A slip of the tongue on the part of Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Tom Hanson may have been the most apt summation of the bad news the state of Minnesota received with the release of the November economic forecast on Wednesday. "Though our state economist will tell [...]
One gubernatorial candidate and a state labor union didn't wait for the formality of an actual announcement of Minnesota's budget forecast this morning before laying the blame for the deficit squarely at the feet of Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
The announcement of the November economic forecast by state budget officials will begin' [...]
Starting around 11 this morning, there will be a period of a few hours when we won't be adding any new content to this site. That's because today's a big day around here--we'll be migrating to our newly redesigned and revamped Politics in Minnesota website.
You'll reach our new site at' [...]
For budget watchers at the Capitol, the main question concerning the November economic forecast that will be released at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday is how big is the hole? Most observers we've talked to are expecting an additional revenue shortfall on the high side of the $500 million to' [...]
State Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, one of a dozen DFLers hoping to snag the party's endorsement to run for governor next year, has announced his new "field team."
The team includes Sarah Black, a former field organizer for the Minnesota DFL who worked on Ashwin Madia's unsuccessful bid for Congress last [...]
DFLer Jim Meffert of Edina, executive director and lobbyist for the Minnesota Optometric Association, officially announced plans this morning to challenge first-term U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., in 2010.
As PIM reported earlier, Meffert will seek the DFL Party's endorsement to run against Paulsen, who defeated his 2008' [...]
Last week's state dinner at the White House honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was "absolutely amazing," according to a Minnesota legislator who attended (and whose name was actually on the guest list).
"There were lots of times during the evening that I had to ask myself if I was deserving [...]
The House Jobs Task Force appointed last summer by Speaker and gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) is meeting in all-day session today. This time around, the gavel is in the hands of Capital Investment Finance Division chair Alice Hausman (DFL-St. Paul; pictured above at right), one of [...]
Five new Republican candidates have stepped forward to challenge incumbents in the Minnesota Legislature in next year's general election.
The new filings with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board bring the total number of challengers for state House seats to 37 iin 33 districts, 28 of them Republicans and [...]
(Editor's note: Politics in Minnesota's new Comings and Goings feature will make note of new appointments, resignations, promotions and other movement of people within and adjacent to government in Minnesota. The new feature will replace the St. Paul Capitol Report's Capitol Notebook. Let us know if you [...]
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak plans to officially enter the 2010 gubernatorial race on Dec. 6.
Rybak's campaign kickoff will start at 1 p.m. at the Varsity Theater in the Dinkytown neighborhood of Minneapolis, according to his Facebook page. The event was reported on Minnesota Public Radio's Polinaut blog.
Rybak, a DFLer, has [...]
The Minnesota Republican Party is planning a rally at the state capitol Dec. 7 in support of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's "spending accountability amendment."
The proposed amendment to the Minnesota constitution, which would cap the state's general fund budget at the level of revenue received during the previous budget period, will be [...]
The board of a major Minnesota public pension plan has agreed to consider asking state lawmakers in 2010 to increase contributions and cut benefit increases to shore up its shaky finances.
The Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) of Minnesota saw the value of its pension assets decline 19 percent during the [...]
Five of the unions that have endorsed DFL candidates in Minnesota's 2010 gubernatorial race contributed close to a half-million dollars to various state DFL committees in the 2007-08 election cycle, according to official records.
With almost a year to go until the 2010 election, half of the dozen announced DFL candidates [...]
Five of the unions that have endorsed DFL candidates in Minnesota's 2010 gubernatorial race contributed close to a half-million dollars to various state DFL committees in the 2007-08 election cycle, according to official records.
With almost a year to go until the 2010 election, half of the dozen announced DFL candidates [...]
(Editor's note: Politics in Minnesota's new Comings and Goings feature will make note of new appointments, resignations, promotions and other movement of people within and adjacent to government in Minnesota. The new feature will replace the St. Paul Capitol Report's Capitol Notebook. Let us know if you [...]
Since the GOP night of the long knives that followed the transportation veto override in 2007, no House Republican has ventured outside the fold on any high-profile matter of taxing or spending. But a lot of legislative DFLers think the 2010 session and a looming election could change that equation.
There's' [...]
Charlie Weaver said today in a press release that he won't run for governor in 2010.
