Republicans in the Minnesota House introduced three bills on Thursday that would put a ban on same-sex marriage into the Minnesota Constitution. The bill is a companion to the bills offered in the Minnesota Senate on Tuesday. Rep. Steve Gottwalt, R-St. Cloud, liked the idea so much, he’s offered two additional identical bills of his own.

HF1613 would ask the voters in 2012, “Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota?”

It was introduced by lead author Rep. Gottwalt and Reps. Torrey Westrom of Elbow Lake, Kurt Daudt of Crown, Mike Benson of Rochester, Mary Kiffmeyer of Big Lake, Matt Dean of Dellwood, Kurt Zellers of Maple Grove, Mary Franson of Alexandria, Glen Gruenhagen of Glencoe, Kathy Lohmer of Lake Elmo, Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa, Debra Kiel of Crookston, Peggy Scott of Andover, Bruce Anderson of Buffalo Township, Sondra Erickson of Princeton, Chris Swedzinski of Ghent, Bruce Vogel of Willmar and Ron Shimanski of Silver Lake.

Gottwalt also introduced two bills that were identical to the first, and he is the only sponsor of those two bills, HF1614 and HF1615.

A bill offered by Minnesota Republicans would have the state condemn the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The bill’s language comes directly from ParentalRights.org, a subsidiary of the Home School Legal Defense Association, which is also responsible for Generation Joshua, a program that enlists Christian children to campaign for Republican candidates.

SF63/HF402 “condemns the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child” and “urges the United States Senate to reject its ratification.”

The U.S. and Somalia are the only countries that have not ratified the treaty which was first drafted in 1989. Two Republican presidents, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, helped draft the treaty, and they were successful in getting portions of the U.S. Constitution included, according to Amnesty International.

A total of 193 countries have ratified the treaty, more than an other international treaty to date. The treaty encompasses several aspects of human rights: “the right to survival, to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life” as well as the principles of “non-discrimination; devotion to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and respect for the views of the child.”

If passed into law, SF63/HF402 — introduced by Republican Sens. Mike Jungbauer of East Bethel and David Brown of Becker, and Reps. Sondra Erickson of Princeton and Pam Myhra of Burnsville — would direct Secretary of State Mark Ritchie to send the resolution condemning the act to all members of the U.S. Senate, President Obama and leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill contains a hodgepodge of conservative critiques, including the concerns of the Tenthers; as with all treaties, Congress would have jurisdiction under the child rights treaty, not the states.

“The Congress of the United States would acquire primary jurisdiction to legislate to meet our nation’s legal obligation to comply with the treaty if ratified, thereby shifting from Minnesota and her sister states to the Congress of the United States powers not formerly delegated which are currently reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the bill reads.

The bill also expresses concerns about provisions in the treaty that call on governments to protect the welfare of children living in poverty; such actions would would expand government.

“[The treaty] requires a level of socialized spending programs for the supposed needs of children (which in too many cases simply employ more government workers) that would bankrupt any American state,” reads the bill.

The bill also gives a nod to the sovereignty movement.

The bill states, “[T]his represents a wholesale abandonment of the ultimate sovereignty of the United States on matters within the scope of the treaty; and this abandonment violates the core principle of our self-government: to wit, only American legislatures and the people themselves have the moral authority to make law for America.”

The bill was not authored by Minnesota Republicans, but was produced by the Home School Legal Defense Association. HSLDA and ParentalRights.org share the same resources including employees, and among their main concerns with the bill is that it could prevent parents from spanking their children. The treaty “bans all corporal punishment, including reasonable spanking by parents,” the bill states.

HSLDA’s concerns have prompted the group to get more involved in the political process, a move that spawned its Generation Joshua program.

“Generation Joshua wants America to be a perpetual city on a hill, a beacon of biblical hope to the world around us,” the group’s mission statement states. “We seek to inspire every one of our members with faith in God and a hope of what America can become as we equip Christian citizens and leaders to impact our nation for Christ and for His glory.”

Generation Joshua members are homeschooled Christian youth ages 11 to 19 and have been active in Minnesota, particularly in Minnesota 6th Congressional District, where the bill’s author, Sen. Jungbauer, resides.

Jungbauer is also carrying another bill written by the HSLDA. It’s a resolution calling on Congress to create a Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Sen. Sean Nienow of Cambridge is also an author of the Senate version and Republican Reps. Glenn Gruenhagen of Glencoe, Peggy Scott of Andover and Ron Shimanski of Silver Lake have introduce the House version.

