With the 4-3 decision by the State Supreme Court the DFL Majority is positioned to send Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) a balanced budget with a poison pill, tax increases, and if he should veto the legislation they can walk away and say once again we tried, but the governor stonewalled. Since we are in the midst of the 2009-2011 Budget cycle the legislature is not obligated to address the projected deficit until after the 2011 Budget Forecast is announced.

Granted acting early allows the cuts to be spread out over the course of the remaining fiscal year will soften having cuts come in the last months of the fiscal year, but there will also be a new governor installed and the potential of finding a different conclusion on the tax question is plausible. DFLers are staking much of their political future on the outcome of the 2010 governor’s race and they should.

In the first year of office, the incoming governor will have to address the current fiscal crisis, tackle a new budget for 2012-2013, choose new heads and key staff for all state agencies and be in a position to sign a new redistricting map for congressional and legislative representation. The fiscal issues aside if the governorship changes hands and a DFLer is the Chief Executive, Minnesota government will see significant changes and respond far differently than it has in the last twenty years.  

Because the legislative and executive branches never enacted a balanced budget for the 2010-2011 biennium, use of the unallotment power to address the unresolved deficit exceeded the authority granted to the executive branch by the statute. We therefore affirm the district court‘s conclusion that the unallotment of the Special Diet Program funds was unlawful and void.

This means the legislature will now need to find $2.7 million in additional cuts. We expect this will wreak havoc with the legislature, in spite of the fact the House joined with the law suit this means the depth of the cuts will be felt statewide. This almost begs the question for a Special Legislative Session and if it occurs we can guarantee Republicans will forgo their per diem and make it a campaign issue.

To read the entire opinion click here.

Here is a press release from Pawlenty's office.

The colors purple and green are not ones you would normally see, unless reading a Batman or Spiderman comic book, in which the Joker or the Goblin are the villains and in order for there to be a Vikings stadium at the end of this legislative session will require a great deal of heavy-lifting or spiderlike strength. With just over two weeks until the close of the legislative session, not one, but two bi-partisan proposals come forward from the House Chair of the Ways and Means Committee Rep. Loren Solberg (DFL-03A, Grand Rapids) and the Senate Tax Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Bakk  (DFL-06, Cook). They are joined by Rep. Morrie Lanning (R-09A, Morehead) and Sen. Julie Rosen (R-24, Fairmont).

The two proposals are referred to as the White and the Purple Plans; the reference being the away and home team colors of the Minnesota Vikings. In general, the proponents argue there will be no increase in taxes to finance a Vikings stadium. The White Plan is Minneapolis specific while the Purple Plan is available anywhere. Interestingly, white are the away colors and purple the home colors so if the Metrodome is home the plans are misnamed.

The White plan calls for $791 million to be raised to finance an annual debt service payment schedule $47.5 million for 40 years. It includes a provision for the team to commit to a 40-year lease with a clause for “clawbacks” should the team leave the state prior to this time derived from the amount of the sale. There is a sports oriented scratch-off lottery game included to derive addition revenue. The Vikings are to pay the debt service for the first ten years, which accounts for their contribution of $420 million and then the current $.05 tax for the Minneapolis Convention Center will account for the rest.  

The Purple Plan, as claimed by the proponents, is structured to ensure those who benefit bear the bulk of the costs. The team is on the hook for $222 million with $42 million to emanate from an Admissions Tax and $425 million from a Concessions Tax. In this plan $527 million is to be finance for 40-years and again the team is obligated to a 40-year lease.  The following taxes will account for the addition debt service obligations:

Area Hotels (1.5% surtax) projected to produce                                  $8.0M

Jersey Purchases (6.875%) projected to produce              $16.9M

Sports-Themed Scratch Off projected to produce               $5.5M

Rental Cars (2.5% surtax) projected to produce                                   $5.5M   

Total                                                                                                      $35.9M

The Vikings Organization did not participate in the press conference of the two plans and once again seem absent in the debate. They have failed to come forward and express their demands unless they want to disagree with other approaches. When the Anoka County plan failed in 2008 it was due to the same reason. The Vikings fail to commit and always seem like they are holding out for a better offer rather than working with people to create a workable solution. The only consistent factor in all of the negotiations between the team and the legislature has been Vice President for Public Affairs and Stadium Development Lester Bagley and in many people’s eyes that might be the quintessential problem.

