The Senate amendment, which has a recent House counterpart, would give Congress and states the authority to regulate money spent in federal and state political campaigns.

Franken formally signed on to support the Senate amendment last week. It was proposed at the start of November by Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico.

“Minnesotans’ right to fair and transparent elections have been severely compromised since the Supreme Court held that American corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money on elections ,” Franken told the Minnesota Independent in an email. “This constitutional amendment would authorize Congress to regulate the raising and spending of money in federal and state campaigns, which is why I strongly support it.”

The move comes as a slew of new Super PACs have raised millions of dollars in anticipation of next year’s presidential and congressional races.

Source: Sen. Lee Bright's Facebook page.

Rep. Michele Bachmann announced Tuesday that her presidential campaign chairman in South Carolina, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired, is state Sen. Lee Bright, who has made comments about secession and introduced a bill to study whether the state should start printing its own currency.

“Michele Bachmann is the candidate who doesn’t just give lip service to conservative principles but actively lives them out every day,” Bright said in a statement. “She is the conservative who has been consistent in her record and her rhetoric.”

Bright introduced his bill to study the creation of a new South Carolina currency earlier this session. The resolution argues that the right to print currency can flow from the state’s constitutional police powers.

“[M]any widely recognized experts predict the inevitable destruction of the Federal Reserve System’s currency through hyperinflation in the foreseeable future,” the resolution reads. ”[I]n the event of hyperinflation, depression, or other economic calamity related to the breakdown of the Federal Reserve System, for which the state is not prepared, the state’s governmental finances and private economy will be thrown into chaos, with gravely detrimental effects upon the lives, health, and property of South Carolina’s citizens, and with consequences fatal to the preservation of good order throughout the state.”

If passed, the legislation would appoint a subcommittee to come up with a plan for an alternative currency.

“South Carolina can avoid or at least mitigate many of the economic, social, and political shocks to be expected to arise from hyperinflation, depression, or other economic calamity related to the breakdown of the Federal Reserve System only through the timely adoption of an alternative sound currency that the state’s government and citizens may employ without delay in the event of the destruction of the Federal Reserve System’s currency,” according to the resolution.

It was last year that Bright played a major role in helping to pass a non-binding, but contentious, affirmation of South Carolina’s sovereignty under the U.S. Constitution.

“If at first you don’t secede, try again,” Bright joked to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal after the sovereignty bill’s passage. ”I think all of our rights are under assault, but assault on the 9th and 10th amendments is the most egregious.”

Gov. Scott Walker; Source: Gateway Technical College, Flickr

Starting Tuesday, Wisconsin Democrats and labor groups will start an effort to gather more than 550,000 signatures by mid-January on a petition to recall Gov. Scott Walker.

Walker earned the ire of unions when he pushed a law eliminating collective bargaining rights for public workers earlier this year. Democrats are also planning to recall Republican state legislators, although they haven’t announced their targets, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

The fight is increasingly contentious, with some Democrats fearing that Republicans might gather signatures on Walker petitions only to destroy them, and the Republican Party setting up an online “integrity center,” according to the Journal-Sentinel.

“The site allows Walker backers to submit photos, videos and complaints to the Republican Party. The purpose of the site is to protect voters who “suspect foul play by Wisconsin Democrats or big government union bosses,” said a statement from Stephan Thompson, the party’s executive director.”

The recent labor union defeat of a similar anti-collective bargaining law in Ohio energized labor forces, Bloomberg reports. A number of large rallies are planned across the state in coming weeks.

Recent polls have shown the state split on the recall effort. Walker has been rocked by a corruption investigation involving top staff members.

No Democrat candidates have yet entered the race, although the Daily Mail reports that a number of politicians are jockeying for the slot behind the scenes—possible candidates include former Sen. David Obey and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

Source: A still of Sen. Amy Klobuchar from the ad.

In ads that will run on cable throughout the week, digital rights activist groups criticize Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar for support of the Commercial Felony Streaming Act, which they say would throttle internet freedom to protect profits for entertainment companies.

On its website, Demand Progress, a progressive group, says they have one goal for the ad: “We need to embarrass a key lawmaker to set an example for others, and make it clear that it’s not okay to shill for the entertainment industry.”

The ad targets the Commercial Felony Streaming Act, which would “makes unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty of up to 5 years in prison,” according to Open Congress.

The ad is named “Bieber is Right” in reference to teen pop star Justin Bieber’s comments criticizing Klobuchar for the bill. It asks: “Why is Sen. Klobuchar’s top legislative priority an internet censorship bill that would risk putting ordinary internet users and even Justin Bieber behind bars?”

It’s also paid for by Fight for the Future, a technology rights group, and contains much footage from Occupy Wall Street rallies in Minnesota. Many other groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology, have opposed the legislation.

The act is supported by a host of entertainment and media companies, many of which gave generously to Democratic candidates, according to Open Congress.

(jimmywayne22, Flickr)

North Dakota is on its way to becoming the first state in the country to have an operating health insurance exchange, which is required under the Affordable Care Act.

The Grand Forks Herald reports that North Dakota’s bill was drafted by a dedicated Health Care Reform Review Committee after the regular session ended.

