Marty Seifert spends like a drunken sailor

Staunch fiscal conservative, Gubernatorial candidate, and Republican State Representative Marty Seifert blew the whistle on himself recently.

MPR reports that of all Minnesota House members running for Governor, Marty Seifert has claimed more expenses than any of them.

This after Seifert called other legislators out on the matter.

Seifert raised the issue last week at a St. Paul news conference. He said he was concerned that some candidates may have used their legislative leadership positions to schedule visits around the state to gain publicity.

So, Seifert is arguing that some candidates are actually holding committee meetings and other visits to further their campaign, while Seifert, no longer in a leadership position, uses the same trough to ensure his campaign coffers remain plentiful?

By the way, Marty has blown nearly $6100 in per diem and expenses since June...

At least he'll come up with some nifty one liner to explain all this...something about drunken sailors again I am sure.

More GOP fake outrage

Caught this over at the Eagle's Nest.

Republicans are outraged over this cartoon.

Enter Minnesota's sharp tongued House Minority Leader Marty Siefert.

Back in 2006, when a large budget surplus was announced, Seifert took a shot at DFLers with a drunken sailor reference of his own.

MDE loved Seifert's misguided commentary.

I love the hypocrisy here. Virtually zero outrage when Marty Seifert makes a drunken sailor reference but when the Republicans are implicated as a drunken sailors, all the sudden were offended by said reference.

Yawn...

As a Veteran, I don't really get offended by stuff like that. I get more offended when Veterans can't access their benefits or when my friends and former soldiers are put in harms way based on a lie.

But...to each their own...

Public Enemy #1

Ok, maybe not this Public Enemy. I highly doubt we'll see a Senator Franken type "Flavor of Love" show on MTV.

Yahoo had a headline up that caught my eye this morning, although it's a Politico story.

"GOP sees Franken as top public enemy"

Heck, they even quoted our friend Ron Carey, Chair of the Minnesota GOP.

“I don’t know if we’ve ever had an opponent who is so disliked by Republicans as Al Franken,” said Minnesota Republican Party Chair Ron Carey, who cautioned that Coleman’s election challenge could still turn the results back his way. “It’s one thing to lose to an honorable opponent, but Al Franken is not considered an honorable opponent by Minnesota Republicans.”

Honorable opponent? Really?

Readers know that I was not the biggest Al Franken fan. He had some serious flaws in my eyes and I was 225 votes off on my unelectable stance. I was wrong and have no regrets.

Back to his notion of an "honorable opponent". I don't know how Carey does it. Spewing his rhetoric out of one side of the mouth, but then praising the likes of Brian Davis, Congressman John Kline and Congresswoman Bachmann.

Where is the honor behind the lies and deceit towards Congressman Tim Walz?

Does anyone recall the atrocious attacks by Congressman Kline and his campaign against Collen Rowley?

And what about Bachmann and her "un-American" comments?

Honor...pretty easy to claim on the losing end of a campaign. "At least I had my honor".

The 2008 US Senate race was easily the most negative race in Minnesota political history. Norm Coleman played a pretty vital role in the negative nature of the race. In fact, Coleman got so desperate that he, wink wink, "called the dogs off" late in the race and attempted to run a positive campaign.

He should have learned from Mark Kennedy...

One of our favorite State Rep's joined the fray as well.

“It’s going to be hard for Franken to be very effective with any Republicans, in terms of having any credibility with us, just because he’s been so nasty in the past,” Seifert said. “He certainly has callous and very partisan behavior in the past that is beyond the pale.”

Ok...Marty Seifert is calling another politician "callous and very partisan"?

Anyone recall Sefiert comparing to President Bush's approval rating to a STD?

Rep. Seifert expounded on a number of reasons and at some point in this list said that it didn’t help that “the President’s approval ratings are right there with gonorrhea.”

Seifert's actions against the "override six" last year are the epitome of "callous and very partisan".

As I read through the story this morning, the names of those interviewed for the story really caught my eye.

Mike Hatch, Matt Entenza, Marty Seifert, Ron Carey, Joe Repya and Tim Penny.

Two scandal ridden Democrats, a sharp tongued Minority Leader, the GOP Party Chair, and the crazy Colonel who attempted a coup de tat of the aforementioned GOP Party Chair, and a former DFL Congressman, turned IP Party Gubernatorial candidate.

And here I thought Flavor of Love was entertaining...

Seifert supports "hair tax"?

Minn Mon has some coverage of Rep Jim Abeler's fight with Conservative Shock Jock, Jason Lewis.

From Abeler's amendment that was withdrawn.

a. Long hair tax and environmental disposal fee. A tax of $……. shall be assessed per inch over the length established by the Style Advisory Council.

b. Short hair tax credit. A credit of $……. shall be granted to those who achieve a total cranial hair mass of less than the limit established by the council.

c. Boring hair tax. Hair styles deemed incredibly boring shall be assessed a tax in addition to any other taxes or credits established by this section. As a standard, the current hairstyle favored by talk show host Jason Lewis shall be noted as the standard for a boring hair style.

Seifert would stand to get a tax credit!

Too bad the amendment was withdrawn!