Bagley began facilitating the interests of the Vikings at the legislature after their purchase by Red McCombs in 1998 and as a surprise to many has continued on even after the sale to Zigi Wilf in 2005. The implied threats of moving the team and pushes for inclusion in the stadium discussions during the contentious debate over the Twins and Gophers stadiums were impolitic and not very timely. The perceived heavy handedness is a significant criticism of the current approach and coming late to the dance, rarely means you get to be prom queen.

Including Bagley, the Minnesota Vikings Football Club lobby team includes the law firms Winthrop and Weinstine (John Knapp, Lloyd Grooms, Matthew Lemke and Christine Zimmer Lonetti) and Best & Flanagan (former Senator David Johnson (DFL), Jeffrey Davidman and Margaret Vesel) the lobbying firm Redmond & Associates (Lawrence Redmond and Brian Halloran) along with Kristen Amundson, and recent hires of Robert (Bob) Vanasek and Robert (Rob) Vanasek.

Vikings fans are far more rabid than Twins fans or Gopher fans a number of people took off work to come and testify. During the testimony before the Senate State and Local Government Oversight and Operations Committee in support of the stadium proposal a former lobbyist for the University of Minnesota Student Association, now in the private sector David Minkkinen spoke on behalf of a fan support group.  The bill failed today in the House State and Local Government Operations and Reform, Technology and Elections Committee.

The White Plan being site specific is more restrictive than is the Purple Plan. There are a number of communities, who have spoken to the Viking’s organization, but often they may have land, but not the infrastructural support needed to account for the traffic burden a NFL football game.

We have heard about conversations over the use of the retail property in Brooklyn Center, Brookdale, but that has been deemed as a non-starter due to poor freeway access to the land. We know of interest in the former armory in New Brighton, but due to the brown field conditions of the property and the potential unexploded ordinance this is a not an option.  The Anoka County proposal is still alive and will remain so until later this month. One interesting idea we have heard of which has not been broached elsewhere is the idea of using Southdale as the site location. We understand Southdale is not fairly all that well economically.

We think the best location would be the State Fair Grounds. It was discussed during the Gophers/Vikings joint stadium debate. The land is available, but we understand the State Fair board is not favorable to the idea. It would be simple to locate the stadium at the Fair Grounds and tacking on a $.05 surcharge to the concessions at the fair would derive plenty of money from the 1 million fairgoers.  

The team is willing to remain at the current location, but they would require compensation for the losses they will sustain in the years the stadium is being built. The team will want this deficit incorporated into their contribution. They have committed to put 1/3 of the money in, but again the contribution may not actually be money and it should be noted they only want to pay for the cost of the facility and this amount does not include the roof.  

We understand the financial relationship the Viking's want changed with a new facility is a better breakdown of the revenue generated through concessions. Currently, the team only gets 15% of the proceeds with the rest going to the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission. 

Narcisuss drowned after staring at himself in a pool of water because he was captured by his own beauty. We consider narcissism to be an unfavorable characteristic. Politicians are rarely approached to run for office they normally self-anoint, which is somewhat narcissistic. The campaign of Matt Entenza (DFL) appears on its face to have few supporters and is akin to the campaign of H. Ross Perot, which was no better than a billionaire financing his own opinion.

As we see the first Entenza commercial, a precursor to the bevy of commercials we will see until August 10^th it begs the question, who asked him to run. Will he succeed in making himself a household name? Will he become the person Democrats think can solve all of our problems? Or will he join Ted Mondale as a footnote in Minnesota political history with a single digit performance?

We think it will be the later and not the former.

  5:04 pm

The convention unanimously endorsed Annette Meeks for Lt. Governor and adjourned until  9:00 am tomorrow.

  5:00 pm

Here is the release from the Republican Party.

  4:45 pm

Marty Seifert asked to speak to the convention and called for delegates to support Tom Emmer.

  4:40 pm 

The secondballot results are in Emmer 1118 or 56.06% to Siefert 876 or 43.93%

  3:30 pm

We are waiting for the 2nd ballot to commence. We expect Emmer will lead on this ballot 56 or 57% and it will be a question whether Seifert withdraws or not. 

