Tony Jones, writing at MinnPost,notes that M the “Marriage Amendment” is, as he says, a “ploy”:

Dear State Senator Geoff Michel and Representative Pat Mazorol,

Your party’s move to put to a statewide vote a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman is unnecessary (we already have a state law on the books that defines marriage as such).  It is also a political ploy, attempting to fire up the conservative base, bringing them to the polls in hopes of defeating Barack Obama.  I hope it backfires on you (and, if a recent poll is correct, it will).

The “recent poll” is just a Strib Minnesota Poll.  I’d normally say no more – Minnesota Polls are unfiltered DFL propaganda at worst, printed mulch at best.  Actual reputable polls disagree.

What this amendment campaign will do is flood our state with outside money from groups that thrive on an embittered and polarized electorate.

And I just looooove the way the DFLers are crying about that now.  The DFL spent the past two generations building an outside money machine; they’ve politicized our public employees, our teachers, our higher education system, turning all of them not only into DFL contributors, but spigots for outside money.  “Outside money” is a huge reason we have a Governor Dayton.

But, most tragically, it will send a message to my friends (and your constituents) like Rachel, that she is not a valued citizen of our state.

And here we get out of “obvious” and into “cynical”.

As I’ve noted, Gay Marriage isn’t a huge issue to me, in terms of policy – but it’s also not a government issue.   So when people like “Rachel” write…

In more than 515 ways (and more than twice that federally) our marriage is inferior to that of my opposite gender counterparts.I am not asking anyone to bless what Karen and I have. God has, and will continue to do that. What I am asking is for our marriage to not be constitutionally banned. I am asking that the state in which I live and love and have my being to not put my right to ever be married to Karen to a vote.

So rather than change those “515 ways” “Rachel’s” “marriage” is “inferior”, we should impose her version of marriage  – which she believes is recognized by God, and I won’t argue, but it certainly isn’t recognized by any major religion, or denomination, or anything, anywhere in the world – on all the rest of us?

The proposed amendment protects absolutely no one. It does not create jobs or attract visitors and would be Minnesotans to our state.

Either do most of our laws.

Back to Jones, who closes with a strawman that I’m getting tired of:

Read her whole post and answer me this: How is Rachel’s marriage a threat to yours, or to our state?

It’s not.

Stop asking.

Her “marriage” is of no consequence to me – I wish them well, personally.  It’s all the more reason to get government out of the business of defining marriage; let people sign contracts (or not) and get them blessed (or not) by any religion they want (or not).

That may or may not be what Tony Jones wants.  It’s certainly not what Big Gay or Big Progressive wants.  It’s not about gays’ ability to marry; it’s about solidifying “progressive” control of society and all its institutions.

During World War II, there was a story recounted by legendary Marine fighter pilot “Pappy” Boyington in his book Baa Baa Black Sheep.  He and his flight were involved in a dogfight high over the Pacific; they were outnumbered by a flight of Japanese planes.  He and his wingman, George Ashmun, got separated.  Ashmun called out on the radio trying to find Boyington.  After a moment, Boyington called back “I’ve got five Zeros (Japanese fighters) surrounded”

“Where?” called Ashmun.

“Outside this cloud I”m in”.

I think Hamline U prof David Schultz has gotten a touch of the same thing in  his “Schultz’s Take” post from yesterday:

If ever a party were trapped by its political rhetoric it is the Republican Party of Minnesota (RPM). With two weeks to go before the end of the regular legislative session it is more than ever clear that there will be no budget deal by then, forcing a special session and perhaps running a risk of a partial government shutdown on July 1.

Right now it does not look like there is a common ground or room for compromise–mostly because of the GOP–and the Republicans stand to be the biggest loser if there is a shutdown, so long as the DFL can play it right. Fortunately for the RPM, the DFL is probably unable to set the political hook.

That’s because the GOP is “trapped” by “rhetoric” that won it not just an epic victory last November, but turned around two cycles’ worth of crushing defeats.

We’re surrounded outside that cloud they’re in.

And they’re trying to “set the hook” with nothing but…

• …a message most of Minnesota refudiated last fall – 22% spending hikes per biennium, and private sector workers being obliged to work ’til they’re 70 so government workers can retire at 55.
• …A lot of sniping, carping and attacks.

Schultz:

Since January the positions of Dayton and the Republican legislature have hardened even more, with them turning more firm in the last few weeks.

First, Tony Sutton, RPM Party Chair, sent a letter to the Republican legislators urging them to remain firm on no tax increases. Second, Geoff Michel has stated that the Republicans have already compromised enough in agreeing to spend $34 billion or $3 billion more than they wanted. (Yet he did not indicate how with that compromise the Republicans planned to pay for that extra spending).

Er…with growing state revenues?  The way conservatives always pay for more spending?

Maybe Schultz was busy in March…

Conversely, Dayton has made it clear that he does not support these cuts. He also stated last week he would prefer a special session rather than sign these bills.

The lines have been drawn in the sand. There seems to be no room or avenue for compromise. Both sides are playing chicken, waiting for the other side to blink or give in. As of now, there seems to be no middle ground for compromise, rendering deadlock and partial shutdown a possibility.

Good.

Let Dayton impale himself on the message of “you peasants can work ’til you die so AFSCME can retire at 55”.

About a week ago, I started seeing leftybloggers writing posts titled “Why Does The GOP Hate Teh Veterans”.  I knew they were up to something…

The DFL, and Govenor Dayton, have moved from their usual tactic – beating us over the head with women and children and the elderly – to beating us over the head with veterans.

