Minnesota experts on lobbyist disclosure say ALEC’s activity here requires the group to register as a lobbyist under state law.
The organization held an event without registering as a state lobbyist, as a Minnesota board ruled was necessary in 1995.
Last week’s House Judiciary Policy and Finance hearing on a bill that would ban taxpayer funding for abortion erupted into anger when Republican Rep. Tony Cornish of Good Thunder called a poem read by a United Church of Christ pastor “disgusting,” a term he also used for the American Civil Liberties Union.
A provision in the House Omnibus Education Finance bill released by Republican leadership on Monday could run afoul of the state constitution: School vouchers. Minnesota’s constitutional ban on taxpayer funding for religious schools, which stems back to anti-Catholic sentiment in the late 1800s, could create legal problems for the bill, as other states have found.
Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty has spent the past few weeks trying to curry favor with a slew of conservative religious figures, some so extreme they’ve been labeled “hate groups” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He’s gone public about his plan to reinstate of the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers if elected president and claimed that America was founded “under God.” While Pawlenty has always been a social conservative, he hasn’t worn it on his sleeve this prominently. But will these new friends help or hamper his likely 2012 bid for president?
As a state legislator, Tom Emmer has been vocal about divisive social issues — he led the charge to amend the constitution to bar gay marriage, tried to prevent same-sex couples from using surrogate mothers, and called an AIDS outreach program to gay men “disgusting discourse” — but now that he’s running for governor, Emmer’s virtually silent on such topics. While Emmer has focused on the economy in his campaign, his aversion to discussing social issues may be a bid to reach moderate voters.
While most eyes are focused on Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District and the spectacle that is already Rep. Michele Bachmann vs. Sen. Tarryl Clark, some political watchers see a potential battle in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District between freshmen Republican Rep. Erik…
Outrage over Target’s $150,000 donation to pro-business MN Forward because of the group’s support of GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer (who’s been linked to anti-gay groups) has cascaded from local media to international news. Hamline University professor David Schultz says the attention drawn to the race, and to Emmer, could transform a state election into a national battleground as partisan dollars fly to the region to back up each candidate’s values.
Margaret Anderson Kelliher is about to attempt a rarely tried feat: serving as Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives during a contentious legislative session while at the same time running for governor in a competitive DFL field.
House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher is getting her second union endorsement for governor in as many days (and her third so far), this one from the 43,000-member Greater Minnesota American Federation of State, County and Municipal…
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