Our Democracy was based on certain ideals like a constitution that protected rights of people and like separation of powers into three branches of government. Constitutionally making corporations into people has broken the rights of people. The budget and policy rights of the legislature have been taken by presidents and governors. Our Governor Tim Pawlenty's deliberate planned use of unallotment to essentially remove legislature power is part of a court filing, quoted in one of today's recommended diaries on DailyKOS:
It would dramatically change the structure of government created by the Minnesota Constitution if this Court were to sanction a process in which this or any other Governor could sign appropriations into law, then veto revenue bills, and then use unallotment to ignore legislative appropriations and to rewrite the budget according to the Governor's own legislative priorities. This in fact is what has occurred. This use of unallotment was unauthorized by any law and was unconstitutional.
The Uptake will be streaming live coverage of the oral arguments today before Minnesota's Supreme Court.
The executive power has also been abused through how the law is enforced. Republican governors have particularly not enforced selected laws. Now judges and sheriffs are now getting into the process of overruling legislatures through how and which laws are enforced. This totally violates the principles of separation of powers, democracy and values of fairness.
In perhaps the most bizarre twist of all, my local Ramsey county Sheriff's race now has a group of ***DFL*** supporters and perhaps the campaign arguing for voting for the Sheriff based on legislative policy issue stances! My endorsed candidate, Matt Bostrom, from the beginning of the campaign declared that legislative issues are off limits unless they are very directly related to the Sheriff's office. For there is no perception of fairness when officiating civil rights issues when then personal stances of law enforcement officials is known. For example, Sheriff Fletcher is widely known to be a pro-war advocate. Especially law enforcement and judges ought to be selected by character, integrity and fairness (as well as ability to do the job).
So the real questions are: Do we stand up for principles of democracy and separation of powers always? Or is the DFL as bad as Republicans in erosion of Democratic principles when it is in our policy favor? Will we be suddenly for unallotment and expanded gubernatorial powers when we have a Democratic governor?
What has happened to the Democratic Party of Paul Wellstone? Where have all of the truly bold and visionary progressives gone? Are they hiding under a rock or does the Party Machine not let their voices be heard via the corporate media lest they piss off the corporate sponsors of the Democratic Party? Yes, that is correct, I said Corporate Sponsors of the Democratic Party. After reading the following article, http://www.salon.com/news/opin... I must say it only reinforces the beliefs I have had for the last 12 months.
The Democrats don't care about their base unless it is 9 months before the next election. Then, on cue, they start up with the populist and "working families" rhetoric. After the election is over and they have won, it is right back to "business as usual". They slide up to the lobbyists and continue to do the work of Big Business all the while giving us patronizing quips, gentle pats on the head, and nice, warm fuzzies.
Take, for example, the recent Al Franken rally in Minneapolis. The room was packed and people were cheering for a bill that FORCES PEOPLE TO BUY A PRODUCT THAT IS SO BAD, THE GOVERNMENT HAS TO FORCE PEOPLE TO BUY IT. Unfortunately, it is sadly ironic and masochistic. I am sure there were quite a few people who were questioning the bill, as am I, but you could tell the MoveOn.org, SEIU, HealthCareForAmericaNOW, TakeActionMN, and OFA people were all boldly and vigorously cheering for not only Al Franken but also the bill that the President and Congress will eventually pass.
How is that possible? Why have we, the people of the Democratic Party, become so gullible and misinformed that we are willing to become slaves to the medical insurance industry. If you question that statement, I ask you; what other option is there in the president's plan? How else do I obtain medical insurance except through a private medical insurance company?
I truly believe that if President Bush was offering this very plan the Democratic faithful would be up in arms and frothing at the mouth. However, since someone from our party is in power and is offering the plan, we sit back quietly and say while nodding our head, they must know better.
Bullshit! They don't know better because the facts show that they have sold us out for the campaign contributions by the medical insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the medical device industry, and almost every other sector of health care. I can't believe I just said that. The Democratic Party has sold out the working people for Big Business. Disgusting and pathetic!