Rep. Sondra Erickson, R-Princeton, chair the House Education Reform Committee, had strong words for an Education Minnesota plan to include 90 days of classroom supervision for teachers undergoing an alternative licensing program in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio on Tuesday evening. Erickson said the plan amounted to a “teacher Gestapo,” and unions have already seized on those comments as an example of the overheated rhetoric that has become hotly debated across the nation in the wake of the tragedy in Tuscon. Erickson tells the Minnesota Independent Wednesday she “overstepped her bounds” with the comment and apologized.

Rep. Sondra Erickson

“It sounds like the teacher Gestapo to me. I think that if a candidate comes out of one of these programs, he or she is going to be well-prepared to be in the classroom,” Erickson told Minnesota Public Radio. “If a district has decided that candidate should be in the classroom, I’m not sure why we would need that Gestapo at work, and I would like to visit with them about that.”

Erickson has since said it wasn’t a good choice of words. “I completely overstepped my bounds,” she told the Minnesota Independent. She said that she meant to say that the 90-day supervision proposed by Education Minnesota was unnecessary given the highly skilled and highly qualified teaching applicants that would come through an alternative licensing program, adding that they wouldn’t need the extra supervision because they already have the experience.

“I really believe that once they are in the classroom, they don’t need that extra supervision,” she said.

Her words, however, sparked a firestorm on Twitter.

“Equating anyone in our politics with a band of murderers is unacceptable,” tweeted the Minnesota AFL-CIO.

Mary Cathryn Ricker, president of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers, called for Erickson to apologize. “Rep Sondra Erickson compares thorough supervision of new teacher quality to “Gestapo”?! Apologize now!”

Shar Knutson, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO issued the following statement over the remarks:

“For Representative Erickson to compare the responsible supervision of beginning teachers to tactics in Nazi Germany is inflammatory and has no place in our state’s public policy debate. Minnesota’s elected leaders have a lot of important work ahead of them and comments like this only hinder that work. Representative Erickson should apologize to the 70,000 public educators who work hard every day to give our kids opportunities to succeed.”

The Gestapo was the Nazis’ secret police, known for taking people into “protective custody,” which often meant indefinite imprisonment without a trial.

Erickson said she had received many calls and emails on Wednesday over her comments.

“I certainly do apologize,” she said. “And I’ve said that to everyone who has sent me a message today.”

Among the first bills introduced in the Minnesota House this session is one aimed at establishing English as the official language of the state. Republican Reps. Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa, David Hancock of Bemidji, Sondra Erickson of Princeton, and Roger Crawford of Mora introduced the bill on Monday.

HF 64 would make English the official language of Minnesota: “No law, ordinance, order, program, or policy of this state or any of its political subdivisions, shall require the use of any language other than English for any documents, regulations, orders, transactions, proceedings, meetings, programs, or publications, except as provided in subdivision 3.”

The bill is nearly identical to previous bills that have been proposed under a DFL-controlled legislature.

Exceptions to the English-only rule include teaching languages other than English in educational settings; complying with the Native American Languages Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; promoting trade, commerce, and tourism; and promoting state or agency mottos.

Minnesota’s state motto is in French: L’Etoile du nord.

The English-only issue came to a head last summer when Lino Lakes, St. Paul suburb, passed an English-only ordinance at the urging of an extreme anti-immigration activist.

Rep. Drazkowski is the lead author of the bill and has introduced similar versions in the past. In 2009, former Rep. Cy Thao of St. Paul challenged Drazkowski to a spelling contest in English. Thao, who is Laotian-born Hmong, said if he lost the contest, he’d vote for Drazkowski’s bill.

Here’s that exchange:

Star Tribune editorial-page editor Scott Gillespie says Al Franken just might win the race, but a large number of Americans will believe the recount was rigged. Why?

Because the stolen-election drumbeat has started, and it will only get louder as the results of the recount get more national attention. Ignoring Minnesota law, talk-show hosts are already questioning why any ballot that’s not marked properly in the first place should be valid in a recount. Intent is a concept they would rather not grasp.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, bringing her unique view of reality to Fox News on Wednesday night, said Franken “wants to stuff the ballot box with rejected ballots,’’ which “calls into question what the record is and who’s watching the books.’’

