CITY OF SAINT PAUL
Assuming the responsibility to fulfill long-standing commitments to Central Corridor project partners and residents, Mayor Chris Coleman and Councilmembers Melvin Carter III and Russ Stark agreed that the City would assemble, from its own budget, the resources necessary to build the first of three additional stations on the light rail transit line between Rice and Snelling streets.
The decision comes as a compromise with the Metropolitan Council, which in return for the city’s effort to build the station at Western Avenue, Hamline Avenue or Victoria Avenue, will assume responsibility for the acquisition of the diagonal right-of-way through the block bounded by 4th and 5th, Cedar and Minnesota. It will further commit $1.5 million to improving the façade of the line’s Operations and Maintenance Facility in Lowertown.
With the decision, work moving utilities can begin.
“This is a huge milestone. The Central Corridor is the opportunity of a lifetime for Saint Paul, and we have always been focused on ensuring that everyone benefits from this development. Today, we are stepping up to the plate and making real our commitment to the people who live along the line and the neighborhoods that will prosper because of it,” Mayor Coleman said.
Intensive discussion to build the station began after it became clear that additional budget capacity created by an increase in the federal Cost Effectiveness Index would not be the best source of funding for the station. Through the complicated federal formulas that have governed construction along the line, the project would lose almost $5.5 million if the station was included in the project elements.
Losing over $5 million from an extremely tight project budget was not a reasonable choice for policy makers.
Nonetheless, build out of the stations is a high priority for Mayor Coleman, the City Council and Ramsey County Board of Commissioners as well as a broad coalition of community interests.
“For those of us who live and work along University Avenue, this is great news,” Councilmember Carter said. “There certainly remains a great deal of work ahead, but today's decision is clearly one to celebrate, and I thank our partners around the table, especially County Commissioners Toni Carter and Jim McDonough, for their commitment to ensuring a project that serves the neighborhood.”
“The Central Corridor Management Committee’s decision today is a break-through for our entire community, affirming our commitment to the neighborhoods I represent and serve,” Commissioner Carter said.
Through a community process, a decision will be made on which station to build first.
“We have the first station solidified, and this will help us secure the money for the second station along with streetscaping along the line,” Councilmember Stark said.
An agreement in principle adopted by the Central Corridor Management Committee (CCMC) went on to describe the Committee’s intent with respect to allocating future funding that may be released from the project’s contingency budget. Federal financing rules require the Metropolitan Council to carry a significant budget to cover the cost of unanticipated construction challenges or cost increases. As the project proceeds through the construction, the Metropolitan Council is allowed, at specified times, to reallocate the contingency budget to other project elements.
The CCMC, which is advisory to the Metropolitan Council, agreed that, after essential project elements are paid for, any released contingency should be allocated between East Metro and West Metro priorities, with 70 percent going to the East Metro and 30 percent to the West Metro. Among the East Metro’s priorities are the build out of the remaining two stations and significant streetscape enhancements along University Avenue and in the downtown.
Construction on the light rail line is scheduled to begin in 2010, with work moving utility lines to accommodate Central Corridor already started in downtown Saint Paul. The first trains are expected to be running between the Union Depot and downtown Minneapolis along University Avenue in 2014.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
GOP to endorse choice for governor in Minneapolis next year
Pioneer Press
Updated: 08/24/2009
Just as they did in the last governor's race, Minnesota Republicans will gather in Minneapolis next year to endorse a candidate for the state's top office.
State GOP Chairman Tony Sutton said Monday that the late-April event will be at the Minneapolis Convention Center. That is more than a month before the traditional state convention season.
Republicans met there in 2006 when Gov. Tim Pawlenty was endorsed for his second and final term. At least nine Republicans are vying for the party nod.
Democrats will gather in Duluth for their three-day state convention beginning June 4
— Associated Press
Updated: 08/24/2009
Just as they did in the last governor's race, Minnesota Republicans will gather in Minneapolis next year to endorse a candidate for the state's top office.
State GOP Chairman Tony Sutton said Monday that the late-April event will be at the Minneapolis Convention Center. That is more than a month before the traditional state convention season.
Republicans met there in 2006 when Gov. Tim Pawlenty was endorsed for his second and final term. At least nine Republicans are vying for the party nod.
Democrats will gather in Duluth for their three-day state convention beginning June 4
— Associated Press
Town hall glitch blamed on server
More people than expected called in
By Bill Salisbury
bsalisbury@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 08/26/2009
Some Minnesotans who registered for Sen. Amy Klobuchar's Sunday night teleconference on health care were left out of the call and, boy, are they mad.
Sixteen of them contacted a Pioneer Press reporter to complain. Most of those said they either never received their expected call or they got a recorded message from Klobuchar saying she was sorry they missed her call.
That aroused suspicions.
"I think they weeded me out," Roy of Shoreview said in a voice mail.
Klobuchar spokesman Linden Zakula said Tuesday that a server failure at the teleconference service caused the glitch.
"We had more people on than we expected," he said. Klobuchar said she received 10,200 registrations.
Zakula said a "few dozen people" called Klobuchar's office to complain about being excluded from the call. Her staff e-mailed those people an electronic link to an audio recording of the teleconference, he said.
Zakula added that Klobuchar's staff is taking steps to prevent similar problems in the future. "We want to make this better for the next time," he said.
Klobuchar has not scheduled any more teleconferences.
By Bill Salisbury
bsalisbury@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 08/26/2009
Some Minnesotans who registered for Sen. Amy Klobuchar's Sunday night teleconference on health care were left out of the call and, boy, are they mad.
Sixteen of them contacted a Pioneer Press reporter to complain. Most of those said they either never received their expected call or they got a recorded message from Klobuchar saying she was sorry they missed her call.
That aroused suspicions.
"I think they weeded me out," Roy of Shoreview said in a voice mail.
Klobuchar spokesman Linden Zakula said Tuesday that a server failure at the teleconference service caused the glitch.
"We had more people on than we expected," he said. Klobuchar said she received 10,200 registrations.
Zakula said a "few dozen people" called Klobuchar's office to complain about being excluded from the call. Her staff e-mailed those people an electronic link to an audio recording of the teleconference, he said.
Zakula added that Klobuchar's staff is taking steps to prevent similar problems in the future. "We want to make this better for the next time," he said.
Klobuchar has not scheduled any more teleconferences.
How did the Metro Gang Strike Force lose its way? Lawmakers hope to find answers
Were bad cops to blame? Or was its concept flawed? Lawmakers hope to find out
By David Hanners
dhanners@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 08/26/2009
When a state report said members of the Metro Gang Strike Force seized money and property from people never accused of a crime — and then took the property for personal use — it struck a familiar chord with law professor Joseph Daly.
It is a chord 233 years old.
"One of the reasons we fought a bloody war against Britain was we didn't like these soldiers stopping people on the street willy-nilly," said Daly, who teaches at Hamline University's School of Law. "We went to armed revolution against the strongest nation in the world in order to have these protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. They're not technicalities. They're real.
"It's the idea of not allowing the police to be cops and/or robbers," he said. "They have to be cops. They can't become robbers."
Indeed, the ability to seize a person's private property is among the most awesome powers a government can wield. The authors of the Constitution cemented that notion in the Bill of Rights, decreeing in the Fourth Amendment that our right against unreasonable search and seizure "shall not be violated."
This afternoon, a joint legislative panel will convene at the Capitol to review a pair of reports that say some officers of the now-defunct Metro Gang Strike Force committed behavior that was "shocking" and listed a litany of abuses.
It also listed some valuable property that it appeared task force officers took from people in cases that resulted in no criminal charges,
and it said that some of the officers took the property home for personal use or sold it to friends and relatives.
"The panel was struck by the number of large-screen and flat-screen televisions, along with electronics and computer equipment, that officers seized in case after case," said the report, written by former federal prosecutor Andrew Luger and retired FBI agent John Egelhof.
SURVIVAL THROUGH SEIZURES
One issue legislators must wrestle with is fundamental: Was the gang task force a good idea badly executed by dishonest cops and supervisors who looked the other way, or was the whole concept — including the state's administrative forfeiture law — fatally flawed?
"One of the reasons we're having the hearing ... is to start that discussion," said Rep. Michael Paymar, DFL-St. Paul, chairman of the House's Public Safety Finance Division. "It's clear to me that this whole operation, for years, has lost its mission and was completely off course.
"If we're going to ever do this again, even if it is a different model, we're going to make sure our statutes are tight and whatever multi-jurisdictional model we create, we make sure it has the proper oversight."
Lawmakers will study the issues as the FBI investigates the task force's activities. When he spoke to reporters last week, Luger, a former assistant U.S. attorney, called the behavior of some officers "criminal."
"It's going to be for the FBI and the United States attorney's office to determine, but if you take something home that doesn't belong to you and you know it doesn't belong to you, that's a crime."
Ron Ryan, who commanded the Metro Gang Strike Force for much of its life until he retired late last year, declined to comment.
"When it's done, I promise you I will talk to you, but not now," he said without elaborating.
The Luger report said the review panel was struck by the contrast between "the hard and thorough work of some strike force officers on gang-related cases and the unfocused, and sometimes unethical and highly questionable conduct of others engaged in ... stops and searches unrelated to gang activity."
The report sticks part of the blame with the way the strike force was funded. The unit's predecessor, the Minnesota Gang Strike Force, operated for many years with state and local funding. But in a 2003 budget-cutting move, the Legislature slashed the unit's funding.
By the time lawmakers re-created the elite unit as the Metro Gang Strike Force in 2005, it had become largely self-funding, through seizures and forfeitures. The more money and property the cops from the unit's member agencies seized, the more fiscally sound the unit was.
Not only did it put the profit motive in police work, the cops came to look at seizures as the key to the unit's survival, the Luger report said.
HOW FORFEITURE WORKS AND IS ABUSED
It isn't unusual for police to seize property and seek forfeiture of items taken when they arrest people for crimes. But the strike force members were also using a state statute whose origins date to the late 1980s war on drugs, a civil statute that goes by the unwieldy title, "Administrative Forfeiture of Certain Property Seized in Connection with a Controlled Substances Seizure."
In simple terms, cops could seize all money, guns, cars, precious metals and precious stones found in proximity to drugs, drug manufacturing or distribution operations. And the property can be seized without drug- or gang-related charges filed against the owner.
Because it is a civil statute, it turns the concept of presumption of innocence on end. Instead of prosecutors having to prove that you came by the property through some illegal activity — for example, you bought it with proceeds from a drug business — you must prove that you acquired the property through legal means.
The law also has provisions dealing with the seized property. First, the property owner must be notified that he has a right to try to get the property back through "judicial determination." If the owner doesn't file a claim within 60 days of the seizure, the property is considered unclaimed and is forfeited.
Seventy percent of the proceeds from the sale of the forfeited property are to go to the agency that seized it, 20 percent goes to the county attorney who handled the forfeiture and the rest goes to the state's general fund.
"In many cases involving unclaimed evidence, it does not appear that Strike Force officers provided the owner with notification of their right to contest the seizure and forfeiture," the Luger report noted. "It is therefore not surprising that much property went unclaimed. ..."
The abuses come as no surprise to Brenda Grantland, a Mill Valley, Calif., attorney who heads the Forfeiture Endangers American Rights (FEAR) Foundation.
"That's asking for trouble when you have that semi-autonomous, self-funding task force," she said. "This happens so often. The self-funding task force is kind of a scary thing, because who do they answer to? If they don't answer to anybody and they're allowed to fund themselves, they don't have to justify their existence by having the Legislature see if they're doing a good job."
'TOP TO BOTTOM' REVIEW PROMISED
Grantland's group has lobbied successfully for some changes to the federal civil forfeiture laws, but she said it has been harder to get states to change their laws to guard against abuse. And she claimed the abuse is built into the system.
"The way the procedures are set up, it's very hard to fight the government," she said. "If the seizure renders you indigent or the amount seized is too small to justify the cost of litigation, you lose. You can't hire an attorney to get back a $5,000 car that's depreciating in value all the time it is sitting in an impound lot. It's just not cost-effective. They get them by default because people can't afford to effectively fight them."
"I really think we will take a look at the whole forfeiture law from top to bottom," said Rep. Debra Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center, who chairs the House's Public Safety and Oversight Committee and will chair the joint legislative hearing. "This is the beginning of the discussion."
Others believe the law is an effective tool in the war against drugs, and gangs are often involved in drugs. Their concern: a law enforcement agency that seizes property needs strict supervision, strong inventorying procedures and faultless accounting of all the property that is taken.
The Luger report faulted the Metro Gang Strike Force in all those areas, saying "there is no excuse for the cavalier attitude displayed by some in the Strike Force with respect to the execution of search warrants and the treatment of seized evidence."
The amount of training officers get is in question. For example, the Minneapolis Police Department — which contributed the largest contingent of officers to the metro strike force — doesn't include formal training on seizure and forfeiture law for its officers, said department spokesman Sgt. Jesse Garcia III.
"We don't go over any of that," he said. "It would be like teaching how to fly a jet when nobody gets a chance to fly a jet. It's something that's pretty specific that even a lot of the investigators don't do offhand."