You Tube: Marty Seifert punishes the RINO's

Recall last week when Marty Seifert demoted 6 GOP members for voting for the Transportation Bill and voting to override the Governor's veto?

"When we expect Republicans to follow other Republicans, there's obviously a mixed message in what happened yesterday," Seifert said. "I don't think anybody in the caucus is happy, but we're trying to stitch things together within the caucus."

Seifert's efforts to stitch things back together is off to a rousing start!



"My job is to get the caucus up to 68-plus members, not to get them down to 42 or less by brutalizing them," Seifert said.

Perhaps other methods could have been used in going after the RINO's, but the You Tube video above seems to be Seiferts preferred method.

Urdahl still feeling the heat

Thanks to a Ollie for pointing this out to me.

Urdahl, R-Grove City, accepted the position offered by House Minority Leader Marty Seifert of Marshall, but said he then had second thoughts. While he voted against the transportation spending package, Urdahl said he did not think the six House Republicans who helped put it into law should be punished. Seifert removed those six from committee and leadership positions.

Larry Schumacher reports a strange exchange between himself and Urdahl this week as well.

Apparently, Urdahl handed Schumacher his own press release stating "Urdahl Reconsiders Lead Position".

Urdahl's press release also posed the question "Wouldn't a retraction be in order?"

Schumacher posts:

Upon closer reading of the press release, however, things became even more confusing. A quote I'll reproduce below describes what Urdahl meant by "reconsiders."

"Today I announced to the committee that I view my new position as a caretaker role," Urdahl said. "It is my belief that Rep. Hamilton should not have resigned the position and that he should be reinstated. I do not condone any consequences for members based upon their votes of conscience."

So I called Urdahl to ask him to clarify. Was he resigning his seniority position?

"No," he said. "But I wanted to make it clear that I'm only holding it real temporarily."

So why the call for a retraction of a story or editorial that only pointed out he had taken the lead Republican spot on the committee?

Urdahl said the request for a retraction, which he no longer wanted, was based on a second-hand recounting to him of what was in the editorial. Upon reading it, he decided it wasn't so bad after all.

And why the press release if he's not resigning the position?

"I didn't want to condone what was happening and the consequences of it," Urdahl told me. "I regret what leadership's doing, but I felt obligated to take the position when Hamilton resigned."

Did I mention that Urdahl and Heidgerken share both an office wall and a legislative assistant? Or that his counterpart in the Senate, Steve Dille, R-Dassel, voted for both the bill and the override?

And did I mention that Urdahl voted for a similar transportation bill last year, but then voted against that year's override?

Pretty odd behavior.

Is he feeling the pressure of someone running against him? The Meeker County DFL convention is today and I am quite sure a strong candidate will emerge today to challenge Urdahl. Dean's lucky I've decided I will not run against him this year. It would be a fun race.

It's easy to take the high road on Seifert's demotions after the fact, after you've been rewarded for toeing the party line. As Schumacher points out, Urdahl has voted for a similar transportation bill before, only to flip flop under the pressure of Marty Seifert and Governor Pawlenty.

Urdahl had political cover in the district with the highly popular Senator Dille voting for the Transportation Bill and voting to override the Governor's veto. His flip flop last year blew some of that political cover, but Dille has always had a great explanation for his transportation vote.

Urdahl makes excuses.

Schumacher's post is very interesting. Urdahl's acting awfully odd right now.

SC Times does not heart Pawlenty

After being duped by Pawlenty in 2006, the SC Times is fighting back...hard.

In 2006, when Gov. Tim Pawlenty was seeking this board's endorsement for a second term, he was asked specifically what he'd do different if re-elected.

Coming off several very partisan sessions, he earnestly responded that he'd wished he had "kept a few pitches in the glove" when it came to partisan bickering preventing progress. Duly impressed, this board took him at his word and endorsed him.

Based on his reaction to the House overriding his transportation veto Monday, we obviously misunderstood him. He wanted to keep those pitches so he could throw high hard fastballs directly at the heads of anybody who disagreed with him.

Seriously, the immature reactions of Pawlenty and the punishments delivered by the Republican Party to six House members who broke ranks with their peers to support the override are inexcusable.

They even evoked the memory of Jesse Ventura!

It's hard to remember a governor providing a better example of not just politically embarrassing behavior, but flat-out bullying. And remember, this state experienced four years of Jesse Ventura.

And to be honest, they aren't too happy with the Marty Seifert's, Tom Emmer's and Dean Urdahl's either.

Speaking of the Republican Party, its leaders at the Capitol and statewide not only showed the same immaturity as Pawlenty, but they gave fair-minded voters ample reason to doubt their own credibility by demoting those who opposed the governor.

Just look at Central Minnesota House Republican Reps. Bud Heidgerken and Dean Urdahl. Heidgerken voted against the governor and lost his post as senior Republican on the House K-12 Finance Division. Urdahl, also a potential swing vote, backed the governor. He's now lead Republican on the House Agricultural, Rural Economies and Veterans Affairs Committee. (He replaced Rep. Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake, who voted with Heidgerken.)

What else can be deduced from such moves other than the Republican Party wants key leadership spots filled not by the most qualified members, but members who put party loyalty first and all other concerns second?

