The Great Unifier: Obama Photo Parade

A picture (and a YouTube video) are worth a thousand words:

Click here for YouTube video:

Obama Criticizes Supreme Court in State of the Union

v. Obama Bows to the Saudi King

and the Japenese Emperor

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The GreatestGift

"The greatest gifts my parents gave to me were their unconditional love and set of values. Values that they lived and didn't just lecture about.

Values that included an understanding of the simple difference between right and wrong, a belief in God, the importance of hard work and education, self-respect and a belief in America."

Colin Powell

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Exploring Free Will

The past month, my five year old daughter has been learning the concept of making choices. One day, she asked her mother, "do you know why I don't behave when I get home at night?" Probably thinking that she can solve all of world's problems if she can solve this one, mom answered, "yes dear." Avery answered, "It is so hard being good at school all day that sometimes I need to be bad at home."

Having heard this story from my wife, the next week I get the question, "Does God control us?" [Oh boy, I'm in trouble -- deep breath] "No honey, God gave us choices on how we behave." Our good catholic school son (Age 8) then chimes in, "Like Adam and Eve." I jumped on this one "Yes, like Adam and Eve, we can choose whether to be good or bad."

Not quite satisfied, Avery goes on, "How do we know how to be good or bad." [sweat dripping down my forehead -- deep breath -- pause]. "That's our job as parents to teach you what is right and what is wrong. My parents taught me and now I have to teach you." Seemingly making the connection, Avery asks, "Do I need to teach my children?" [sigh of relief and mental high-five] "Yes, you will need to teach your children."

Back to being five again, she says "and they will teach their children and they will teach their children...... [on and on annoyingly for about five minutes].

Since then, it has been amazing to watch her work through this issue. Last night, she was ready to "blow her top" and said so, but seemed to calm herself down. She also told me recently that if she blows her top to turn on the lullaby CD in her room.

This parenting thing is scary business -- I often struggle with right and wrong and keeping my own perspective. Yet, I'm expected to teach life skills to a couple of little human sponges? I guess I need to keep exploring my own free will? Thanks to my daughter for teaching me this lesson.

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The Elephant in the room

The Perpetual Challenge of Modern Government

"This challenge requires that government finally master a delicate balancing act between opportunity and security -- between growth and fairness. To grow, a democratic capitalist economy requires strong economic incentives for investment, including low taxes and minimum regulation. To be fair, it must provide some goods and services to those who cannot provide for themselves, which will inevitably take resources away from growth. Enacting too much social spending is a cruel policy, not a humane one, because it weakens the system's capacity to serve everyone. . . It is fashionable to say that communism and socialism have been discredited. But they will not be completely discredited until government overcomes its tendency to ignore the simple fact that too much social spending saps an economy's ability to produce the funds necessary to finance the social programs."

Richard Nixon, Beyond Peace, 1994.

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The Elephant in the Room.

Unfortunately, I'm not talking about the Republican elephant. While the elephant I'm talking about involves politics, this is not a political topic, but something that is happening in our own communities.

The elephant that is sitting in the room that we seem to be ignoring is that serious financial stress and a large hunger gap are infiltrating middle-class Minnesota and America. I've referred previously to the newly poor and the anxious middle class as a voting class. I have not, however, discussed this ballooning event as it is occurring in our own neighborhoods and right in front of our eyes. We have all been hearing the news for a while about extending benefits for the growing number of unemployed, food insecurity and overall increased poverty. Hunger is often associated with inner cities and third world countries, making it difficult to admit that it is prevalent in our own backyard.

A run of recent encounters triggered me to turn and point at the elephant in our own community living room to help us accept responsibility for addressing this challenge. First, the findings released from the annual Hormel Foods survey on hunger. This study found that 24% of US adults reported eating less this year so that kids had enough to eat. More profound from a community perspective, 38% indicated that they would be uncomfortable asking for food donations. People are much more likely to admit that they lost their job than admitting that they need food assistance.

Next, a recent conversation disclosed that in my local community, the waiting list for the homeless shelter and the overall grocery bill for the food shelves continues to increase at a record pace. Remember, these are the people that are asking for help. With no effort, I quickly recalled multiple family members, friends or clients that have have been laid off, had hours cut or are just simply struggling to figure out how to get by. I imagine anyone reading this can do the same. Finally, the demand for low-income legal assistance has more than doubled this year. I fear that perhaps we are just seeing the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

At the state level, we have a shortfall of 125 million meals per year and the twin cities is reporting over 100% increased demand in their food shelves. At the national level, the United States Department of Agriculture recently released its 2008 Household Food Security Report. 14.6% of US households are categorized as "food insecure", the highest number since the report began in 1995. This nation-wide hunger gap is described as "historic", yet only covers the 2008 time frame, the early stages of the current economic downturn. At the world level, our population continues with its exponential growth, with a threatened repeat of increased prices that caused food riots and governments to collapse.

While we do have a very effective delivery system in place, we must recognize that this societal challenge will not only strain, but may cause the delivery system to break down. Not only state and county government (the primary oars for safety net delivery); but also our local churches, non-profits and school districts are already feeling the pinch. Another recent report by Share our Strength, discloses that one in four children in America face hunger challenges, many in middle-class communities. Schools are described as "a critical safety net" against hunger among students.

These stories and reports are likely a whisper of what is yet to come.

Our solution to this challenge during a prolonged recovery on main street should not rely on crossing our collective fingers and waiting for the hyper-political wheels of Washington D.C. or St. Paul. Instead, we must lead at a local level to do what we do best -- adapt and work together as a community, state and country. We must challenge all organizations, governments and school districts to dramatically rethink how they fill (and pay for) this role. Difficult decisions need to be made as to who is entitled to help, and more importantly, how much help.

The answer is not to add new government programs, but to leverage, prioritize and strengthen the one's we already have. As leadership communities, we can set examples for other communities to follow. We should be part of the solution, not join the chorus of professional victims.

To meet this challenge, there must be a re-focusing of resources on basic institutional roles. To begin, a clear distinction must be drawn between the safety-net intended to keep people from falling into true poverty, and the entitlement mentality that clearly permeates current policy decisions. We must demand that these delivery institutions prioritize to keep the bottom from falling out and help people weather the storm and quickly return to self-reliance.

When working with clients, I often try to put their life challenges in perspective. Too often lately, I've found myself saying these words, "Remember, it may get worse before it gets better." Reality, with light at the end of the tunnel. Together, we should face the reality that it may get worse before it gets better -- that's the elephant in the room.

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It's Still the Economy

Political propaganda aside, the economy is very fragile right now. Two extreme political views (government is the answer v. tax-cuts) are driving the dialogue already looking towards the next election. An editorial explaining this counter-productive process appears in today's Financial Times and is a good read.

There continues to be a huge middle ground of common-sense that is not being explored. Until common-sense prevails, main street will struggle.

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Anatomy of a State Political Convention

I recently attended the 2009 Minnesota Republican Convention. According to news reports, some 1,200 people attended as voting delegates at this non-election year event. As I've done frequently for the last 20 years, I attended as a delegate and participated in this grass roots political process.

For those unfamiliar with this process, here is a primer: In the spring of an even year (election year), each political party holds is precinct caucuses. This event, generally dubbed as the beginning of the election process in Minnesota, ends with the election of delegates and alternates to the convention of "BPOU" (Basic Political Operating Unit) -- in Greater Minnesota by County. During an election year, delegates and alternates are elected to during the BPOU or County Convention to both the State and District Convention (1st Congressional District for me). These delegates are then empowered to be the official voice of the State Party and Congressional District for two years (the even election year; and the odd non-election year).

A candidate seeking the party endorsement, must receive it (by vote of the delegates) at the appropriate District or State Convention.

This past weekend was the off-year State Republican Convention. An off-year is a building year, as the next election is more than a year away. Yet, these conventions are important as the building blocks for the success or failure of the party in the next election. In addition, this year was surrounded by the buzz created by a straw poll of the delegates of their first and second choice for receiving the Republican Party endorsement to run for Governor in 2010.

I decided that my determining factor in who I would support in the straw poll was how well I thought they would perform in a "purple district." A purple district (like Albert Lea) is one that is not consistently Republican (Red) or Democrat (Blue). I wanted to support a candidate that would attract independent voters and provide a boost to local Republican candidates.

I questioned the top five candidates and posted their responses on my new found friend twitter (you can view the results of these interviews to the left of my blog). In the end, I supported Marty Siefert as my first choice and David Hann as my second.

I enjoy the opportunity to see candidates at this early point in the campaign helps to separate the real person from the campaign glitz.
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Time to Strengthen the Social Safety Net: Not extend the supply lines

I find myself talking politics a lot these days. This is common for me, but it seems that there is an across the board increased "chatter" almost comparable to an election year. There appear to be two factors driving this heightened engagement:


1. Our President's attempt orate his legislative agenda. I've previously blogged about Obama's impressive ability to open doors and initiate dialog. Through his abilities, he has injected politics (namely the health-care debate) into the popular culture of America and has been hitting the political talk show circuit and late night shows; and

2. People are genuinely scared for their families' future. More businesses are facing financial ruin, more people are being laid off and the existing support structure is being severely strained.


The anxious middle-class and the newly poor are a growing constituency that feel helplessly sandwiched between the high cost and mandates of Obamacare and the anti-welfare advocates on the far right. These extremes leave a huge middle-ground called "common-sense."


Common-sense dictates that we need to circle the wagons to make sure our existing social safety net is working properly, getting to those who need it for a hand-up and making sure that the system does not financially collapse. Adding new entitlement programs under the banner of "change" may provide good headlines, but is hollow on main street.

Government should protect the social safety net supply line, not string it out so thin that it collapses.
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Tribute to Norman Borlaug

A legend passed away this past weekend. Norman Borlaug had many titles:

Father of the Green Revolution
The man who saved more lives than any man in history
Greatest American of the 20th Century;
Greatest Human Being, RIP
The man who fed the world;
Nobel laureate

In today's pop culture world, this level of media accolades is unheard of, but refreshing.

I had the opportunity to meet Borlaug once at a World Food Prize event -- a program he started to recognize individuals who promote food availability in the world.

One of Borlaug's greatest quotes:

...most Western environmentalists "have never experienced the physical sensation of hunger. They do their lobbying from comfortable office suites in Washington or Brussels. If they lived just one month amid the misery of the developing world, as I have for 50 years, they'd be crying out for tractors and fertilizer and irrigation canals and be outraged that fashionable elitists in wealthy nations were trying to deny them these things."

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Better Message, Better Candidates, Better Results: Searching for Safety Net Republicans

Why do we continue surrendering the high ground to the Democrats? They express constant moral outrage over any attempt to control the ever growing appetite for government spending -- the Federal deficit is now projected to exceed a staggering $9 trillion. Their open mockery inaccurately attempts to justify entitlement spending under the cover of the social safety net.

The inconvenient fact that is being ignored is the moral line that they are crossing by advocating unsustainable spending that is on track to bankrupt every level of government. Such actions threaten to effectively destroy the social safety net, not strengthen it. The general public instinctively understands that piling another expensive program on top of the bankrupt social security and medicare programs is probably a bad idea. This realism is more likely driving the recent populist outrage than a mistrust of government.

As Republicans, we need to express the need for a sustainable safety net. Where are the "Safety Net Republicans" that can articulate the need for a hand-up, not a hand out? Republicans must express compassion for those in need and express disgust for those attempting to gain entitlements under the banner of the social safety net.

Unfortunately, we are not articulating this message, nor opening recruiting candidates who can. Running a candidate that shows an increased level of compassion during tough economic times is just good politics. After all, more people are either relying on government support or at least are worried that they may need government support in the coming years. Tough talk may satisfy ideologues looking for endorsements, but certainly does not make people feel secure and can easily be perceived as being mean-spirited.

During the fabled "Republican Revolution" ushered in by the Contract for America, general public dissatisfaction with the government was at an all-time high of 70%, compared with 57% now. Of further interest in today's new political climate, younger voters and independents are much less skeptical of government and believe that the government is run for the benefit of all people. The same is true for independents, Hispanics and minority voters. These overall trends indicate the unlikelihood of a non-presidential election repeat of the Contract for America scenario that many die hard Republicans are preaching.

Unfortunately, too much of our current Republican "message" operates under the government is bad banner. The current platform still references "requiring all able-bodied welfare recipients to work as a condition of receiving benefits..." and a strong statement that the safety net should be privatized and removed from the government domain. While these planks are laudable goals, they were written in a time of apparent endless prosperity. At that time, there was a dream that the economic growth engine alone would lead the world out of poverty. Unfortunately, prosperity alone cannot be expected to solve the worlds problems. An exclusively private social safety net is not on the current horizon.

Our party has generally supported the concept of supporting those in need and some candidates are on message. Unfortunately, in today's charged climate, Republicans feel that they need to express disgust for welfare recipients first and then reluctantly acknowledge that those that cannot help themselves MAY need some help. I support an expression of compassion first and reform second. Most recently, the party attempted to take a step in the right direction by creating its new "Health Care Coalition." Ultimately a great messaging opportunity -- yet, they still got it backwards: "The goals of the coalition are to help prevent a government takeover of the American health care system and to promote positive alternatives which put doctors and patients in charge."

Articulating what we support FIRST and what we would change SECOND is a simple, but effective way to attract voters. I support cleaner water...to be achieved in a reasonable manner. I support classrooms first .. reform second. I support immigrants pursuing the American Dream... provided they follow the law. A "Safety Net Republican" is no different. Our candidates should express compassion for those truly in need. Only then, will our leaders have the moral high ground necessary to accomplish real reform.


Exploring this new messaging should yield a new breed of candidates, sorely needed in purple swing districts. Quality candidates supporting the old ideological anti-government premise are a declining breed. I see very little "new blood" in any of the Republican camps. I frequently hear the question, "why can't we get more young people involved in the party?" They need a cause and the one being presented does not work for them.

We need more than just tough talk to win elections. We need a better message that acknowledges the concern in people's hearts. It feels good to help people and having candidates that can openly discuss that they care about people can only be a good thing. As we begin to turn the tide towards more common-sense and realism, good candidates need to get elected and then they need to lead. Safety-net Republicans, time to speak up.

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The Fall-out from "Change"

The Fall-out from "Change"

As many of you know, I am an active member in the "Agriculture Community", as a member of the American Agricultural Law Association and a student of ag policy for many years. In this capacity, I follow a number of industry and academic thinkers on industry trends and challenges. One of those thinkers is Roger McEowen, a distinguished professor from Iowa State University and Director of the ISU Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation.

One of Professor McEowen's recent tax updates included the following overview of the "massive" American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (this is the one that you see the signs for on the road projects). The following is his overview:

"Pushed through Congress with little debate based on claims that matters would be "catastrophic" if passage was not immediate, and without an opportunity for members of Congress to actually read the text of the legislation, the Congress passed the massive spending bill, H.R. 1 . . .

The Act contains 575 pages of tax provisions. Many of the provisions are individual credits that will likely have little-to-no immediate stimulative effect and targeted tax benefits that appear to be so narrow as the be largely ineffective economically at the present time. That is why it is inaccurate to call the Act a "stimulus" bill. In addition, the non-tax portion of the Act contains massive amounts of spending for social programs largely unrelated to the economy. To facilitate the massive spending contained in the Act (it is the largest spending bill in U.S. history), the Act raises the U.S. debt limit to over $12 trillion."

This one caught my attention!
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Discrimination Against White Firefighters!

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that a group of White firefighters in Conn. were discriminated against when their testing results for promotions were set-aside after it was discovered that no black firefighters were among the finalists.

While not presented as a major change in the law, this ruling is drawing attention as the lower court ruling that was overturned involved Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

I expect a lot of media attention on this issue, attempting to paint the current Supreme Court as "too conservative."
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Finding Reform in St. Paul: behind every door and around every corner

The word "reform" is an often overused term in politics. A google search of "reform in politics" turns up over 48 million hits. Sometimes the concept of reform is repackaged into another term, say "change in politics" at 190 million google hits; 62.5 million for "Obama Change in politics."

While I mostly disagree with Obama's change or reform attempts, I cannot criticize him for his aggressive search for a new way of doing things. I like to say that there is reform behind every door and around every corner. Right now, the Obama presidency is seeing an unprecedented ability to open doors and get around corners that never were before thought possible. Ultimately, history will determine whether or not he is using his pulpit to force open the right doors.

In contrast, as an observer this past legislative session, I saw very little progress in finding real reform in St. Paul. Instead, the leadership of the majority party perfected the role of closing doors, dispensing political rhetoric and finger pointing. Education and health-care are the two opportunities for reform that I have blogged about previously.
http://tiltingagainst.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html
http://tiltingagainst.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html


Given that these two areas account for almost 70% of the budget, reform in other areas becomes irrelevant from a numbers perspective. The attached link shows a great pie chart of the State's budget. http://budgetforum.senate.mn/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/slide93.gif

The Democrats' door slamming episode ended with few new ideas even making it out of committee or being quickly killed on the floor. Even attempts to close loopholes on outright fraud and abuse of the welfare system were thwarted. To the D's anguish, they unintentionally left the door open a crack for Governor Pawlenty to utilize the unallotment process.


No one claims that unallotment is the preferred method of obtaining reform. Reform using a blunt object is always more messy than the scalpel. Yet, the Democrats posturing at the Capital left all the doors locked and the hallways blocked.


The legislative master that he is, Pawlenty remains a step ahead of his opposition. Many of his unallotment cuts are deferred until 2011, meaning that the legislature has next year to actually make reforms. If the Democratic leadership in the legislature cannot get their act together and implement "change", then the bulk of the Pawlenty cuts go into effect.


In effect, the Governor has established a new end game. Normally, the first year of session sets the budget for two years and government shut down occurs on July 1 in an impasse. This time around, Pawlenty avoided a shut down and set the rules for what will happen next July 1st if Democrats cannot perform. As much as they will posture, Democrats will not be able to avoid responsibility for a meltdown and the "No Reform" label can be placed on their candidates foreheads.


A well reasoned, disciplined approach from the minority should be able to capture this opportunity and broker reform opportunities while the Governor watches from the national campaign trail. Governor Pawlenty has handed House and Senate Republicans a set of keys that will open many doors that are normally unavailable for a party with minority status.


I hope that our caucuses can use the keys that have been handed to them to promote real reform, not just old worn-out agendas.

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A reminder of God's power and mercy

I was in Austin, Minnesota last night for the Cedar River Watershed District meeting. These monthly meetings are held at the Hormel Nature Center. Well, this location happened to be in the path of last night's tornado that hit Austin. http://www.albertleatribune.com/news/2009/jun/17/tornado-touches-down-corning-austin/

We heard the sirens and then the news came that a twister was hitting the NW side of Austin and heading our way. We watched the clouds begin to rotate and the debris starting picking up. Small "fingers" of twisters snuck out of the side of the massive cloud and then we could see the large rotating cloud heading our way.

Our group of about 15 went to the bathrooms and utility rooms as there was no basement. The men's room has a small window that we could see out. All I could see was trees being flattened or completely sideways. The interpretive center is about 20 feet away and we lost site of it when all we could see was downed trees and roots sticking out of the ground. We were waiting for the "train sound" that everyone describes when a tornado hits. Lucky for us, we never heard that sound.

Outside, the photo below is what we saw. These were the trees that we could see out of the bathroom window.

The roof of the interpretive center was torn-off as shown below.

The photo at the very top shows the path of the destruction after it hit the interpretive center, only 20 feet from our bathroom shelter. We then started to get the terrible news about other parts of town and homes that had been hit. After the chainsaws arrived, I was thankful to be heading back home to my family. Last night, I certainly said extra prayers of thanks.

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A tale of three parks!

Camping season is here!! My family enjoyed the pre-summer ritual of cleaning out the camper, taking inventory and preparing for another season. It doesn't take long to remember why we enjoy this so much: no distractions, yard-work or house work and quality time with family and friends.

For some reason, I've been intrigued by my visits to the various parks we've visited. Likely, the fact that I spend a lot of time there chasing my 4-year old (5 years old today) and 7-year old around has a lot to do with it. My observation has been that a good park has a life of its own. I'm not talking about a water park or the monstrosities that often appear in today's super sized world, just a the good old fashioned jungle gym ("JG"). These parks take on the life of who's there. A lonely teenager swinging alone, a slew of kids laughing, or fighting. At night, perhaps some beers from the neighbors cooler (last year, we were the "neighbors" whose cooler of beer disappeared in the night -- more about that later).

This year, it seems that whenever I arrive at a park with the kids, its just us and the JG. Nice, I think, just the kids and I and some good bonding. Let's play a friendly game of tag! Literally, within moments, the kids are pouring out of every nook and cranny in the area. It was almost as if they have been hiding in the bushes all day waiting for some unsuspecting mom or dad to show up. Suddenly, you become the center of their "you're it" world.

Even the older kids (over 10), who initially act too mature to stoop down to boring old tag, seem to come around when there is an adult figure on the JG. The first park I observed this was in South Dakota. We started a game of dodge ball tag. Hit them with the ball, without them catching it, and their it. I think we played for ten seconds before everyone wanted in. The traditional animosity between the age groups quickly evaporated. For a good forty-five minutes, the park was crazy-fun. Dinner time arrived and I announced that we had to leave. As quickly as they arrived, the throngs of kids were gone. It happened so quickly, I wondered if I had imagined it.

Next, we visited a campground in the Canby area. Their JG was an antique Rainbow Play set. Built like a tank. Again, tag with the kids on an empty JG turned into a ten-kid free for all. Melissa, a three-year old, was at first afraid to play. She was clearly afraid of the older kids and I finally was able to "catch" her and she was it. She then proceeded to chase me around the JG at least three times. The older kids were trying to let her catch them, but I finally realized that I was her only target. "Watch-out" all the kids shriek when it's my turn. This time, I tried to slowly disappear to the side and let the games go on. Fun to watch, but the proverbial dinner bell again ended the fun. I felt 10 again for a moment and could almost hear my mom yelling, "kids, time for dinner." Of course, I was the one yelling

Finally, last weekend, we went to our "home" campground and set-up shop across from the park. I asked the kids, to help me describe this park to someone. They immediately answered, "space rocket ship." Not what I expected, but soon I was the alien who had to recruit an army of my evil friends to attack the space ship and overrun the "good guys" and take over the ship. In the end, my army was defeated as we did not know that the good guys had a self-destruct button that blew up the ship as soon as we were all on board. I WILL remember that one next time.

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2009 Legislative Review: The Continued Search for Balance

Politics, like life, consists of an on-going quest to find balance. Sometimes you have it, sometimes you don’t. Recently, Albert Lea began its newest quest to find long-term balance through the “Blue Zone” vitality project. This exciting project consists of community members committing to making a series of small positive changes that will have a huge impact on their lives.

In this spirit, I am encouraged to see Republicans making a series of positive changes which will clearly have a positive impact on the success of our community and our state. Locally, we are fortunate to have local businessman and community philanthropist, Al Arends leading us on a quest to find common-sense. It is refreshing to see so many new faces from all age groups engaged in the exchange of ideas.

At the state level, Republicans have made a series of small changes, beginning with their approach to education funding. Led by Governor Pawlenty, Republicans have staked out an aggressive and positive position supporting increased funding to our K-12 classrooms. While the Governor pushed hard this year for higher classroom funding levels, in the end he signed the majority’s education bill. Also, I had the privilege this year of participating in a positive, bi-partisan discussion on clean water and habitat enhancement through the use of the new dedicated sales tax revenue. Continued Republican leadership in this area can have only positive results.

In contrast, the same can be said for the DFL making a series of small negative decisions that had a huge impact on this year’s session. When the Governor initially announced his legislative package, the DFL quickly went on a “gotchya” offensive around the state. The DFL missed an opportunity to find solutions to Minnesota’s challenges and instead just identified a series of problems. Their attempt to simply build political support for their patch-work agenda probably prevented the DFL from finding their balance.

Next, the DFL went after a number of Pawlenty projects in an apparent attempt to create negotiating chips for the final end-game. Of local interest, the Governor’s Q-comp program and the JOBZ program were in the cross-hairs.

Finally, the House and Senate passed what I termed “misplaced” tax bills. On their first attempt, the House passed a tax bill that would have ended popular deductions like mortgage interest, property taxes, charitable contributions, education expenses and child-care. This political disaster did not make it out of conference committee until less than one hour prior to the end of session. Earlier, the House and the Senate leadership patched together an alternative $1 billion tax bill that was quickly vetoed by the Governor. In the end, the DFL did not even get all of their own to support this alternative tax bill. Locally, Representative Poppe (DFL Austin) voted no on the attempt to override the Governor’s veto.