He said that if some officers are trained on those issues, it is "more of on-the-job training."
KEEPING COPS HONEST
Close supervision is key, said Christian Dobratz, an assistant professor who teaches in the law enforcement program at Minnesota State University-Mankato. Before going into academia, Dobratz was a cop for 18 years, seven of those as a supervisor, and he also served on a multi-jurisdictional drug task force.
"We had a policy and procedure manual in the task force, but each officer had one from their home agency as well," he said. "That is something that has to be set up when these task forces are put together."
Mark Erickson, a captain with the Olmsted County sheriff's office who heads the Southeast Minnesota Narcotic Gang Task Force, said his unit follows such things as seizures and requests for drug-buy money through a sophisticated computer program. The system ensures that the officer's actions are monitored by his direct supervisor at his "home" agency, as well as at the task force.
Daly, who has taught criminal law at Hamline, has worked both as an assistant Hennepin County attorney and as a defense lawyer. He said that in combating gangs, police sometimes take an attitude that anything goes.
"I can understand in some ways that attitude because of the kinds of things that these gangs do," he said. "They are violent. They get in gunfights and bullets go through buildings and kill little girls sitting at a table studying. They bring fear and destruction to a community. I can understand that the police are looking at themselves as first-line warriors against these gangs.
"But the police are not military," he said. "It's what separates a society based on the rule of law instead of just simple power based on might and strength and guns."
David Hanners can be reached at 612-338-6516.
St. Paul police chief asks FBI
whether officers implicated
St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington asked the FBI on Tuesday whether any St. Paul officers are part of the criminal inquiry into the Metro Gang Strike Force.
The inquiry came in a letter to the special agent in charge of the agency's Minneapolis office.
Sgt. Paul Schnell, St. Paul police spokesman, said Harrington is concerned about maintaining the department's integrity.
The six officers who had been assigned to the now-defunct task force have returned to work in St. Paul, and the chief thinks it's "important to know who is the focus and what the allegations include so he can make decisions about personnel," Schnell said.
— Mara H. Gottfried
By David Hanners
dhanners@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 08/26/2009
When a state report said members of the Metro Gang Strike Force seized money and property from people never accused of a crime — and then took the property for personal use — it struck a familiar chord with law professor Joseph Daly.
It is a chord 233 years old.
"One of the reasons we fought a bloody war against Britain was we didn't like these soldiers stopping people on the street willy-nilly," said Daly, who teaches at Hamline University's School of Law. "We went to armed revolution against the strongest nation in the world in order to have these protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. They're not technicalities. They're real.
"It's the idea of not allowing the police to be cops and/or robbers," he said. "They have to be cops. They can't become robbers."
Indeed, the ability to seize a person's private property is among the most awesome powers a government can wield. The authors of the Constitution cemented that notion in the Bill of Rights, decreeing in the Fourth Amendment that our right against unreasonable search and seizure "shall not be violated."
This afternoon, a joint legislative panel will convene at the Capitol to review a pair of reports that say some officers of the now-defunct Metro Gang Strike Force committed behavior that was "shocking" and listed a litany of abuses.
It also listed some valuable property that it appeared task force officers took from people in cases that resulted in no criminal charges,
and it said that some of the officers took the property home for personal use or sold it to friends and relatives.
"The panel was struck by the number of large-screen and flat-screen televisions, along with electronics and computer equipment, that officers seized in case after case," said the report, written by former federal prosecutor Andrew Luger and retired FBI agent John Egelhof.
SURVIVAL THROUGH SEIZURES
One issue legislators must wrestle with is fundamental: Was the gang task force a good idea badly executed by dishonest cops and supervisors who looked the other way, or was the whole concept — including the state's administrative forfeiture law — fatally flawed?
"One of the reasons we're having the hearing ... is to start that discussion," said Rep. Michael Paymar, DFL-St. Paul, chairman of the House's Public Safety Finance Division. "It's clear to me that this whole operation, for years, has lost its mission and was completely off course.
"If we're going to ever do this again, even if it is a different model, we're going to make sure our statutes are tight and whatever multi-jurisdictional model we create, we make sure it has the proper oversight."
Lawmakers will study the issues as the FBI investigates the task force's activities. When he spoke to reporters last week, Luger, a former assistant U.S. attorney, called the behavior of some officers "criminal."
"It's going to be for the FBI and the United States attorney's office to determine, but if you take something home that doesn't belong to you and you know it doesn't belong to you, that's a crime."
Ron Ryan, who commanded the Metro Gang Strike Force for much of its life until he retired late last year, declined to comment.
"When it's done, I promise you I will talk to you, but not now," he said without elaborating.
The Luger report said the review panel was struck by the contrast between "the hard and thorough work of some strike force officers on gang-related cases and the unfocused, and sometimes unethical and highly questionable conduct of others engaged in ... stops and searches unrelated to gang activity."
The report sticks part of the blame with the way the strike force was funded. The unit's predecessor, the Minnesota Gang Strike Force, operated for many years with state and local funding. But in a 2003 budget-cutting move, the Legislature slashed the unit's funding.
By the time lawmakers re-created the elite unit as the Metro Gang Strike Force in 2005, it had become largely self-funding, through seizures and forfeitures. The more money and property the cops from the unit's member agencies seized, the more fiscally sound the unit was.
Not only did it put the profit motive in police work, the cops came to look at seizures as the key to the unit's survival, the Luger report said.
HOW FORFEITURE WORKS AND IS ABUSED
It isn't unusual for police to seize property and seek forfeiture of items taken when they arrest people for crimes. But the strike force members were also using a state statute whose origins date to the late 1980s war on drugs, a civil statute that goes by the unwieldy title, "Administrative Forfeiture of Certain Property Seized in Connection with a Controlled Substances Seizure."
In simple terms, cops could seize all money, guns, cars, precious metals and precious stones found in proximity to drugs, drug manufacturing or distribution operations. And the property can be seized without drug- or gang-related charges filed against the owner.
Because it is a civil statute, it turns the concept of presumption of innocence on end. Instead of prosecutors having to prove that you came by the property through some illegal activity — for example, you bought it with proceeds from a drug business — you must prove that you acquired the property through legal means.
The law also has provisions dealing with the seized property. First, the property owner must be notified that he has a right to try to get the property back through "judicial determination." If the owner doesn't file a claim within 60 days of the seizure, the property is considered unclaimed and is forfeited.
Seventy percent of the proceeds from the sale of the forfeited property are to go to the agency that seized it, 20 percent goes to the county attorney who handled the forfeiture and the rest goes to the state's general fund.
"In many cases involving unclaimed evidence, it does not appear that Strike Force officers provided the owner with notification of their right to contest the seizure and forfeiture," the Luger report noted. "It is therefore not surprising that much property went unclaimed. ..."
The abuses come as no surprise to Brenda Grantland, a Mill Valley, Calif., attorney who heads the Forfeiture Endangers American Rights (FEAR) Foundation.
"That's asking for trouble when you have that semi-autonomous, self-funding task force," she said. "This happens so often. The self-funding task force is kind of a scary thing, because who do they answer to? If they don't answer to anybody and they're allowed to fund themselves, they don't have to justify their existence by having the Legislature see if they're doing a good job."
'TOP TO BOTTOM' REVIEW PROMISED
Grantland's group has lobbied successfully for some changes to the federal civil forfeiture laws, but she said it has been harder to get states to change their laws to guard against abuse. And she claimed the abuse is built into the system.
"The way the procedures are set up, it's very hard to fight the government," she said. "If the seizure renders you indigent or the amount seized is too small to justify the cost of litigation, you lose. You can't hire an attorney to get back a $5,000 car that's depreciating in value all the time it is sitting in an impound lot. It's just not cost-effective. They get them by default because people can't afford to effectively fight them."
"I really think we will take a look at the whole forfeiture law from top to bottom," said Rep. Debra Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center, who chairs the House's Public Safety and Oversight Committee and will chair the joint legislative hearing. "This is the beginning of the discussion."
Others believe the law is an effective tool in the war against drugs, and gangs are often involved in drugs. Their concern: a law enforcement agency that seizes property needs strict supervision, strong inventorying procedures and faultless accounting of all the property that is taken.
The Luger report faulted the Metro Gang Strike Force in all those areas, saying "there is no excuse for the cavalier attitude displayed by some in the Strike Force with respect to the execution of search warrants and the treatment of seized evidence."
The amount of training officers get is in question. For example, the Minneapolis Police Department — which contributed the largest contingent of officers to the metro strike force — doesn't include formal training on seizure and forfeiture law for its officers, said department spokesman Sgt. Jesse Garcia III.
"We don't go over any of that," he said. "It would be like teaching how to fly a jet when nobody gets a chance to fly a jet. It's something that's pretty specific that even a lot of the investigators don't do offhand."
He said that if some officers are trained on those issues, it is "more of on-the-job training."
KEEPING COPS HONEST
Close supervision is key, said Christian Dobratz, an assistant professor who teaches in the law enforcement program at Minnesota State University-Mankato. Before going into academia, Dobratz was a cop for 18 years, seven of those as a supervisor, and he also served on a multi-jurisdictional drug task force.
"We had a policy and procedure manual in the task force, but each officer had one from their home agency as well," he said. "That is something that has to be set up when these task forces are put together."
Mark Erickson, a captain with the Olmsted County sheriff's office who heads the Southeast Minnesota Narcotic Gang Task Force, said his unit follows such things as seizures and requests for drug-buy money through a sophisticated computer program. The system ensures that the officer's actions are monitored by his direct supervisor at his "home" agency, as well as at the task force.
Daly, who has taught criminal law at Hamline, has worked both as an assistant Hennepin County attorney and as a defense lawyer. He said that in combating gangs, police sometimes take an attitude that anything goes.
"I can understand in some ways that attitude because of the kinds of things that these gangs do," he said. "They are violent. They get in gunfights and bullets go through buildings and kill little girls sitting at a table studying. They bring fear and destruction to a community. I can understand that the police are looking at themselves as first-line warriors against these gangs.
"But the police are not military," he said. "It's what separates a society based on the rule of law instead of just simple power based on might and strength and guns."
David Hanners can be reached at 612-338-6516.
St. Paul police chief asks FBI
whether officers implicated
St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington asked the FBI on Tuesday whether any St. Paul officers are part of the criminal inquiry into the Metro Gang Strike Force.
The inquiry came in a letter to the special agent in charge of the agency's Minneapolis office.
Sgt. Paul Schnell, St. Paul police spokesman, said Harrington is concerned about maintaining the department's integrity.
The six officers who had been assigned to the now-defunct task force have returned to work in St. Paul, and the chief thinks it's "important to know who is the focus and what the allegations include so he can make decisions about personnel," Schnell said.
— Mara H. Gottfried
When it's about city taxes, devil's in details for Minneapolis, St. Paul mayors
Rybak and Coleman must juggle nursing their budgets, staving off tax revolts and keeping political options viable.
By STEVE BRANDT and ANTHONY LONETREE, Star Tribune staff writers
Last update: August 22, 2009
When Minneapolis hardware store owner Jim Welna got the chance to buy a building in the next block on Franklin Avenue and quadruple his floor space, he sat down to run the numbers.
They didn't add up -- in large part because of the property tax he'd have to pay. He figured that he would have to budget nearly $140 from each day's proceeds just to pay that $50,000 annual bill.
"I couldn't see a business model that would allow me to factor those taxes in and keep prices affordable," said Welna, who is chairman of the Seward Civic and Commerce Association.
Property taxes, which have risen steadily in Minneapolis and St. Paul, are likely to continue that trend. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak proposes to raise city property tax collections by 11.3 percent next year, the most during his two terms, after a string of 8 percent increases dating to 2003.
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman proposed a 6 percent increase in the city's share of property taxes after levy increases of 9 percent, 15.1 percent and 8 percent during his first three years as mayor.
Both mayors are acting like potential gubernatorial candidates, and they blame Gov. Tim Pawlenty's no-new-state-tax policy for the local increases that could be drags on their campaigns.
Still, there's no sign of a property tax revolt in either city.
Few show up to protest at the annual public hearings before levies are adopted. Support for Pawlenty's tightfistedness has eroded, according to one pollster.
Both mayors are buffeted by offsetting pressures when they recommend raising property taxes. Not enough, and there aren't enough cops, workers to fill potholes or clerks to staff counters. Too much, and people such as Welna feel the pain.
Rybak swears that he puts political blinders on when he crafts a city budget and any tax hike he thinks is necessary to support it. He says his job is to do what's in the city's long-term interests. He blames tax increases on Pawlenty's policies and inherited problems such as a growing pension burden.
Coleman says that he's had to raise taxes in part to keep police and firefighters on the streets after state aid cuts. While his predecessors avoided significant levy increases for 12 years, Coleman says that was when state aid was dependable.
Just how much each mayor would be hampered by their taxing records in a statewide race depends on whether they're competing inside their parties or running in a general election, and whether President Obama's stimulus efforts pay off or are seen as a waste of money, analysts say.
