Jacob Frey, a Minneapolis attorney and organizer of the Big Gay Race against the proposed constitutional marriage ban, declared his candidacy last week.

Then late this weekend, Peter Wagenius, the policy director for Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak and son of Rep. Jean Wagenius, announced his candidacy.

In a statement, Wagenius energetically condemned cuts to jobs, schools and services by the Republican legislature.

“The people of Senate District 59 want to know that state government is on their side, that action is being taken to improve the economy for everyone.  But instead they see cuts to jobs, schools and services that people depend on. They see a tax system that tilts more and more against the middle class,” Wagenius said. “That’s wrong–and we need to stand up and fight.”

District 59 covers the area around the University of Minnesota and Northeast Minneapolis. The special election primary will take place on Dec. 6, with the special election taking place on Jan. 10, 2012, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State.

There’s also an election planned on those days to fill House seat 61B vacated by Jeff Hayden when he was elected to the Senate last month in another special election. There are currently three DFL candidates filed in that race: Susan Allen, Josh Bassais and Nelson Inz.

Former Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller will resign from the legislature to take the head position at the Minnesota Office of Higher Education.

Gov. Mark Dayton announced Pogemiller’s appointment Thursday in a news release. Pogemiller said in the release that he’s honored to be offered the position.

“I’m extremely excited by the opportunity and cognizant of the challenge of making quality post secondary education affordable,” Pogemiller said. “I want to add though, how difficult it is to leave the Minnesota Senate—an institution I love, and a group of people I admire and deeply respect.”

Pogemiller has served in the legislature since 1980, first in the House, then in the Senate. The Minneapolis lawmaker was known at the State Capitol for his willingness to scrap, and presided over budget and policy battles with former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Politics in Minnesota reports that his move will trigger the third Minneapolis special election in recent months. Sen. Linda Berglin also resigned, and Rep. Jeff Hayden won her seat in a special election, meaning his House seat is now also up for grabs.

Tim Pawlenty. Photo: Facebook

Democratic leaders in the Minnesota Legislature urged Gov. Tim Pawlenty Tuesday to apply for $236 million in federal health care money. In a letter to the governor, Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller and House Majority Leader Tony Sertich wrote that it would be “irresponsible” for the state to not seek the funds when many patients in Minnesota are struggling with the tough economy, adding, “You cannot let political ambition get in the way of doing what’s right for Minnesota.” They join the Minnesota Medical Association and the Mayo Clinic in calling for Pawlenty to secure the funds for Minnesota.

A continuation of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentages was signed into law in early August and would result in $236 million in funds for Minnesota. But, under the law, Pawlenty — and other state governors — must request the funds.

“Failure to accept the funds would result in residents paying federal taxes to pay for Medicare programs in other states,” the legislative leaders wrote to Pawlenty. “In fact, you have previously raised the concern that Minnesota is a donor state, and receives only 72 cents for each $1 sent to Washington. Also, these funds do not increase the size of the federal deficit and are entirely paid for within the legislation.”

Minnesota Medical Association president Dr. Benjamin Whitten released a statement on Friday urging Pawlenty to ask for the money.

“Gov. Pawlenty, the physicians of Minnesota strongly encourage you to request these funds. With the state facing an enormous deficit in 2011, the state desperately needs these funds to continue to care for Minnesotans and avoid further health care cuts,” he said.

The Mayo Clinic also urged Pawlenty to request the funds.

Here’s the letter legislative leaders sent to Pawlenty on Tuesday:

FMAP Letter

Dan McElroy, Larry Pogemiller

State Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller’s desire for an early end to Dan McElroy’s tenure as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) got a fresh airing last week by Minnesota Public Radio. One thing keeping the spat civil: The pair attended high school together in the 1960s.

DFLer Pogemiller has kind words for the man he now wants out of the state’s Republican-led administration: “I like him. He’s a good guy. I just don’t think he’s an effective leader of the agency.”