Therefore, I forewarn you with great respect and remorse before this legislation becomes law. KILL THE HEALTHCARE REFORM BILL!! KILL THE BILL!! Otherwise, the Democratic Party will no longer be the party of the People. Instead, they will join with the Republicans and be the party for the Power.
As we struggle to balance our state government budget, as we struggle to keep our constitutional civil rights and as we struggle to even provide basic health care and basic food to all US citizens, then we ought to remember how were got here.
How we got here?
War
More than any external threat, the United States is being hurt by the desire for war and insatiable greed. John Marty (not endorsed by me) says it best:
Cost of War is budgetary "Elephant in the Room"
by Senator John Marty
February 26, 2010.
The cost of the Iraq and Afghan wars is the budgetary "elephant in the room." It's enormous and it's right in front of us, yet we don't talk about it as we face our economic woes. We don't need to get into arguments about the wars to consider the burden war places on our economy.
President Dwight Eisenhower, one of our nation's greatest military leaders, late in life, expressed deep concern about what he called "the military industrial complex." Eisenhower stated, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
Just in case, any one tries to tell you that don't worry about GAMC, that everyone will just switch to MNcare, here are facts from my esteemed Minnesota House Representative Erin Murphy:
According to DHS testimony in December, auto enrollment of GAMC enrollees into MNCare will yield a high rate of uninsurance and uncompensted care. Here is the math.
Roughly 30,000 Minnesotans are enrolled in GAMC.
20,000 Minnesotans will be auto enrolled in MNCare.
Only 5,000 Minnesotans will retain MNCare post auto enrollment.
Only 3,300 Minnesotans will retain MNCare past the first renewal.
Only 1,300 of the original 30,000 will retain coverage past the second renewal.
Auto enrollment leads to more uninsured Minnesotans and more uncompensated care.
Add this to Alec's post on Pawlenty advocating that healthcare can be refused for lack of insurance. Then the message of Republicans really is: "If you are poor, just die already!"
Let's break down the analogy literally: Pawlenty/conservatives = wronged white wife; Obama/liberals = unfaithful, multiracial public figure; politics = golf, both realms traditionally reserved for whites; violence = appropriate solution to budgetary challenges.
The governor has used the nine iron line before, so be assured that the race-based comparison is intentional and playing well with teabaggers. A point of information to the governor--you need more than a nine iron to make it all the way around a PGA course.
The GAMC bill passed overwhelmingly and quickly through both chambers (Joe Bodell's earlier story). A reliable source just told me that the veto was issued by the Governor's Washington Office. It's clear where TPaw's strings are being pulled.
Our puppet governor wins big-time on this. His ordered veto keeps his "Punish the Poor" hero medal untarnished. Meanwhile the legislative Republicans have their conscience cleansed by voting for the bill. If they vote against over riding the veto they all get new Iron Crosses. If they vote for over ride the Presidential heir apparent can claim that his crown is clear, it was the nasty legislature.
It seems the legislature has tried for some time to eliminate the governor's Washington throne, but he keeps finding a way to keep the power securely behind the beltway billions.
Thursday's start to the 2010 legislative session brought the first in what are expected to be several protests surrounding Governor Pawlenty's unallotment of the General Assistance Medical Assistance Program (GAMC). As with other areas of uallottment (such as Personal Care Assistant cuts and the defunding of the special dietary needs-or MSA-SD--grant), victims of this part of Pawlenty's cuts are among the poorest, most vulnerable residents of Minnesota. In the case of GAMC defunding, those suffering are overwhelmingly the mentally ill adults, typically trying to survive on a meager $200 per month General Assistance income.
