“We did pass all of the pro-life legislation that we thought was very important whether it be fetal pain, whether it be stem cell research, whether it be human cloning,” Zellers told Minnesota Public Radio. “A lot of these things we passed. Gov. Dayton vetoed those bills.”

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) President Leo LaLonde sent a fundraising letter to supporters last week that lambasted Republican leaders for not pushing pro-life policies hard enough.

“[We] felt confident that House and Senate leaders would insist that at least some of our protective measures would be included in the final budget,” LaLonde’s letter read. “Senate Majority Leader Koch and Speaker of the House Zellers quickly struck a deal with Gov. Dayton, and in the blink of an eye all five pro-life measures that has been passed by nearly two-thirds, veto-proof margin during the legislative session were negotiated away.”

Zellers said the legislature passed the bills desired by pro-lifers, but that Dayton insisted the social issues not be included in the final bills.

Gov. Mark Dayton said Tuesday that GOP hearings around whether he has the authority to order a vote on union representation for home child-care workers were a “political ploy” from a part-time legislature that’s already drawn out the session.

“I’m well aware of the legal parameters that are available, but that doesn’t dictate policy. But I have a general counsel. I have the Attorney General. I don’t need a legislative show to trot this out,” Dayton told MPR.

Republican legislative leaders are planning hearings on the issue this week. Dayton told reporters that he’s still receiving legal advice regarding his authority to issue this sort of executive order, although governors of other states have ordered similar actions in the past.

Republican House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Majority Leader Matt Dean sent Dayton a letter last week questioning if the governor had authority in this area. “Any unionization of these independent businesses runs contrary to easing [Minnesota families' financial burdens]. Increased cost would lead to decreases availability, exactly the opposite of what we both want for Minnesota families.”

Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, t0ld the Star Tribune that she’s worried the unionization of child-care workers would mean “propaganda,” like craft projects using macaroni noodles to spell out “tax the rich.”

A report by non-partisan House staff last week said the issue of the governor’s authority was cloudy, but that it’s likely that the state’s Bureau of Mediation Services, which typically oversees unionization efforts, doesn’t have jurisdiction over the workers, who are independent contractors.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) say they’ve obtained signed cards supporting the union from close to a majority of the 11,000 home child-care workers since organizing began in 2005.

The unions initially requested that Dayton issue an order recognizing the union, which Dayton denied. He told the Star Tribune that he’d “rather there be an election than have [unionization] imposed on child-care workers and providers.”

In his address to Congress Thursday night, President Obama outlined his “jobs plan” to jump start the American economy. Minnesota’s elected officials and interest groups weighed in on Obama’s speech, and the responses fell along party lines.

Rep. Betty McCollum called on the tea party to “Stop the Game Playing and Pass Obama’s Jobs Legislation”:

“The President’s common-sense proposal to put Americans back to work should be passed by Congress as soon as possible. However, even with millions of people out of work and hurting, passing this jobs package requires the Tea Party majority to act in a responsible, bipartisan manner which is doubtful.

“For the past eight months, the world has witnessed an out-of-control Tea Party majority in Congress, harming our economy and stalling job growth with their posturing and political games. The American people want jobs, not dangerous and harmful Tea Party schemes to protect polluters, bust unions, eliminate Medicare, and outsource more jobs.”

Rep. John Kline called on Obama to roll back regulation on corporations:

“For weeks, I have been in Minnesota hearing from job creators, workers, and too many frustrated unemployed Americans about how we can get America working again. They want to see positive solutions that put the nation’s fiscal house in order and remove Washington’s regulatory roadblocks to job creation.

“I was pleased to hear the President heed the call of Americans by expressing a desire to work together to promote long term economic growth. Unfortunately, his call for more stimulus-type measures ignores the reality that people – not government – are our nation’s true job creators. The private sector doesn’t need Washington to tell them how to create jobs; they need Washington to get out of their way.

“I join most Americans who aren’t content with yet another speech. We need commonsense solutions that put Americans back to work. Earlier this year, House Republicans put forth a pro-growth agenda that builds on the Pledge to America, our governing agenda focused on job creation and economic growth. Our ‘Plan for America’s Job Creators’ will address our economic challenges, foster innovation and investment, and help job creators without raising taxes on working families and small business owners. The President should consider our in-depth proposal as well as urge the Democrat-controlled Senate to vote on numerous House-passed bills that could immediately spur job creation.