Another reason: While Bachmann took to Fox to impugn the recount process, the network’s judicial analyst, Andrew Napolitano, took a potshot at the recount’s top official. Apparently reading off the recently unearthed GOP talking points, he described Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie as “a Democrat and a former communist — former member of the Communist Party,” although he offered no evidence to support the claim. He may have been taking liberties with a line from a year-old Star Tribune story (cited in the GOP’s memo) by Mark Brunswick, who wrote that the “Communist Party USA wrote encouragingly of [Ritchie's] candidacy.”

On a conference call with Sen. Mitch McConnell Thursday morning, Norm Coleman, the man “who brought hockey back” to St. Paul, rallied troops with a puckish metaphor, one that seems to ignore the fact that at this late stage in the game, the final score is largely up to recount officials and the state Canvassing Board (and, let’s not forget, campaign lawyers): “We’re on the ice and its time to put the puck in the net.”

Senators will have to wait a bit longer to see if they’ll get upgraded office digs in Washington, D.C. CQ reports that the biennial process of doling out office space is on hold until results come in for the Coleman/Franken recount and the Dec. 2 runoff in Georgia between Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin. Freshmen senators, low in the pecking order, are forced to “camp out in makeshift work spaces longer than usual.”

Another tight race in Minnesota has been settled through recount: State Rep. Al Doty, the incumbent Democrat from Royalton, won a second term over Mike LeMieur by a slim 76 vote margin. Two other state nailbiters are awaiting recount results, according to The St. Cloud Times:

In House District 16A, DFL challenger Gail Kulick Jackson led Rep. Sondra Erickson, R-Princeton, by 89 votes on Nov. 4.

In Senate District 16, DFLer Lisa Fobbe led Republican Alison Krueger by 85 votes before the recount began.

But Kulick Jackson wasn’t discouraged. The Milaca attorney kept right on campaigning. “She’s had lots of challengers, of course, over the years,” Kulick Jackson says of the incumbent, “but nobody ever tried it twice.” In 2006 she cut Erickson’s margin down to 459 votes.

Over the years Kulick Jackson continued building goodwill in the conservative district. “I do so much little work for little people,” she says of her law practice. “I’m the one who does grandma’s will and the neighbor’s deed.”

This year the Democrat finally cracked the electoral code, besting Erickson by just 89 votes. Owing to the closeness of the race there will be a recount, but Kulick Jackson is confident she’s headed to the Capitol in January. “Statistically the likelihood of finding one hundred errors in Sondra Erickson’s favor is so unlikely that I’m not terribly worried about it,” she says.

This year there were at least nine state House contests that were rematches from 2006. In three instances, challengers successfully avenged their previous defeats.

In 2006 Democrat Mike Obermueller fell 163 votes short of knocking off Rep. Lynn Wardlow. But this year Obermueller prevailed, topping the incumbent by just over 500 votes.

Gregory Davids served eight terms as a Republican legislator prior to being knocked off by cattle farmer Ken Tschumper in 2006. This time around Davids won by roughly 400 votes in the southeastern Minnesota district. One possible factor in the electoral reversal: Tschumper’s cows have repeatedly escaped from his property, drawing the wrath of neighbors and two tickets from the local authorities.

Other repeat challengers received no such bovine assistance. Republican Judy Soderstrom came closest to avenging defeat, falling roughly 300 votes short of ousting incumbent Tim Faust in House District 8B, which includes Pine City and Hinckley. The Democrat has now taken two of three contests with Soderstrom.

In the other five rematches, incumbents expanded their winning margins. In House District 30B, for instance, Democrat Andy Welti defeated Bill Kuisle for the third consecutive time. While each of the first two contests in the Rochester-area district were decided by less than 800 votes, this time around the DFL’er carried 56 percent of the vote.

The other rematches:

House District 2B: Rep. Brita Sailer (DFL) v. Doug Lindgren (GOP). Lindgren loses for the third time, by a 54-46 percent margin in this northwestern Minnesota district.

House District 22B: Rep. Rod Hamilton (GOP) v. Richard Peterson (DFL). Another three-peat, this time running away with a 60-40 victory in a district that includes Worthington.

House District 26B: Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL) v. Otto Luknic (GOP). Fritz solidifies her hold on the seat after three terms, winning 58 percent of the vote in a district centered around Faribault.

House District 50B: Rep. Kate Knuth (DFL) v. Lori Grivna (GOP). The Democrat widens her margin of victory, taking 57 percent of the vote in the northern suburban district.