The Minnesota chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is working hard to educate the public about the gravity of this cut for the seriously mentally ill, and to organize large-scale protest against the inhumane decision to defund GAMC. Minnesotan's relying on the GAMC for health care-many of whom are homeless-- face losing critical services for their managing their chronic mental illnesses, including loss of psycotherapy and inability to continue their essential medications. In a news release issued Thursday, NAMI organizers wrote:
The veto and unallotment of funding for the General Assistance Medical Care program, which provides basic mental health care to thousands of Minnesotans with mental illnesses, will profoundly impact the lives of these individuals, our health care infrastructure and our criminal justice system. The legislature has tried valiantly to find ways to fund a pared down program through cuts to provider payments and surcharges. Yesterday, due to the objection of counties being asked to pay for 10% of the costs of GAMC, the Senate proposed to take $12 million from adult mental health grants - which would greatly impact the infrastructure of our already fragile mental health system - and $17 million from funding for child protection, children's mental health and vulnerable adult services.
Mental health advocates are faced with a "Sophie's Choice" - health care or community supports - both needed to live.
Yesterday, the press reported that Governor Pawlenty suggested that a new lottery game could raise $12 million for a new stadium for Vikings. Coincidently, that's the same amount that would have to be cut from adult mental health services. "We would be happy to be thrown this 'hail Mary pass,'" said Sue Abderholden, Executive Director of NAMI Minnesota. "In these tough economic times, all of us must make sacrifices - not just people who live on $200 a month or people who live with the most serious mental illnesses. If we can find the money for a stadium, we can find the money for basic health care and social services that support the poorest and most vulnerable among us."
A NAMI-organized rally at the State Capitol is scheduled for February 16, 2010. For details, including information on free bussing and a detailed agenda of speakers, link to the NAMI MN website above.
Listening to NPR earlier today, I heard that in the wake of losing ONE U.S. Senate seat, some Democrats are suggesting it's time for them to sound the retreat; to stop doing the work and fighting the fights people sent them to Washington to do.
The thinking goes like this: Voters in Massachusetts sent a message last night, one that all Democrats better listen to. If we don't stop working for what we believe in, we'll lose in the 2010 elections.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Last night on MSNBC, amid national Democratic despair and hand-wringing, former Vermont Governor and Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean said this:
"The Democrats, if we wanna govern right, we're gonna have a message. We're gonna have to show decisiveness. We're gonna have to show boldness. We're gonna have to show toughness and we're gonna have to show leadership.
"People who blame others are losers. If you want to win elections, you stop blaming and get to work."
Are you tired of wimpy Democrats? It is time to stand up for what we believe in.
This is all eerily familiar for me. You see, in 2005, when I was leader of the DFLers in the State House and we were in the minority, there came a point when we were staring down Tim Pawlenty over the budget. The issue was saving MinnesotaCare for thousands of Minnesotans - or giving in to the governor and breaking our promise to those thousands of people.
I knew where I stood: I intended to fight. But some in my caucus were less sure. "Let's give in to the governor," they said, "and then in November, we can blame him for everything that's gone wrong."
Blame the governor? Minnesotans don't trust us with their votes so that we can play the blame game. They elect us to face challenges and help create opportunity; to stand up to special interests. To get things done.
You might remember that that summer, Minnesota saw a temporary government shutdown. It was not easy; many made sacrifices. But unable to reach a budget deal with an obstinate governor, then-Sen. Majority Leader Dean Johnson and I decided the work we were elected to do was too important to just give in.
After a week of that shutdown, the governor suddenly wanted to talk. Apparently after days of bad media coverage, he re-evaluated whether he wanted to continue a standoff with two stubborn Norwegians - or do his job.
We saved MinnesotaCare. We helped our schools and our towns. And we forced the governor to raise a tobacco tax - the only time he has conceded a revenue increase during his administration.
Our leaders have to be willing to work with each other, even when the disagree. But that doesn't mean we let ourselves get rolled because we lost one seat.
I am working hard to be elected your governor in November. When I am elected, we are going to make some changes. We're going to get rid of No Child Left Behind, which is hurting our schools. We're going to get rid of Tim Pawlenty's failed JOBZ experiment, a shell game in which jobs move from community to community and promises of better economic times are never fulfilled. We're going to stand up to the special interests that have too much influence on our state leaders and show them it's the people who are in charge in Minnesota. We are going to be strong and bold. That is what Minnesotans want... and what they deserve.
