Minnesota Connection to Pruitt Condo Deal

Over the weekend we learned about a potential tie between the Enbridge Pipeline Number 3 and EPA Head Scott Pruitt. The clear conflict of interest stems from Pruitt’s rental of a condo from Vicki Hart, the wife of J. Steven Hart, the chairman of the Enbridge’s...

It Seems Like Pawlenty is Running

By all appearances, former Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) is positioning himself for another run for Governor. Here are two solicitations which came our way from a distribution from ConservativeIntel. First Name, You have my word. If I officially run for governor, I...

Congress Set to Legalize Industrial Hemp

Word out of Washington DC is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is planning to introduce The Hemp Farming Act of 2018 and include it in the Farm Bill. On Monday he held a press conference with Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles to announce that...

Anti-RCV Bill Passes Senate Committee

Yesterday, the Senate State Government Finance and Policy and Elections Committee passed SF3325 on a party line vote of 5-4. Each opponent on the committee deferred to local control, but the problem is election law is set by the legislature and not a locality. Voting...

Listen to Shawn Towle on The Sue Jeffers Show

You can hear the podcast of The Sue Jeffers Show from Saturday with guest Checks & Balances Publisher Shawn Towle discussing a range of topics from Ranked Choice Voting to the race for Governor....

Learning Lessons from MNLARS

It is clear the existing governmental legacy systems are outdated. It is also evident whenever an attempt is made to replace rather than once again retrofit these legacy systems it will likely result in an epic failure. Truly these systems need a wholesale change and...

Students Stage a Die-In

Students from a number of Southwest Minneapolis Schools came to the State Capitol and staged a Die-In in front of the House Chamber while it was in session. They remained mostly silent and immobile on the floor where some had small paper signs with slogans like,...

State Employee Contract & Pensions Vote Scheduled in the Senate

On Monday, the Senate will be taking up the State Employee Contract and Pensions. We understand there is a deal on this issue including with House Speaker Kurt Daudt (R-31A, Crown), but as we stated in the previous article on MNLARS we expect there will be drama in...

The Pawlenty Pitch

Former Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) sent out the following email to past supporters and he highlights a number of ideas and asks for people to declare their support by Sunday. We expect this means there is some type of announcement set for next week. He calls into...

The DFL Endorsement Race for Governor by the Numbers

We will argue, next to a specific campaign, Checks & Balances is the best place to find out where things stand in an endorsement contest. The reason is clear, campaigns like to spin, i.e. Jim Niland. We then talk to the campaigns, take their information into...