Jan 8, 2003
The December receipts should be available shortly and we will be able to see how the end of the year numbers square with projections and past years. The sales tax collections and the end of the year dividends will add up to show what is in state coffers. This will...
Jan 8, 2003
The legislative session opening is always ceremony and procedure. Each body must elect its leadership for the forthcoming biennium and install the chamber officers. Families join the new and returning legislators for the swearing-in ceremony and there rarely is any...
Jan 7, 2003
A few weeks after I was born, a young president stood in the bright sunshine of a Washington January afternoon and he said these words: “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation...
Jan 7, 2003
The Tim Pawlenty (R) inauguration is the start of a new Administration facing a steep budget deficit, but ripe with promise. In his speech, Pawlenty laid out a broad set of principles and goals long on rhetoric and short on specifics. The even only had one hitch and...
Jan 6, 2003
Thank you, Chief Justice Blatz. And it is an honor and a privilege to serve the people of Minnesota. It is an honor to follow in the footsteps of former State Auditors as Governor Arne Carlson, Senator Mark Dayton and Judi Dutcher. Each of them made significant and...
Jan 6, 2003
GOVERNOR VENTURA, LT. GOV. SCHUNK, AUDITOR DUTCHER AND TREASURER JOHNSON. I THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO THIS STATE. SENATOR PAUL WELLSTONE SPOKE ABOUT A FOURTH GRADE TEACHER IN AN IMPOVERISHED PART OF MINNESOTA WHO ONE DAY WALKED INTO HIS CLASSROOM AND ASKED HIS...
Jul 24, 2002
We attended the Independence Party Convention in St. Cloud. Unlike the DFL and Republican Party Conventions, which were held in Convention Centers, this one was staged in an auditorium on the St. Cloud State College Campus. It had the size and feel of a local State...
Sep 14, 2001
In the aftermath of the terrorist hijackings in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania we are all taking different routes to try to get our lives back to normal. Many people are reflecting upon this tragedy and making a reassessment of there own lives and coming to...
Sep 11, 2001
National & Minnesota Report Our focus is mostly on politics and there is a great amount of politics associated with acts of terrorism. We were penning our Election Day predictions and talking with a source when the events in New York City, Pennsylvania, and...
Sep 5, 2001
Checks & Balances has confirmed Rep Tim Pawlenty (R-38B, Eagan) will formally enter the 2002 race for Governor. He called us to make it official. He will take a leave of absence from the software company Wismo, but he will remain as Majority Leader during the...