Last night we lost a seat in Massachusetts. It is indeed a loss, especially given the historic hands that have held that seat. But it's time for us to busy our hands and get back to work.
Wow, while most of us saw Governor Pawlenty's use of unallotment as a total violation of legislative power, it is still very nicely reassuring when courts say the same thing:
It was the specific manner in which the Governor exercised his unallotment authority that trod upon the constitutional power of the Legislature, and the Legislature alone to make laws that, in the Court's opinion, was unconstitutional.
(snip)
The governor used unallotment rather that calling a special session of the legislature or vetoing the appropriations bill to balance the budget. He did this after singing numerous spending bills which taken together, he knew would not balance the budget unless revenues were raised. He used the unallotment statue to address a situation that was neither unknown nor unanticipated when the appropriations bills became law. The Governors actions in this instance differed from his use of unallotment in the Rukivina case. In that situation the governor used unallotment to protect the state from a financial crisis that was both unknown and unanticipated whiten the appropriation bills were signed.
(from an emailed copy of the court brief)
Good thing that the legislature is about to go into session, otherwise Governor Pawlenty would have to call a special session. Now Governor Pawlenty may have to learn the meaning of the word "negotiate".
"Scrooge Pawlenty" is a Minnesota version of the Christmas Carol featuring Governor Pawlenty, presented on the sidewalk in front of the Governor's Mansion, last Tuesday. The Welfare Rights Committee and their supporters wrote and performed the play. The play is based on the fact that under Governor Pawlenty's administration that richest pay less in overall taxes on a dollar earned than everyone else. "In March 2010, Pawlenty will single-handedly kick over 35,000 Minnesotans in poverty off basic health care," says the Welfare Rights Committee. Here are some of the best lines from the play:
"Pawlenty: I was just trying to pay off, I mean pay back the people who supported my campaign."
"Like the miserly Scrooge, Pawlenty has tried to wring out every last bite of blood from the poor and working people of Minnesota."
"Pawlenty: What do I care? I will be long gone by the time the state gets out of this mess."
Here is a short clip of the "Scooge Pawlenty" protest to give you the flavor:
I read the whole Newsweek interview and found it interesting because in a fairly short space, it tells a lot about our slob hunter gov and the party he's trying to appeal to. It's not just what he says, but that he thinks that's what he has to say to get nominated, and that's he's probably right. He may be an arrogant perfidious dissembler, but he's one of the smartest arrogant perfidious dissemblers the Republicans have, and he definitely has some political skills. Some Republicans might argue with that last bit given their fortunes in legislative elections with Pawlenty as governor, but he hasn't gotten into office and onto the national stage by accident.
(Finally, some good news. Thanks, Eric - promoted by The Big E)
There are many people on the left feeling like every thing has gone to crap since we celebrated Obama's inauguration. The approval ratings of Obama and Congress are lousy, in no small part because of disgruntled Democrats who feel Obama has followed Bush's policies on the wars and civil liberties. Allegedly Democratic senators are on the point of killing health care reform, conservatives are resurgent and feeling quite cocky about their prospects for next year. At the state level, Pawlenty is so far getting away with unallotment and somehow still has about half on Minnesotans liking him.
However, some things have gone well over the last year, and even some disappointments have their mitigations. Suspect if you want that I'm keeping the glass half full by pouring a bucket into a bottomless glass, but consider a few things. All right, a bunch of things, which is why this is just part 1 instead of the whole thing. It was getting rather long for a blog, but let's get started:
Yesterday, I wrote about "Gov. T-Bag And The Case Of The Missing TV's". And we talked about it last night, on AM-950 radio (look for "Two Putt Tommy and Dusty Trice fill in for Mark and talk about Banks, the Governor and some missing TV's").
