Jennifer Schultz for 8th Congressional District

Minnesota Report On Monday, 4th term Rep Jennifer Schultz (DFL-7A, Duluth) will announce her desire to retain the title Representative, but this time it will be at the federal level in Virginia. She announced she would not be seeking reelection earlier in the...

What a Bakk Bid for Governor, Could Mean?

Minnesota Report We recently had a conversation with former DFL Minority/Majority now Independent Sen Tom Bakk (I-MN) about the possibilities of a run for governor. He said, he had an email from someone who would write a check for the first $1000 just that day. He...

Voting Against ALS Funding, Really?

Minnesota Report While watching the tally board on SF3372, a bill inspired by Sen David Tomassoni (I-06, Chisholm), to fund ALS research, commonly known as Lou Gherig Disease, and economic support for families yesterday on the House Floor, we were perplexed when we...

House Follows Our Call on Russian Divestiture

International and Minnesota Report Yesterday, on House Floor the body moved to divest from Russia and Belarus, of which we were the first to call for state divestiture from Russia in February with the Budget Forecast announcement. On a vote of 126-0 the House passed...

Legislative Forecast 3/10/2022: Muddled and Uncertain

Minnesota Report We plan on providing you a general feeling index of what is happening in the halls of the State Capitol. This will be our aggregate assessment of progress and reconciliation between the House DFL Majority, the Republican Senate Majority and Governor...

The True Irony of 2020 Hindsight

Minnesota Report We wrote a story a few weeks back entitled, Have Republicans Forgotten to Listen to Their Mothers? Which begs the question of Republican candidates for Governor on how they would have responded to the COVID Pandemic and be “Better Safe Than Sorry.”...

Concern Over Merging Monopolies

National and Minnesota Report Checks & Balances has always been opposed to structural monopolies, whether they be a municipal electric utility with a franchise agreement, a cable company through a franchise agreement or a railroad. Now, with family connections...

We Prompted Governor Walz on the Ukraine War and He Responded

International, National and Minnesota Report On Tuesday, Checks & Balances was the only media outlet to broach the topic of the Russian War with Ukraine during the Revenue Forecast press conference. We asked the following question of Governor Tim Walz (DFL-MN):...

HIB’s Will Find No Support in the Senate Housing Committee

Minnesota Report We spoke with Sen Rich Draheim (R-20, Madison Lake) regarding activity in his Housing Finance and Policy Committee, and learned a interesting piece of information. The Chair does not support Housing Infrastructure Bonds (HIB) for passage because of...