The state Senate could make McElroy the third member of Pawlenty’s cabinet to be removed, following Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau (as transportation commissioner) and Cheryl Yecke (as education commissioner).

For his part, McElroy, a former Republican state legislator, refuses to engage the majority leader — beyond saying that he  ”doesn’t understand where Pogemiller’s coming from,” according to MPR.

But there’s at least one place Pogemiller comes from that McElroy knows well: DeLaSalle High School. Pogemiller (Class of ’69) was three years behind McElroy at the Catholic school near downtown Minneapolis.

Proving, it seems, that a friend in need is not necessarily a friend in DEED.

Pawlenty introduced a question about what the United States should do about Iran with his view that “it’s inevitable that that situation is going to come to a head.” Powell said recent political turmoil has revealed “fissures,” as people press their desire for “liberalized government.”

Regarding Iran’s nuclear program, Powell said the United States had two choices: Take out nukes militarily, or warn them, Cold War style, that any nuclear aggression on their part would bring greater retribution against them.

One area of shared interest wasn’t touched on in Pawlenty’s talk with Powell: the future of the Republican Party.

Also left unmentioned: Powell’s views on the recent arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, and President Obama’s nationally-televised response in which he referenced racial profiling.

Only last week, the NAACP centenary brought Powell together with Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, whose “nation of cowards” speech in February marked the Administration’s other rhetorical milestone on race.

(Idle question: Would Minnesota DFL Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller have broached that timely issue of race with Powell, given the equal time from WCCO that he has asked for?)

Here’s the video of Pawlenty on Fox on Thursday, responding to Obama on health care:

[Via Political Animal]

By constitutional mandate, redistricting takes place every 10 years: Each state’s legislature must redraw the lines that define congressional and legislative districts. But it rarely happens the same way twice; when politicians fail, judges step in to finish the job.

Stakes are especially high in Minnesota, as the state may lose a congressional seat after the 2010 U.S. Census reapportionment. And if Minnesota loses a congressional seat, the redistricting process will decide whether the district of Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann or another incumbent will be relegated to the history books.

The bill, carried by Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller (DFL-Minneapolis), takes up recommendations from a group led by former Vice President Walter Mondale and former Gov. Arne Carlson.

The Mondale-Carlson group (technically, the Advisory Board for the Minnesota Redistricting Project of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota) proposed saving time and sweat by getting judges to draw congressional- and legislative-district lines before legislators themselves get involved. The reverse sequence — Legislature, then courts — is responsible for the state’s current political lines.

But some who were among the closest to the work of reshaping Minnesota’s political boundaries last time around seem to think the existing system worked pretty well.

Redistricting reform got nowhere last session, but this year Pogemiller pushed through his bill by a vote of 39–28 in the final days before the state Legislature adjourned. Next stop: the House’s Committee on State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology and Elections, which could hold discussions on the topic before considering the bill itself when the legislative session resumes in February, according to legislative staff.

UPDATE: In an email, Committee Chair state Rep. Gene Pelowski promises that the committee “will be looking at redistricting over the summer and this bill will be included.”

Reform advocates, led by Mondale and Carlson, have argued (pdf) that the current system is “broken” — badly enough that it won’t do for the next round of redistricting after the 2010 census.

The new system would create a commission of five retired appeals court judges to make the first maps of new district boundaries based on the latest census data. The majority and minority caucuses from both the House and the Senate would appoint one judge each. The four judges would together choose a fifth to join them.

Their first plan would go to the Legislature for an up-or-down vote — no changes allowed. If that fails to pass, the commission would work up a second plan, which again would be subject to an up-or-down vote by the Legislature. Only if the second plan fails to pass would legislators have a chance at concocting their own plan.

Musical chairs

Demographic estimates predict the count in Minnesota may fall about 2,000 people short of the number needed to retain the state’s current complement of eight congressional districts. If that happens, the question of which party’s incumbent loses a seat in Congress will fall to the state’s redistricting process — and will likely make the decennially debilitating battles over creating new legislative boundaries look like cake walks.

