For generations, lawmakers have pushed their most important work to the end of the legislative session, resulting in last-minute, late night discussion and votes on huge bills — the stew of smaller bills known as omnibus bills — that legislators don’t really have the time to read before they vote. Read more →
If ever there was a lab rat to experiment with bad government, the final days of a Minnesota legislative session is it. In the rush to get the things done that they should’ve gotten done in the many months they were given, lawmakers often pass bill they haven’t read and have no idea what their impact will be. Sometimes they do and pass them anyway. Read more →
Neither Representatives Dan Schoen nor Tony Cornish have taken the obvious hint from colleagues to go, prompting the Star Tribune to call for the Legislature to begin expulsion proceedings. Read more →
If we ever needed a reminder about the value of a newspaper, we need only look at the reporting in the last few week of Brandon Stahl of the Star Tribune, who uncovered a combination of apparent incompetence and faulty legislation in the state’s child abuse reporting system that left Eric Dean, 4, dead. Read more →
Last evening, Dayton crowned his legislative year by waiting until all the Capitol’s political reporters were in Rochester covering the GOP state convention, to put out a release after hours indicating he’d vetoed the Legislature’s bill putting the kibosh on the state lottery’s plan to allow online scratch-off gambling and lottery sales at gas pumps in the state. Read more →
Bob Collins