Lori Swanson

So much for states’ rights: Iowa-based American Future Fund wants the Federal Elections Commission to rule against Minnesota’s long-standing ban on robocalls in order to include Minnesota in its national robocall campaigns, the Star Tribune reports. The group, which bills itself as a “conservative and free market” operation, filed a complaint with the FEC arguing [...]

Don’t let health care reform put a new tax on med-tech companies. That was the message of a letter sent last week by a bipartisan group of Minnesota members of Congress to U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, chair of the Senate Finance Committee that takes up a reform bill today. But somehow the letter failed to [...]

If Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s office still uses those “While You Were Out” notes, his Monday-morning stack would make interesting reading. During his weekend trip to Iraq, Pawlenty was called a GOP “star” like Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and his name came up in speculation about which unnamed governor was reportedly also serviced by one of former [...]

As a result of a hearing held by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission are suing a large pharmaceutical company for alleged price gouging over drugs used to treat newborn babies with heart defects. In a matter of months, one such drug increased from $108 to more than $1,500, putting a strain on local children’s hospitals.

The Office of the Legislative Auditor has determined that there are no grounds to further investigate the conduct of Attorney General Lori Swanson. In a report released today, the office stated that any possible wrongdoing fell outside the purview of the auditor’s investigative powers.

Swanson has been dogged by allegations that she pressured staff to pursue [...]

Minnesota has joined 16 other states in suing the Bush administration for the right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.

Attorney General Lori Swanson announced today that her office is joining the lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which in December denied California the ability to limit vehicle emissions.

The California standards would [...]

Minnesota is not yet among a group of states suing the Bush administration for the right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. But the state could soon become entangled in the conflict, as lobbyists and lawmakers here prepare to push the same set of rules that ignited the dispute.

The legislation, which originated [...]

The Drum Major Institute, a progressive, nonprofit think tank, is highlighting two Minnesota elected officials this week.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak appears on MayorTV, an initiative focused on pushing urban and city-level issues into the national political debate.  Although Rybak took the opportunity to hype his endorsement of Barack Obama in the Illinois senator’s presidential bid, [...]

I voted for Lori Swanson in last year’s primary for attorney general, and later in the general election.  I thought she represented new blood, something the DFL perennially lacks.  More than that, I was impressed by her firm grasp of what was going on in the office of the attorney general.  In her previous job [...]

Former Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch has resigned from his position in the attorney general’s office, according to news reports.

Hatch, who served two terms as attorney general before an unsuccessful 2006 gubernatorial run on the DFL ticket, had been working on special litigation projects under new Attorney General Lori Swanson, a DFLer who had been [...]