Jan 20, 2000
Clearly, the best-organized political event of the New Year was held last Thursday at Vinnie’s Restaurant in Minneapolis. The event was the combined forum/fundraiser for the Dakota, Hennepin and Ramsey County Young Republicans. The event was standing room only with...
Jan 20, 2000
Also on Tuesday, we watched Governor Jesse Ventura (RP-MN) match wits with Rep. Dave Bishop (R-30B, Rochester) on the issue of a single house legislature. Later in the program, we saw the second team on this issue Senators David Kleis (R-16, St Cloud) (pro) and Ember...
Jan 20, 2000
The first public opportunity for the announced DFL challengers to US Senator Rod Grams (R-MN) to meet occurred on Tuesday evening in Mankato. Five of the prospective opponents met on the stage at Bethany Lutheran College Michael Ciresi, Jerry Janezich, Steve Kelley,...
Jan 20, 2000
This week we had our fourth public policy discussion about the issue of suburban expansion. The buzzwords being bandied about are “Sprawl” and “Smart Growth.” A forum sponsored by the Center for the American Experiment matched Metropolitan...
Jan 20, 2000
Laura Offerdahl has made a movement on the Governor Jesse Ventura (RP-MN) Administration Government Relations organizational chart. The problem is it is unclear if it was horizontal or vertical movement. Offerdahl will no longer specialize in a particular area of...
Jan 20, 2000
The Governor Jesse Ventura’s (RP-MN) Administration is expecting significant pressures on the Capital Bonding Bill from higher education. Both the Minnesota State University College and University system (MNSCU) and the University of Minnesota will be principle...
Jan 20, 2000
One of the issues high on Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe’s (DFL-02, Erskine) agenda his quality workforce development. There’s a lot of attention being given to the current and unemployment rate in the lack of available employees. These figures offer little insight...
Jan 20, 2000
It is clear that people in power construct legislation to support those that got them there. Few should be surprised that Republicans design their legislation to advantage the more affluent members of society. House Republican’s are particularly focused on this issue....
Jan 20, 2000
Publicly the DFL party seems on a roll and the Republican Party back on its heels with the recent defections of the State Auditor Judy Dutcher (DFL-MN) and state Senator Dean Johnson (DFL-15, Willmar). The departures of two people, who were clearly at odds with the...
Jan 15, 2000
By Dan McElroy Goals: Make it easier for citizens to understand the system Improve accountability Keep the system simple Eliminate all or most conference committees All legislative districts should be contained within Congressional districts. Proposed Structure A...
