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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.

Posts about National campaigns

Both sides prepare for marriage battle at Minnesota Capitol

Posted by: Baird Helgeson Updated: December 20, 2012 - 1:59 PM

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The group that defeated the marriage amendment last month is reforming to persuade legislators to legalize same-sex marriage.

“Our intention is to make sure gay and lesbian couples have the freedom to marry after the 2013 legislative session,” said Richard Carlbom, campaign manager for Minnesotans United for All Families.

Minnesotans United, which raised millions of dollars and united tens of thousands of volunteers, is in the early stages of converting from a statewide campaign into a Capitol lobbying effort. The group plans to continue to urge supporters to have conversations around the state about the need to legalize same-sex marriage.

“It’s going to continue to be a massive grassroots campaign,” Carlbom said.

Minnesota for Marriage, the group that unsuccessfully pushed the amendment, plans to work just has hard to persuade legislators to not redefine marriage. They note that a majority of voters in most counties voted to pass the measure, which would have added a same-sex marriage ban into the state Constitution.

Minnesota for Marriage met with supporters this week to plan their effort and have already embarked on a massive fundraising effort.

“We anticipate that the Legislature will move to redefine marriage, most likely this year, which is one principal reason why Minnesota needed a marriage amendment,” said Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

Adkins and other same-sex marriage opponents warn that new Democratic majorities in the state House and Senate risk alienating Minnesota voters if they press the marriage issue.

“The new DFL majorities will burn enormous political capital ending the conversation and imposing same-sex marriage,” Adkins said. “It could undermine the rest of their legislative goals.”

Democratic legislative leaders have so far not embraced plans to change the definition of marriage this session. They say the focus will be on wiping out a $1.1 billion budget deficit, overhauling the tax system and stabilizing education funding.
 

Bipartisan bunch pushes National Popular Vote

Posted by: Rachel E. Stassen-Berger Updated: December 17, 2012 - 11:39 AM

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On the same day Minnesota's presidential electors will ceremonially cast their votes for President Barack Obama, a bipartisan bunch of Minnesota lawmakers proposed exchanging the power of the Electoral College and making the national popular vote supreme.

The new system, backed by a diverse group of legislators, would give weight to the number of actual votes presidential candidates get, rather than just number of Electoral College votes, in presidential elections. A diverse group of Minnesota backers say it would  mean every vote would have equal value during presidential campaigns, removing the candidates' incentive to focus primarily on the handful swing states.

"Everyone understands that places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, swing states, this is a really good process for them right now. Unfortunately, the rest of the country gets hosed," backer Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, said Monday.

The idea of swapping the power of the electoral college for a popular vote system is not new. A Minnesota measure to join a national compact pass a single committee passed a Republican-controlled House committee last year but never got a full vote in either the House or the Senate.

But, with another presidential election in which Minnesota was all but ignored in the rear view, supporters hope the change will be embraced.

"It's an idea whose time is come," said backer Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope. Rep. Steve Simon, incoming chair of the House elections committee and a St. Louis Park Democrat, is a support and outgoing House Speaker Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, supported the 2011 measure.

Detractors fear the a popular vote system would mean that candidates would focus only on populous states and fear the specter of a national recount, which could paralyze the process.

This year's national Republican Party platform took a strong position against the idea.

"We recognize that an unconstitutional effort to impose “national popular vote” would be a mortal threat to our federal system and a guarantee of corruption as every ballot box in every state would become a chance to steal the presidency," the GOP platform says. The national Democratic platform lacks a similar position.

The current proposal would not dump the electoral college system completely, which would require a constitutional amendment. Instead, if it wins approval, it would guarantee that presidential electors would give their votes to whomever wins the popular vote. 

For the change to take effect, states across the country, whose votes are worth 270 electoral college votes, would have to approve a compact giving power to the national popular vote. So far, nine states, with 132 electoral votes, have approved the plan.

"We're almost half way to where we need to be to change the system constitutionally," said Pat Rosenstiel, consultant to the National Popular Vote campaign.

At noon on Monday, Minnesota's presidential electors -- all Democrats -- will meet to cast their ballots for Obama at the State Capitol.

 

Klobuchar pushes anti-DOMA petition

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: December 10, 2012 - 3:25 PM

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As the U.S. Supreme Court takes up the constitutionality of two same-sex marriage cases, including the federal “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA), U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is circulating an online petition to repeal the law.
 
The Minnesota Democrat is being joined in the Senate by New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen. Both have signed on to DOMA repeal legislation.   
 
“This country was founded on equality for all people, and it is time to repeal this legislation both in Congress and in the courts,” Klobuchar wrote in a email to supporters Monday.
 
The effort comes a month after Minnesota voters defeated a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage, and as polls across the country show major shifts in opinion on same-sex marriage.
 