This scathing opinion in the SC Times is the tip of the iceberg for House Republicans. With major bills still looming on the horizon, the obstructionists in the House will be under greater scrutiny. The Times points out that nearly 70% of legislators have supported similar transportation bills for years. Ignoring that political will, democracy in action, will have negative consequences for the GOP in November.

Urdahl moves up

Thou shalt not go against our Republican Governor.

Courage has left Minnesota's Republican party. Cronyism is alive and well. Great job Marty Seifert!

I guess that was the lesson doled out to 6 GOP legislators who supported a landmark transportation bill on Monday.

"We expect Republicans to follow other Republicans, and there is obviously a mixed message with what happened yesterday," Seifert said at a news conference Tuesday. "We're not taking anyone's secretary away. I'm not throwing their computers down the Capitol steps. I'm not severing their phone lines."

No, he just removed them from any leadership positions.

• Rep. Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake, replaced by Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City, in the Agriculture, Rural Economies & Veterans Affairs Committee.

• Rep. Kathy Tingelstad, R-Andover, replaced by Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker, in the Capital Investment Committee.

• Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, replaced by Rep. Matt Dean, R-Dellwood, in the Health Care and Human Services Committee.

• Heidgerken, R-Freeport, replaced by Rep. Sondra Erickson, R-Princeton, in the K-12 Finance Committee.

• Erhardt, R-Edina, replaced by Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, in the Property Tax Relief & Local Sales Taxes Committee.

• In addition, Rep. Neil Peterson, R-Bloomington, was removed as an assistant minority whip and replaced by Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington.

Punish courage, reward cowardice. Good work!

While Rep Urdahl was quick to report "threats", it would appear he was a bit slower to report that he would be "promoted" for toeing the GOP party line, while at the same time, throwing his constituents under the bus.

Anyone ever read Wright County Republican?

Why did Drew Emmer remove the name of a legislator who supposedly "threatened" Rep Urdahl? Yesterday morning, he specifically named a legislator in his smear job. Now, the name is suddenly removed, although Urdahl was still "threatened".

Interesting...

So, having the courage to buck one's party and vote in line with one's constituents gets you removed from leadership positions.

The SC Times has an opinion on this as well today.

Most troubling, though, are the aftershocks emanating from the Republican Party and Pawlenty.

Within hours of the override, it became clear the party expects to punish Heidgerken and the other five House members for breaking ranks with the party and instead voting for what they believed was best for their constituents and all Minnesotans.

Heidgerken said he will lose his post as lead Republican on the House K-12 Finance Committee. News reports indicate other consequences could include others resigning similar posts, losing staff and research services, or not getting party support in re-election bids.

The Pioneer Press quoted Pawlenty as follows on this issue: "If you are going to be a team, you know, then there are going to be some team rules and team expectations, and I'll leave that up to the caucus leaders how they are going to address this further."

We expected a lot of things in the wake of this transportation bill passing — safer bridges, higher taxes and, yes, some Election Day changes. We didn't expect our governor and his political party to take such a low road in response to six votes cast for Team Minnesota, for once, instead of Team GOP.

Well said...I agree.

SC Times Op Ed: Gas Tax & Transportation

In a nut shell, get off your butt Rep Urdahl and other obstructionists in the House, vote for a compromise on Transportation, and quit playing politics.

The SC Times lists some local legislators who need a little more influence on this important issue.

Mary Ellen Otremba, District 11B, DFL, 651-296-3201, 800-709-0796, rep.maryellen.otremba@house.mn, Room 445, State Office Building.

Sondra Erickson, District 16A, Republican, 651-296-6746, 800-709-0578, rep.sondra.erickson@house.mn, Room 279, State Office Building.

Dan Severson, District 14A, Republican, 651-296-7808, 800-920-9984, rep.dan.severson@house.mn, Room 233, State Office Building.

Steve Gottwalt, District 15A, Republican, 651-296-6316, 800-683-0886, rep.steve.gottwalt@house.mn, Room 231, State Office Building.

Mark Olson, District 16B, Independent Republican, 651-296-4237, 800-920-5875, rep.mark.olson@house.mn, Room 301, State Office Building.

Dean Urdahl, District 18B, Republican, 651-296-4344, 800-920-5861 rep.dean.urdahl@house.mn, Room 239, State Office Building.

Bruce Anderson, District 19A, Republican, 651-296-5063,
rep.bruce.anderson@house.mn, Room 201, State Office Building.

For more Bruce Anderson info, check out Jim Bakula's video!

Tops on our list of weakest reasons are blanket opposition to tax increases and opposition rooted in a lack of compromise, also known as preaching idealism at a time when common sense and common ground are needed.

The reality is this bill is an acceptable compromise considering the state's transportation, political and economic climates. It won't solve all the challenges, but it will finally start to push the state toward modernizing its transportation system.

All that stands in the way are two political roadblocks. Contact the House members listed above and ask them to steer the state around those obstacles.

It appears as though Urdahl has sided with the blanket opposition to tax increases folks. It's sad that he follows Marty Seifert and Tom Emmer while throwing his own constituents under the bus.

Senator Steve Murhpy opines on the Governor's Transportation Veto.