Sen. Al Franken praised Obama’s plan:

“Our top priority must be getting people back to work. The President presented a smart plan that will create needed American jobs and won’t add a dime to the deficit. This plan will benefit Minnesota, and Congress needs to act on it quickly. This package would put lots of Minnesotans back to work, including teachers, first responders, and construction workers, and put more money in the pockets of our state’s working families.”

Rep. Erik Paulsen said he’s willing to work with Democrats, but not on Obama’s plan:

“Neither party can escape blame for our nation’s economic turmoil. Republicans during the Bush years made mistakes, spending lots of money the country didn’t have. But a few of my colleagues and I want to reform Washington’s reckless, unsustainable ways,” said Paulsen. “I’m always willing to work across the aisle on good ideas to revive the economy. Unfortunately, the President’s remarks tonight were more of a rehash of previously failed policies. He and we can do better.”

Presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann delivered her own response to the president’s speech:

Unfortunately, it seems, every time the President speaks, his policies have cost the American people jobs and future prosperity.

Tonight the President under the veil of one of the most sacred deliberative forums, a joint session of Congress, delivered another political speech where he doubled down on more of the same policies that are killing the economy. Mr. President, what among your proposals was new? What here hasn’t already been tried and failed before? While the President’s speech comes on the heels of a trillion dollars of failed stimulus, bailouts, and temporary gimmicks aimed at creating jobs, the President continued to cling to the idea that government is the solution to creating jobs.

My conservative colleagues and I have been fighting over the last two and half years for pro growth policies.

I stand here tonight to say to the President, not only should Congress not pass your plan, I say, “stop; your last plan hasn’t worked, it’s hurting the American economy.” Instead of temporary fixes, do what has proved to work in the past, permanent pro growth policies that are driven by the free market.”

Bachmann offered her plan to create jobs:

1) Repatriate American business dollars earned from overseas, 2) Massively cut spending and the size of government, 3) Repeal Obamacare, which is the government takeover of America’s healthcare system, 4) Cut taxes, including corporate taxes, 5) Repeal Dodd-Frank, 6) Repeal job killing regulations, 7) Increase exports by finalizing free trade agreements, 8) Spur new investment in America, inspire innovation, 9) Provide job creating energy solutions, including decreased regulations on developing new energy supplies from our abundant domestic energy resources.

Gov. Mark Dayton gushed over Obama’s speech:

“The President’s speech was the best I have ever heard him deliver. He was exactly the decisive, strong, and forward-looking leader our nation needs at this critical moment. He properly called upon all of us to set aside our partisan differences and to unite in support of the best ideas and initiatives for the people of America, for now and for the future.

“The President’s vision should inspire Americans and galvanize Congress. As he stated so eloquently, the time to act is NOW. His American Jobs Act will put thousands of Minnesotans back to work; they need Congress to act NOW.

“As we learn more in the days ahead about the details of the President’s plan, I am confident we will find even more initiatives that will help Minnesota’s citizens, businesses, and economy. I look forward to rolling up my sleeves to support the President’s proposals and to put them to work for Minnesota.”

Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson also weighed in on the speech:

“President Obama took a major step toward pushing Congress to finally address our nation’s jobs crisis in his speech this evening.

“Washington politicians have already wasted too much time being guided by a Tea Party Republican agenda of protecting the super-rich while millions of Americans want and need to work.

“The American Jobs Act invests in jobs for middle class families and finally ensures the super-rich and big corporations start paying their fair share in taxes.

“Now is the time to be bold. We call on President Obama to act on his rhetoric and for Congress to end the political log jam to create the jobs Minnesota’s middle class families need.”

President Obama will address attendees at the American Legion national convention at the Minneapolis Convention Center starting at 11 a.m. Following his speech, Gov. Mark Dayton and Sen. Al Franken will also give remarks. A live feed of the event is inside, courtesy of The Uptake.

A pair of campaign finance complaints against the National Organization for Marriage and the Minnesota Family Council were dismissed by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board on Wednesday. Common Cause Minnesota had filed the complaints alleging that advertising by the two groups on an anti-gay marriage amendment in 2010 constituted lobbying. The board ruled that the ads were too vague to trigger the registration requirement for lobbyists.

