Search Results for: minnesota cage match

Minnesota cage match, 2017 edition (9)

Featured image When we checked in most recently on the ongoing cage match between Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and the Republican-majority legislative bodies, the Minnesota Supreme Court had decided that DFL Governor Mark Dayton had the constitutional authority to zero out the legislature’s funding, as Dayton did at the conclusion of the legislative session this past June. The court’s 29-page opinion affirmed the governor’s authority to veto the legislature’s funding so as »

Minnesota cage match, 2017 edition (8)

Featured image When we checked in most recently on the ongoing cage match between Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and the Republican-majority legislative bodies, the Minnesota Supreme Court had ordered the parties to mediation. Governor Dayton angrily abandoned the proceeding in short order as the parties failed to arrive at any agreement regarding funding of the legislature or amendment of bills that Dayton had signed. The parties held competing press conferences that I »

Minnesota cage match, 2017 edition (7)

Featured image When we checked in last week on the ongoing cage match between Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and the Republican-majority legislative bodies, the Minnesota Supreme Court had ordered the parties to mediation and the parties had filed memoranda on the Court’s authority to order continued funding. Governor Dayton has vetoed the legislature’s appropriation of operational funding in order to induce it to renegotiate the terms of the tax bill he himself »

Minnesota cage match, 2017 edition (6)

Featured image I have been following the ongoing cage match between Minnesota Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Minnesota’s majority-Republican House and Senate in this series. At the end of this year’s slightly extended legislative session Dayton signed all tax and budget bills. He could have vetoed any of them. Even though he professed extreme unhappiness with certain items, he signed the bills The package of budget, tax and state government bills that »

Minnesota cage match, 2017 edition (5)

Featured image I have been following the ongoing cage match between Minnesota Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Minnesota’s majority-Republican House and Senate in this series. It’s an interesting story that deserves national attention as a sign of the political times. Forgive me for repeating the necessary background. At the end of this year’s slightly extended legislative session Dayton signed all tax and budget bills. He could have vetoed any of them. Even »

Minnesota cage match, 2017 edition (4)

Featured image I have been following the ongoing cage match between Minnesota Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Minnesota’s majority-Republican House and Senate in this series. It’s an interesting story that deserves national attention as a sign of the political times. At the end of this year’s slightly extended legislative session Dayton signed all tax and budget bills. He could have vetoed any of them. Even though he professed extreme unhappiness with certain »

Minnesota cage match, 2017 edition (3)

Featured image I wrote about the ongoing cage match between Minnesota Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Minnesota’s majority-Republican House and Senate here and here. It’s an interesting story that deserves national attention as a sign of the political times. At the end of this year’s slightly extended legislative session Dayton signed all tax and budget bills. He could have vetoed any of them. Even though he professed extreme unhappiness with certain items, »

Minnesota cage match, 2017 edition (2)

Featured image I wrote about the ongoing cage match between Minnesota Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Minnesota’s majority-Republican House and Senate here. Governor Dayton really doesn’t play well with others of the opposing party. We have all learned to tread lightly in his vicinity. His feathers are easily ruffled. At the end of this year’s slightly extended legislative session Dayton signed all tax and budget bills. He could have vetoed any of »

Minnesota cage match, 2017 edition

Featured image In June and July 2011 Minnesota-based Governor Mark Dayton engaged in a budget battle with the Minnesota legislature, both houses of which were then controlled by Republicans. Governor Dayton presided over a three-week government shutdown during which inessential offices were closed. We covered the showdown in a series that I called “Minnesota cage match.” I interviewed the Senate Majority leader during the imbroglio and provided relevant background in “Amy Koch: »

Minnesota cage match, cont’d

Featured image The big news in Minnesota today is the coming of the state government shutdown as of midnight last night. The shutdown is the result of a budget battle between Minnesota’s highly medicated Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and a Republican legislature led by House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch. Zellers and Koch have done a fine job standing their ground and holding their troops together so far »

Minnesota cage match, cont’d

In the current budget battle heading toward a possible state government shutdown on July 1, the St. Paul Pioneer Press has served as slight counterweight to the Dayton administration public relations work performed daily by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Over the weekend the Pioneer Press editorial “Unnecessary pain” observed: Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has attempted to position himself as interested in compromise. Though both sides have compromised, the governor seems »

Minnesota cage match, cont’d

Today Minnesota Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and state legislative leaders go into an extended discussion seeking to avoid the looming government shutdown on July 1. The Republican legislative leaders caved on the format of the meetings. They are to include Democratic legislative leaders, even though Dayton had initially agreed to meet without them. It gives new meaning to my cage match metaphor. All I can say is that for the »

Minnesota cage match, cont’d

The Star Tribune’s Mike Kaszuba and Rachel Stassen-Berger report on the latest events in the Minnesota budget standoff. Having agreed to meet alone with the Republican legislative leaders in a marathon session this weekend to avoid a government shutdown, Governor Dayton introduced wrinkles that put the agreement in doubt by the end of the day. It’s an interesting story. As I read it, Dayton is making it hard for his »

Minnesota cage match, cont’d

In Minnesota, we are engaged in an epic budget battle between a highly liberal and highly medicated Democratic governor who is contending with newly crowned Republican majorities in the state House and Senate. A state government shutdown is looming, scheduled to kick in on July 1. How goes the battle? Acting as the media adjunct of Governor Dayton’s office, the Minneapolis Star Tribune and lead political reporter Rachel Stassen-Berger have »

Minnesota cage match, cont’d

Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and the Minnesota legislature are engaged in an epic budget battle. By law, the budget for the coming biennium must balance. The governor demands big spending increases and tax increases to pay for them. Republican majorities in the Minnesota House and Senate resist spending increases that require tax increases. A state government shutdown is looming, despite the governor’s campaign promise not to shut down the state »

Minnesota cage match, cont’d

The reporters at the Minneapolis Star Tribune are doing their best to make sure the public assigns the blame for the looming state government shutdown to the Republican legislature. This despite the fact that Governor Dayton promised not to force a shutdown in order to enact the income tax increases that for the core of his creed. Today’s story on the pressure exerted on Republican legislators is in itself part »

Minnesota cage match

In the mighty storm of the 2010 elections, Republicans won control of the Minnesota House and Senate. How long has it been since this happened? Time whereof the Memory of Man runneth not to the contrary. At the same time, Minnesota’s three-way gubernatorial election vomited forth disgraced Democrat Mark Dayton. Mark Dayton inherited great wealth from the family business that he shunned. As I recall, Dayton met his first wife »