A place for Minnesota Political Junkies and Minnesota Legislature fans to gather and discuss. From time to time other aspects of politics and sports or non-political stuff will be covered. If you want to contribute a story to share or contribute your ideas, you can e-mail Rach at senatoreggert@yahoo.com.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
DFL Leaders reacts after Pawlenty's presser LIVE
DFL Senate leaders will be reacting to Pawlenty's cut after the press conference so you can check at UpTake.
Will Minnesota voters elect Pawlenty for a third term ?
That’s the question that needs to be asked … after Pawlenty announced his unallotment plan, Margaret Anderson Kelliher, R.T. Rybak and Tarryl Clark were quick to voice their disproval. But where were the Legislature’s Republican leaders – Marty Seifert, Laura Brod and David Senjem … not to mention former Leader Steve Sviggum ? Only five Republican members of the legislature bothered to send Pawlenty suggestions of how to resolve the financial crisis … thus one can only assume that they fully support his power (and therefore his plan). IMO, the 2010 gubernatorial election is a referundom on whether Pawlenty’s policies and use of the Veto is what the voters want. Further, IMO, soon-to-be-Governor-elect Siefert is playing it smart by being quiet.
Now on to the cuts … most were broad and not surprising but a few deserve special comment.
One of Pawlenty’s pushes this legislative session was to help businesses by changing the Capital Equipment Tax Refund system … good thing he didn’t get that accomplished as he “plans” to “gain” $63 million by pushing the reimbursement out. Did you notice that he “plans” for Wisconsin to pay us sooner … don’t they have a budget crisis also ? How can he legally eliminate the refunding of the political contribution refund program ? Wasn’t that enact by the Legislature and if he fails to spend our tax collection dollars as directed a violation of his constitutional duty ? Since Pawlenty did not accept campaign financing, he is essentially pushing for private funding of all elections.
Three Chemical Dependency Grants will be eliminated with the instruction that these can be applied for Federal funding … isn’t that an EARMARK … hope that those programs are not in Kline or Bachmann’s districts … and I hope that Pawlenty will write a letter to Minnesota’s Congressional Delegation instructing them to obtain funding. In fact, many of the planned reductions reference that the Federal Stimulus program should be used for funding (i.e. GA/MSA) … is it time for Kline and Bachmann to acknowledge that the stimulus program is necessary?
But most appalling to me is the impact to 300,000 renters who will have their Renters Refund for Property Taxes changed. People who rent are typically young, old, poor, disabled or between jobs … no doubt that their rental payments have increased due to property tax increases … yet they will lose. I suspect that those refunds were immediately spent … immediately impacting their local communities. BAD DEAL !
Will Minnesota voters elect Pawlenty for a third term ?
ReplyDeleteThat’s the question that needs to be asked … after Pawlenty announced his unallotment plan, Margaret Anderson Kelliher, R.T. Rybak and Tarryl Clark were quick to voice their disproval. But where were the Legislature’s Republican leaders – Marty Seifert, Laura Brod and David Senjem … not to mention former Leader Steve Sviggum ? Only five Republican members of the legislature bothered to send Pawlenty suggestions of how to resolve the financial crisis … thus one can only assume that they fully support his power (and therefore his plan).
IMO, the 2010 gubernatorial election is a referundom on whether Pawlenty’s policies and use of the Veto is what the voters want. Further, IMO, soon-to-be-Governor-elect Siefert is playing it smart by being quiet.
Now on to the cuts … most were broad and not surprising but a few deserve special comment.
One of Pawlenty’s pushes this legislative session was to help businesses by changing the Capital Equipment Tax Refund system … good thing he didn’t get that accomplished as he “plans” to “gain” $63 million by pushing the reimbursement out.
Did you notice that he “plans” for Wisconsin to pay us sooner … don’t they have a budget crisis also ?
How can he legally eliminate the refunding of the political contribution refund program ? Wasn’t that enact by the Legislature and if he fails to spend our tax collection dollars as directed a violation of his constitutional duty ? Since Pawlenty did not accept campaign financing, he is essentially pushing for private funding of all elections.
Three Chemical Dependency Grants will be eliminated with the instruction that these can be applied for Federal funding … isn’t that an EARMARK … hope that those programs are not in Kline or Bachmann’s districts … and I hope that Pawlenty will write a letter to Minnesota’s Congressional Delegation instructing them to obtain funding. In fact, many of the planned reductions reference that the Federal Stimulus program should be used for funding (i.e. GA/MSA) … is it time for Kline and Bachmann to acknowledge that the stimulus program is necessary?
But most appalling to me is the impact to 300,000 renters who will have their Renters Refund for Property Taxes changed. People who rent are typically young, old, poor, disabled or between jobs … no doubt that their rental payments have increased due to property tax increases … yet they will lose. I suspect that those refunds were immediately spent … immediately impacting their local communities. BAD DEAL !