The board dismissed the complaint against the Minnesota Family Council because the group did not pay for the ads. Though the ads were listed as “Paid for by the Minnesota Family Council and the National Organization for Marriage,” the Family Council did not actually contribute any funds to the ad campaign.

MFC’s CEO John Helmberger told the board,

Because of their shared goals of preserving traditional marriage in Minnesota, National Organization for Marriage asked MFC to help plan the production and placement of the [subject] ads. While MFC had input as to the production and placement of these ads, MFC did not pay for any part of their production or broadcast, nor is it obligated to reimburse the National Organization for Marriage for any part of the cost of producing or broadcasting the ads. Further, during 2010 MFC did not make any contribution to the National Organization for Marriage.

Based on that, the board dismissed the complaint from the group.

“There is no probable cause to believe that MFC paid for or is obligated to pay for any cost of creation, production, distribution, or broadcasting of the subject communications,” the board wrote.

The board also dismissed the complaint against NOM: “There is no probable cause to believe that NOM engaged in activities during 2010 that would require it to report as a principal [lobbyist].”

Because the ads were vague, NOM did not actually lobby for the anti–gay marriage amendment, the board noted. At issue is the fact that although NOM advocated the election of Tom Emmer who supported the amendment, the governor has no say in constitutional amendments.

“The legislation most clearly implied in the ads is the constitutional amendment to define marriage,” the board wrote. “While the next Governor may advocate for a legislative action, the Governor himself or herself can neither force nor prevent the placing a constitutional amendment question before the voters.”

The board also concluded that since no bills on same-sex marriage were active in the Minnesota Legislature at the time the ads came out, the ads did no constitute lobbying.

“Some of the ads also refer generally to the claim that Dayton, Horner, or the DFL legislature want to impose gay marriage on Minnesotans. Considering the fact that at the time the ads ran, there were no active bills and the composition of the next legislature could not be predicted, these references are too remote and vague to constitute an attempt to influence legislative action.”

The board added, “Any influence the ads may have on a the actions of future legislature, the composition of which will not be known until after the 2010 elections, is too speculative to permit regulation of the ads under Minnesota’s principal disclosure statutes.”

Copies of the decisions can be viewed on the board’s website.

President Obama will return to Minnesota at the end of August to address the national meeting of the American Legion. Obama was in Minnesota on Monday as a part of his jobs tour. Also speaking at the American Legion meeting will be Michele Bachmann, considered in the top tier of Republican presidential candidates vying to defeat Obama.

The American Legion, a 93-year old organization of wartime veterans, is hosting its National Convention in Minneapolis at the end of August. The first American Legion was held in Minneapolis as well in 1919.

President Obama announced in late July that he would be speaking at the convention of more than 10,000 veterans. And, as Minnesota Public Radio reported, Bachmann will also be attending. The two won’t share the stage, however. Obama will address the convention on Tuesday while Obama arrives on Thursday.

Minnesota’s DFLers slated to speak at the convention include Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar, Gov. Mark Dayton, Reps. Tim Walz and Keith Ellison.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi will also be on hand, as will Miss America Teresa Scanlan. Last week, Scanlan criticized a Newsweek cover of Michele Bachmann as sexist.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton announced Monday that the state will apply for a waiver from requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the controversial education legislation passed under George W. Bush.

The administration of President Barack Obama announced this morning that it was allowing some states “flexibility” with some of the legislation’s requirements.

Some in Congress had earlier criticized the use of executive power to loosen  requirements, but the American Independent reports that some congressional stances against the president’s approach have softened.

Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, told Reuters that the approach wasn’t a “pass on accountability.”

“With no clear path to a bipartisan bill in Congress, the President has directed us to move forward with an administrative process to provide flexibility within the law for states and districts that are willing to embrace reform.”

Dayton, who opposed the bill as a U.S. senator when it initially was introduced, said in a statement that his original concerns about it came true.

“Any education reform in Minnesota must begin and end with what is best for our children. The decade old federal law, known as No Child Left Behind, has failed to meet that standard,” Dayton said. “NCLB has imposed rigid testing requirements, many of which have harmed, not improved, the quality of students’ learning experiences. It has labeled many schools wrongly, by applying invalid statistical measures.”

The exact NCLB requirements loosened by the waiver will likely be released in September.

The workers, who are represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, are being offered slight pay increases in exchange for decreased company contributions to benefits like pensions.

Brian Ingulsrud, American Crystal Sugar’s vice president for administration, told the Star Tribune that the company will go ahead with lockout plans if workers reject this “final offer.”

