Is Compromise A Dirty Word In Politics?

A series of bills making their way through the Minnesota legislature to avoid a shutdown may also be trying to avoid compromising says Senator Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis).

“Our entire system of government was built upon the idea of compromise and I now understand the word ‘compromise’ is a dirty word in some political quarters.” Dibble told a Senate hearing on transportation. ” Somehow compromise is compromising on core values that are … come from a higher power and therefore we’re just going to go my way or the highway. That’s exactly what we saw last year. Compromise was a dirty word. Compromise after compromise after compromise was offered by the Governor and was absolutely flat handed rejected by the majority parity in the legislature driving us into a shutdown.

“We do all of these contingency appropriations, all of these ‘lights on’ bills that actually means in the end we cause greater harm to the good of the order and the good of the state and people’s lives because we never actually achieve the kind of compromise we need to accomplish in terms of developing the budget and finalizing it and getting on with the business of the state.”

Republican Senators say last years shutdown used state workers as pawns in the negotiations with the Governor and they don’t want to see that happen again.

Governor Dayton Signs Bills, Ends MN Shutdown

Governor Mark Dayton’s has signed the 12 spending and borrowing bills the legislature passed in special session last night and early this morning.

His signature starts the process of restarting Minnesota government which has been mostly shut down since July 1st because Republican Leaders and the Governor could not agree on a state budget. After several weeks of enduring a shutdown, the Governor agreed to the Republicans last offer as long as it addressed just the budget and not policy issues such as abortion, stem cell research and school vouchers.

That caveat caused some rifts within the Republican party. Republican Senator Michelle Fischbach didn’t even vote for her own Higher Education bill because it didn’t contain the cloning research ban that she wanted in it. The bill passed 35-30.

Rep. Winkler Urges DFL “Spending Discipline” & End To GOP “Tax Obstructionism”

Video by Bill Sorem
Representative Ryan Winkler (DFL Golden Valley/St. Louis Park) says both Republicans and Democrats need to make changes to avoid future “very irresponsible” budgets like the one that will be passed during tonight’s special session. He said those changes will only happen if the public demand them.

Representative Winkler said the public needs to “demand that Republicans get off their tax obstructionism and they need to demand that Democrats maintain spending discipline even when we do raise revenues so we are investing in the right things for the state’s future.”

He says most DFL members will be voting against a “very irresponsible” budget. He says the only thing good about it is state government will reopen and people will go back to work. He says the real harm this budget will do is over the long term as Minnesota descends into “financial chaos”

Politically he says Republicans will be worse off because they are the ones borrowing 1.4 billion dollars and “putting the state into a fiscal train wreck situation”.

Representative Winkler says there are a lot of important progressive goals that Minnesota needs to accomplish and “this budget really undermines our ability to do any of those.”

“People need to be aware of how bad our state finances are. They need to get informed. They need to demand that Republicans get off their tax obstructionism and they need to demand that Democrats maintain spending discipline even when we do raise revenues so we are investing in the right things for the state’s future.”

More video: Representative Winkler floor speech about Republican borrowing bill. … Continue Reading

Minnesota Special Session Adjourns At 3:43 AM

It took a little more than 12 hours to do what couldn’t be accomplished in months of a regular session. The Minnesota Senate adjourned at 3:43 AM Wednesday after passing 12 bills that would reopen state government once Governor Mark Dayton signs them. The House adjourned a little earlier after finishing its work.

More videos from the special session … Continue Reading

Governor Dayton Calls Special Session To End MN Shutdown

Governor Mark Dayton and Legislative leaders this morning signed an agreement outlining the terms of a special session to complete the budget. The Governor has signed a proclamation calling the Minnesota Legislature into a special session beginning at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon.

Governor Dayton and leaders of the Republican Majority and the DFL Minority have agree to limit the session to just 12 bills.

To pass the bills in a timely manner, the agreement says the House and Senate rules will be suspended, as will the State’s constitution.

Under the agreement, no amendments to the bills will be considered.

The agreement and what bills are going to be considered.
… Continue Reading

Court Rules: In MN There Is No Beer, And You’re Not Going To Argue It Here.