  3:09 PM

Phil Herwig asked to address the delegates and called for all 36 of his delegates to support Marty Seifert.

  3:05 pm

Bill Haas asked to address the delegates and he actually called for his 26 delegates to "Thrown your support to Marty Seifert."

  3:02 pm

We think the standard rule of 54% applies and with Emmer leading and Phil Herwig, Bill Haas and Leslie Davis being removed from the ballot Emmer should overcome that mark on the next ballot. We will not be reporting that ballot the same way. It will be tabulated by tellers and not available until announced from the podium. The tellers are sequestered and all cell phones and communication devices are confiscated.

  2:59 pm

After the end of balloting Emmer leads 1053 to 868 for Seifert or 53.3% to 42.8%.

  2:55 pm

After the 8th Congressional District reported Emmer 974 to 692 for Seifert. 

  2:48 pm

 After the 6th Congressional District reported Emmer 879 to 554 for Seifert.

  2:46 pm

After the 5th Congressional District reported Emmer 629 to 443 for Seifert.

  2:45 pm

Counting the 1st-4th Congressional Districts Emmer leads 537 to 410 for Seifert.

  2:35 pm

After the 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts reported Seifert leads Emmer 244 to 243.

  1:50 pm

The Republicans are streamlining the voting process in a manner far better than the DFLer's. The have a counting system for ballots where delegates fill in an oval and a machine reads the result. Granted the use of a standardized ballot takes more preparation, but it is far more efficient.

  1:42 pm

Current Convention Chair Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson (R) announced the motion by 13 BPOU's for the announcement of the first ballot results by BPOU. This means we will know the outcome once it is tabulated. 

It appears this is a rural v. metro contest, where the suburbs are a portion of the metro and hence the advantage goes to Emmer. 

The latest Seifert flier says:

Seifert-isms

Quotations from Marty on politics and life

Marty Seifert has a gift for expressing our conservative, limited government philosophy in witty, populist, one-liners. As our next governor, Marty will use his great communications skills to persuade Minnesotans that our party's principles are correct and that the Democrats are hilariously wrong. Please enjoy the Seifert-isms during today's convention.

#3: "If you want to spend more state money, then you must suggest where equal amounts can be cut. Don't even think of asking my hard-working families for more tax dollars."

#4: "You were voted off the island last year. The tribe has spoke. We will balances this budget without raising taxes."

12:50 pm

Seifert is gearing up to influence the delegates. He has a yellow flier that states the following:

HERO IS BETTER THAN A BEST FRIEND...

...When it comes to protecting taxpayers

In 2009, the Taxpayers League of Minnesota honored two Minnesotan's as "Heroes of the Taxpayer"- Governor Tim Pawlenty and Representative Marty Seifert. The Taxpayers League noted:

"With just 47 Republicans and 45 votes needed to sustain a veto, Rep. Seifert faced a daunting task at the outset of the 2009 session. The pressure from the DFL majority to divide the GOP caucus was relentless. During endless debate and bill after bill Rep. Seifert held his caucus together. When the Democrats tried closing in the closing hours of the session to override Governor Pawlenty's veto of a bill dollar tax bill, every Republican House member voted to uphold the Governor's veto. On behalf of Minnesota's taxpayers, thank you Rep. Seifert and all 47 Republican House members!

In 2009, Representative Emmer was one of sic House Republicans named "best friend of the taxpayer."

12:40 pm

Brian Sullivan nominates Tom Emmer's. 

12:35 pm

We are awaiting Emmer's speech and his video is far less serious, the show outtakes of his commercials and give you a real touch perspective. One noticeable difference between Democrats and Republicans is Republicans use Country music in their videos.

The credentials report says there are 1988 delegates in the hall. This means it will take 1193 votes to confer endorsement.  

We are on hand at the Minnesota Republican Party endorsing convention. Inside sources are saying Rep. Tom Emmer (R-19B, Delano) has the edge on Rep. Marty Seifert (R-21A, Marshall). Some are as bold as to predict this contest may be over in a few as three ballots.

