Category: The Incredible Shrinking Governor
-
Missing Inaction
SCENE: Former Governor Mark DAYTON’s house, on Lake Minnetonka [1]. He’s sitting in his bathrobe and slippers by a roaring fire, reading the Strib. His wife , Ana ORKE-DAYTON, enters the room. ORKE-DAYTON: I’m taking a stack of credit cards and taking the Porsche to the Galleria. DAYTON: Mpfmbfh. ORKE-DAYTON leaves, as DAYTON’s eye alights…
-
Baited, Switched
A long time ago, in a beautiful but cold place far far away, a communist dictator built a colosseum. Being committed to the populist flim-flam most totalitarians use to get help in seizing power, he named it “The People’s Stadium” – although “the people” only got to use it with the permission of the dictator’s…
-
Wishing
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: The Minnesota Supreme Court held that Governor Mark Dayton’s veto of all legislative funding was perfectly okay, because despite his attempt to de-fund a co-equal branch of government, the Legislature has set aside money to cover unforeseen contingencies. The Legislature’s fiscal responsibility rendered Dayton’s attempted coup irrelevant so we…
-
The Pet Governor
Governor Dayton agreed to a budget deal. Then, when his leash was yanked by the special interests that own him, he vetoed the budget: And now? Layoffs are imminent. Over 400 legislative staff jobs – not to mention the 201 legislators themselves – will find themselves without a paycheck pretty quick here: The layoffs could…
-
Protest Too Much
First things first: Mark Dayton is “governor” of Minnesota in exactly the same sense as Mickey Dolenz was the “drummer” in the Monkees. Tina Flint-Smith is calling all the real shots in the state. Mark Dayton is there to say stupid things and draw attention away from where the action is. But with that said?…
-
A Dollar Short
It cost $90 million to build the “Taj Ma Bakk”, the resplendent new Senate office building. Apparently they needed $90,000,100. Either that, or the people designing the building never had no book larnin’.
-
Our Underachieving, Cro-Magnon Governor
Governor Dayton calls North Dakota’s “climate change” policy quote Neanderthal“. And yet north Dakota not only has much better air quality (it’s smaller state – but all of those gas flares have an effect…) but Minnesota’s dirtier air is a result of the states boundless hunger for… … North Dakota coal!
-
Bulletin Bulletin Bulletin
Dog licks dog. Donald Trump makes a huge, vainglorous declaration he’s never going to have to convince a legislature to support. Facebook is full of cat videos. Cheap hotels are often sketchy. The Vikings don’t look very good this year. And Minnesota’s real Governor, Tina Flint-Smith, former director of Planned Parenthood Infanticide Hut, pulled the wires and…
-
Governor Tease
This is actually a post about state politics. But there’s a tangent. Along about thirty years ago, Holly Dunn – a twangy honky-tonk girl, and one of the highlights of country-western music at a time when the genre was still suffering through the last of its “crossover” mania – had a huge, but controversial,…
-
Impulse Control
This past week has been a really, really bad one for Governor Dayton and anyone who thinks he’s ready for prime time as a governor. First, it the promise (since delivered) of a veto of the K-12 E-12 bill over a few hundred million in spending that a bipartisan majority in the Legislature had already…
-
Dayton’s Epic Snit
The DFL controlled Minnesota state senate– perhaps concerned about the optics of giving massive pay raises to government officials in the state where in the “economic recovery” is affecting mainly, well, government officials – rejected Gov. Dayton’s call for the massive pain increases yesterday. And Gov. Dayton is… … well, not happy about it: “Now…
-
That Fourth Estate Of Ours
When was Mark Dayton’s last alcoholic relapse? What sort of psychotropic medications is he on? And why? Our media here in the Twin Cities doesn’t think you, mere peasant, have a “need to know”. But never let it be said the Twin Cities media won’t hold big government’s feet in the fire over the tough…
-
The “Governor” Dayton Pool
UPDATE: The contest now has a prize. The winner of this contest gets a $150 gift certificate at the St. Paul Grill. So you can eat – for a night, anyway – like the DFL plutocrats who rule you! Gift certificate courtesy the sponsorship of… … Well, I can’t actually say. They want to remain…
-
Profile In Courage
The DFL Legislature raises business taxes. Governor Dayton scuttled away from his party. The DFL legislature’s idea for plundering taxpayers to pay for Zygi Wilf’s real estate improvements – “E-pulltabs” – raised roughly 1/1000% as much money as it was supposed to. Governor Dayton huffed and puffed and blamed it all on other people. The…
-
For Those Tired Of That “Smoke Up Their Skirt” Feeling.