Via Gary at LFR, the commander of the MN American Legion begs to differ, in a letter from Senator Mike Parry (emphasis added):

Dear Governor Dayton,

This morning, I received a letter from the State Commander of the American Legion that recognizes the legislature has openly and publicly defended our stance to hold veterans and the Department of Military Affairs harmless in our budget. The State Commander correctly recognized that the honorable men and women that serve in our armed forces have been a top priority with both the Senate and House for the entirety of this session.

The rhetoric being used by your administration completely disregards the legislature’s intent to provide the funding necessary to provide care to our veterans in our state’s veterans homes, to assist veterans in securing federal benefits and to maintain the readiness of our national guard. At the first hint of discretionary authority, you directed your staff to cut veterans and military affairs.

And I loved this bit:

I grew up in a military household. I served eight years in the National Guard. I have been around the military and veterans my whole life and I know what leadership looks like. What you have done to the military and veterans community is not leadership.

Gary adds:

The sound you hear is Gov. Dayton’s facade of nonpartisanship shattering. The State Commander of the American Legion isn’t an honorary title given to someone for being a swell guy. They’re picked because it’s known that they’ll be the veterans’ fiercest advocate.

Furthermore, the American Legion isn’t a partisan organization. They’ve shown their appreciation for those legislators who’ve been the veterans’ staunchest allies, regardless of political affiliation. Testiment to that principle is the praise Republican Dan Severson and Democrat Larry Haws received in 2007 for their work on the veterans bill.

The real problem, of course, is that the DFL – faced with a GOP majority that has acted with unusual decisiveness to release a balanced budget that capitalizes on savings – is stuck arguing that the Minnesota Management and Budget office, whose commissioner (Schowalter) is appointed by Dayton and serves at his pleasure, is “non-partisan”, and that their fiscal models, which ignore realized savings, are valid in analyzing a budget that counts heavily on them.

MMB Commissioner Showalter has been at the heart of this administration’s attack on the truth. He’s insisted that his numbers are right even though the plain language of the House and Senate bills have mocked him.

Schowalter is a key part of Dayton’s campaign of obfuscation; he – they – are trying to make reform seem impossible…

Governor Dayton tells the legislature to “suck it”:

Gov. Mark Dayton says Republican legislative leaders are underestimating his resolve if they think he’ll back off his plan to raise taxes on Minnesota’s top earners.

Fewer than three weeks remain in the legislative session, and Dayton and legislative leaders aren’t close to reaching agreement on a plan to erase a $5 billion budget deficit.

Dayton seems to be counting on the GOP reverting to its traditional behavior – bowing to media pressure and DFL browbeating.  Their most recent model – the “Gang of Six”, the GOP “moderates” two years ago who caved in on a DFL tax and spend bill.

And we know what happened there, don’t we?

It’s not the same GOP as it was two and four years ago.

Dayton said the Republican budget is more than $1 billion out of balance, and that they should agree on spending cuts instead of relying on budget savings that will never materialize…

…according to a Management and Budget director that serves at his discretion, using formulas that are not designed to account in any way for savings.

“This is real to so many thousands of Minnesotans and they won’t now, two months away from the beginning of the next biennium, even tell the people of Minnesota what it is they’re willing to do to them. And that I do not respect,” Dayton said.

Dayton is, of course, unwillling to point out that down his path lies madness; 20% spending hikes in this biennium will be followed by 20% more in 2013, and more after that.  And if the economy improves, and tax receipts climb with it?  All of that will be spent too.

Dayton doesn’t want to talk about that.

Dayton said there’s enough time to reach a deal but worries that Republicans aren’t going to budge on their opposition to tax increases. He said Minnesotans want them to compromise.

“They want us to work out our differences. So it seems to me that they have that responsibility. I have that responsibility,” he said.

57% of Minnesotans voted against Dayton.  He’s the one that needs to compromise.

The GOP?   No way.  They got sent there with a mandate.  They had best follow it.

When I coined the various “Berg’s Laws“, they were – doyyyyyyy – tongue in cheek.

And yet for all that, they are absolutely impeccable reflections of human nature . Especially Berg’s Seventh Law:

Berg’s Seventh Law of Liberal Projection – When a Liberal issues a group defamation or assault on conservatives’ ethics, character or respect for liberty, they are at best projecting, and at worst drawing attention away from their own misdeeds.

It popped into mind this past week, when Governor Dayton, the DFL and the media (pardon the serial redundancy) accused the GOP of “theatre of the absurd” in its budget process.

The House GOP Caucus reponded – but “Berg’s Seventh Law” could have sufficed.

Becuase for all of the Governor’s chatter about “absurd drama”, it’s he that’s been stalling.  Which is, naturally (and according to Berg’s Seventh) behind the chatter:

To help the process along, the Legislature requests of all governors that they submit their bills within 15 days of their recommendations. This year, that deadline was March 1.

How mal has the governor’s feasance been?

Agriculture funding bill, introduced March 28, 27 days late.

State government finance bill, introduced March 28, 27 days late.

Health and human services budget bill, introduced March 28, 27 days passed deadline.

Transportation finance bill, introduced March 22, 21 days too late.

Environment and natural resources funding bill, introduced March 22, 21 days too late.

Higher education bill, introduced March 21, 20 days too late.

Governor’s tax increase bill, introduced March 21, 20 days after the deadline.

Education finance bill, introduced March 17, 16 days passed the deadline.

To recap: After failing to meet the deadline to even get his own budget bills considered by the Legislature, Governor Dayton is now demanding the Legislature meet his new arbitrary deadline.

The reason for this – as for most instances of Berg’s Seventh – is simple; Dayton can count on the fact the media will carry and promote his narrative, to cover his own slow, ponderous tracks.