But that’s not to say that Olson didn’t play a vital role in the contest. In fact, his influence was sufficient to help knock off the Republican candidate in a district that’s dominated by the GOP. Allison Krueger, who defeated Olson in the Republican primary, received 22,260 votes — 93 less than Democrat Lisa Fobbe. (Strangely there were an additional 1,366 write-in votes that are not attributed to Olson.)

Just how Republican is Senate District 16? Bush won it by 22 points in 2004; Pawlenty won it by 20 points two years ago. Even McCain-Palin took it by 20 points yesterday — among the highest margins in the state for the Republican ticket.

But perhaps Senate District 16, which includes Big Lake and Princeton, is trending a tad blue. One of the two state House seats in the area was also taken by a Democrat yesterday. Gail Kulick Jackson, in her third try, knocked off seven-term incumbent Sondra Erickson by just 99 votes.

Both contests will be subject to recounts under state law owing to the extremely close vote tallies.

In the most infamous incident, then-Preston Mayor David Pechulis furtively recorded a phone call during which Davids threatened to sue opponents of the tire-burning plant. The state legislator was particularly incensed about a letter that had recently run in the Republican-Leader newspaper accusing him of “slimeball politics.”

“That’s not acceptable,” Davids said during the phone call, as recounted in a 2004 City Pages cover story. “That’s lawsuit city.” Davids went on to threaten other member of the main group opposing the tire-burning plant, Southeastern Minnesotans for Environmental Protection (SEMEP), with litigation. “Does this SEMEP group have insurance?” Davids asked. “You better get some. This happens again, I’ll sue them. I’ve got good attorneys. Junkyard-dog-killing attorneys that will rip their eyes out and pee in their brains.”

The election proved to be one of the most tightly contested in the state, with Tschumper eking out a 52-vote upset victory. The triumph was one of many for Democrats in 2006, as they picked up 19 seats, giving the party a 85-49 majority. This year the DFL is hoping to add at least five more seats, establishing a veto-proof majority in the House, while Republicans will seek to stop the electoral bleeding.

Among this year’s marquee contests is a rematch between Tschumper and Davids in House District 31B. In the ensuing two years, Tschumper has developed a staunchly progressive legislative track record, while Davids is a largely doctrinaire conservative. “This is perhaps the most ideologically striking contest in the state,” says Sarah Janecek, publisher of Politics in Minnesota. “Ken Tschumper voted his liberal conscience, which is not necessarily the greatest politics for 31B.”

The Democrat has also picked up some baggage of his own. He’s twice been ticketed for allowing his cows to escape.

Tschumper v. Davids is perhaps the most intriguing rematch of the electoral season, but it’s far from the only one. There are at least seven other competitive state House contests that pit foes against each other for a second — or even third — time. Here’s a rundown of the electoral rematches from 2006:

House District 8B: Rep. Tim Faust (DFL) v. Judy Soderstrom (GOP). During the last two election cycles, voters in 8B have rendered a split decision in this contest. In 2004 Soderstrom retained her seat by less than 100 votes against first-time candidate Faust. But two years later the Democrat turned the tables, winning by a 52-48 percent margin. Now Soderstrom is hoping to regain her post at the Capitol. She argues that Faust’s vote to increase the gas tax doesn’t sit well with voters in the district. “I hear that all the time,” she says. “There’s a lot of people in our district that travel a long distance to their jobs.” Faust counters that he’s spoken to roughly 4,000 or 5,000 people in the district while campaigning this year and only a handful have been critical of the transportation bill. “To claim that there’s a huge pushback is certainly not correct,” he says. “If that’s the best issue they’ve got I feel pretty good.” 8B includes parts of Isanti, Kanabec and Pine counties, and is considered a swing district. In 2006 Amy Klobuchar took 54 percent of the vote in the U.S. Senate race, but Pawlenty narrowly defeated Mike Hatch in the gubernatorial contest.

House District 16A: Rep. Sondra Erickson (GOP) v. Gail Kulick Jackson. (DFL). The Democratic challenger is hoping that the third time is the charm. In 2004 Kulick Jackson took 44 percent of the vote, but two years later upped her margin to 49 percent, coming to within 500 votes of victory. Erickson (pictured) is a retired English teacher who has been her church’s organist for 34 years (according to Politics in Minnesota). Kulick Jackson is an attorney based in Milaca. 16A includes parts of Benton, Mille Lacs and Morrison counties, and is solidly Republican. Pawlenty defeated Hatch by 13 points in 2006, while President Bush bested John Kerry by 17 points two years earlier. One wildcard factor: the shenanigans of former GOP Rep. Mark Olson, who is running as a write-in candidate in Senate District 16. Will his behavior tarnish other Republican candidates in the area?

