Minnesota Lawyer

Gov. Mark Dayton is following through on his campaign promise to tax the rich. On Tuesday morning, Dayton proposed solving the state's $6.2 billion budget deficit by raising taxes on the state's richest five percent of residents by $4.1 billion.

Gov. Mark Dayton was mum on specifics regarding his upcoming budget during his State of the State address. And that's in keeping with the word around Capitol halls.

The plight of Dave Feinwachs and his crusade to bring greater accountability to health-maintenance organizations is the subject of a lengthy piece in Monday's edition of Capitol Report. The former general counsel of the Minnesota Hospitals Association, who was fired in November, has been giving his power-point presentation ever since to anyone who will listen.

After several hours of debate and failed amendment attempts from Democrats on Thursday, the GOP-proposed bill passed off the floor with a 37-27 party-line vote. The bill makes about $1 billion worth of cuts by making permanent reductions to local government aid, higher education and health care made at the end of the 2010 session.

Gov. Mark Dayton got out ahead of the Capitol press corps this week when he issued a news release declaring his own bonding proposal "unusual." Dayton is calling for a big bonding bill in what is traditionally a nonbonding year, a gesture that stands in stark contrast to the approach of his Republican predecessor, Tim Pawlenty, who vetoed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bonding projects in his day.

When it came time to vote on the first $1 billion budget cutting bill from Republican leadership in the Ways and Means Committee, it was no surprise that all the DFL members voted against it. They say the bill, which proposes to extend one-time cuts to local government aid, human services and higher education that were part of a budget deal last session, has been rushed through the committee process.

As promised on the campaign trail and during the 2010 gubernatorial recount, Republican legislators are using their new-found majority in both chambers to push a bill to require a photo identification at the polls.

Republican National Committee members from Minnesota Evie Axdahl and Brian Sullivan resigned their positions at the state GOP's Executive Committee meeting. Several Republican luminaries are seeking to replace them.

In the PIM legislator and politician of the year awards for 2010, Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch and House health care odd couple Erin Murphy and Matt Dean take top honors.

Mark Dayton becomes the first DFL governor in two decades, while Republicans take over the Legislature