I gotta confess, when I hatched the “Dayton Dust Bowl” idea way back last fall, I had no idea it would catch on like this.

But then, I didn’t think Minnesotans were dumb enough to elect a governor whose entire platform was “killing dynamism and growth in Minnesota” and “going back to the seventies”.

But Minnesotans surprised me – not in a good way – and so here we are, having serious discussions about raising taxes during a crippling recession after the idea of “raising taxes during a recession” has gone 0 for 300 worldwide in the past 200 years or so.

The Minnesota Majority, thankfully, is on the case.  About an hour ago, they rolled out…

…the Dayton Soup Truck!

From MNMaj’s press advisory:

“Soup Truck” Launched in Response to Dayton’s Job-Killing Taxation Proposals.

Aims to inform Minnesotans and help them prepare for tough economic times ahead.

Coming soon to a bread line near you.

Unless the GOP wins the budget battle this session, of course.

Coming soon

Dayton “wants the GOP to be honest ” about their budget cuts:

Gov. Mark Dayton is renewing his challenge to the Republican-controlled Legislature to come up with a balanced budget without raising taxes — and without hurting the state’s most vulnerable residents.

“They aren’t being honest about the cuts they would have to make to achieve their budget targets,” Dayton told MPR’s Morning Edition on Tuesday. “Tell us the truth about what the results of that would be and then we can discuss whether that would be in the best interests of Minnesotans.”

…in an argument where all cuts, or even cuts to the DFL’s planned increases, are assumed to be catastrophic, and the “best interest of Minnesotans” means “keeping government fat and happy at all costs”.

Lest you thought the DFL had trouble staying on message (emphasis added):

Dayton, a Democrat, has said balancing the budget through $5 billion in cuts would hurt nursing home residents and others, but he acknowledged that something must be done to slow the growth of health care spending. Dayton has proposed some cuts to health and human services spending and has asked health care providers to return profits to the state.

“We can’t just throw people out of nursing homes or deny them the care that they need,” Dayton said of cutting health and human services spending. “It has to be done skillfully.”

Interesting how Dayton figures that the budget can be done “skillfully”, but he figures the state’s nursing homes and health care providers are too stupid do figure out how to do their job with a lower budget – the sort of things that Minnesota families do every day when budgets shrink.

The DFL is vamping.  The GOP has beaten them; the only venue they have left is to tell the public that something that walks, flaps and quacks like a duck is really a schnauzer.

The Strib’s Bob Van Sternberg apparently was at the Tea Party on Saturday.

He noted correctly that the attendance was down a bit; while there were 5-7,000 at the rally in 2009 and close to 2,000 last year.  There were a couple hundreds there on Saturday:

A mere shadow of its showing in recent years, the annual “tax day” rally at the state Capitol attracted only a smattering of adherents on a cold, wet afternoon Saturday.

Van Sternberg is too modest.

Cold and wet is a May drizzle.

It was 33 degrees at noon, when I spoke, and there was snow on the ground, and a cold wet wind was howling from the north giving wind chills in the teens.  Not prime rallying weather.  More like Valley Forge.

And it’s an off year.  No imminent elections, no serious presidential or Senate campaigning, the Legislature is settled for another year.

But he noted I was there:

“Is the Tea Party dead because it could only bring out a couple hundred people on a cold, snowy day?” asked radio talker Mitch Berg, adding, “No, the Tea Party is watching them. The Tea Party is coming for them.”

After the 2010 Tea Party, some in the media and left (ptr) said “look at the turnout!”.  They were wrong, of course; they multiplied by a couple orders of magnitude and showed up at the polls in November.

By the way, an observer at the Capitol told me that attendance at the annual LGBT rally with Governor Dayton was “way down” from previous years.

Is it because the gay rights movement is dead?

Or is it because it’s an off-year, and the weather was  in the fifties and “wind-swept?”

You remember the old lawyer’s bromide; “if the facts are against you, argue law; if the law is against you, argue facts; if both are against you, argue like hell”.

The DFL is arguing like hell.

The Dayton Administration and the various DFL cauci  have been claiming that the GOP’s budget proposal is a billion dollars short – based on numbers from Minnesota Management and Budget.  As we pointed out the other day, MMB is run by Commissioner Schowalter, who was appointed by Governor Dayton and serves at his discretion.  And its forecasting methods, according to a legislator closely involved in the process, are highly sclerotic, well-calibrated to ring up costs but not to account for savings.

And now – not only is MMB’s leadership not “non-partisan” (as the DFL and its minions continually claim), but either is its data:

The Dayton administration engaged in a new level of hypocrisy today in the ongoing dispute over fiscal notes used to back up spending bills. Today’s example: a fiscal note from Governor Dayton’s Department of Administration regarding the photo ID bill which cited information from Common Cause Minnesota, an overtly partisan liberal group.

The Department of Administration used numbers from a Common Cause Minnesota report to back up its contention that a multi-million dollar ad campaign is necessary to inform the public about a new photo ID requirement at the polls. They also used information from two other outside groups cited in the Common Cause report, the Brennan Center for Justice and the Pew Center on the States.

Which is a little like declaring the National Ketchup Board a “non-partisan” source in a bill aimed at making ketchup a mandatory part of school lunches.

I talked with a MN state legislator last night.  It was a Republican from the western suburbs of the Twin Cities, by the way, although not one who is regarded as among the most conservative of the lot (and before anyone asks, it was not Rep. Banaian).

Being somewhat new to having interest in the budget process, I wanted to know more about the “Fiscal Notes” that the Democrats are yapping about.

Is the GOP bypassing them because they are products of Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB), which is a partisan office (its head, Jim Schowalter, was appointed by Gov. Dayton, who can also remove him).

