The Capitol Note: Senate office building lawsuit dead

Listen to this article

1) The final legal barrier to constructing a $90 million Senate office complex was removed on Thursday, the Associated Press reports.

The state Supreme Court ruled that former GOP Rep. Jim Knoblach had to put up an $11 million bond that a lower court had said he would need to post in order to continue his lawsuit against the building.

“This is going to be the poster-child exhibit for wasteful spending as far as a lot of the public is concerned,” Knoblach said.

2) Former state Sen. John Howe, R-Red Wing, announced on Thursday that he’s dropping out of the secretary of state’s race.

Howe could have taken his party’s endorsed candidate, former Rep. Dan “Doc” Severson, to an August primary, but declined to do so because he previously pledged to abide by the party’s endorsement. Howe has urged members of the GOP to leave behind the contentious Voter ID fights of the past and instead focus on the business functions of the secretary of state’s office.

3) Gov. Mark Dayton celebrated a public infrastructure priority of his on Thursday — the impending expansion $11.5 million expansion of the River’s Edge Convention Center, the St. Cloud Times reports.

Dayton’s push for funding regional centers was finally realized in this sessions more than $1 billion in infrastructure borrowing, and he took Thursday to travel to St. Cloud to enjoy the planned completion of the event center. “On this project, Gov. Dayton did deliver for Central Minnesota,” St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce President Teresa Bohnen said.

COMINGS & GOINGS

• Politics in Minnesota and the St. Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report has announced the winners of our 2014 Leaders in Public Policy. Among notable honorees are Yvonne Prettner Solon, who will receive the Jim Ramstad Lifetime Achievement award, and the Raise the Wage Campaign and The 5% Campaign, which will share honors for best public affairs campaign. See the full list of winners here, and register to join the July 17 event to honor award recipients.
• The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has registered a pair of new political funds to operate in Minnesota. The DLCC Victory Fund and DLCC for Minnesota were both signed-up under the national committee’s Washington, D.C. address, and listed national committee staffers Michael Sargent and David Griggs as their respective chairmen.
• Rep. Debra Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center, is hosting a fundraiser for her legislative campaign on June 24. The event, which lands on the Democrats’ birthday, will be held at 1345 Maywood St. in St. Paul, and begins at 5:00 p.m. More information here.
• Stinson Leonard Street Political Action Committee registered with the state campaign finance board, with prominent lobbyist Paul Cassidy registered as its committee chair.
• Sarah Clarke has registered to lobby for the Summit Academy OIC, a vocational training center located in North Minneapolis. It’s her first registration, and she becomes the organization’s third advocate on file.
• Center Point Energy terminated a raft of lobbyist registrations, nearly all of them for advocates based outside the state, dropping its count from 28 down to 13.