Weaver, a Republican and executive director of the Minnesota Business Partnership, has been mentioned for months as one of a couple moderate Republicans interested in running for governor.
“Running for Governor is a full time job' [...]
Gubernatorial candidates Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Marty Seifert won this weekend’s Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) Political Action Committee straw polls.
The non-binding straw poll was taken at MFU’s annual state meeting in Minneapolis.
Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis and speaker of the state House, is one of 10 DFLers running for governor in 2010. She [...]
House Research has completed the brief of amicus curiae that supports a complaint in Ramsey County District Court against Gov. Tim Pawlenty's unallotment.
Nonpartisan House Research attorneys were asked on Monday to write the brief by the House Rules Committee. The Rules Committee agreed to side with the plaintiffs in' [...]
Former GOP state Rep. Ron Erhardt of Edina is exploring a run for his old House seat as a Democrat.
“I’m looking to run. I raised money earlier in the year,” said Erhardt today in a telephone interview with PIM.
Erhardt, a moderate, spent nine terms in the House. When Republicans controlled [...]
Minnesota Speaker of the House and DFL gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher has collected another union endorsement, this time from the American Federation of State, County and Muncipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 65, which represents 13,000 employees in greater Minnesota.
"Our members worry about how to pay for health care or whether [...]
The Minnesota Department of Revenue (DOR) is crediting the state-imposed cap on local levy limits for slowing the increase of property taxes.
DOR announced this morning that levies in 2010 are likely to increase an average 3.5 percent statewide. Next year’s county and city budgets have been proposed, but not yet [...]
This morning the 13,000-member International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 49, announced that it's backing the gubernatorial candidacy of House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis).
“We need to get the economy working again in Minnesota. Margaret is a proven leader who has been fighting for the issues and values of our [...]
The Minnesota Department of Management and Budget (MMB) has rolled out an online map that shows where federal economic stimulus money has been allocated in the state.
The map, which was launched earlier this month, is available at the state’s www.recovery.mn website for stimulus information.
State officials were pressed to improve [...]
Two DFL candidates registered campaign committees with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board this week to challenge two prominent state Senate Republicans.
Gregory A. French of Byron seeks to unseat Senate Minority Leader David Senjem, R-Rochester, in Senate District 29, and Ron Case of Eden Prairie is challenging Assistant [...]
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak is wasting no time assembling a staff for his pursuit of the DFL endorsement to run for governor next year.
His mayoral chief of staff, Tina Smith, has been named campaign manager (taking a leave of absence from the mayor's office, according to an e-mailed press release [...]
Note: this story first appeared in the November 13, 2009 edition of the Weekly Report.Two first-term DFL state senators have announced their support of Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, for Minnesota governor.
In a letter, Sens. Ann Lynch, DFL-Rochester, and Kathy Saltzman, DFL-Woodbury, praised Bakk as a leader who can "work across party lines, make difficult decisions and get the work done."
[...]Longtime state Sen. Steve Dille, R-Dassel, has announced he won't seek re-election in 2010. Dille, a farmer and veterinarian, has been a key legislator on agriculture issues.
Dille was elected to the House in 1986. He was elected to the Senate in 1992.
In an e-mail, Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester,' [...]
Over Republicans’ charges of political gamesmanship, the state House Rules Committee this morning agreed to issue a friend-of-the-court brief opposing Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s budget cutting unallotments earlier this summer.
The resolution passed on a 14-8 party-line vote.
The move won’t make the House a plaintiff in the complaint filed in Ramsey [...]
(Editor's note: Politics in Minnesota's new Comings and Goings feature will make note of new appointments, resignations, promotions and other movement of people within and adjacent to government in Minnesota. The new feature will replace the St. Paul Capitol Report's Capitol Notebook. Let us know if you [...]
The House Rules Committee’s 14-8 vote today to file an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in the unallotment court challenge is preceded by a history of other forays into the courts by the Legislature.
House Research Director Patrick McCormack and House Research counsel Joel Michael prepared memos for the Rules Committee [...]
Betsy Sundquist, Staff Writer, Saint Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report, Charley Shaw, Staff Writer, Saint Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report, Staff, Peter Bartz-Gallagher, Sarah Janecek, Steve Perry, PIM/Capitol Report managing editor
