Minnesota GOP legislators plan to ease coal restrictions

"Several young people testified to the House and Senate committees, saying they are concerned about the problems coal will cause to the world they inherit." — Capitol Chatter

By PATRICK CONDON
Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota legislators moved Tuesday to lift state restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions from coal production that critics said has amounted to a moratorium on the construction of new coal plants.

Republican-controlled House and Senate committees passed matching bills to lift a state law passed just four years ago. The coal plant provision was one piece of a larger series of reforms meant to boost renewable energy production and clean up Minnesota's environment, which passed with wide bipartisan support and was signed by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Under the current law, utilities can only build and operate new coal plants in Minnesota only if they can offset carbon emissions to a level that they don't add to the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Critics said the options for achieving that offset are so expensive and burdensome they amount to an effective moratorium on new plants.

(More here.  See also the article from the Capitol Chatter.)

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Words of Wisdom from Gov. Timmy

Mr. Pawlenty’s trip this weekend was his fifth to Iowa in less than a year, one of many signs that he is working the state as intently as any prospective Republican presidential hopeful.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota concluded a three-day visit to Iowa on Monday, his latest trip to the state that traditionally opens the presidential nominating contest. The Republican was campaigning for local party candidates, but said he planned to decide by early next year whether to run for president in 2012.

The Times’s Jeff Zeleny rode along with Mr. Pawlenty as he traveled from Waverly to Cedar Rapids, and interviewed the governor on the coming midterm elections, partisanship in Washington and more. Here are 10 questions from the interview, with some of the answers condensed.

Q. What is your take on the country’s mood and what are voters looking for?

A. “They’re frustrated and worried about whether they’re going to have jobs. And they’re really worried about government overreach and government spending. There are a lot of folks who are independents or Democrats – maybe conservative Democrats – who voted for President Obama and thought he might be more pragmatic or centrist than he’s turned out to be. They feel that he’s conducted a bait-and-switch operation on them, and now they’re going to fix it by voting Republican come November.”

(Continued....)

VV NOTE: As residents of Minnesota we have become dismayed with both Mr. Pawlenty's lack of constructive leadership at the helm of state and his oh-so-thinly-disguised run for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Mr. Pawlenty is both charming and intelligent, two very positive traits in a politician when he has the best interests of the people in mind. But Mr. Pawlenty, despite a history of being a moderate Republican in the Minnesota House, has veered sharply into the "cut government and cut taxes" school of politics.

Despite his repeating and practicing this mantra ad nauseam, and through his refusal to find common ground with the Minnesota legislature, he has merely succeeded in shifting the tax burden from the state (income and sales taxes) to the county and local governments and school districts (property taxes). The result is county and local governments struggling to keep up with state mandates but without state funding, and many school districts, once the model for the nation, just trying to tread water.

Two examples of the Pawlenty legacy: Whereas once one had to cross the borders of Iowa and South Dakota to Minnesota to find good roads, now it's just the opposite. And perhaps even more telling of what a Pawlenty presidency might yield, the wealthiest Minnesotans actually pay a lower percentage of tax on their earnings than middle class Minnesotans.

The ultimate danger of Tim Pawlenty is not that he is just another George W. Bush, but that he is another George W. Bush with brains.

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Target Corp. funds ad for Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate

The corporate money is beginning to roll in:

Ad supporting Tom Emmer funded by Target, Polaris, Hubbard Broadcasting, Davisco

by Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio
July 20, 2010

St. Paul, Minn. — A group funded by Minnesota corporations has begun running a TV ad praising Republican gubernatorial hopeful Tom Emmer. The ad is the latest effort by an independent group that hopes to influence elections.

The ad focuses on Emmer's commitment to Minnesota businesses.

"As a legislator, Emmer voted against job-killing taxes and for reduced government spending. Now he's running for governor, working to grow jobs, getting government out of the way," the ad stated in part.

The ad looks like one Emmer's campaign would run -- but it's not. In fact, Emmer isn't even allowed to communicate with the group that paid for the ad, called Minnesota Forward.

Minnesota Forward is an umbrella organization that's funded by Minnesota businesses including Target, Polaris, Hubbard Broadcasting and Davisco Foods. Because of a U.S Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, those businesses and other companies are now allowed to spend corporate money to influence elections.

More here. Thanks to Project Vote Smart, there is an abundance of information on Tom Emmer's votes in the Minnesota House. And here are his interest group ratings. And his issue positions.

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Minnesota appliance rebate incompetency excuse from the 'blame it on someone else' department

"Malicious Attack" May be Behind Slow Rebate Response
(Vox Verax note: Yeah, ri-i-i-ight.... Continued below.)
KSTP News, Twin Cities

UPDATED BELOW

Many viewers have emailed or called 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Monday morning, saying they are having trouble getting through to the Minnesota State Department of Commerce, trying to sign up for new appliance rebates.

March 1st is the first day people can sign up for hundreds of dollars in rebates on appliances like dishwashers, refrigerators, and washers.

Nicole Garrison-Sprenger, spokeswoman for the Minnesota Department of Commerce says while the number of callers is an issue, she believes a "malicious cyber attack" may be the main reason why people are having trouble getting through. The Commerce Department currently has 10 IT people trying to fix the problem.

Garrison-Sprenger says a third-party vendor is handling the phone lines and website for Minnesota's appliance rebate program, along with other states, like Michigan. She says someone may have hacked into the system, causing major slowdowns.

(Original here. Our opinion: We don't think so. The Minnesota Department of Commerce had plenty of time to predict and be prepared for the possibility of a cyber attack. This is state government incompetence pure and simple. See "Minnesota appliance rebate application system overwhelmed ... as predicted" below. NOTE: At 4:30 pm Monday I was able to get into the online form and secure the rebate reservation.)

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Minnesota appliance rebate application system overwhelmed ... as predicted

Energy Star: good! Rising political star: bad

by Leigh Pomeroy

UPDATED BELOW

A month and a half ago I predicted to my state legislators that the application process for the Minnesota Trade-in and Save Appliance Program would be a mess. Well, that prediction is playing out right now as I wait for the online application servers to stop crashing and for the phone lines to stop telling me that all circuits are busy, please call back later.

This is hardly surprising. When you're running state government with the express purpose of destroying it, as Mr. Pawlenty is, what else would you expect?

Energy Star is a good thing. Rising political star is another matter....

FLASH UPDATE!

Our friend, brilliant raconteur, antique farmhouse and furniture restorer, Asian culture and history specialist, sculptor, screenwriter and confirmed German bachelor Thomas P. Hagen has just learned from the Minnesota governor's office that Mr. Pawlenty's last act before exiting his position will be to declare a new name for the former state of Minnesota ...

Minnessippi

(No offense to the people of that lovely southern state located just west of Alabama.... NOTE: At 4:30 pm Monday I was able to get into the online form and secure the rebate reservation.)

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