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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, Patricia Lopez, Jim Ragsdale, Rachel E. Stassen-Berger and Glen Stubbe. Contributors in D.C.: Kevin Diaz and Corey Mitchell.

Posts about Gov. Mark Dayton

GOP House members ask Dayton to veto parks money

Posted by: Baird Helgeson Updated: May 21, 2013 - 5:02 PM

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A group of 15 House Republicans is calling on DFL Gov. Mark Dayton to use his line-item veto power to nix money for Twin Cities parks.

The DFL-controlled Legislature approved the millions for outdoor, cultural and arts Legacy fund projects, including $6.3 million for Twin Cities area parks.

Republicans contend the parks money was not among the recommendations from the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, which advises how a portion of the money is spent.

“We request you line-item veto the provision that dedicates money to the Metro Area parks,” legislators wrote.

Dayton’s staff said the governor is reviewing the measure newly passed by the Legislature and will decide the fate of the money soon.

DFL leaders say budget is 'progress;' GOP says it's 'tax, tax, tax'

Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: May 21, 2013 - 1:05 PM

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By Jim Ragsdale and Jennifer Brooks

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and DFL leaders of the Legislature pronounced one-party governance a success and said the budget deal approved late Monday night will have tangible results for middle-class Minnesotans.

"I don't know how they stayed up, much less functioned," Dayton said of House Speaker Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, during the late-night windup to the Legislative session that ended on Monday.

Dayton said the decision to increase the income taxes on upper-income Minnesotans, along with other taxes such as a cigarette tax hike, allows the state to wipe out a $627 million projected deficit, to invest $753 million in education from pre-school to college, to provide $400 million in property tax relief and $40 million in economic development.

Dayton said the budget deal will show that government has a role in improving the lives of Minnesotans."We believe in a positive role for government," he said.

GOP leaders were flying around the state to give their take on the session -- which is that there was no need for a tax increase at all this year because of the improving economy. Back at the Capitol, Sen. Dave Thompson, R-Lakeville, told reporters that 2013 would be remembered as the session of "tax, tax, tax."

Democrats pledged to tax the rich, Thompson said, but instead "they taxed everybody."

"What we now have is that Minnesota will be one of the highest-taxed states in the nation," Thompson said. "When what we ought to be doing is try to create a healthy economy, opportunity culture, rather than a culture of governmental overreach."

Other House and Senate Republicans criss-crossed the state Tuesday to share their post-session reactions. House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, Senate Minority Leader David Han, Reps. Jennifer Loon and Tim Sanders, and Sen. Michelle Benson hopscotched around the state, hitting Rochester, Mankato, St. Cloud, Moorhead and Duluth in the space in the space of a day.

Bakk said he is proud that the new budget contains "no gimmicks" and will leave the next Legislature -- after House and gubernatorial elections in 2014 -- with a balance budget to start with. That hasn't often been the case in the last decade.

"We have re-set the clock in Minnesota," he said, and put the state on a "stable budget path."

Thissen said the agreement "turned the corner on Minnesota's future" by a "history-making" expenditure on early-childhood education scholarships. "It's going to change thousands of kids' lives," Thissen said. Funding for all-day kindergarten -- free to parents -- and freezing tuition at colleges universities are also tangible benefits of the budget, Thissen said.

"Tuition is just another tax," Thissen said, quoting Rep. Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona, who heads the House Higher Education panel.

None of the leaders mentioned the historic bill to legalize gay marriage, the last-day passage of a bill to allow child-care and home-care workers to vote on unionization, or the failure to enact universal background checks on guns.

Their message was bread-and-butter budget, and Dayton's argument that one-party government spelled "progress" that middle-class Minnesotans will see.

To the complaint that one-party government "overreached," Thissen said, "For the last decade, the state has under-performed."

Dayton said if it hadn't been for the DFL majority, such projects as the Mayo-Rochester expansion would have fallen by the wayside. GOP failure to approve a larger bonding bill meant failure for "the Mayos of all these small towns," projects that could have helped communities around the state, Dayton said.

He said Republicans "don't believe there's any role for government" in such projects. "And they're wrong." He added: "They just turn their back on everybody."

Bakk and Thissen said they regretted not being able to agree on an increase in the state's minimum wage. Bakk said there are some "clinkers" in the tax bill that may be reconsidered, including a sales tax on warehouse services or farm equipment repair.

Bakk said he is proud of two changes that have been long considered.

One eliminates the sales tax on purchases paid to the state by local governments. The other is to give businesses an up-front sales tax exemption for capital equipment purchase, rather than requiring them to borrow the money for the purchase and file for a refund.

He said both problems have been lamented since he arrived at the Legislature in 1994, and now they have been fixed.

Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, a GOP candidate for Dayton's job in 2014, issued a statement saying the DFL leaders had the wrong focus -- "an obsession with divisive social issues, unionization of in-home childcare providers and a smorgasbord of new ways to raise taxes and fees on Minnesota taxpayers."

House approves care workers union bill by single vote

Posted by: Jim Ragsdale Updated: May 20, 2013 - 3:15 PM

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Organized labor won a major victory in the waning hours of the Legislative session Monday when the House approved -- by a single vote -- a bill that allows some in-home child care providers and personal care attendants to decide whether to unionize.

The House approved the bill by a 68-66 vote, the minimum required for passage, prompting a prolonged cheer from union supporters in the galleries, an unusual event that angered GOP opponents of the bill.

The bill goes to DFL Gov. Mark Dayton. A spokeswoman said the governor will sign the bill into law.

