politics
With an insider’s eye, Hot Dish tracks the tastiest bits of Minnesota’s political scene and keep you up-to-date on those elected to serve you.
Contributors in Minnesota: Jennifer Brooks, Baird Helgeson, Mike Kaszuba, Patricia Lopez, Jim Ragsdale, Brad Schrade and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger. Contributors in D.C.: Kevin Diaz and Corey Mitchell.
Contributors in Minnesota: Jennifer Brooks, Baird Helgeson, Mike Kaszuba, Patricia Lopez, Jim Ragsdale, Brad Schrade and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger. Contributors in D.C.: Kevin Diaz and Corey Mitchell.
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Rep. Gottwalt says he will resign
Posted by: Jennifer Brooks under Minnesota legislature Updated: January 3, 2013 - 6:29 PM
State Rep. Steve Gottwalt, R-St. Cloud, announced Thursday evening that he will give up his House seat before the end of this month, citing the demands of his new job.
In a letter to fellow House members, Gottwalt wrote:
Dear Colleagues:
At the beginning of December, I announced the great news that I had joined Center for Diagnostic Imaging as Director of State Legislative Policy, in a national role assisting this healthcare company in continuing its leadership in providing high quality, cost-effective diagnostic imaging services. My role at the CDI Quality Institute is to understand and translate the complex state healthcare regulatory environment in more than 25 states in which the company sees patients, and I am proud to be working with a health care company actively seeking solutions at a critical time for healthcare across the country.
As I’ve settled in at CDI, I see the states are once again the laboratory of democracy, and each is finding its own approach to implementing the new federal healthcare law. It’s a huge set of changes, and it makes this position one to which I must fully commit as much time and focus as possible. It quite simply is more than a full time job, and one that will not allow me the time I need to represent the people of District 14A as their State Representative.
That is why I have made the difficult decision to resign my seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives before the end of the month. I thank you, my colleagues, for our years of service together, and my constituents for their confidence in electing me to represent them. I will always appreciate the deep honor and privilege of serving the residents of St. Cloud, Waite Park, St. Augusta and Rockville.
Sincerely in service,
State Rep. Steve Gottwalt
House District 14A
Gottwalt is the second member of the state House to resign his seat since the November elections. Democratic Rep. Terry Morrow also plans to give up his seat as soon as the current legislative session ends, to take a job in Chicago. New elections cannot be scheduled until the lawmakers officially resign.
Bachmann casts a late vote for Speaker Boehner
Posted by: Kevin Diaz under 6th District, Minnesota congressional, Republicans Updated: January 3, 2013 - 6:01 PM
The Minnesota Republican’s name was called twice.
Boehner has had well-known troubles with the Tea Party wing of the Republican caucus over the “fiscal cliff” deal, and his reelection was less of a sure thing than these pro-forma session-opening votes usually are.
By the end of the roll call, 14 members had still not voted, and Boehner was still short of the 218 needed to remain House Speaker.
But the absent or not-voting members were called again, and on the second round Bachmann was on the House floor. She cast her vote for Boehner, and joined him later for the traditional swearing-in photo-op.
Message sent? Not according to Bachmann spokesman Dan Kotman. "There's nothing to read into it," he said.
Rep. Gottwalt takes a lobbying job
Posted by: Jennifer Brooks under Minnesota legislature Updated: January 3, 2013 - 7:16 PMState Rep. Steve Gottwalt, R-St. Cloud, has taken a job as director of state legislative policy for the Center for Diagnostic Imaging, a company that lobbies the Minnesota legislature.
House Republican Caucus spokeswoman Susan Closmore said Gottwalt, who was just elected to a fourth term, will remain in the Legislature. The company lobbies in a number of states and Closmore said Gottwalt's new job will not present a conflict of interest as long as his work with company lobbyists is done out of state.
The Center for Diagnostic Imaging, based in St. Louis Park, does lobby the Minnesota Legislature. Elisabeth Quam, executive director of the CDI Quality Institute, is currently registered as the company's state lobbyist.
Quam said Gottwalt will not be lobbying himself. Instead, he will keep tabs on the legislatures in the 27 states where the company does business and work with the company's lobbyists to keep tabs on healthcare policies -- particularly the rollout of the new healthcare reforms.
"What he's going to do is direct how we respond to policy initiatives," Quam said. "He'll be telling us (when Massachusetts passes a new law) what kind of regulations they have to comply with, what measures they should report on as they relate to what's been mandated by the state."
Minnesota, like other states, will be rolling out its new health care exchanges and other sweeping healthcare policy changes this session. And Gottwalt, who served as chairman of the House Human Services Reform Committee last session, will be involved in that policy debate.
But Quam said he won't be advising the company about Minnesota's legislative policy.
"Because he's got such a knowledge base, he's just a great hire for us, but we wouldn't have needed him for Minnesota, because we've already got that covered," said Quam, a former state Senate staffer and assistant state health commissioner.
Gottwalt had been employed as director of communications and consumer affairs at the Coborn’s, Inc. grocery chain, but a call to the company confirmed he no longer works there. Gottwalt also sells insurance – a career that raised eyebrows after it was revealed he works as a contractor for a brokerage firm that had lobbied his committee to move thousands of Minnesotans off MinnestoaCare and into the private insurance market.
The Minnesota Legislature returns to work on Jan. 8. Will Gottwalt be able to juggle his legislative workload and keep tabs on 26 other legislatures at the same time?
"That's for him to decide. We expect a full-time employee with what we do," Quam said.
Klobuchar and Franken vote 'yes' on fiscal cliff deal
Posted by: Kevin Diaz under Funding, Minnesota U.S. senators, Minnesota congressional Updated: January 1, 2013 - 7:39 AMMinnesota’s two Democratic senators cast yes votes on the late-night “fiscal cliff” agreement, which passed 89-8.
Sen. Al Franken, who faces reelection next year, expressed reservations about the reach of the deal in reducing debt and helping farmers. But he praised provisions such as tax cuts for the middle-class and the extension of unemployment insurance for the jobless.
He added that it was “crucial” to him that the deal worked out between the White House and Republican leaders did not make cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
“While I don’t think this package raises sufficient revenues toward paying down the debt or to make the investments in infrastructure, education, and research and development needed to grow our economy, I knew that no bill would have 100 percent of what I wanted,” he said in a statement.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar also said she had wished for more.
“I voted for this compromise because the last thing we should be doing this New Year’s is sticking middle class families with a tax hike,” she said. “I fought for and wanted a larger, more comprehensive plan that balanced revenues and spending cuts.”
Bachmann says Congress should forego pay raise
Posted by: Kevin Diaz under 6th District, Minnesota congressional Updated: December 31, 2012 - 5:09 PMStaring into the abyss of the fiscal cliff deadline, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann introduced legislation Monday that would rescind the portion of President Obama’s executive order that gives members of Congress a pay raise.
“At a time when families across the country are cutting back we should not increase government spending and add to the debt burden by giving members of Congress a pay raise," the Minnesota Republican said.
The announcement came as House leaders indicated they would not have a budget deal done by the midnight deadline, plunging the nation off the fiscal cliff.
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recent posts
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