Not happy unless miserable

The latest Minnesota legislative session wrapped up with the Democrats ramming through almost everything they wanted. Amongst the leftist utopia implemented was significant spending and tax increases (to the tune of about $2 billion), legalization of same-sex marriage, setting up a State Health Exchange and forced unionization of in-home childcare providers.

Such is the reality of one-party rule, since the DFL controls both chambers of the Legislature as well as the governor's office. With that, you would think they would spend Tuesday giving themselves the proverbial pat on the back for what I'm sure they considered a job well done.

Alas, these are leftists, who never seem happy unless they can emit some sort of spittle-inducing rage. But seriously, what kind of issue could they possibly manufacture, no matter how benign, in order to behave like their irritable selves?

Leave it to a complicit media (in this case, WCCO-TV political guy Pat Kessler) to throw them a bone.

Why does MNGOP deliberately misname MN Democratic-Farmer-Labor party as "Democrat"-Farmer-Labor? Same when identifying lawmakers. Discuss.
— Patrick Kessler (@PatKessler) May 21, 2013

Former campaign staffer guy Zack Stephenson weighed in.

@patkessler A pet peeve of mine. Dems prefer "Democratic Party." Its common courtesy to call each other by the names we choose for ourselves
— Zack Stephenson (@zackstephenson) May 21, 2013

Never one to shy away from "controversy", Rep. Ryan Winkler, who once call a constituent (though not one of his own) an "a-hole" on Twitter, whined about the House Minority Leader leaving out the "ic."

Republicans, including @kdaudt, continually refer to the "Democrat Party" as a way to disparage the Democratic Party. It's cheap.
— Ryan Winkler (@RepRyanWinkler) May 17, 2013

Let's look at this logically.

If you're a Republican, you're a member of the Republican party.

If you're a Libertarian, you're a member of the Libertarian party.

If you're a Communist, you're a member of the Communist party.

And if you're a Democrat, you're a member of the....what? Again, following a logical trend, it should be Democrat party. I seriously have never understood why Democrats get all bent out of shape when their party is labeled as such. 

A friend mine also pointed out the party name of the MN Democrats, which is the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party. If we're to be grammatically consistent there, it should be Democrat-Farmer-Laborer. So it would appear both MN Republicans and Democrats have had that one wrong.

Oh well, this manufactured controversy helped the Dems get through at least day one of them not being in session. I wonder what other "pet peeves" can keep their dander up until February 2014.

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Putting the "Big L" in DFL

Minnesota Democrats (known as the Democratic Farmer Labor party) bowed to pressure from public employee unions SEIU and AFSCME to pass legislation unionizing in-home day care and Personal Care Assistants. With the Senate passing the measure last week (barely, 35-32), the House on Monday approved the bill by a razor thin 68-66 vote. Not a single Republican voted yes in either the House or Senate.

First off, I'd like to give kudos to the 4 Senate and 5 House DFLers who maintained a shred of common sense by voting "no." Of course, I may be giving too much credit to these legislators. Political maneuvering in the DFL caucus probably gave permission to these people to vote "no" since they were likely deemed the most vulnerable in future elections. Let's face it. Other than with union members themselves, this legislation was woefully unpopular amongst most factions, left or right. Heck, even both the St Paul Pioneer Press and Minneapolis Star Tribune (neither will ever be confused with the Washington Times) panned this bill.

A couple of final thoughts.

First, this is a golden opportunity for the MN House Republicans when the 2014 campaign season kicks in to high gear. If just one more House Democrat had voted "no" on the daycare/PCA unionization bill, the final roll would've been a 67-67 deadlock, meaning the legislation would have failed (unless the Dems had called yet another "do over"). With that in mind, every one of the 68 DFLers who voted "yes" can be tabbed as having cast the deciding vote.

Finally, it's pretty obvious that House Democrats were incredibly reluctant to hold a vote, thus they waited until there was less than 12 hours remaining in the legislative session to walk the proverbial plank. DFLers know this is crap legislation, but they're indebted to their union cohorts, who donated about $11 million to their campaigns this past election cycle. So the unions ended up being placated but at the expense of a group of people whom I know full well you should never anger --- Mothers.

Expect this bill to be challenged in court.

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Box Score of the week

April 20, 1978 - The Atlanta Braves travel to San Diego to take on the Padres.

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This is the greatest defensive play I personally have ever seen, courtesy of Padres' rookie shortstop Ozzie Smith. 

 

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The spray flies as the speedboat glides, and people forget......

Yet another busy news week to look back upon as I will once again be in the Patriot bunker for the latest edition of The Closer. As per usual, I will be broadcasting from 1:00 pm until 3:00 Central.

At 1:15, I will be speaking with Jeff Johnson, who announced two weeks ago that he is vying for the GOP nomination for the 2014 MN gubernatorial race.

The rest of the show will likely be consumed with the news of this past week, including political news locally (e.g. the quagmire that is the DFL controlled legislature, same-sex marriage becoming the law of the land in Minnesota, etc.) and nationally (e.g. the scandals involving the IRS and Dept. of Justice).


So please give us a call at (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to discuss any of the topics we plan on addressing. You can also text comments/questions to (651) 243-0390.

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 on your radio dial. In and out of the Minneapolis-St Paul area, you can listen to the program on the Internet by clicking this link.

Even though I have a face for radio, there is a UStream channel where you can watch the broadcast, if you so desire. Check it out here. 

