Minnesota lawmakers see power flip again after election
November 11, 2012 at 6:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
Voters have flipped several times in the last few years, with Minnesota going from a split Legislature and Independence Party governor in 1998, to a split Legislature and Republican governor in 2002, to Democratic Legislature and Republican governor in 2006, the opposite in 2010 and turning the state Capitol over to Democrats this year. Continue Reading
To Mr. Severson, “I’m in a state of disbelief. If that’s what Minnesota wants to do, I’m not a Minnesotan for long.” Don’t let the door hit you in the backside on the way out. It comes down to hubris. Neither party is immune to hubris and the Minnesota Republicans learned that the hard way. If both parties could learn that moving the pendulum too fast one way or the other, and worked together for the common good, they might not see the wild swings in election results.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Republican explanations are as expected. Republican candidates lost because A) Democrats told too many lies, and B) Voters were too stupid not to vote Republican.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Don’t forget Billy Graham’s comment..
3) Not enough white Christians voted.
GOP…denial be thy name…
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With the power shift, would really like to see a way to pay the MN School District’s the money back that Tim Pawlenty took away. They are owed millions and millions of dollars.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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School districts need to start working within their own budgets and not rely on state aid.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Then be prepared for property taxes to rise since that is their other funding mechanism.
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So you are saying the screwel district cannot live within its’ means (budget)? Da*n the budget, just raise taxes some more is how they should operate, according to you? Does throwing the budget out the window and proceed to spend in an uncontrolled manner make any sense to anybody reading this blog?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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No, even living within the budget, with the most parsimonius school district, the money has to come from somewhere be it the state or property taxes.
As to whether your school district has an appropriate budget, that is up to you to be involved whether you have kids in school or not. Yep, I go to my school board meetings even though I don’t have kids in school anymore just to do my part to check on their budgets. Do you?
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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The same thing could be said for cities and states.
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Very true. Having served on our township board as treasurer for the past 20 + years, we spend over 98% of our budget on road maintenance and repair. My princely salary is $50 per year. Where do you live?
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You do know that the school is supposed to be partially funded by the state right? They are relying on what the state is obligated to give them. This is what allows poorer districts the ability to educate the children in that district.
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Happy days are here again !!! Yes, I’m actually enjoying this. With the Dems in control of our state (and for all practical purposes, the Fed. government too) our local economy is going to take off like a rocket. High wage jobs will be plentiful and anybody who wants a job will be able to choose from several, right? Hmmm, if the economy doesn’t improve dramatically now with those darn obstructionist Republicans out of the way…who are the Dems going to blame? Certainly they can’t blame the Republicans now that the Republicans are no longer a factor any longer. Time to man-up Dems and accept responsibility for YOUR economy now. No more blame-game.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Unfortunately, while the state legislature does have the tools it needs to pass a Democrat agenda, the federal government will remain stagnant as the Republicans have more than the 41 votes they need to basically stop any progress in the Senate (and thus in the government). Which they actually stated was their main goal for the first Obama administration and despite the recent election seems to continue to be their goal. The Democrats only had a 60 vote majority for a little less than 25% of Obama’s first two years (Al Franken’s not being seated until several months into the term, the deaths of Senators Byrd and Kennedy, the seating of their replacements, and the eventual election of Scott Brown).
Perhaps the Senate Republicans will be motivated to accept compromises, but the prospects of it are small, not only because the remaining Republicans are mostly the more extreme members of their party, but because many of them are now in fear of being primaried by a Tea Party candidate (ala Richard Lugar, Bob Bennett, etc.). Mitch McConnell already has a target on his back. Plus he is one of the many signees of Grover Norquist’s pledge. So you get statements like “I am not willing to raise taxes to turn off the sequester. Period.”
So, will we see movement by our government?? It might be time to quietly revisit Bill Frist and the Republicans notion of the “nuclear option” and throw out the filibuster. I honestly think that almost every Republican senator would scream in public and cheer in private. Short of that, I expect the “fiscal cliff” to get kicked down the year a few months. And there is no real end in sight as most of the Republicans running in 2014 seem safe (well, unless Ashley Judd is really planning on running against Mitch McConnell), so a 5 vote pickup is unlikely.
