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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 Minnesota state senators

Bonding bill next year? GOP leader says it's not 'off the table'

Posted by: Rachel E. Stassen-Berger Updated: December 7, 2012 - 11:42 AM

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DFL Gov. Mark Dayton wants a bonding bill in the upcoming legislative session. DFL House Speaker designate Paul Thissen wants one. And incoming House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt says passing one isn't "off the table."

Passing a borrowing bill for statewide infrastructure projects requires a super majority to pass so despite Democrats' coming control of the Legislature and the governor's office, the DFL can't do it alone. On Friday, Daudt said that Republicans may be willing to work with Democrats on the issue, which means it may win some GOP votes.

Daudt, R-Crown, said the Republicans' top priority will be balancing the state's budget but after that, his caucus would be willing to talk discuss bonding.

"We want to have some finality on the budget first and then we want to talk about a bonding bill," Daudt said. "I think we're willing to work with them. We'll see what happens with the budget. But I wouldn't take it off the table." 

Traditionally, Minnesota approves bonding only in the even numbered years. But in each of the last two years, the state has approved building bills each year.

 

Forget the forecast scramble

Posted by: Rachel E. Stassen-Berger Updated: November 30, 2012 - 12:06 PM

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Twice a year for more than a decade, Minnesota’s finance gurus set a date to brief the governor, lawmakers and reporters on the biannual budget forecast.

And twice a year for more than a decade, reporters have wheedled the forecast number out of officials hours before they are supposed to know the number.

No more.

Starting with Wednesday’s forecast, state financial officials will release the number to the media as they are briefing lawmakers. They’ll make the number public, with some context, so the initial reports will be more complete and reporters (and their lawmaker sources) won’t have to scramble.

John Pollard, spokesman for Minnesota Management and Budget, said financial officials realized: “The current system just needs to be updated. We’ve been doing the same thing for the last ten or 15 years and things changed…The fact of the matter is news moves faster than it did.”

 

This post first appeared in our Morning Hot Dish political newsletter. If you're not already getting the political newsletter by email, it's easy and free to sign up.  Go toStarTribune.com/membercenter, check the Politics newsletter box and save the change.

State Senate committee chairs announced

Posted by: Rachel E. Stassen-Berger Updated: November 14, 2012 - 7:58 PM

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The Minnesota DFL Senate has announced its pick for committee chairs for the next year.

DFLers won the Senate back from Republicans on Tuesday after a two year hiatus out of power. With their return, many of the Senators who chaired committees back when Democrats had Senate control are now back.

Here's the list of incoming committee chairs:

You can match the last names listed with biographical information, by looking here.

 

Senate Committee Structure

Close legislative races head to a recount

Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: November 7, 2012 - 3:08 PM

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For anyone who's ever wondered if their vote really matters, look no farther than state Rep. Mary Franson's razor's edge win over Democratic challenger Bob Cuniff Tuesday night.

A single vote separates the two, triggering an automatic recount after the state canvassing board meets on Nov. 27. 

The board will also be conducting a recount in Senate District 20, where Democrat Kevin Dahle eked out an 82-vote win over Republican Michael Dudley in the open Northfield-area seat. State election law triggers an automatic recount in races that are decided by less than one-half of 1 percent of the vote.

"This race is not over," Cuniff tweeted to supporters in the early hours of Wednesday. "Thanks for your support and prayers."

A one-vote victory is still "absolutely" a victory, an exhausted Franson noted Wednesday. As for the close race, she said she and Cuniff are neighbors, competing for the votes of people they both know. Franson, a freshman who attracted headlines and criticism for some of her controversial statements, also said state Democratic party had targeted her district with outside money and negative ads.

In the end, she said, "people know where I stand on the issues. They may not agree with, but they know my values and beliefs," she said.

If she wins the recount, Franson's second term in the Legislature will be very different than her first.

"That's something I'm still trying to wrap my head around," she said.

The canvassing board will meet at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27 to set a location for the legislative recounts. The recount should be completed within the next several days.

"Minnesotans are anxious to know who will represent them, but they also want to be sure that all ballots are properly counted," Secretary  of State Mark Ritchie said in a statement Wednesday. "This office, working together with our county partners and the candidates, will complete any recounts as quickly as possible after the canvassing board determines a recount is required with complete accuracy and transparency."

 

Rep. Kiffmeyer wants to work with DFL on photo ID

Posted by: Jim Ragsdale Updated: November 7, 2012 - 12:27 PM

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The photo ID amendment failed the ballot-box test Tuesday night, but the chief sponsor is planning to call the opponents' bluff when they called on voters to "send it back" to the Legislature.

Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, who was elected to a state senate seat Tuesday night, said the defeat of the photo ID constitutional amendment Tuesday does not end the debate. The amendment, based on a concept once supported by 80 percent of state's voters, fell well short of passage.

With nearly all precincts reporting, the photo ID amendment received 46.4 percent of the vote. It needed to gain a majority of all those voting.

Kiffmeyer credited the loss to "the misinformation about it" from opponents, to a "very aggressive campaign to get voters to vote no," to a successful appeal to Democrats to oppose it and to a last-minute appeal from former Republican Gov. Arne Carlson and current DFL Gov. Mark Dayton.

She noted that the overriding message from opponents was not to kill the idea, but to "send it back" to the Legislature to allow them to re-work it. That is what she intends to do next year, she said, and she planned to reach out to Dayton on Wednesday to begin the search for common ground.

"What opponents said, it's too expensive, it shouldn't be a constitutional amendment," Kiffmeyer said. "So what I plan to do is take the governor at his word ... let's follow through with what you said. Let's work together in the Legislative area, address any concerns that the governor might have, and put together a bill that I believe accomplishes what people want."

Unlike in the 2011-12 Legislative session, when the GOP controlled both houses, Kiffmeyer will be in the minority in the 2013-14 session, and the DFL will be in control of both houses as well as the governorship.

Kiffmeyer said she does not believe the amendment failed because voters oppose a photo ID requirement. "The campaign to vote no was not about the concept of a voter ID itself," she said, but rather about costs, exceptions and other concerns.

"The big thing here is, people do support photo ID," she said.

 

 

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