It will allow two unions that are key parts of the DFL constituency -- the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) -- to try to organize more than 20,000 child care providers and personal care attendants.

The bill became the sticking point of the 2013 session, taking 17 hours of debate in the Senate and three separate long debates in the House.

Opponents immediate vowed to file suit to block implementation of the organizing attempt.

"If we pass this legislation, all we're saying is, it's their choice," said House Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul.

"My heart breaks for the moms," said an opponent, Rep. Tara Mack, R-Apple Valley.  Rep. Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, said there will be a reaction against DFL supporters. "You're going to see passion, folks," he said. "I hope the money and the members are worth it."

 

MN Senate unanimously ousts Tax Court judge

Posted by: Jim Ragsdale Updated: May 20, 2013 - 12:00 PM

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The Minnesota Senate voted unanimously to oust a Tax Court judge that Gov. Mark Dayton reappointed -- and now wants to remove from office.

The Senate voted 57-0 against a motion to confirm George Perez, which means Perez must leave office.

This month, a panel of the Board of Judicial Standards recommended sanctions against Perez for missing deadlines for decisions and falsifying dates to cover up the delays.  Dayton then asked the Senate to refuse to confirm Perez, saying he would never have reappointed him had he known of the complaints.

"I believe that Judge Perez's reported misconduct violates the integrity of our state's judicial system, and that his continued service is not in the best interest of Minnesota citizens," Dayton said in a letter to legislators.

Perez was initially appointed in 1997 and became Chief Judge in 2001. Dayton reappointed him in 2011.

 

House passes $2 billion in new taxes, stadium funding, Mayo project

Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: May 20, 2013 - 1:54 AM

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By Baird Helgeson

The Minnesota House approved $2.1 billion in new taxes on Sunday night, the most sweeping package of new revenue in more than a decade.

House Democrats voted 69-65 to increase income taxes on high earners and impose a dramatic increase on the tobacco tax. The measure also set aside money to pay the state’s share of the new Minnesota Viking stadium and help a multibillion-dollar expansion in Rochester to aid Mayo Clinic.

The additional revenue is a crucial component of DFLers' plan to boost education funding, provide property tax relief and spur economic development. The new proposal also wipes out a $627 million projected deficit.

“We’re proffering massive property tax relief for all Minnesotans, both for cities, counties and school districts, individuals and renters,” said House Taxes Committee Chairwoman Ann Lenczewski, DFL-Bloomington.

Republicans said the tax hikes are an economy killer, and set the state government growth at a rate much higher than in the private sector.

“If somebody says this isn't a job-killing tax bill, then they don't know anything about businesses,” said Rep. Mark Anderson, R-Lake Shore.

Legislators ditched much-criticized proposals to begin charging sales tax on clothing and a separate plan to impose a temporary income tax surcharge on those with a taxable income of more than $500,000 a year. That money was slated to go to speed the repayment of $850 million owned to K-12 public schools. They also scrapped a proposed alcohol tax, which drew intense opposition from the state’s beer and wine industry.

In the closing days, lawmakers reverted to the framework of a plan first offered by DFL Gov. Mark Dayton.

The measure will make the rate the high earners the fifth-highest in the nation, a huge concern for Republicans.

The new budget is a huge political victory for Dayton, who campaigned on a pledge to “tax the rich” and was not able to get the proposal by Republicans who controlled the Legislature two years ago. Dayton finally got his opening when DFLers took over control of the Legislature this year.

The plan creates a new, top income tax tier for married couples who have a taxable income of more than $250,000 a year. Under the plan, the top 2 percent of wage earners will now pay 9.85 percent in state income tax on every dollar over $250,000.

That is a 2 percentage point jump from the current top rate and will put Minnesota’s income tax rate among the top five in the country. Only California, New York, Hawaii and Oregon are higher.

DFLers also ratcheted up the tobacco tax by $1.60-per-pack, more than double the current rate. Democrats were persuaded that the hike will encourage people to quit smoking and prevent children from starting, but it will also create a new windfall to pay for other spending priorities.

Part of the new tobacco revenue will also go to help repay the state’s share of the new Minnesota Vikings stadium. The state’s initial solution of using new revenue from electronic pull-tabs and bingo has fallen profoundly below projections.

Along with the tobacco tax money, the state is using some corporate tax revenue to make up any shortfall left by the electronic gambling revenue. The state needs about $30 million a year to pay its share of the new, nearly $1 billion stadium to be built on the site of the Metrodome.

“This is something we told the taxpayers we would not do, why are we doing it?” asked state Rep. Bob Barrett, R-Lindstrom.

“Minnesotans want to move on and see it built and leave no doubts that all the Vikings needs are met,” Lenczewsi said.

The proposal includes millions in tax breaks for cities and counties, buyers of aircraft parts and the state’s largest craft brewers.

“When you’re voting for this tax increase, you’re not solving the Vikings problem, you’re not paying back the [school] shift, you’re not helping health or human services or the schools that you promised you were going to do,” Rep. Matt Dean, R-Dellwood. “It doesn’t give me any pleasure to say that, but I have to say that because that’s the truth.”

Lenczewski defended the bill, noting that most of the new taxes will fall on the wealthy or on businesses “to whom much has been given” by the state in the past. The exception, she said, was the new tobacco tax.

“I view [the tobacco tax] as a public health imperative,” she said. “That tax does not begin to recoup the cost to all of us for the use of that substance.”

The measure now goes to the Senate for final passage. Dayton helped craft the final tax deal and supports the proposal.

Staff writer Jennifer Brooks contributed to this report.

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