What was that line I heard recently? “To paraphrase Churchill, never in the history of US politics have so many [most of the US] been held hostage by so few [Republican US Senators, and by extension, the tea party].”
Hot debate. What do you think?
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RickM: Your diatribe clearly exemplifies exactly what is wrong with the Democrats mindset: Whatever goes wrong is always someone elses’ fault. Boy talk about an ingrained “Victim Mentality”!!! Couldn’t you somehow work into your excuses (not reasons but excuses, which are completely different things) some blame for Bush too? The Dems control everything and they now own the federal and the state economies but you are already fabricating excuses for failure for when it happens, which is inevidible given their mindset. Heaven forbid the Dems should cross the isle and make compromises with the Republicans for the sake of progress. And imagine, the Dems like to be called progressives but will not bend to make any progress. The next few years will be fun to watch. Should I say “I told you so” now or should I restrain my glee and hold off for a couple of years?
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Diatribe? Democrats not crossing the aisle? What color is the sky in the Bubble?
You win. Its really unfair of me to point out the actual truth. In the Bubble truth is only what Fox, Rush, etc. say it is. And in that Bubble somehow the constant use of the filabuster over the last four years is actually reaching across the aisle. (Weird, it was obstructionism when the Democrats did it.)
I am sure the Ignorance Peddlers would be proud of you.
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If you are going to get personal and insulting I would suggest that the DNT moderators censure your remarks. I do not live in a bubble as you claim, in fact I am more in tune with Washington than you could ever be considering your biases. Did you not read todays paper? There was an article in which the Dems stated they are going to let the country go over the “Fiscal Cliff” then blame the Republicans for not crossing the isle to make a compromise. Kind of says the Dems are going to sacrifice this countrys’ well-being just to force their will upon the Republicans, don’t you think?. I would call that selfish and quite ignorant on the part of the Dems just to get their way. And you think the Republicans are the problem? At least they would not sacrifice you and me just to get their way. I hope when you grow up you can shed some of your biases and see the world as it really is.
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*I* was being insulting? I was trying to be very even handed and you called my comments a “diatribe.” “Victim mentality”? Any of this ringing a bell?
BTW, my posts are all moderated, sorry if they are offending you.
Also, the notion of both sides deciding to stand firm on the fiscal cliff question has been the subject of hundreds of articles since the day after the election. If you are just finding out now that both sides are contemplating the fallout of not compromising, then you might want to find other sources to read. There are some good signs though, the President said he was willing to entertain compromises today in his press conference and some Republicans have been signaling some willingness to allow taxes to go up.
But this of course begs the question, the conservatives have been talking about really addressing the deficit. Not renewing the Bush tax cuts while accepting sequestration would both raise revenues and provide for major spending cuts. Yes, it would likely send us into recession, but isn’t austerity what Republicans want?? Got to balance that budget, no matter what effect it has on our economy, right?
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RickM: Your appology is accepted. I am one of those that believe that the Republicans have been very wrong to oppose incresasing taxes on the “Rich” so if they are in fact willing to allow those rates to climb, good. Unfortunately by allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire and for automatic cuts to take place and taxing the rich more there will still not be enough revenue to dent the deficit very much. Yes we have to save the country by balancing the budget or we will soon see a repeat of the strife seen in Greece happen here. There will need to be even more cuts beyond the automatic ones.
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Ulysses- Actually the estimated cost of lost revenue from the Bush tax cuts is 2.8 Trillion dollars. I would say having that would have made a dent in the debt…it’s foolishness to claim that wouldn’t have helped.
Then add the 1.5 trillion wasted on war of lies in Iraq, the trillions needed to bail out companies because yet again, the Repubs cutting revenue, increasing spending and removal of banking regulations caused a recession. A trillion or so here, a trillion there…and if start adding together then pretty soon we’re talking about some real money…~rolls eyes~.
The simplest con played on American people…calling a trickle up economic goal as trickle down economics.
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