This veto clearly demonstrates that the governor has no plan for transportation in our state. If he's not willing to support a reasonable compromise between a bipartisan coalition of legislators and the business community to move our state forward, what will he support?

If he won't support an investment in the economic vitality of our state in the wake of a recession, when will he support one? The answer is the governor will never come on board and will continue to ignore the real and growing needs of our transportation system.

Have you called your State Rep yet? Have you told them to support Transportation solutions in Minnesota?

Urdahl dines with Speaker Kelliher?

When will Minority Leader Seifert, Rep Emmer, and Governor Pawlenty let Rep Urdahl have it?

AAA at Residual Forces reports that Reps Urdahl and Heidgerken dined with Speaker Kelliher at the swanky Monte Carlo last night in Minneapolis. I wonder if Urdahl went to have a mojito at Cafe Havana afterwards, since it is in close proximity?

I wonder if she promised to not target Dean Urdahl's seat in 2008?

Seifert spews more rhetoric

Growth and Justice has an interesting post up about some of the comments made by one of our favorite legislators, Marty Seifert.

In fact, I think he spewed the same rhetoric cited by Growth and Justice, at the Ridgewater College Forum in Hutchinson, minus the wagon comments.

Seifert said in 1972 the top three job providers in the state of Minnesota were 3M, Honeywell and Dayton-Hudson.

They were big companies that provide good benefits to their employees and families.

"Today three of the top five employers in the state are State of Minnesota, the University of Minnesota and federal government," Seifert said. "I don't know about you, but that is getting to be a little bit scary in terms of fewer and fewer job providers because o[f] more and more regulations and taxes."

Charlie Quimby makes a great argument against Seiferts comments.

It's plain misleading to imply with the example that big private employers have been displaced by big government. Or that government is the cause of the real pain being felt today by low- and middle-income families.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development publishes comprehensive employment statistics going back to 1990. In that year, government employment was 16.2 percent of the total. In 2007, it was 15.5 percent. I examined the 17-year trends line for private jobs growth vs. growth for federal, state and local jobs in Minnesota.

Seifert ought to know that small businesses are the state's largest employers...most likely due to the fact that Minnesota has grown 32% since 1972, from about 3.8 million to around 5.1 million.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Quimby's future posts on the "big government riding the wagon" fairy tale. I'm sure we have not heard this Seifert story for the last time...

More on the Governor's bonding proposal

Pawlenty outlined the need to fund roads and bridges in his bonding proposal. By vetoing the 2007 Transportation Bill that would have funded a majority of these project by increasing the gas tax, Pawlenty is keeping important bonding bill money from areas that really need it and have no other rational source for funding.

We have a funding mechanism in place to assist in maintaining our state's infrastructure, specifically our states roads and bridges. Raise the gas tax. According to Article 14, Section 10 of the Minnesota Constitution, all proceeds of the gas tax go to our state's roads.

Perhaps Jason Lewis, Marty Seifert, Tom Emmer, Dean Urdahl and others ought to read this document. Instead, they perpetuate the myth that the gas tax proceeds will be eaten up by mass transit.

So Pawlenty's plan to bond for our state's roads and bridges takes needed money from higher education. It takes money away from public safety. It takes money away from our state's environmental needs.

It represents Governor Pawlenty trying to make up for a bridge that collapsed on his watch, while he ignores other areas of need in Minnesota.

Senator Tarryl Clark gets it.

But local governments might not have the money available to match funds for so many projects at once, or have the planning work ready, said Sen. Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud.

"We need to look at projects that can get under way quickly and can jump-start the economy, and while I agree that roads and bridges are important, I'm not sure it's practical to put three times as much money into them as what locals have requested."

A comprehensive transportation funding bill is needed to make progress on the state's infrastructure, Clark said.

And the news today got even better!

"Minnesota is in a recession." Minnesota state economist Tom Stinson.

Muse covers Tarryl Clark healthcare listening session

Just up the road from my Wright County Outpost, in St Cloud, State Senator Tarryl Clark hosted a health care listening session. Present at the listening session were Senator Clark, Senator John Marty (Nancy Larson's running mate!), and State Reps Haws, Hosch and Gottwalt.

Political Muse covered the event, with YouTubes! Check them out!

Muse posts a handout from Senator Marty on health care reform

In order to keep Minnesotans healthy and provide the best quality of health care, our health care system must:
(1) Ensure all Minnesotans receive high quality health care, regardless of their income;
(2) Not restrict, delay, or deny care or reduce the quality of care to hold down costs, but instead reduce costs through prevention, efficiency, and reduction of bureaucracy;
(3) Cover all necessary care, including all coverage currently required by law, complete mental health services, chemical dependency treatment, prescription drugs, medical equipment and supplies, dental care, long term care, and home care services;
(4) Allow patients to choose their own providers;
(5) Be funded through premiums and other payments based on the person's ability to pay, so as not to deny full access to all Minnesotans;
(6) Focus on preventative care and early intervention to improve the health of all Minnesotans and reduce costs from untreated illnesses and diseases;
(7) Ensure and adequate number of qualified health care professionals and facilities to guarantee availability of, and timely access to quality care throughout the state;
(8) Continue Minnesota's leadership in medical education, training, research, and technology;
(9) Provide adequate and timely payments to providers.

