Dayton’s Epic Snit
By Mitch Berg
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 I know how President Obama feels. I’m confronted with two hostile bodies of the Legislature,” Dayton told reporters hours after the state Senate voted overwhelmingly to put the brakes on the big salary increases to commissioners that Dayton had ordered.
Dayton said he trusted Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt but would no longer deal with Bakk without someone else in room.
It’s not news; Tom Bakk and Mark Dayton don’t get along. It’s hard to blame Bock; the Iron Range is drifting slowly to the right, but Dayton’s administration is a wholly owned subsidiary of big metro money.
Maybe there is some devious political maneuvering behind what seems to a political layperson like an outburst, a tantrum. It’s entirely possible; I’m just not that bright.
But I’m wondering if this, here, might not be relevant sooner than later.
February 13th, 2015 at 7:20 am
He’s probably curled under his desk around a bottle of Ol’ Uncle Jeb.
He always looks like he’s about to squirt tears, but yesterday I thought the waterworks were coming for sure. Even the Virginia guys in my office were snickering.
February 13th, 2015 at 8:29 am
And all this from an exceedingly mild public criticism by Bakk and a delay (not a rejection, a delay) of the commissioner pay increases until July 1st.
At this point, I’d suggest Dayton is giving Jesse Ventura a run for his money for the “thinnest skinned Minnesota Governor in History.”
February 13th, 2015 at 9:27 am
“You fool!” croaked the frog, “Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?”
The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog’s back.
“I could not help myself. It is my nature.”
Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.
February 13th, 2015 at 11:07 am
Yeah, no possibility that Dayton would consider that a kid who’d never held an honest job in his life probably wasn’t worth $140k per year. Would hit too close to home.
February 13th, 2015 at 2:05 pm
How could the good Senator do this without telling the Governor, like the Governor raised salaries after telling… Oh, never mind.
February 13th, 2015 at 3:39 pm
Finally read the article, and he’s trying to blame Bakk after the Senate voted 63-2. Fortified kombucha?
February 13th, 2015 at 6:43 pm
bb; it’s that fuzzy math that Dayton can’t grasp.
February 14th, 2015 at 10:02 pm
In a single sentence, Governor Jim Beam needs to grow up.