We said early in this race Seifert was more of a candidate who appealed to ones head and Emmer one who appealed to ones heart and because endorsement contests are about passion rather than practicality, Emmer is likely to win. Seifert campaign has been lackluster and not inspiring while Emmer's has been up tempo and appear to crest at the right time.

Emmer's pick of Annette Meeks as his running mate earlier in the week has given his campaign a late stage boost, since his decision made the bulk of the news coming into the event. Meeks may be a bit wonkish, but she has solid conservative credentials. And we predict the Emmer/Meeks campaign will offer Minnesota's a choice for smaller government and with Meeks they are also electing an architect for it.

In her project, Minnesota Policy Blueprint Meeks called for the abolishment of the Lt. Governor's office and as a member of the Metropolitan Council she is in a position to criticize and call for its demise as well. If voters truly want smaller government they can vote for the Emmer/Meeks ticket and be assure they will work to get rid of those offices.   

The selection of Annette Meeks for Lt. Governor is a good one for Rep. Tom Emmer (R-19B, Delano) especially due to the specific reasons outlined in the rationale for why the position should be eliminated in Minnesota Policy Blueprint: A Project of Center of the American Experiment 1999.

The document says:

It is our view that, historically, lieutenant governors seldom have been chosen primarily because they would be good successors to their governors. Instead, they often have been selected for political reasons (to “balance the ticket” by gender, by ideology, or by geography, for example). Choosing the lieutenant governor candidate before the party endorsement process may contribute to this tendency. If lieutenant governor candidates could be chosen after endorsement, genuine qualifications related to the ability to govern might receive greater consideration, and purely political considerations might be reduced.

To determine Meeks value one must understand her history. She worked as Deputy Chief-of-Staff to the House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA6). This affords her solid, national, conservative credentials along with the fact her husband Jack Meeks was the Chief of Staff for Gingrich confidant former Congressman Vin Weber (R-MN2) as well as a long serving member of the Republican National Committee.  The Washington, D.C. connection is a solid route to fundraising resources as well as an overture to outgoing Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN).

She shares a connection with Pawlenty as a member of the Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie. Meeks has been a potential target, in an attempt to influence Pawlenty, with her appointments to the Metropolitan Council, where she nearly met the same fate in rejection of her appointment by the Senate as did Lt. Governor Carol Molnau (R-MN).

Some think the selection of Meeks might be an attempt by Emmer to shore up his conservative credentials, but we doubt it. It may have been in reaction to the MCCL’s rejection of former Sen. Linda Runbeck (R) as was speculated earlier in the week, which would give MCCL some sway with the GOP delegates.

In spite of Pawlenty’s poor performance on the national stage he is still popular here in Minnesota and especially with the GOP delegates. Any direct connection candidates can establish to Pawlenty is a significant boon for their efforts.        

Here is the biography for Annette Meeks from the Metropolitan Council website:  

Annette Meeks was appointed to the Metropolitan Council by Governor Tim Pawlenty in 2003 and reappointed in 2007. Meeks represents District 7, which includes north Minneapolis, downtown Minneapolis and south-central Minneapolis.

Meeks is the founder and president of the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota, an independent, non-profit, education and research organization. She is also a partner in Twin Cities Strategies, a public relations, government affairs and special events firm focused on the 2008 Republican National Convention. She previously served as chief executive officer for the Center of the American Experiment, a conservative think tank in Minneapolis, and as vice chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota. She is a founder of the North Star Excellence in Public Service Leadership Series, a project that seeks to more fully engage women in politics.

“My interest in serving on the Metropolitan Council grew from a study of the Council I worked on for the Center of the American Experiment,” Meeks said. “I had an interest in the future of the Council and the necessity of making it work better for the region. It’s been very helpful to have a perspective both as an outsider and now an insider.”

Meeks serves as vice chair of the Council’s Community Development and Transportation Committees, with transportation being one of her major interests. “We face a time of transformation for the region’s transportation system, given budget constraints and the opening of light rail,” said Meeks. “The Council has a great opportunity to make our transit system more vital, to increase ridership, and make it even more responsive to the 21st century needs of the citizens of this region.”

Before coming to Minnesota, Meeks served as deputy chief of staff for Congressman Newt Gingrich while he was Speaker of the House. In this capacity, she oversaw the personnel and administration of the Speaker’s office. In addition, she was in charge of appointments to boards and commissions, all foreign travel for members of Congress, and many special events hosted by Congress.