Ramsey County District Judge Kathleen Gearin has denied a petition from the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association that would have allowed bars to restock their beer and wine reserves even though their state issued purchasing cards had expired. Minnesota is no longer issuing the cards because the state has no approved budget agreement.

Judge Gearin told the MLBA that the constitutional issues it raised could not be argued in the Special Master’s court which has been hearing most funding disputes since the government shutdown on July 1st. The Judge suggests that if the shutdown has not ended by the end of the week, the MLBA should contact the court to schedule a hearing on those “complex constitutional issues.”

Gearin also pointed the bar owners back at the Governor and the legislature saying association members should “make the compelling arguments regarding the impact of the shutdown on hundreds of small liquor establishments to the Governor and their local legislators.”

Cities Have To Wait On Hiring Newly Minted Police Officers
… Continue Reading

Reliance On Borrowing Prompts MN Constitutional Amendment

Frustration over a borrowing plan authored by Republicans and reluctantly endorsed by Governor Mark Dayton has led DFL and apparently Republican legislators to ask how state government borrowing can be prevented in the future.

A framework agreement between Republican legislative leaders and Governor Dayton calls for borrowing money from schools by delaying payments to them and borrowing money from yet-to-be-paid tobacco settlement dollars to close the state’s budget gap. The $1.4 billion in borrowing will cost much more than that to pay off.

Representative Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) says when there is a special session, he will offer up a constitutional amendment that would not allow the state to do such borrowing. He says the amendment has the support of both DFLers and Republicans. The amendment would need approval of the voters in the 2012 general election.

“I think everyone will admit that putting our current deficit on the credit card is bad for Minnesota and we should retire this irresponsible budget practice for good,” said Representative Winkler in a press release.

Press release from Representative Winkler … Continue Reading

What’s In The Shutdown Ending MN Budget Deal

14 days of waiting and pain made the last offer from Republicans look good to Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. But the agreement that could end Minnesota’s government shutdown also contains a few key wins for Governor Dayton as well. Republican policy issues such as voter photo ID, abortion and school vouchers are off the table. He’s getting the 1.4 billion more in spending he said the state needed to avoid draconian cuts to many programs. On top of that, he gets something he requested at the beginning of the session that Republicans never seriously considered: a $500 million bonding bill that will take advantage of low interest rates and put Minnesotans back to work building needed infrastructure.

MNnews’ Rob Barrett sums up the deal. Watch the entire video if you’d like to see the full news conference on the agreement.

Gov Dayton Offers To End Shutdown

Governor Mark Dayton “reluctantly agrees” to the last Republican offer made on June 30 to end the Minnesota shutdown.

The last offer shifts school aid payments to $700 million dollars, and issues $700 million in “tobacco bonds” to cover the remaining gap.

Dayton added three conditions to his offer. First the Republicans must abide by their public statements that they will take all policy issues off the table. Second they must drop their arbitrary 15% across-the-board reduction to employees in all agencies, regardless of their funding source. Third, that after all the budget issues have been resolved in a special session, Republicans must support and pass a bonding bill in that session not less than $500 million to put people back to work throughout Minnesota.

If Republicans agree, a special session could begin within three days.

More video and Dayton’s offer to Republican leaders … Continue Reading

Q:Why isn’t Dayton in St. Paul? A:Tired of waiting for GOP To Make A Proposal.

Governor Mark Dayton responds to a question from a woman in Rochester who identified herself as Casey. She asks why he at the Capitol in St. Paul “working to solve the problem with the legislators right now?”

Governor Dayton said he’s told legislative leaders he’s available to meet anytime. “I spent last week waiting around for the negotiation or discussion, and except for one on education on Thursday morning, nothing happened. I’ve made three proposals, compromise proposals, to try to resolve the situation in the last 13 days of the shutdown I haven’t received a single proposal from the Republican side. As soon as they’re willing to negotiate I’m ready and willing to do so.”

Dayton talks more about his frustration with Republicans’ refusal to negotiate in a press conference following the public forum he held in Rochester. … Continue Reading