“That’s part of it”, the legislator responded.  But there’s more.

More important than the partisanship is the fact, says the legislator, that MMB’s modeling does not account for savings to be realized by budget changes.  The models they use for calculating costs of budget iteams, in addition to being weighted toward racking up costs, do not (says the legislator) account for the money to be saved by the changes.  For example, MMB’s response to the GOP’s plan to consolidate the state’s Information Technology (IT) operations, in addition to the absurd cost projections (ten people, tens of millions of dollars), ignored the savings the consolidation would cause.

Now – did the savings get ignored because the MMB’s process isn’t designed to find them, or did they get ignored because MMB is run by a Dayton appointee whose employment depends on keeping his boss happy, ergo defeating the GOP?

Distinction without a difference, I say.

Former Governor Pawlenty is making a “big announcement” on Facebook at 2PM Central (3PM Eastern) today.

And you need to “like” his Facebook page to see it…

I think it’ll be to announce he’s taking over as head coach of the Wild.

What do you think it’ll be?

Two weeks ago, the DFL in the House and Senate together provided exactly one vote for the Dayton Dustbowl budget.

There was, of course, a theatrical letter from Dayton telling the various DFL caucuses not to vote for at – but there’s more than a little evidence that was sent to cover the fact that hardly any DFLers were going to vote for it anyway.  These things do not happen by accident on Capitol Hill.

Anyway…

Via the sources that he has so many of, Michael Brodkorb (via MDE) has released a copy of the DFL Legislative caucuses’ takes on the budget.

Here you go:

Indeed, so far this session looks like it’s been a three months vacation for the DFL.

After weeks of endless whinging from the DFL (“where is the GOP’s budget?  Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?”), the GOP Senate Caucus released its budget targets…

…weeks and weeks earlier than the DFL majorities did in the past two biennia.

Here’s the press release:

Leaders of the Senate Republican Majority Caucus have announced their budget targets for their forthcoming proposal to solve the state’s budget deficit. The overall budget spending level is set at roughly $34 billion for the 2012-13 biennial budget.

“Our caucus is committed to living within our means and not raising taxes,” said Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch (R-Buffalo).

The targets announced by the Senate Republican Majority protect funding levels for education, health and human services and increases funding for the judiciary.

“These targets protect the core constitutional requirements of state government. However, we absolutely have to scale back in the projected growth and spending,” said Senator Claire Robling (R-Jordan).

“These are appropriate spending levels for 21st Century state government,” said Deputy Majority Leader Geoff Michel (R-Edina).

Scraaaaaaaaaatch

Wait – Geoff Michel?

I thought the GOP was ruthlessly excising dissenters?  That’s what the DFL says!

Of course, they also have spent the last two months chanting about an “all-cuts budget”.

I guess everything the DFL says is suspect, huh?

Back to the presser:

“We will be incorporating substantial, real reform measures in our budget package to meet these budget targets. It is imperative that we reform and change the way government operates in order to contain runaway, autopilot spending increases and grow the economy.”

Moving forward, Senate Committees will continue hearing bills in a timely manner in order to meet the earliest committee deadlines in recent history. March 25 is the final date for finance committees and divisions to report appropriations bills. April 29th is set as the final date for committees to act favorable on bills in their house of origin and May 6th is the final date to advance bills or companions of bills that met the first deadline in the other house.

Here’s the big chart; today’s targets are blue, Dayton’s “Dustbowl” budget is red:

You’ll note that it’s not an “all cuts” budget – the DFL meme that the compliant media has been going along and using for the past two months.   The Tea Party would have liked to have seen some cuts – but the important part is, the budget lives within the government’s forecast revenue.

The other important part?  This is just the beginning.  Our government, as Amy Koch pointed out in her statement, needs to get away from its current funding model, with its “autopilot” spending increases.

King Banaian’s bill, HF2, will be a big next step on that.  As we get into the budget brouhaha, we’ll need people to start keeping the pressure up on their Reps and Senators to push this bill along – or we’ll just be repeating this past three biennia, with automatic forecasts being turned into bloated budgets and absurd deficits.

There’s plenty of work to do, here.

Yesterday, we noted that Governor Dayton has turned down all of the proposals from regional radio stations for what has become a Minnesota tradition, the governor’s talk radio show.

I had initially thought Dayton had a point for turning down the offer (albeit not for his petulant reaction); the audience would be smaller.

It’s not true, of course:

‘CCO says the Saturday slot has roughly the same number of listeners as Pawlenty’s time, around 50,000.

Indeed, they may be a better audience than the Friday one; weekend audiences stay tuned in longer.

But McClung points out that the Governor’s response – again, leaving out the petulance – makes no sense:

The other issue was that during the Pawlenty era, the show was on WCCO in the metro and was syndicated by Minnesota News Network and picked up by around a dozen or so Greater Minnesota stations, including stations in most of the key outstate markets. This time around MNN had teamed up with liberal stalwart Air America (owned by one-time congressional candidate Janet Roberts). Dayton had a choice between a solid metro station with a time slot he decided was an “insult” or a liberal metro station with little reach and a good Greater Minnesota network. He chose none of the above.

The KTNF/Minnesota News Network was an odd combination; MNN is a fairly sane, safe, sober operation, while KTNF is the “Ed Schultz” station.  Still, MNN has decent statewide reach.

But not only are KTNF’s ratings almost too low to measure (they’ve fallen off the cliff after the demise of Air America), but the audience is one of the least-desirable, economically, in the  metro – middle-class white people who aren’t smart enough for MPR.

And Dayton already owns that demographic.

I’ve been leaving aside Dayton’s petulant response, so far.  But let’s address it now.