The email serves as a reminder to gay rights activists, among them some who thought she was late to the cause of ending the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell” policy. It also thrusts Klobuchar into a broader ideological debate, political turf on which she was less visible in her first term.

White House says middle-class Minnesotans could pay the price

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: December 5, 2012 - 9:19 PM

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In an effort to galvanize support for President Obama’s proposed middle-class tax cuts, the White House released new data Wednesday showing what’s at stake for taxpayers in Minnesota and other states if Washington goes over the “fiscal cliff.”

Apart from approximately 2 million middle class Minnesota taxpayers who would see their federal tax bills jump (an average of $2,200), some 542,000 low and moderate income families in Minnesota would lose the Child Tax Credit, worth an average of $1,000 a year.

 
On top of that, there are 203,000 middle-class Minnesota families that would no longer get help paying for college under the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which also is scheduled to expire.
 
On a lighter note, The Action, an Obama-aligned group that has been trying to pressure Minnesota Republicans in Congress to relent on raising tax rates for the top 2 percent, is planning to organize Minnesotans from around the state to sing “fiscal-cliff themed carols” at the State Capitol at 1 p.m. Thursday.
 
The group also is promoting an effort by Minnesota Democrat Tim Walz for force a vote in the U.S. House on extending the Bush-era tax cuts on the first $250,000 of income, something he says would help 100 percent of taxpayers, not just the bottom 98 percent.
 
So far, Walz has gotten 178 Democrats to sign on, but no Republican takers. He would need about two dozen defectors to get a vote of the full House.

What the state forecasts say

Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: December 5, 2012 - 11:57 AM

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By Baird Helgeson and Jennifer Brooks

Despite an improving economy, Minnesota state leaders face a new, $1.1 billion budget deficit, according a new economic update released Wednesday.

Minnesota has been pulling itself up during a fragile economic recovery, but the sliver of additional tax revenue is not enough to keep up with rising costs, the numbers show.

The budget numbers, which are always a moving target, are more uncertain than usual as Washington leaders debate the so-called fiscal cliff, which could plunge Minnesota and the nation into another recession.

Minnesota Management and Budget has released the complete economic and budget details. The new budget number will become the foundation of DFL Gov. Mark Dayton’s budget proposal, expected to be released next month.

The improving economy in the current budget cycle will allow the state to repay $1.3 billion borrowed from public schools to balance the state budget. However, the state still owes the schools more than $1 billion and the new deficit means there is no immediate plan to pay back the balance.

“The economy is a little weaker than we thought it would be last February. Not a lot weaker, but a little weaker,” State Economist Tom Stinson said.

The uncertainly around the fiscal cliff is a bigger drag on the economy, Stinson said. If President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders fail to strike a different budget deal, a menu of tax hikes and deep spending reductions will kick in and begin tugging at an already anemic economic recovery.

“There’s no reason for us to have a recession in 2013 or 2014,” Stinson said. “And if we do, it will be self-inflicted. But that doesn’t mean we won’t have one.”

If the two sides reach a deal and bring new predictability to taxes and spending, it could unleash a torrent of pent up spending and give a notable boost to the economy in Minnesota and the nation.

“One can imagine increased business spending and increased business hiring once they knew what the rules could be,” Stinson said.

The twice-annual economic forecast takes into account an array of indicators, including local economy, the national economy, even the financial instability spiraling throughout Europe.

Minnesota's economy is already doing better than many parts of the nation. Minnesota’s unemployment rate is hovering around 5.8 percent, about two full percentage points better than the national average.

Minnesota’s construction sector endured the worst of the last recession, and has suffered the most stubbornly high unemployment rates. Stinson said he finally sees that sector improving in a significant way.

“We are expecting the housing sector to begin to turn around and begin to grow over the next couple years,” he said.

The healthcare industry continues to outperform many other sectors, particularly as Minnesota baby boomers edge toward retirement.

Dayton is going to use the budget forecast data to form his budget proposal, which is likely to include a plan for a massive retooling of the state tax system.

The changing economy has left the state relying too little on income and sales taxes and placing too much reliance on property taxes, Dayton has said.

Dayton’s revenue and budget officials want to distribute the tax burden more evenly, potentially lowering some taxes and increasing others.

Stinson said a reshuffling of the tax laws could finally break Minnesota out of the cycle of annual budget deficits that caused years of statewide reductions and borrowing. State leaders haven’t made a comprehensive reform effort since the 1980s.

“We certainly need to make sure that Minnesota’s tax system is appropriate for dealing with the economy that we have in 2012 rather than the economy that existed in 1984,” Stinson said.

Read the full budget forecast documents here.
 

Full Budget Forecast

inside the StarTribune