HometownSource Blogs

Democratic leaders expect Tuesday’s release of the February state budget forecast to show little or modest change to the state budget.

“Whatever happens won’t be major,” said
Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis.

House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, expressed the same sentiments.

Lawmakers are facing an immediate $1.2 billion projected budget shortfall.

The House passed the primary election bill today that moves the state primary from September to the second Tuesday in August.

A key point of the legislation is to allow military people serving overseas more time to cast absentee ballots.

While one Republican praised the House for its civil debate on the primary election bill, one issue that raised the temperature a degree or two was a photo ID amendment offered by Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano.

The provision would have required photo identification to vote in Minnesota — an exception was provided for those with religious objections of being photographed.

“We’ve all been at this movie before,” said Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, of the the often voted-on provision.

“We require more integrity when people go to rent a movie (than when voting),” replied Emmer.

The amendment failed on a 58 to 73 vote.

Area lawmakers voting in favor: Abeler, Anderson, B., Buesgens, Davids, Dean, Dettmer, Dittrich, Eastlund, Emmer, Garofalo, Hackbarth, Holberg, Kiffmeyer, Lenczewski, Mack, Obermueller, Peppin, Sanders, Scott, Sterner, Zellers.

Voting against: Doty, Gardner, Hansen, Hortman, Jackson, Kalin, Masin, Morgan, Newton, and Tillberry.

Minneapolis Mayor and gubernatorial candidate R.T. Rybak appeared before a House transportation committee on Wednesday pushing for airport development in Greater Minnesota.

Rybak’s appearance came same day Metropolitan Airport Commission (MAC) Executive Director Jeffrey Hamiel was testifying on the future of the Mpls/St. Paul Airport.

Ryback argued that it was a public policy misstep back in the 1990s not to develop a second airport.

“I think that was bad public policy,” he said, noting the vast majority of business the Mpls/St. Paul airport has compared to out state airports.

Rybak spoke of development of the St. Cloud and Rochester airports as well as others.

He spoke of high-speed rail lines linking airports and regions.

Hamiel and others noted that the level of activity at the 3,000-acre Mpls/St. Paul airport has steadily declined for five years.

Still, MAC officials are planning for redevelopment of the airport to meet the expected 56 million visitors to the facility expected in 20 years’ time.

MAC officials currently consider the airport the top in the world in terms of being accessible to the disabled.

While not dismissing the idea of expanding Greater Minnesota airports, Hamiel noted the high cost of building airports with the long runways that Mpls/St. Paul offers.

Still, House Transportation Finance Committee Chairman Bernie Lieder, DFL-Crookston, expressed worry that the MAC could be stymied by lawmakers in carrying out their airport redevelopment plan.

“I’m really concerned your going to see a moratorium come up when you’re ready to go,” said Lieder of possible legislative action.

A possible override attempt of Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s veto of General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) legislation in the Senate tomorrow could ride on the outcome of meetings today.

Senate Health and Human Services Budget Committee Chairwoman Linde Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, and House leaders met with with governor this afternoon, emerging from the Governor’s Office speaking of another meeting later today.

They spoke of a positive first meeting, but no agreement.

“I believe he wouldn’t have called us to his office if he wasn’t,” said Berglin of Pawlenty wanting to find a compromise.

Berglin indicated the question of an override attempt in the Senate tomorrow depended on what was accomplished at the later meeting.

Pawlenty Deputy Chief of Staff Brian McClung said the administration was going forward with its plan to auto enroll GAMC enrollees into MinnesotaCare.

McClung also indicated the governor was confident House Republicans would hold together to block an override attempt in the House of his GAMC veto.

During an E-12 Education Budget and Policy Division hearing, Sen. Lisa Fobbe, DFL-Zimmerman, asked why it is that only four school districts, all along the Canadian border, are allowed to levy to cover the expenses of operating a school swimming pool.

Turns out, the provision was crafted by former state senator Bob Lessard, DFL-International Falls.

Sen. LeRoy Stumpf, DFL-Plummer, committee chairman, joked about the origins of the language.

“I think those files have been burned,” he quipped.

Sen. Gen Olson, R-Minnetrista, had another idea concerning the reasoning for the slightly odd language.

“They were trying to overcome the belief that the only water they have up there is frozen,” she joked.

Former Lt. Col. Joe Repya of Eagan has suspended his gubernatorial campaign.

The former Republican was running as an Independence Party candidate but has grown disenchanted with the IP.

Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, indicated that the Senate will try a veto override of Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s recent veto of General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) legislation.

Pogemiller made his announcement on the day Pawlenty indicated that he intended to veto the $1 billion bonding bill that lawmakers passed late tonight.

Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty plans to veto the $1 billion bonding bill lawmakers are set to pass tonight.

In a letter to House and Senate Capital Investment chairs, Pawlenty criticized the bill as too big and representing “severely misguided priorities.”

The governor mentioned the Moose Lake sex offender facility expansion, security system upgrades at Oak Park Heights state prison, and renovations at the Minneapolis Veterans Home as projects that should be in the bill but aren’t.

Pawlenty charged Democrats had “blatantly” ignored the requests and concerns voiced by himself and staff.

He accused the DFL majority as having an attitude that’s “dismissive.”

Pawlenty told lawmakers to consider his veto an opportunity to hit the “reset” button on the bonding bill and start over.

House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, indicated today that the bonding bill will be out of conference committee and on the House floor Monday (Feb. 22) for a vote.