Compare this to what the House GOP Caucus plan, unveiled by Rep Marty Seifert at the Hutchinson Townhall meeting on October 16, 2007.

Crushing health care costs: Marty's plan
1. Monopolistic Control: 4 non-profits provide 80% of the HMO insurance. Open up competition, prices go down.
2. More mandates on private health care. Allow for cafeteria plans.
3. MN Care tax repealed.
4. Reform welfare system. 4-6,000 people move to the state every year to take advantage of Minnesota's benefits. EFC cards: You can take them to an ATM and get cash for the casino, 6 pack of beer and smokes.
5. Reform torts. Avg cost of malpractice is $100,000-200,000 per doctor. $11-1200 per baby pays for the malpractice insurance. Trial lawyer lobby...take on the Army of Lobbyists, the Welfare Rights people, trial lawyers. Rise up...
6. Pass tax credits to get Government out of Health care and allow the people to choose your doctor and hospital.

House GOP plan vs. Senate DFL plan? Senate DFL everyday and twice on Sunday. I'd love to see Marty Sieferts sample size for determining the cost per child for malpractice insurance. Anyone wanna bet he used Lyon County stats and the proportionally lower birth rates as opposed to at least a statewide figure?

Another interesting post by the Muse had to do with Rep Gottwalt's inappropriate mannerisms when a woman spoke of her personal experiences with Canadian Health Care.

Nice catch Muse! Kind of like Rep Urdahl essentially blowing off a Litchfield City Council member's question about cuts to LGA.

How bad is it getting out here in Greater Minnesota? The City's may soon be responsible for doing all the sanding and salting of State and US Highway's through our area.

All this for "no new taxes", until our local governments are forced to raise our property taxes to compensate that is...

So, do you trust a Republican who is looking to gut your state's infrastructure (LGA, Transportation, Education) with making a life and death decision on health care?

Dille on 07 Session

Despite what the righty blggers say, according to Senator Steve Dille, the 2007 Legislative Session in the Senate was the most bi-partisan in 21 years.

Perhaps Marty Seifert could learn a few things from Senator Frederickson or Senator Senjem.

Live from Hutchinson: Urdahl / Shimanski townhall meeting

Update: Per a request from my former campaign manager...I put the blog post from start to finish. When I liveblogged it, I posted the most recent actions at the beginning.

Your welcome Nolan...

Live from the Ridgewater College Commons area in Hutchinson. FYI, we have video of this event too!

Special thanks to Ollie for allowing me to use her Aircard to blog the event, and not utilize state resources for political purposes...

Sure are a lot of Republican's here. Good Democrats like Kevin Johnson and John Hassinger are here though!

Format for the townhall meeting.
Intro from Urdahl and Shimanski
Introduction of the panel, 5 minutes per panel member
Q&A with audiences and Representatives 10 minutes per issue.

Dean says hi...hoping this thing will start soon.

Scott Newman's here, looks like he does not like me liveblogging the event.

7:03 Rep Seifert is here along with Tom Emmer, Dean Urdahl, Ron Shimanski and Michael Barrett.

7:08 Rep Shimanski introduces panel.

7:10 Rep. Urdahl is discussing rural development, education, transportation, health care and other issues and the disparity in funding between metro and Greater Minnesota areas. Marty Seifert is talking to the crowd, doesn't say too much, introduces Mike Boehme, Dean at Ridgewater College.

7:15 Discussion of the importance of Ridgewater in the area, providing seamless service to both the business industry and from the local high schools.

Ridgewater Dean talked about importance of funding higher education and keeping tuition affordable.

7:18 Jack Geller from the Minnesota Center for Rural Economic Policy is discussing the differences within Greater Minnesota. Talks regional economies versus community economies. Talks about the need for small business development in rural Minnesota, working in conjunction with higher education opportunities.

7:24 Mark Loftus, Department of Employment and Economic Development, talking about the SEED program. Governor Pawlenty's plan sounds a lot like MN 2020's plan for small business development. Hmmmm

7:29 Bill Ward, Dassel Lakeside Nursing Home speaks about the impact of nursing homes have on the small community economy. In most towns, the nursing homes are the largest employers. His challenge: You cannot recruit more nursing homes and when a community loses one, it will never come back. Talks about ads for education shortfalls and nothing for the nursing homes. The stat, nursing home funding is $25 less than the actual cost of care.

Urdhal is talking reimbursement rate disparties for the nursing homes. They fund through historical trends, which causes McLeod and Meeker Counties to receive less. He says Seifert, Emmer, Shimanski and himself are working on this...

7:51 Connie Leis, City Council Member from Litchfield. Lithcfield was the dryest place in the state in 2007. LGA cuts eliminated tree program, the draught stricken trees stand diseased because they cannot afford to cut them down, at $3,000 per tree. City running at a break even, cannot create development.

Fire Hall stores some equipment outside of city limits? 1900 Fire Hall should be condemned!

Explains the problems small cities face, no one claps...I think Republican's hate LGA.

Urdahl: Cities face challenges and I hope we can do something about it next session.

