Sure, it’s a 12-way tie, but Minnesota can now boast (or grimace, depending on your political leanings) that it’s represented by the most liberal member of the U.S. House…
A new look in the Washington junk drawer: Rep. Keith Ellison lauds the Obama administration’s aid for Gaza, while Rep. Tim Walz tries to tackle an insider trading bill for legislators and Rep. John Kline joins the call for a congressional pay freeze.
Congressional Quarterly has released its annual rankings of federal legislators in terms of party loyalty and support for President George W. Bush’s policies. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (pictured), finishing up her second year at the Capitol, voted with her…
Is the term “progressive Republican” an oxymoron? With religious hardliners and anti-tax crusaders dominating the party in recent years, that would certainly seem to be the case. But a documentary airing this Saturday on Twin Cities Public Television makes the case that GOP politicians in Minnesota have a long tradition of advocating policies aimed at alleviating poverty and reducing inequality.
If you accept taxpayer money, you have to accept that you’re going to receive public scrutiny. That simple point seems to be eluding Minnesota Teen Challenge (MNTC), the faith-based drug treatment program which secured a federal earmark in early 2008 arranged by Rep. Jim Ramstad, for its “Know the Truth” program which aims to prevent drug use.
Last week, the program sent two nearly identical letters to both the Minnesota Independent and the Huffington Post responding to articles critical of their programming.
Thursday’s 52-35 Senate vote on a proposed $14 billion bailout for the auto industry broke down along party lines in Minnesota: Norm Coleman voted against it; Amy Klobuchar for it. The vote on the House version a…
While Rep. Jim Ramstad’s name has been floated as a possible choice for “drug czar” in the administration of Barack Obama, the retiring nine-term congressman has apparently set his sights on another job, head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — and the Republican has enlisted Democrats, notably Sen. Edward Kennedy and Reps. Patrick Kennedy and Pete Stark, to lobby on his behalf.
Throughout his career, retiring Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad championed the needs of people battling mental illness or chemical addiction, often through the lens of his own experience as a recovering alcoholic. For that reason, his name tops the list of possible appointments by the Obama administration as either drug czar or administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. But, should he get the nod for either spot, one Ramstad-sponsored earmark could raise questions in his confirmation hearings — $235,000 that went to the Minnesota Teen Challenge, an Assemblies of God drug treatment center with a history of controversial therapies and overt religious indoctrination.
Although his name has been floated to become Barack Obama’s “drug czar,” Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad’s allies have approached senior members of Obama’s transition team on his behalf to become the next Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration administrator instead.
Now that the State and Treasury department picks have been officially unveiled, the parlor game of Obama cabinet speculation turns to the less high-profile posts — the people no one hears much about unless it turns up that they’re harboring illegal immigrants in their garage. Almost since election day, retiring Rep. Jim Ramstad’s name has been rumored to be in the mix for Drug Czar (more formally known as the head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy). Politico first floated the rumor in mid-November, but today the Christian Science Monitor keeps the speculation alive in an editorial that mentions Ramstad and calls for a greater emphasis on drug treatment.
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