The proposed 2012 budget for the state Republican party contains no funding for the deputy chair or executive director positions, according to an email sent out on Tuesday by eight members of the party's executive committee. The email was sent out to the party's roughly 350 state central delegates, who will gather on December 3 to elect a new deputy chair and approve the budget.

Try as she might, there are occasions when Sen. Amy Klobuchar can’t please everyone. Last month the DFL freshman senator drew national headlines when teen idol Justin Bieber declared that she should be “locked up” for sponsoring legislation that would make streaming unlicensed online content a felony.

Kelly Fenton is a veteran of Minnesota legislative campaigns. She ran popular freshman Sen. Ted Lillie’s successful campaign in Woodbury last fall and is president of the Minnesota Excellence in Public Service Series (MEPSS), a women’s leadership and political training program that has served as a breeding ground for successful legislative candidates.

Brodkorb is responding to a passage in the Politics in Minnesota Weekly Report, in which a background source with knowledge of the proceedings said the state party’s executive committee blocked Sutton from appointing an interim chair.

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 with my job!”

The Minnesota GOP party will conduct a presidential straw poll in conjunction with next month's Midwest Leadership Conference in Bloomington. Only participants in the conference will be eligible to participate.

GOP House leaders are warning Gov. Mark Dayton not to unilaterally unionize home daycare providers through an executive order. In a letter sent on Wednesday, Speaker Kurt Zellers and Majority Leader Matt Dean argue that such a step would violate the state constitution by usurping legislative powers.

Supporting Michele Bachmann’s presidential bid wasn’t necessarily an easy decision for David FitzSimmons. While the three-term Republican congresswoman would seem a natural choice for FitzSimmons, who chairs the Republican Party in her home 6th District, he was squarely in the Ron Paul camp during the 2008 election and worked for his campaign.

The Minnesota GOP has agreed to pay a $170,000 civil fine for failing to report nearly $1 million in debt from the 2006 election cycle. Party officials say they have taken steps to improve reporting.

Republicans are lining up for the Oct. 18 special election to fill two Senate seats that have been held by DFLers for the last several decades.