It is the first day of session and Republican Sen. Mike Parry's
footsteps are still echoing down the halls of the capitol building, but
he is already thinking of limiting his potential political career in
St. Paul.
Parry was elected as the senator for District 26 just
two weeks ago during the special election that ensued after six-term
Republican Sen. Dick Day resigned on Dec. 8, 2009 to take up a career
as a lobbyist. Parry carried the election with 43.04 percent of the
vote, compared to 36.5 percent for DFLer Jason Engbrecht and 20.32
percent for Independence Party candidate Roy Srp. One of the first
bills Parry plans to write will deal with term limits — if he has his
way, each legislator will be confined to just three terms.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty presented a supplemental budget Monday morning
that outlines how he wants to erase a $1.2 billion state budget deficit.
Aid to cities, counties and health and human services took the deepest cuts in Pawlenty's proposal.
The governor, who is in his last year in office, pledged to protect
programs for the military, veterans, public safety and money for K-12
classroom education.
According to the governor's office, the budget proposal cuts $250
million from aids to local units of government; $347 million from
health and human service programs; $47 million from higher education
funding, and $181 million from state agencies and other programs. . . .
In today’s survey of Minnesota’s political Twittersphere, conservatives try to stain the Alliance for a Better Minnesota with a spoof Twitter account, a Wellstone Action organizer questions Michele Bachmann’s no-vote on a bill to help tribes investigate rapists, and outrage at the Republican National Committee signing on discredited conservative activist And […]
DFL-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher has released a new TV ad titled “Stone,” the third ad of her campaign. The spot focuses on job creation, with Kelliher saying she will leave “no stone unturned,” listing support for small businesses, teaching math and science in schools and clean energy jobs as means of reviving Minnesota’s job […]
The Legislature will convene for a brief special session to finish balancing the states budget, after legislative leaders and Gov. Tim Pawlenty reached an agreement. […]
The House and Senate passed a bill that would solve the states $3 billion budget deficit, but did so without a firm budget agreement between legislative leaders and Gov. Tim Pawlenty. […]