House District 30B: Rep. Andy Welti (DFL) v. Bill Kuisle (GOP). This is another race in which the candidates are facing each other on the ballot for the third time. The first two rounds went to Welti (pictured), who won by just over 700 votes in 2006. But Bruce Kaskubar, co-chair of the Olmsted County Republican Party, points out that Kuisle was suffering from colon cancer when he was ousted in 2004 and drowned in a nationwide Democratic tidal wave two years later. “Frankly I was surprised by that,” Kaskubar says. “I didn’t think our local Republicans deserved those coattails, but they got them in spades.” He argues that Kuisle is a better ideological fit for the district. “Welti votes with the left-leaning Democrats,” Kaskubar says. “Kuisle will vote for smaller government and low tax rates.” But while Olmsted County has traditionally been a GOP stronghold, in recent years it has trended strongly Democratic. All three state legislative spots in Senate District 30 are now held by DFL’ers. Lynn Wilson, chair of the Olmsted County DFL, doesn’t see that trend changing this election cycle. “Because of a lot of hard work, grassroots politics, people have learned they can have another voice down here and they have liked the opportunity to vote for Democratic representation,” she says. “Andy has won the trust of the same electorate twice. I think this district has shown where it wants to go and we intend to prove it again on November 4.”

House District 22B: Rep. Rod Hamilton (GOP) v. Richard Peterson (DFL). Hamilton was a member of the “override six” who voted to overturn Pawlenty’s veto of the transportation bill during the last legislative session. But unlike some of his GOP colleagues (most notably Rep. Neil Peterson, who was defeated in a primary contest), Hamilton (pictured) doesn’t seem to have paid much of a political price for straying from Republican orthodoxy. The vote has even helped him pick up endorsements from some labor groups such as Education Minnesota. Even so he’ll face a tough contest from third-time challenger Richard Peterson. The DFL’er has twice garnered at least 48 percent of the vote, but has so far failed to knock off his Republican nemesis. The district, which includes the Turkey Capital of the World, tilts slightly GOP. Pawlenty carried the area by four percentage points in 2006, while Bush won by an 11-point spread two years earlier. Few observers, however, believe Hamilton is in serious danger. “I would think that even if it’s a DFL blowout year that Rod Hamilton will be re-elected,” says Janecek, of Politics in Minnesota.

House District 26B: Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL) v. Otto Luknic (GOP). Fritz is used to repeat opponents. It took her two tries to knock off conceal-and-carry poster child Lynda Boudreau, succeeding in 2004. This year Fritz will face Luknic for the second consecutive election. Two years ago the Republican garnered 48 percent of the vote, falling roughly 500 votes short. The district, which is centered around Faribault, leans slightly Republican. While Klobuchar won the area handily in the 2006 senate contest, both Bush and Pawlenty have scored victories there in the last two election cycles. “It’s a tough district,” concedes Brandon Rettke, political action specialist for Education Minnesota, which is supporting Fritz. “It’s never going to be a safe district for her. But I think she’s going to pull it out.”

House District 2B: Rep. Brita Sailer (DFL) v. Doug Lindgren (GOP). This will be the third contest between Sailer and Lindgren. The Democrat squeaked out a 50-48 victory four years ago, but increased her margin to eight points in 2006. So it’s somewhat surprising that Lindgren is taking another crack at the post. Former House Speaker Steve Sviggum has called Sailer a “liberal, leftist extremist” and Republicans have clearly targeted the seat. But the northwestern district, which includes Park Rapids, will not be easy to swing. Hatch, for instance, won the area by six percentage points in 2006.

House District 50B: Rep. Kate Knuth (DFL) v. Lori Grivna (GOP). This open seat was tightly contested in 2006, with Knuth ultimately prevailing with 54 percent of the vote. Grivna is again running a vigorous campaign, but faces an uphill battle in a suburban area that leans Democratic. All three state legislative posts in Senate District 50 are currently held by DFL’ers. Few political observers view Knuth as facing much danger.