Daytonomics – a noun, referring to economic conditions that look rosy on the surface, but worse and worse the more one examines them. See also: “Potemkin”. The DFL is running the bulk of their state campaigns – the Legislature, the Constitutional Officers and Governor – on the notion that two years of Daytonomics have left…
-
Throwback Thursday
Governor Dayton says “the buck stops” with him in re MNSure: — Gov. Mark Dayton [said] that he ultimately feels responsible for the success or failure of [MNSure]. Dayton apologized for problems Minnesotans are having on the state’s health care exchange. The governor is promising to fix multiple website problems, as soon as possible. “I apologize…
-
All That DFL Happy Talk About The Economy…
…is baked wind. Minnesota lost 4,200 jobs in July, and is adding them at an anemic pace year-to-date: State officials said Thursday that Minnesota employers shed a seasonally adjusted 4,200 jobs in July. Meanwhile, they also revised June’s numbers downward by 3,600 jobs. That means that, year-to-date, Minnesota has added a meager 2,900 jobs, or about…
-
Solution!
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: The legislature raised the minimum wage law. Now the Governor says it may need to be fine-tuned. Why the change of heart? His sons own restaurants. The minimum wage increase will hurt their business. He should take a page from President Obama and issue an Executive Order exempting favored businesses from…
-
It’s The Minnesota Way!
So you want to effect some change in Minnesota politics? Perhaps right a wrong that you see? What’s the best way to do it? Spend years mustering supporters and changing public opinion? Like the Tea Party? Or sit in tents out on the sidewalk, warmed only by relentless NPR coverage, like “Occupy?” Nonsense. Just have…
-
Blowing In The Wind
Winston Churchill once said “I’d rather be right than consistent”. I’ve always agreed with this; I don’t personally care if I – or someone else – changes their mind on an issue, as long as the mind gets changed in the right direction. Turns out Governor Messinger Mark Dayton knows that quote too. Of course,…
-
Governor Choom Nasty
First, Governor Messinger Dayton says he won’t back a medical marijuana bill that doesn’t have the support of law enforcement – which is a little like saying you won’t back a seat belt bill unless it has the support of realtors. Then, Governor Messinger Dayton tells the mother of an epileptic kid to go buy illegal weed…
-
Chanting Points Memo: The Head Fake
Joe Soucheray got fooled. The entire Twin Cities media has either been fooled, or is playing along. I vote “playing along”. Governor Messinger Dayton and Senate Majority Leader Bakk aren’t “fighting”, or “at odds”, or “in a conflict” over the DFL’s so-called “tax cuts” (which, let’s not forget, “cut” less than 10% of the four…
-
What Minnesota Deserves
Knowing that the media will never allow it to amount to anything serious, Governor Dayton “takes responsibility” for the MNSure fiasco: Dayton reacted Thursday to a report from Optum, a unit of Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group. The report found MNsure’s problems are widespread and cannot be solved by the March 31 federal deadline for most people…
-
Open Letter To Alliance For A “Better” Minnesota”
To: Carrie Lucking, “Executive Director”, Alliance for a Better Minnesota From: Mitch Berg, uppity peasant Re: Chain Of Command Ms. Lucking, The “Special Session” to deal with disaster relief teed up a few hours ago. Just a hint; it might behoove you to copy your audioanimatronic marionette “Governor” Dayton on any legislation that gets proposed,…
-
Scope Creeps
As Gary Gross notes, the DFL seems at the very least to be floating as a trial balloon that they’re doubling down on the warehouse tax. It’s outside the scope Governor Dayton Messinger wanted for the special session. I’m torn on this one. On the one hand, I think that if the warehouse tax goes…