Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:
Governor Dayton signed the budget bills, but vetoed funding for the legislature because he didn’t get the bills he wanted.
Some might think Dayton’s move was petty and vindictive. I disagree. It was genius. In chess terms, he’s put the Republicans in a fork – agree to a special session to give the governor what he wants in exchange for funding the legislature, or take your complaint to a court packed with judges appointed by Democrats. Both are losing moves.
Joe is absolutely right.
When all the moves are losing moves, refuse to play the game. The Republican Speaker of the House should say “We convinced Governor Dayton to cut spending for a third of state government, which is a good start. Since he’s defunded the Legislature, we won’t be coming back into session and that means the rest of the government will shut down when this current budget runs out in two years. Meanwhile, I plan to enjoy a well-deserved vacation.”
And Joe is even more absolutely right.
Of course he wouldn’t mean it. But it ups the ante. Every time somebody says “but what about” you point them to the Governor and say “Sorry, the Governor shut us down. Take it up with him.”
Joe Doakes
I dream of a world where Minnesota Republicans have that kind of political killer instinct.
I have seen this argument used, by John Gilmore among others and I just don’t buy it. What Dayton did was akin to putting Republicans in fork…by making an illegal move to create the fork. The king has clearly scripted moves. He’s powerful but there are limits otherwise the game doesn’t work. And before you say “but it wasn’t “illegal,”(at least TBD) riding roughshod over another branch using the limits of the law reminds me of the Brazilian saying “For my friends, anything. For my enemies, the law.” We don’t want to be Brazil. And I am not one of those people who thinks in order to beat Alinsky you have to BE Alinsky, because if you do, Alinsky has won already.
I dream of a world where Minnesota Republicans have that kind of political killer instinct.
Mitch, do you also dream of a world where the local news media would actually replay such a devastating sound-bite? C’mon, it would make their friend look bad.
Gilmore likes it? Then the idea must be wrong. 🙂
Margaret, you have the cart before the horse. You’ve decided the governor’s action was an unconstitutional interference with a co-equal branch. The problem is that’s only your opinion until Republicans obtain an Official Opinion, which comes from the courts, which houses such fair-minded and impartial chin pullers as David Lillehaug, whom we all fondly recall from the first permit-to-carry go-round. Betting on justice from him is a mug’s game.
This is a political battle. It must be fought in the in the political arena.