Dayton: Stadium may have to wait until next year

In Monday’s vote, only one member of Dayton’s DFL party, Rep. Michael Nelson of Brooklyn Park, voted for the bill, joining five Republican members. That angered Zellers, who is not leading the charge on the stadium but who has said the bill must draw bipartisan support to move forward.

“We can’t pass the stadium by ourselves in the Republican caucus,’ said Zellers.  “This is going to have to be a bipartisan approach. Last night, it clearly was not. Now, I’d say it’s up to the governor and the Democrat leader in the House if they want to go forward, because very clearly last night, they weren’t interested in passing the bill out of committee without recommendation.”

One DFL vote? ONE!?!

This is how Governor Dayton legislative schemes seem to work:

  • Governor Dayton holds a press conference to tell the media what he wants.
  • Legislators ignore him.
  • Governor Dayton holds a press conference to tell the media how disappointed he is.

Mark Dayton is quickly becoming our most symbolic governor ever!

Legislature sends child care union dues bill to Gov. Dayton

The bill, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Ted Lillie, R-Lake Elmo, prevents the use of state child-care subsidies for union dues or fees.

Republicans at the State Capitol know how the DFL–Union money game works:

  • Democrats subsidize union industries or mandate industries unionize.
  • Government money gets spent on union dues.
  • Unions spend dues money to get Democrats elected.
  • Repeat

There’s a reason almost all union jobs are in the public sector.

Repaying Debt

With the MnGOP not paying rent to its landlord, DFL tweeters have enjoyed themselves by taking pleasure at the expense of conservatives. They are right in saying that if Republicans want fiscal responsibility in government, Republicans should practice the principle with their own checkbook.

However, party debts – MnGOP and DFL – are a misuse of fundraising dollars. When debt is the result of a government budget, we are misusing taxpayer dollars.

Mitch Berg makes an excellent point with the following tweet:

A DFL legislature in 2009 took money from schools to balance the budget and never payed that money back. Last year, Governor Dayton requested another education shift to balance budget and Republican legislators – over my objections – conceded.

Last week, those same Republicans passed a bill to repay the debt created by the education shift. The Governor vetoed that bill to repay our schools. (A veto which was endorsed by Education Minnesota President Tom Dooher!)

I can’t defend the mess the Republican Party of Minnesota finds itself in, but I can defend repaying the education shift as quickly as possible. For DFLers, mocking others is easier than defending Governor Dayton’s irresponsible use of school money.

Our Symbolic Governor

Jennifer Brooks in the Star Tribune:

The governor, who admitted his action would do nothing to keep the amendment off the November ballot, said he was issuing the symbolic veto because the Legislature sent his office a copy of the legislation that passed the amendment.

This is ridiculous. Is Governor Dayton going to be filling up his calendar with other powers he’s not able to actually use? Will he symbolically allow electronic pull-tabs? Or just symbolically build a Vikings stadium?

(Although, I’d rather have him symbolically raise taxes then actually do it.)

Governor Dayton seems to want to have the final say on all Minnesota political policy. The Governor’s veto of Voter ID at the polls was checked with a constitutional amendment. The Governor’s plan to unionize independent child-care providers was checked down by the court on Friday.

It’s called checks and balances, Mr. Dayton. If you don’t understand that, you won’t be a governor, you’ll be a symbolic governor. You get to have a vote on Voter ID the same time I do: on this November’s ballot.