Pollster Bill Morris of the Minneapolis research firm Decision Resources found a substantial drop in support for the no-new-taxes approach since Pawlenty's first legislative session in 2003 -- from 61 percent then to 33 percent this summer. Yet property taxes remain the most unpopular of the big three taxes, the other two being income tax and sales tax.
That puts mayors in the awkward position of raising the most unpopular tax to fund their budgets. Legislators who might vie with them for governor control less-unpopular taxes, although their fiscal decisions influence local property levies.
Still, the mayors' records concerning property taxes are likely to have much less impact on DFL delegates and intra-party contests than the crucial swing voters whom Hamline professor David Schultz estimates at 30 percent of voters.
"I can see Republicans trying to frame one of those two candidates as a classic tax and spend liberal," he said.
'Willing to pay'
In St. Paul's West End area, at Jefferson Avenue and Fulton Street, Matt Long, co-owner of Tavern on the Avenue, sees the city's police force as exceptional and worth protecting. Across the avenue, John Evanson, 37, who owns a single-story Craftsman-style home, values the city's culture and history.
Here, where home values mirror the city's median value, St. Paul is investing.
A block away, workers are building a new refrigerated ice rink at Palace playground. A half-mile away, a new fire station and headquarters building is going up.
Evanson said that he's had job offers elsewhere but that he loves St. Paul. He said a 6 percent tax increase is significant, but that "if we want what we want, then we have to be willing to pay for it."
Long said he's been hit with the federally imposed minimum wage increase and the state's new 3/8-cent sales tax, and that he'd prefer not being dealt another property tax increase.
He calculated that, if Coleman's plan passes, the tavern will need to ring up more than 100 extra sales a month to cover the property tax hikes imposed on the bar since Coleman took office.
'It just went skyward'
In Minneapolis, Welna has seen the city's valuation assessment on his 108-year-old building jump from $70,000 to $325,000. With many home values falling, property tax increases fall more heavily on commercial property. His annual tax bill is almost $7,700.
Welna is no rabid anti-tax guy. He has seen city assistance bolster businesses on Franklin. The space he considered buying was vacated by the Seward Co-op. It left for an even bigger store that was financed in part by city loans, an investment Rybak touted in his budget proposal.
But Welna and other businesspeople feel that their tax load is getting burdensome. Joanne Christ, whose family owns the Black Forest restaurant on Nicollet Avenue, described it this way: "It was a nice gentle climb until about seven years ago, maybe eight. Then it just went skyward."
Rybak's projected budgets portend a hefty tax increase for the city's $216,000 median home. The city's levy against that property is projected to rise 55 percent between now and 2015. That's not counting county or school taxes.
The Northrop neighborhood in south Minneapolis abounds with houses close to that example, and Judy O'Brien's bungalow is one of them. She has lived there all but about five years of her life, buying it from her parents in 1980. She thinks her tax bill was about $500 then; now it's $2,718.
"It's hard to see things go up like that every year," O'Brien said. "But it's unrealistic to expect it to go down."
She pays almost twice as much in taxes on her house as do her friends in the suburbs. But that hasn't driven her out of town. "I wouldn't have chosen to live in the suburbs," she said. "I like older neighborhoods. I like to watch the neighborhoods change."
sbrandt@startribune.com • 612-673-4438 alonetree@startribune.com • 612-673-4109
By STEVE BRANDT and ANTHONY LONETREE, Star Tribune staff writers
Last update: August 22, 2009
When Minneapolis hardware store owner Jim Welna got the chance to buy a building in the next block on Franklin Avenue and quadruple his floor space, he sat down to run the numbers.
They didn't add up -- in large part because of the property tax he'd have to pay. He figured that he would have to budget nearly $140 from each day's proceeds just to pay that $50,000 annual bill.
"I couldn't see a business model that would allow me to factor those taxes in and keep prices affordable," said Welna, who is chairman of the Seward Civic and Commerce Association.
Property taxes, which have risen steadily in Minneapolis and St. Paul, are likely to continue that trend. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak proposes to raise city property tax collections by 11.3 percent next year, the most during his two terms, after a string of 8 percent increases dating to 2003.
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman proposed a 6 percent increase in the city's share of property taxes after levy increases of 9 percent, 15.1 percent and 8 percent during his first three years as mayor.
Both mayors are acting like potential gubernatorial candidates, and they blame Gov. Tim Pawlenty's no-new-state-tax policy for the local increases that could be drags on their campaigns.
Still, there's no sign of a property tax revolt in either city.
Few show up to protest at the annual public hearings before levies are adopted. Support for Pawlenty's tightfistedness has eroded, according to one pollster.
Both mayors are buffeted by offsetting pressures when they recommend raising property taxes. Not enough, and there aren't enough cops, workers to fill potholes or clerks to staff counters. Too much, and people such as Welna feel the pain.
Rybak swears that he puts political blinders on when he crafts a city budget and any tax hike he thinks is necessary to support it. He says his job is to do what's in the city's long-term interests. He blames tax increases on Pawlenty's policies and inherited problems such as a growing pension burden.
Coleman says that he's had to raise taxes in part to keep police and firefighters on the streets after state aid cuts. While his predecessors avoided significant levy increases for 12 years, Coleman says that was when state aid was dependable.
Just how much each mayor would be hampered by their taxing records in a statewide race depends on whether they're competing inside their parties or running in a general election, and whether President Obama's stimulus efforts pay off or are seen as a waste of money, analysts say.
Pollster Bill Morris of the Minneapolis research firm Decision Resources found a substantial drop in support for the no-new-taxes approach since Pawlenty's first legislative session in 2003 -- from 61 percent then to 33 percent this summer. Yet property taxes remain the most unpopular of the big three taxes, the other two being income tax and sales tax.
That puts mayors in the awkward position of raising the most unpopular tax to fund their budgets. Legislators who might vie with them for governor control less-unpopular taxes, although their fiscal decisions influence local property levies.
Still, the mayors' records concerning property taxes are likely to have much less impact on DFL delegates and intra-party contests than the crucial swing voters whom Hamline professor David Schultz estimates at 30 percent of voters.
"I can see Republicans trying to frame one of those two candidates as a classic tax and spend liberal," he said.
'Willing to pay'
In St. Paul's West End area, at Jefferson Avenue and Fulton Street, Matt Long, co-owner of Tavern on the Avenue, sees the city's police force as exceptional and worth protecting. Across the avenue, John Evanson, 37, who owns a single-story Craftsman-style home, values the city's culture and history.
Here, where home values mirror the city's median value, St. Paul is investing.
A block away, workers are building a new refrigerated ice rink at Palace playground. A half-mile away, a new fire station and headquarters building is going up.
Evanson said that he's had job offers elsewhere but that he loves St. Paul. He said a 6 percent tax increase is significant, but that "if we want what we want, then we have to be willing to pay for it."
Long said he's been hit with the federally imposed minimum wage increase and the state's new 3/8-cent sales tax, and that he'd prefer not being dealt another property tax increase.
He calculated that, if Coleman's plan passes, the tavern will need to ring up more than 100 extra sales a month to cover the property tax hikes imposed on the bar since Coleman took office.
'It just went skyward'
In Minneapolis, Welna has seen the city's valuation assessment on his 108-year-old building jump from $70,000 to $325,000. With many home values falling, property tax increases fall more heavily on commercial property. His annual tax bill is almost $7,700.
Welna is no rabid anti-tax guy. He has seen city assistance bolster businesses on Franklin. The space he considered buying was vacated by the Seward Co-op. It left for an even bigger store that was financed in part by city loans, an investment Rybak touted in his budget proposal.
But Welna and other businesspeople feel that their tax load is getting burdensome. Joanne Christ, whose family owns the Black Forest restaurant on Nicollet Avenue, described it this way: "It was a nice gentle climb until about seven years ago, maybe eight. Then it just went skyward."
Rybak's projected budgets portend a hefty tax increase for the city's $216,000 median home. The city's levy against that property is projected to rise 55 percent between now and 2015. That's not counting county or school taxes.
The Northrop neighborhood in south Minneapolis abounds with houses close to that example, and Judy O'Brien's bungalow is one of them. She has lived there all but about five years of her life, buying it from her parents in 1980. She thinks her tax bill was about $500 then; now it's $2,718.
"It's hard to see things go up like that every year," O'Brien said. "But it's unrealistic to expect it to go down."
She pays almost twice as much in taxes on her house as do her friends in the suburbs. But that hasn't driven her out of town. "I wouldn't have chosen to live in the suburbs," she said. "I like older neighborhoods. I like to watch the neighborhoods change."
sbrandt@startribune.com • 612-673-4438 alonetree@startribune.com • 612-673-4109
Race for governor has a cast of many
Republicans in particular face the challenge of discerning what role Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who isn't seeking a third term, will play as the race progresses.
By MIKE KASZUBA, Star Tribune
Last update: August 21, 2009
More than a dozen candidates to be Minnesota's next governor are hustling across the state for support this summer -- so many that one joked they should simply carpool.
Yet the role of Gov. Tim Pawlenty, particularly in pushing the chances of the Republicans trying to succeed him, remains unclear.
At a soggy picnic in Roseville this week, one Republican gubernatorial candidate after another talked to the crowd without ever mentioning Pawlenty, the two-term Republican they all have said they admire.
DFL candidate Matt Entenza said Pawlenty has already fundamentally changed the race by deciding not to enter it, a move Entenza said made the overall campaign "considerably less expensive." He estimated that had Pawlenty sought reelection the race for governor would have approached $10 million.
These are the early, but important, days of a race where the election is still 15 months away. On any given weeknight and weekend, a not-so-small gang of Republicans and DFLers crisscrosses Minnesota, moving from political breakfasts to private fundraising dinners in an often-lonely journey to gain political traction. In the coming months, the field will inevitably decrease as many candidates, realizing the odds, bow out.
The pace can be demanding. Schedulers for Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, had him speaking in Minneapolis on Thursday night, appearing Friday afternoon at a county fair in Alexandria and then finishing the day at a DFL picnic in Glenwood. Today, he began with an early morning appearance at another county fair in Owatonna and by noon was scheduled to be at a second DFL picnic, this time in Burnsville. Marty said the candidates -- including himself -- are "like a swarm of bees" these days.
For the Republicans, the campaign has an added challenge: how to sell themselves as independent from Pawlenty, while making sure they have the support of a governor who remains popular within his party. Conversely, the Republicans also have to cope with how much time Pawlenty, who is crisscrossing the country in pursuit of his national political ambitions, will devote to get them elected.
"None of us are Tim Pawlenty," said Rep. Paul Kohls, R-Victoria, after finishing a 10-minute speech at the Roseville picnic. As his opponents took their turns in front of the microphone, Kohls added, "I wouldn't read too much" into the fact that he and others did not mention the governor during their speeches. "I don't think any of us want to be Tim Pawlenty. We want to be who we are," he said.
With Pawlenty largely silent on the subject, and the Republican endorsing convention not until next year, the lobbying for the governor's support has been muted.
"I'm trying to give him breathing room," said former House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, another gubernatorial candidate. "You can't be putting pressure on someone ... when you've got all of his friends running for governor at the same time."
Seifert said he introduced Pawlenty at a rally recently in Redwood Falls and said the governor said "some very kind things about me." But Seifert also acknowledged that relations between Republicans in the Legislature and Pawlenty, who has sailed his own course politically, have been hard to define. Asked whether they had been less than ideal, Seifert responded: "It depends what your definition of ideal is.
"What's the word [to describe the relationship]? I don't have a thesaurus with me," said Seifert, who resigned as House minority leader to run for governor.
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano, another gubernatorial candidate, said the Republicans obviously would welcome Pawlenty's endorsement.
As Emmer and Kohls stood together at a rally this week, Emmer joked that the race for Pawlenty's endorsement was well underway. "I hear Kohls has been kissing [up to Pawlenty] for about three weeks now," said Emmer, smiling.
"My lips are right here, Tom," said Kohls, laughing.
Pawlenty's role
But Emmer also turned serious. "We're not running with Tim Pawlenty. We're not running for Tim Pawlenty," he said. "Tim is great, and he's done a great job. [But] you're going to have to stand on your own ... message."
Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Tony Sutton said Pawlenty will play a large role in the party's quest to retain the governor's office. "Governor Pawlenty is going to be a big part -- his record is going to be a big part -- of our message," he said. "My expectation is he'll be fully engaged in the governor's race."
Former U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger, a Republican, said he is not so sure. "What happens in Minnesota is not going to be of great concern to him," Durenberger said.
If circumstances were changed and Republicans held majorities at the Legislature and elsewhere in the state, he said, Pawlenty might be more inclined to help "because they could be helpful to him" as he seeks a larger national profile.
"I doubt if he's going to use the weight of [the governor's] office ... to try to get one or the other of that list of candidates elected in Minnesota," he added. "I'm just not sure that he's driven by saving Minnesota from the Democrats."
Distracted by other matters
While they have their own crowded race, DFLers said that Republicans running for governor would likely need to try to separate themselves from Pawlenty at some point, especially during a general election campaign.
