Bush Visit

President George W Bush (R) arrived in at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport and was greeted by Gov Jesse Ventura (RP-MN), Mayor Norm Coleman (R-St. Paul),  House Speaker Steve Sviggum (R-28B, Kenyon), former US Senator Rudy Boschwitz and a number of other Republican...

Legislative Impasse?

As of 2:30 pm there doesn’t appear to be an agreement reached between the House and Senate over the Biennial Budget for 2003-04. The offices of both House Speaker Steve Sviggum and (R-28B, Kenyon), and Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe (DFL-02, Erskine) were both busy...

Felony DWI

The fact that a person drives intoxicated is not a good thing. A person who dies at the hand of another who is intoxicated is a tragedy, but tragedies do not require specific laws. Our state has been slow to provide any viable forms of mass transit so a person doesn’t...

Twins Arrogance

Minnesota Twins President Jerry Bell sat before the House Tax Committee on Monday and would not make any commitments from the team on the bill moving through the committee or any other pending legislation. He was directly asked a by Tax Committee Chairman Ron...

Fate of BioDiesel

The House is set to debate the Omnibus Agriculture Policy Bill, which contains the provision for BioDiesel. We understand BioDiesel is facing strong opposition and its future is uncertain. Currently, the fiscal conservatives in the State House oppose the mandates...

Presidential Opportunity

President George W Bush will be making his first stop in the Twin Cities since being elected.  He is set to present his energy policy in front of a group of business leaders from the Capital City Partnership. He will be speaking at an invite-only event at the St Paul...

Reading is Fundamental

House Speaker Steve Sviggum (R–27B, Kenyon) held a press conference in the gallery of the House Chambers yesterday during the legislative session to address the status of the Health & Human Services Bill. Two things prompted the Speaker’s action one, the...

Softball

The House and Senate went head to head in a softball game on Wednesday. The result of the contest remains in question if you talk to members of the House. In the 7-inning affair, the Senate claimed victory 18 to 17. The controversy on the outcome was because the House...

Yes, Labor is Divided

Two weeks ago in our piece entitled St. Paul Labor Disunity, we discussed the AFSCME endorsement in the St. Paul’s Mayor’s race going to Councilmember Jay Benanav (DFL-Ward 04, St Paul) and the St. Paul Building and Trades endorsement going to Sen Randy...

You Make the Call

We have heard from a number of sources that we were right to single out Hubert “Buck” Humphrey IV at the Minneapolis DFL City Convention. In fact, people have informed us there is more to the story.  We understand the week prior to the convention Buck was busy making...