McClung:

Frankly, Dayton’s attack on WCCO is embarrassing for him and makes the situation a lot worse. As usual, there was another option. Dayton and his team could’ve said that in this modern age, radio is simply outdated. They could’ve decided to do a radio show via the Internet, without commercials, that citizens could listen to live at the time of Dayton’s choosing or via recorded podcast. They could’ve even teamed up with BringMeTheNews.com, who made a bid for the show.

During my nearly six years with Governor Pawlenty I had a chance to be his sidekick for more than 250 weekly broadcasts. It was a great way to have a dialogue with the people of the state. But no radio station is under any obligation to provide a governor with any certain time slot or access to other stations. Dayton made a serious error in how he responded, but he could attempt a recovery by using new technologies. Of course, then there would be the inevitable Data Practices Act request to see exactly how many Internet users are tuning in….

My conspiracy theory: Dayton never intended to do the show in the first place.  Jesse Ventura was not a good talkradio host, but he knew how to work the medium.  Tim Pawlenty wasn’t a talk show host at all, but he was affable, unflappable,l and quick on his feet; his weekly hour was consistently good stuff, well worth a listen.

Whatever Mark Dayton’s virtues may be as a human, a citizen and a politician, his radio style isn’t high on the list.  Even in the friendliest and most controlled interviews – Keri Miller at MPR, who all but painted his toenails on the air – he sounded uncomfortable and tentative.  And  let’s not get me started on how his voice sounds on the air.

But since you did – he sounds like he’s still doing his morning gargle.  There.  I said it

So I think – sorta – that his intention was always to turn down the radio show; doing it couldn’t possibly gain him anything.

Governor Dayton will be the first Minnesota governor since 1999 N not to have a weekly radio show.

The Governor asked for “bids”,  which involved the stations proposing which hour they’d give him – and got responses from WCCO, which carried Ventura and Pawlenty for the past 12 years – as well as KTNF  (the former Air America station), KFAI (a tiny public station on the West Bank in Minneapolis, with a range of maybe five miles) and Rick Kupchella’s “Bring Me The New”, which is largely web-based, but does supply stuff to radio stations).

Most of the stations offered time on the traditional Friday morning/midday shift; WCCO offered an hour early Saturday morning, and the proviso that Ted Mondale co-host. No joke.

Dayton – perhaps not wanting to be on the same day as the Northern Alliance – rejected ’em all:

Dayton’s spokesman, Bob Hume said none of the five offered what the governor was looking for.

“We were very clear that we were looking for a vehicle for people in every corner of the state to have access to the governor,” Hume said. “None of the proposals that we got back gave us that opportunity. So we have decided not to procede with contract negotiations.”

I’m disappointed.  A radio show with Dayton would have been a smorgasbord of material.

HutchTech is laying off a third of its workforce, and moving a chunk of what’s left to…

…newly pro-business Wisconsin.

Coincidence?  Correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation.  Technology companies – especially companies that manufacture parts for PCs, which have been cheap commodities for years.

Hutchinson Technology today announced it will shed 30-40% of its workforce in a restructuring move. Hundreds of employees will be laid off from the company’s Hutchinson operation, where many jobs will be moved to Eau Claire, WI and overseas (Star Trib story). While U.S. technology manufacturers have struggled to compete with the influx of foreign competitors, Wisconsin’s new pro-business plans certainly didn’t hurt their chances of attracting the employer across our borders.

But that whole “correlation doesn’t equal causation” bit?  As Andy Post at MDE notes, Mark Dayton could stand to remember it:

Who’s to blame for these lost jobs? You may remember last November when Mark Dayton blamed Governor Tim Pawlenty for job losses at Lockheed Martin. Dayton was quoted saying,“It seems to me this is fundamentally a responsibility of Gov. Pawlenty and his administration,” without any further logic or explanation.

Then, of course, these latest layoffs are fundamentally a responsibility of you, Governor Dayton.

Fair for TPaw, fair for Lord Fauntelroy.

And it is fair.  Because at the margins, people – and companies – expend their resources to save on taxes.

And sometimes that involves shedding jobs – whether it’s because the state is hobbled with a tax-and-spend-crazy DFL legislature, or a tax-and-spend-crazy DFL governor who is dead-set on hamstringing the grownups’ efforts to get the house in order.

The DFL loves playing politics more than just about anything else. One of their favorite ploys – using their advantage with the complaint mainstream media to frame all debates in terms that favor them.  Have you  noticed the way the media has, on cue, picked up the meme of the “all cuts budget?”  No significant Republican has used the term – but the DFL and its minions and press enablers use the term every single time the topic of the GOP budget comes up.

Now, in the bad old days when the GOP  was largely RINOs, a little of this framing was enough to help enough “moderates” flake away to help the DFL get pretty much everything it wanted.

Those days are done.  If I have anything to do with it, they’re dead, cremated, and scattered at the foot of Elmer Anderson’s statue.

The DFL hates losing at it more than just about anything else.  Yesterday’s vote on Governor Dayton’s tax proposals was the sort of thing the DFL used to excel at.  Gary Gross gives us a snippet of recent history (that the media would largely prefer disappear down the memory hole:

It’s that the DFL hasn’t stopped playing political games since the session started.

They want nothing to do with Gov. Dayton’s budget. They’re treating it like toxic waste:

One exchange:

Question: “Do you support the tax increases in this bill?”

Thissen: “The governor is delivering on what he promised. We have always been in our DFL caucus in favor of a solution that is going to be fair…We need to look at the details of it. I think the most important thing now to look at is asking the Republicans, okay, what’s your answer.”

Question: “That didn’t answer the question…Do you support these tax increases?”