7:38 Dave Johnson, MnDOT. Talks about the challenges in MnDOT now. Gave props to the Transportation Commissioner.

Funding has eroded. Area 8, Willmar was receiving 6% of states funding, now down to 5.4%.

Editorial note: Urdahl voted against the Gas Tax.

7:42 Siefert and Emmer are now on stage, Glenn Gruenhagen, Glencoe is asking about Light Rail. McLeod GOP Chair and Scott Newman are chuckling about this.

Calls light rail a big "boondoggle".

MnDOT answer, road building is not a feasible option for the congestion problem in the metro area.

Urdahl responds: Expense of transit is in question, need to explore possiblities of rail but maybe not the direction we are headed now. Efficiency and cost is problematic.

Greunhagen: Companies like 3M are looking at moving out of Minnesota because of light rail, lower tax rates and allow companies to compete globally.

Glencoe man question: Why did MnDOT take the high bid on the 35W bridge?

MnDOT: They use a combo of bid price and skill. They do it on all specialty contracts.

Seifert: It's flawed policy. Criteria such as asthetics and public relations are in the "best value law". Move back to "lowest responsible bidder" laws. We'll have to fight unions!

7:56 College Small Business Management program instructor pleads for support for SEED program, which is strikingly similar to the MN 2020 proposal.

8:00 Dean Mahlstadt, from Cokato talks about Cokato creating a 7 member Ecomomic Development Commitee. He's not happy he has to compete. Complains that government seems to be geared towards single mothers, welfare families, and the such.

Where is the hope for his family who has been in the Cokato area before it was Cokato. What is the hope for his 6 kids...

Emmer: Thank you. I call what Geller called, redistrubtuion of income. We need to work together to ensure that Minnesota is not the largest employer in Minnesota, but get back to 3M and other large businesses being the largest employer.

8:08 Republican House Tax man is speaking: Government is the largest employer.
Urdahl: $5 billion in tax raises proposed. Veto's and the Republican House Caucus held the line. The mood is to not raise taxes. Raise someone elses taxes but not mine. $7800 per person in taxes, are we getting are money's worth? No one raises their hand...I'm blogging.

Seifert: Governor was right in vetoing, media and willing allies call it shameful. It was shameful that it was ever passed. It's bout keeping Government in check. State of Minnesota is the 4th largest land owner in Minnesota.

1972, largest employers were 3M, Daytons, etc.
2007: State of Minnesota, U of M, Federal government

Government has too much of our money. People create jobs, not government. Government's at all levels need to reign in spending.

Shimanski: Adequate transportation funding? A lot more than a 5 cent gas tax increase.
Top tier of income, more than $250,000. Will run their buisness with wireless phone and internet and live outside of Minnesota for more than 6 months.

Can't strangle the golden goose. Can't steal the golden eggs.

Connie Leis: Tax fast food? Smoke less, drink less, eat more.

John Hassinger: Criteria for a Return on Investment in the State. We work so hard in the State Park system, suddenly, one shows up in Lake Vermillion?

Urdahl: Where do I begin? He's been working on Greenleaf. 4 branches of Government, Legislative, Judicial, Executive, and the DNR.

8:19 Tom Emmer just told me to make sure the photo of Shimanski I just took does not get tampered with. Avidor, you there?

8:28: Russ Goldstein: We don't wanna raise taxes. State uses law enforcement stings to ensure that underage people are not allowed to buy.

We have welfare benefits, WIC benefits, etc. Do we ever do stings to ensure that illegal aliens have not come to Minnesota for benefits? Many of the checks and dollars go to people who do not need them. Send in enforcement agents and fine the agency $300 and the seller $300 each.

Urdahl: Senator Gimse has announced he will bring forth a bill to do most of that.

Greunhagen: Prevailing wages laws should be struck down. Open up the process and repeal the prevailing wages laws. It makes our businesses and school more expensive. Workman's Comp rates are too high.

Urdahl: JOBZ had to be cancelled at a Litchfield business because the prevailing wages would have driven up their costs by $400,ooo. We could not do it when we were in the majority...it's much tougher now that we are in the minority.

8:35: Healthcare Constitutional Amendment for Health Care? Kelliher has the same sense of clock management as Denny Green. Healthcare dude thinks he's funny...

Minnesota has been first 6 of the last 8 years. 93% of Minnesotan's have health care coverage.

Seifert: Welfare people moving to Minnesota to take advantage of our benefits. 7 working groups under the current regime, over 20 meetings between now and Halloween.

He is not taking per diem tonight.

*Editors note: Marty must read Blueman!

Crushing health care costs: Marty's plan

1. Monopolistic Control: 4 non-profits provide 80% of the HMO insurance. Open up competition, prices go down.

2. More mandates on private health care. Allow for cafeteria plans.

3. MN Care tax repealed.

4. Reform welfare system. 4-6,000 people move to the state every year to take advantage of Minnesota's benefits. EFC cards: You can take them to an ATM and get cash for the casino, 6 pack of beer and smokes.

5. Reform torts. Avg cost of malpractice is $100,000-200,000 per doctor. $11-1200 per baby pays for the malpractice insurance. Trial lawyer lobby...take on the Army of Lobbyists, the Welfare Rights people, trial lawyers. Rise up...

