Politicker.com -- Minnesota News

[Politics in Minnesota] Helping out on the farm

Charley Shaw, Staff Writer, Saint Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:10:00 -0400

The confirmation proceedings this week for Supreme Court judicial nominee Sonia Sotomayor in Washington D.C., has kept Minnesota’s two senators back in Washington.

But their top agricultural policy aides have been holding down the fort at their booths at the Farm Fest agricultural gathering in southwestern Minnesota. Dave Frederickson (pictured), who serves as outreach director in charge of agricultural issues for Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Charlie Poster, who is Sen. Al Franken’s field representative for agriculture, have been representing their respective senators during the three-day event that ends Thursday.

Visitors to the senators’ booths have dropped by to weigh in on the legislation in Congress.

[Minnesota Public Radio] Senate confirms two Minnesotans for ambassadorships

Charley Shaw, Staff Writer, Saint Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:21:00 -0400

The U.S. Senate confirmed two Minnesotans for ambassadorships this week.

[MNPublius] Private health insurance leads to health care rationing!

Jeff Rosenberg — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:00:00 -0400

Rationing is one of the terms the right likes to throw around to scare people about health reform. The government is going to ration care! They won’t cover important procedures! They’ll put senior citizens to death to save money! We’ve heard all of these arguments.
They neglect to mention, though, that rationing is already a part of [...]

[Politics in Minnesota] What makes them run: Jungbauer says state's biggest problems "kind of all in a circular deal"

Steve Perry — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:56:00 -0400

On Tuesday PIM spoke by phone with the newest entrant to the Republican gubernatorial field--state Sen. Mike Jungbauer (East Bethel), who filed his campaign committee papers last week.

Mike Jungbauer/vitals

Born: 1958; Education: Anoka Ramsey Community College, Moody Bible College, Metropolitan State University; Occupation: Water resources manager; Elected: 2002 (2nd term); Committees: Finance - Transportation Budget and Policy Division, ranking minority member; Transportation, ranking minority member; Capital Investment; Energy, Utilities, Technology and Communications; Finance - State Government Budget Division; campaign website.

PIM: Why are you running for governor?

Mike Jungbauer: [laughs] Well, that's a loaded question. I'm a Christian person, and believe that the Lord kind of leads you through open doors.

[Politics in Minnesota] Sviggum reportedly still waiting on advisory opinion about gubernatorial bid

Steve Perry — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:20:00 -0400

That's the word this morning from Steve Sviggum's office at the Department of Labor and Industry. As we noted a few weeks back, the DLI commissioner and former GOP House speaker put his run for governor on hold after learning that his role in administering federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) funds might disqualify him from running for partisan office under the terms of the Hatch Act.

Sviggum, who's currently attending a conference in Salt Lake City, requested an advisory opinion on the matter from the Department of Justice's Office of Special Counsel (OSC) in mid-July. An OSC rep tells PIM that the status of the request is treated as private information, but adds that "we try to respond to these requests in weeks, not months."

An adverse OSC opinion would likely

[Minnesota Public Radio] Rep. Peterson opposes Obama's health care reform plan

Steve Perry — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:33:00 -0400

Minnesota U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson says he will likely vote against the health care reform proposal working its way through Congress.

[Minnesota Public Radio] Ahmadinejad sworn in as Iran president amid crisis

Steve Perry — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:45:00 -0400

While Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a
second term as Iran's president Wednesday, protesters chanted "Death to the Dictator" in the streets surrounding the ceremony.

[Politics in Minnesota] Morning Report 8/5/2009 - Daily Minnesota Political Stories

Staff — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:26:00 -0400

Top Story: Tinklenberg withdraws from Sixth District race for Congress.

[MN Progressive Project] Disinformation - Makin' Stuff Up, The RightWing Way!

TwoPuttTommy — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:13:00 -0400

That bloggers wrote about Michael Brodkorb's blatant hypocrisy with regards to Colin Peterson's decision to no longer hold Town Hall meetings is no surprise; MudSlingerMike's pals at his old radio gig tagged him as being in charge of "special ops." What is surprising is one member of the traditional media picking up on it. Monday's St. Cloud Times Editorial noted:
Really, though, the worst out of all this is the state Republican Party's attempt to turn his (Rep. Peterson's) comment into a campaign issue. It plans to run advertisements about it across the district this week.

"Really, Collin, 25 percent of your constituents are so out of touch they believe the U.

[MNPublius] Bonoff considering another run in CD3

Jeff Rosenberg — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:26:00 -0400

Doug Grow reported this morning in MinnPost:
To date, not a single DFLer has announced intentions to run against Rep. Erik Paulsen, the first-term congressman who has proved to be far more conservative than his predecessor, Jim Ramstad, the consummate moderate in what most believe is a moderate district.
But at least one prominent DFLer, state Sen. Terri Bonoff [...]