Bakk: “If you look at the tax incidence study, it will show you that more well to do Minnesotans, especially those over $500,000 in income pay a little bit over eight percent of their income in taxes and the rest of us, in the middle class and lower income Minnesotans, pay about 12.3 percent. And I think from a policy standpoint, the governor is right that everyone should be expect to pay about the same percentage of their income in state and local taxes.”

A third:

Question: “So yes or no. Do you two support the tax package in the governor’s proposal? Yes or no.”

Bakk: “Well, I certainly want to see the budget pages and I’m not going to tell you if they offer a vote on it I’m going to vote yes or no on it because we are actually having a hearing in the tax committee (to delve into the budget) either tomorrow or Thursday…After Thursday I can probably give you an answer.”

That exchange happened on Feb. 15. Sen. Bakk still hasn’t given a reply to Rachel Stassen-Berger. The bottom line is this: the DFL want to criticize Republicans like they do every budget year. They just don’t want their fingerprints on anything that Gov. Dayton has put together.

And the GOP knew it.  Which was the entire motivation behind yesterday’s exercise; the good guys kicked some sand in the DFL’s face.

And they’re used to being the big guys on the beach, dammit!  Not only are they not used to being in the minority – they are not used to a GOP that does politics better than they do!

Jeff Rosenberg at MNPublius – who presumably has gotten the memo that the GOP’s budget is less than two weeks away, closing in on the DFL like Eisenhower’s fleet weighing anchor and turning toward Normandy, writes:

Instead of putting together their own budget proposal [Hahahaha! – Ed.] the MNGOP has been content to simply snipe at Governor Dayton’s proposal. Today was more of the same. Instead of finally revealing their all-cuts budget, they opted for a sham vote on a portion of Dayton’s budget.

The shorter Rosenberg – “I’m going to give an incomplete-to-the-point-of-dishonesty side of the GOP’s agenda – I’ll carp over one of an entire palette of GOP budget-balancing tactics, the cut, and gabble about the fact that the GOP hasn’t submitted a budget because I can count on the media not to point out that the DFL didn’t submit one until the literal last minutes of the last session – because it’s to my and my party’s political advantage to do so.  But don’t you dare do it yourself!”

Of course, they didn’t vote on Dayton’s entire proposal. Despite Dayton’s frequent objections, the MNGOP continues to treat the budget in a piecemeal fashion. In today’s sham vote, they voted on the tax portion of Dayton’s proposal while ignoring the rest of it.

Dear DFL: we are not here to make you look smart (and either, apparnetly, are many of you).  We are here to win.  The electorate sent the DFL packing, and sent the GOP to the Legislature, with a very clear mandate; kick DFL ass.  Well, no – not “kick DFL ass”, but to get the growth in budget and government under control, which will inseparably involve kicking DFL ass.

And they are.

And yes, compromise is inevitable.  It’s politics. The GOP doesn’t have complete control.  You DFLers are used to a GOP that would get intimidated by your framing, and by your old stranglehold on the media, and essentially fold its cards right after the deal and beg for mercy.

Those days are over.  The GOP is playing to go into those negotiations from a position of strength – not the craven, panicky accomodation of the hamster-like “Republicans” of the Carlson era.  The GOP is playing like it’s holding the full house, Kings over Tens, that it actually holds.

Deal with it.

Or live in the ancient past.  Your choice.

I had no idea that when I  suggested last week that…

…a Republican from a bullet-proof rural seat should sponsor the Dayton budget [and that] the GOP-controlled committees involved should pass it right through, so it can go to the floor immediately for a binding, highly-publicized, up-or-down vote.

I think we should let the DFL show their pride in and support for Governor Dayton.   I think they should show how unified they are!

…I gotta confess, I had no idea it could actually happen.

Yesterday, Senator Michel (a Republican who has taken some flak for being a “moderate” in the past, but who earned plenty o’cred with me) introduced the Dayt0n budget into the Senate.

And the DFL whined like stuck cats.

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 63-1 [yesterday] against Gov. Dayton’s proposal to raise taxes on Minnesota’s richest residents, but Dayton and other Democrats called the debate meaningless theater.

“I’m glad people are having fun,” Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said sarcastically. “I hope some of your relatives are watching.”

Only Sen. Dave Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, voted for the Dayton taxes.

Of course, the DFL has never been above staging up-or-down votes for political purposes – to get Legislators’ votes on  controversial issues on the record for political effect.

They’re just not used to being on the business end of the process.

Don Davis noted:

Dayton sent a letter to Bakk [yesterday] morning urging that all legislators vote against the proposal “as a way to reject this charade.”

Something the media has studiously avoided pointing out; Dayton did this purely to provide political cover for the fact that, had he not excused the DFL caucuses from supporting him, hardly any of them would have.  The DFL’s silence in the Dayton Dustbowl budget plan has been complete; asked if they support it, most prominent DFLers – Thissen and Bakk, among others – have squiggled smartly away.

There is no significant support in the DFL caucus for the Dayton budget.  That’s because in this economic climate, Minnesotans outside the bobbleheaded DFL base know that hiking taxes on the class that creates the jobs, or makes the investments that creates the jobs, is just plain stupid.

The DFL’s response?  Whimpering that “it’s just childish theatre”, and demanding to know when the GOP is going to come out with its budget…

…which was interrupted in mid-whimper with the news that the GOP will have its budget out in two weeks.

All in all, it was a masterful day of politics for the MN GOP.

I haven’t had occasion to say that much in the past 25 years.

It feels good.

More, please.

