No Daudt about it...

 

 

"He is still somewhat of a newcomer and went up against the DFL machine. All things considered, he might have earned a strip or two this year..."

I always believe in giving credit where credit is due. Now that the legislative session in Minnesota is over, the post game analysis has started. I will not get into the weeds as that is for others to do who are much better at it and more informed than I. I will however give my 30,000 foot view of what just happened in our state.

Just so this is fair and balanced, let me first give the bad news. State government did grow (again). For us Conservatives, that is huge "no-no". Even though the push for early childhood was stymied (again), we continue to pour more money into our failed K-12 formula (again). Another huge "no-no". We did not get tax relief for our retired veterans (big ouch). We did not get tax relief for our senior citizens via the Social Security fix (another big ouch). All this are huge issues.

Now the good news. I really did think our young, somewhat inexperienced Speaker of the House was going to get played this year. And played badly by the seasoned Progressives who live on the other side of the aisle. But no. Kurt Daudt showed some welcomed acumen in how he was able to divide and conquer. Divide and conquer on many different DFL "line in the sand" issues. So much so, there is now a movement within the hard core Left to have Senate Leader Bakk dumped over the side as road kill.

Plus, the way this session turned out amazed many of us. I really did think the table was being set by the Governor for another shut down. Another famous shutdown with Republican's fingerprints all over it. What ended up happening was astonishing. Many of the "must have" issues for the Governor fell by the wayside. And Tina Smith did very little to save the day.

Looking back with all things considered, I will give the session a low grade. The reason for the low grade are bad news items I pointed out earlier. But this year it is not a failing grade. The bad news items are not trivial - they are damn important. However, not seeing the Republicans being waltzed around the my pole like they have been in past years was refreshing. For that Kurt Daudt, Joyce Pepin, David Hahn and others deserve kudos.

Going forward into 2016, we need to build off what worked well and fix what was missed. I have said this before, fixing the veteran and Social Security tax issue should not only be a no brainer, but also bi-partisan. There are plenty of vets and senior citizens who live on the Left side of the street also. This is a MUST DO the next time around. Fix these, and expect a higher grade next time around.