Minnesota AFL-CIO Communications Director Chris Shields told the Minnesota Independent that union leadership is officially neutral on the contract.

“There were some holes in it, but the leadership wanted to give members the chance to vote up or down on it,” Shields said.

Tomorrow’s vote will need a simple majority to pass.

American Crystal Sugar Company is a cooperative of 3,000 sugar beet–producing shareholders based in Minnesota.

Gov. Mark Dayton planned to meet with the union’s leadership on Friday afternoon, according to his daily agenda.

A poll found that twice as many Minnesotans blame Republican lawmakers for the state shutdown, rather than DFL Gov. Mark Dayton.

The newly released poll was sponsored by MinnPost. It included interviews with 589 people about the shutdown that closed Minnesota government for 20 days at the start of July.

Who do you think is most responsible for the budget crisis and shutdown?

The poll had a margin of error of 4.8 percent.

The poll also found that 66 percent of Minnesotans wanted a combination of spending cut and tax increases, while 23 percent wanted spending cuts only. That finding echoes earlier polls.

In a Facebook post this weekend, Gov. Mark Dayton said he realized during negotiations that “nothing would budge [Republicans] from their anti-tax convictions.”

By all accounts, it was a difficult atmosphere in which to find common ground. Republican leadership even had trouble wrangling votes from freshman to support the final agreement to end the shutdown, which they thought still spent too much, according to a report in Politics in Minnesota.

MinnPost offers an in-depth analysis by University of Minnesota Political Science Professor Larry Jacobs of how the anti-GOP feeling could impact the 2012 elections. Jacobs said the cuts-only approach by Republican leadership appealed to the enthusiastic Republican base, but could hurt their electoral chances with moderates.

Between late afternoon Tuesday and early Wednesday morning, the Minnesota Legislature passed budget bills that will fund more than $35 billion in state government and end the 19-day shutdown. Most lawmakers, however, didn’t have time to read the bills, which were only made available hours before the votes.

The plans, which Gov. Mark Dayton agreed to 10 days into the shutdown, were opposed by most DFLers, who voted against them en masse. The final versions contained far fewer cuts than the versions that Dayton vetoed three weeks ago.

The transportation bill, for instance, avoids the sharp 85 percent cuts to the Met Council, but backfills much of the cut with increased costs to suburban transit. Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis) called it a “duct tape and bailing wire fix” in a statement.

Little time to read bills

Rep. Jean Wagenius (DFL-Minneapolis) complained that lawmakers hadn’t had time to assess the impact of the environmental bill, which includes what she described as subsidies for factory farmers.

“All session we’ve been told that the outcome of this session is going to be efficiency, reform, redesign,” she said on the House floor. “There’s been no efficiency, reform or redesign — just budget cuts and shifts with no idea of how these cuts are going to affect the environment.”

Most bills, some of which sprawled to hundreds of pages in length, were made available to lawmakers only right before their vote.

But the sticking point, as it has been all session, is taxes. Republicans opposed all DFL efforts to increase taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents. Instead, the state relies heavily on one-time fixes like a school payment shift and tobacco bonding, which Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township) described as “dangerous and irresponsible.”

The tax bill was posted only two hours before the vote.

House Majority Leader Matt Dean (R-Dellwood) accused Democrats of being “preoccupied with raising taxes,” saying the DFL forgot they had a job to do.

Dean said he wished more Democrats would have crossed over to vote for the budget bills to “be part of the solution.”

“We need to get Minnesota back to work we need to stop pointing figures,” Dean said.

A ‘beg, borrow and steal’ budget

House Minority Leader Paul Thissen said the 2011 legislative session represented a “colossal failure of leadership on behalf of Republicans.”

“This is a Republican proposal, a Republican budget for which you are responsible,” Thissen said. “It borrows and steals from Minnesota’s future and begs the people of our state to look the other way as once again you simply kick the can down the road.”

DFLers said the one-time accounting gimmicks in the bills meant that the next legislature would again face a more than $4 billion shortfall, and that the massive cuts contained in the bill would lead to increased property taxes across the state.

“You didn’t do your job because you didn’t protect the people’s interests. You protected the richest’s special interests,” Thissen told Republican lawmakers. “You didn’t do your job because you didn’t solve the problem — you begged, borrowed, and stole.”