Brian McLung:

Also on Thursday, expect Dayton’s tax increases to get an airing in the Senate (11:00 a.m.) and House (3:00 p.m.) during their floor sessions. This will give DFLers a chance to put their mouth where the money is – by casting a vote for multi-billion tax increases proposed in Dayton’s budget. What’s the over/under on the number of DFLers willing to stand with the Governor?

We’ll be watching.

Count on it.

Now that Mark Dayton has proposed to jack the taxes of Minnesotans making over about $150,000 up to 10.95%, and those who earn over $500,000 to an unprecedented 13.95% – one dollar out of every seven they earn – it seems there’s a little ambiguity on who “the rich” are.

Who are “The Rich?”

Let’s break it down for you.

The Rich Are Not…: DFL uber-donor Vance Opperman, who donates millions to the DFL’s pet causes, and whose income comes largely from dividends and investments.  He’s not rich.

The Rich Are…: The guy who runs the small consulting shop that landed you the IT gig with the company that was hiring.  He and his wife – who does the accounting – might break $200K for the year.  They are “the rich”, in Mark Dayton’s world.  Not Vance Opperman, silly reader.

The Rich Are Not…:  John Cowles, who donated $2.4 million to help start the Guthrie – in 1960, when that was serious money.  Who used to publish the left-leaning Star Tribune, and who ponied up to help found the center-left MinnPost a few years back.  He’s also given tens of thousands of dollars to the various groups that funded the epic, toxic sleaze campaign that helped squeedge Mark Dayton into office.  Cowles, with his money coming from dividends and trusts and all the usual shelters that the super-wealthy can afford?  What, you thought he was “the rich?”  Of course not!

The Rich Are…:  Grandma’s oncologist.  The guy or gal who spent eight years working his or her ass off taking the hard courses in high school and college to get into med school, then more of the same to survive the weeding-out process during four years of education, an internship and three years of brutal residency designed to test his/her mettle for the field, leading to post-doctoral training leading to a board-certification and then a few decades of experience that make him able to  help Grandma to turn her cancer into a harrowing cautionary story rather than an early good-bye to the grandkids.  After all that, the doctor and his/her spouse – a hospital administrator, as luck would have it – earn a little over $500K, of which about $40,000 currently goes to the state of Minnesota.  Since they – not John Cowles – are “rich”, that tab is going to go up to almost $70,000.  Doc and spouse, of course, still have options; that place in Prescott is looking mighty nice right now.   Which Prescott – Wisconsin or Arizona?  I think they’d both love to have an Oncologist for a neighbor, especially since they’re “rich” – don’t you?

The Rich Are Not…:  Mark Dayton, whose net worth is somewhere between $3,000,000 and $12,000,000 (or was, back in 2006, the last time he deigned to report his net worth according to the Minnesota Birkeydependant.  It’s mostly tax-sheltered, of course, off in tax havens like South Dakota or all those other states where people aren’t so Happy To Pay For more government.  Which makes them ideal for trusts, where trust fund babies like The Governor can keep his money!  So even though Governor Dayton has Renoirs to sell to finance his gubernatorial campaign, he’s not The Rich.  Nosirreebob.

The Rich Are…:  You, if you are (to pick an example from my own social circle) a programming consultant who started working as a code jockey right out of college, and spent a decade or so honing your skills as a software enginer.  You write good, tight code; you’ve stayed up on all the advances, and are fluent in not only several programming languages but in many of the arcane architectural environments that seem to so completely tribalize software these days.  You’ve moved on up; from your first job, making $24K a  year as a COBOL programmer for, say, Best Buy back in 1989, you’ve worked your way up to being a pretty indispensible part of some big, business-mission-critical projects.  You’re a hired gun, and a good one, and you get paid pretty well for it;  you bill $85 an hour or so, and work for six-month stretches on high-profile projects.  Tack on the salary from your spouse – a corporate HR benefits administrator who makes about $55K – and that means you make about $$225K on a good year; more during up years, less when the market’s off.  Not enough to have Renoirs to sell, but plenty comfortable.  Good thing, too – you pay for your own retirement, and write your own checks to Medicare and Social Security.  You know better than to complain – but you’re both one layoff or cut contract or downturn away from living on savings until the market turns up again.  Oh, yeah – your state tax bill is going to rise from $17K and change to almost $25,000.  Because you, you greedy bastard?  You are rich!

Unlike Vance Opperman, John Cowles or Mark Dayton.

Hang your head in shame, plutocrat.

CORRECTION – MAYBE: I’ m told that the 13.95% rate only applies to income over $500,000.  It changes the math…

…but not the principle.  “The Rich”, according to Daytons’ budget proposal, are people who earn income, as opposed to the rich, who make their money from capital gains and dividends and can afford to shelter their income in ways “The Rich” usually can’t.

It’s been two weeks, almost, since Governor Dayton submitted his budget proposal.

The proposal, which jacks up taxes on “the rich”  by adding the highest state income tax in the nation on people who make over half a million a year, stil has no DFL sponsor in the legislature.

None.

Let’s make sure we’re clear on this:  in the wake of the Tea Party and the most glorious drubbing the DFL has ever sustained in its entire history, not a single DFL Rep or Senator has so far affixed their name to a bill that would jack up taxes on “the rich” (and, eventually, everyone – since “the rich” that don’t leave the state will pass on the tax burden to their customers, since most of them are small businesspeople).

Not a single DFLer, so far, seems to be enthusiastic to have their name tied to a vote on this job-killing, tax-jacking, inflation-pumping, tax-base-sapping budget (which would, by the way, leave the real rich, like Mark Dayton and his plutocrat supporters, untouched;their income is from dividends and capitol gains on their portfolios. Mark Dayton will never pay 13.95% on his income; the oncologist taking care of Grandma will, though).

