Emmer’s Budget Plan Wasn’t Officially Vetted, Says State Revenue Commissioner

Republican Candidate for Minnesota Governor Tom Emmer says the MN Department of Revenue reviewed his budget. Monday and Tuesday He challenged his DFL opponent Mark Dayton to do the same.

“Take it to the Department of Revenue, they do have the computer modeling. They can do it for you. And then show Minnesota that your plan works.” said Emmer. “Our numbers are backed up and they’re checked.”

However, according to the Star Tribune, the Department of Revenue never officially reviewed Emmer’s numbers. State Revenue Commissioner Ward Einess told the Star Tribune that Emmer’s proposal never got vetted by number-crunching computers.

Einess says he spent a couple hours over the Labor Day weekend reviewing Emmer’s plan against existing information, calling it an “on-the-fly” review, but not anything official.

(Video: Emmer challenges Dayton and IP candidate Tom Horner to send their budgets to the Minnesota Department of Revenue for computer modeling, something he himself has not done)

Did Company Where Emmer Announced Budget Receive Stimulus Money?

There’s been much ado, since Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer unveiled his proposed budget at Permac Industries yesterday, about whether the Burnsville-based precision manufacturing company benefited in any way from federal stimulus money — to which Emmer is vocally opposed — through a local Dakota County-based jobs training program. The DC-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) quoted Permac CEO Darlene Miller in a press release last week as saying, “The subsidized jobs program has provided us with a wonderful way to identify dedicated and dependable workers.”

According to the CBPP press release, “President Obama and Congress created the federal TANF Emergency Fund that pays for the subsidized employment program as part of last year’s Recovery Act …. with the purpose of providing states with extra resources to meet the increased need for assistance during a recession.”

But at Emmer’s press conference yesterday, Miller denied that Permac had received any federal stimulus money. When asked if federal funds indirectly subsidized her workers through the local Dakota County workforce program, Emmer interrupted Miller, curtly stating, “None of them came from federal stimulus” money.

Was this a game of smoke and mirrors — or simply an example of not following the money trail? … Continue Reading

Journalists Fact Check Tom Emmer… A Lot

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We’ve reported that journalists say DFL and IP candidates for Minnesota Governor are sometimes vague or wrong when it comes to their facts, but at a recent panel, political reporters devoted the bulk of their time talking about fact checking Republican candidate for Governor Tom Emmer.

WCCO-TV reporter Pat Kessler says it may be because Emmer is “fiery” and “gets excited”, however the Republican candidate for Minnesota Governor often says things he will later deny saying.

In those cases it’s pretty easy to prove Emmer wrong because his exact words are there on video tape, providing Minnesota political reporters ample material for their various fact checking stories.

At a recent Humprey instutute panel on political campaigns and fact checking Kessler and reporters Tom Scheck of Minnesota Public Radio, and Eric Black of MinnPost told their stories of fact checking Emmer.

Earlier we published a story about what these journalists had to say about fact checking the DFL (Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party) and Independence Party candidates for Governor. The full video of the panel discussion can be found here.