Well, last night after the show was a snowplow night (thank GOD!!!), and I didn't/don't have time to follow up on that. But, the Strib did, in a piece entitled "Saga of the big-screen TVs continues".
From that story:
More than a month after Pawlenty announced that some of the 50-inch flat screen TVs would be given to veterans homes across the state, the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs reports that eight of the 14 TVs it received were damaged when they arrived. Of the remaining six TVs, four have been installed in veterans homes in Minneapolis and Fergus Falls.(emphasis added)(StarTribune.com)
Hmmm....that's funny; the Administrator of the Fergus Falls Veterans Home told me last Monday that the two TV's were NOT installed; they came with wall-mounts but they need "base mounts" to be utilized at Fergus Falls - so, no veterans have watched any football (or, anything else) on 'em.
And, I went to the Minneapolis Veterans Home yesterday; I wasn't getting answers to my questions from the Veterans Homes brass so I went straight to the source and asked a couple of simple questions:
"Did you get the TV's? Were they in working order?"
When they told me that they got two (of the six they were to receive) and they worked, I pulled a Columbo and asked just one more question: "Can I see 'em"?
"Ummm, no" was the answer.
"Why not?"
"Well, they're in the warehouse."
"Why is that?"
"Can't answer that - you'll have to talk to the Press People (a/k/a, "brass")."
And we'll discuss GagGate, later. Right now, I'm tired.
For now, what we do know, is:
What the Strib reporter was told, and had published, is a LOT different from what I was told.
Somebody is playing fast and loose on this one. And I'm smelling coverup.
Then again, coming from the misAdministration of Tim "I'm The Unalotterer!" Pawlenty, no surprise there!
Back in late October, Gov. T-Bag announced he was pulling large screen televisions from the Moose Lake Regional Treatment Center, where the State houses sex offenders that have essentially completed their sentences but are deemed too dangerous to re-enter society.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty ordered 25 TVs removed, after a newspaper reported the 50-inch sets cost about $2,200 each.
On his weekly radio program today, the governor again called putting the TVs in the sex offender treatment facility "a bone-headed move." Pawlenty said 13 of them will be put to better use in five of the state's veterans homes.
"We'll have our American heroes, those folks who have served this country so valiantly, who are now receiving care and housing from our veterans homes in Minnesota, receiving about 13 or 14 of these nice TV sets, so our veterans can watch state-of-the art nice TVs," said Pawlenty.
Pawlenty said the state will sell the rest of the TVs. He said sex offenders can watch smaller, cheaper TVs. Veterans homes that will get the plasma TVs are in Minneapolis, Fergus Falls, Hastings and Silver Bay. (MnPublicRadio)
OK, so - how'd THAT one work out?
Tune in your radio tonight to AM-950, or listen live on your computer, here!
I'm going to jump ahead of the obvious criticism of that headline and acknowledge it's premature. We don't yet know how the health care debate will come out. I'm going to expound on the lessons learned anyway for two reasons, only the weaker of which is that at this point, we've seen enough to be pretty sure what some of the lessons will be. With the acknowledgment that this assertion is arguable, I'm confident that most of what I say will hold up when a bill is passed and when some time has passed.
However, the second reason is not arguable at all: the legislative fights to which these lessons must be applied are starting already. The state legislature goes into its non-budgetary session in January, where it will be trying to reverse some of Pawlenty's unallotments, especially GAMC. There will also be the bonding bill which is always contentious, at least with Gov. Wounded Deer still in office. Congress is already working on financial reform and global warming legislation, the corporate lobbyists have already chosen their targets, and conservatives are certain to use the same tactics they've been using to obstruct health care, the stimulus, and pretty much everything. That's why the heading says "apply" instead of "learn". What particularly worries me is I see the same mistakes being made at this early stage.
Just in case, any one tries to tell you that don't worry about GAMC, that everyone will just switch to MNcare, here are facts from my esteemed Minnesota House Representative Erin Murphy:
