Great News: David Strom is back as a policy fellow with the Minnesota Free Market Institute. Here is some vintage David Strom humour and wisdom on the reaction of most Minnesotans to the Shutdown (the Wall Street Journal has set up a pay wall; out of respect for the WSJ’s right to charge for excellent content while being frugal non-profit, we will work on a link to the entire article): Minnesotans Shrug Off the Shutdown: The unavailability of beer, cigarettes and fishing licenses seemed to annoy them the most. Update: Here is the article pdf.
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Archives for Deficit
Is this the Final Shutdown Weekend?
Governor Dayton
Here is a link to Governor Dayton’s offer letter today.
Gary Gross from Let Freedom Ring had some good observations, including details about former Minnesota Free Market policy fellow King Banaian’s reforms, on the negotiations to end the Shutdown: Is Our Long National Embarrassment Really Over? Maybe.
Mitch Berg calls it a Win for the GOP and Ed Morrisey says Dayton has caved.
Here is the cautious statement from public union AFSCME 5: note that they have phone banks still cranked up (courtesy of union dues paid with taxpayer dollars). They want to be sure they get back-pay as part of the Shutdown deal.
Union members showed up at various town-hall style meetings recently to support Governor Dayton’s demand to increase taxes but so did tea party members and other folks when Dayton toured the state. We’d like to think that these good citizens and all the emails, letters and phone calls you sent Dayton’s way convinced him and his team that it was time to come to the table. He wanted this Shutdown but came to regret it.
We agree that the devil is in the details (like if the GOP agrees to a bonding deal even though this is not a bonding year, where will the money be spent) but the bottom line is that “the Dayton” as he is fondly called by the SW Metro Tea Party, has caved on his demand to tax the rich. This is a political win and it is a big one. We have heard nothing about a stadium bill for the Vikings or the consolidation of the Minneapolis Police and Fire pensions into PERA.
It has taken us many years to reach a $34 billion dollar general fund (and a $62+/- billion dollar operating budget when you add in federal funds and state fees). Last year, Minnesota gave the GOP a decisive legislative majority and filled the state house with talented freshman who promised to bring fiscal discipline and innovation to state government. While we must keep a sense of urgency, fiscal conservatives must be patient, persistent and in office to succeed. The legislature will face elections next year. Dayton will be with us until 2014.
(Mitch Berg offered this advice: Dayton’s down (in a gauzy-focused, politically-sanded-off kind of way); we have to keep kicking.“)
There is much to be done. As you observe the debate here at home and also our nation’s capitol over the weekend, you may want to read Tom Kelly’s excellent article, “Where do we go from here?”
category: 2010 Elections, Blog Posts, Bonds, Budget, Dayton, Deficit, Elections, Kim Crockett, Limited Government, Tax Policy, Tom Kelly
Dayton and Obama: Same Refrain of Tax the Rich. But Have Republicans Failed to Make Their Case?
Governor Dayton
Governor Dayton and President Obama have an awful lot in common ideologically. And the debate going on in Washington sure sounds a lot like the one we are having here in Minnesota. Did Minnesotans get what they voted for?
While “Tax the Rich” is a tired liberal refrain, maybe “No New Taxes” is tired, as well. Fiscal conservatives need to take their case to Minnesotans on the $15+ billion dollar public pension crisis and how K-12 education and Health and Human Services is gobbling up 70% of the $65+ billion dollar operating budget.
The Wall Street Journal weighed in this morning with this editorial:
“Minnesota prides itself as the land where liberal governance works, but lately the wheels have come off. The state is broke, and as of July 1 most state services are closed amid a budget stalemate between Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Republicans who run the legislature. The drama may be a forecast of the looming standoff in Washington, so it’s worth reporting what the scrap is about….” (Here is a PDF of the Op-ed or Read More; if you’re not a subscriber, the article will be behind a paywall. You may be able to read the whole article if you do a Google search on the title of the editorial and then click through on the result.)
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