Two DFL Senators – Bev Scalze and Barb Goodwin, both women and long-time critics of back-slappin’ boys-club-member-in-good-standing Tom Bakk – are retiring from the Senate:
…For Scalze and others, the problems go beyond the disappointment of passing a budget that looked much different after Bakk and Daudt emerged from days of private negotiations with a deal in hand. It’s how leadership handled the final days of session.
Sen. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights, said many budget bills were controlled unilaterally, with little input or outreach to herself and other members. She and Scalze declined to put a number on how many Senate Democrats are upset, saying only to “look at the votes.”
Enough Democrats voted against three of the state’s seven budget bills that they required GOP votes to pass. Seven Democrats voted ‘no’ on three or more.
Take the environment budget, which just 10 Democrats — and 25 Republicans — voted to pass. Scalze said the finished product contained a surprise law change she and other members couldn’t stomach: exempting copper and nickel mines on the Iron Range from the state’s solid waste regulations. Bakk and other Senate DFLers represent swaths of the Iron Range.
“(Bakk) gave up a lot of stuff that other members had worked real hard on while he was getting everything he wanted for the Iron Range,” Goodwin said. “That kind of naked power is really not appreciated.”
Nobody who’s seen Tom Bakk will ever use the term “naked power” casually again…
…but the point is – wow. It’s like the Dems have a war on women or something.
Haha… she said “real hard on” and “naked power” in the same paragraph. She has met the enemy and they ain’t “R”s.
#toocleverformyowngood
I live in Goodwin’s district and she’s been a wholly owned subsidiary of Education Minnesota for her entire career. Her replacement will be, too. Columbia Heights votes for the DFL in North Korea-like margins, so there’s almost no chance for a Republican to win our district any more. Perhaps one day the good citizens of the Heights will look up and see what their loyalty has earned them.
Bakk will never be asked about this wedge issue (not certain where the article came from) and I’d bet that if the reporter even bothered to reach out to Bakk for comment it would result in a “declined to comment” and that would be the end of the story. If this were a Republican leader, the question would be shouted at every press conference and via ambush interview when he walked out the front door of his home.
Like “Fact Checking”, Asking Wedge Questions is a service our Democrat Party Dominated Media Culture only performs for Republicans.
My second favorite current meme (after “Virtue Signaling”): “Democrats Sure Got It Good!”