Meeks and her husband, Jack, live in downtown Minneapolis. She enjoys cooking and entertaining, needlepoint, and political activities. She attends Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie and is involved in various nonprofit organizations. Meeks pursued a B.A. in political science at the University of Minnesota. She also graduated from the American Campaign Academy in Washington, D.C.

Minnesota Policy Blueprint: Subject Office of the Lt. Governor

It is our view that, historically, lieutenant governors seldom have been chosen primarily because they would be good successors to their governors. Instead, they often have been selected for political reasons (to “balance the ticket” by gender, by ideology, or by geography, for example). Choosing the lieutenant governor candidate before the party endorsement process may contribute to this tendency. If lieutenant governor candidates could be chosen after endorsement, genuine qualifications related to the ability to govern might receive greater consideration, and purely political considerations might be reduced.

The governor may delegate responsibilities to the lieutenant governor. Otherwise, the official duties of the office are minimal. One state publication’s description of the office says simply, “As Minnesota’s second-in-command, the lieutenant governor is prepared to assume the governor’s duties any time the governor is

unable to perform them. The lieutenant governor represents the governor and the state of Minnesota locally, nationally, and internationally.”

It may be possible to structure the office of lieutenant governor to make it more meaningful, to give it legitimate functions, and to give it consistency of function from one administration to the next. Finding an appropriate role for the lieutenant governor is often an awkward process for a governor, however, and rarely has resulted in a meaningful contribution to the operation of the executive branch of government. As it currently stands, we do not believe that a lieutenant governor performs a necessary function or that it is in the best interest of the state to subject the office of lieutenant governor to the ambiguity under which it currently exists. Therefore, we recommend that the office of lieutenant governor be eliminated through a constitutional amendment (Minnesota Constitution, Article V).

If you would like to read the report in its entirety click here.

We have been asked many times since the end of the DFL Convention to give identify the winners and the losers of the DFL Convention, we decided it would be better to highlight the winners, underperformers and bad tacticians. Now we acknowledge it is not our role to make everyone feel happy once it’s all said and done so we won’t, but some people and organizations took risks and warrant rewards and other need to be more thoughtful when making future decisions.

Winners:

First prize goes to Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-05A, Virginia) who gave not only one great speech at the convention, but two. He performed better than anticipated, mainly due to the enthusiasm he generated in his speech, but also because withdrew and he gave his support before he was require to drop from the ballot. Some think his endorsement was pre-planned and contrived, but anyone who knows him, knows he is a man-of-honor and true to his word.

Second prize goes to Speaker of the House Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher “MAK”(DFL-60A, Minneapolis) and her campaign organization. First, because in spite of the belief, MAK was handpicked by the establishment and pundits, but because she survived a toe-to-toe battle with a strong adversary in Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak (DFL) and prevailed. Secondly, because they won gracefully, without subjecting the delegates to any trashing of their opponents or creating any lingering issues after the convention. Third, she is the first woman to be nominated as a gubernatorial candidate in the history of what is seen as the state’s most progressive, major political party.

Ironically, one of the best comments to come out of the convention comes from a potential running mate. Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-03A, Balsam Township) said of Kelliher’s endorsement, “It took an Iron Ranger to get the endorsement for a Kenwood liberal.”

Third prize goes the DFL endorsement process. Even though the party operators failed, the DFL Party endures, in spite of the personalities running the show. The caucus/convention process is an organic one where an individual can rise from relative obscurity onto triumph. ie. Tom Rukavina or Paul Wellstone Former DFL House Minority Leader Matt Entenza sought the endorsement and when he finally recognized he was not going to succeed left the stage to those who respected the process, but he truly wanted to be embraced.   

Fourth prize goes to the people and organizations who endorsed MAK early. They took a risk and stuck with their candidate throughout the process.

The Underperformers:

The biggest underperformer was Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak (DFL) It would be simple to label Rybak as a loser, but it would not be unfair to do so. He played the game and lost, though he did try to use a wedge issue of the preference of Automatic Delegates for MAK, with an untrue statement of the majority of elected delegates supporting him, but he had a decent account of himself. Rybak is seen in many pockets of the DFL as untrustworthy and if he seeks to make another run he should address this trepidation directly.