"I think they'd be wise to be a little careful," said Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, a candidate himself. "Because what you don't want to do is hand the Democrats the issue [of], 'Well, here's four more years of the same.'"
For now, said Sen. Michael Jungbauer, R-East Bethel, another Republican candidate for governor, the focus should not be on Pawlenty.
"I'd just as soon see him fairly hands off,'' said Jungbauer. While agreeing that "we all would love" to have Pawlenty's backing, Jungbauer added that he has differed at times with the governor. "I think he's made some wrong decisions," he said.
"[But] I think he'd be a heckuva great president," Jungbauer added.
Mike Kaszuba • 651-222-1673
By MIKE KASZUBA, Star Tribune
Last update: August 21, 2009
More than a dozen candidates to be Minnesota's next governor are hustling across the state for support this summer -- so many that one joked they should simply carpool.
Yet the role of Gov. Tim Pawlenty, particularly in pushing the chances of the Republicans trying to succeed him, remains unclear.
At a soggy picnic in Roseville this week, one Republican gubernatorial candidate after another talked to the crowd without ever mentioning Pawlenty, the two-term Republican they all have said they admire.
DFL candidate Matt Entenza said Pawlenty has already fundamentally changed the race by deciding not to enter it, a move Entenza said made the overall campaign "considerably less expensive." He estimated that had Pawlenty sought reelection the race for governor would have approached $10 million.
These are the early, but important, days of a race where the election is still 15 months away. On any given weeknight and weekend, a not-so-small gang of Republicans and DFLers crisscrosses Minnesota, moving from political breakfasts to private fundraising dinners in an often-lonely journey to gain political traction. In the coming months, the field will inevitably decrease as many candidates, realizing the odds, bow out.
The pace can be demanding. Schedulers for Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, had him speaking in Minneapolis on Thursday night, appearing Friday afternoon at a county fair in Alexandria and then finishing the day at a DFL picnic in Glenwood. Today, he began with an early morning appearance at another county fair in Owatonna and by noon was scheduled to be at a second DFL picnic, this time in Burnsville. Marty said the candidates -- including himself -- are "like a swarm of bees" these days.
For the Republicans, the campaign has an added challenge: how to sell themselves as independent from Pawlenty, while making sure they have the support of a governor who remains popular within his party. Conversely, the Republicans also have to cope with how much time Pawlenty, who is crisscrossing the country in pursuit of his national political ambitions, will devote to get them elected.
"None of us are Tim Pawlenty," said Rep. Paul Kohls, R-Victoria, after finishing a 10-minute speech at the Roseville picnic. As his opponents took their turns in front of the microphone, Kohls added, "I wouldn't read too much" into the fact that he and others did not mention the governor during their speeches. "I don't think any of us want to be Tim Pawlenty. We want to be who we are," he said.
With Pawlenty largely silent on the subject, and the Republican endorsing convention not until next year, the lobbying for the governor's support has been muted.
"I'm trying to give him breathing room," said former House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, another gubernatorial candidate. "You can't be putting pressure on someone ... when you've got all of his friends running for governor at the same time."
Seifert said he introduced Pawlenty at a rally recently in Redwood Falls and said the governor said "some very kind things about me." But Seifert also acknowledged that relations between Republicans in the Legislature and Pawlenty, who has sailed his own course politically, have been hard to define. Asked whether they had been less than ideal, Seifert responded: "It depends what your definition of ideal is.
"What's the word [to describe the relationship]? I don't have a thesaurus with me," said Seifert, who resigned as House minority leader to run for governor.
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano, another gubernatorial candidate, said the Republicans obviously would welcome Pawlenty's endorsement.
As Emmer and Kohls stood together at a rally this week, Emmer joked that the race for Pawlenty's endorsement was well underway. "I hear Kohls has been kissing [up to Pawlenty] for about three weeks now," said Emmer, smiling.
"My lips are right here, Tom," said Kohls, laughing.
Pawlenty's role
But Emmer also turned serious. "We're not running with Tim Pawlenty. We're not running for Tim Pawlenty," he said. "Tim is great, and he's done a great job. [But] you're going to have to stand on your own ... message."
Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Tony Sutton said Pawlenty will play a large role in the party's quest to retain the governor's office. "Governor Pawlenty is going to be a big part -- his record is going to be a big part -- of our message," he said. "My expectation is he'll be fully engaged in the governor's race."
Former U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger, a Republican, said he is not so sure. "What happens in Minnesota is not going to be of great concern to him," Durenberger said.
If circumstances were changed and Republicans held majorities at the Legislature and elsewhere in the state, he said, Pawlenty might be more inclined to help "because they could be helpful to him" as he seeks a larger national profile.
"I doubt if he's going to use the weight of [the governor's] office ... to try to get one or the other of that list of candidates elected in Minnesota," he added. "I'm just not sure that he's driven by saving Minnesota from the Democrats."
Distracted by other matters
While they have their own crowded race, DFLers said that Republicans running for governor would likely need to try to separate themselves from Pawlenty at some point, especially during a general election campaign.
"I think they'd be wise to be a little careful," said Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, a candidate himself. "Because what you don't want to do is hand the Democrats the issue [of], 'Well, here's four more years of the same.'"
For now, said Sen. Michael Jungbauer, R-East Bethel, another Republican candidate for governor, the focus should not be on Pawlenty.
"I'd just as soon see him fairly hands off,'' said Jungbauer. While agreeing that "we all would love" to have Pawlenty's backing, Jungbauer added that he has differed at times with the governor. "I think he's made some wrong decisions," he said.
"[But] I think he'd be a heckuva great president," Jungbauer added.
Mike Kaszuba • 651-222-1673
Senator ends his 'tireless march'
To the American public, he was probably best known as the last brother in a family known for its political power.
By JOHN M. BRODER, New York Times
Last update: August 26, 2009
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew triumph and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as one of the most effective lawmakers in the history of the Senate, died late Tuesday night. He was 77.
The death was announced early this morning in a statement by the Kennedy family.
"Edward M. Kennedy -- the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply -- died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port," the statement said. "We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all. ...He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it's hard to imagine any of them without him."
Kennedy had been in precarious health since he suffered a seizure in May 2008 at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass. His doctors determined the cause had been a malignant glioma, a brain tumor that often carries a grim prognosis. Kennedy was the last surviving brother of a generation of Kennedys that dominated American politics in the 1960s and that came to embody glamour, political idealism and untimely death.
By JOHN M. BRODER, New York Times
Last update: August 26, 2009
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew triumph and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as one of the most effective lawmakers in the history of the Senate, died late Tuesday night. He was 77.
The death was announced early this morning in a statement by the Kennedy family.
"Edward M. Kennedy -- the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply -- died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port," the statement said. "We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all. ...He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it's hard to imagine any of them without him."
Kennedy had been in precarious health since he suffered a seizure in May 2008 at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass. His doctors determined the cause had been a malignant glioma, a brain tumor that often carries a grim prognosis. Kennedy was the last surviving brother of a generation of Kennedys that dominated American politics in the 1960s and that came to embody glamour, political idealism and untimely death.
Light-rail upgrades running on time
Longer trains are being added before Target Field's opening, and Bloomington will get a fourth station.
By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE, Star Tribune
Last update: August 26, 2009
Construction to equip all of the Hiawatha light-rail stations to handle longer trains -- as well as build another station in Bloomington -- is ahead of schedule and should be finished by the end of the year, Hennepin County Board members learned Tuesday.
That means that trains with three articulated cars, rather than just two, will be on the tracks and pulling into the new ballpark station by the time the Twins inaugurate Target Field in April, Metro Transit engineer MarySue Abel told the board.
Why the need for longer trains? Because the five-year-old light-rail line, which connects downtown Minneapolis with the airport and the Mall of America, has become a hugely popular transit option.
Last year the line topped 10 million rides, 12 percent more than in 2007. An average of 37,000 commuters rode the trains daily during weekday rush hours.
"The success of the line has really proven that we need to accommodate more ridership," Abel said.
So Metro Transit, using funding from federal and local sources, is lengthening the platforms at nine stations, adapting two downtown stations for the longer trains and replacing scores of bumpy yellow warning strips dislodged by the annual freeze-thaw cycle.
Signals at track crossings are being upgraded to permit trains to run more efficiently in reverse when needed.
The agency also is building a new station that had been planned years ago but was dropped because of cost overruns. The new stop, at American Boulevard and 34th Avenue, will be the fourth station on the line in Bloomington.
The total cost of the expansion projects is about $13.5 million. Extending the platforms costs $9.3 million, while the new American Boulevard station is $2.2 million, Abel said.
Most of that money comes from federal coffers, with additional funding from the Metropolitan Council, Hennepin County and Bloomington.
Questions from board members centered on the artwork for the expanded stations. Abel said that it will mostly extend and duplicate what's already in place, but some commissioners were disappointed to learn that the original artists were from outside the area.
With all the local art communities, Mike Opat said, it seems "ridiculous" to look outside the Twin Cities for people to decorate the stations. Mark Stenglein suggested that the county seek local artists for the proposed southwest light-rail line, and Peter McLaughlin said that most of the artists selected for the Central Corridor line are local.
When the Hiawatha line opened in 2004, seven of the then-17 stations were built long enough to handle three-car trains. With all stations now being readied to accommodate them, new trains will be purchased for use by 2012, Abel said.
Work on the stations began in April. Light-rail service has been interrupted periodically since then because of construction, and there may be one more such shutdown before the job is finished, she said.
The station at Cedar-Riverside will be closed over the weekend for platform work.
Kevin Duchschere • 612-673-4455
By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE, Star Tribune
Last update: August 26, 2009
Construction to equip all of the Hiawatha light-rail stations to handle longer trains -- as well as build another station in Bloomington -- is ahead of schedule and should be finished by the end of the year, Hennepin County Board members learned Tuesday.
That means that trains with three articulated cars, rather than just two, will be on the tracks and pulling into the new ballpark station by the time the Twins inaugurate Target Field in April, Metro Transit engineer MarySue Abel told the board.
Why the need for longer trains? Because the five-year-old light-rail line, which connects downtown Minneapolis with the airport and the Mall of America, has become a hugely popular transit option.
Last year the line topped 10 million rides, 12 percent more than in 2007. An average of 37,000 commuters rode the trains daily during weekday rush hours.
"The success of the line has really proven that we need to accommodate more ridership," Abel said.
So Metro Transit, using funding from federal and local sources, is lengthening the platforms at nine stations, adapting two downtown stations for the longer trains and replacing scores of bumpy yellow warning strips dislodged by the annual freeze-thaw cycle.
Signals at track crossings are being upgraded to permit trains to run more efficiently in reverse when needed.
The agency also is building a new station that had been planned years ago but was dropped because of cost overruns. The new stop, at American Boulevard and 34th Avenue, will be the fourth station on the line in Bloomington.
The total cost of the expansion projects is about $13.5 million. Extending the platforms costs $9.3 million, while the new American Boulevard station is $2.2 million, Abel said.
Most of that money comes from federal coffers, with additional funding from the Metropolitan Council, Hennepin County and Bloomington.
Questions from board members centered on the artwork for the expanded stations. Abel said that it will mostly extend and duplicate what's already in place, but some commissioners were disappointed to learn that the original artists were from outside the area.
With all the local art communities, Mike Opat said, it seems "ridiculous" to look outside the Twin Cities for people to decorate the stations. Mark Stenglein suggested that the county seek local artists for the proposed southwest light-rail line, and Peter McLaughlin said that most of the artists selected for the Central Corridor line are local.
When the Hiawatha line opened in 2004, seven of the then-17 stations were built long enough to handle three-car trains. With all stations now being readied to accommodate them, new trains will be purchased for use by 2012, Abel said.
Work on the stations began in April. Light-rail service has been interrupted periodically since then because of construction, and there may be one more such shutdown before the job is finished, she said.
The station at Cedar-Riverside will be closed over the weekend for platform work.
Kevin Duchschere • 612-673-4455
Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy dead at 77
(CNN) -- Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, the patriarch of the first family of Democratic politics, died Wednesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, after a lengthy battle with brain cancer. He was 77.
Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, known as the "Lion of the Senate," died Wednesday at 77.
"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," a family statement said. "We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice."
Kennedy, nicknamed "Ted," was the younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy and New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, who was gunned down while seeking the White House in 1968. However, his own presidential aspirations were hobbled by the controversy around a 1969 auto accident that left a young woman dead, and a 1980 primary challenge to then-President Jimmy Carter that ended in defeat.
But while the White House eluded his grasp, the longtime Massachusetts senator was considered one of the most effective legislators of the past few decades. Kennedy, who became known as the "Lion of the Senate," played major roles in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, and was an outspoken liberal standard-bearer during a conservative-dominated era from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
"Senator Ted Kennedy's legacy in the United States Senate is comparable and consistent with the legacy of his entire family for generations," Kennedy's biographer, Ted Sorensen, said.
