agree with you if Hennepin County displayed the slightest bit of interest in limited government in the Goldwater sense of the term. This, however, is a cramdown so embarassing that it puts me on the same side of an issue as Nick Coleman, and I fear that I shall never feel clean again.

What is it about the right that attracts the True Believers -- who would rather stand on the arcane principle at hand here than exert any political effort to bring about a result that that is Right and Just but might be entirely true to their cause? Politics is sausage-making.

I, however, am about to swear off the sausage with which Barry Goldwater, Bill Buckley, Brent Bozell and Ronald (Peace be upon him him) Reagan nursed me if I see another spineless GWB or Pawlenty on the domestic scene. I thought we were done with the Nixon-Rockefeller wing at the 1980 Convention -- next time I'll bring garlic and silver bullets.

Be comforted, that in the big scheme of things, even inside the confines of the State of Minnesota and Metro Area governments, the stadium deals are still small potatoes. It's a building made of concrete and steel. Once it's there it's there, until once again the land becomes more valuable than the structure. Then it just happens all over again. Building stuff is fun, and fun is good. No? :-)

Observer, it is a shame that you lack the wit to grasp that it is the residents of Hennepin County who have the responsibility to govern Hennepin County, and not the residents of Duluth, or Rochester, or Warroad. Yes, like most people who purport to believe in federalism, you do except in those instances when it produces results you don't like. In other words, you really don't value federalism. Why not be honest and just say so?

It is also a shame that you lack the wit to grasp how the precedent of direct democracy, in the form of referendums, poses a mortal threat to the concept of limited government.

Not a dime for the RINOs at the local, state and federal level next erection......

They are all one party duopoly now and it is time to boycott and undermine this party system at both ends....

Next time to party caucus...ropes, torches and a tree...some assembly required....

The stadium/stadii(?) issue coupled with the hand outstretched by the Mall of American for another shakedown of the city of Bloominton for an expansion of the Mall (yes...the one with lotsa empty space and boarded up businesses) is just a foretaste what the DFL and Repubs got in store for us taxpayers.

This "direct democracy" crapola is pure bunk.

Will, according to your logic, if our legally elected officials want to amend the Minnesota Constitution to...lets say...remove Article 1...I guess you are just fine-n-dandy with that? After all, they are our elected officials...so they have the right to do anything they want. No more trial by jury, no more freedom of the Press, no more rights of the accused...sounds pretty good to me.

Now that I think about it, why shouldn't they go into State Statute and the Constitution and amend it to allow state officials to be all 10 year terms. Again, they are our "elected officials", and you don't want the People to have their "direct democracy" rights...right?

Let's cut down on all that votin' a-goin' on out there! Just because the Minnesota State Constitution Article IX, Sec 1 says the People get the right to vote...to hell with the People, right? Sounds pretty sweet to me.

It is also a shame that you lack the wit to grasp how the precedent of the selective ignorance of the rule of law, laws passed to EXACTLY limit government, poses a mortal threat to the concept of democracy and freedom.

Dave, could you please point out anything which has been done to violate Minesota's Constitution, or are you just pointlessly yammering? A bad law was passed by the Minnesota legislature, imposing it's will upon County governments, requiring referendums. Now, the Minnesota House has passed a bill saying that a referendum does not need be held, thus removing, in this instance, the impostion of the state government's will upon Hennepin County. Since I don't think the state government should have the power to impose it's will upon County governments, I favor the bill.

Now, with your titanic powers of logic, could you explain how a duly elected legislative body could pass a bill which does not violate the Constitution, and thereby violate the rule of law? Your non-sequiturs regarding bills that a legislative body might pass which WOULD violate the Constitution are pointless. Do you truly not grasp this, or are you just being intellectually dishonest?

Why won't you be honest enough to simply state that you don't believe in representative government, and believe that direct democracy is superior? What is so hard about that? Yes, I believe the state consitituion is flawed, and would be better if referendums were not part of the Amendnment process. Unfortunately, this could only be accomplished via a referendum. The state constitution would be better if it emulated the U.S. constitution, and required a super-majority of the legislature, along with a super-majority of elected county governments, to pass amendments, without referendums. You see, unlike you, I believe representative government to be far superior to direct democracy, and unlike you, I'm willing to forthrightly advocate that position, instead of disingenuously denying what my views are.

Just get rid of the old stadium...it's hideous. What a dump!

Just get rid of the old stadium...it's hideous. What a dump!

If the Minnesota GOP want to be known as the party on whose watch the Twins & Vikings left, they'll be a minority party for the rest of my life. And it won't be close. Majority parties aren't 'purist' parties. The sooner the Phil Krinkie types aren't running the party, the better.

subj to arouse interest