On Wednesday, legislation dealing with the Minnesota Sex Offender Program was introduced in the House. Rep. Debra Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Park, offered a bill that would require any civilly committed sex offender who is convicted of a felony while at MSOP to serve prison time.

Forgive the mafia reference, but the best descriptor of the role attorney David Lillehaug currently plays in the Minnesota DFL Party is consigliere — a highly trusted adviser, wizened counselor and brass-tacks troubleshooter for those at the levers of power within the organization.

Since before the state government shutdown even began, it was clear where the impasse was headed if neither governor nor Legislature blinked: straight to the courtroom of Ramsey County District Court Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin.

Not issuing cards may be harmful to business, a judge ruled, it is not critical enough to override concerns about the judicial branch making budget decisions.

The apparent budget deal struck late Thursday afternoon — described by Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP legislative leaders as the “framework” for a global agreement — brought a collective sigh of relief from businesses across most sectors of Minnesota’s economy, which were bracing for a significant and mounting disruption.

An order issued Friday means logging operations that had been allowed to continue under a separate ruling will once again stop.

Without state inspectors on the job, racing had come to a halt, jeopardizing thousands of jobs and the businesses at both Canterbury and Running Aces.

By all accounts, the Dayton administration’s shutdown playbook went something like this: Limited to only the most essential, core services, a hard but short-lived shuttering of state government would ramp up the pressure on intransigent Republicans and push the Legislature toward compromise.

The scene was a new one for the governor, at least since the state entered a historic government shutdown two weeks ago. While Dayton made an additional offer to the GOP majorities and appeared at two St. Paul news conferences in the week after the July 1 shutdown, few have seen the state’s chief executive outside of the confines of the now-locked down state Capitol.

The decision is a reversal of Gearin's original ruling June 29 which stopped the child care grant payments, saying they were not a "critical, core."