Pam Sharp, director of the North Dakota Office of Management and Budget, said it will include a new website to allow residents to compare costs and benefits of health insurance plans.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report (.pdf) earlier this summer that 39 states and the District of Columbia have introduced some form of legislation promoting exchange implementation.”

“Among the 34 states where the legislation would fully establish a state exchange program, ten states enacted such bills into law,” the group reports.

Most states should have some infrastructure in place by January 2013 for an exchange. Minnesota has yet to make the required adjustments, with Republicans in the legislature blocking legislation, leading Prof. Larry Jacobs of the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute to conclude that “many Minnesotan Republicans appear to equate any action with political and constitutional abdication.”

Gov. Mark Dayton created two committees at the end of October that are charged with forging and implementing the state’s health exchange plan, according to Politics in Minnesota. But Republicans are questioning whether he has the authority to move without the legislature.

Only 11 states have not introduced any legislation to establish a state exchange program. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says that “Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire and Oklahoma reportedly will return exchange grant funds.”

In the annual St. Cloud State University Survey, 55 percent of Minnesotans surveyed say the state is on the wrong track, down one percent from last year.

About 22 percent of Minnesotans said unemployment and jobs were the biggest problem, with another 14 percent pointing to the economy. The survey found that most respondents thought Democrats could do a better job with the economy, while they trusted Republicans to fix the budget.

Despite their trust in Republicans to fix budgets more than 54 percent of those surveyed blamed the Republican-dominated legislature for this summer’s government shutdown, with a little more than 18 percent laying full blame at the feet of DFL Gov. Mark Dayton. Event those who identified as Republicans blamed the legislature at a higher proportion, according to survey results.

About half of all respondents want to see state budget solutions that rely only on spending cuts, while a little more than a quarter of those surveyed want both.

The survey also found that U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann was the most unpopular figure of the 11 surveyed, with those surveyed giving her a rating of 33 out of 100. It also found that even in her home state, Bachmann would perform much worse in a hypothetical match-up against Pres. Barack Obama than either Herman Cain or Mitt Romney. Obama won in all three hypothetical match-ups.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has recently been heralded by conservative pundits who regret his early departure from the GOP presidential race, told MSNBC Thursday that he won’t accept a vice presidential position.

Pawlenty dropped his bid for the GOP presidential nomination following a third-place finish in the August Iowa Straw Polls. An endorsement of Mitt Romney’s campaign led to speculation that he was gunning for the vice presidential spot.

MSNBC host host Lawrence O’Donnell proposed that Pawlenty is Romney’s best prospect for a vice presidential candidate.

“I’ve already said publicly and repeatedly, that’s not something I’m going to consider,” Pawlenty said. ”He’s going to have a lot of great people to pick from as a vice presidential candidates, I’m sure he’ll make a great pick, it will be a great balanced ticket, but that’s not something I’m going to consider.”

Pawlenty said the “bench strength of the Republican Party and conservative movement is incredible,” citing vice presidential prospects for politicians like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was chosen to be John McCain’s running mate over Pawlenty in the 2008 race.

Video: Pawlenty discusses his decision not to pursue or accept a vice presidential offer around the 11:00 mark.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

According to a new Gallup poll, only 9 percent (for Perry) and 3 percent (for Bachmann) of Republican voters see them as the likely candidate to receive the nomination.

Minnesota Independent reporter Andy Birkey and Texas Independent editor Patrick Michels discussed how their home-state candidate is viewed back home, how religion plays a big part in both candidates’ politics and the “outsider” personas they have cultivated on their way to the national stage.

The complaint was filed on Nov. 9, and will be followed by a hearing with an administrative judge if the company, MikLin Enterprises, doesn’t settle with the International Workers of the World.

For more background, see the entire story at the Minnesota Independent.

Jimmy John’s Complaint

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (PCA) is responsible for monitoring and enforcing environmental standards in the state. For the final quarter of 2010, the PCA had an accounts receivable balance of $8.2 million, with errors of $6.2 million.

Auditors found that the PCA hadn’t created adequate controls to monitor regulatory fines or penalties the agency received. Because the PCA didn’t safeguard or keep daily logs of receipts, auditors found that checks could have been lost or stolen without the agency’s knowledge.

The PCA also failed to “redact not public information, such as bank routing and account numbers.” The agency allowed employees without a business need to access the information, which auditors said employees could use to “commit fraud against the check writer.”

The PCA also neglected to safeguard non-public data, which was available for all agency employees to view, and which 52 employees could edit, auditors found.

The lax financial controls led to errors in the PCA’s quarterly report, the audit found.

“For the quarter ended December 31, 2010, the agency reported about $8.2 million of accounts receivable to the Department of Management and Budget; however, the report had significant errors and concerns, totaling about $6.2 million.”

Those errors included an overstatement of superfund receivables by $4.5 million, including $3 million where the agency had already either settled and failed to adjust the balance or didn’t post the payments to the debtor’s account.

The report concludes that the agency was ultimately unable to substantiate hundreds of thousands of dollars in regulatory penalties due to the lax controls.

Auditors recommend that the PCA institute safeguards for its accounts receivables, limit the workers who have access to view and edit non-public data and that Office of Management and Budget provide more oversight for all state agencies on dealing with account receivables.
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