Star Tribune pimps deranged MN lege bigot

I’m not going to bother putting a link here; it’s right there on the front page of this morning’s print edition.

The article notes Rep. Steve Drazkowski’s (R-Mazeppa) little splinter-group nonsense, but ignores other key facts. Apparently the ridiculous image of the pitiful ignoramus gazing portentously into the distance, like some true far-seeing statesman of old, is judged more worthy of newsprint.

I was able to find an excellent old item about the real Draz. The links therein are unfortunately to a crashed website and therefore broken, but you’ll readily get the point.

Update: An absolute must-read from Developers Are Crabgrass.

MN Gov: Walz budget proposal aims high

You’ve probably seen some things about MN Gov. Tim Walz’s budget proposal. I’ve been concerned - and still am, frankly - that as someone who made a big deal of being a “moderate” in Congress, now that he’s governor Walz will be willing to give away too much to Republicans in the legislature to cut deals. Perhaps this is an indication that I’m wrong, which would be good.

The issue, though, is what chance he has of picking up the two Republican votes he’d need in the MN Senate - and of holding on to all of the DFL votes. (It’s frankly Walz's own fault that he’ll need at least two of those Party of Trump votes and not just one. But there’s no use bemoaning, at any length, what’s over and done with.) He’s pretty clearly shooting for the stars with these opening numbers with the idea of still having some of it when all is said and done. I could see, for example, a few cents/gallon gas tax increase getting through, for now, maybe, but not any more than that. Perhaps I’ll end up actually being happy at having been proved wrong on that, too.

I haven’t looked at the budget details, but there’s presumably plenty therein designed to help get those Senate votes, from both parties. Without speculating with names, there certainly are those who can be persuaded if there’s something really good for their districts. And with Traitor Trump still doing his odious, contemptible things, vaunted Republican legislative “unity” could well be a lot more fissionable than has been the case. We’ll find out.

If Republicans ran Minnesota - education, elections, &c.

This series is based mostly on what Party of Trump state legislators have been trying to do. It is not remotely meant to be anywhere near exhaustive. Just items I’ve chosen to particularly highlight, being brought together for easy reference. I may be adding stuff, from time to time. Part 1, finances and budget, here. Part 2, environment, here.

School funding issues would only get worse. That’s what you call a “lock bet.”

State aid to Minnesota school districts—properly adjusted for inflation—has fluctuated significantly over the last fifteen years, but the overall trend has been downward, as documented in a recent North Star report. Of course, long-term trends are not exclusively the result of changes enacted by state policymakers.* Using information compiled during the 2017 special legislative session, it’s possible to isolate the impact of legislative actions during the current fiscal year (FY) 2018-2019 biennium. And those actions led to a decline in real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) per pupil general education revenue. - North Star Policy Institute

More here. And here, especially about how Republicans seek to backdoor public money for private schools.

- Election-rigging. Of course. Republicans have made numerous efforts to destroy Minnesota’s public campaign financing, and to potentially enable gerrymandering. In particular, they’ve sought to add riders to these ends to must-pass budget bills, apparently blissfully oblivious to just how obnoxiously childish - and cowardly - such tactics make them look.

- An effort to get the Appleton prison doing its thing died in the Senate, this time. Also from Bluestem Prairie, outstate locals do not in fact really seem to be on fire for the lock-em-up mentality. But a GOP legislature and governor would presumably quickly pass one of those override bills, mostly used in other states so far to reverse local minimum wage increases, to deal with such manifestations of intelligence and humanity.