Kelliher indicated the bill will come in at under $1 billion in general obligation bonding. The question of funding for the Moose Lake sex offender program facility expansion will be left to Senate and House capital investment committee chairs, said Kelliher.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty wants Moose Lake funding in the bill.

Democrats are apparently confident, judging from their comments, the governor will not veto the entire bonding bill but line-item veto if deemed necessary.

A recent comment by the governor on restructuring a bonding bill he deemed too big perhaps lends itself to the theory.

Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, quipped that he threw his quarter in on Anoka County Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah in the odds making on who Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Marty Seifert would pick as a running mate.

His hunch Sivarajah would be Seifert’s running mate, Abeler explained, was because he and others saw the two chumming around at Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s recent State of the State Address.

Mille Lacs County Times editor Gary Larson was able to spend a couple of days at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

One of the first people he encountered was renowned snowboarder 720Jimmy. Following is Larson’s exclusive interview with 720Jimmy. Read more »

Following are opinions from Mille Lacs County Times  editor-sports editor Gary Larson, reporter Luther Dorr and former Times intern Logan Marxhausen who’s now on the sports staff at the St. Cloud State University Chronicle. Note: This feature is written on Monday each week.
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•Question:  Prior to the start of their 2009-2010 seasons the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Wild changed head coaches and general managers and revamped their rosters. Just past the mid-point of the current season, the Timberwolves are 13-40 and long out of the hunt for the playoffs while the Wild is 30-27-4 and within striking distance of a playoff berth. Assess the progress (or lack of progress) for these teams. Read more »

Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, offered Met Council Chairman Peter Bell a strong suggestion yesterday about a dispute between the University of Minnesota and the council over the proposed Central Corridor light rail line.

In describing litigation, Bell explained that university officials are asking for unreasonable controls pertaining to vibration and electrostatic discharge the light rail line could cause while moving through the university campus — university officials are concerned about the impact on research, Bell explained.

And Bell indicated that the concerns are legitimate.

But Bell went on to argue, that university officials currently cannot guarantee any vibration or electrostatic standard to researchers — thousands of trucks and cars flow through the university every day, Bell noted.

Bell argued the university’s demands constituted a double standard.

Murphy, looking over the transportation committee members, told Bell that the Met Council and university needed to reach agreement on the matter.

“Otherwise, we will,” said Murphy of the committee formulating a standard.

And neither the U or Met Council would like what the committee would come up with, warned Murphy.

Bell, in detailing litigation against the light rail line, also spoke at length about ligation involving Minnesota Public Radio — MPR is concerned about vibrations and the impact of light rail going by its station.

Bell argued that it would a terrible precedent for the courts to accept MPR’s engineering solution as this would result in parties along proposed lines engineering pieces of it without corresponding responsibility.

Met Council President Peter Bell indicated he perfectly understands the feelings of the St. Paul Rondo community along University Avenue, where the Central Corridor light rail line is planned to run, and concerns about the impact the system can have on local business and residents.

“(Interstate) 94 took my house out,” said Bell to the Senate Transportation Committee, referring to the massive impact the construction of I-94 had on Rondo decades ago.

The interstate gutted Rondo.

Bell’s recollections were sparked by Sen. Mee Moua, DFL-St. Paul, who warned Bell and the transportation committee that they shouldn’t be dismissive of the worries of the community along University.

These people came in when University was the “pits,” said Moua, staked their fortunes on improving the neighborhood and did it, she explained.

The coming of light rail may be an economic boom to the area, but Moua questioned how many of the local residents and businesses would actually benefit.

But Bell insisted community concerns are taken seriously.

Indeed, the Met Council will be announcing more steps in the near future that it is taking to protect the University Avenue neighborhood, he explained.

But Bell also explained the Met Council cannot carry out all the recommendations that it has received from the neighborhood.

Bell was optimistic about the future of the light rail system.

President Obama has slate the Central Corridor line $45 million in his transportation budget, said Bell. Of 35 new start and small start transit projects across the United States, Central Corridor was rated No. 1, he said.

The bonding bill debate flared in the House again today during a procedural action to start a conference committee with the Senate.

Some Republicans were still rankled from last night when House DFL leadership used a procedural motion to end debate on the bill.

Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, explained he calculated that the length of debate, which he found insufficient, came out to $4.5 million of bonding bill per minute of debate.

House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, said the DFL tactic was like a bully in the school yard punching another kid in the nose, just because he can.

But Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, criticized Republicans for unwise stinginess.

Rukavina, pointing to the beautiful State Capitol building, said in today’s dollars the Capitol would have cost about $860 million for a single building.

Still, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, in his bonding bill, only bonded $685 million for the entire state, said Rukavina.

“That’s where your buddy Tim has taken us,” said Rukavina to Seifert with disgust.

House Majority Leader Tony Sertich, DFL-Chisholm, told Republicans that if they felt the bonding bill was too big, they should step forward and have projectsfor their districts taken out.

Sertich pointed to Rep. Mark Buesgens, R-Jordan, as one lawmaker who not only talks the talk, but walks the walk politically.

“You’re a very rare creature here — and I leave it at that,” Sertich said.

Sertich argued that the length of debate, about four hours, fell within historic lengths.

“We’ve got to get our work done,” said Sertich. “We have a finite amount of time to get our work done. And we’re going to get our work done,” he said.