Kennedy recently urged Massachusetts officials to change a law to allow for an immediate temporary replacement should a vacancy occur for one of his state's two Senate seats. Watch why Kennedy sought change in state law »
Under a 2004 Massachusetts law, a special election must be held 145 to 160 days after a Senate seat becomes vacant. The winner of the election would serve the remainder of a senator's unexpired term.
Kennedy asked Gov. Deval Patrick and state leaders to "amend the law through the normal legislative process to provide for a temporary gubernatorial appointment until the special election occurs," according to the letter, dated July 2. Read Kennedy's letter
Kennedy suffered a seizure in May 2008 at his home on Cape Cod. Shortly after, doctors diagnosed a brain tumor -- a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe.
Surgeons at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, removed as much of the tumor as possible the following month. Doctors considered the procedure a success, and Kennedy underwent follow-up radiation treatments and chemotherapy.
A few weeks later, he participated in a key vote in the Senate. He also insisted on making a brief but dramatic appearance at the 2008 Democratic convention, a poignant moment that brought the crowd to its feet and tears to many eyes.
"I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals and to elect Barack Obama president of the United States," Kennedy told fellow Democrats in a strong voice.
Kennedy's early support for Obama was considered a boon for the candidate, then a first-term senator from Illinois locked in a tough primary battle against former first lady Hillary Clinton. Kennedy predicted Obama's victory and pledged to be in Washington in January when Obama assumed office -- and he was, though he was hospitalized briefly after suffering a seizure during a post-inaugural luncheon.
Kennedy was one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40 years. He was elected to eight full terms to become the second most-senior senator after West Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd.
He launched his political career in 1962, when he was elected to finish the unexpired Senate term of his brother, who became president in 1960. He won his first full term in 1964.
He seemed to have a bright political future, and many Democratic eyes turned to him after the killings of his brothers. But a July 18, 1969, car wreck on Chappaquiddick Island virtually ended his ambitions.
After a party for women who had worked on his brother Robert's presidential campaign, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick, off Cape Cod and across a narrow channel from Martha's Vineyard. While Kennedy managed to escape, his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned.
In a coroner's inquest, he denied having been drunk, and said he made "seven or eight" attempts to save Kopechne before exhaustion forced him to shore. Although he sought help from friends at the party, Kennedy did not report the accident to police until the following morning.
Kennedy eventually pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. In a televised address to residents of his home state, Kennedy called his conduct in the hours following the accident "inexplicable" and called his failure to report the wreck immediately "indefensible."
Despite the dent in his reputation and career, Kennedy remained in American politics and went on to win seven more terms in the Senate. Kennedy championed social causes and was the author of "In Critical Condition: The Crisis in America's Health Care." He served as chairman of the Judiciary and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committees and was the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary and Armed Services committees during periods when Republicans controlled the chamber.
Obama named Kennedy as one of 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. A White House statement explained that the 2009 honorees "were chosen for their work as agents of change."
"Senator Kennedy has dedicated his career to fighting for equal opportunity, fairness and justice for all Americans. He has worked tirelessly to ensure that every American has access to quality and affordable health care, and has succeeded in doing so for countless children, seniors, and Americans with disabilities. He has called health care reform the "cause of his life."
Born in Boston on February 22, 1932, Edward Moore Kennedy was the last of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy, a prominent businessman and Democrat, and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Joseph Kennedy served as ambassador to Britain before World War II and pushed his sons to strive for the presidency, a burden "Teddy" bore for much of his life as the only surviving Kennedy son.
His oldest brother, Joe Jr., died in a plane crash during World War II when Kennedy was 12. John was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, in 1963, and Robert was killed the night of the California primary in 1968.
Ted Kennedy delivered Robert's eulogy, urging mourners to remember him as "a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it; who saw suffering and tried to heal it; who saw war and tried to stop it."
The family was plagued with other tragedies as well. One sister, Kathleen, was killed in a plane crash in 1948. Another sister, Rosemary, was born mildly retarded, but was institutionalized after a botched lobotomy in 1941. She died in 1986 after more than 50 years in mental hospitals.
Joseph Kennedy was incapacitated by a stroke in 1961 and died in November 1969, leaving the youngest son as head of the family. He was 37.
"I can't let go," Kennedy once told an aide. "If I let go, Ethel (Robert's widow) will let go, and my mother will let go, and all my sisters."
Kennedy himself survived a 1964 plane crash that killed an aide, suffering a broken back in the accident. But he recovered to lead the seemingly ill-starred clan through a series of other tragedies: Robert Kennedy's son David died of a drug overdose in a Florida hotel in 1984; another of Robert's sons, Michael, was killed in a skiing accident in Colorado in 1997; and John's son John Jr., his wife Carolyn and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette died in a 1999 plane crash off Martha's Vineyard.
In addition, his son Edward Jr. lost a leg to cancer in the 1970s, and daughter Kara survived a bout with the disease in the early 2000s.
Kennedy was forced to testify about a bar-hopping weekend that led to sexual battery charges against his nephew, William Kennedy Smith. Smith was acquitted in 1991 of charges that he raped a woman he met while at a Florida nightclub with the senator and his son Patrick, now a Rhode Island congressman.
Like brothers John and Robert, Edward Kennedy attended Harvard. He studied in the Netherlands before earning a law degree from the University of Virginia Law School, and worked in the district attorney's office in Boston before entering politics.
Kennedy is survived by his second wife, Victoria Ann Reggie Kennedy, whom he married in 1992; his first wife, Joan Bennett; and five children -- Patrick, Kara and Edward Jr. from his first marriage, and Curran and Caroline Raclin from his second.
Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, known as the "Lion of the Senate," died Wednesday at 77.
"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," a family statement said. "We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice."
Kennedy, nicknamed "Ted," was the younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy and New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, who was gunned down while seeking the White House in 1968. However, his own presidential aspirations were hobbled by the controversy around a 1969 auto accident that left a young woman dead, and a 1980 primary challenge to then-President Jimmy Carter that ended in defeat.
But while the White House eluded his grasp, the longtime Massachusetts senator was considered one of the most effective legislators of the past few decades. Kennedy, who became known as the "Lion of the Senate," played major roles in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, and was an outspoken liberal standard-bearer during a conservative-dominated era from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
"Senator Ted Kennedy's legacy in the United States Senate is comparable and consistent with the legacy of his entire family for generations," Kennedy's biographer, Ted Sorensen, said.
Kennedy recently urged Massachusetts officials to change a law to allow for an immediate temporary replacement should a vacancy occur for one of his state's two Senate seats. Watch why Kennedy sought change in state law »
Under a 2004 Massachusetts law, a special election must be held 145 to 160 days after a Senate seat becomes vacant. The winner of the election would serve the remainder of a senator's unexpired term.
Kennedy asked Gov. Deval Patrick and state leaders to "amend the law through the normal legislative process to provide for a temporary gubernatorial appointment until the special election occurs," according to the letter, dated July 2. Read Kennedy's letter
Kennedy suffered a seizure in May 2008 at his home on Cape Cod. Shortly after, doctors diagnosed a brain tumor -- a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe.
Surgeons at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, removed as much of the tumor as possible the following month. Doctors considered the procedure a success, and Kennedy underwent follow-up radiation treatments and chemotherapy.
A few weeks later, he participated in a key vote in the Senate. He also insisted on making a brief but dramatic appearance at the 2008 Democratic convention, a poignant moment that brought the crowd to its feet and tears to many eyes.
"I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals and to elect Barack Obama president of the United States," Kennedy told fellow Democrats in a strong voice.
Kennedy's early support for Obama was considered a boon for the candidate, then a first-term senator from Illinois locked in a tough primary battle against former first lady Hillary Clinton. Kennedy predicted Obama's victory and pledged to be in Washington in January when Obama assumed office -- and he was, though he was hospitalized briefly after suffering a seizure during a post-inaugural luncheon.
Kennedy was one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40 years. He was elected to eight full terms to become the second most-senior senator after West Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd.
He launched his political career in 1962, when he was elected to finish the unexpired Senate term of his brother, who became president in 1960. He won his first full term in 1964.
He seemed to have a bright political future, and many Democratic eyes turned to him after the killings of his brothers. But a July 18, 1969, car wreck on Chappaquiddick Island virtually ended his ambitions.
After a party for women who had worked on his brother Robert's presidential campaign, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick, off Cape Cod and across a narrow channel from Martha's Vineyard. While Kennedy managed to escape, his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned.
In a coroner's inquest, he denied having been drunk, and said he made "seven or eight" attempts to save Kopechne before exhaustion forced him to shore. Although he sought help from friends at the party, Kennedy did not report the accident to police until the following morning.
Kennedy eventually pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. In a televised address to residents of his home state, Kennedy called his conduct in the hours following the accident "inexplicable" and called his failure to report the wreck immediately "indefensible."
Despite the dent in his reputation and career, Kennedy remained in American politics and went on to win seven more terms in the Senate. Kennedy championed social causes and was the author of "In Critical Condition: The Crisis in America's Health Care." He served as chairman of the Judiciary and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committees and was the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary and Armed Services committees during periods when Republicans controlled the chamber.
Obama named Kennedy as one of 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. A White House statement explained that the 2009 honorees "were chosen for their work as agents of change."
"Senator Kennedy has dedicated his career to fighting for equal opportunity, fairness and justice for all Americans. He has worked tirelessly to ensure that every American has access to quality and affordable health care, and has succeeded in doing so for countless children, seniors, and Americans with disabilities. He has called health care reform the "cause of his life."
Born in Boston on February 22, 1932, Edward Moore Kennedy was the last of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy, a prominent businessman and Democrat, and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Joseph Kennedy served as ambassador to Britain before World War II and pushed his sons to strive for the presidency, a burden "Teddy" bore for much of his life as the only surviving Kennedy son.
His oldest brother, Joe Jr., died in a plane crash during World War II when Kennedy was 12. John was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, in 1963, and Robert was killed the night of the California primary in 1968.
Ted Kennedy delivered Robert's eulogy, urging mourners to remember him as "a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it; who saw suffering and tried to heal it; who saw war and tried to stop it."
The family was plagued with other tragedies as well. One sister, Kathleen, was killed in a plane crash in 1948. Another sister, Rosemary, was born mildly retarded, but was institutionalized after a botched lobotomy in 1941. She died in 1986 after more than 50 years in mental hospitals.
Joseph Kennedy was incapacitated by a stroke in 1961 and died in November 1969, leaving the youngest son as head of the family. He was 37.
"I can't let go," Kennedy once told an aide. "If I let go, Ethel (Robert's widow) will let go, and my mother will let go, and all my sisters."
Kennedy himself survived a 1964 plane crash that killed an aide, suffering a broken back in the accident. But he recovered to lead the seemingly ill-starred clan through a series of other tragedies: Robert Kennedy's son David died of a drug overdose in a Florida hotel in 1984; another of Robert's sons, Michael, was killed in a skiing accident in Colorado in 1997; and John's son John Jr., his wife Carolyn and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette died in a 1999 plane crash off Martha's Vineyard.
In addition, his son Edward Jr. lost a leg to cancer in the 1970s, and daughter Kara survived a bout with the disease in the early 2000s.
Kennedy was forced to testify about a bar-hopping weekend that led to sexual battery charges against his nephew, William Kennedy Smith. Smith was acquitted in 1991 of charges that he raped a woman he met while at a Florida nightclub with the senator and his son Patrick, now a Rhode Island congressman.
Like brothers John and Robert, Edward Kennedy attended Harvard. He studied in the Netherlands before earning a law degree from the University of Virginia Law School, and worked in the district attorney's office in Boston before entering politics.
Kennedy is survived by his second wife, Victoria Ann Reggie Kennedy, whom he married in 1992; his first wife, Joan Bennett; and five children -- Patrick, Kara and Edward Jr. from his first marriage, and Curran and Caroline Raclin from his second.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Walz hosts a noisy, yet rather civil town hall
Rep. Tim Walz met the jeers and cheers head-on in Mankato. Points were sometimes shouted, but in the end all applauded.
By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune
Last update: August 20, 2009
MANKATO - About 700 feisty and energized people crammed into a high school auditorium Thursday night to tell First District Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., that he should -- and shouldn't -- support legislation to overhaul the nation's health care system.
At times, the town hall audience erupted with applause and boos -- often simultaneously. Questioners supported a government-backed option to private insurance, decried profit in health care, took a side step into energy policy, bemoaned that millions have no health coverage today and urged that the congressional health proposals be completely scrapped.
Though the session was scheduled to last two hours, Walz let it run an extra half-hour because dozens of speakers still were lined up behind microphones as the two-hour mark neared.
It was Walz's first in-person town hall meeting on health care, although he held a "tele-town-hall meeting" Tuesday, during which people could call in to ask questions of him and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Walz's staff said he likely will hold a similar town meeting on health care next month in Rochester.
"It's important to be here," Gloria Platz, of Springfield, Minn., said as she waited for two hours with her husband, Albert. "I'm worried that some of this money is going to pay for abortions and that our Medicare health care may be rationed."
The meeting Thursday was far noisier than the teleconference, with a lot of arguments both for and against making major changes in health care. But it was more civil than many similar sessions around the country, which have seen lawmakers shouted down or have degenerated into mutual name-calling.
