Special session on storm damage likely; GOP gov foursome meets in first debate

EVENTS

ORTMAN FOR SENATE LAUNCH: Tomorrow morning state Sen. Julianne Ortman will announce her candidacy for the GOP nomination to take on Al Franken in next year’s Minnesota U.S. Senate race. She’ll be speaking at 11 at City Square Park in Waconia.

WHAT’S COMING UP

DAYTON: The governor is in Milwaukee attending a meeting of the National Governors’ Association, which concludes Saturday.

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY

SPECIAL SESSION? Spurred by last week’s federal disaster declaration covering June storm damage in 18 Minnesota counties, the governor’s office is in discussions with all four legislative caucus leaders about a short special session to pass funding for the state’s 25 percent share of the estimated $18 million in damage. Last year a similar weather-spawned special session was held on August 24 to deal with the aftermath of flooding in Duluth and elsewhere around northeastern Minnesota. This year, there could be pressures to broaden the agenda of any special session. Republicans have repeatedly called for a special session to repeal a tax on the warehousing of goods that passed as part of the 2013 tax bill. And some key DFLers, including House Speaker Paul Thissen and Gov. Mark Dayton, have expressed dissatisfaction over business-to-business sales tax provisions included in the final budget. Dayton administration spokesman Bob Hume stopped short of pledging that a special session agenda would only address storm relief, but added: “There will be no tolerance for political grandstanding from either side of the aisle when getting disaster relief to the Minnesotans who need it is at stake.”

GOP GOV CANDIDATES: It looks like the debate circuit is starting early this election cycle. More than a year away from Election Day, the four announced Republican candidates for Minnesota governor made their first appearance together on the debate stage Thursday night in front of about 150 Republicans gathered at the Mermaid Event Center in Mounds View. Candidates Jeff Johnson, a Hennepin County Commissioner, Orono businessman Scott Honour, state Sen. Dave Thompson and former House Speaker Kurt Zellers rarely diverged significantly on issues during the debate, but each one used the event as an opportunity to test campaign slogans and talking points.

Honour stressed his business background, regularly citing the need to “reset” the state budget. He also framed himself as the “political outsider” in the race, even distancing himself from his work fundraising for the GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney last fall. “I understand how a tough economy affects lives and I can personally relate to people,” Honour said. “In many ways Mitt didn’t do any of those things. He didn’t tell his personal stories and he didn’t embrace his success.” Johnson touted his time serving in the state House and his current position as a fiscal conservative on the Hennepin County Board. “My goal is not just to fight for things and lose every time,” he said. “I actually want to accomplish things every once in a while.”

Zellers found himself on the defensive more than any other candidate, thanks to his role as speaker of the House during the 2011 government shutdown. He combated subtle jabs about the shutdown from other candidates, saying he is the only candidate “who has sat toe-to-toe with this guy [Gov. Mark Dayton] and won.”

MARRIAGE REACTION: Following 24 hours of intense coverage of Minnesota’s wave of same-sex weddings, advocates who still aim at rolling back Minnesota’s marriage laws – a cause that few Republican legislators and no Republican gubernatorial candidate wants to discuss, much less embrace – came out of the shadows yesterday looking to mobilize ahead of next year’s election. Minnesota for Marriage, the group that led campaigns for the 2012 gay marriage ban amendment and against the Legislature’s passage of this year’s marriage law, announced its “Minnesota Marriage Initiative.” The group, headed by Minnesota Family Council CEO John Helmberger, will raise money to “[support] legislators who withstood immense political pressure in order to cast a vote in defense of traditional marriage and [help] Minnesotans find better representation for themselves in districts where legislators abandoned their constituents in favor of the same-sex ‘marriage’ lobby.” Minnesotans United for All Families, which has led the pro-gay marriage movement through the campaigns of 2012-13, had already announced this spring that it will raise money to support the reelection of swing-district legislators from both parties who voted in favor of same-sex unions.

VIKINGS STADIUM: Yesterday the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) released its final environmental impact statement on the new Vikings stadium, which is slated to break ground in October. The Star Tribune reports that concerns about migratory birds flying into the facility’s massive glass façade appear to have been addressed – lights at the stadium will be turned off overnight during spring and fall migratory cycles – but that political battles lie ahead over who will pay for needed improvements to the Downtown East light-rail station.

BRODKORB: Attorney Philip Villaume is no longer representing Michael Brodkorb in has lawsuit against the Minnesota Senate. Villaume filed a notice of withdrawal with the U.S. District Court on Thursday. He has been replaced by Gregory Walsh as the attorney of record in the case. Walsh has been involved in the case since its inception. Villaume’s withdrawal comes less than a month after a case filing disclosed the names of 10 legislators (past and present) who purportedly have engaged in affairs with staff members. Brodkorb’s attorneys said that the filing was a mistake and it was quickly removed from the record. But the Senate’s attorney, Dayle Nolan, is seeking sanctions against Brodkorb’s attorney for violating a protective order in the case.

DAVIS OUT: CD 6 congressional candidate and former talk radio host Tom Emmer‘s on-air partner, Bob Davis, is out at KTCN (AM 1130), reports the radio biz site All-Access. Davis, who is best known for the national attention he drew early this year by telling the families of Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting victims to “go to hell,” will be temporarily replaced in his morning show slot by conservative talkers Jack Tomczak and Ben Kruse (not the former state senator).