The Minnesota Mess

"To say the least, the Governor's demands went over like stomach gas in church with the Republican leadership."

Okay. Yesterday I guess there was some good news and some not so good news. First off, the Governor signed the budget bill. I wonder if he really knew what was inside of it. As usual, the bill came out of the sausage factory looking like a casserole instead of a main dish. Translation = omnibus rather than single issue bill. Which, as a minor point of clarity, is against our state constitution.

What he did NOT sign however, was the tax bill. Now I have looked over what little has been printed on the substance of each bill. For the life of me, I know they came both originated in the House. But they sure looked like they came out of the Senate instead. Why? They have DFL fingerprints all over them. Totally targeted. "Feel good" projects. Many of the Governor's pet rocks.

However, the bonding bill is also stuck. Not on the Governor's desk like the tax bill, the bonding bill is stuck in nowhere land. And for the Governor to call a special session to get it agreed to and signed, he has laid down the gauntlet. All kinds of pet rocks that he has talked about in the past - as well as some new ones. To say the least, the Governor's demands went over like stomach gas in church with the Republican leadership. Translation = it ain't going to happen.

Myself? I don't give a rip if the Governor signs the tax bill or not. Nothing in there for me. In fact, nothing in there for most of us. AND, most importantly, the critical Social Security fix is not in there. So this bill can just sit as far as I am concerned. Now I have been told that the tax exclusion for retired veteran's pay was in fact in the spending bill - the bill which was signed. Of course, there was been nothing on the news, nor in newsprint to codify that rumor. Forgive me for being skeptical, but until I see stuff in black and white and bonafide, I tend not to believe it. 

So we will go forward into the rest of 2016 with Minnesota still having a sky high corporate income tax. Sky high estate taxes. Being one of only seven states which taxes seniors on their total Social Security earnings. We will continue to have important road repair which will go unfinished. Get the picture? This state is a mess.

By the way, this state has had Democratic leadership for the past six years. The City of Minneapolis has had blue leadership since I was a young man. Yesterday, the head of the local NCAAP came out almost in tears and said we need to "change our paradigm". Change our paradigm in how we treat people of color. Maybe she is right - we need to change our paradigm in almost everything we do. 

In other words, it is time to clean house. We need a new Republican Senate, we need to get any remaining RINOs out of the House, and in two years, elect a Conservative Governor. Now THAT is a paradigm shift we can all believe in.