I think a Republican – one from a very, very safe seat – should do the job for them.

I think a Republican from a bullet-proof rural seat should sponsor the Dayton budget (and spend the next year explaining why – and yes, I will drive to wherever he or she serves and go door to door to help, if need be – just to help avoid any complications).

And I think the GOP-controlled committees involved should pass it right through, so it can go to the floor immediately for a binding, highly-publicized, up-or-down vote.

I think we should let the DFL show their pride in and support for Governor Dayton.   I think they should show how unified they are!

I think we should let the DFL walk the walk.  I think we should let them all, every one of them, show how happy they are to make you pay for A Better Minnesota.

I think we should give DFLer the chance – indeed, the imperative – to explain why they voted to make their constituents work ’til they’re 70 so that government employees can retire at 55.

Whaddya say, MNGOP?  Anyone wanna make the DFL put all that HopeyChangey BetterMinnesota talk where their votes are?

Via David Brauer, I see former governor Arne Carlson has a blog.

Well, don’t get too excited; he’s done four posts so far.  But the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, as they say.

Carlson dislikes being called a “backstabber” in “Politico” for his tireless work against Tim Pawlenty (and of course Tom Emmer) over the past nine years.  Carlson doesn’t like being criticized, naturally; he tells us so.

Now, the Minnesota GOP tossed Carlson, and a bunch of other former GOP officeholders who actively campaigned against Tom Emmer and, by extension, the party’s nascent conservatism, this past election.

Now, Carlson has the right to his opinion.  And he knows it, naturally: he makes no bones about his not liking the current crop of conservative Republicans, including Pawlenty:

It is no secret that I have serious qualms about the candidacy of Governor Pawlenty and do not believe his claims of prudent financial management come anywhere close to the truth. Hence, the scrutiny will continue……….

He even told Politico that he’d go on the road, pay any price and bear any burden to try to keep Pawlenty out of the White House (emphasis added):

“I will go to Iowa and New Hampshire and have press conferences, if it comes to that,” he told POLITICO in an interview. “With Tim Pawlenty, I’m outraged that his record is one of the worst in Minnesota history, and he refuses to answer any relevant question.”

Now, Carlson is entitled to his opinion.  Of course, his own record is one of a governor who ruled in generally good times; 1990-1998 was a pretty cha-cha time in Minnesota, barring a brief recession early on as the Defense industry retrenched and the Iron Range went through its usual, eternal spasms.  The booming economy gave Carlson repeated budget surpluses – which he promptly turned into permanent entitlement spending, which promptly turned into deficit-fodder when times turned tough in 2000 and again in 2008.   State government zoomed in size.   His own record is that of someone who spent money like a crack whore with a stolen gold card.  We, The People of Minnesota, financed his spending spree with a healthy cut off of our take from the good times in this state.  Had he governed in tough times – as Pawlenty did, through two recessions – he’d have presided over a California-like collapse, in all likelihood.

That’s fine.  Again, he can have his opinion.

But the regional media would have you believe that we, the current MNGOP, have to continue paying obeisance and honor to someone who not only spits on what we believe, but actively tries to use his old (ancient!) party credentials against us, and our candidates, and our most successful alumnus so far!

What would the DFL do to someone like that?  Ask Randy Kelly!

Forget about calling Arne Carlson a “Quisling”, as Tony Sutton did – accurately, if a bit hyperbolically.

We’re not supposed to criticize him in any way – as if having been a spendthrift governor in cha-cha times gives him papal-esque infallibility.

Nancy LaRoche had a conversation with a MN State Senator – and was amazed at what she heard:

One of the most remarkable comments the Senator made was how Governor Mark Dayton has transformed his office.

He installed cubicles into his office space for staff, and moved his office into… a closet. My first reaction was, “that sounds like a panic room.” The Senator replied that some Democrat legislators are struggling with how to work with him. This office space raised my concerns for his handling of leadership, and the location sounds like a physical way to insulate himself. The State Senator is also wondering about the state of Dayton’s mental state.

True North is going to be looking for more on this.

In the meantime, some more meaningful shrinkage, if you’re a Minnesota taxpayer; not a single DFL legislator, as of yesterday, had sponsored the Dayton budget in the Legislature.

That could change at any  moment, of course.

But this budget has been on the record for nearly a week, now.

UPDATE:  Dayton’s office was noted in a Strib piece a month back.  According to the story, he prefers a small, spartan office.

No word yet on whether he prefers small, spartan support for his budget among the DFL caucus.

In the comment section of yesterday’s post about the Wisconsin Public Employees’ Unions protests against Govenor Walker’s bill to elminate collective bargaining, regular commenter “Terry” wrote something I think every Conservative group in American that faces a similar fight should put on T-shirts and picket signs:

I, for one, will not work until I am 70 so public employees can retire at 55.

Not that Governor Dayton wants to give lil’ ol’ me any choice in the matter.

Groups?  Start printing.

Mark Dayton’s budget:  three billion in new taxes.

Minnesotans who make toward $200K – dentists, middle managers, car salespeople, a few really good, hard-working waitstaff, fairly capable software developers, and above all, successful enterepreneurs – will be paying 10.95%.  Over $500K ?  An additional 3% “surcharge”, meaning top-flight lawyers, successful doctors, quite a few upper managers, and above all Minnesota’s most successful entrepreneurs and job creators – will be paying just shy of 14%.

All for the privilege of living in Minnesota.

Even California and New York are smarter than this.

You can not tax your way out of a recession.  Government can not spend its way out of a recession; if it could, California and Illinois would be sitting pretty, and North Dakota would look like Michigan.

This budget should not be voted down in the Legislature.  It should be killed with fire.  Then voted down.