Bakk to Square One: intra-DFL squabble's big impact

Sometimes the phone rings and you're told that a relative was arrested for a crime -- maybe drunk driving or maybe bank fraud, depending on your brand of family. To be honest it's not surprising news, though the situation spurs family drama, deep uncertainty and consequences. Ultimately this could be a good thing if used as an opportunity to change and heal. Then again, left to fester, the incident could become the harbinger of a long descent into madness and a particularly rough batch of holidays later this year.

Such is my reaction to Thursday's news that Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton blew up at fellow DFLer and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook), a senior member of the Iron Range delegation and top Democrat in the legislature. It wasn't if this high level meltdown among allies was going to happen; it was when. So, here we are. Ahead of schedule, even.

Patrick Condon of the Star Tribune relayed the news, now the predominant talk of the state's political watchers:

"I can't trust him." "Can't believe what he says." "He connives behind my back."

These are remarkably clear and direct words from the governor, and not the kind of rhetoric washed away by a hand shake and a few dozen miles of new pavement in Northern St. Louis County. One one hand, one enjoys seeing candor, but for DFLers this marks a troubling future for policy goals in the mixed government.

Brewing Battle

First off, we are told this is about the governor's controversial pay raises for high ranking state officials. But, come on. Yes, the governor made a risky political decision to raise commissioner salaries, and yes, Bakk crossed him on that. That might cause a spat under normal conditions, but the brutal, unrestrained nature of Dayton's brushback indicates something more than a one time transgression.

Many DFLers I talk to -- especially those outside the Bakk/Range circles -- point to discord over Bakk's decision to sneak through the new Senate office building at the end of the last session. Going into an election with a vulnerable DFL House, while the DFL Senate was not on the ballot, this decision essentially had former Speaker Paul Thissen and House DFLers pay the political price for something that was very much a Tom Bakk/Senate priority. Then, when Gov. Dayton asks for his raises, Bakk -- sensing that his caucus would be on the ballot in the next election -- decides to become a fiscal hawk.

Even that, though, is a fairly petty reason this blew us so big.

Everything about this has to do with the pressures of a changing state, a changing DFL coalition, and two very distinct personalities negotiating those changes on the tail end of their careers.

Sen. Bakk has remained almost totally detached from the governor's political approach to the session, choosing instead to keep the Senate DFL as independent as possible. That's not unusual for a Senate Majority Leader or the Senate in general, but given the dramatic GOP win in the House last election and the sudden need to defend DFL policies in new ways, precious little collaboration has occurred between Bakk and Dayton.

Now, Dayton is operating free of political constraints and quite obviously without a filter. Meanwhile, Bakk --never one to doubt his own self-worth -- continues to see his chief duty leading the Senate as the building and cultivating of power, political might to be used as undisclosed means to some ends that will be announced at a later date.

So much noise. So much lack of discipline or strategy. For what? The Iron Range Bakk emerges from can no longer deliver elections or outcomes as it once did.

Political Implications

Dayton has little to lose since he's run his last race. Losing the Senate in 2016 would render him severely limited from a policy standpoint, but he's endured that environment in the past. It could be argued he acted imprudently in this dust-up, but he held true to the eccentric style that has propelled him through life like a man digging a tunnel just a little bit each night.

Bakk has a lot to lose, as does the DFL prospects in the next two or three elections. While he enjoys the full-throated support of his home paper, the Mesabi Daily News (evidenced by this morning's editorial arguing that he should "sharpen more knives"), that will only get him so far.

In recent weeks we've read stories about the cost of the Senate office building, Gov. Dayton wanting a new plane, the raising of commissioner salaries and, for added measure, a senior DFL senator trying to work for a lobbying organization while serving in office. The Minnesota economy is surging, thanks in part to DFL policies for the past two years. But DFL political malpractice like we've just seen might well ensure that we don't see new DFL policies for a lot longer than two years.

Meantime, up here in the sticks, well, my Iron Range friends don't like to hear it, but the days of looking to legislators to single-handedly "fix" what's wrong with the region's economy and stagnant demographics are plainly over. Bakk's behavior is indicative of someone trying to hold power, not someone trying to use it wisely. Our Iron Range political power has already waned tremendously. After 2022 there will likely be only one senator and perhaps three state representatives who live in the Taconite Tax Relief Area. No project or initiative can reverse this coming reality. So, the problem isn't having enough hope, but enough foresight to develop a new strategy.