So the rules for what could become a titanic game of musical chairs matter deeply. And exactly who applies those rules depends on who wins the race for governor next year. If Democrats retain control of the state Legislature but lack veto-proof majorities in both houses, then a Republican in the governor’s mansion keeps things complicated, as both the state’s legislative and executive branches must approve a new plan.

On the other hand, if a Democrat succeeds Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the struggle for the DFL becomes one of drawing the most advantageous plan possible under constitutional requirements.

The last time the state took on this task, after the 2000 census, it was not simply a matter for one party, or even two. For the first time, redistricting was a three-way partisan game: The Independence Party’s Jesse Ventura was governor, Republicans held the House, and the DFL controlled the Senate.

Each assigned a staffer to draw a redistricting plan. (Wielding somewhat less influence were the minority caucuses from each legislative body, whose redistricting staffers included one Michael Brodkorb for the Senate Republicans.)

Veterans of the trenches

Over the past few weeks, the Minnesota Independent interviewed key staffers from each party as well as the man who ran redistricting for the state Legislature: Peter Wattson, now secretary of the Senate.

All had a hand in drawing — or, in Wattson’s case, evaluating — maps that eventually got redrawn by the courts. But all seem satisfied by the result.

Wattson said the redistricting process last time was “pretty orderly, actually.”

Greg Peppin, who drew redistricting maps for the Republican House majority, recalls that “everyone felt that the plan was pretty fair.”

Vic Thorstenson, Peppin’s counterpart for Senate Democrats, said: “We were pretty happy with the court’s plan.”

Joe Mansky, who represented Ventura and the Independence Party, concurred: “We were pretty happy with the outcome,” he said.

That doesn’t mean all four oppose Pogemiller’s plan. Thorstenson and Wattson still work at the Capitol and wouldn’t give their opinions on the reform proposal.

Peppin, now a political consultant, said “the process is just steeped in politics” and reckons that a judicial panel assigned first crack at drawing maps “will not be able to do it better than the Legislature.”

Mansky supports the plan, in part because it hearkens back to a commission Ventura formed for the same purpose.

Popularity and obscurity

In his current role as elections manager for Ramsey County, Mansky became a familiar face this year to the dedicated followers of the Norm Coleman/Al Franken Senate race, due to long hours he spent on the witness stand of the recent election-contest trial.

But seven years ago, the trio toiled over their redistricting maps in relative obscurity — outside of the state Capitol, that is.

“We mapmakers were very popular,” Peppin recalls. Legislators of every stripe were eager to know how things were shaping up — particularly for their home districts. “There was a reason for changing the locks and giving us all fresh keys,” he said.

Thorstenson’s recalls his home-away-from-home during those days the same way: “I was in a room at the State Capitol that even the janitors weren’t allowed to go into.”

Coming: Scenarios past mapmakers see for the redistricting to come

Pawlenty claims that the DFL-controlled legislature has authorized spending of roughly $34 billion, while only creating revenues of $31 billion. “Your approach puts me in the position of evaluating your bills without having a viable plan from you to pay for them,” Pawlenty writes. “Before we commit the state to write checks from the public checkbook, I need to know how you intend to cover the $3 billion hole in your plan noted above.”

On Saturday the governor vetoed a tax bill that would have raised $1 billion in revenue. Pawlenty also states in the letter that he’s available to meet with the DFL leadership. Legislative leaders met with the governor yesterday, but both sides reported little progress. The legislative session is slated to end in five days.

The governor called for a $33.6 billion budget — or 2.2 percent less than in the current two-year cycle. His plan includes tax cuts for corporations and increased funding for K-12 education, but also mandates steep reductions in spending on higher education, local government aid and health and human services.

In addition, it relies on more than $3 billion in one-time fixes, including increased federal funding via the looming stimulus package, accounting shifts and future tobacco revenues.

