No Crumbs For Seifert

Saint Paul, Minnesota
April 6, 2009
By Marty Owings

Last week on the House floor, the GOP put forth several Amendments they say deal with accountability for the budget. Once such Amendment offered by Rep. Steve Drazkowski would have removed the leaders in both the House and Senate if a budget wasn't completed by the end of the session.

The Amendment drew sharp response from Rep. Tom Rukavina, who called it "Boneheaded" and questioned Drazkowski on why another state leader, Governor Pawlenty, wasn't included in the Amendment. Rukavina said that the Democratic majority was still working on the bill. At one point Rukavina said "If you want to become a eunuch for the Governor go ahead, I got some farmers I know that can help you."

Rep. Dan Severson suggested that Members may want support the Amendment to remove Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, who he said wasn't as good a leader as Speaker Margaret Anderson-Kelliher. In the end, Drazkowski withdrew the Amendment.

Here is audio of the debate:


After seeing several GOP Amendments fail on the floor, Minority Leader Marty Seifert implored his deomocratic colleagues to throw him a "Crumb" or a "Crouton". After the floor session Seifert said the GOP had three measures on the floor that he thought were good. The first would require at least one Republican on a committee, the second would have changed the Session start date to March 1st and the last measure was Drazkowski's which he withdrew as mentioned.

Seifert says that it might take the public to rise up and let Democrats know they've become a little too comfortable and need to work more closely with House Republicans. Seifert suggested that too many deals were being cut without the light of day and without Republican input.

All of the measures purposed on the floor by the GOP minority failed.

Here are Minority Leader Seifert's comments:

Minnesota Budget Forecast Sucks

Saint Paul, Minnesota

March 3, 2009

By Marty Owings

Yep, its official, our State budget really, really sucks. How bad does it suck? State Economist Dr. Tom Stinson characterized it as "the worst economic conditions since World War II". In a rare moment at the Capitol everyone seemed to agree that Minnesota is facing a deep and likely worsening economy that will probably be longer than anyone anticipated.

While the federal stimulus money will help lower the deficit from a projected $6.8 billion to around $4.7 billion, Dr. Stinson said that tax receipts would continue to decline, prompting some to speculate that the forecast may need to be revised yet again to reflect worsening conditions.

The Governor responded to questions about tax increases by saying that Minnesota must avoid raising taxes if the state is to remain competitive. He added that if the DFL controlled Legislature pushed for higher taxes that it would "cause a collision".

For their part, the DFL leadership say that some of the things that the Governor is protecting in the budget must be on the table, such as K12 education and the rainy day fund. House Speaker Margaret Anderson-Kelliher stressed the difficult situation Minnesota if facing by saying that "The news that the number of unemployed Minnesotans could fill up the Metrodome and we're on track to fill up the Metrodome once again this year with unemployed Minnesotans is not a good piece of news today."

When it was suggested that the situation was bad enough to transcend politics and partisanship, both the DFL and GOP leadership pledged their willingness to work together....stay tuned for that.

Here is video of the Press Conference highlights from today.