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Adjournment fever pandemic strikes Capitol
The conventional wisdom from the start was that Session 2012 would be a short one. A healthy budget surplus plus newly redrawn legislative districts meant less work to be done at the Capitol and more to be done back home, where some lawmakers will face intra-party endorsement challenges and others have to get to know a daunting amount of new territory.
DFL senators file ethics complaint against Geoff Michel for handling of Koch scandal
DLFers say Michel failed to act quickly enough to restore a “safe working environment” for senators, “betrayed the public’s trust” by reporting an inaccurate timeline to the media and brought the Senate into “dishonor and disrepute.”
Sviggum agrees to resign U of M regents post in face of backlash
Steve Sviggum agreed to resign from the University of Minnesota's Board of Regents on Thursday amid concerns that his job with the GOP Senate caucus presented an irreconcilable conflict of interest.
U of M Board of Regents chair: Sviggum’s Senate job is a conflict
Linda Cohen said she has been investigating the issue with university General Counsel Mark Rotenberg and believes the dual roles present a conflict of interest -- but the university is still investigating the issue.
Tribal gaming dollars go bipartisan
Indian tribes have been a powerful force in Minnesota politics for nearly two decades, bankrolling major political party groups with hundreds of thousands of dollars for their campaigns. In 2011 they spread their money almost evenly between DFLers and Republicans.
Senate Republicans come out swinging
It was supposed to be such a nice session. Or at least that’s what Capitol watchers and many lawmakers were expecting after last year’s bitter shutdown fight. Nor was that the only wound still in need of closing.
U of M to consider dual Sviggum roles (updated)
Board of Regents Chair Linda Cohen said the established code of ethics doesn't mention a situation such as Sviggum's, it's the board's duty to investigate whether the arrangement is a proper.
Former House Speaker Sviggum named Senate communications director
Former House Speaker Steve Sviggum has been appointed communications director and executive assistant for the Senate GOP caucus. Sviggum spent nearly three decades in the House, including eight years in the body's top leadership post.
Mike Parry draws on visibility of his state Senate seat to bolster his campaign for Congress
It was just a 176-word campaign email, but Sen. Mike Parry hit all the right notes: attacking Gov. Mark Dayton’s child care unionization order; lambasting labor; providing links to news coverage; and taking aim at the next opponent on his political horizon, DFL U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, whose congressional seat Parry hopes to claim in 2012.
With the state GOP mired in debt, candidates for the party’s vacant top post have been slow to emerge
Who wants to run the Republican Party of Minnesota? That’s the question that has been generating a steady stream of rumors and trial balloons since state party Chairman Tony Sutton suddenly resigned earlier this month.
GOP party chair field: Many strong potential challengers rule out run
In the five days since Tony Sutton resigned as chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota, many names have been floated as potential replacements. But only one potential challenger -- GOP activist Sue Jeffers -- has stated that they're seriously considering seeking the post. Many others have ruled out a run for the cash-strapped party's top post.
Why gambling expansion remains a long-shot bet
A steady downpour didn’t keep Indian gambling workers from flocking outside the state Capitol in St. Paul last April. At least 1,500 people gathered outside on the building’s steps, some arriving by the busload from reservations hours away. Clad in raincoats and shielded by a canopy of umbrellas, workers thrust signs into the air that read, “Rural jobs count too” and “Don’t gamble wit[...]
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