"Nobody came here to change their mind," said Terrence Cunningham, 54, an organic farmer from south of Albert Lea. "Either people know we've got a broken health care system that should have been fixed years ago, like I do," he said with a smile, "or they're uninformed and want to stay that way."
Waving a copy of the Constitution, Mankato insurance agent Jerry Longstreet said the founding document "does not say you can take over health care, the banks, auto dealers ..." The shouting and applause drowned out the rest of his sentence. "... How can you do Obama-care?"
If you buy that, Walz shouted out, "then we have to drop [veterans] VA medical coverage and Medicare, along with the National Park System and a lot more." The Constitution, Walz said, says Congress is responsible to for the country's "common defense and welfare, and that's what we're doing."
People started lining up three hours before the town hall meeting began at 6 p.m. at Mankato East High School. After an initial half-hour during which nearly every question and answer was interrupted by yelled comments, hoots, applause and laughter, the audience began to settle down after the moderator, former Republican U.S. Sen. David Durenberger, urged them to "mute it down a little so people can talk." At the end of the meeting, all of those left in the room applauded.
"This was bigger and noisier than the town hall meeting [Seventh District Rep] had,'' Durenberger after the meeting. "There were no new questions, but there certainly was passion -- passion like you normally don't see at forums like this. It's good to see people care, even when they're noisy, about health care policy,'' a topic on which he is a national expert.
"If victory is seen as doing nothing, recognize we'll be in exactly in the same place we are today," Walz said at the start of the forum. "The status quo is not sustainable. Since 2001, the average family insurance premium is up 74 percent where income is up 17 percent. We can't keep going that way."
After one questioner said he's concerned that "doing something may cause more damage than doing nothing," Walz said, "that's exactly right. We know we will be in terrible trouble if we don't do something. Something worse would be even more disastrous. We can't do that."
Walz and Peterson, both Blue Dog Democrat who generally are fiscal conservatives and thus potential "no" votes against the current bills before Congress, have been the target of Republican Party ads urging constituents asking them to oppose health system overhaul. Walz said the ads are misleading and designed to scare people.
Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253
By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune
Last update: August 20, 2009
MANKATO - About 700 feisty and energized people crammed into a high school auditorium Thursday night to tell First District Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., that he should -- and shouldn't -- support legislation to overhaul the nation's health care system.
At times, the town hall audience erupted with applause and boos -- often simultaneously. Questioners supported a government-backed option to private insurance, decried profit in health care, took a side step into energy policy, bemoaned that millions have no health coverage today and urged that the congressional health proposals be completely scrapped.
Though the session was scheduled to last two hours, Walz let it run an extra half-hour because dozens of speakers still were lined up behind microphones as the two-hour mark neared.
It was Walz's first in-person town hall meeting on health care, although he held a "tele-town-hall meeting" Tuesday, during which people could call in to ask questions of him and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Walz's staff said he likely will hold a similar town meeting on health care next month in Rochester.
"It's important to be here," Gloria Platz, of Springfield, Minn., said as she waited for two hours with her husband, Albert. "I'm worried that some of this money is going to pay for abortions and that our Medicare health care may be rationed."
The meeting Thursday was far noisier than the teleconference, with a lot of arguments both for and against making major changes in health care. But it was more civil than many similar sessions around the country, which have seen lawmakers shouted down or have degenerated into mutual name-calling.
"Nobody came here to change their mind," said Terrence Cunningham, 54, an organic farmer from south of Albert Lea. "Either people know we've got a broken health care system that should have been fixed years ago, like I do," he said with a smile, "or they're uninformed and want to stay that way."
Waving a copy of the Constitution, Mankato insurance agent Jerry Longstreet said the founding document "does not say you can take over health care, the banks, auto dealers ..." The shouting and applause drowned out the rest of his sentence. "... How can you do Obama-care?"
If you buy that, Walz shouted out, "then we have to drop [veterans] VA medical coverage and Medicare, along with the National Park System and a lot more." The Constitution, Walz said, says Congress is responsible to for the country's "common defense and welfare, and that's what we're doing."
People started lining up three hours before the town hall meeting began at 6 p.m. at Mankato East High School. After an initial half-hour during which nearly every question and answer was interrupted by yelled comments, hoots, applause and laughter, the audience began to settle down after the moderator, former Republican U.S. Sen. David Durenberger, urged them to "mute it down a little so people can talk." At the end of the meeting, all of those left in the room applauded.
"This was bigger and noisier than the town hall meeting [Seventh District Rep] had,'' Durenberger after the meeting. "There were no new questions, but there certainly was passion -- passion like you normally don't see at forums like this. It's good to see people care, even when they're noisy, about health care policy,'' a topic on which he is a national expert.
"If victory is seen as doing nothing, recognize we'll be in exactly in the same place we are today," Walz said at the start of the forum. "The status quo is not sustainable. Since 2001, the average family insurance premium is up 74 percent where income is up 17 percent. We can't keep going that way."
After one questioner said he's concerned that "doing something may cause more damage than doing nothing," Walz said, "that's exactly right. We know we will be in terrible trouble if we don't do something. Something worse would be even more disastrous. We can't do that."
Walz and Peterson, both Blue Dog Democrat who generally are fiscal conservatives and thus potential "no" votes against the current bills before Congress, have been the target of Republican Party ads urging constituents asking them to oppose health system overhaul. Walz said the ads are misleading and designed to scare people.
Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253
Outside the forum, signs of passion
Crowd was just as vocal outside
By Robb Murray
Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO —
Flanked by the Teamsters on one side and a guy carrying a “Live Free or Die!” sign on the other, Matt Johansen stood quietly among the group of “protesters” outside Mankato East High School Thursday night.
A Waseca resident, Johansen works in Brown Printing’s collections department. And he’s seriously opposed to the government getting into the health care business. That’s why he came to the town hall meeting held at East Thursday. To let people know.
“We do need reform, I’m adamant about that,” he said. But, from what he’s heard about the government’s intentions, he’s not interested in Obama’s or any other politician’s plans.
One thing he was happy about, though, was the fact that his congressman held a public meeting. He says he wrote a letter that was published in the Waseca County News saying Walz should hold a town hall meeting like representatives in other parts of the country.
The day after his letter was published, he says, Walz announced plans for the Thursday’s meeting.
“He listened,” Johansen said.
Johansen wasn’t the only guy with a sign Thursday. The Teamsters — clad in black T-shirts, carrying uniform signs, their semi positioned imposingly in the lot — stood like guards while holding signs with various messages including, “Unfair: Premiums rising three times faster than wages.”
On the other was a man angry with the Teamsters and carrying a signs that said “Live free or die!” and “No Obama care.”
“Why are you here?” he was asked.
“Haven’t you seen what they’ve been doing to people all over the country?”
“No.”
“Well then you’re blind, I can’t talk to you,” he said.
Other signs included: “Abortion is not health care.”
“It’s my life — Extend it, don’t end it.”
“Obama care is a nightmare.”
“Stop government interference in your health care.”
“Kill the health care bill! I choose freedom, I choose my health care plan.”
Perhaps the oddest sign is one that has been showing up at town hall meetings across the country. It is a head shot of Obama. Painted under his nose is a Hitler mustache.
It reads, “I’ve changed.” It was produced by LaRouchePAC.org.
Not everyone came with a sign.
Kim Georgiana of Mankato came because she’s opposed to public health care being offered to illegal immigrants. And Jeff Ambrose of Eden Prairie said he’ll support the administration’s efforts as soon as every American gets the same health coverage as Walz and other congressmen get.
He called the town hall meeting “the cartoon version of the road to serfdom.”
Nearly 750 were allowed inside, and police estimated another 200 were not let in. A large group huddled around the entrance after being turned away, and many stayed until the event was over.
By Robb Murray
Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO —
Flanked by the Teamsters on one side and a guy carrying a “Live Free or Die!” sign on the other, Matt Johansen stood quietly among the group of “protesters” outside Mankato East High School Thursday night.
A Waseca resident, Johansen works in Brown Printing’s collections department. And he’s seriously opposed to the government getting into the health care business. That’s why he came to the town hall meeting held at East Thursday. To let people know.
“We do need reform, I’m adamant about that,” he said. But, from what he’s heard about the government’s intentions, he’s not interested in Obama’s or any other politician’s plans.
One thing he was happy about, though, was the fact that his congressman held a public meeting. He says he wrote a letter that was published in the Waseca County News saying Walz should hold a town hall meeting like representatives in other parts of the country.
The day after his letter was published, he says, Walz announced plans for the Thursday’s meeting.
“He listened,” Johansen said.
Johansen wasn’t the only guy with a sign Thursday. The Teamsters — clad in black T-shirts, carrying uniform signs, their semi positioned imposingly in the lot — stood like guards while holding signs with various messages including, “Unfair: Premiums rising three times faster than wages.”
On the other was a man angry with the Teamsters and carrying a signs that said “Live free or die!” and “No Obama care.”
“Why are you here?” he was asked.
“Haven’t you seen what they’ve been doing to people all over the country?”
“No.”
“Well then you’re blind, I can’t talk to you,” he said.
Other signs included: “Abortion is not health care.”
“It’s my life — Extend it, don’t end it.”
“Obama care is a nightmare.”
“Stop government interference in your health care.”
“Kill the health care bill! I choose freedom, I choose my health care plan.”
Perhaps the oddest sign is one that has been showing up at town hall meetings across the country. It is a head shot of Obama. Painted under his nose is a Hitler mustache.
It reads, “I’ve changed.” It was produced by LaRouchePAC.org.
Not everyone came with a sign.
Kim Georgiana of Mankato came because she’s opposed to public health care being offered to illegal immigrants. And Jeff Ambrose of Eden Prairie said he’ll support the administration’s efforts as soon as every American gets the same health coverage as Walz and other congressmen get.
He called the town hall meeting “the cartoon version of the road to serfdom.”
Nearly 750 were allowed inside, and police estimated another 200 were not let in. A large group huddled around the entrance after being turned away, and many stayed until the event was over.
Seniors may face bumpier dial-a-ride
Picture caption: Senior Marie Drew gets assistance from DARTS bus driver Bill Trenter to her apartment building after she got a ride from the nearby John Carroll building where she had her hair done. The Met Council plans to restructure the dial-a-ride services across the metro.
Rach's note: Dial a Ride is also called paratransit or door to door service. Not only senior citizens use that service, disabled people like myself do use this service (I am more of bus person but I do use paratransit sometimes). Metro Mobility website
Some pickups will end, others will take people to the nearest transit stop.
By KATIE HUMPHREY, Star Tribune
Last update: July 19, 2009
There may be more senior citizens hoofing it to the bus stop next year.
That's one side effect, likely an unpopular one, of plans to revamp the minibus system that shuttles seniors and other needy people across the metro area.
The Metropolitan Council launched the overhaul of the dial-a-ride network in February to standardize and stitch up holes in the patchwork system. A series of audits had revealed unfair and, in some cases, illegal practices by many of the contracted providers.
The new system would extend coverage to the entire seven-county metro area, but also remove it from places that are deemed too close to a regular bus route or light-rail line -- within a quarter-mile in the winter months of November through March, and within a half-mile the rest of the year.
And in many cases, riders accustomed to getting picked up at one address and dropped off at their destination would instead be picked up and dropped off at the nearest regular bus or light-rail line that can take them where they're going.
"It's a fundamental shift," said Mark Hoisser, president of DARTS, the nonprofit dial-a-ride provider in Dakota County.
Many agree that moving toward a uniform system with standard fares, hours of operation and defined coverage areas makes sense, but finding a solution that's palatable to everyone isn't easy.
"We looked closely at what is out there today and tried to match that to the greatest extent feasible, but standardize it," said Gerri Sutton, assistant director of contracted transit services for the Met Council.
The Met Council will consider the new operating rules on Wednesday, and if all goes according to plan, the new service will be put in place in phases starting in January.
The $4.7 million system, which grew up piecemeal as communities identified a need, provides 500,000 rides a year. But riders in some areas can call one of multiple providers, while those in other suburbs -- Shoreview, Little Canada and Arden Hills among them -- have no service at all.
Rach's note: Dial a Ride is also called paratransit or door to door service. Not only senior citizens use that service, disabled people like myself do use this service (I am more of bus person but I do use paratransit sometimes). Metro Mobility website
Some pickups will end, others will take people to the nearest transit stop.
By KATIE HUMPHREY, Star Tribune
Last update: July 19, 2009
There may be more senior citizens hoofing it to the bus stop next year.
That's one side effect, likely an unpopular one, of plans to revamp the minibus system that shuttles seniors and other needy people across the metro area.
The Metropolitan Council launched the overhaul of the dial-a-ride network in February to standardize and stitch up holes in the patchwork system. A series of audits had revealed unfair and, in some cases, illegal practices by many of the contracted providers.
The new system would extend coverage to the entire seven-county metro area, but also remove it from places that are deemed too close to a regular bus route or light-rail line -- within a quarter-mile in the winter months of November through March, and within a half-mile the rest of the year.
