Sunday booze sales stall
A proposal to eliminate Minnesota's ban on Sunday liquor sales is on life support at the Capitol.
The chairman of the House Commerce Committee, Rep. Joe Hoppe, said he won't hold a hearing on the bill to allow Sunday sales this year, effectively stopping it in its tracks. The perennial proposal passed a Senate committee this March for the first time in recent history.
The proposal could still live on as an amendment to another measure, but that's no certainty.
Sponsor Sen. Roger Reinert, DFL-Duluth, said he's "not going to twist arms and go for it in the Senate if the House isn't even going to hear the bill in committee."
Allowing Sunday sales faces stiff opposition from the state's liquor lobby, which has quashed many similar efforts over the years. Most liquor stores oppose the bill because they do not want to open on Sunday.
Backers, however, say customers want the option.
Hoppe, R-Chaska, said he did not want to have a hearing because it would consume too much committee time. He said he might feel differently if the liquor stores could reach an agreement with bill supporters.
"We are already doing enough liquor bills this year that have been sort of controversial," Hoppe said.
ERIC ROPER
Bachmann, Matthews redux
He said he "created her" and described her as a "zombie." She needled him over losing the "tingle" in his leg.
Then there was the "anti-American" brouhaha.
To put it mildly, Chris Matthews and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann have a colorful history. In 2008, she told the MSNBC "Hardball" host that then-candidate Barack Obama "may have anti-American views." Last November, Matthews asked the Minnesota Republican if she was hypnotized on election night.
But that tense history was set aside last week when Bachmann and Matthews both smiled and posed for a photo at the Time 100 gala in New York City. Bachmann was named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people for 2011.
Bachmann posted the picture to her Facebook page, along with a note: "The media will be sure to get a kick out of this photograph! A good time was had by all :)"
JEREMY HERB
Coleman the lobbyist
Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman has a new gig with a Washington lobbying shop.
Coleman signed on as a senior government adviser with Hogan Lovells, a law firm that received just under $17 million in 2010 from lobbying clients, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Coleman has been the CEO of the conservative "action tank" American Action Network since 2010 and will now serve as chairman of that organization.
American Action Network spent more than $25 million campaigning against Democrats in the 2010 cycle. It will not hire a new CEO, spokesman Jim Landry said. Instead the president will report to the chairman and board, he said.
Coleman is not registered as a lobbyist, and it's unclear if he will lobby his new position.
While Coleman has said he may not be done with running for elected office, he also made clear he won't run against Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in 2012.
JEREMY HERB
