John Choi is garnering support from some unlikely individuals in his race for Ramsey County Attorney. Among the backers that the DFL-endorsed candidate announced today: Fourth Congressional District GOP chair Bev Aplikowski and former state Republican party chair Chris Georgecas.

Among the many reasons the DFL party establishment wants Margaret Anderson Kelliher to triumph in both next month’s primary and in the November general election is to finally halt the notorious string of ballot box failures wrought by its endorsed candidates for governor. The last time the DFL endorsement process lined up behind a gubernatorial winner was in the case of Rudy Perpich back in 1986. But that hardly counts, because Perpich was the incumbent at the time, a distinction he earned only after defeating the previous DFL endorsee, Warren Spannaus, in the 1982 primary.

The fundamental question stemming from today's unallotment ruling by the Minnesota Supreme Court is whether it only applies to the tiny $5.3 million nutrition program that was the basis for the lawsuit or if it invalidates the entirety of the $2.7 billion in unilateral cuts that Gov. Tim Pawlenty made last year.

The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board said last Thursday that it will not investigate a complaint filed by the Minnesota Republican Party against DFL gubernatorial candidate and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

Last summer, when House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) and other DFL legislators were meeting with groups touched by Gov. Tim Pawlenty's unallotments to discuss legal options, one of the key consiglieres in behind-the-scenes deliberations was David Lillehaug, the former U.S. Attorney and DFL activist. PIM spoke with Lillehaug on Wednesday evening, a couple of hours after the release of Judge Kathleen Gearin's temporary restraining order.

Ramsey County Judge Kathleen Gearin sent a deep shock through Minnesota government -- and the state's precarious general fund budget -- this afternoon when she issued a temporary injunction against enforcing some of the budget cuts unilaterally made by Gov. Tim Pawlenty last summer.

Photo by Bill Klotz. Remember that old Jim Croce tune? You don’t tug on superman’s cape You don’t spit into the wind You don’t pull ...

Photo by Bill Klotz. Remember that old Jim Croce tune? You don’t tug on superman’s cape You don’t spit into the wind You don’t pull ...