Posted on 02/12/2015 5:12:20 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The hefty pay hikes proposed for Gov. Mark Dayton’s cabinet were already controversial when the State Senate met on Thursday.
But it was Dayton’s fellow Democrats who voted to suspend the raises until July 1.
“That will give the legislature time I think to put the kind of thoughtful review into the study and the salary to make sure that it indeed is warranted,” Sen. Tom Bakk said.
(Excerpt) Read more at minnesota.cbslocal.com ...
Shocked.
Gov Mark Dayton Commissioners who all make well over six figure salary was authorized by Dayton to increase their wages of $11,700 to 35,500. Democrats finally in an uproar. Better article on KSTP website rather than liberal WCCO.
http://kstp.com/article/stories/S3705331.shtml?cat=1
What a whinny bitch Dayton is!!
Phoney outrage. They are doing a song and dance act but they will get the raises in July.
The remark was typical Dayton. Instead of acknowledging the issue and the legitimacy of the opposition, he lashed out like a spoiled trust-fund kid who learned that daddy will only buy him two cars instead of three.
Unfortunately for Dayton, his simplistic narrative of “vengeful Republicans” was blown apart when DFL Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk stated his concerns regarding the pay raises.
Bakk, a very astute politician, quickly appreciated the folly of the raises and worked quickly to limit the fallout by adding a measure of bi-partisan concern.
Bakk, the antithesis of Dayton’s silver spoon, trust fund pedigree, understood that granting pay raises that in and of themselves (more than $35,000 in some cases) amount to more money than the median household income in many counties.
The second issue that bubbled to the surface this week is a replay from last year.
During the 2014 legislative session, the legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill to limit certain kinds of games newly offered by the State Lottery, citing a separation of powers issue that prevented the Lottery from offering the games without legislative approval.
Dayton vetoed the bill after the legislature had already gone home and couldn’t attempt an override.
So, the bill is back again this year and sailing through the legislature in the same way.
When asked about the bill and legislative concerns regarding separation of powers, Dayton reacted in the way he always does, which is to say he got emotional and lashed out.
On Planet Dayton, legitimate separation of powers issues can’t be the reason for disagreement. Instead, Dayton opined that gambling interests were to blame.
“Look at the campaign contributions to legislators and the caucuses if you want to understand, in my subjective view, why this thing has got so much steam,” he said.
That’s interesting to say the least. In this case, the governor is again horribly out of touch or he’s lying.
There are three outside interests to whom the governor was referring: Allied Charities of Minnesota, the Petroleum Marketing Association, and the Indian Tribes.
The first two have testified in favor of the bill before multiple committees and are on record in support.
A review of the committee tapes doesn’t indicate that the Indian Tribes have testified in support of the bill but their collective opposition to gaming expansion is a matter of record.
In order to determine if the Governor actually knows what he’s talking about, he indeed checked the campaign contributions - contributions made to HIM in 2014 for his re-election.
What we found shouldn’t surprise our readers.
ALLIED CHARITIES
The Allied Charities, who represent the organizations who benefit from charitable gaming (think pull tabs for the local hockey association) do not have a PAC and thus don’t make political contributions as an organization.
The Allied Charities have two registered lobbyists who have registered with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board.
Lobbyist Allen Lund has no record of personal political contributions in 2014.
Lobbyist Raymond Bohn did contribute to the Senate DFL in 2014 (total of $750) but not to any candidate for governor.
The Senate DFL collects total campaign contributions in the millions of dollars. To think they are pushing this bill for a total of $750 seems just a bit far-fetched.
MN PETROLEUM MARKETERS
This group, like Allied Charities, has no PAC.
Their registered lobbyist who testifies in favor of the bill is William G. Strusinski.
Strusinski did not contribute to GOP gubernatorial candidates in 2014. He did, however, support one Mark B. Dayton for governor, with $750 in donations.
INDIAN TRIBES
The federal government recognizes 11 Tribal Nations located in Minnesota.
And while the total amount in direct contributions for governor isn’t overly significant, it did weigh heavily in favor of Mark Dayton.
The tribes contributed a total of $10,500 to Dayton’s campaign in 2014.
The Lower Sioux Nation gave $500 to Jeff Johnson.
The one outlier is the Boise Forte Nation, which gave $4,000 to Kurt Zellers.
Thus, the Indian Tribes certainly didn’t play heavily (at least directly) in the governor’s race.
And the contributions that were made skewed heavily in favor of HIM.
So what’s going on here?
The parties with a stake in advancing the bill actually gave far more to Dayton himself than his opponent.
Either Dayton is unaware of this fact (unlikely) or he’s attempting to set up these groups (especially the tribes) as straw men in order to distract from the merits of the issue and perhaps play upon the ugly emotions of some Minnesotans as it relates to race relations and the wealth of tribes derived from gaming.
Of course, we won’t wait for the media to ask Dayton these tough questions.
-Anoka County Watchdog
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