The Republican Party of Minnesota accused DFLers of abandoning their constituents by not passing equal rights for same-sex couples when the DFL controlled the legislature.
Tim Pawlenty ended his campaign for president on Sunday morning following a poor performance in the Iowa Straw Poll on Saturday evening. Initially the campaign said it would forge ahead despite coming in a distant third to Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, but on ABC’s This Week, Pawlenty made the announcement that his campaign was over. Almost immediately, however, high ranking GOP officials began suggesting Pawlenty take on Sen. Amy Klobuchar in 2012.
As heated discussions continue over the national debt, two of Minnesota’s major political parties are wresting with significant debts of their own. According to Federal Election Commission reports filed at the end of July, both the GOP and DFL continue to carry debt from the 2010 election cycle. The Republican Party of Minnesota owes the most — more than $600,000 while the DFL owes close to $300,000. The GOP also had a negative cash-on-hand balance.
The Service Employees International Union’s Healthcare Minnesota and Minnesota State Council came out against the budget deal Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP legislative leaders reached Thursday.
Gov. Mark Dayton criticized the Republican Party of Minnesota on Tuesday for using the shutdown as an opportunity to fundraise. The party sent out an email to supporters asking for money to retain legislative majorities and blaming Dayton for the state shutdown. At the same time, the party announced that chairman Tony Sutton would start drawing a $100,000 salary — even as the party remains in debt and owes several counties money from the 2010 recount nine months ago.
The Republican Party of Minnesota owes nearly 20 counties payment for expenses incurred by the counties during the 2010 recount between Tom Emmer and Gov. Mark Dayton. The fact that so many counties haven’t been reimbursed in seven months led one Republican senator to offer to pay some of the bills out of his own pocket.
Republican legislative leadership unveiled its budget targets on Thursday. Most government departments would see a cut under the budget proposals from the last two years, while a few, such as education and health and human services, would see a modest increase from the last biennium. Democrats immediately blasted the proposal, which will spend $34 billion in the 2012–2013 biennium — $3 billion less than the budget proposed by Gov. Mark Dayton.
House Republicans passed a repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by a vote of 245-189, mainly along party lines — only three Democrats joined with the Republicans. The vote prompted sharp reactions from all sides of Minnesota politics: Rep. Michele Bachmann called for the repeal of President Obama, while Rep. Keith Ellison said that Republicans voted dump 32 millions Americans’ health coverage.
The Republican Party of Minnesota still owes counties for a massive document request leading up to the recent election recount, according to the Mankato Free Press. For the past several weeks, more than a dozen counties have been wondering if they’ll get paid for hundred of thousands of documents that were requested by the GOP on behalf of the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Tom Emmer. Those counties were threatened with lawsuits if they didn’t comply with the GOP’s requests for election documents.
At his home in Delano this morning, Republican Tom Emmer is expected to concede the governor’s race. An unfavorable Minnesota Supreme Court opinion released Tuesday as well as a new poll showing a vast majority of voters want him to concede preceded the announcement.But more insurmountable for Emmer is the math: The State Canvassing Board will meet Wednesday morning to go over challenged ballots, but that number has shrunk to 181, far short of the approximately 9,000 Emmer would need to overcome Mark Dayton and win the governor’s mansion.
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