6. Pass tax credits to get Government out of Health care and allow the people to choose your doctor and hospital.

Crowd: It's perfect! HHS and illegals. Is it legal to get health care for illegals?

Seifert: For neo-natal care only.

8:59: GOP Tax guy: Gas Tax would only pay for the equivalent of a 35W bridge. Supports bonding for bridges.

Education taxes: Complex formula that provides the metro area more money than rural areas. All children are created equal until the legislature acts.

Seifert: More money is needed for roads and bridges. Should we take 1/2 of the bonding bill and put towards roads and bridges? How does that compare to the gas tax? Bigger better, more efficient.

Take MVST money and do trunk highway bonding, pay for state road expansions with that. Stillwater Bridge should have been done 15 years ago! Seifert wants to bond for bills.

First two tax increases: Gas tax, constitutional amendment for arts crafts, etc. They'll hurt average Joe by the DFL more.

9:06: Urdahl is on the bonding committee. He got cookies at each project. $4 billion requested in bonding bill, wants money in roads bridges and water infrastructure.

Question from the audience. Is $500 million really enough? We have a $1.8 billion shortfall on Transportation funding in the state, annually. In order to be a world class economy, we must have a highly efficient transportation system.

Urdahl: $500 million is only one component. Final package uncertain. Strong believer in local government, get money to counties and townships. Work in a bipartisan manner to get some money to rural Minnesota.

9:15: Gruenhagen: Cut government employee's wages and benefits and do this together. Pay additional taxes if government employee's take a cut.

9:25: Republican Guy, I think he's the SD 18 GOP Chair and a Local 49er are aguing about transportation funding...

Seifert abruptly ends the forum that is now 25 minutes past its close and missing the discussion on education.

Townhall meeting in Hutchinson tonight

There will be a town hall meeting Tuesday evening October 16th from 7-9:00 PM in the commons area of the Hutchinson Campus hosted by local legislators Rep. Ron Shimanski, Rep. Dean Urdahl, Minority Leader Marty Seifert and other legislators to hear from citizens about important issues in rural Minnesota. The public is welcome to attend.

I will be in attendance...and may try to liveblog the event.

Randy Demmer's per diem follies

Ollie Ox at Bluestem Prairie has a math problem for Rep Randy Demmer and his campaign staff to solve!

Indeed, Randy Demmer took per diem while he was is Washington DC at Camp Karl being indoctrinated into the right wing election tactics that led to the success of Michael Barrett, Alan Fine, Gil Gutnecht, and Mark Kennedy.

Dick Day, one of Demmer's opponents in the race to lose to Congressman Walz, waited until the end of session to attend Camp Karl. Day also took a significantly less rate as well, choosing to take $66 per day instead of the $96 per day maximum in the Senate.

Minority Leader in the House, Marty Seifert took the per diem on all 139 session days, including Martin Luther King Jr's birthday and the Easter week break.

As an old Infantry Platoon Sergeant, the phrase, "lead from the front" comes to mind here. I did everything I expected those I led to do.

I wonder what the fiscal conservatives who followed Seifert's lead to "toe the line" on taxes feel after they see he lacked the discipline to abide by the same fiscal conservative values he preaches from his bully pulpit?

I wonder if Rep Lynn Wardlow will shout Seifert down on the floor of the House, "Vote No Seifert!"?

I think I have the answer to Ollie's math problem though...

$77 a day= the price of Randy Demmer's integrity.

How much did your "fiscal conservative" haul in? Part II

A deeper look into the numbers provided by the SC Times.

The Minnesota Legislature was in session from January 3 to May 21, 2007, a total of 139 days, 75 of which were legislative days.

Early in the session, Rep Marty Seifert took a shot at Democrats saying we "spend money like drunken sailors".

Here's a closer look at what our local "fiscal conservatives" got for per diem.

In the House, you can get $77 a day for per diem. The Senate rate is $96.

Bruce Anderson, took $10,472 in Session per diem, or took it on 136 of 139 session days. $6,230 in lodging expenses.

Laura Brod (not local but a strong fiscal conservative) took per diem on 102 of 139 session days and nothing in lodging expenses.

Tom Emmer took per diem on 119 of 139 session days and nothing in lodging expenses.

Sondra Erickson took took per diem on all 139 session days (including weekends and holidays) and $8,714 in lodging expenses.

Steve Gottwalt took per diem on 119 of 139 session days and $5580 in lodging expenses.

Mark Olson took per diem on 119 of 139 session days and $6716 in lodging expenses.

Joyce Peppin took per diem on about 117 of 139 session days and nothing in lodging expenses.

Marty Seifert took per diem on all 139 days of session and over $7600 in lodging expenses. Wow, talk about spending like a "drunken sailor"!

Dan Severson took per diem on 119 of 139 session days and $11,802 in lodging expenses.

Ron Shimanski took per diem on 119 of 139 session days and $4020 in lodging expenses.

Dean Urdahl took per diem on 135 of 139 session days and $5621 in lodging expenses.

On the Senate side...

Steve Dille took per diem on all 139 session days and $7325 in lodging expenses.