“Our nation and our state faces a historic crisis the likes of which we haven’t seen since World War II,” Pawlenty said, in announcing the budget proposal. “This is bringing on a profound sense of concern and challenge for our citizens in Minnesota.”

The deficit is projected to be $4.8 billion for the next biennium, but that figure is widely expected to grow as the economy continues to flatline and jobs disappear. The current budget cycle runs through the end of June.

Under Pawlenty’s proposal, adults without children would no longer be eligible for state health insurance programs, while coverage for adults with kids would be limited to those earning less than 100 percent of the federal poverty level ($21,200 for a family of four). It’s estimated that 84,000 Minnesotans would lose their health insurance under the proposal. Despite these proposed cutbacks, the budget for health and human services spending would still increase by 9.6 percent over the next two years.

Higher education would also take a significant hit. The University of Minnesota would lose roughly $150 million in funding, while the the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system would be out $146 million. The cuts represent an 8.2 percent reduction in spending on higher education from the current biennium.

Pawlenty also proposed additional cuts to local government aid, which has been repeatedly slashed in recent years. Under the governor’s plan, such spending would be reduced an additional 5.4 percent, to $2.9 billion.

The specter of more cuts to local government aid prompted a strong reaction from the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities.

“This budget will take the state of Minnesota in a direction most Minnesotans don’t want to go,” said St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, a vice president of the organization. “We’re all eager to work together toward a solution to the challenges the state faces, but this proposal puts a disproportionate burden on communities throughout the state of Minnesota that can simply not afford it.”

One area that emerged unscathed in Pawlenty’s budget plan is K-12 education. Pawlenty proposed increasing funding for schools by 2 percent. In return he wants all school districts across the state to implement Q Comp, a compensation system that bases teacher salaries on student performance.

Corporations would also benefit under Pawlenty’s budget plan. He proposed cutting the state’s corporate income tax by more than half — from 9.8 percent to 4.8 percent. He offered up a series of additional tax breaks for businesses aimed at spurring job growth.

The initial response from Democratic legislative leaders was wary.

“We absolutely want everybody to know that we are going to work with his budget as seriously as we can, and we assume there are some excellent proposals there,” Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller told reporters at the capitol.

But House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher raised concerns about the $3.2 billion in one-time fixes proposed by Pawlenty.

“I would say this budget appears to be full of some gimmicks, and we are going to take a close look at that,” she said. “It is a concern that if you build a budget completely out of those things the long-term financial health of the state could be at risk.”

Anderson Kelliher also said that Democrats will hold hearings across the state to get feedback on how to solve the budget crisis before offering up their own proposal.

Brian Melendez, chair of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, was less restrained in his reaction.

“Minnesota’s tax system is already unfair,” he said in a statement. “Governor Pawlenty would make it even more unfair with tax breaks to corporations so that they can pay bigger bonuses to their executives and buy nicer artwork for their boardrooms — not create the jobs that Minnesota desperately needs.”

Republicans, not surprisingly, were more receptive to Pawlenty’s proposal.

“Thank you, Governor, for giving us a solution and helping us find our way back into prosperity,” said House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, speaking to reporters at the Capitol.

He called on Democrats to step up and offer their own proposal for dealing with the deficit.

“At some point they need to lead,” Seifert said. “We know what the problem is. So now we need solutions and we need leaders.”

More: Pawlenty’s proposed budget cuts draw angry response

But the proposed stamp reduction quickly sparked opposition from Democrats. “This is the way many members stay in touch with their constituents,” said Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller. “You don’t have to use up this total allotment if you don’t want.”

Sen. Steve Murphy echoed those comments. “Many of us that have larger districts … we depend upon that postage to stay in contact with our constituents,” noted Murphy, a DFLer from Red Wing. “Today, more than ever, we need the input from our constituents.”

Ultimately the proposal was voted down by a 38-27 margin, largely along party lines.