For mobile phone users, there are apps available for iphone, Blackberry and Android!

And if you're so inclined, follow along on Twitter at #narn or "Like" our Facebook page.

Until then.....

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Today at the Capitol

I will be going to the Minnesota State Capitol today to show my support for in-home childcare providers as well as Personal Care Assistants.

Hopefully many Minnesotans know by now that the MN Democrats are attempting to pass legislation to reimburse unions for their generous campaign donations force the aforementioned small business owners to unionize. It has already passed the Senate, so the House will be taking up the matter on today.

Here is the general information from the event listing on Facebook:

Saturday at 11:00am until Sunday at 2:00am

Most of the day and into the night, debate is expected on the House floor on the childcare and PCA unionization bill. T-Shirts (white with red print), buttons, stickers and sign-making materials will be on hand for protestors who oppose the unionization of small business owners.

Session start time is not yet determined, but it's likely going to go on all day. We'll post the exact start of session time when it's announced.

We expect people will be coming and going. Even if you only have an hour or two to spare, please come show your opposition to this monstrous, underhanded money-grab racket.

My wife and I do not operate an in-home daycare business nor do we utilize one. However, mandating independent business owners join a union (and thus fork over union dues) flies directly in the face of "freedom of association." That is a principle for which we should all fight, regardless of the endeavor.

I plan on arriving right at 11:00!

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Saturday at the Capitol

I will be going to the Minnesota State Capitol Saturday morning to show my support for in-home childcare providers as well as Personal Care Assistants.

Hopefully many Minnesotans know by now that the MN Democrats are attempting to pass legislation to reimburse unions for their generous campaign donations force the aforementioned small business owners to unionize. It has already passed the Senate, so the House will be taking up the matter on Saturday.

Here is the general information from the event listing on Facebook:

Saturday at 11:00am until Sunday at 2:00am

Most of the day and into the night, debate is expected on the House floor on the childcare and PCA unionization bill. T-Shirts (white with red print), buttons, stickers and sign-making materials will be on hand for protestors who oppose the unionization of small business owners.

Session start time is not yet determined, but it's likely going to go on all day. We'll post the exact start of session time when it's announced.

We expect people will be coming and going. Even if you only have an hour or two to spare, please come show your opposition to this monstrous, underhanded money-grab racket.

My wife and I do not operate an in-home daycare business nor do we utilize one. However, mandating independent business owners join a union (and thus fork over union dues) flies directly in the face of "freedom of association." That is a principle for which we should all fight, regardless of the endeavor.

I plan on arriving right at 11:00!

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Taken by force

After about 17 hours of debate (from about 3:00 pm Tuesday until approximately 8:00 am Wednesday), the MN State Senate, by a 35-32 vote (with zero Republicans voting "yes"), passed Senate File 778, a measure requiring in-home childcare workers and personal care attendants to join a public employees union. In perhaps one of the more unamerican (Yep. I said it. Unamerican. Whatcha gonna do about it?) pieces of legislation I have ever known, these small business owners (not employees; owners) are asked forced to do something approximately 90% of them don't want to do.

The House will take up this matter as early as Friday. With the legislative session slated to end on Monday, it's possible the GOP may be able to "run out the clock" on this one.

One of the more galling aspects of this whole process was the erratic behavior of Sen. Terri Bonoff  (D-Minnetonka). While on the Senate Finance Committee last week, Senators Bonoff and Barb Goodwin (D-Columbia Heights) broke from their party and cast "no" votes on SF 778, which resulted in an 11-11 committee vote. With that deadlock, the Senate version of this union power grab was buried. Ah, but as is the DFL's wont, they once again declared a "Mulligan", similar to the floor vote they had taken on the tax bill the week before. So when taking a second committee vote, Sen. Bonoff inexplicably change her vote to "yes" despite declaring that she still opposes the actual bill.





That has to be the most stupefying logic I have ever heard. If Sen. Bonoff's position on the bill is in line with her constituents (who she says oppose it) then why would she vote to bring it to the Senate floor and risk passage? Her killing it in committee would be something her constituents would apparently rejoice in since they adamantly oppose this legislation.

By the way the other DFLer who voted "no" in the Finance Committee, Sen. Goodwin, stuck with the courage of her convictions and voted "no" in the second committee vote. But on the floor vote? Sen. Goodwin inexplicably voted "yes." I haven't seen any on-the-record explanation as to why the flip, but I'll bet it's a doozy.

So the next time you hear that DFL pap about how they're the party of the middle class and that they care more about the children, just remember all of this if indeed this legislation becomes law. Childcare workers will take a hit on their bottom line when having to fork over union dues (even if they opt out, they still have to pay a percentage of full dues, aka "fair share."). I have yet to meet any childcare workers that are in the top 2% income bracket, which the DFL pledged would be the only people dinged financially. Also, by opting out of the union, a childcare worker will not be eligible to accept low-income families who receive Child Care Assistance. So not only is the opting out childcare provider losing business, low-income families are going to have fewer options for providers. And the providers that will begrudgingly accept union membership will likely pass extra costs on to the consumers. Again, I don't know of many folks in the top 2% income bracket who are utilizing daycare services to begin with, so that is also going to be quite a burden.

So much for that DFL promise that there won't be any extra financial onus on the middle class. They have more pressing issues to address, like paying back their generous donations received via the unions.

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