And in many cases, riders accustomed to getting picked up at one address and dropped off at their destination would instead be picked up and dropped off at the nearest regular bus or light-rail line that can take them where they're going.
"It's a fundamental shift," said Mark Hoisser, president of DARTS, the nonprofit dial-a-ride provider in Dakota County.
Many agree that moving toward a uniform system with standard fares, hours of operation and defined coverage areas makes sense, but finding a solution that's palatable to everyone isn't easy.
"We looked closely at what is out there today and tried to match that to the greatest extent feasible, but standardize it," said Gerri Sutton, assistant director of contracted transit services for the Met Council.
The Met Council will consider the new operating rules on Wednesday, and if all goes according to plan, the new service will be put in place in phases starting in January.
The $4.7 million system, which grew up piecemeal as communities identified a need, provides 500,000 rides a year. But riders in some areas can call one of multiple providers, while those in other suburbs -- Shoreview, Little Canada and Arden Hills among them -- have no service at all.
The new system will spread coverage to areas that lack it but also remove it from areas near regular buses or trains, which the Met Council says is necessary to remove redundancies in the transit system. But that could pose challenges for people who have counted on dial-a-ride in those areas.
Hoisser said many DARTS dial-a-ride clients are senior citizens who are unfamiliar with public transit or unsure of their physical ability to take regular buses or trains.
"We suspect some people would give up and not ride the system," he said.
More may seek certification
Both Hoisser and Sutton of the Met Council ventured that those who truly have disabilities will get certified as disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in order to ride Metro Mobility, a separate service that delivers people door to door.
"There are some people out there today that are eligible for ADA service, but have not had a need to get that level of certification," Sutton said. "I would assume that those people will pursue that under the new [dial-a-ride] system."
To be ADA-certified, people must fill out a self-evaluation and have another filled out by a medical provider.
The committee working on the new dial-a-ride rules is also considering ways to teach wary riders how to use buses and trains, Sutton said.
Other changes to dial-a-ride service are more benign. Fares will be uniform across the metro area, but they will not vary much from those currently charged by providers. The cost each way will range from $2.25 to $6.75.
There will be one central phone number to call for reservations, and all counties will offer a minimum of weekday service from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Tim Kirchoff, supervisor of transit operation and planning for Anoka County, said he's pleased with most of the plans for the new system but expects them to morph a bit more.
"We're trying to take all these oddball pieces and put them into one system," Kirchoff said.
"Once we do pull the trigger and this thing goes forward, there will certainly be some modifications."
Public hearings on fares will be held in September. The phase-in of new dial-a-ride service will start in Scott and Carver counties in January and end in Dakota County in May.
Katie Humphrey • 952-882-9056
GOP candidates for governor gather this week in Roseville
Source: MPR Poilnaut
Nine Republicans who are running for governor in 2010 are expected to make campaign pitches Thursday at an event in Roseville.
Republicans in House District 54A are hosting the candidates at a political picnic at Roseville's Central Park, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Organizers say nine GOP candidates for governor have confirmed that they'll attend. The list includes three state representatives: Tom Emmer, Paul Kohls and Marty Seifert. Two state senators: David Hann and Mike Jungbauer. Former state auditor Pat Anderson, as well as Leslie Davis, Bill Haas and Phil Herwig. They say state Rep. Laura Brod might also attend.
The Republican candidates are trying to build support in advance of a state GOP convention October 3rd in St. Paul. GOP delegates will select their preferences for governor at that event in a non-binding straw poll.
The state GOP party will endorse its candidate during a state convention that's scheduled April 2 - May 1, at a yet to be determined location.
Nine Republicans who are running for governor in 2010 are expected to make campaign pitches Thursday at an event in Roseville.
Republicans in House District 54A are hosting the candidates at a political picnic at Roseville's Central Park, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Organizers say nine GOP candidates for governor have confirmed that they'll attend. The list includes three state representatives: Tom Emmer, Paul Kohls and Marty Seifert. Two state senators: David Hann and Mike Jungbauer. Former state auditor Pat Anderson, as well as Leslie Davis, Bill Haas and Phil Herwig. They say state Rep. Laura Brod might also attend.
The Republican candidates are trying to build support in advance of a state GOP convention October 3rd in St. Paul. GOP delegates will select their preferences for governor at that event in a non-binding straw poll.
The state GOP party will endorse its candidate during a state convention that's scheduled April 2 - May 1, at a yet to be determined location.
Steve Sviggum reportedly out of governor's race
Pioneer Press
Updated: 08/19/2009 11:52:28 PM CDT
Former Minnesota House Speaker Steve Sviggum will not run for governor next year, according to a Twin Cities Public Television blog.
Sviggum, a Kenyon Republican and the state labor and industry commissioner, decided to scrap his planned campaign after a federal official told him, in effect, he would have to quit his state job in order to run, TPT's Capitol reporter Mary Lahammer reported Wednesday. Since Sviggum administers the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act in the state, the U.S. solicitor general ruled he is subject to the federal Hatch Act, which prohibits political activities by federal employees.
"It's a downer," Sviggum told Lahammer. "At this time I'm suspending my campaign. I'm not saying I'm ending it."
He said there's a small chance he could revive his candidacy if none of the nine announced Republican candidates catches on.
Sviggum said he had to keep his $108,400-a-year day job to pay his bills. He told Lahammer the realization he could not run for governor "left a hole in my stomach the size of Lake Mille Lacs."
— Bill Salisbury
Updated: 08/19/2009 11:52:28 PM CDT
Former Minnesota House Speaker Steve Sviggum will not run for governor next year, according to a Twin Cities Public Television blog.
Sviggum, a Kenyon Republican and the state labor and industry commissioner, decided to scrap his planned campaign after a federal official told him, in effect, he would have to quit his state job in order to run, TPT's Capitol reporter Mary Lahammer reported Wednesday. Since Sviggum administers the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act in the state, the U.S. solicitor general ruled he is subject to the federal Hatch Act, which prohibits political activities by federal employees.
"It's a downer," Sviggum told Lahammer. "At this time I'm suspending my campaign. I'm not saying I'm ending it."
He said there's a small chance he could revive his candidacy if none of the nine announced Republican candidates catches on.
Sviggum said he had to keep his $108,400-a-year day job to pay his bills. He told Lahammer the realization he could not run for governor "left a hole in my stomach the size of Lake Mille Lacs."
— Bill Salisbury
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Focus on pluses, Berglin urges
State Sen. Linda Berglin pushes back at critics of national health care proposals. Some governors "are just ignorant" about details of what's being attempted, she said.
By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune
Last update: August 19, 2009 - 7:42 AM
A federal overhaul of the nation's health care system "is going to be good for Minnesota, and I'm getting a little tired of people seizing on the problems instead of the possibilities," the state's chief legislative expert on health care policy said Tuesday.
"Of course it's complex. Of course it's possible to get it wrong -- only do half the job, for instance," said Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis.
Berglin spoke after a hearing of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee where two health policy analysts discussed the effects of likely federal action. Her comments came after two weeks when congressional proposals to revamp the health insurance system have been buffeted by skeptics at town hall meetings across the state and nation.
Berglin, who chairs the committee, was a chief architect of a 2007 law that launched state health care reforms that are still being put in place -- and being watched by federal officials, the two health experts testified. Over the next few years, they said, Minnesota's efforts could improve the targeting and coordination of medical care to improve Minnesotans' health and hold down cost increases.
Minnesota's experience with reform and cost control will make it "a player at the table" as federal officials change the system and perhaps experiment with ways to improve Medicare quality and costs, said Jean Abraham, a health policy expert at the University of Minnesota. She returned in May after a year as senior economist for health on the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Her job was drafting health reform policy.
Abraham and Lynn Blewett, another health policy analyst at the university, said federal proposals are in such flux -- in some cases not even in bill form -- that it's impossible to predict what will emerge or exactly how it will affect Minnesota.
State's experience can help
Just as Minnesota was a model for national legislation providing health care coverage for low-income children, "so too Minnesota's experience can help people in Washington refine how health reform might work," said Blewett. She heads the State Health Access Data Assistance Center, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to provide policy analysis and technical help to states and federal agencies.
"There's room for criticism" in the health care debate, Berglin admitted. "For instance, if we try to reform the system without addressing health care costs, that's not going to do the job."
Both at the meeting and in an interview afterward, Berglin bristled at some "uninformed distractions" in the debate.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other governors who worry that states will face impossible costs with expanded Medicaid health coverage for the poor "don't seem to realize that the federal government will pick up most of that cost,'' she said.
"There will be costs, and there will be savings,'' she said in an interview. "I don't think [the governors are] playing politics. I think they're just ignorant" about the proposals.
In much the same vein, Berglin challenged fellow committee member Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley. At one point during the hearing, Koering said, "I don't know how we're ever going to pay" for a government-sponsored "public option" health care plan to compete with health insurers.
"Senator Koering, state employees have a public plan, where you have your [health] insurance," she said. "How's that working out for you?"
Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253
By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune
Last update: August 19, 2009 - 7:42 AM
A federal overhaul of the nation's health care system "is going to be good for Minnesota, and I'm getting a little tired of people seizing on the problems instead of the possibilities," the state's chief legislative expert on health care policy said Tuesday.
"Of course it's complex. Of course it's possible to get it wrong -- only do half the job, for instance," said Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis.
Berglin spoke after a hearing of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee where two health policy analysts discussed the effects of likely federal action. Her comments came after two weeks when congressional proposals to revamp the health insurance system have been buffeted by skeptics at town hall meetings across the state and nation.
Berglin, who chairs the committee, was a chief architect of a 2007 law that launched state health care reforms that are still being put in place -- and being watched by federal officials, the two health experts testified. Over the next few years, they said, Minnesota's efforts could improve the targeting and coordination of medical care to improve Minnesotans' health and hold down cost increases.
Minnesota's experience with reform and cost control will make it "a player at the table" as federal officials change the system and perhaps experiment with ways to improve Medicare quality and costs, said Jean Abraham, a health policy expert at the University of Minnesota. She returned in May after a year as senior economist for health on the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Her job was drafting health reform policy.
Abraham and Lynn Blewett, another health policy analyst at the university, said federal proposals are in such flux -- in some cases not even in bill form -- that it's impossible to predict what will emerge or exactly how it will affect Minnesota.
State's experience can help
Just as Minnesota was a model for national legislation providing health care coverage for low-income children, "so too Minnesota's experience can help people in Washington refine how health reform might work," said Blewett. She heads the State Health Access Data Assistance Center, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to provide policy analysis and technical help to states and federal agencies.
"There's room for criticism" in the health care debate, Berglin admitted. "For instance, if we try to reform the system without addressing health care costs, that's not going to do the job."
Both at the meeting and in an interview afterward, Berglin bristled at some "uninformed distractions" in the debate.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other governors who worry that states will face impossible costs with expanded Medicaid health coverage for the poor "don't seem to realize that the federal government will pick up most of that cost,'' she said.
"There will be costs, and there will be savings,'' she said in an interview. "I don't think [the governors are] playing politics. I think they're just ignorant" about the proposals.
In much the same vein, Berglin challenged fellow committee member Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley. At one point during the hearing, Koering said, "I don't know how we're ever going to pay" for a government-sponsored "public option" health care plan to compete with health insurers.
"Senator Koering, state employees have a public plan, where you have your [health] insurance," she said. "How's that working out for you?"
Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253
I tweet about other important breaking news occuring in MN.
I normally tweet about political stuff and general rants but today you can check out my tweets on Minneapolis tornado.
If there are biggest breaking news that is occuring in Minneosta or at national level, I may go off topic and tweet about them. I also may write follow up articles such as few weeks ago I wrote articles on a man was caught after months of not admitting being a hit and run driver.
Yesterday was all about Favre, today are about Minneapolis tornado. Whats next?
Rachel's Twitter
If there are biggest breaking news that is occuring in Minneosta or at national level, I may go off topic and tweet about them. I also may write follow up articles such as few weeks ago I wrote articles on a man was caught after months of not admitting being a hit and run driver.
Yesterday was all about Favre, today are about Minneapolis tornado. Whats next?
Rachel's Twitter
Senator Klobuchar to host Tele-Town Hall meeting
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar will be hosting a live statewide tele-town hall meeting to discuss making health care more affordable and answer questions from her constituents. Joining her will be Dr. Denis Cortese, CEO of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and Mary Wakefield, the highest ranking nurse in the federal government.
The tele-town hall will be held on Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. Central Time. Those wishing to participate can register for the call by registering below.
The deadline for registering for the call is Friday, August 21, 2009 at 12:00pm. Those who register will receive an automated reminder phone call on Friday evening and then a call on Sunday to be joined to the call.
Members of the public with questions regarding this event should call Senator Klobuchar's office at: 1-888-224-9043
To register at her website click here
The tele-town hall will be held on Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. Central Time. Those wishing to participate can register for the call by registering below.
The deadline for registering for the call is Friday, August 21, 2009 at 12:00pm. Those who register will receive an automated reminder phone call on Friday evening and then a call on Sunday to be joined to the call.