Probably the biggest remaining challenge is to find a way to provide quality and affordable health care in a manner that does not bankrupt state coffers. As in Albert Lea’s Blue Zone project, a series of small steps can have a huge impact. Hopefully, the DFL and the Governor can begin to work together to make the reforms necessary to accomplish this outcome and in the end find balance.

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Finding Balance

It's time to balance the books.

Yesterday, the house and the senate sent a series of spending bills to the Governor. Unfortunately, their spending package is $3 billion in excess of their revenue. "A $3 billion hole" as described by the Pioneer Press. http://www.twincities.com/ci_12364582

Shortly after receiving the bills, the Governor expressed his frustration in a letter to legislative leaders. Click here to read his letter. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2009/05/DFL_spending_bills_letter.pdf

As explained by the Governor, the one tax bill the DFL was able to muster sent $1 billion in additional revenue. Although this bill was vetoed by the Governor, even it was still $2 billion short of their spending spree. The ball remains in the DFL court to find responsible revenue enhancements that support their spending -- or find areas to cut.

The Governor has proposed additional revenue enhancements totally $1billion -- many of which were supported by either the house or the Senate. His proposal was flatly rejected by the DFL majority. As twittered by Speaker Kelliher, "It is not a responsible plan."

What would be irresponsible would be for the Governor to sign spending bills that are not paid for. Again, reasonable education and human services bills and a responsible tax bill have not been presented by the DFL majority. Until they are, balance will remain elusive.
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Taxes split traditional alliances

Neighbors in their districts and on the house floor, Representatives Jeanne Poppe and Robin Brown often agree on and vote the same on issues. This session, however, has proven more difficult. Robin Brown offered an amendment on the house floor to save the state-promised JOBZ benefits to businesses in her district. Poppe, however, voted against Brown's amendment and the amendment failed by a vote of 68 to 65.

Shortly thereafter, the house voted on the omnibus tax bill and Brown pulled the yes lever and Poppe the no. According to Poppe, the $1.5 billion tax proposal did not propose a solution and was too big. http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=16&a=398703

In contrast, Brown indicated that she voted for the tax bill because of the local benefits and because it created a better, "balance of taxes for all people." http://www.albertleatribune.com/news/2009/may/06/albert-leans-gather-show-support-jobz-program/

It is apparent that this year's legislative session will continue to challenge traditional alliances. As detailed in a previous post, this year's real battle will come to spending in the state's two largest areas: welfare reform and education. http://tiltingagainst.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html Behind the headlines, these two areas will continue to dominate the politics of this year's session.

Also, watch closely the working relationship between Speaker of the House Margaret Kelliher and Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller. They have substantially different governing styles and time will tell if they will be able to keep the DFL train on the track.
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Tax Bill "Do-Over"

On Wednesday, a group of local residents held a rally at the Courthouse lawn in Albert Lea. The purpose of the rally was to request that Governor Pawlenty veto the then-current tax package that had been passed by the House and Senate.
http://www.albertleatribune.com/news/2009/may/07/rally-dont-cut-jobz/

Of major concern, was the ripping back of JOBZ tax benefits that had been promised to local employers. For example, Albert Lea Select Foods held up their end of the JOBZ bargain having now created over 400 jobs, having initially promised 50. The tax package would have ended most of the State-promised benefits mid-stream. Not only would this policy threaten existing jobs, but would also send a terrible message to other businesses looking to locate in the State. http://www.kimt.com/content/localnews/story/Businesses-Ask-for-State-Do-Over/MX8rDKaReUOkPngY73skAw.cspx

The tax package also contained a new 4th tier tax bracket and elminated commonly used tax deductions like mortgage interest, property taxes, charitable contributions, education and child care expenses.

Late last night, the House and Senate did re-do their tax bill. It was initially passed with actual blanks in the bill. http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/44534987.html?elr=KArks:DCiU1OiP:DiiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU. It was later sent to Conference Committee and is now awaiting further action on the floor of the house and senate. Attached is the house research summary. http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/bs/86/HF0885.html

Stay tuned.

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