Rybak’s problem is he oversold his hand. His campaign did not have an accurate assessment of his delegate strength and relied on too many variables to move in his direction in order to prevail. They tried to play outsider in an insider’s game and in order to do so you need to stack the deck. By not getting their people elected in larger numbers he was set himself up for failure. They ran more of a primary style campaign in an endorsement contest.  

The second biggest underperformer was ReNew Minnesota. Many would also like us to pick ReNew Minnesota as a loser, but they did set the table for success by endorsing three candidates in Rybak, Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-63A, Minneapolis) and MAK. The problem is they created greater expectations than they could deliver. With only 160 delegates out of 1288 resulting in 12.4% of the convention, in order for ReNew to have major impact on the floor they need to pick the eventual winner or deadlock the convention and they did neither.

When the convention recessed for twenty-five minutes they did so between the 4th and 5th ballots, which is the ballot after Rukavina withdrew. By waiting until the 5th ballot to make a decision on moving delegates and then not being able to garner the requisite 60% of their caucus ReNew was in effect neutered. With Thissen being set to drop after the 5th ballot this was the point where ReNew could have created an impact and standing pat is not a power move.

The third biggest underperformer was Sen. John Marty (DFL-54, Roseville). He came in at the bottom of the second tier candidates and likely benefited from the departure of Entenza with both the Automatic and elected delegates. Marty is seen as a principled person, but failed to live up to his commitment to Rukavina and not direct his delegates to vote that way but state his personal intent to do so after his departure on the 2nd ballot. By Marty’s failing to live up to his word 50% of his 136 delegates supported Rybak, 27.2% MAK, 22.7% Rukavina and 18.3% Thissen. Had he given his supporters any indication of his personal opinion it is likely Rukavina could have passed Thissen and with the continual momentum who knows where Rukavina would have ended up.

Bad Tacticians:

The worst tactical decision was not ensuring all media direct unfettered access to the floor of the convention. By making the convention floor inaccessible the DFL failed to cultivate a positive relationship with people outside of its own echo chamber. The media is not an entity to alienate in any way, shape or form.

The second worst tactical decision was the endorsement of Thissen by Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-06, Cook). Bakk looked like he had "sour grapes" and for Thissen, it was a poor read of the tea leaves. If Thissen expected to be in the third position and would then be reliant on support from those behind him, most notably Rukavina. Not only did the endorsement by Bakk solidify Rukavina’s Iron Range support it raised questions about the personal conflict between the two and proved the one with more personality was more highly favored.

The third worst tactical decision was the endorsement of Rybak by SEIU 26 President Javier Morrillo-Alicea, who claimed, “He (Rybak) has been the best candidate for my union.” It was not a surprise when it finally occurred because Rybak had hired Morrillo’s partner John Stiles back in February of 2009, but when the announcement came during the week of the convention and then Morrillo appeared throughout the endorsement video it looked far too contrived.

The withdrawal of Susan Gaertner (DFL) from the field of candidates heading to the DFL Primary was not much in the way of actual news other than it winnowed the field. Gaertner had garnered little in the way of support as a DFL candidate for Governor amongst DFL Party activists and would likely have fiar just as poorly in the DFL Primary.

She cleared the field of candidates who could muck up the works for a woman candidate and said as much with her announcement.This decision did not likely cost DFL endorsee Speaker Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-60A, Minneapolis) much, but we would not be surprised if in the future Gaertner receives a judicial appointment or heads the judicial selection committee.

The Education Minnesota PAC Board is set to meet on May 8th; coincidentally that is the same date as the DFL Party’s largest event the Hubert Humphrey Day Dinner. Now, with the DFL endorsing convention over it is likely EDMN will support Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-60A, Minneapolis) in her primary bid.

We had heard discussions of moderate support for MAK in the group, but not overwhelming. There were around eighty teachers as delegates or alternates to the DFL State Convention, but without an EDMN endorsement there was no specific direction. We know many teachers supported MAK during the process and with the unanimous endorsement in the end all did.

We will be surprised if EDMN does not announce its endorsement of MAK on the 8^th of May.