Members of the public with questions regarding this event should call Senator Klobuchar's office at: 1-888-224-9043
To register at her website click here
Rally and Canvass with Representatives McCollum and Ellison
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm
Location: DFL State Headquarters
Street:255 E Plato Blvd
Phone: 6512516318
Email: ofaminnesota@dnc.org
As Minnesotans, we know we need health insurance reform. We are sick of a few loud people dominating this debate.
Please join us for a rally in support of reform. The rally will be followed by a canvass, where we will hit the streets and talk to our friends and neighbors about the need for reform this year!
Featured speakers include:Congresswoman Betty McCollum Congressman Keith Ellison St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak Representative Erin Murphy
Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm
Location: DFL State Headquarters
Street:255 E Plato Blvd
Phone: 6512516318
Email: ofaminnesota@dnc.org
As Minnesotans, we know we need health insurance reform. We are sick of a few loud people dominating this debate.
Please join us for a rally in support of reform. The rally will be followed by a canvass, where we will hit the streets and talk to our friends and neighbors about the need for reform this year!
Featured speakers include:Congresswoman Betty McCollum Congressman Keith Ellison St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak Representative Erin Murphy
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Gov. Jim Doyle won't seek re-election
Source: Politico
August 15, 2009
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle has told associates he will announce this week that he won’t seek a third term in 2010, POLITICO has learned.
By deciding against a run, Doyle, a Democrat, sets off what could be one of the most competitive gubernatorial races in the country next year.
The governor has been coy for months about his intentions, stockpiling money but at the same time not saying publicly whether he would run for re-election.
But sources familiar with his decision not to seek a third term say Doyle recognized the difficulties he may have faced next year and didn't want to go through another campaign after a long political career.
He’s had to raise taxes and fees while furloughing state workers to help plug a $6.6 billion budget deficit. In doing so, his approval numbers have fallen below 40 percent. And just this week, he faced the embarrassment of seeing his legal counsel quit because she hadn’t passed the state bar.
“His legal counsel resigns, poll numbers have been in the tank, the state's unemployment rate is hovering above 9 percent, he's bickering with Dem lawmakers on the Finance Committee, and he's taking shots from the Madison media over one of his appointments to the Dane County bench,” wrote the popular state political site Wispolitics.com in their insider “Stock Market” column last week. “And there's continued heartburn among Dems because he still hasn't officially announced if he's running for governor next year. It all adds up to a rough patch for the guv, insiders from both sides say.”
National Democratic strategists privately expressed concern about Doyle’s re-election prospects, especially in the face of a strong GOP field that includes Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and former Rep. Mark Neumann. "It's not the worst thing in the world," said one top Democrat, citing Doyle's declining popularity and a solid bench of prospective Democratic candidates.
Doyle's office did not respond to POLITICO's inquiries, but subsequently issued a one-sentence statement to Wisconsin reporters indicating that the governor would make an announcement Monday about his intentions.
With Doyle retiring, a slew of Wisconsin Democrats are likely to consider the race. That list is topped by Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, who has already indicated she would run if Doyle does not and who would be the state’s first female governor.
By next year, though, Lawton may be running as an incumbent.
For months, buzz has circulated in Wisconsin and national political circles that Doyle is in line for an Obama administration post. The governor got behind the president early in the Democratic race, well before the Wisconsin primary in which Obama thumped Hillary Clinton.
When asked about a prospective Obama post by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel last month, Doyle issued a statement with ample wiggle room.
"I have never ever asked for any [Washington] position,” the governor said. “I've never asked anybody on my behalf to ask for any position. I have no intention of doing anything but serving out this term."
But both Doyle, 63, and his wife hail from prominent political families and an administration job may represent a capstone to a career that has included time in the Peace Corps, as Dane County (Madison) attorney and as state attorney general.
In addition to Lawton, other potential Democratic gubernatorial candidates include Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Rep. Ron Kind and state Sen. Jon Erpenbach.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26145.html#ixzz0OJWMh3Zt
August 15, 2009
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle has told associates he will announce this week that he won’t seek a third term in 2010, POLITICO has learned.
By deciding against a run, Doyle, a Democrat, sets off what could be one of the most competitive gubernatorial races in the country next year.
The governor has been coy for months about his intentions, stockpiling money but at the same time not saying publicly whether he would run for re-election.
But sources familiar with his decision not to seek a third term say Doyle recognized the difficulties he may have faced next year and didn't want to go through another campaign after a long political career.
He’s had to raise taxes and fees while furloughing state workers to help plug a $6.6 billion budget deficit. In doing so, his approval numbers have fallen below 40 percent. And just this week, he faced the embarrassment of seeing his legal counsel quit because she hadn’t passed the state bar.
“His legal counsel resigns, poll numbers have been in the tank, the state's unemployment rate is hovering above 9 percent, he's bickering with Dem lawmakers on the Finance Committee, and he's taking shots from the Madison media over one of his appointments to the Dane County bench,” wrote the popular state political site Wispolitics.com in their insider “Stock Market” column last week. “And there's continued heartburn among Dems because he still hasn't officially announced if he's running for governor next year. It all adds up to a rough patch for the guv, insiders from both sides say.”
National Democratic strategists privately expressed concern about Doyle’s re-election prospects, especially in the face of a strong GOP field that includes Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and former Rep. Mark Neumann. "It's not the worst thing in the world," said one top Democrat, citing Doyle's declining popularity and a solid bench of prospective Democratic candidates.
Doyle's office did not respond to POLITICO's inquiries, but subsequently issued a one-sentence statement to Wisconsin reporters indicating that the governor would make an announcement Monday about his intentions.
With Doyle retiring, a slew of Wisconsin Democrats are likely to consider the race. That list is topped by Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, who has already indicated she would run if Doyle does not and who would be the state’s first female governor.
By next year, though, Lawton may be running as an incumbent.
For months, buzz has circulated in Wisconsin and national political circles that Doyle is in line for an Obama administration post. The governor got behind the president early in the Democratic race, well before the Wisconsin primary in which Obama thumped Hillary Clinton.
When asked about a prospective Obama post by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel last month, Doyle issued a statement with ample wiggle room.
"I have never ever asked for any [Washington] position,” the governor said. “I've never asked anybody on my behalf to ask for any position. I have no intention of doing anything but serving out this term."
But both Doyle, 63, and his wife hail from prominent political families and an administration job may represent a capstone to a career that has included time in the Peace Corps, as Dane County (Madison) attorney and as state attorney general.
In addition to Lawton, other potential Democratic gubernatorial candidates include Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Rep. Ron Kind and state Sen. Jon Erpenbach.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26145.html#ixzz0OJWMh3Zt
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Congressional jets may be scrapped
JOHN BRESNAHAN, Politico
The new congressional jets may be getting scrapped.
After an uproar over a proposed purchase of new executive jets for use by senior government officials, including members of Congress, the top Defense appropriator in the House has offered to eliminate funding for the planes — but only if the Pentagon, which operates the jets, agrees.
“If the Department of Defense does not want these aircraft, they will be eliminated from the bill,” Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the chairman of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, said Monday evening.
Murtha was quick to point out that these jets, approved by the full House last month, were not additions to the current group of 24 executive aircraft already used for top officials, and were being purchased to replace older ones that have maintenance and safety issues.
And in his statement, Murtha basically put the blame on the Pentagon, whose spokesman has been quoted saying that the House Appropriations Committee added four executive jets beyond the Pentagon’s original request. The Defense Department originally requested $220 million for four jets — a total bumped to $550 million and eight jets by the committee.
“These aircraft will not increase the overall passenger aircraft fleet, but instead will replace older aircraft that have both safety and maintenance issues,” Murtha said. “In addition, these newer model aircraft cost significantly less to operate than the current aircraft.”
Murtha also needled the Pentagon a bit, saying that “85 percent” of the use of these aircraft comes from the executive branch, and not Congress.
Murtha’s move may end what has been an embarrassing uproar for House appropriators, who approved the Defense spending bill with no objection about the congressional jets. There is already a movement in the Senate to kill the funding for the aircraft.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said the funding “kind of makes me sick to my stomach,” and has vowed to kill it. Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), both senior members of the Armed Services Committee, have also voiced their opposition to the plan.
The controversy is not going unnoticed in the Senate Democratic leadership circles either. Senate insiders said the Senate Appropriations Committee is unlikely to approve the additional plane funding, although Sen. Dan Inouye (D-Hawaii), the chairman of the panel, was unavailable for comment on Monday.
Yet when the Pentagon-spending bill was taken up by the House, first in the Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, then the full committee, and finally on the chamber floor, the executive-plane provision attracted no notice and no opposition emerged from either side of the aisle.
The full House Appropriations Committee, in fact, marked up the Pentagon bill in 15 minutes with no amendments.
Even Rep. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), an outspoken critic of congressional “earmarks” who offered more than 500 amendments to cut wasteful spending in the defense bill, had nothing to say about the plane provision when the overall package was being debated on the House floor. Flake ended up voting against the defense bill on final passage.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26000.html#ixzz0O1zK4RQz
The new congressional jets may be getting scrapped.
After an uproar over a proposed purchase of new executive jets for use by senior government officials, including members of Congress, the top Defense appropriator in the House has offered to eliminate funding for the planes — but only if the Pentagon, which operates the jets, agrees.
“If the Department of Defense does not want these aircraft, they will be eliminated from the bill,” Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the chairman of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, said Monday evening.
Murtha was quick to point out that these jets, approved by the full House last month, were not additions to the current group of 24 executive aircraft already used for top officials, and were being purchased to replace older ones that have maintenance and safety issues.
And in his statement, Murtha basically put the blame on the Pentagon, whose spokesman has been quoted saying that the House Appropriations Committee added four executive jets beyond the Pentagon’s original request. The Defense Department originally requested $220 million for four jets — a total bumped to $550 million and eight jets by the committee.
“These aircraft will not increase the overall passenger aircraft fleet, but instead will replace older aircraft that have both safety and maintenance issues,” Murtha said. “In addition, these newer model aircraft cost significantly less to operate than the current aircraft.”
Murtha also needled the Pentagon a bit, saying that “85 percent” of the use of these aircraft comes from the executive branch, and not Congress.
Murtha’s move may end what has been an embarrassing uproar for House appropriators, who approved the Defense spending bill with no objection about the congressional jets. There is already a movement in the Senate to kill the funding for the aircraft.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said the funding “kind of makes me sick to my stomach,” and has vowed to kill it. Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), both senior members of the Armed Services Committee, have also voiced their opposition to the plan.
The controversy is not going unnoticed in the Senate Democratic leadership circles either. Senate insiders said the Senate Appropriations Committee is unlikely to approve the additional plane funding, although Sen. Dan Inouye (D-Hawaii), the chairman of the panel, was unavailable for comment on Monday.
Yet when the Pentagon-spending bill was taken up by the House, first in the Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, then the full committee, and finally on the chamber floor, the executive-plane provision attracted no notice and no opposition emerged from either side of the aisle.
The full House Appropriations Committee, in fact, marked up the Pentagon bill in 15 minutes with no amendments.
Even Rep. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), an outspoken critic of congressional “earmarks” who offered more than 500 amendments to cut wasteful spending in the defense bill, had nothing to say about the plane provision when the overall package was being debated on the House floor. Flake ended up voting against the defense bill on final passage.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26000.html#ixzz0O1zK4RQz
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
AL FRANKEN SIGHTING AT MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL AIRPORT!
A source sent me picture of Senator Al Franken. He was flying in from DC Dulles and was wearing white sneakers. We don't see that everyday, don't we?
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Man Offers 40 Goats And 20 Cows For Chelsea Clinton's Hand In Marriage, Hillary Calls It "Very Kind"
Source: Huffington Post
NAIROBI, Kenya -- A Kenyan man's offer of 40 goats and 20 cows for Chelsea Clinton's hand in marriage may still be on the table - and Hillary Rodham Clinton has promised to convey the "very kind offer" to her daughter.
To laughter at a town hall meeting Thursday in Kenya, CNN's Fareed Zakaria asked the U.S. Secretary of State if the Clintons had made a decision on the dowry offer. In 2000, a Kenyan man wrote to then-president Bill Clinton offering the animals in accordance with African tradition.
After a pause, Clinton said, "My daughter is her own person, very independent, so I will convey this very kind offer."
Clinton has denied rumors that her daughter, 29, is planning to get married this summer.
NAIROBI, Kenya -- A Kenyan man's offer of 40 goats and 20 cows for Chelsea Clinton's hand in marriage may still be on the table - and Hillary Rodham Clinton has promised to convey the "very kind offer" to her daughter.
To laughter at a town hall meeting Thursday in Kenya, CNN's Fareed Zakaria asked the U.S. Secretary of State if the Clintons had made a decision on the dowry offer. In 2000, a Kenyan man wrote to then-president Bill Clinton offering the animals in accordance with African tradition.
After a pause, Clinton said, "My daughter is her own person, very independent, so I will convey this very kind offer."
Clinton has denied rumors that her daughter, 29, is planning to get married this summer.