Michele Fischbach took per diem on all 139 session days and $10,176 in lodging expenses.

Joe Gimse took per diem on all 139 session days and $8487 in lodging expenses.

Bill Ingebrigtsen took per diem on 110 of 139 session days and $9586 in lodging expenses.

Mike Jungbauer took per diem on all 139 session days but nothing in lodging expenses.

Amy Koch took per diem on 119 of 139 session days and $8954 in lodging expenses.

Betsy Wergin took per diem on all 139 session days and $8535 in lodging expenses.

It's pretty interesting once you dig a bit deeper into the numbers. Most of these fiscally conservative legislators took per diem on weekends and on holidays. They also spared no expense for lodging as well.

It sure is nice that they are fiscally conservative on education and veterans benefits but rake in the big bucks on weekends and holidays at tax payers expense.

I wonder how many of these elected leaders will remain "friends of the tax payer".

Hey Marty, that's 3 bottles of Crown Royal a day! Holy drunken sailor Marty!

Thanks Ollie for the tip!

How much did your "fiscal conservative" haul in?

The SC Times has a great piece up today about how much in per diem and other forms of compensation legislators can take home.

Note I was strongly opposed to the Senate raising the per diem rate.

So, how did our local "fiscal conservatives" do?

Rep Sondra Erickson $24,521
Rep Mark Olson $19,414
Rep Bruce Anderson $20,402
Rep Tom Emmer $11,711
Rep Ron Shimanski $17,135
Rep Dean Urdahl $19,971
Rep Dan Severson $25,126
Rep Laura Brod $10,256
Senator Steve Dille $24,694
Senator Amy Koch $22,172
Senator Betsy Wergin $24,158
Senator Michelle Fischbach $27,162
Senator Joe Gimse $27,801
Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen $30,619

And two of our favorite conservatives..."Friend's of the Taxpayer"...
Rep Randy Demmer $23,627
Rep Marty Seifert $28,038

All that from "fiscal conservatives"! At least Emmer and Brod held true to their "fiscal conservative" values, the others, including Dean Urdahl, Marty Seifert, Randy Demmer, and Amy Koch, sold out for a few more bucks a day.

A few observations as the Special Election looms...

H/T to Bluestem Prairie for finding this.

While Korb from the "King and the Korb Weekly Lovefest" goes after Linda Pfeilsticker for being vague in answering questions, the same holds true for her Republican opponent Steve Drazkowski.

Look Drazkowski's "answers" to some questions put forth by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.

In order to strengthen Minnesota's economy, strategic investment in transportation infrastructure is necessary. How do you propose to fund Minnesota's transportation infrastructure to assure the safest, most cost effective transportation system that will meet the economic and quality-of-life needs of our state?

Draz states:

There is enough money for transportation projects in Minnesota, we just need be more efficient and prioritize our spending on transportation projects.

Really? Is he serious? While I do not claim to be an expert on the road infrastructure in 28B, I do travel Greater Minnesota on a pretty regular basis, and know that the roads are in need of significant repair.

Seems like Draz is following the mantra of Seifert, Urdahl, Emmer, and Shimanski.

Cut, cut, cut
Borrow, borrow, borrow
Blame, blame, blame

Phoenix Woman posts about Pawlenty playing good cop to Molnau and Seifert's bad cop regarding transportation funding.

Bluestem Prairie covers transportation issues as well! Note that Draz wants to bond for roads! Build now, pay later!

While the transportation question has caught the eye of many, Drazkowski's lack of a response on the education question is what concerns me most.

Minnesota has adopted grade-level standards that describe what all students in Minnesota should know and be able to do by the time they graduate from high school. Minnesota administers statewide tests to measure student progress against those standards and to enable the public to easily compare student achievement in different schools. Which of the following statements is closest to your opinion about testing in Minnesota?

Testing background: Many employers report that high school graduates are unprepared for the demands of the workplace. And about 30 percent of first year students in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system (MnSCU) take at least one remedial course. To improve student achievement and increase accountability in our public education system, Minnesota, after more than a decade of debate and experimentation, adopted a set of statewide standards and a corresponding set of tests to measure students against those standards. Minnesota's efforts predated the federal No Child Left Behind Act, but the overall goal is consistent.

Steve Drazkowski: Has not yet responded.

He simply avoided the question. Students coming to MnSCU institutions unprepared for core level courses is rising. It has been rising for years and is a strain on limited resources on our college campuses.

Pfeilsticker is dead on in her response.

State testing can be appropriate for the measurement of student achievement if used to help schools address areas of concern. There can be such a thing as too much testing. Too many school days are consumed doing standardized tests which are very costly to administer. We need to minimize the number of testing days and use the test results as guides for overall curriculum development.

Why did Drazkowski dodge this question? What does he have to hide?

It's the status quo with Republican candidates, avoid the tough questions and provide bland answers with no vision for the future.

No answer on the education question and no vision on the transportation question.

Is this really what the voters in 28B want? An elected official with no vision for our future? We do not need more Dean Urdahl's, Tom Emmer's, Marty Seifert's, Ron Shimanski's, or Steve Drazkowski's. We need leaders who will lead in difficult situations, make the tough decision and not ride the party line to mediocrity.